Kingdom Citizenship

'But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.’ Philippians 3:20-21

In the immediate verses preceding these ones, Paul is pleading with the Philippians, with tears in his eyes, to follow his example. He is warning against ‘enemies of the cross of Christ who ‘set their mind on earthly things’ (Philippians 3:19). It is into this context that Paul declares our heavenly citizenship.

He is making the point that we need to view ourselves as citizens of heaven rather than as citizens of the locations in which we find ourselves or even the world at all. This would have been particularly striking for the Philippians who took pride in their Roman Citizenship. Today there is much controversy around citizenship and immigration status. Sadly, many are forced to make treacherous journeys to flee persecution in their homeland and desire something like citizenship-status in safer Western countries. Like for the Philippians, citizenship can also be worn as a badge of honour and pride. It is so easy for our identity to get caught up in these things but we must not let that be the case.

To be a citizen of heaven is to be a foreigner on the earth. If heaven is our home then we must remember that in this life, we are just aliens and strangers passing through. Our lives ought to reflect the value system of heaven to such an extent that we seem to be foreigners to the world around us. A couple of weeks ago, Pastor Steve described the Kingdom of God as the following: “the realm over which God reigns as supreme and Jesus Christ is King”. To live as citizens of heaven is to submit to the authority and rule of Jesus. Where there is a clash of kingdoms, and there will be clashes, we must choose his Lordship and His way.

When talking about this passage, Spurgeon notes that this is one of the rare occasions we hear of the Apostle Paul having tears in his eyes. Despite his many persecutions, there is nothing in the Bible to suggest that he shed tears on these occasions. Yet, here we see him weeping over the worldly-nature of people. Paul seemed to understand something of the severity of finding our identity in the world rather than in our eternal status. Perhaps we ought to take it seriously as well.
 
- Bethany Milne

Inward prayer: Father, forgive me for where I have lived as though the Earth is my home. Sorry for where I have adopted the values and methods of this temporal kingdom and not your eternal Kingdom. Lord, would you help me to find my identity in my heavenly citizenship? Amen.

Outward prayer: Father, we pray that all believers would know the hope of being citizens of heaven. Thank you that though this world is broken, you are making all things new and one day there will be no more weeping and no more mourning, Amen.

1 Comment


GENE - January 28th, 2022 at 4:06am

Surely the Lord does not look at the things man looks at . Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart .