Sermon Cloud

One of the many points of contrast between our civilization and the Christian religion is that Christianity is fundamentally serious and our culture is not. Christianity purports to be about God and the devil, heaven and hell, life and death, truth and error. It says that life is short and eternity is long and so you better get it right. The modern world is remarkably shallow, cynical, and ironic. Meaningful conversion is virtually impossible. “In-depth analysis” amounts to a 10-minute discussion on a news program. Once a moment or two of deep reflection occurs, a wisecrack follows to break the tension and allow all to get back to enjoying the present moment, which in contemporary view, is the important thing. Our world is serious about accumulating wealth, making a name for oneself, and experiencing pleasure. Tremendous time and energy is put into these fundamentally unserious pursuits, but little else.

The Apostle Paul has been engaging us in a very probing discussion of eternal issues. His central thought in this concluding section, 3:17-21, is this: “Our citizenship is in heaven” (v. 20). That is, our primary identity is not as citizens of any earthly realm, society, or organization. We primarily are citizens of God’s kingdom, members of His church, soldiers in His army. Because that is our identity, from it flows our behavior and purpose.

Earthly Citizenship

The Apostle Paul’s main point in verses 17-19 is to describe an earthly citizenship, or worldly citizenship, in order to contrast it with the heavenly, which one could say he already has described in 3:1-16, and to which he will give a resounding conclusion in 3:20,21. He takes an interesting and important tact. Just in case anyone was inclined to dismiss all the serious talk about how the Christian life is to be lived (e.g. his use of all those athletic metaphors regarding pressing on and “reaching forward” (13), pushing ahead toward the “goal” and “prize” and the “upward call”) as being the commitments of an Apostle and not regular folks, the Apostle Paul universalizes his commitments. He says,

Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. (Phil 3:17)

“Brethren,” he says, using an inclusive term of affection. The phrase translated, “Join in following my example,” is based on an unusual Greek word (sumoninētēs, lit. “imitate with”). It might be rendered “join in imitating me. “Observe,” he continues, using a strong word. It has the same root as the word translated “goal” in verse 14 (skopon). “Keep your eye on the mark,” or on the “goal,” is the sense. “Keep your eye on those who walk,” “according to the pattern,” “observe them.” What pattern? “The pattern you have in us.”1 “The pattern we gave you,” reads the NIV. What pattern, example or way of life? The pattern of those who are justified by faith, whose sins are forgiven, who have been reconciled to God and are saved, and as a result view knowing Christ as of “surpassing value” (v. 8). It is the “one thing (they) do” (v. 13). They press on toward a greater knowledge of Christ, pressing on like the athlete striving for the finish line, toward deeper fellowship with Christ and more perfect conformity with His character. We are to look for living examples of the Apostle Paul’s pattern and imitate them. The Apostle’s pattern is not for preachers only. Don’t take a medievalists view of the Christian life, relegating serious commitments to priests and monks. The Apostle’s exhortation in verse 17 is directed to all believers. “Brethren,” he says. “All believers,” he means. My “example” is the norm. The foregoing “pattern” is the only one which works. You are in a race. You are in a contest. The only way to finish and reach the goal, whether young or old, whether new Christian or old, though deeply flawed, imperfect, and incomplete, is by pressing on. The Christian life can’t be lived on half-time. It can’t be pursued part-time. God cannot be sought in our spare time. Moreover, this is what those who know Christ want. They don’t have to be brow-beaten into coming to worship or reading their Bibles or praying. They don’t have to be screamed at to get serious, or to pick-up the pace a bit, or to try to slip in the odd prayer during a commercial. This is their passion. They know the “surpassing value,” and they are pursuing Christ with all their might.

The alternative is not a pleasant one. He moves ahead with the contrast.

For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, (Phil 3:18)

He repeats the word “walk” from verse 17. There is another direction in which to walk, and “many” are doing so. This is the tragedy. They are not a few. The Apostle speaks with intense emotion. I’ve told you about them “often.” Now I tell you “even weeping.” Apparently these others were once members of the church. They were once under his pastoral care. But now they are walking an alternative route that is not just an alternative, but the wrong way. They stepped from the narrow path that leads to life to walk the broad path that leads to destruction. The Apostle weeps for them. We will struggle now, as twenty-first century people, to sustain our attention because of the intensity of the emotion. We will want to crack a joke to relieve the tension. But the Apostle is relentless. They are “enemies of the cross of Christ.” These are in all probability professing Christians. But their carnality and worldliness is a betrayal of the gospel.

The particular problem, as we have seen, is a form of perfectionism that said: “We have arrived. We are complete. We have been perfected in Christ.” Therefore, by definition, all that they did was without sin. By definition they were incapable of sin. What was sin for others, for them was not. They may have been one of the Gnostic groups that viewed perfection as mental or spiritual and bodily activity as irrelevant. This particular aberration is not as relevant as the tendency, seen repeatedly in the history of the church and present today, to indulge sin while claiming Christ. There have always been those who “turn the grace of our God into licentiousness,” or “an opportunity for the flesh,” and by so doing “deny our only Mastery and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4; cf. Gal 5:13; 1 Pet 2:16).

Christian claim or no Christian claim, the wage of sin is death (Rom 6:23).

whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. (Phil 3:19)

One cannot claim God and live like the devil. Such a claim is specious. One cannot claim a Christian identity and live like a pagan. Such a claim is false. Their “end is destruction.” We have our “goal.” They have their aim, goal, or end (telos). Ours is a “prize” (v. 14). Theirs is “destruction.” This is what is at stake. Eternity is in view. Maintain the focused seriousness. Consider the issues with which we are dealing.

He characterizes these false believers as citizens of earth. They are Christian, perhaps, in name, but worldly in behavior. They live like pagans. How do worldlings live?

First, their “god is their appetite.” Literally, “their god is their belly” (KJV). The “belly” here represents the bodily appetites – food, drink, sleep, fun, sensual pleasures. This is what they live for. Life for them is all about gratifying the body’s appetites. They cannot or will not be governed by God’s laws. What feels good, what gratifies, must be indulged. They cannot or will not say no to their lusts. As of 2007, 40% of all live births in the United States are illegitimate. We are awash in the sensual and pornographic. It is everywhere present and anywhere available, at the click of a mouse. It is breaking down the Christian community: our teens, our singles, our marriages, and our ministers. Our young girls no longer know what not to wear, our young men no longer know what not to watch, and what constitutes decent and moral and appropriate behavior is being lost. “Woe to those whose god is their belly!” the Apostle warns.

Second, their “glory is their shame.” Shame is the response of the morally healthy to wrongdoing. When our conscience or the reproach of others convicts us of our sin, the right response is shame: we are ashamed of ourselves. The Apostle Paul describes those who not only are unashamed, but who actually “glory” or “boast” about that regarding which they ought to be ashamed. Isaiah complained of those who “display their sin like Sodom; they do not even conceal it” (Is 3:9). He warns,

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and clever in their own sight! Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink; (Is 5:20-22)

They boast of their drunkenness. They boast of their fornications. They boast of their theft and fraud. They boast of their intimidation and oppression. For them, these are good things, things about which to be proud and to glory.

Third, they “set their minds on earthly things.” This is the whole problem. They are in pursuit of illicit earthly pleasures mentioned above or licit earthly pleasures in idolatrous proportions. They can’t rise above the here and now. Life is all about the present tense. This is how the world lives. During one of my summers at Bekins Moving Van & Storage, the driver with whom I was working asked me what I was “going into” when I graduated. I told him, “The Christian ministry.” An awkward pause followed. Then he said, “Yea, I hear they make pretty good money.” I thought, but didn’t say, “You don’t understand at all.” How could he? His words merely reflected the world’s frame of reference. The world wants power, prestige, wealth, pleasure now, immediately. That’s what worldlings live for, and so do worldly Christians. Often worldly Christians will forgo the illicit, but their minds are still “set . . . on earthly things.” They claim Christ, but they excuse worldliness. Grace is their license. They say they want heaven, but the foretastes of heaven found in fellowship with Christ and His people, found in meditation upon Christ’s word and in prayer, are of no interest to them. Their hearts are set on earthly pleasures and honors. For this they live. Godliness is dull to them. Holiness is boring. Worship is tedious. The action is in the world. The excitement is in the earthly. All that is valuable and desirable is found in the world.

Pity the poor soul who lives for this world, who pursues every form of pleasure, who builds his bigger barns, who neglects his soul, who has no energy for prayer, who has no time for God, who gives the Almighty but a few crumbs from his table, but who shall one day hear, “Thou fool, this night thy soul is required of thee” (Luke 12:20, KJV). Their “end is destruction.”

Our Heavenly Citizenship

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; (Phil 3:20)

“For our,” literally, “for us, our,” is emphatic. Over against the earthbound, our “citizenship” or “commonwealth” is in heaven. Citizenship has to do first with identity, and then with way of life. Remember Philippi was a Roman colony. Its citizens were Roman citizens. It was an enclave of Rome in a sea of non-Roman (Macedonian) peoples. They were Roman in dress, manner, language, customs, and morals. His words will resonate with them. “You Philippians,” he is saying, “must never forget that your citizenship is in heaven and therefore your conduct must match your citizenship,” as Barclay put it.2 We are citizens of heaven surrounded by a sea of the citizens of earth. We are “aliens” (1 Pet 1:11), “aliens and strangers” (1 Pet 2:11), strangers and exiles (Heb 11:13).

When I was in Britain, we Americans formed our own little colony, and were very proud of our American speech, dress, and ways, even contemptuous of inferior British ways. When in seminary in Boston, the southerners had their own little enclave which maintained southern ways over against Yankee corruptions. At one point, the leader of the southern group wrote the manufacturers of “Moon Pies” and asked for a care package to be sent up north to satisfy southern cravings. They complied! A substantial package was sent.

A heavenly citizenship has everything to do with both heavenly identity and behavior. Who am I? What is my primary identity? Is it as a member of family, clan, or ethnic group? Is it as a member of a class of persons, say, as a rich person, or a professional, or as an office holder? “I am a ____________.” How do we fill in the blank? The Apostle Paul is saying that our primary and foremost identity is as a Christian, as a disciple of Christ. That takes priority over my national identity, my ethnic identity, my class identity, my professional identity, my vocational identity, my avocational identity. I am not required to deny these things, but my primary identity and loyalty are with the kingdom of God and in heaven. Christians have been called a “third race,” neither Jew nor Gentile, but a new humanity whose identity is not earthbound, but heavenly.

What, then, is my way of life? How do I behave? Our “walk” is as those whose God is not their belly, whose glory is not their shame, and whose minds are not set on earthly things. Why? Because that’s not where our citizenship is. Our minds are set on heavenly things, on “things above, not on things below” (Col 3:2). Heavenly-identity leads to heavenly-mindedness leads to heavenly behavior. Spiritual-mindedness leads to godly, upright devout behavior. We are citizens of heaven, so we don’t grovel in the dirt. We aren’t obsessed with earthly pleasures and honors. We are obsessed with heavenly pleasures and honors; with spiritual pleasures and honors; with knowing God and with fellowship with Christ, and increasingly enjoying then what we will enjoy in fullness in heaven.

Consequently we “eagerly wait.” A word descriptive of intense anticipation and longing (cf. Rom 8:19-25) “for a Savior,” or “Deliverer,” even “the Lord Jesus Christ.” We’re looking up, not down, not ahead, not around. What He will do, the new conditions that He will bring about, will be nothing short of spectacular. This seems to be the primary point. This world is a place from which we need deliverance. The point is not so much that He saves us from sin, as important as that is but which he does not mention. Rather, He will deliver us from this fallen, corrupt, difficult, painful world, this unworthy world.

who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. (Phil 3:21)

He will take the decayed bodies, “ashes to ashes and dust to dust,” of all the saints across all the centuries, and “transform” them. Our “humble bodies,” as one might read it, will be brought into “conformity” with His “glorious body” (NIV). Our fallen bodies will be replaced with unfallen bodies, bodies unscarred by sin, perfect bodies, bodies free of aches and pains, free of sickness and damage, free even of present limitations – like Christ’s body. How can He do this? He tells us:

by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. (Phil 3:21b)

The omnipotence that rules all will transform all. The whole groaning universe will be liberated from the effects of the fall and perfected (Rom 8:18ff). He will act on our behalf “by the power that enables him to bring everything under His control” (NIV).

This hope, this certainty, purifies us because it fixes our minds on the eternal and loosens our bonds to the temporal and earthly (1 Jn 3:3). “The things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” “We are far too easily pleased,” C. S. Lewis said.

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased.”3

We have a natural antipathy to death, but often for the wrong reasons. We regret the things we will miss, but as the great Richard Baxter points out in The Saints Everlasting Rest, everything in this world disappoints. We love our games and recreations. But we are frustrated, even angered, by our inability, by our inconsistency, by our defeats. All our teams fail us and disappoint. But in heaven the universe will be our playground.

We love our friends and family. But even the dearest loved ones hurt us and annoy us. They place demands on us that we cannot meet. They let us down. Misunderstandings are common. In heaven, reunion will occur and all relationships will be perfected. We enjoy the physical pleasures of physical life in this world, but our bodies break down, are easily damaged, succumb to sickness, decay, and death. In heaven our bodies will be perfected and glorified. We’ll miss our property and things, we think. We love our homes and cars, our wardrobes and furnishings, our fine foods and drink, but our things are a huge source of our anxiety and worry. We fret about losing our wealth, and lose sleep devising ways to keep it. Jesus says, however, “the meek will inherit the earth” (Matt 5:5)! Knowing these things breaks our addiction to the things of this world, and sets our hearts on the Eternal, in our Lord and His Christ in whom these things are realized. We need to know who we are and whose we are. We need to know where we are and where we are going. Get that clear and we’ll quit pursuing the temporal and seen, the present and petty, the dirty and deviant, and seek instead the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt 6:33).