Where? - Philippians 3:17-4:1
Lent, the time
of the Church year we began on Ash Wednesday and will observe from then until
Easter—a period of 40 days (not including the Sundays), is to be a time of
self-reflection. The time of
self-reflection is not to be one in which we look at ourselves and think we are
God’s greatest gift to humankind, nor is it a time in which we sit there and
condemn ourselves wishing we weren’t alive because our lives are so
sinful. It is a time in which we examine
our lives, both our individual lives, and our lives together as the Church, and
reflect on whether our lives are in line with how God calls us to live.
Last Sunday, the first Sunday of
Lent, we took some time to reflect as we asked the question: “Who?”
In this, I lifted up the term, Spiritual Alzheimer’s, and suggested that
often times we forget who we are supposed to be in the faith. We looked at how Satan tried to tempt Jesus
to forget who He was by tempting him, 1) To use his divine powers to serve
himself; 2) To bow down and worship the devil, and 3) To doubt God’s promises
and test God—issues of service, worship, and faith. I suggested that Satan tempts us with those
same things (serving ourselves, putting other things before God, and doubting
God), and often we forget who we are as Christians, those called to be Christ’s
presence here on earth. I offered that
when those temptations come, we have to remember who we are, and God gives us
the grace to do so.
This week we move from the
question “Who?” to the question “Where?”
Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi addresses the location of our
citizenship. The reason for considering
our citizenship is that Satan not only tempts us to forget who and whose we are
causing us to fail to trust in God, but we also find ourselves tempted to
forget the location of our citizenship.
Citizenship is one of the big
issues circulating right now. I do not
think there is anyone in here that would question whether or not immigration
issues ranks among the top five issues in our country. We have folks that want to tighten
immigration restrictions, others that want to loosen the restrictions and just
welcome anyone. We don’t talk so much
about “legals” as we talk about “illegals.”
Most of the talk surrounds about what “illegals” need to do to become
legal citizens of the United States.
Can you imagine being an
“outsider” who desperately desires to be a legal citizen of another
country—usually the country in which you may be “illegally” living in? Most of us cannot imagine that, but we ought
to, for once we were illegals. No, I’m
not talking about when many of our ancestors came and just settled anywhere
they wanted, forcing the rightful Native Americans from their homes, simply
because our ancestors wanted freedom and a better life for their families and
themselves. I’m going much further back
than that, I am going back as far as Scriptural times, when we Gentiles could
not be part of God’s people.
There are requirements for
citizenship. For instance, for those on
the outside who want to become citizens of the United States, certain criteria
must be met. Among those requirements:
18 years of age, a green card holder for five years, physically live in the US
for 30 months out of the five years, be able to read, write, and speak English
and have a working knowledge of US history and government, and be a person of
good moral character. Interestingly
enough, there were citizenship requirements for living as a citizen of God’s
people. Among the requirements for being
a citizen of Israel were being a male, being 13 years of age, knowing the Torah
and living according to all the laws found in the Torah, and, of course, being
circumcised, and, usually, being born of Jewish heritage.
Just as many of us might have
trouble answering the questions that people desiring US citizenship have to
answer, such as, “The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S.
Constitution. Name one of the writers
(James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, or Publius). What is one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous
for? (U.S. Diplomat, oldest member of
the Constitutional Convention, first Postmaster General of the United States,
writer of “Poor Richard’s Almanac” or started the first free libraries). How many amendments does the constitution
have? (27) The thing is, my brothers and sisters, is that as the people sought
to live as citizens of God’s Kingdom, they found it extremely difficult, and
circumcision was not the biggest difficulty.
The most difficult part was living according to the laws of God’s
Word. God’s people, while wanting to
claim citizenship as God’s people often found themselves living like citizens
of the nations surrounding them, worshipping their false gods and participating
in many of their pagan rituals.
Enter Jesus. Jesus came and did what none of the Jewish
people had been able to do. Jesus was
able to live completely and wholly for God, fulfilling the law, and showing the
people of Israel what it meant to truly live as a citizen of God’s Kingdom. Even more than that, God, through the
actions of Jesus, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the work of Paul
opened citizenship in His Kingdom to Jew and Gentile alike. However, on our own, no matter how much we
might study or how hard we might try, we could not attain that citizenship on
our own…we could not earn the right to be called citizens of the Kingdom of
God. Christ paid the price for our
citizenship and the Grace of God connected us to that payment, enabling us to
be called citizens of His Kingdom.
For the immigrant becoming a US
citizen it is the marked by the taking of the oath of allegiance. For the Jewish male, citizenship is marked by
circumcision. How is our citizenship
marked? By the waters of our
baptism. When we pass under those
waters, whether through immersion, pouring, or sprinkling, we become citizens.
One of the things I hear quite
often, relating to aliens living among us is that if they are going to live
here, they need to learn to learn the language and learn how to do things the
way we do here. Pretty much the attitude
is if you want to be a citizen of this country, then you need to live like you
are in this country--not like you're still in Japan, Iraq, or Mexico. Would
y'all agree that that is the sentiment of many Americans?
If it is, then they are not a lot
different from Paul. Paul spends a good
bit of many of his letters reminding the folks in the churches that they are
now supposed to be living different...here he puts it in terms of citizenship
and where we are living. For Paul, there
are too many folks that are living as citizens of the earth rather than
citizens of heaven. Those who are living
as citizens of this world, Paul suggests, are marked by the fact that they
worship themselves, "...their god is their belly; and their glory is in
their shame, their minds are set on earthly things."
Where can we see this-someone
whose god is their belly? The most obvious is the glutton who gorge themselves
on rich food, tossing plates of untouched food, without regard for the hungry
right outside their doors. Yet it goes beyond mere food, to those who hoard
their money, their time, their energy, spending it on none but themselves.
Before we get to high and mighty thinking we can name a whole lot of folks like
that, how many of us fill our closets with more clothes than we could possibly
wear in a good week or two, while some in the community have nothing warm to
wear. How many of us have our calendars so full of ball games, civic meetings,
or trips that we have no time to commit to bible study, worship, or service?
Then there are those whose glory
is in their shame. Who would be like that?
Paul offered an example in the church in Corinth where a man was openly
having relations with his stepmother—excited that the grace of God could cover
any sin so they didn’t have to change the way they were leaving. In our society today we encounter that in the
folks, ranging from movie stars to 15 year olds in our local high schools who
are excited to be pregnant, regardless of the fact that they are not
married. We see it in white supremacists
whose arrogance over or hatred of folks whose skin color is different runs
completely counter to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We see it in any place where we celebrate in
the midst of something that is clearly contrary to the will of God.
My friends, we cannot
intentionally live as dual citizens of both the world and the Kingdom of
God. Our allegiance has to be to one or
the other. Throughout our history, the
people of God have been confronted with this decision. Joshua confronted the Israelites on that
matter when he said to them, “‘Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in
sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served
beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord,
choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in
the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are
living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.’”[i] Jesus puts it best when he says, “No slave can
serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or
be devoted to one and despite the other.”[ii] If we want to choose to live as citizens of
God’s kingdom, we need to learn to live as citizens of the kingdom.
What does it mean to live in the
Kingdom of Heaven as opposed to the kingdom of this world? It means letting our lives be transformed by
Christ. It means living our lives in
ways that reflect the fact that Jesus has made a difference in our lives. It means living in a Kingdom where generosity
trumps greed, where compassion replaces self-interest, where humility unseats
pride, where forgiveness supplants vengeance, where sacrifice rules over
self-preservation.
Brothers and sisters, as we
continue to reflect during this season of Lent, let us considered that while we
live on this earth, are we living as citizens of this world, or as aliens in
this land because we are living as citizens of heaven.
In the Name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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