Philippians 3:20-4:1

Let's go ahead and open our copies of God's Word to our study in Philippians.

We're in chapter 3. We're looking at verses 20 on into verse 1 of chapter 4.

So Philippians chapter 3, verse 20. And as you're turning there, you know commonly when we're following a continuous thought from the

Apostle Paul, we have to jump back a few verses to get our minds into the flow of what is being said in this passage.

So we're going to start reading in verse 17, the verses we covered last week.

Philippians chapter 3, starting in 17. Paul says, Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example that 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. Therefore, my brothers, whom

I love and long for, my joy and crowns, stand firm thus in the

Lord, my beloved. This is the reading of God's holy inspired words.

So let's go to Him one more time and pray that He would open our eyes to see and our ears to hear this truth.

Dear Heavenly Father, God, Lord, I pray that You would guard me from error.

Lord, we know that Your Word is perfect. Lord, we pray that You would allow us to, through the power of the

Spirit, see and understand and comprehend what it is that You are saying to us through this

Word, and that we would leave this place being doers of the Word, not just hearers only.

In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Well, it seems as though the culture around us, the world around us, our nation, our communities, our entertainment, everything is changing at like a breakneck speed, right?

It seems like everything is, it just seems to be, some would say progressing, I would probably say regressing, going backwards.

But it just seems to be changing so quickly, unlike any other time in history, really.

And in some cases, it could be a good thing. I mean, we have medical advancements, we have technological advancements, and these things can be good things.

Those are progressing. Those are moving much faster than ever before. But more than that, we see more of a moral decay.

We see a breakdown. We see a culture that just a handful of years ago would have looked at something and said, well, that's wrong, that's obviously not right, that's obviously sin.

But now it not only accepts it, but parades it and lauds it as something just and good.

And so things are changing so quickly, I would even say that no matter how old you are in this room, including the children, the

America that you live in today is different than the America that you were born in.

That's how fast things seem to be changing. And it can become overwhelming, can't it?

As we look around at that landscape, we see this ever -changing tide, and it becomes overwhelming.

And I've noticed, at least I think, that unlike any other time before, the church, and specifically the church in the

West, has become fixated on this ever -changing tide.

We've become enamored with it. It consumes our thoughts. We're so focused in on what's happening around us within our nation and within our communities, unlike any other time before, it seems like.

And I would say that it could be a good thing for us, because I think it's exposing our idolatry.

I think it's exposing what we hold dear. Let's be honest.

Most of the churches around this country, this morning, the people sitting in the pews and the seats take more solace and comfort in their inalienable rights in the

Constitution of America than they do the Word of God. They wouldn't say that.

They would never say that. But their lives practically play out like that. Because you can see what happens with all of us whenever we think maybe our freedoms are being taken away.

When we think, oh, they're getting ready for the Second Amendment. What are we going to do? How are we going to protect our families? God will not be able to sustain us at that point.

We become so overwhelmed that we think that that Constitution of America is what is going to keep us safe.

That's what gives me my rights. That's what keeps my family safe. That's what provides for me. That's our idol at times, isn't it?

I think it's exposing our idolatry. And with that,

I think it's become a barometer for the spiritual maturity of the saints that are in the churches today.

We've been talking about maturity over the past couple of weeks. This is what Paul is aiming towards. This is what Paul is always pushing the saints towards.

If you've been here the past couple of weeks, two weeks ago as we covered verse 15, Paul says, let those of us who are mature think this way.

And what was he talking about? We've recapped it a couple times already. He was talking about the previous language that he used before in the verses when he's speaking about a race.

When he's speaking about pursuing Christ. When he's speaking about getting up and disciplining yourself and your body and your mind and your soul and every aspect of your life is geared towards pursuing the one that has pursued you.

Pursuing the one and laying hold of the one that has pursued and laid hold of you, which is Christ. That's what the

Christian life is. And those that are mature are to think that way. Just like an athlete preparing to win a perishable wreath.

They get up, everything they eat, everything they read, everything they do, all their exercises, their careers, everything is surrounded around this pursuit of Christ.

And that's the mature Christian. And getting back to this ever -changing landscape and the possibility of the idolatry within the church of identifying and focusing and looking at this culture so closely has become that measuring that we are not spiritually mature as a people here in the

Western church, I don't believe. Because we don't strive to grow up, which is what we should do.

We should strive to grow up. And then last week, Pastor Jeremiah did an amazing job covering verses 17 through 19 where he gave us a practical way to pursue mature

Christian faith, which is discipleship.

Paul says, imitate me as I imitate Christ. And he talked about what discipleship is within the context of the local church and how discipleship should be intentional and deliberate.

And it's the way that God has prescribed for us to be able to grow in faith.

Well, one of the ways. And he did an excellent job of that. And one of the reasons that we need to grow up in the faith is because of verses 18 and 19 where he talks about the enemies of the cross.

And if you remember, what was the last thing that he said about those enemies of the cross? They have their minds set on earthly things.

And again, Jeremiah did a great job at pointing to the fact that these people's hopes and dreams, their thoughts and affections are set solely on the things of this world.

Their family, their country, their job, their career, their education.

Now, none of those things are bad. I'm not throwing all those things out. But that's where their minds are set, right?

That's the evil ones. And I think Paul's telling the readers, do not imitate them.

Imitate him. Imitate Paul. Imitate the mature. And I believe,

I'm afraid that the Christians today, many of whom are not being discipled properly, which is a big reason that we're having the mess that we have, but I think that they have stopped imitating, that many of us have stopped imitating those that imitate

Christ. And have begun to imitate those whose minds are set on earthly things.

And of course we're not growing in maturity. Because in that, many have lost sight as to who and what they are.

And who and what are they? Citizens of heaven. Citizens of heaven.

That's what Paul tells us. And I can tell you right now that the enemy wants us to focus on this ever -changing tide out here.

He knows that if he can get our attention and our minds and our hearts and everything that we think about during the day, he wants to set our minds on those things.

Because here's what he knows. He knows they'll crumble. He knows that one day the

Constitution of America will cease to hold up. He knows that your family will let you down.

He knows that your career will not fulfill. He knows that these things are going to crumble, and with that, you're going to crumble.

Because that's what you have your eyes set on. That's what we constantly are gazing our attention on, is things of this world.

And when I say the enemy, last week Jeremiah brought it up, these enemies of the cross, these are not our personal enemies.

These are not the people out there. It's not the Democrats or the liberals that are our enemies. Those are not our enemies.

Our enemy is the evil one. It's Satan, the ruler of this world.

And he wants to keep our focus off of something secure and eternal, a foundation that doesn't crumble, so that when what we do look to crumbles, we crumble.

But if we're mature, and as we mature, we begin to see the futility of all of those things out there.

Have you started to notice that as you grow up in the faith? The more you grow, the more you realize that has nothing to offer.

There's nothing out there for me. It crumbles. And it forces us to focus on the eternal.

So today, in these three passages, these three verses, here in Philippians, I want us to see three things about our citizenship, about the place that we truly belong, the place that we should have our eyes set on.

The first is where our citizenship lies. The second is what our citizenship requires.

And thirdly, when our citizenship is revealed. So let's look at that first one.

Where our citizenship lies. Look at verse 20 there in chapter 3 with me. Paul says,

But our citizenship is in heaven. I love the language that Paul uses, and the phrasing that Paul uses.

When he says, But our, that word there encompasses so much.

He's not speaking of himself. He's not speaking of the saints that have already gone on to heaven and are already there and are already citizens.

He's not speaking of just the saints at Philippi. He's speaking of all saints of all time, right?

He's speaking about 12 -5 church in Jonesboro, Arkansas in 2021 and the saints that are present here.

He's speaking about us. It is right now because then he goes on, he says, But our citizenship is.

Notice how he phrases that? It's not might be. It's not will be one day.

No, it is now. Right now, at this very moment, our citizenship belongs in heaven.

That's where we belong. This word citizenship, it's hard for us to comprehend things again.

I know I talk about the original language quite often, but the English language is limited. And so the word citizenship that the

Apostle Paul uses here would have been a word that the church at Philippi would have understood very well.

They would have comprehended what Paul is talking about. And I think we need to kind of break down their perspective a little bit for us to comprehend what

Paul is saying. Because you got to remember that the city of Philippi is a province of Rome.

They're a province of Rome. And I don't have the map out in front of me, but you have to know Rome's over here.

The sea is between them and they're in Macedonia. They're in a completely different land, a completely different place.

And the city of Philippi is a place that there was a great battle that Rome had fought there.

And I believe the city of Philippi is named after Julius Caesar's father, Philip. Because they'd conquered this area and so they set up an outpost.

And Philippi is this outpost of Rome. And so if you live in Philippi, your citizenship has nothing to do with Macedonia.

You were a Roman completely through and through even though you're in a foreign land.

The actual meaning of the word that Paul uses for citizenship here is someone who belongs to a colony but are in a foreign land yet remains or retains all the rights, privileges of being a citizen of that colony.

So you see the contrast there for us to really understand what Paul is saying to the church at Philippi and the way they would have comprehended what he is saying?

They live in a culture where they live in a completely foreign land but yet the people in Philippi were proud of the fact that they were

Roman. They dressed like Romans. They even spoke Latin because that's what was spoken in Rome.

Everything about them was Roman and they did not adapt to the culture of Macedonia at all.

There was no infiltration of that culture in the city of Philippi. They were in a foreign land.

They were citizens of Rome and their allegiance was to Rome. Their taxes went to Rome. As a matter of fact, they were even exempt from any of the taxes in Macedonia.

So this is what Paul is telling the believers. They would have comprehended what he was saying by saying when he says that we are citizens of heaven that we may be in a foreign land right now but our allegiance is solely and completely not split, not divided, not dual citizenship solely to the colony in which we are citizens.

This is important. This is important for us to comprehend because what Paul is saying here is that hey, it doesn't matter where you're located right now.

You're on this earth and you're not to adapt to its cultures.

You don't speak like they speak. You don't dress like they dress. You don't think like they think. These believers, again, would have understood this and what it boils down to is the fact that we are not of this world.

We've been set apart. The moment you were awakened, the moment that you were bought at a price, you belonged to heaven.

And this place is not your home. This is not where you belong because this place is sinking sand.

It's always going to fail. It's always going to falter. It's always going to let you down. But we belong to somewhere that is not on sinking sand.

It is on a solid rock, a foundation that has been built by Christ himself, one that doesn't change, one that you can set your gaze upon and your eyes to, and it will never crumble.

It will never let you down. It's interesting, in John 18, when

Jesus is speaking to Pilate, or rather when Pilate is speaking to Jesus, Jesus said to him that my kingdom is not of this world.

That had to have shocked him, right? Because that's the only paradigm that Pilate would have had is this world.

This is the here and now. Here's this man saying, my kingdom is not of this world. If it was, my people would be fighting right now.

They'd be warring to free me and we would conquer. If it was, but it's not.

He says, but my kingdom is not of this world. Christ's kingdom is not here.

And back in chapter 17 of John, he says, I do not ask, this is

Jesus praying to the Father about the believers that are left there. I do not ask that you take them out of this world.

We're left here with a responsibility, aren't we? Jesus isn't asking that they be taken out of the world.

He's not asking that we are taken out of this world. We're here for a reason right now. But that's what

Jesus is praying. Don't take them out of the world. He does ask him to keep them safe from the evil one. But then he says, they are not of this world, just as I am not of this world.

If our master's not of this world, then we're not of this world. And that's exactly what

Paul is saying when he says, we are citizens of heaven. We are in a foreign land.

I love how Peter says it over in 1 Peter. He says, beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles.

That's how we're referred to. We're not where we belong.

Not in this moment. Not now. Not yet. We are citizens of heaven, and we're just passing through.

So that is where our citizenship lies. Secondly, I want us to see what our citizenship requires.

Because we all understand obligation, don't we? We do have an earthly citizenship,

America, here, for those of us that are in here. We understand that we pay taxes. Try not to pay taxes and see what happens.

We pay taxes. We obey the laws that are set before us. We have a responsibility to contribute to the culture at large.

So we understand what citizenship requires. But have you ever noticed within the church today especially, very few believers know what their heavenly citizenship requires.

We're quite aware of the laws out here. We're quite aware that we have to pay taxes here.

But we're not always aware of the requirements of citizenship in heaven. Look at the verse with me, verse 20 again there,

Philippians. Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it, from what?

From our citizenship, from the grounding of the fact that we belong elsewhere, and from it, from heaven, we await a

Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I love that.

We await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not as though we're supposed to sit here and just twiddle our thumbs and stare at the sky and say, well,

Jesus said he's coming back, so I'll be back one day. There's actual requirements of our citizenship here.

I mentioned John 17 a minute ago when Jesus says, I do not ask that you take them out of this world. He leaves us here for a reason.

And it's interesting, the wording that he uses here when he says, and from it we await. Some of your translations will say eagerly await.

But this combination of words here is actually one word in the Greek. It's really hard for us to be able to just throw a couple words at it and really comprehend what it means.

But what it really means, the word that Paul uses for this we await is to live with a strong and steadfast expectation with patience.

That's interesting, isn't it? It almost seems contradictory. A strong and steadfast expectation.

We're supposed to be expecting, but we're also supposed to be patient at the same time. I'm not very good at that myself.

When I'm expecting something, I want it now. But that's what Paul's talking to us.

That's what Paul is saying to us is to live with a strong and steadfast expectation of our Savior coming, our

Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. This ties into this race mindset, that steadfastness, right?

That we are to wake up every day committing ourselves to run faster after our

Savior than we did the day before. There's a steadfastness.

There's a strong expectation and patience in here as we eagerly await the return of our

Savior, Jesus Christ. Over in Matthew, Jesus says,

Therefore you also must be ready. He's talking about coming back again.

He's giving them just a little bit of a glimpse as to what's going to happen. He says, Therefore you also must be ready, for the

Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Any moment.

Then he says, Who then is faithful and wise servant, whom his

Master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom the

Master will find so doing when he comes. We must be ready.

We all know Christ is returning. We don't know when. But do we live our lives as if this is true?

Because we can't be found influenced by the world when he comes back. We can't be found setting our gaze and our affections on the things of this world.

We can't be found putting our hopes and dreams in things that will crumble. We can't be found looking and becoming just like the world.

We can't allow the world to mold who we are. We cannot allow that world to affect us.

Our Savior and our Master is returning. He's going to return at any moment. We don't know when that is.

This should motivate us. I don't know about you, but that motivates me to keep my eyes on the prize.

To chase after Christ. To become more like him. Because our citizenship requires that we do the will of our

Master. He was not of this world. He said, neither are we.

We're not of this world. As a matter of fact, turn your

Bibles over to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. I want you to see this passage with me. 1

Corinthians chapter 3 starting in verse 10. Paul says there in verse 10 of chapter 3,

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder,

I laid a foundation. What's Paul talking about? He's talking about the requirements of his citizenship.

He's talking about laying a foundation. He's talking about the work that God has left us here to do.

When Jesus says, I pray that you don't take them out of this world. He's leaving us here for a reason. This is what

Paul is doing. I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it.

I think he's talking about us there. We're building upon that foundation. We're left here for this purpose.

Let each one take care how he builds upon it. There's a warning.

We're not just out here willy nilly building whatever we want and however we want.

There's purpose behind it. There's reason behind it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is

Christ Jesus. He's the foundation, right?

That's what we're chasing after. That's what we're imitating. That's what we're becoming like. Now, if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest.

For the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire.

And the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

I think ultimately Paul's talking about the day of judgment here. But I think we can see the evidence of the fact that we as the

Western church and some of us probably individually within our own lives have been building on that foundation with popsicle sticks.

And the fire has set them ablaze and now we're looking around going, what happened? What happened?

We've not been building this foundation based upon the cornerstone, our

Savior Jesus Christ. We're off the mark. You see the evidence of it?

And now when the world starts to shift and change around us, we go, oh no, what do we do?

This is terrible. What about my kids? How are they going to survive this world? What kind of world are they going to grow up in?

Because our minds are set on earthly things because we're imitating those whose minds are set on earthly things.

We're not imitating those whose eyes are set towards heaven, who knows the cornerstone,

Christ, and is building upon that. So I ask the question for us to answer to ourselves.

And I'm sure you've asked this before. I hope you have. If Christ returned today, what would he find you doing?

Now I guess if he returned right now, we'd all be in pretty decent shape. We're at church, right? If God returned this week, where you're going about your normal day, what would he find you doing?

Would he find you committing your work as unto the Lord? Using your career, your education, your schooling, your job as a means and a tool to build upon that foundation?

This should drive us every day to live as though Christ could return.

Because he could at any moment. So we've seen where our citizenship lies.

We've seen what our citizenship requires. Third and lastly, I want us to see when our citizenship is revealed.

When our citizenship is revealed. Look with me there, back at our passage in Philippians 3.

Verse 21. Paul says, Who, who's he talking about?

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.

This is when our citizenship will be revealed. It's not any truer then than it is now.

But man, it's hard to see it sometimes now, isn't it? It's hard to see it when we're in the midst of this world, when we're in a foreign land, away from our home.

Living in tents, ready for glory, ready to be taken back home and be with our

Father. But there is coming a day when it's going to be revealed.

You know, we sang that song this morning. He is worthy. If you pay attention to the lyrics and the verse, it aligns beautifully with what we're talking about here.

Do you feel the world is broken? We do. Do you feel the shadows deepen?

We do. But do you know that all the darkness won't stop the light from getting through?

We do. We affirmed that this morning, didn't we? As we sang that to God, this world is broken.

These bodies are broken because of Adam. Adam did this.

His disobedience brought death into this world.

Brought sickness into this world. And now our decaying bodies are falling apart.

We're losing loved ones. We're watching our fallen sinful flesh corrupt right in front of our eyes.

But there's a promise. Because of the resurrection, because of what we're going to be talking about here in a couple weeks on Easter, the fact that Christ defeated death, the better Adam came and defeated death, that these lowly broken bodies will not only be the way they were when

God created Adam and Eve, they'll be better because they can't fall.

They will never corrupt. They'll be like our Savior. They'll be like Christ.

We will be like our Master, like our Savior. We will be given glorious bodies just like Him.

That should give you comfort, right? That should make it to where when we wake up in the morning, we're ready to serve

Him. We're going, He's coming back and I'm getting a body like His. And this broken body with bad knees, it's over.

It's done with. And it's done through the power that enables

Him even to subject all things to Himself. This power of the

Godhead, an eternal Creator being all -powerful.

Think about that for a second. That means that our glorious bodies are not temporary.

They're not a million years. They're not a trillion years. They're eternal because our God is eternal.

And that same power that's going to raise our bodies and make them incorruptible is the same power that raised

Jesus from the dead and is the same power that was forever and forever will be. That gives us comfort, right?

If you're in Christ today, that's what we look to. We look to our Savior. Don't be discouraged this morning.

Even though we see so much idolatry around us and even though we ourselves get sucked into the vortex of culture and pulled into our eyes being pulled away from glory just like the race analogy that I gave a couple of weeks ago, you're going to fall in that race.

We all do. Just like I said before, Jesus is there.

He puts His hand out. It's a son, daughter. I've run this race before.

I know where it is. Step where I step. That should encourage you. That should wake you up tomorrow ready to serve a risen, perfect Savior knowing that I'm one day going to be made like Him.

Praise God. And then Paul gives us just a little bit more encouragement and challenge here in verse 1 of chapter 4 when he says,

Therefore, because of all of this, my brothers whom

I love and long for, my joy and my crown, stand firm thus in the

Lord, my beloved. Let us stand firm.

Let us set our gaze towards glory and remember where we belong.

Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank