CITIZENS OF HEAVEN
Philippians 3:20
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Preached on a Sunday Service (Jan. 21, 2001)
by Bro. Jurem Ramos
at the Soli Deo Gloria Church, Juna Subd., Matina, Davao City
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We will digress from our study of Romans for a few Sundays to give way to a short series of messages that I believe will be very helpful for our times. I was reading a book on expository preaching and the author suggested that for a long series, it would be good to have a break once in a while. The author preached the gospel of Matthew for 5 years.
Biblical authors sometimes would deal with other urgent matters, setting aside for a while their teachings even if they were as important as the subject of salvation. Jude was actually very eager to write to his readers about salvation, but instead he felt that he must warn them about certain immoral men circulating among them who were perverting the grace of God.
Jude 1:3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
Many of Paul's letters were ad hoc letters. They were for a specific purpose and they addressed specific situations. 1 Corinthians was Paul's response to the report he received from certain people who came from Corinth and questions were raised arising from a letter he previously sent them.
We now have a new president. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. She was inaugurated yesterday by Chief Justice Davide at 12:00 noon, the same day that the new president of the US, George Bush, was inaugurated into office. We all know what led to the quick replacement of the former President who still had about 4 years before ending his term of office. It was the decision of the 11 Senator Judges not to open the second envelope in the Impeachment trial that was the straw that broke the camel's back. It triggered national outrage and set into motion Edsa Part 2. And so, as of yesterday, the Philippines had the 2nd female President in its history.
My concern in today's study is related to the reaction of the believers last Tuesday night. When the 11 Senator Judges voted "no" to the opening of the second envelope because it was immaterial and irrelevant, many regarded that decision as a clear case of suppressing the truth. That Tuesday was called "the day Truth died in our country" and many, including believers, wore black to manifest their silent protest.
Many were not content with just being silent. It seems that even believers felt prayer was not enough. From what I heard, I surmise that many believers became angry and sinned in their thoughts and words and actions. Some took to the streets to join unbelievers in bitter protests, nasty criticisms and evil slanders.
For many, it seemed like the only way to resurrect truth from the dead was to use people power, and to join the millions in crying out, "Erap Resign!" Some evangelical leaders have used exactly the way of political activism to bring about change in our country.
I agree with MacArthur's assessment of this approach. He wrote,
"As noble as the desire to reform society may be, and as stirring as the emotions sometimes are when we're involved in a political cause we really believe is right, those activities are not to be a Christian's chief priorities... God does not condone any type of radical activism that would avoid tax obligations, disobey or seek removal of government officials we don't agree with, or spend an inordinate amount of time campaigning for a so-called Christian slate of candidates.
I believe the NT is clear as to the purpose of the church and even clearer as to the responsibilities of its leaders. The NT is also clear in stating how the church is to relate to the government, whatever form it may be. I hope that today and in the next few Sundays, the Lord will allow us to look more into this matter of how Christians should relate to government.
Today, I would like to start by addressing what is an unscriptural response by believers to that historical Tuesday event. What I mean is that believers have totally forgotten their position in Christ and thus have responded in a non-biblical manner. The position I refer to is found in Philippians 3:20.
Php 3: 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
In our series in the book of Romans, we have been emphasizing this fact of our position in Christ (e.g, believers are no longer in Adam but in Christ, they are no longer under God's condemnation and wrath but they are God's children, they have died to sin, etc.). But just as I said, we are a people who easily forget. We are more easily carried away by the influences of this world and our natural tendencies than God's word and His Spirit and so when events such as those I related come to us, we all have a tendency to forget our position in Christ.
Today, I would like to remind all of us again of that position. I pray that as a result of our study, we will manifest more in our lives the character of our true citizenship.
I will share to you a message from Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a sermon entitled Citizenship in Heaven from the text in Phil 3:20. This sermon is included in the book of John MacArthur, Why Government Can't Save You" An Alternative to Political Activism.
Introduction
Spurgeon says,
"The believer should be a direct contradiction to the unregenerate. The life of a saint should be altogether above and removed from the direction of the life of a sinner. We should compel our critics not to confess that moralists are good and Christians a little better, but while the world is darkness, we should be light... If we were what we profess to be, we should be as distinct a people in the midst of this world as a white race in a community of dark-skinned people. There should be no more difficulty in detecting the Christian from the worldly person than in discovering a sheep from a goat or a lamb from a wolf... There should be as much difference between the worldly person and the Christian as between hell and heaven... The purity of our character should be such that people must take knowledge of us that we are of another, superior race."
How convicting, but I believe they are true. I believe that those statements are implied in our text that says, "Our citizenship is in heaven". Today, let us look at this text more closely and discover what other things are being suggested to us, believers, if we our citizenship is really in heaven. First, we will look at ourselves as aliens on earth and what that implies and second, we will see ourselves as citizens of heaven and what that implies.
I. ALIENS ON EARTH
Our citizenship is in heaven suggests, first of all, that we are aliens here on earth. Please don't take that to mean extra terrestial beings or UFOs but aliens in the sense that Christians are strangers, foreigners, pilgrims and sojourners here on earth as the OT saints were.
· Heb 11:9-10 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country... 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
· Heb 11:13-16 ...And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
Here are some of the things suggested by the description of Christians as "aliens on earth".
a) As aliens, we do enjoy the prosperity of this country and suffer also its adversities.
We are like traders passing through this earth. I am not very sure of the laws in our country, but I imagine a Chinese businessman, for example, coming to the Philippines, doing trading business here in our country. He stays for a few months here in our country. Fluctuations in the money market and the political climate of our country or natural calamities do affect his business. If peace and stability and confidence in the government returns and the people he does business with prosper, he finds that his business is also positively affected. He is not a Filipino and yet he prospers as the nation prospers and he will suffer as that nation suffers-again, not as a citizen but as a trader.
Just as in matters related to prosperity, strangers and foreigners in another country share in the inconveniences of its citizens. We can say that this is the same in our case. We Christians in this country find that though we are strangers and foreigners on earth, yet we share all the inconveniences of the flesh. No one is exempted from this common lot of humanity. We are born to trouble, even as others, and have tribulation like the rest. When the weather is hot, we feel hot, when it's rainy, we too get wet. When bomb scares are rumored, rallies or strikes arise, we too are affected.
b) As foreigners, we are simply passing through this country, and we should seek its good and bless it while in transit.
· Jer 29:7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."
An American may happen to be in the Philippines. He wishes a thousand things were different from what they are, but he does not trouble himself much about them. He says, "If I were a Filipino, I would see what I could do to alter this government, but being an American, let the Filipinos see to their own matters. I will be back to my own country by and by, and the sooner the better." What business do foreigners have to plot against government, or to intermeddle with the politics of a country in which they have no citizenship?
It would be much better for an American tourist to have no tongue at this time than to join in the rallies and cry out, "Erap resign!" or to criticize the Military or PNP generals and members of the cabinet of the President who turned against the former president; or for that foreigner to criticize Chief Justice Davide for installing GMA as new president when Estrada has not yet formally resigned. He'd better be quiet and leave the Philippines to the Filipinos or else he might receive some harsh responses.
So in this world where you and I are strangers, we should do good. As Christians Paul counsels us to do the following:
· Tit 3:1-2 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.
· Ro 13:1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
· 1Pe 2:17 Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
· 1Pe 2:13-14 Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by Him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.
c) As foreigners we must remember also, that a Christian is not eligible for this world's honors.
Spurgeon: "It is very bad sign to hear the world clap its hands, and say "Well done" to the Christian. He may begin to look to his standing and wonder whether he has not been doing wrong when the unrighteous give him their approval. "What did I do wrong," said Socrates, "that my enemy praised me just now?" And so may the Christian say, "What have I done wrong, that So-and-so spoke well of me, for if I had done right he would not."
We must never covet the world's esteem; the love of this world is not in keeping with the love of God. "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1Jn 2:15). Treat its smiles as you treat its threats, with quiet contempt. Be willing rather to be sneered at than to be approved, counting the cross of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt.
· Mt 5:11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your rewards in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophet who were before you.
· 2Ti 3:12 In fact, everyone who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
d) Furthermore, as aliens and foreigners, it is not for us to hoard up this world's treasure.
As an alien you could not purchase to own a land in our country and have the title put in name.
· Mt 6:19-21 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
· 1Ti 6:18-19 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
· 1Co 7:29-31 What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; 30 those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31 those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.
II. Citizens of Heaven
Let us go back to our main text to see what is next suggested by it. Clearly it says that that we are citizens of heaven. We focused a while ago that we are aliens, or foreigners, or sojourners, or transients here on earth. Now let us remind ourselves also that we are citizens of heaven.
What are implied in the phrase, citizens of heaven?
a) Christians are under heaven's government.
Christ the king of heaven reigns in our hearts. The laws of His kingdom are the laws of our consciences. Our daily prayer is, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Mt 6:10). The proclamations issued from the throne of glory are freely received by us and cheerfully obeyed. The Spirit of God rules in our mortal bodies; grace reigns through righteousness; and we carry the easy yoke of Jesus.
b) As citizens of heaven, we share heaven's honors.
The glory of glorified saints belongs to us, for we are already children of God. Already we wear the spotless robe of Jesus' righteousness. Already we have angels for our servants, saints for our companions, Christ for our Brother, God for our Father, and a crown of immortality for our rewards. We share the honors of citizenship as shown in these passages:
· 1Co 6:2,3 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? ... 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!
· Ep 2:6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
· Heb 12:22-23 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect,
· 1Jn 3:2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, [a] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
c) As citizens, we have common rights in all the property of heaven.
The wide extensive plains of heaven are ours; ours the harps of gold and crowns of glory; ours the gates of pearl and walls of chrysolite; ours the azure light of the city that needs no candle nor light of the sun; ours the river of life, and the twelve types of fruits which grow on the trees planted alongside the river. There is nothing in heaven that is not ours, for our citizenship is there.
· 1Co 3:22-23 "Things present or things to come-all are yours. And you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
d) As citizens, our names are already written there in heaven's registry
Spurgeon: "When at at last the list is read, our names will be read too; for where Paul and Peter, where David and Jonathan, where Abraham and Jacob will be found, we will be found too. Numbered with them we were in the divine purpose, reckoned with them we were in the purchase on the cross, and with them will we sit down forever at the tables of the blessed. The small and the great are fellow-citizen and of the same household. The babes and the mature men are recorded in the same registry, and neither death nor hell can erase a single name.
e) As citizens of heaven we always commune (or communicate) with it.
Isn't it when we are in a distant land we often communicate with our loved ones back home? We think of them always, we call them up, we write them and we look forward to receive letters from them too. When I was in Singapore and Malaysia for 7 months, I wanted always to call up my parents.
How do we commune with heaven?
(1) By meditation. Whenever we think of God our Father and Christ our Brother and by the Spirit, the Comforter, e are brought in contemplative delight to the general assembly and Church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.
(2) When we send our prayers to heaven as letters to our Father, and we get His letters back through Scriptures. The Bible is God's love letter to us, or His newspaper. The sermons that are preached are good news from a far country. The hymns we sing are short notes by which we tell our Father of our welfare here and by which He whispers into our soul His continued love to us.
f) Finally as citizens of heaven we eagerly await Christ our Beloved who is coming soon.
· 1Co 1:7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.
· 1Th 1:10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
· Tit 2:13 while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Spurgeon: I think you foreigners here present ought to feel like a poor stranded mariner on a desolate island who has saved a few things from the wreck, built himself an old log hut, and has a few comforts round about him; but for all that, he longs for home. Every morning he looks out to sea and wonders when he will see a sail. Many times while examining the wide ocean to look for a ship, he has clapped his hands and then wept to find he was disappointed. Every night he lights his fire that there may be a blaze, so that if a ship should go by, they may send relief to the stranded mariner. Ah! That is just the way we ought to live.
If we are citizens of heaven, how then should we live? As citizens of heaven, our lives are to be conformed to the glory of our citizenship.
Spurgeon: Citizens of heaven are holy, so we must be. They are happy, so we must be rejoicing in the Lord always. In heaven they are obedient, so must we be, following the faintest admonitions of the divine will. In heaven, they are active, so should we be, both day and night praising and serving God. In heaven they are peaceful, so should we find rest in Christ and be at peace even now. In heaven they rejoice to behold the face of Christ; so should we be always meditating upon Him, studying His beauties, and desiring to look into the truths He has taught. In heaven they are full of love; so should we love one another as brethren. In heaven they have sweet communion one with another; so should we who though many, are one body, be every one members one of the other.
Before the throne they are free from envy and strife, ill-will, jealousy, contention, falsehood, anger; and so should we be.
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been installed but not all like her to be president. You may have watched the talk show. Many want both Erap and GMA to resign. We pray that her administration would do well. We hope that what happened to former President Aquino's government would not happen to GMA's government. She had to face 7 coup attempts. Maybe in the next few months Arroyo's presidency will be tested. But may Christians have no part in any of that.
We are first of all citizens of heaven and aliens here on earth. Let us make sure we don't violate God's word in our pursuit of truth and justice. Be angry, yet do not sin. Like David, tell the King Saul where he is wrong, but do not forget to copy his attitude as well.
1Sa 24:8-10 Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. 9 He said to Saul, "Why do you listen when men say, 'David is bent on harming you'? 10 This day you have seen with your own eyes how the LORD delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, 'I will not lift my hand against my master, because he is the LORD's anointed.'
