Christian Patriotism

“Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” [1]

This world is not my home I'm just a-passin’ through

My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue

The angels beckon me from heaven's open door

And I can't feel at home in this world anymore

Roy Acuff popularised the song, but the words of the old song have brought joy to multiplied saints for years. And yet, too often we Christians don’t feel as if we are “just a-passin’ through.” We have become mighty comfortable with this world. If we are careful not to rock the boat, if we tiptoe around issues arising from the Faith, if we avoid mentioning such matters as salvation, people treat us tolerably well. The conveniences we accumulate now ensure that we don’t need to be overly concerned with the conduct of our days here. We don’t bother anyone, and no one bothers us. That ensures that things remain comfortable for us.

And yet, it remains true that we who follow the Christ are exiles on the earth! This world—comfortable though it may be—truly “is not my home” if I follow Christ. We who worship in Spirit and in truth are temporary residents of this world. We who are twice born are not destined to spend eternity here. However, so long as we are here, we are appointed to serve as ambassadors of Heaven. As emissaries of the Lord Jesus, we must always remember where our allegiance lies. We serve the Risen Lord of Glory; thus, we must not permit our lives to be co-opted by the world.

During the days in which the Prophet Jeremiah ministered, the people of God became exiles from the land which God had given Israel. To be sure, Israel brought the judgement they were experiencing upon themselves through their deliberate choice to sin against the LORD, embracing the paganism of the nations around them. However, when disciplined by the Lord GOD, we see that discipline worked.

An unknown writer, citing the Proverbs, testified, “Have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

nor be weary when reproved by him.

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

and chastises every son whom he receives.’”

[HEBREWS 12:5-6]

That same writer would continue his focus on the positive aspects of discipline when it is applied judiciously and with a view to correcting the tendency of God’s people to stray from the path of righteousness.

Listen as that writer continues, for what is said is for our benefit. “It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” [HEBREWS 12:7-11]. Thus, God’s people, Israel, were not cast off, though they were exiles. And Jeremiah was addressing them as God’s people, though they were being disciplined.

By asking us to study the words Jeremiah penned for Israel after the people had been sent into Babylonian captivity, I’m not suggesting that we who follow Christ have been disciplined by being compelled to remain in this dying world. Living in this present world is not because we are being disciplined. Rather, the Lord has left us here so that He may be glorified in us. God is revealing His grace through our presence. We who are saved are called to demonstrate the power of God to save despite our broken condition. We are given the opportunity to live to the praise of the Lord, always demonstrating His power at work in our lives.

Thus, though we are not being disciplined by being left in this world, we are nevertheless in exile from our home. Paul speaks to this point when he cautions followers of the Master to be wary of those deluded souls who imagine they can use religion to somehow coerce God into receiving them. Listen as he brutally dissects such foolishness by pointing to the disparate destinies of the self-deceived and the redeemed.

“Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” [PHILIPPIANS 3:17-21].