Citizenship

Notes

Kingdom Citizenship

Philippians 2:27-30

27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

INTRODUCTION

Blue Jays:

King of Canada: King Charles

Blue Jays

I swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles the Third, King of Canada, His Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada, including the Constitution, which recognizes and affirms the Aboriginal and treaty rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen.

Allegiance to the Crown, “King of Canada”

BUT ALSO, “That I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada.

Be awkward if they all took an oath like this, and then went into the crowd at the Roger’s Center and started booing Canada, or pick-pocketed folks, or worse yet, cheered against the Blue Jays!

If you’ve made a Citizenship Vow, you’re expected to live like a Citizen!

Allegiance to a King

What does it mean to have allegiance to the King of kings!?

How to do live as those aligned with the King of kings.

Part I: Be Worthy Citizens!

27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Why talk about citizenship when the word citizenship isn’t in this passage??

Not in the ESV.

Not in the NIV: “Whatever happens, conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”

“The rendering of the imperative as “conduct yourselves” is unfortunate—and unnecessary” Fee

TNIV: “27 Whatever happens, as citizens of heaven live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”

Same word in Phil 3:20 “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Answer:

“let your manner of life be...”=Let your “citizenship”

“Let your citizenship be worthy of the Gospel of the King!”

Walter Hansen: “Verb is built on the noun polis (‘city’) and connotes the political duties of citizens of a city.”

BDAG: “Discharge your obligations as citizen.”

Paul’s saying: You have dual citizenship, and you need to live each one in response to the Gospel of Christ.

Dual Citizenship: “As Philippi was a colony of Rome in Macedonia, so the church was a “colony of heaven”” Fee

“A colony within a colony.” Hanson

Hansen: “As good citizens of Philippi and as good citizens of heaven, live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ!”

Philippi:

Philip of Madecon (Father of Alexander the Great in 356)

Strategic Location: Fee’s Summary of Philippi

42 BC: Civil War between the assassins of Julias Caesar: Cassius and Brutus versus Octavias and Mark Antony

Octavias and Mark Antony Won the Civil war

After the War, Octavian did a number of important things:

He ‘refounded’ Philippi as a Roman Military Colony and granted the members of the city Roman Citizenship.

When Paul came: “Philippi was the urban political center of the eastern end of the plain.”

Took great pride in their Roman Citizenship

Wealthy City: Near mineral deposits of gold

Relocated retired Roman officials to Philippi

Nationalistic. Devout.

But then along comes Paul here, and says that as Christians, you have dual citizenship!

You have rights and privileges in both.

NOW, Paul says, “be citizens worthy [not merely Rome, not merely Philippi, not merely your famous heritage] BUT OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST

Gospel of Christ!

Gospel of the Anointed One. Gospel of the KING

King Pre-Incarnate

King Incarnate

King healer

King story-teller

King Friend

King Prayer

King crucified

King raised

King rules!

So what does it look like to be citizens worthy of the Gospel of Christ?

A worthy citizen is one who lives uniformly with the church and sacrificially for other.

Uniform

Sacrificial

Paul deals with these two themes in the following versus.

Paul describes what it means to be worthy citizens in response to the Gospel of the King

Allegiance to the Gospel of the King

It’s one thing to say a VOW to the King, it’s another thing to LIVE ACCORDING TO THE LAWS OF THE LAND.

Colony within a colony

2. What do worth Citizens of the Gospel Do?

They Stand Firm

WITH ONE Spirit

WITH ONE Mind

Solidarity

Posture of Victory: Holding fast as victorious.

Battle has already been won

They Contend for faith of the Gospel

Positive: Show picture of soldiers marching side by side.

Striving side by side for the faith of the Gospel: March!

Citizenship: One front

They’re Fearless

Negative

Frightened= “Used in Greek literature to describe horses that are startled and frightened on the battlefield.” Hansen

Do not be intimidated in any way by the opposition

“This is a clear sign of their destruction.”

“But of your [from God!] Salvation”

OMEN/SIGN=Standing firm and contending

1 Corinthians 1:18: “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

Literal Translation: “This is to them a sign of destruction, but of your salvation.” Hansen.

“In no way let you adversaries strike terror in you. For although they see your loyalty to the truth as inevitably leading to your persecution and death, you see it as leading through persecution to the salvation of your souls.” Hawthorne

“The Philippians’ steadfastness in the face of opposition is a sign to the opponents of the Philippians’ destruction.” Hawthorne

Hansen: “To stand firm, striving together with one accord for the faith of the gospel in the Roman world was “a concrete manifestation to the opponents of the Christians’ impending destruction, a destruction that would have entailed not only physical death but also the judgment of the gods.”

Not being frightened is a sign of “Your salvation, and that from God.”

Standing firm and contending for the faith are evidence of their salvation (not the means of salvation!)

3. They live for Christ’s Sake

Not merely BELIEVE ON Christ

They Suffer FOR Christ

29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

“Our tendency is to focus on the suffering; what is needed is a radical paradigm shift towards Christ—and his apostles—as God’s ultimate paradigm for us. Through ‘death on a cross’ he now only ‘saved us,’ but modeled for us God’s way of dealing with the opposition—loving them to death.” Fee

“Granted you”=grace. “This is a freely given thing...”

SAME struggle

Christ’s sake: What does sake mean?

[You’re salvation] has been graciously given to you for Christ’s sake, to not only believe but to suffer for his sake.

“On behalf of”

v.30: engaved in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

ONE suffering requires you to remain in ONE Spirit and ONE Mind

Hansen: “Both Paul and the Philippians were engaged, by virtue of their commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ, in the same life-and-death struggle with the religious and political powers of the Roman Empire. Paul was aware that this struggle made suffering inevitable and might in fact bring about his own death and that of his partners under the Roman powers.”

Conclusion

Allegiance to the King

Adherence to the Constitution

Dual Citizens