Jesu Juva

“Citizens of Heaven”

Text: Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 13:31-35; Jeremiah 26:8-15

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our citizenship is in heaven.

You heard that today in the Epistle that was read, words that the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in the city of Philippi.

That statement is a big deal.

Citizenship is a big deal in our day and age. For there is a lot of talk these days - in our country and others - about who is a citizen, how you get to be a citizen, and about what it means to be a citizen. Citizenship as both a privilege and a responsibility. And what loyalty does citizenship require? Some want citizenship to be fast and with few strings attached. Others see it as something that should be more seriously considered.

Citizenship was also a big deal in Paul’s day and age. Being a Roman citizen was a coveted status. It afforded you protection and dignity. Paul himself appealed to his Roman citizenship for protection and special treatment. It elevated you about the rabble. You were worthy and free. You had an identity. You weren’t just of so and so’s family, who may or may not be something. You were a Roman citizen. And that made you somebody.

And especially in the city of Philippi. This city was a Roman colony populated by former Roman soldiers. The Emperor Octavian had elevated the city to be equal in status with the cities of Italy, which meant no direct taxation. So yeah, Roman citizenship in the city of Philippi with former soldiers who had fought for Rome, was a pretty big deal.

So when Paul says, our citizenship is in heaven . . . I want you to appreciate the gravity, the enormity of that statement. And notice he does not say we have dual citizenship, but says rather definitively: our citizenship is in heaven. Which is to say: Christian, not Roman, is our identity; is who we are. Which is a completely different way of thinking for those who had been raised to regard Roman citizenship as the summit; the end all, be all.

And its important for Paul to say that. For while one could certainly be a Roman citizen and a Christian - Paul himself was - divided loyalty doesn’t work. Jesus Himself had said you cannot serve two masters. One must come first. One must trump the other. And for Paul, as there should be for us, there is only one answer to that: our citizenship is in heaven. That is our identity. That is who we are. That is our status above any other. We are Christians.

Now, that is not only a big change for the mind, but a big change in how you live. Earlier in this same chapter of his letter to the Philippians, Paul admitted: I had it all! He was not only a Roman citizen, on top of the secular world, he was also on top of the religious world, a Jew of Jews. One of the most righteous, law-abiding, respected, powerful Jew of his day. And he says, I gave it all up. He realized it was all rubbish, all trash, compared to knowing Jesus and being in Jesus. And those weren’t just words, written from a comfortable villa and a table full of food! Paul was in prison. Paul was suffering with Christ and for the sake of Christ. Paul knew he would join Christ in a death like His. For his citizenship is in heaven. Paul knew there is more to life than here and now, than ease and comfort, than earthly status and respect. There is the resurrection to eternal life in Jesus.

And that’s when and where he writes the words we heard today, to these former Roman soldiers, Roman citizens, and residents of the privileged city of Philippi! And he says, join in imitating me! Follow my example. Because when Jesus returns, He will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things - even Rome! - to himself.

That’s a big ask, don’t you think! Especially from someone sitting in prison!And one meant not only for the residents of Philippi, but for all of us, and each of us, today, who are citizens of arguably a far greater place than Rome or Philippi. How do you look at life? How do you live your life? What is your identity? What are you willing, or not willing, to give up? And are you trying to serve two masters?

It’s an easy trap to fall into, trying to serve two masters, which might be described as the seen over the unseen, the now over the not yet. And it is a big ask to imitate Paul, to give everything up, to follow his example, when he was beaten and stoned and arrested and imprisoned and had all kinds of other nasty things done to him. And frankly, impossible for us . . . were it not for your baptism. For there is where the Father made you a citizen of heaven. There is where you were given the Spirit. There your old was washed away, and with the forgiveness of your sins you were given a new identity, a new status, a new life. There you became a son of God in the Son of God. There you joined Jesus in His death and resurrection, and received all the rights and privileges of a son of God. And the promise that on the Last Day, when all the dead are raised, He will transform your lowly body to be like his glorious body. And the unseen will be seen, the not yet be now.

Paul saw that, and it changed his life. What about us?

Oh, somewhat, right? But how hard it is to let go! Of our old identity, our old status, our old thoughts and ideas and desires, our old way of life. Hard . . . and dangerous? Look what happened to Jesus! Look what happened to Paul! Look what happened to the other apostles and prophets (like Jeremiah, who we heard about today), and that first generation of Christians after the apostles, and . . . I don’t know if I can do it.

That’s honest. And right.

That’s why this season of Lent is so important. And to hear the words of the Gospel we heard today, when the Pharisees told Jesus, Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you. I don’t know if that was true, or if the Pharisees were just trying to scare Jesus because they wanted to get rid of Him. That’s not important. What is important, is Jesus’ response. That He will not be deterred. What we can’t do, He not only can, but will. He says, basically, that I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing. I’m going to finish my course; I’m going to finish what I set out to do. And I’m going to finish on the third day - a reference to His resurrection. Which means He knows He going to die. And He knows it won’t be Herod, but a Roman cross. He’s going to die in Jerusalem, because that’s what Jerusalem does - it kills the prophets (those who speak the Word of God) and stones those who are sent to it. Jesus knows, but this is what He came to do.

And then He uses the image of a mother hen, gathering her chicks under her wings to protect them, to shield them from danger. That is, for us, Jesus on the cross, with us gathered under His outstretched arms, under His blood shed, to rescue us from sin, death, and the devil. You don’t have to be there. But if you’re not, it doesn’t end well for you. Your house is forsaken. That is, everything you depended on and counted on in this world - your old identity, your status, your thoughts and ideas and desires, your way of life, your citizenship in this world - will do you no good and provide no help in the end.

Once Paul was struck blind and then baptized and realized how quickly things can change and had changed for him - not because of anything he did, but all because of Jesus - he threw it all away. The status, the power, the identity, anything and everything this world could give him was nothing, because it was all passing away; it wouldn’t last. But the life that Jesus gave would last forever.

And that’s true for us as well. No matter who you are or how things are going for you. No matter what you are in the eyes of the world, you are a baptized child of God. You are a citizen of heaven. Which is a big deal. For it means you have something far more valuable and lasting than anything in this world. A status and identity that no one can take away. You are someone who can sing, as we did:

What is the world to me! My Jesus is my treasure,

My life, my health, my wealth, My friend, my love, my pleasure,

My joy, my crown, my all, My bliss eternally.

Once more then I declare: What is the world to me! (LSB #730 v.4)

It’s still going to be hard. You’re still going to fall to temptation and fail in your weakness. You’re still going to think wrong and do wrong. You’re still going to forget to live as the citizens of heaven you are. But that’s why we come here, to hear the truth of God’s Word again, to repent of our sins and failures and hear those wonderful words of forgiveness and new life, and . . . AND to sing those words Jesus spoke today: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The pilgrims going to Jerusalem sang those words as they saw Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and we sing those words as Jesus comes to us here in His Body and Blood in His Supper. And He feeds us with Himself, with His life. Protecting us, providing for us, and assuring us: I am yours, and you are mine.

It’s a big deal. The world may not think so, but you know better. Because your citizenship isn’t here, but in heaven. So you think different, identify different, live different. Fixing your eyes on Jesus. We have a different calendar than the world does, we do our marriages and families different than the world does, we use our time different than the world does, we value the things of this world different than the world does, we look at the future different than the world does. Because we, too, like Jesus, are going to finish our course, on our own third day, with our own resurrection.

And that changes everything. It changed Paul, and it changed you. It changes everything about us. It’s a work in progress, to be sure. But a work that Jesus is doing in you. For as Paul also told the Philippians: I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (1:6). And He will.

Therefore, as Paul said today, talking not just to the Philippians, but to you - therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. Stand firm, citizens of heaven.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.