SermonLooking Upon Earth with God
An all-creatures Bible Message

Looking Upon Earth with God
 
A Sermon Delivered to
The Compassion Internet Church
 
7 February 2016
 
Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References

Luke 9:1-36

Looking upon earth with God is a Hebrew way of expressing what Paul says is having the mind of Christ.
 
In other words, a person who is looking upon earth with God is looking as God would see and feel about what He was seeing.
 
God’s creation and heavenly intent is to have a peaceful kingdom where there is no pain, or suffering, or bloodshed, or death; therefore, we and God should be very saddened and even be in mourning about all the horror and violence that is happening all over the earth and being inflicted upon millions of human beings and billions of animals every year.
 
And in addition to all of this, our environment is also suffering from its exploitation and pollution.
 
Since most of the people in the world are direct or indirect participants in the corruption of this world, it shows that very few people really want to be looking upon the earth with God.
 
With these things in mind, let’s take a look at Luke 9:1-36…

1. And He [Jesus] called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons, and to heal diseases.

When we think about all the corruption of creation that is taking place upon the earth, we wonder how much of the evil is being caused directly by the devil and his demons, and how much of it is being caused by human beings who deliberately follow the evil worldly ways that are plaguing the earth, and we believe that most of it is being caused by greedy humans.
 
Furthermore, many doctors tell us that almost all of our chronic diseases are caused by people eating animal products instead of the plant foods God created for us to eat.
 
We also believe that what Jesus charged the disciples to do was to use their heavenly powers to overcome both the demons and the humans who cause all the suffering in the world.
 
And today, we believe that almost all of the horrible problems plaguing the earth are human caused, and we need to be looking upon earth with God and help end the suffering and death according to His heavenly will.

2. And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God, and to perform healing.

If we really are looking upon earth with God, then we should also understand that helping people return to a whole plant food diet would bring much healing to the people.

3. And He said to them, "Take nothing for your journey, neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two tunics apiece.
 
4. "And whatever house you enter, stay there, and take your leave from there.

In other words, they were to go fully trusting in the Lord for His guidance and protection, which is all part of living in the heavenly will of God.

5. "And as for those who do not receive you, as you go out from that city, shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them."

We are never to fight with people who decide to live in the corrupt and evil ways of this world; we are to just move on.

6. And departing, they began going about among the villages, preaching the gospel, and healing everywhere.

And if we think about it, we can do these things ourselves, perhaps not in the same ways, but we can all live the gospel and be an example of the peacemaking children of God that Jesus called us to be.
 
Next, we are told about a corrupt leader, and the way such people live in the world.

7. Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was happening; and he was greatly perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead,

Remember that Herod was the person who had John the Baptist killed, which we believe is the reason that Herod was greatly perplexed.

8. and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others, that one of the prophets of old had risen again.
 
9. And Herod said, "I myself had John beheaded; but who is this man about whom I hear such things?" And he kept trying to see Him.

If we live in the heavenly will of God and are looking upon earth with God, we never think this way; because we never do the evil things that brought Herod to the situation he was in.
 
Let’s think about something else in more modern times. God created a beautiful wild flower called orange hawkweed for us to enjoy. Cattle would not eat the orange hawkweed growing in animal farmers’ pastures because of the hairy nature of this wild flower; thus farmers called it the devil's paintbrush, because it ruined good pasture land.
 
We can also look at this flower in another way; if we ate only a plant food diet, as God originally intended, then we could enjoy both the beautiful animals and wildflowers living together in the fields.
 
It is obvious that these farmers could not have been looking upon the earth with God for they named a God-created wild flower after the devil instead of God; and, they were exploiting animals for their own gain and for the other corrupt people of the world.
 
We need to recognize these differences as we are looking upon the earth with God.
 
And then in our Bible passage for today, we hear about the apostles when they returned from the mission that Jesus sent them on.

10. And when the apostles returned, they gave an account to Him of all that they had done. And taking them with Him, He withdrew by Himself to a city called Bethsaida.

Jesus wanted some quiet time with the apostles.

11. But the multitudes were aware of this and followed Him; and welcoming them, He began speaking to them about the kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing.

Like Jesus, we are to have the unlimited love and compassion for everyone whether they are human or animal, for this is all part of looking upon earth with God.

12. And the day began to decline, and the twelve came and said to Him, "Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and get something to eat; for here we are in a desolate place."

These apostles recognized the need of the people, just as we should be able to do, but they also needed Jesus’ help to solve the problem, so Jesus tested their faith in Him.

13. But He said to them, "You give them something to eat!" And they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people."

Jesus’ disciples were still thinking in worldly terms and not really relying upon Jesus and His heavenly powers, or even the power He gave them when He sent them out in the world, so Jesus takes over for feeding the people.

14. (For there were about five thousand men.) And He said to His disciples, "Have them recline to eat in groups of about fifty each." 
 
15. And they did so, and had them all recline.
 
16. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them, and broke them, and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the multitude.
 
17. And they all ate and were satisfied; and the broken pieces which they had left over were picked up, twelve baskets full.

From this reading, we don’t really know what happened to the fish for they would not have broken into pieces like the loaves of bread, and there were more pieces of bread left over after feeding the five thousand than they had in the beginning.
 
We also believe that the disciples had the power to do exactly what Jesus did, but they were too timid to try; so Jesus needed to work on their faith some more, just as He needs to do with us today.

18. And it came about that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, "Who do the multitudes say that I am?"

Jesus is trying to get them to really focus upon the heavenly realm instead of upon the earth; He wants them to be looking upon earth with God, and not looking to God for Him to make everything right, as they did when they wanted Jesus to feed the 5,000. 

19. And they answered and said, "John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen again."
 
20. And He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" And Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God."

This is having the mind of Christ and knowing who He is.

21. But He warned them, and instructed them not to tell this to anyone,
 
22. saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day."

Jesus is describing the way of the world, and He doesn’t want them to be told who He is; He wants them to seek the heavenly things themselves.

23. And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

This is the way of the peacemaking children of God; this is the way of those who are looking upon earth with God.

24. "For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
 
25. "For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?

Worldly gains can never get us into heaven; we need to seek the higher things; we need to spiritually live in the heavenly realm, even while physically living in the world.

26. "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
 
27. "But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who shall not taste death until they see the kingdom of God." 

There are two ways to see the kingdom of God: the first is to physically die and enter heaven, which most people hope for but many will not achieve; the second is the spiritual entry into heaven which we have been talking about, when we are truly born again and become the peacemaking children of God who live in His heavenly will.
 
Then Jesus gives us a glimpse into this transition, when we are transformed.

28. And some eight days after these sayings, it came about that He took along Peter and John and James, and went up to the mountain to pray.
 
29. And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming.

I can remember back to when I was born again, and others saying to me: what happened to you? You look different. The way you talk is different.
 
I knew I was different, spiritually, inside, but I hadn’t realized that others could see the difference physically, or perhaps they sensed the spiritual difference in some way.
 
To this day, I don’t know what they saw and sensed, but I knew I was a new person in Jesus.
 
We don’t know how many other people have had similar experiences, but I have come to know that this is a form of the transfiguration that was seen with Jesus on the mountain.
 
Shortly after this was when I began to understand that I was looking upon earth with God, and realized that I could no longer be a part of the corruption of God’s creation that was rampant upon the earth; I had become a child of God and had to help free the whole of creation from its present corruption, particularly the animals who could not speak out for themselves in this world.
 
And, we hope and pray that many of you feel the same way.

30. And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah,
 
31. who, appearing in glory, were speaking of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

It is also interesting to understand that Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets, or the whole of the Bible, and this was a sign that the whole Bible was being fulfilled in Jesus and His peaceful teachings.

32. Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him.
 
33. And it came about, as these were parting from Him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah" — not realizing what he was saying.
 
34 And while he was saying this, a cloud formed and began to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.
 
35. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!"
 
36. And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent, and reported to no one in those days any of the things which they had seen.
NASB

Well, now is the time for us to speak out and tell the world that it’s time to stop corrupting the earth with our warring madness, and our evil exploitation of the animals and our environment.
 
But, if we are going to be believed, we must also live that part; we must be true peacemaking children of God who eat only the plant foods that God originally created for us to eat, and live at peace with all other people and animals.
 
We need to feel as God feels.
 
We need to be looking upon earth with God.
 
We need to be the peacemaking children of God who live in His heavenly will and do everything in our power to free creation from its present corruption.
 
Amen.

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