The Already But Not Yet Hope of Being A Citizen of Heaven
Philippians Nigeria • Sermon • Submitted
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Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
Philippians 3:1-
If anyone could have been good enough to assure entrance for himself into heaven it was Paul. He did it all. He’s risked his life, he’s traveled most of the time since becoming a believer, he’s worked.
Paul considers that his whole life has been lived for God first, making mistakes, and now for Jesus Christ. Everything he has done is
Becoming a citizen of heaven is not based on what you do, but who you know.
Paul is sincerely concerned that the people in the church at Philippi, the brothers and sisters there, may be misled by
When you are a citizen of heaven, getting around depends on who you know. It all depends on who you know.
When I came to Abuja last Friday I flew in a state of the art jet aircraft. My trip had been planned for months. But no matter what I did back home to be the perfect traveler, If I came to Abuja by myself and stepped out of the airport without knowing anyone, with no cash, no reservations, I would have no idea where to go, where to stay, how to eat. But because I know Emmanuel and Grace, when I stepped out of that airport, I was immediately at home.
Paul tells us in that being a citizen of in heaven while you still live down here on earth all depends on who you know:
The hope of the resurrection lies not in our own keeping of the law, not in luck, not in hard work, but only because we know Jesus Christ.
Paul lived an exemplary religious life, yet, he couldn’t find his way home to heaven despite it.
Verse 4 tells us:
4 …I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh...If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
We know the Pharisees, who were the lay leaders in the synagogues, kept every Old Testament rule to the letter. Not only that, they kept the rules made to keep you from breaking the rules.
Yet Paul knew that was not what was needed. To find your way to heaven it depends not on how well you keep the OT rules or how well you know your Bible; it depends entirely on who you know!
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
Knowing Jesus makes the difference between going home to heaven and not. No matter Christian zeal or our Bible knowledge.
Even our service for him, all the things we have given up in order to serve Christ, all that is rubbish, because our righteousness comes only from our relationship with Jesus Christ, our belief in His ability to save us
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Paul says: For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
The Humble Hope of being resurrected means we may share in suffering as Christ did and even death. We hope to one day know the power of his resurrection. But for now it has been granted to us to share in His sufferings. In all this we already have the same kind of power that will one day cause us to be risen from the dead. But for now, we must die to self like he died to self. Our hope, is not that our good works will make us rich or godly but we hope for the resurrection from the dead. We press on towards that.
Even Paul did not want people to consider him perfect or as having attained the resurrection.
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own.
We seem to think that we can climb the ladder to heaven. We can climb the ladder of success and climb the ladder of faithful living. Lots of ladders we can climb but the only way to heaven, short of the resurrection, is death!
The power of the resurrection, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, is the same power that carries us through our sufferings. In fact, when we suffer, we share with Jesus. The only way to attain the resurrection of the dead is to die!
So do not consider or worry about what you have done for God in the past but strain forward to the future. The future that will ultimately end in the upward call of Christ Jesus. Our future is in heaven-THAT is our goal. Our goal is upward.
What does being heavenly minded, thinking for the future mean?. What does that look like? How can we do that? (Spending time in the Word, in prayer, singing praise, reading Psalms, caring for children, caring for the poor who cannot help themselves, and daring for the elderly who are close to heaven.
But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
Interesting that Paul says the mature do not focus as much on what’s happening down here as they do on what’s going to happen UP THERE. Don’t be focused on what your will eat or drink or if you will gain fame or fortune on this earth. Glorying in earthly things brings shame. But keep your eyes on Jesus Christ’s life. Live as Paul did.
Yes, there are many enemies of the cross of Christ. The promise of God is that they will end in destruction. The wicked may prosper for a time but we will be blessed for all eternity.
17 Brothers and sisters, join in imitating [Paul in this}…keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
That is how the enemies of God live-focused on the day to day, what they will eat drink, and wear. I have a dog and I can honestly say his god is his belly, or rather his nose. He thinks about himself. He has no concept of truly loving me except that he knows I will feed him and care for him and pet him on occasion. It’s all about him.
My prayers give away the fact that I AM A LOT LIKE MY DOG. I PRAY FOR THINGS OF THIS EARTH not for things of heaven.
Now, behind all of this teaching about being granted to suffer and having out eyes focused on heaven, not earth, is the major life principal that God gave us back in Deuteronomy is TRUE and other biblical principles such as 1) you reap what you sew 2) if you don’t work you don’t eat, 3) the children of the righteous will not need to go begging and behind all of that 3) those who live righteously and follow God will be blessed and those that don’t will be cursed. All true, true.
But what Paul is talking about here is the mature believer, you and I, we know we are children of the king, adopted into the royal household, Paul says “CITIZENS of HEAVEN” and we must, not for our salvation which Christ has already done the work for. We work as grateful children of the king. We work while there is still day, we want to serve God, but none of those things will necessarily make us rich, quite the opposite.
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
Live not as citizens of Nigeria or members of your single church, but live as what you really are, citizens of heaven. That is what we wait for, that day when Christ calls us home to heaven to be with him there. We look forward to the upward call of Christ and already we live as sojourners on earth. For this is not our true home, but the believer is indeed truly a citizen of heaven.