Benefits of Citizenship

Citizenship is the word that jumps out at me from today's passage, at the end of Philippians 3.  Every dweller on this earth has some sort of citizenship, and in most cases, multiple citizenships.  Here is an ordinary example.

A person is born somewhere on earth, in some country.  In some cases, the birth automatically makes him/her a citizen of that country.  Each sovereign country makes its own citizenship laws, but often being born in a country grants citizenship to the newborn, especially if one of the parents is also a citizen of that country.  Being born into a human family gives a person a type of citizenship within that family.

As the person grows, they usually accumulate other types of citizenship...clubs, churches, service organizations, etc.  In each case, citizenship confers certain rights but also carries responsibilities.
Citizens learn about their "group", to use a generic word, from its founding, guiding documents.  It is those documents which describe the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and also which give the group the principles that allow it to function in a healthy manner.  If the citizens follow the guiding documents, the organization is healthy (assuming the guiding documents are sound to begin with). 

In the Christian church, for example, what is the most foundational "document"?  The Bible, of course! It is full of God's precious promises, the benefits and rights of citizenship, membership in the Church Universal, the Body of Christ! Then, individual groups (in Southern Baptist parlance, we call them conventions, associations and churches) go beyond the Bible to establish governing documents, such as church constitutions and by-laws.  These tools further define local rights and help to ensure the healthy functioning of the citizens.  Properly crafted, when they are adhered to, order follows.  When they are not, chaos and enmity ensue.

Paul saw great power in citizenship.  He was a citizen of Rome, by birth. As such, he used his Roman citizenship effectively to open doors for the spread of the gospel, which other Jews could not.  His Roman citizenship carried many excellent benefits.  He also viewed citizenship as a great analogy for the Christian experience.  Let's look at today's scripture:

10  My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

12  Not that I have already attained this – that is, I have not already been perfected – but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me. 13  Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, 14  with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15  Therefore let those of us who are “perfect” embrace this point of view. If you think otherwise, God will reveal to you the error of your ways. 16  Nevertheless, let us live up to the standard that we have already attained.

20  But our citizenship is in heaven – and we also await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,  21 who will transform these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself.

Philippians 3:10-16, 20-21

(NET) 

Despite all of Paul's confusing talk of "attaining", the key to this passage is verse 16.  By Jesus Christ's virtue, by His finished work on our behalf, by our being born into God's family spiritually, having accepted Jesus Christ as Redeemer/Savior, we have already "attained perfection".  That is, His perfection has been conferred upon us, as our heavenly citizenship.  This "attaining" happened at the moment each of us made his or her own personal decision to accept and follow Jesus Christ.

Paul goes on to affirm the ultimate benefit of possessing heavenly citizenship: eventually, we will see Jesus, face-to-face.  It will occur either at the time of our death or when Jesus returns to earth, whichever happens first.  Other benefits of heavenly citizenship, as we live our earthly lives, are:

• knowing Him more and more (as I blogged about in the last post) (vs. 10)

• experiencing His resurrection power on a day-to-day basis (vs. 10)

• sharing in His sufferings (vs. 10)

• living out His calling on our life (vs. 12-14)  "I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold of me"

• humbly "running for the prize" (vs. 14)

Some of these don't sound like benefits, do they?  But they are!  The reason they are is that they mold us more and more into the image of our Savior, Jesus.  Or, at least, they should, since that is what they are designed to accomplish.  Some of the benefits sort of "bleed over" into the arena called "responsibilities of citizenship", which I'll blog about tomorrow.

Lord Jesus, Father God has put all things under your feet, and I am so grateful that you "subject all things" to Yourself.  I pray for myself today, Lord, to learn You more, to love You more, to have my heart brought into greater alignment with Yours. I submit myself to Your calling on my life, even to share in Your sufferings, as my life is Yours.  I gave it to You some 50 years ago.  I ask that You keep me humble, Father.  Only in humility can I truly, single-mindedly "run for the prize".  Pride is a snare and a trap, which will trip up even the most dedicated and well-trained runners.  Thank you for "laying hold of me"!  Oh thank you, Lord Jesus!  In Your blessed name, amen.

A Christian Temple

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If you are like me you have customarily viewed a temple as being a building in which something or someone other than Jesus Christ is worshipped.  The most common association is with the historical Jewish temple, although one no longer exists.  When traditional Jews gather together for worship, they meet in a building called a synagogue.  Then, there's the Yaarab Temple, which is the gathering place for Shriners, the highest order of Masonic worship.  Again, not Jesus Christ.  Then, around the world there are temples to other false gods of Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, etc.

So, why is the title of this post, "A Christian Temple".  Christians don't worship in temples....do they?

My family attends church in a lovely building.  It does not resemble a traditional church, which has earned it the nickname in the community "the ski lodge".  Is that our "temple"?  Not hardly. Architecture does not define the Christian temple.  Take a look at what does.

17And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, 18so that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, 20because you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:17-22 (NET)

Try to realize how controversial these statements would have been to Jews of Paul's day, people who had been trained from birth to conceptualize the Temple as a sacred stick-n-stone building, a holy building, a physical place where the presence of God dwelled.  You might as well tell a Catholic today that the Vatican has been moved to the bottom of the ocean and is now called Atlantis.  It was unheard of, a sort of heresy!

But, the point that Paul was trying to make is that the Christian temple is not a physical building at all.  So, what IS it?

1.  The Christian Temple is wherever the Holy Spirit of God resides.
Now, don't be confused.  God's spirit is omnipresent, which is to say He is "everywhere, all at once". But, being present is not the same as "dwelling".  Example:  you may attend a business meeting. You are THERE; you are present.  But, that meeting place is not your home.
The home of God's Holy Spirit is ever "under construction", because there are always "additions" being built (vs. 22).
God's Holy Spirit's home is in the heart of every believer in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  As more and more people become part of God's family by accepting Christ, God's "home" expands and grows.

2.  Temple Features
What is this temple like?
a.  Its cornerstone, the stone that holds the hold building together, is Jesus Christ.  Without Him, God's Spirit is absent.
b.  It's firm and sure foundation are the holy scriptures, those eyewitness accounts, both Old and New Testaments, from the prophets and apostles.  Any claim to represent God that is divorced from the written Word of God is heresy.
c.  It's building blocks, holy stones, if you will, are WE, God's children...Jesus' disciples.  This makes us members of God's home, God's household (vs. 19).  HE has built us into His home.  And, it is in us He dwells.  Our very bodies are His Temple (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

This means that our citizenship is not here.  If you are Jesus Christ's own beloved, His own dear child, it doesn't matter where your physical body resides.  Your citizenship is not in America or Canada or Ireland or Dubai or in any other earthly geographical locale.  You are a "stranger and alien" in this sin-scarred world, on this battleground.  Your spiritual country's capital is in Heaven, in another dimension of "reality" altogether.

"I have found a desire within myself, that no experience in this world can satisfy;

the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."
C.S. Lewis

I was reading this morning about the extreme opposition currently raging against a faith-based enterprise in Williamston, KY.  Some of you readers may have visited it - - the Creation Museum, soon to be the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter.  If you have time, read this piece:

https://answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2016/05/11/secularists-want-to-hurt-kentucky/?utm_source=facebook-aig&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=facebook-aig

But, if you don't, let me briefly summarize to say that this organization has had to fight Satanic opposition to its "creation", every step of the way!  I was just amazed at the degree of vitriol.  Then again, maybe not.  We reside in a "foreign land"....

Do you see it?  The Temple?  Look at the picture at the top of this blog.  There's one visual representation. I could have chosen many.  No one picture can capture the beauty of the Body of Christ, the Bride ... the Temple!

Father, Son, Holy Spirit, thank you for making your home in me and corporately in all of Your true children.  Please continue to "build us", to make us more holy, a Temple suitable for Your presence. In Jesus' name, amen.

How Great a Debtor

Frankly, it is hilarious to me that today's text appears in my march through Romans now, as April 15th is on the horizon.  Romans 13:1-7 has to do with paying taxes, among other things.  There's no doubt that, two days from now, I'll be doing that very thing.  Do I want to write that check?  No.  Am I commanded to?  Yes.

1Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God’s appointment, and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 2So the person who resists such authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will incur judgment 3(for rulers cause no fear for good conduct but for bad). Do you desire not to fear authority? Do good and you will receive its commendation, 4for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be in fear, for it does not bear the sword in vain. It is God’s servant to administer retribution on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath of the authorities but also because of your conscience. 6For this reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants devoted to governing. 7Pay everyone what is owed: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

The apostle Paul tells us that we should be obedient to our government "rulers", insofar as we are able, without denying or abrogating our faith in Jesus Christ.  Obviously (due to the weight of other scriptures), our first loyalty is to Christ's heavenly kingdom, when the earthly "kingdom" stands in direct conflict.  But, otherwise, we are to pay our taxes, obey the civil and criminal laws, work to create a country that reflects our Christian values and generally not bring dishonor on the name of Christ.

Paul not only makes the point that "authority" is a godly concept, given by God Himself to bring order to our world, but that He places "rulers" into positions of authority.  Right now, we are in the midst of a highly contentious presidential election season.  As citizens, we are required to, as Paul mentions, adhere to and protect our rights of citizenship.  This means exercising our right to campaign for a candidate and then to vote for him or her.  If you are a Christian but you don't vote, you are violating scripture by committing a sin of omission.  This refusal to fight for the liberties you have been given goes against Romans 13.  If you are a Christian and you break the law, you are guilty of a sin of "commission".

I have been reading Erick Erickson's book, You Will Be Made to Care.1  It's a pretty horrifying and damning book, if you are a Christian.  His basic point, from what I've read so far, is that we as Christians have not followed Romans 13:1-7.  Oh, we have probably obeyed the speed limit and the seatbelt laws, most of the time.  The traffic laws are ones we generally obey, since ignoring them can be deadly.  Most of us citizens pay our taxes, because to not do so will land us in jail.  But, the American Church has sat back and let a godless minority, "a small and arrogant oligarchy" as Erick puts it, take over our country.  We've done this in the name of "live and let live", forgetting that a representative republic (which is our American government type) not firmly anchored in a biblical morality cannot survive.  John Adams, our nation's 2nd president, wisely recognized this and said the following:  "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."2

Now, we are seeing the disastrous results of our collective Christian complacency over the last 60 years.  If God-fearing people do not begin to wake up and speak out, our freedoms will continue to disappear until the country we older citizens inherited will be unrecognizable.  It is already happening.  The question is whether or not God's people will stem the tide.

Christians who interpret Romans 13 with a sniveling, hand-wringing "Oh, well, there's nothing I can do" type of response or a "Someone else will take care of that" response disgust me.  Hundreds of thousands of men and women have given their lives so that we could enjoy the liberties accorded to us citizens in the greatest nation of the past 240 years. What great debtors we are to their sacrifices! Despite that, many pampered, cocooned Christians today will further disengage from the culture, will do nothing to stem the tide of godlessness, in the name of "being subject to the governing authorities".  What a gross misinterpretation of this scripture!

American government was designed from its very birth to be steered by "We the People" (Preamble to the U.S. Constitution).  Abraham Lincoln famously referred to this government "of the people, by the people, for the people" in his Gettysburg Address.  It might have been better phrased as "for those people who care enough to not lose it".  As Benjamin Franklin said upon leaving the Constitutional Convention of 1787 - - - {We have} "a republic...if you can keep it."2

If you adhere to a Christian worldview and the belief that this country's best hope is to return to the God-given principles on which it was founded, then the question is: "What are you going to do about the current abysmal "state of affairs"?  The remedy is going to require more from God's people than merely paying taxes.

Father, You guided our founding fathers to establish this country on the moral foundations of the Bible.  Your Church in America has failed to fight for those same freedoms to be maintained, in the name of a false "liberty", a pseudo-compassion.  Only in godliness is there true liberty and the most compassionate thing we can do at this point is to stand up for what Your Word says is right.  I pray that You will start a great spiritual revival out of which will flow a great revival of civil conscience in America, so that we can once again be known as a Christian nation, a beacon of godly liberty.  In Jesus' name, amen.


Sources:

1   Erickson, Erick, and Bill Blankschaen. You Will Be Made to Care: The War on Faith, Family, and Your Freedom to Believe. Washington, DC: Regnery, 2016. Print.

 

2   http://www.free2pray.info/5founderquotes.html