“A Transformation in Citizenship”

Scripture Text: Philippians 3:17-4:1

Do you ever wonder about the future? Some folks even worry about tomorrow, but usually admit that they can’t do much about it anyway. You know of many people who are famous and believe this line, and even though you care about what tomorrow may bring, you decide to follow the example of others - just float along with the current of life, and don’t concern yourself with trying to change the destination.

Martin Van Buren was the eighth president of the United States. A number of years ago, a man by the name of Gary Holloway, an environmental planner working for San Francisco, discovered that Van Buren was the only president not to have a society dedicated to his memory. So Holloway founded the Martin Van Buren Fan Club.
Although Martin was the first president to be born a American, his presidency is generally seen as being unremarkable at best! It was marked by various internal conflicts, a national financial crisis and strained relations with Britain and Canada, and after 4 years, he was promptly voted out of office.
Holloway notes proudly “This man did practically nothing to further the course of our national destiny, yet hundreds of people now follow me in commemorating him.”
--As cited in David Weeks and Jamie James, Eccentrics(New York: Villard, 1995), 36.

How many of us are following the famous and near-famous who have done nothing to further the human race or make the world a better place? And how many of us are proud of our irrelevance?

Irrelevance is not a good thing! It lacks any sense of importance, has no inherent worth, and has no significance to life. Why in the world should anyone glorify it?

Read Philippians 3:17-19

Paul writes his letter of encouragement to the church in Philippi while he was in prison. If there was anyone who should have just thrown in the towel and surrendered his life to the fates, it was Paul. But here he is reaching out to his friends many miles away in Greece, letting them know how grateful he is for their support and love, and for the ministries that are coming from their congregation.
He wants them to continue to be focused on the cross, and not to fall for the destructive example that others may present to them. He refers to these others as “enemies of the cross of Christ.” So what characterizes those who are apparently living outside of Jesus’ example?

He refers to the people as idolizing their “stomachs” and glorifying their “shame”. It’s very possible that he is referring to Jewish converts who are still adhering to the necessity of their old laws.
Dietary laws were a daily routine that no self respecting Jew would every deviate from. There were things you could eat, and other things that you couldn’t eat. Leviticus 11 addresses the issue of what is to be considered clean and what is unclean. We read of Peter’s dilemma over this issue in Acts 10. He has a vision of a sheet being let down from heaven with a large assortment of unclean animals in it, and a voice instructs him to kill them and eat. Of course, being a good Jew, he replies “Never have and never will!” After this happens three times, each with the admonition that he should never call anything that God has created “unclean”, he finally understands and is then lead to the home of Cornelius, a gentile, and after telling his household all about Jesus, he is called to baptize them.
Idolizing the “stomach” – claiming that both food and people can be declared as unclean - has become a thing of the past.

The people were also being hypocritical in the administration of the general religious laws. There were some laws that were applied quite stringently to some people, and winked at for others. And some Christians were taking a similar approach – that since they were no longer under the law, they could do anything that they wanted to! There were no restrictions on their actions.
In his letter to the Romans (1:18-32), Paul writes “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator”. This wasn’t a condemnation only for the non Christian world – it also had a very real relevance for the Church. Every time that we try to convince ourselves, as well as others, that sin isn’t all that bad, and is actually a form of acceptable personal expression, we are “glorifying our shame.”.

And Paul, with tear-filled eyes, tells his friends that the destiny of these “enemies” of Christ’s example is nothing less than “destruction”. He wants the church to join him in continuing to imitate Christ. In Philippians 2, we are given a listing of what is involved in imitating Christ.

Read Philippians 2:5-8

If we truly wish to claim that we are living in the very nature of Christ, then we need to accept the fact that this nature must include humility and servanthood. It is no longer about us – it is about Christ. It is no longer about elevating our own position – it is about raising others up to a higher place. Humble yourself to the point that you can do nothing else but love the Lord your God and your neighbor.

Read Philippians 3:20-4:1

Society tells us that we must never loose sight of who we are, and they claim that we are defined by the national origin of our ancestors. Have you ever noticed that there are very few “Americans” any more? We have all become hyphenated citizens! We are Asian Americans, Italian Americans, Latin Americans, African Americans, European Americans, or even Native Americans – it is all about where our great-great-great-great grandparents were from, and not a word about who we have become today.
Jesus tells us that we can only serve one master (Matthew 6:24), and we can take that to mean that we can give our allegiance to only one, and by that, we can claim only one citizenship. Otherwise our service will be diluted to the point of being worthless.

It is the cross of Jesus Christ that is the transforming power of our citizenship – from our allegiance in this earthly realm to a life that is grounded in heaven. We can’t keep one foot in each place – it’s dangerous to try to straddle the fence. The hyphenated title of “Earthly Christian” is meaningless! Paul is telling us that a Christian’s citizenship must be solely in heaven.

This new citizenship is transforming. It changes the things we think and do and say. It erases our past and gives us a fresh start in a new life. It restores the image of God that we were created with, and it moves it from last place in our life to first place in our heart. It changes our destiny from one of destruction to one of glory! And not an ounce of this has anything to do with our abilities to affect change – it is all through the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ.

“For his is a name that is above all names. At the very name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9b-11)

“So rejoice in the Lord always! Again I say rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4) Rejoice in the cross of Jesus, for in His blood, our destiny of eternal life and heavenly citizenship is assured. Hallelujah!

- Prayer -