Joy Because of Heaven's Perspective
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The Eternal View
12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.
18 (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:
19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
How strange in a letter filled with joy to find Paul weeping! Perhaps he is weeping over himself and his difficult situation! No, he is a man with a single mind, and his circumstances do not discourage him. Is he weeping because of what some Roman Christians are doing to him? No, he has a submissive mind and will not permit people to rob him of his joy. These tears are not for himself; they are shed because of others. Because Paul has a spiritual mind, he is heartbroken over the way some professed Christians are living, people who "mind earthly things."
While we cannot be sure, it is likely that verses 18-19 describe the judaizers and their followers.
Indeed, Paul is writing about professed Christians, not people outside the church. The Judaizers were the "enemies of the cross of Christ" in that they added the Law of Moses to the work of redemption that Christ wrought on the cross. Their obedience to the Old Testament dietary laws would make a "god" out of the belly (see Col. 2: 20-23); and their emphasis on circumcision would amount to glorying in that about which they ought to be ashamed (see Gal. 6:12-15). These men were not spiritually minded; they were earthly-minded.
They were holding on to earthly rituals and beliefs that God had given to Israel, and they were opposing the heavenly blessings that the Christian has in Christ (Eph. 1:3 2:6; Col. 3:1-3).
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
The word "spiritual" has suffered as much abuse as "fellowship." Too many people think that a "spiritual Christian" is mystical, dreamy, impractical, and distant. When he prays, he shifts his voice into a sepulchral tone in tremolo and goes to great lengths to inform God of what He already knows. Unfortunately, this unctuous piety is a poor example of true spirituality. To be spiritually minded does not require one to be impractical and mystical. Quite the contrary, the spiritual mind makes the believer think more clearly and get things done more efficiently.
To be "spiritually minded" means to look at earth from heaven's point of view. "Give your heart to the heavenly things, not to the passing things of earth" (Col. 3:2, pm. "Practice occupying your minds with the things above, not the things on earth" (Col. 3:2, wms). D. L. Moody used to scold Christians for being "so heavenly minded they were no earthly good," and that exhortation still needs to be heeded. Christians have dual citizenship on earth and in heaven-and, our citizenship in heaven ought to make us better people here on earth. The spiritually-minded believer is not attracted by the "things" of this world. He makes his decisions based on eternal values and not the passing fads of society. Lot chose the well-watered plain of Jordan because his values were worldly, and ultimately he lost everything. Moses refused the pleasures and treasures of Egypt because he had something infinitely more wonderful to live for (Heb. 11:24-26). "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36)
"For our citizenship is in heaven" (v. 20, NASs).
The Greek word translated as "conversation" or “citizenship” is the word from which we get the English word "politics." It has to do with one's behavior as a citizen of a nation. Paul is encouraging us to have a spiritual mind, and he does this by pointing out the characteristics of the Christian whose citizenship is in heaven. Just as Philippi was a colony of Rome on foreign soil, so the church is a "colony of heaven" on earth.
1. A NEW COUNTRY
The citizens of Philippi were privileged to be Roman citizens away from Rome. When a baby is born in Philippi, its name must be registered on the legal records. When the lost sinner trusts Christ and becomes a citizen of heaven, his name is written in "the book of life" (Phil. 4:3
3 And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.
Citizenship is important. When you travel to another country, it is essential that you have a passport that proves your citizenship. None of us wants to suffer the fate of Philip Nolan in the classic tale The Man Without a Country. Because he cursed the name of his country, Nolan was sentenced to live aboard a ship and never again see his native land or even hear its name or news about its progress. For 56 years, he was on an endless journey from ship to ship and sea to sea and finally was buried at sea. He was a "man without a country."
The Christian's name is written in "the book of life," and this is what determines his final entrance into the heavenly country (Rev. 20:15). When you confess Christ on earth; He confesses your name in heaven (Matt. 10:32-33). Your name is written down in heaven (Luke 10:20) and it stands written forever. (The Greek verb "written" in Luke 10:20 is in a perfect tense: "it is once-for-all written and stands written.")
GOING TO THE STATE HOUSE
She told us to be at a particular gate at 8 o'clock in the morning and to be prepared to show evidence of who we were. David and I approached the gate, and the guard politely asked our names. We told him, showing our credentials.
We got into the STATE House because our names were written down on the proper list, and our names got on that list through the intercession of another.
So it is with our entrance into heaven: because we have trusted Christ, our names are written down, and we will enter glory on His merits and intercession alone.
2. A NEW CONVERSATION
Those who "mind earthly things" talk about earthly things. After all, what comes out of the mouth reveals what is in the heart (Matt. 12:34-37). The unsaved person does not understand the things of God's Spirit (1 Cor. 2:14-16), so how can he talk about them intelligently? The citizens of heaven understand spiritual things and enjoy discussing them and sharing them with one another.
"They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world hearth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God hearth us; he that is not of God hearth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error" (1 John 4:
5-6).
But speaking heaven's language not only involves what we say but also the way we say it. The spiritually-minded Christian doesn't go around quoting Bible verses all day! But he is careful to speak in a manner that glorifies God. "Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man" ( Col.
4:6). No believer should ever say, "Now take this with a grain of salt!" Put the salt into your speech! Salt prevents corruption. "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers" (Eph 4:29).
3. A NEW CITIZENSHIP
The citizens of Philippi were governed by Roman law, not Greek law, even though they were hundreds of miles from Rome. In fact, it was this policy that put Paul into jail when he first visited Philippi (Acts 16:16-24). Paul himself used his Roman citizenship to guarantee his protection under Roman law (Acts 16:35-40; 21:33- 40; 22:24-30).
In 3:17, Paul warns the Philippian believers against imitating the wrong kind of citizens. "Be followers together of me." Of course, Paul was a follower of Christ, so his admonition is not egotistical! (1 Cor. 11:1) Paul knew himself to be an "alien" in this world, a "pilgrim and a stranger" (see 1 Peter 2:11). Heaven’s laws governed his life, and this is what made him different.
He was concerned about others, not himself. He was interested in giving, not getting. His motive was love (2 Cor. 5:14), not hatred. By faith, Paul obeyed the Word of God, knowing that one day he would be rewarded. Men might oppose him and persecute him now, but in that final day of reckoning, he would be the winner.
Sad to say, there are those today, like the Judaizers in Paul's day, who profess to be citizens of heaven, but whose lives do not show it. They may be zealous in their religious activities and even austere in their disciplines, but there is no evidence of the control of the Spirit of God in their lives. The flesh energizes all they do, and they get all the glory. It is bad enough that they are going astray, but they also lead others astray. No wonder Paul wept over them.
4. A NEW CAUSE
The cross of Jesus Christ is the theme of the Bible, the heart of the Gospel, and the chief source of praise in heaven (Rev. 5:8-10). The cross proves God's love for sinners (Rom. 5:8) and God's hatred for sin. The cross condemns what the world- values. It judges mankind and pronounces the true verdict: Guilty!
In what sense were the Tudaizers the "enemies of the cross of Christ"? For one thing, the cross ended the Old Testament religion. When the veil of the Temple was torn in two, God announced that the way to God was open through Christ (Heb. 10:19-25). When Jesus shouted, "It is finished!" He made one sacrifice for sins and thus ended the whole sacrificial system (Heb. 10:1-14).
By His death and resurrection, Jesus accomplished a "spiritual circumcision" that made ritual circumcision unnecessary (Col. 2:10-13). Everything that the Tudaizers advocated had been eliminated by the death of Christ on the cross!
Furthermore, everything that they lived for was condemned by the cross. Jesus had broken down the wall between Jews and Gentiles (Eph. 2:14-16), and the Judaizers were rebuilding that wall! They were obeying "carnal (fleshly) ordinances" (Heb. 9:10), regulations that appealed to the flesh and were not directed by the Spirit.
But the true believer crucifies the flesh (Gal. 5:24).
He also crucifies the world (Gal. 6:14). Yet the Judaizers were minding "earthly things." It is the cross that is central in the life of the believer. He does not glory in men, religion, or achievements; he glories in the cross (Gal. 6:14).
Paul weeps because he knows the future of these men:
"whose end is destruction" (v. 19).
This word carries with it the idea of waste and “Lostness.” (It is translated as "waste" in Mark 14:4
4 And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?
Judas is called "the son of perdition," and this is the word used (John 17:12). A wasted life and an eternity of waste! In contrast, the true child of God, whose citizenship is in heaven, has a bright future.
5. A RETURNING CAPTAIN
The Judaizers lived in the past tense, trying to get the Philippian believers to return to Moses and the Law. Still, true Christians live in the future tense, anticipating the return of their Saviour (vv. 20-21). As the accountant in verses 1-11, Paul discovered new values. As the athlete in verses 12-16, he displayed new vigor. Now as the alien, he experiences a
It is this anticipation of the coming of Christ that motivates the believer with the spiritual mind.
There is tremendous energy in the present power of future hope. Because Abraham looked for a city, he was content to live in a tent (Heb. 11:13-16). Because Moses looked for the rewards of heaven, he was willing to forsake the earth’s treasures (Heb. 11:24-26).
Because of the "joy that was set before Him" (Heb. 12:2), Jesus was willing to endure the cross. The fact that Jesus Christ is returning is a powerful motive for dedicated living and devoted service today.
"And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure" (read 1 John 2:28 -3:3).
The citizen of heaven, living on earth, is never discouraged because he knows that his Lord is one day going to return. He faithfully keeps doing his job lest his Lord returns and finds him disobedient (Luke 12:40-48). The spiritually minded believer does not live for the things of this world; he anticipates the blessings of the world to come. This does not mean that he ignores or neglects his daily obligations, but it does mean that what he does today is governed by what Christ will do in the future.
Paul mentions mainly that the believer will receive a glorified body, like the body of Christ.
Today we live in a "body of humiliation" (which is the meaning of the word translated "vile" in verse 21);
but when we see Christ, we will receive a body of glory. It will happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor. 15:42-53)!
At that moment, all the things of this world will be worthless to us--just as they ought to be, relatively, today! If we are living in the future tense, then we will be exercising the spiritual mind and living for the things that really matter.
21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
When Jesus returns, He will "subdue all things unto Himself" (v. 21b). That word "subdue" means "to arrange in ranks." Isn't that our problem today?
We do not arrange "things" in their proper order.
Our values are twisted. Consequently, our vigor is wasted on useless activities, and our vision is clouded so that the return of Christ is not a real motivating power in our lives. Living in the future tense means letting Christ arrange the "things" in life according to the proper rank. It means living "with eternity's values in view," and daring to believe God's promise that "he that doeth the will of God abideth forever” (1 John 2:17
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.