With our modern GPS’s, on most of our smart phones, we can get to where we want to go, only if we correctly put in the correct co-ordinance, or the right address.
A Swedish couple on vacation near Naples, Italy. They want to drive to the very scenic and romantic holiday isle of Capri located in the Gulf of Naples. Instead they drove to Carpi, an industrial town in northern Italy, because they misspelt the name in their car's GPS. Italian officials say the couple asked at Carpi's tourist office where they could find Capri's famous Blue Grotto. The car's GPS system had sent them 650km (400 miles) off course to Carpi. "Capri is an island. They did not even wonder why they didn't cross any bridge or take any boat," said a bemused tourism official in Carpi. Once they realized their mistake, the couple got back in their car and headed south, the official added. [1]
How many Christians lose sight of their destination. It is not that we forget who we are, but we forget Whose we are.
Philippians 3:17–4:1
The key idea to today’s message is do we know to whom we belong? Where is our true home? Paul reminds the church in Philippi:
Philippians 3:20a (NKJV) For our citizenship is in heaven
What is interesting about this is the context in which Paul is reminding them. Philippi is a town full of military retirees. Sound familiar? It's like our town of Niceville Florida, we're full of military retirees. I, myselfe have retired from the military after 25 years of service. In 30 BC the Romans starting populating Philippi with retired soldiers. They were full fledge citizens of Rome and the their land was considered a little piece of Rome. As Roman citizens, they enjoyed all the privileges of Rome without actually being in Rome. They payed no taxes and they had all the rights of a Roman citizen. They understood Paul when he wrote that their citizenship was in heaven, a far away place, while they lived in a foreign land. Peter said in his letter to those who were being persecuted:
1 Peter 2:11 (NKJV) Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul
"Sojourners and pilgrims.' Our stay here in this world is temporary. We are only passing through. Our home is with Jesus. This world is not our home. This is a difficult concept to understand when this world is all we know. We must understand where we are going and that in this world, we are only passing through.
My son Bobby and His wife currently live in Singapore, quite literally halfway around the world from where we are in the panhandle of Florida. They have lived there since 2010. Their daughter, Lindsay, was born in Singapore in September 2012. This September she will be 6 years old. She speaks almost as much Chinese as she does English (even though english is the official language of Singapore). Lindsay has never been in the United States. Yet, as soon as she was born, my son Bobby, applied for and received an United States Passport for her. You see, Lindsay is a full-fledged American Citizen even though she was not born here. This October, when they come to visit us, this will be the first time Lindsay has been in the country in which she hold citizenship. Is she any less a US citizen because she has never lived here?
When we travel internationally, we carry a passport, to tell the world, whose citizens we are. Back in Philippi, newborns to these Roman citizens, had their babies names entered into the official register. Likewise, new believers, those who have been born-again in Christ, have their names written into the Book of Life. The Book of Life is the official citizen register of heaven. This Book is serious business, its no joke.
Revelation 20:15 (NKJV) And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Whose Passport do you carry? Where is your home country? Jesus when He prayed to His Father the night before he went to the cross, explained how we are in the world but not of the world.
John 17:14–16 (NKJV) I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
If we are not of the world, we have been forgiven, we have been made clean, we are a new creation before God, we aught not to be living as citizens of heaven? But why do many Christians talk, live, and conduct their business as if this world is their home?
Overseas, the local people can spot the American in any crowd (This is not necessarily a good thing). Why is it that Americans can always be spotten in a crowd? It is because Americans are different (that’s both good and bad). Do people spot you, as a citizen of Heaven, out in a crowd? In the moral decay of today's society and culture, true citizens of heaven aught to stand out like a sore thumb. This is just what Paul is writing to the Church at Philippi about.
Philippians 3:17 (NKJV) Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.
Follow Paul’s example. What was Paul’s example? Paul was by no means perfect, but he call for them to imitate his relentless pursuit of being Christlike. We are to put on the mind of Christ:
Philippians 2:5 (NKJV) Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus
If we have the mind of Christ, and if we are citizens of Heaven and Jesus is our beloved King, then should we not walk as He walked?
1 John 2:6 (NKJV) He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
Walking as Jesus walked, what a concept! Do you think people would think we’re different? I certainly hope so. Those who walk otherwise, yet call themselves Christians, may fool a lot a people, but they cannot fool God. In fact Paul makes warning about them, they are false teachers, leading the faithful astray. A good bit of the New Testament was written as a warning against false teachers, and Paul makes this warning to the Church at Philippi:
Philippians 3:18–19 (NKJV) For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.
Paul weeps as he tells them these things, because he knows some are being influenced by them. He calls them “enemies of the cross of Christ.” Their end is clear. These people do not have their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. They are not citizens of heaven. They are bound for destruction and they’re trying to take as many as they can with them. “Whose god is their bellies.” Whatever makes them feel good, this they do. Remember the saying back in the 70’s? “If it feels good, do it.” How ungodly is that!
Romans 16:18 (NKJV) For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.
These are literally “silver tongue devils.” Why do you think we press hard for Christians to be in the word of God and to know the Word of God? What does the Psalmist say?
Psalm 119:11 (NKJV) Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.
Sounds like a good memory verse! We need to embed the Word in our minds so we know what is expected of us as citizens of heaven. But those who will led us astray, we can pick out these people. They have no shame: “whose glory is in their shame.” These shameful, ungodly things people do, years ago, people would keep it all shut up in the closet, hidden from public view. Now, they are out of the closet for all to see, they flaunt them and proudly display them. The Bible over and over again warns about these people:
Isaiah 5:20–21 (NKJV) Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!
Isn’t this the way the world is going now? Right is now wrong, wrong is now right. Paul says these people, “whose end is destruction,” they are bound for destruction,
for the very fires of Hell and they don’t care.
Romans 1:32 (NKJV) who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
The world want to lead us to the destruction they are bound for. Why? Because we are different, and as citizens of heaven, Jesus plainly tells us that the world will hate us.
John 15:18–19 (NKJV) “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
But the rest of the world are attracted by the pleasures of this world, and these things tempt the people of God: “who set their mind on earthly things.”
Here is the value system of the World, according to Malcolm Forbes, of the Fortune 400 fame, he was quoted to have said, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” Malcom Forbes had all the toys, Harley Davison Motor cycles, airplanes, castles, and countless other toys. For His 70th birthday he threw a party for $2.5 million, charting numerous 747’s, DC-8, and even chartered the Concord to fly in the rich and famous from all over the world to his private club in Tangier, Morocco. He died in 1990, less than a year later. [2]
Whatever Malcom knew before, he now knows two things for sure: “He who dies with the most toys, still dies." And he knows the truth of :
Hebrews 9:27 (NKJV) And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment
Jesus also made the observation about the folks who have their mind set on earthly things:
Matthew 16:26 (NKJV) For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
It is so easy to get caught up in the things of this world. But this world is not our home, We are sojourners & pilgrims. We are just passing through. So Paul reminds them:
Philippians 3:20 (NKJV) For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ
As citizens of heaven, we wait with great anticipation for the return of our beloved King. We wait expectantly for His return and for the physical redemption of our bodies:
Philippians 3:21 (NKJV) who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
When we meet Jesus face to face, we will be transformed and will be like him.
1 John 3:2 (NKJV) Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
With this to look forward to we need to gain a godly perspective. Our decision making needs to be based on eternal values, not worldly, cultural values which are all temporal.
All these things will one day pass away. Only those things that are eternal are worthwhile. It is with this in mind that Paul draws a conclusion and he makes practical application and says:
Philippians 4:1 (NKJV) Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved.
Those in Philippi where near and dear to Paul’s heart. He called them his joy and crown. So he urged them to stand fast in the Lord. Stand fast. Remember where our true home is. Remember that we are only passing through this world, and this world is not our home. We need to stand fast, be unmovable, in the Lord. We need to be found in Christ
Do you where you are bound for? Do you hold heaven’s passport? Are you a child of the King? If you do have heaven as your home, are living like it? Can people see a difference between you and the rest of the world?
[1] https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/74254/parable-lost-sheep-by-sermoncentral?ref=TextIllustrationSerps and http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8173308.stm
[2] https://bible.org/illustration/matthew-1626 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Forbes
