Our Citizenship is in Heaven
Philippians 3v20-4v1
29th September 2023
In Philippians 3v7-14, Paul set out the true Christian approach to life on earth, prioritising his relationship with Jesus Christ, seeking spiritual power, embracing suffering for the Gospel, seeking to die to self, and accepting that he still wasn't perfect and needed to continue to grow in all these areas. In verses 15-17, he made it plain that all Christians should adopt the same values. Then, in verses 18-19, he wrote about people who were part of the church community, and claimed to be Christians, but were not Christians. He focussed on the church attenders who were not genuinely God-fearing but were interested only in serving their own earthly pleasures. He calls them "enemies of the cross".
In contrast to these "enemies of the cross", Paul now writes:
Philippians 3v20a
But our citizenship is in heaven.
The Greek word translated "citizenship" here is politeuma, from which we derive the English word "politics". Its root is the word polis which means "city" or "town". So we see that Paul is saying that heaven is a Christian's real home, his real city, and the leadership of his town is heavenly leadership - God Himself.
Paul was writing to the church in Philippi, a town in north-eastern Greece which was also a Roman colony. A large number of veterans from the Roman army were settled there and given land. They and a large number of other people who lived in Philippi were Roman citizens. As Roman citizens in a Roman colony, they had a number of rights not available to non-citizens. These included the right to appeal to Caesar (as Paul did, in Acts 25v11) and freedom from the crueler punishments (such as scourging and crucifixion). Their status and rights in such matters as law, property, taxation and civil administration was exactly the same as if they lived in Rome. Their coins had Latin inscriptions, not Greek.
Understandably, they placed a very high value on their Roman citizenship, and demonstrated it by, for example, dressing in the Roman style. It was good to be a citizen of Rome, even if you didn't live in Rome.
The point is, these people were citizens of Rome, even though they lived in Greece, and even if they'd never been to Rome. In the same way, Paul is saying, we Christians are citizens of heaven, even though we live on earth, even though we haven't been to heaven yet. We are very privileged people.
We Christians, whom the Bible calls "saints" - sanctified ones - are each part of the community whose true home is heaven, now. The following quote from Hebrews repeats the phrase "you have come", not "you will come":
Hebrews 12v22-24
... you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful
assembly,
to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have
come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant...
Each local church is a colony of heaven, as Philippi was a colony of Rome. The true Christians in each local church are citizens of heaven, and both the fake Christians - the enemies of the cross - and the God-fearing men and women who have not yet understood and accepted the Gospel, are not.
Because we Christians are citizens of heaven, our government is God himself, the King of heaven. Our laws are God's laws; He decrees what is right and wrong. Our judge is Jesus Christ, who will one day sit in judgement on us all. Justice for us is heavenly justice. We will be declared free from condemnation through faith in our Saviour Jesus Christ.
We didn't earn this citizenship, and we don't deserve these privileges. They're free gifts from God to all who repent of their sins and believe in Christ's redeeming blood.
Paul continues:
Philippians 3v20b-21
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.
Jesus is coming back! He will make all things new! He will transform our lowly bodies, whether we've died before His return or are still alive at His coming. He will give us new bodies that are "like His glorious body". We can read more about this in 1 Corinthians 15. Praise and thanks be to God! Jesus has "the power that enables him to bring everything under his control". All will be well!
Whatever persecution, problems, illnesses, poverty or injustice we suffer on earth, we are not citizens of earth, but of heaven. And in heaven, "there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain" (Revelation 21v4).
Paul ends this section of his letter by saying:
Philippians 4v1
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and
crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!
The mature Christian leader loves and longs for the people under his care. He sees them as his joy and crown. They're not pew fodder or revenue streams. They're not irritants and difficulties as he plans his career. They're the people he serves devotedly and selflessly with the love of Christ.
We are Paul's - and Jesus's - brothers and sisters. With all the affection of a mature Christian leader, Paul urges the Philippians, and us, to stand firm despite all the troubles we endure and all the temptations we face. It is worth it! Heaven will be wonderful beyond our ability to imagine.