OUR HEAVENLY CITIZENSHIP – Bethany Bible Church

Bethany Bible Church; an Independence Day message, July 4, 2010
from
Philippians 3:20-4:1

Theme: Keeping our heavenly citizenship first in our affections is the best way to live as citizens of this temporal, earthly kingdom.

[podcast]http://www.bethanybible.org/audio/070410.mp3[/podcast]

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

It’s upon the principles of those words—among the greatest words ever penned by man—that our nation came into existence. And today we gratefully celebrate its two-hundred and thirty-fourth birthday.
It’s a good day to pause and remember that those carefully-crafted words establish our freedom on something far greater than upon the government itself. They make clear to us that our liberties are not endowed to us by the government, but rather by our Creator; and that government exists simply to help protect them. And I suggest that the best way for us to be good citizens of this temporal human government is to always keep the true source of our liberties in mind—and be submitted to the the great Author of liberty, who is greater than our nation, who existed before it, who reigns supreme over it, and with whom—in Christ—we are destined to dwell long after its purpose is completed.
In other words, I believe we best honor our citizenship in the United States by making sure we give first place to our even greater citizenship in heaven through Jesus Christ.

* * * * * * * * * *

In saying that, I’m not saying anything new. I’m simply reflecting what the apostle Paul said some nineteen-and-a-half centuries ago. He once wrote about people who were making their existence on earth the only thing of importance. He told his Christian friends in the ancient city of Philippi,

Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things (Philippians 3:17-19).

The mindset of such people rose no higher than the earth. They “set their mind on earthly things”, where their ultimate interests were focused. And their conduct on earth was a product of that utterly earthly mindset. They ended-up glorying in things that they should have been ashamed of. They ended-up worshiping whatever satisfied their fleshly desires. And they ended-up with ‘destruction’ as their final destination.
But Paul called his believing friends to follow a different example—to walk according to a more honorable pattern—to have a higher mindset. He tells them;

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself (vv. 20-21).

And this mindset was to utterly transform the way they lived on earth. Paul says,

Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved (4:1).

This passage is about ‘citizenship’—which is a good thing for us to talk about on the birthday of our nation. But it makes clear to us that our citizenship in the United States—as great thing as it is—is not the most important thing about us. It reminds us that our citizenship in a far greater, more eternal kingdom is what we must keep first in our affections; and that when we faithfully do so, it impacts the way we live as citizens of this temporal, earthly nation.

* * * * * * * * * *

Think about that word “citizenship” for a moment. In the original language of Paul’s letter, it was the word from which we get our English word “politics”.¹ It meant “the administration of a commonwealth”. In the old King James version, this word is translated “conversation”; signifying that system of principles by which we carry-on our social and civil exchanges with one another.
Paul wrote this letter to Christians living in Philippi; and “citizenship” was a big thing to the people of that ancient city. At one point in their past, Philippi had been declared a “Roman colony”; and that meant that its citizens had the right to think of themselves as citizens of Rome. They were very proud of this; and it had an impact on the way they conducted their everyday lives. For example, the people of Philippi used Latin—the language of Rome—as their official language. They embraced Roman customs and practices. They structured their civil laws after the laws of the Roman empire. They would have boasted that, even though they held citizenship in Philippi—a city that was far away in the regions of Macedonia, they nevertheless had an even greater citizenship in Rome. They lived like Romans; because Rome was where they had their ultimate “citizenship”.
And such Roman citizenship meant something practical! Paul was a Roman citizen too; and he wasn’t afraid to make use of that citizenship. When they first came to Philippi, Paul and Silas were and beaten and thrown into jail for preaching the gospel. And when the officials sent the jailer the next day to release them, Paul said, “They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out” (Acts 16:37). When the officials heard this, they were terrified; because it was a serious violation of the law for them to have beaten a Roman citizen! It made a lot of difference where you had your citizenship!
Now; all of this helps us to appreciate the first thing we see that Paul says to the Philippian believers. It may have been true that they had a temporal citizenship in Philippi, and an even greater temporal citizenship in Rome. But they were not to set their minds ultimately on earthly things. Paul tells them that, as believers . . .

1. WE HAVE OUR CITIZENSHIP IN HEAVEN.

He says, “for our citizenship is in heaven . . .” (v. 20a). It’s in heaven—not on the earth—that our ‘politics’ are centered. We may walk around on this earth as citizens of a temporal, earthly kingdom; but we only do so for a while. Our lasting citizenship—our ultimate citizenship—is in the kingdom of heaven. Our true homeland is heaven; and it’s our glorious citizenship there that truly defines what we really are here!
Paul uses a particular word in the original language to express this.2 It doesn’t show up very well in the English translation; but it is nevertheless there. It basically means that our citizenship “has its existence” or “belongs” in heaven. And this word is presented to us in the present tense; meaning that it isn’t simply on reserve for us one day in the future, but is an ongoing spiritual reality right now! Our ‘citizenship papers’ are, as it were, already processed and on file in heaven! We don’t have to work hard so that one day we will “become” citizens of heaven. We don’t have to labor our whole lives long for it in the hopes that we will one day be found “worthy” of it. We, dear brothers and sisters—right now, even as we speak, on the basis of God’s grace through our faith in Jesus Christ—are citizens of heaven as surely as if we were already there!
Paul expresses this same truth in other places in Scripture. In Ephesians 2:4-6, he wrote,

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus . . . (Ephesians 2:4-6).

Think of that! As far as God Himself is concerned—through faith in Jesus His Son—we are, right now, already raised with Christ and seated at God’s right hand “in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”! Or consider what he wrote in Colossians 3:1-4;

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory (Colossians 3:1-4).

As far as God is concerned, you have already died to the things of this world, and have already been raised with Jesus. He is at the right hand of the Father; and “your life is hidden with Christ in God”. You are living on earth as a temporary citizen of an earthly nation called the United States of America. But your true citizenship is already in heaven!
What a difference it would make to our lives on earth if that truth truly gripped our hearts!

* * * * * * * * * *

Not only does our citizenship belong in heaven, but . . .

2. WE HAVE A KING WHO IS COMING FROM HEAVEN.

One of the great themes of the document we celebrate today—the Declaration of Independence—was our official break from the king of England. Our founding fathers rejected the concept of ‘the divine rights of kings’; that is, that the earthly king was someone special—that he so derived his authority directly from God that he was not in any way accountable to the will of the people. Instead, they declared that all men are created equal; and that there would be no other king over the people of our nation but King Jesus.3
And so, it’s important to stress that we citizens of heaven, living on earth as temporal citizens of the United States, do indeed have an eternal King! Paul wrote that our citizenship is in heaven, “from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ . . .” (v. 20b). It’s significant to note that, in writing to exhort the believers in Philippi about their citizenship, Paul was careful to stress Jesus’ identity as “Lord”. In other words, we not only walk around on this earth with a greater and higher citizenship than can be granted by any earthly kingdom, but that we do so under the authority of a greater and higher King while living upon this earth.
This King is our source of hope and joy on earth. Paul said that it was from heaven that “we also eagerly wait for” Him. That great expectation colors everything else about our life on earth. As Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17;

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17).

And while the Bible tells us that those who have built their whole existence upon the fading things of this earth will cry out against Him and hide from Him at His coming (see Revelation 6:15-17), we gladly welcome His return; because for us, He is “the Savior” that we eagerly wait for from heaven. He’s the one who, in great love and in great humility, came to this earth in order to die for us and save us from the curse of our sins. And we now live for Him, as Paul wrote at the beginning of his letter to the Philippians,”being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
Let me ask you something. On this Independence Day, do you celebrate your freedom to be utterly dependent upon King Jesus? Have you taken that first and most vital step in your dependency upon Him by trusting Him as your Savior? And having trusted Him, do you seek to live in constant, increasing obedience to Him as your Lord?
There really is no greater liberty than the liberty that comes from having Jesus Christ as your King!

* * * * * * * * * *

Now; if we truly believe on Jesus, then we are—even right at this moment—full citizens of heaven; possessing all the rights and privileges that go along with that citizenship. And what’s more, it’s from our glorious homeland that we derive all our hopes—because we eagerly await the appearance, from heaven, of our glorious Savior and King.
But when we look around at each other, we soon realize that we’re not yet fit to live in the kingdom of which we are true citizens. And this leads us to a great prospect that Paul stresses about our heavenly citizenship under Jesus Christ; and that is that . . .

3. IT IS OUR DESTINY TO BE CONFORMED TO HIS HEAVENLY GLORY.

Paul says that we wait for this great Lord and Savior from heaven, “who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body . . .” (v. 21a).
He calls our present body “our lowly body”; or, as it’s translated in the New American Standard version, “the body of our humble state”; or as it’s found in the King James version, “our vile body”. It may not be “vile” in the way we use that word today; but it is far short of heavenly glory. And we all know this by personal experience, don’t we? We experience its limitations daily. It gets hungry. It grows weak or tired. It gets ill. It suffers wounds and bruises. It can start to smell if we don’t take care of it. It grows increasingly old and wrinkled. And one day—unless the Lord Jesus returns before then—it will die. And what’s more, it also suffers moral weaknesses too. It wars with our inner man. Our spirit is often willing to obey God; but the flesh is weak. It becomes tempted. It buckles under trial. We are made into new creations on the inside by faith; but our bodies just don’t yet measure-up to the reality of what we are spiritually.
But compare this body of our low estate to that of our resurrected Lord. Paul called it “His glorious body”. When He was on the Mount of Transfiguration, He revealed just a hint of that glory to the disciples—just before He went to the cross. His face shone like the sun; and His clothes became as white as the light. He eventually died on the cross in that body; but He rose in it from the dead three days later—never to suffer death again. When He met His disciples afterwards, He could appear to them even though the door was locked; yet He could eat before them, and they could touch Him. And later, when He appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, He appeared to him in a blinding light from heaven. The Bible tells us that He has been exalted to the right hand of God! Think of it!—a glorified Man, in a glorified human body, sits at the right hand of God! When He appeared to John in the book of Revelation, He said, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore” (Revelation 1:18).
And Paul reminds us that we look for this glorious Savior—the Lord Jesus Christ—to come to us from heaven and transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body! Then, the outward appearance of our body will forever match the inward glory of our spirits. Then, we will dwell in bodies that will perform worthy service to our glorious King! Then, we will be made fit to live in the glorious kingdom of which we truly are citizens!
Sometimes, well-meaning Christians state things incorrectly. They say, “I look forward to getting a brand-new body one day.” But as you can see from Paul’s words, we don’t receive a “new” body in the sense of it being a different one from the one we’re now in. Look at Jesus after His resurrection. He didn’t receive a “different” body. Rather, the very same body that He died in was raised. But it was raised in glory; and that’s what will happen to our bodies. When the Lord returns, these lowly bodies of ours will be transformed into conformity with His own glorious body. All the faults and limitations and liabilities that we currently suffer in this body will be forever taken away; for “if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection . . .” (Romans 6:5).
Now; how can such a thing happen? How can these weak, frail, lowly, humble bodies of ours be conformed to the glorious body of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ? We certainly couldn’t make that happen. We can’t even seem to keep our skin from getting wrinkled, or our hair from going gray. But our great God can make it happen. Paul goes on to tell us that it’s “according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (v. 21b). Just as He made all things the first time, and by means of the same power through which He is able to bring all things that He made into subjection to Himself, He is able to take these lowly bodies of ours and transform them into bodies fit for heaven. As Paul wrote elsewhere, in 1 Corinthians 15:50-57;

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:50-57).

* * * * * * * * * *

Now; I love what Paul says at the end of that passage in 1 Corinthians 15. After telling the believers about how God will one day bring their lowly bodies into conformity with the glorious body of Jesus, he says;

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58).

And that brings us to the last point from our passage this morning. All these other things being true, as true citizens of the heavenly kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ . . .

4. THERFORE, WE OUGHT TO ‘STAND FAST’ FOR HIM WHILE ON EARTH.

Paul speaks very passionately to his beloved “fellow citizens”; and says,
Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved (4:1).
I love how he called them his “beloved and longed-for brethren”. It makes perfect sense that he would have felt that way about them! He and they were citizens together of the same eternal kingdom! And he considered that it would be his greatest reward to one day see them glorified before the Lord Jesus in that kingdom. That’s why he considered them His “joy” and “crown”. He looked forward to the day when Jesus will come for them, and when they will be conformed to their Savior’s glorified body! He wanted them to look forward to it as well.
But it’s as if, suddenly, he brings us all back to the situation we’re in now. We’re eternal citizens of the heavenly kingdom—but we’re not living there yet. Instead, we’re living far from our true homeland in this nation, of which we are but temporary citizens. We have a glorious King—but we don’t see Him just yet. Instead, we serve Him while under the authority of this temporal human government. We live in the hope of our bodies being glorified like our Lord’s resurrected body—but we’re not in a glorified condition yet. Instead, we live in these lowly bodies, away from our homeland—worshiping and obeying our King, as it were, “through a glass darkly”..
But as Paul urges us, beloved brothers and sisters in Christ; on the basis of all the things that are true of us as citizens of a glorious heavenly kingdom right now, let’s make sure we “stand fast”—firm in our commitment to our Lord, and to our outlook in Him, as we dwell on the earth!
Let’s always remember that the best way for us to make use of our wonderful liberties as citizens of the United States is by making sure we give first place to our even greater citizenship in heaven through Jesus Christ.

1 Politeuma.
2Uparx?; to begin, to exist; here, to belong.
3“On April 18, 1775 John Adams and John Hancock were at the home of Rev. Jonas Clarke, a Lexington pastor and militia leader. That same night Paul Revere arrived to warn them of the approaching Redcoats. The next morning British Major Pitcairn shouted to an assembled regiment of Minutemen; ‘Disperse, ye villains, lay down your arms in the name of George the Sovereign King of England.’ The immediate response of Rev. Jonas Clarke or one of his company was: ‘We recognize no Sovereign but God and no King but Jesus'” (Truth in History, “No King But Jesus”; http://www.truthinhistory.org/no-king-but-jesus-2.html; accessed July 3, 2010).