Passport Ready
Notes
Transcript
Good morning Valley Church Clinton!
Today’s passage is just a continuation of Philippians, and we’re nearing the end of the book, I think we only have three Sundays left in Philippians, and the ending is just super good.
So, let’s dive in, join me in a word of prayer as we do.
Pray
So, if you know me very well, you know I love travelling. And I’m not a big luxury traveller, because I love to travel cheap…
And most of my travel revolves around food, in fact, you can generally see the trips I’ve taken organized by pictures of food on my phone, mostly ice cream… but I digress.
But I love meeting people, having adventures, exploring new places in the world, I love being uncomfortable especially in other cultures.
I mean, there’s just so much to learn from other people around the world.
But there’s one mission critical thing, a single document that allows me to go into other countries, at least according to their governments,
And that’s a passport. If you can see here, I have my passport. And this little booklet, it’s something you don’t want to leave at home when you go to the airport. And on your trip, you better make sure to keep track of it, because it’s gonna be a real problem getting home without it.
And this particular passport - it’s gotten me into a lot of places, quite a few countries.
In fact, most of the time, they’ll stamp what date and time you entered the country right into your passport, mostly so you don’t stay too long.
And this is actually my old passport, but I have stamps from Italy, Berlin, Sierra Leone, Honduras, Poland,
But if you flip to the front of the passport, where my picture is, in permanent lettering, under nationality, it says “United States of America”.
This is where my citizenship is. This is the single defining factor that allows my abilities to go in and out of a country, including this one, and gives my identity, my home, my place that takes me back.
And let me tell you, not a single county I’ve been to so far is tricked into thinking I’m one of them.
Sierra Leone, I was a large white man. I stick out like a sore thumb.
In Italy I was totally uncultured, in Honduras, same, I couldn’t handle the spicy food.q
The only place I’ve been where people start speaking their language to me by default is Germany, I must be just pasty enough that they assume I’m German.
See, in all these countries, no matter what, I’m still a citizen of the United States of America.
And I still act like a citizen of the United States, although I try to adapt to each culture I go into out of respect, no matter what, my passport, my mannerisms, my language, it still points to my home.
No matter where I go, my citizenship stays the same. And as long as I keep my passport, I can prove it.
And see, as Christians, we live the same way.
As the Bible says, we are not of this world, yet we’re in it.
But if we claim Christ, if we have become a new creation, this cool thing happens.
We’re issued a passport.
But instead of having a temporary stamp, or a visa to enter in and out of a country,
Our nationality says “Heaven”. Because our citizenship belongs to the Kingdom of God.
And our actions, and who we are in Christ, our identity, it becomes who we are,
And while there’s some carryover into what we call the world, we are clearly citizens of something else.
And this is where Paul starts our section today, that we, as followers of Christ, are called to follow and be an example of a citizen of heaven.
So, let’s dive in, and let’s start as usual with our first verse:
17 Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us.
So, we need to first call something out in our Christian life.
If anyone out there, if you or I claim to follow Christ and His teachings, the Apostle Paul who is writing here, he makes it clear:
It Matters How We Act
It Matters How We Act
Join in imitating me.
Now, this is usually met, upon first read, with some contempt toward Paul.
It’s like: sheesh, Paul. You’re a confident man.
Imitate you? Okay bud, sure.
But let’s clear that up a little bit - Paul always intends his audience to not imitate Paul as a man, or as a flawed person,
He intends the Philippians to imitate him, as he imitates Christ.
1 Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.
6 and you yourselves became imitators of us and of the Lord when, in spite of severe persecution, you welcomed the message with joy from the Holy Spirit.
See, Paul is not starting a religion, or a cult, he’s modeling after Christ, clearly.
I mean, just look back at any of this letter that we’ve explored so far - Paul so clearly says that our model to follow is Christ.
He spends a good chunk of this letter explaining why his amazing accomplishments are no good because they kept him from Christ,
He spends an entire section explaining that Jesus is God, and that he sits on the throne at the right hand of God, and that one day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord.
So, it doesn’t make sense that Paul would suddenly change things up and say “hey, use me as your awesome example in life”.
“Hey look at me, I started this church here in Philippi, so do everything I do”.
No, what he’s saying to these brand new baby Christians who are just establishing this church, he’s saying “Hey, I’m imitating Christ because I’m a mature Christian, I’ve learned to be more like Christ over time, I’ve learned from the disciples who spent years physically with Jesus on Earth, so do as I do”.
And this is a super common teaching method in Jewish first century Palestine, and it was extremely common throughout the easter world.
See, if a Jewish man wanted to become somebody, he would do whatever he could to find a Rabbi, usually that meant vigorous testing and abandoning your former way to life to completely devote yourself to this Jewish teacher who you would follow around like a little duckling.
Everything your rabbi did, you did. Everything he taught, you learned, memorized, poured over.
This was Paul’s experience with his rabbi Gamaliel. In fact, Paul name drops this guy in his defense to an angry mob in Acts 22
3 He continued, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strictness of our ancestral law. I was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.
At the feet of his rabbi, this is the description. You groveled at the opportunity to be with your teacher, you even took on their way of speech and their mannerisms.
You were expected to take up their mantle upon death,
This is what Paul had in his mind when talking about imitating Christ.
See, in Paul’s mind, Christ was the greatest rabbi and teacher to ever live.
He perfectly interpreted the Scriptures, He taught with God’s authority, his practices in life were incredible, unhurried, intentional,
He was the smartest man alive. Jesus gave the greatest sermon ever given in the Sermon on the Mount, and the teaching was so simple that even a child could understand, yet so deep in a soul-level transformational way that we still dissect it today.
Yet instead of demanding people kiss his feet, Jesus took off his outer garments and washed his disciple’s feet.
This is the Jesus that Paul is urging the Philippians to imitate, and this is the attitude he wants them to take. Like following a teacher, a rabbi, imitating their every move,
This is how we should view Jesus.
As the one to completley imitate.
Why? Why does Paul even say this?
It’s because how we act matters.
It affects our soul, it affects our relationship with Christ, our practices can either completley destroy our inner most self, or bring us closer to Jesus with the power of His Spirit,
But Paul uses the next two verses to explain exactly the damages done when imitating Jesus in heaven isn’t the goal:
18 For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things,
So, this is something that Paul had talked about before, and possibly several times before, as he often told them and warned them,
But there are clearly several people around the Philippians church, people that may be of influence to the members of that church, that are enemies of the cross of Christ.
Enemies of the cross Christ.
And this I think is a really careful phrase by Paul, because to be an enemy of Christ is one thing, but to be an enemy of the cross of Christ is an enemy of the gospel itself.
See, these opponents of Paul, these enemies, not only do they oppose the person Paul is claiming Christ to be, they’re opposing the good news, the message of salvation that Christ came to bring.
And there’s not just one, there are a bunch of these people who are enemies of Christ.
See, they’ve gone off course completley. They may be religious gentiles, they may be Jewish teachers, we aren’t really sure,
But what is clear is that they are not worth imitating. Why?
Because of verse 19. Their end is destruction. Their god is their stomach. Their glory is their shame.
Their end is their destruction, in other words, they are destined for destruction. Whatever the end of this path that they’ve chosen is, it’s not God, and it’s not good.
Their god is their stomach, ie they let their passions rule over them. Earthy temptations, carnal urges, they controlled these people that Paul writes about.
This was akin to the wild beasts in the wilderness, simply letting their instincts guide them to the next meal. They live only in the present.
And all these glorious things, whether it be gluttonous, lust, envy, strife, even following the letter of the law as salvation with circumcision and washing rituals,
It’s actually to their shame, they just can’t see that.
It makes sense thatPaul writes this in 1 Corinthians, a very similar feel,
22 For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.
But the thing is, Paul says none out of spite, or bitterness, or pride,
He says these things with tears.
Because he knows these people are misguided, and he wants the Philippians to have compassion.
He’s moved that they aren’t experiencing the grace and freedom found in Jesus Christ.
He must have Jesus’s words ringing around in his head:
43 “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Paul then transitions into what I believe is the thrust, the most important part of this section, he says:
They are focused on earthly things.
Then he continues:
20 Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21 He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself.
Our citizenship is in heaven.
Unlike theirs, your citizenship is not in this world, it’s up. It’s with Jesus in heaven.
And this, my friends, it open up a whole world and mission that we often neglect.
It’s the concept of our image as humans.
Because…
We Are Image Bearers
We Are Image Bearers
We’ve heard time and time again that we are made in the image of God, but what does that really mean?
Well, I think this is the central part of Paul’s argument here, as he says imitate me as I imitate Christ, and that we are citizens of heaven.
Let’s take a walk back to the Garden of Eden in Genesis, the very first book of the Bible…
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”
So, what does image mean? How we look? How we act?
Well, if you dig into the original language of Hebrew and into the ancient way of thinking, it actually functions more like a job title.
Made in the image of God means this is how we function, it’s a status symbol.
Because frankly, we do share many similarities with the rest of creation.
Did you know we share about 50% of our DNA, identical DNA and functions, with trees?
We walk and use tools like apes.
We eat meat like lions, I like to hibernate like bears.
But where humans differ from creation is through our value, function, and status as image bearers of God.
We carry out the functions that are godly.
It’s not an ability, it’s a status.
Another way to put it: we are created AS God’s image.
And that image was meant to be fruitful and multiply, to tend the Garden of Eden, AKA heaven on earth, forever and ever WITH God.
Our job was to prosper, to continue the good creation that God gave us.
And that’s why the original sin was so disastrous.
Because we chose to stop fulfilling our image.
This is why Jesus had to come to earth, to be incarnated in human flesh, to show us what it means to be the image of God perfectly.
So, when Paul says imitate me, he’s referring to our status and the things we do more than anything else.
And now, we need to imitate Christ, which is what it means to be made in the image of God.
Jesus had to be made human to show us, to reclaim, the image of God.
As Athanasius of Alexandria writes in his little book On the Incarnation,
“He became what we are that He might make us what He is.”
— Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation
See, here’s the thing about getting kicked out of the garden of eden: even since then, we have been wandering nomads. A key theme in the OT, by the way.
When we got kicked out of the place where heaven and earth overlapped, we no longer had a home. Sure, we can live. But we’ve never experienced home, even to this day.
And here is where our passport metaphor breaks down down this morning…
Remember, Paul is writing to a group of people in Philippi. And Philippi was a Roman colony, old military families lived there, many citizens of Rome lived there,
But they weren’t there on a temporary visa.
They weren’t there vacationing with their passport.
No, they were Roman citizens in a colony owned by Rome. They had the same benefits, the same rights, same language, everything.
It’s like living in Florida vs. Indiana. Although the people in Florida might be crazy, they’re still U.S. citizens.
So when Paul says “hey, you’re all citizens of heaven” they weren’t thinking like us.
They weren’t thinking “one day I’ll go home to heaven after I die and I’ll be home”
That wouldn’t make any sense to them.
See, all the people in Philippi that were Roman citizens, they weren’t one day hoping to finally to move to Rome, the horribly crowded city with no jobs.
No, they were home. And they were citizens.
And this brings us to perhaps the biggest cultural shift we need to make here in the American church:
We Need To Bring the Kingdom Here
We Need To Bring the Kingdom Here
If Paul says our citizenship is in heaven, yet we are here on earth, and if we are image bearers by design, knowing we have the job to care for creation…
Just because we got kicked out of the garden doesn’t mean our jobs have changed.
That means we are walking embassies. Do you know what I mean by that?
We are all mini embassies, mini representatives of God’s Kingdom, commissioned to create little pockets of God’s Kingdom here on earth.
And how do we do this?
We imitate Christ. We do the things He did. We act the way he acted.
The Kingdom is here now, and it’s our job to reclaim what was lost.
Just as Jesus says:
15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
Repent and believe the good news.
Because the Kingdom of God is here.
But what we want to do, and what Paul knows we want to do, is to follow our flesh.
To follow the desires of the world.
Because it feels good to follow our bellies, as it says.
It feels good, at least in the moment, to just follow what we want. But church, it’s time to find our higher calling.
Paul knows were gonna look out into the word, to the enemies of the cross of Christ, and we’re going to find them desirable.
But they are focused on earthly things, not the things that we concern ourselves with as citizens of heaven.
Because we have a duty to reclaim the nations, to reclaim God’s creation, this is the entire reason Jesus’s final call for us is this:
18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
So, my final question to you this morning is this:
Are You Passport Ready?
Are You Passport Ready?
Are you ready to become God’s embassy here on earth, where people can come to and find joy, and peace, and patience.
Are you forming yourself by imitating Christ, or are you letting yourself get led by your belly?
Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.”
-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Are you becoming a little Christ? When people see you, do they see Jesus?
Because we’ve lived long enough imitating what the Lord doesn’t value.
We’ve been at it long enough trying to fit into the world, blend into culture, bring into the fold.
But we’re called to be different.
It’s time to go out and show the world that we care, and welcome them into our embassy, our forever home, as we usher in the kingdom to earth.
Because the fact of the matter is this: in your life, you are imitating someone. You are being formed by someone. Always and forever.
But it’s up to you who you imitate.
So, friends, my encouragement to you is that we all imitate Christ, do the things he did, and pay careful attention to those who live in this way.
We need not to focus on our own fleshly desires, or try to model after people of a different citizenship than heaven,
And we need to join in with Jesus, not waiting until heaven, but brining the kingdom to earth right now.
1 So then, my dearly loved and longed for brothers and sisters, my joy and crown, in this manner stand firm in the Lord, dear friends.
Stand firm, church.
