Philippians 3.12-21

CITIZENS OF HEAVEN

(Philippians 3.12-21)

Home is where the heart is. And so I returned home to England in 1991 from my

various overseas travels.

However, I shall never forget those travels and especially three of my favourite drinking

holes in the Far East which I used to visit whilst working as a Cruise Chaplain on board

the Coral Princess around South East Asia - Raffles Hotel, Singapore; the Eastern &

Orient Hotel on the Malaysian Island of Penang, and the Peninsular Hotel, Hong Kong. These three world famous hotels, built by two brothers in the 19th century, stand as a

permanent reminder of the British colonial past.

To step inside these bars is to step into a little bit of England amidst an alien culture,

where English is still spoken loudly and clearly and where the best of English culture is still preserved.

I was reminded of this experience when I read Philippians 3.12-21. The apostle Paul reminds the Christians living at Philippi that their "homeland is heaven" to use the JB Philips translation. The RSV translates the Greek word "POLITEURA" as "our commonwealth is in heaven" whilst the Good News Bible translates it as "We...are

citizens of heaven", which is the theme for this sermon.

That word "homeland", "commonwealth" or "citizenship" would have had particular

significance to the early Christians in Philippi, since the city was a Roman colony of

Macedonia. It was primarily a retirement city for many Roman soldiers who had been

rewarded after 21 years service, with full Roman citizenship. There in Philippi, the

Roman tongue was widely spoken, Roman clothes worn and justice administered along

Roman lines. In fact, one would have felt one was still living in Rome.

For Paul to suggest, therefore, that Christians belonged to the "commonwealth of heaven", would have immediately rung a bell with his readers in Philippi. Just as the Romans lived in Philippi as if they were actually still living in Rome, so Christians live on earth as if they are living in heaven.

What then does it mean to say that "our commonwealth is in heaven"?

May I suggest it means three things, which can be summed up in the words 'belonging',

'sharing' and 'witnessing'.

First of all then: belonging.

Although I used to enjoy Singapore, Penang and Hong Kong enormously, I never felt part of the Asian scene. I was English. I belonged to England. In the same way as the

Romans in Philippi never ever felt that they were part of the Macedonian scene for they

belonged to Rome.

Now Christians belong to God. As the old Catechism tag puts it: "I come from God, I

belong to God, I go to God".

In Baptism, God adopts us into his family and we surrender ourselves to his fatherly rule in our lives. Our home therefore is with God. After all, that is where our heart is, though we may often find it difficult to put into words.

In other words, our life upon earth is seen to be of a temporary character. We are

travellers, just passing through towards our heavenly home.

This immediately puts a new meaning upon everything we experience in life. We know

that this is not the end of life. Although we cannot explain everything to our present

satisfaction, we know that we shall one day have all our questions answered. In the meantime, we travel on, living by faith, knowing God is working out his purpose in

our life.

Because we belong to God, we see life from a different perspective.

I am reminded of that wonderful picture by the artist, Salvador Dali, of Christ on the

Cross. Do you recall it? The viewer looks down upon this small world from behind the

shoulders of Christ on the Cross. Somehow, the Cross of weakness is transformed into the Cross of power and glory as we come to realise the insignificance of life upon this

earth when viewed from the perspective of eternity. The trials and tribulations of this

life pass into oblivion when seen from the heavenly point of view.

Secondly: sharing.

No matter how many times I visited Singapore, Penang and Hong Kong, and no

matter how friendly the people were - and I still have many friends there - I still often felt

lonely, being in an alien culture. However, I always knew that if I went to my three

favourite watering holes, I would find other Englishmen with whom I would have

something in common.

Even the ex-pats, who have lived for years in the Far East, still tend to gravitate towards each other where they can, and gain support and encouragement by the sharing of a common language, history, culture and values.

This is why regular worship and fellowship is so important for Christians. To try and live

out the Christian life alone in society, whose values are often completely alien to the

Christian way of life, without the support and encouragement of fellow Christians, is really asking for trouble. Even if we don't think we need other people, other people often need us.

Our citizenship of heaven is something we share with other people and therefore it is

natural we should seek to express it in a tangible form on earth, particularly through

worship.

Belonging, sharing and finally: witnessing.

I am very proud of my British passport.

Because I am proud to be British, I am also particularly careful, when overseas, not to do anything which will discredit my "home" country. Whether we like it or not, people

tend to judge a country by the people they meet from it.

This was Paul's real gripe with some of the Christians in Philippi. Their behaviour

discredited not only themselves, but the entire Christian community, both there and

elsewhere.

Many of them had become totally materialistic in their outlook.

So he wrote: "I have told you many times before, and now I repeat it with tears: there

are many whose lives make enemies of Christ's death on the Cross. They are going to end up in hell, because their goal is their bodily desires. They are proud of what they should be ashamed of, and they think only of the things that belong to this world". (Phil. 3.18-19).

Now this is not to say that Christians should be so heavenly minded that they are no

earthly good! As C S Lewis has pointed out: "the Christians who did most for the present world are just those who thought most of the next". He goes on to say: "The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the slave trade, all left their mark on Earth precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven". In fact he suggests that: "It is since Christians have ceased to think of the afterworld that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth 'thrown in': aim at earth and you will get neither".

Yes, it is by refusing to accept the world's standards and bearing witness to heavenly

standards, that the world is ultimately transformed.

My friends, never forget that first and foremost, "we are citizens of heaven".

That means that we belong to heaven; that we share a common life; and that we bear

witness to that citizenship in our daily life upon this earth.

Above all we look forward to the coming of Christ, the embodiment of God himself who

will bring all things under his ultimate universal rule. That God's will may be done

on earth, as it is in heaven.