Series: Why Did Jesus Come?
Sermon Title: 1-Because We were enemies with God
Scripture: Philippians 3: 17-4:1
Sermon Notes
I. Jesus Came because We Are E______________ of God
A. Becoming an Enemy of God
“enemies”—comes from the verb that means, ‘to H_______.’
Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In that act of D___________________, they declared themselves to be enemies with God.
King Saul began to do some things that he was not supposed to do: He consulted a M_____________. He was trying to force God to do what he wanted God to do.
B. What is an Enemy of God Like?, v. 19
Their destiny is D__________________.
Their god is what they are H_____________ for deep down.
The things that ...gives them glory, they should be A____________ of.
Their mind is on earthly things– Physical, M______________
II. Jesus Came So We Could Be Citizens of H____________
A. Our citizenship begins while we are here on E_________.
God wants us to be R_______________________ with Him.
‘reconcile,’ means—to make changes, so that two things are in A______________.
The word, ‘citizen,’ is where we get the word, ‘politics,’ from, but it means, ‘your behavior,’ or ’your way of L_________.’
B. God makes it possible so that we can really B______ with Him forever in heaven.
Immigrants who become citizens are naturalized.
Believers in Christ will be G_________________.v.21
What does that means to live like we are citizens of heaven?
Giving our whole-hearted P_____________ to Him in worship.
Fellowshipping together with other B________________
Getting to know Jesus B_________ through His Word.
Loving one another and helping to meet N______ people have. Telling others that they can B___________ citizens of heaven.
Series: Why Did Jesus Come?
Sermon Title: 1-Because We were enemies with God
Scripture: Philippians 3: 17-4:1
There are many people we could call Friends of the cross, and, then, there are those who Paul called Enemies of the Cross. As Romans 5: 10 tells us, we all have been part of this second group.
I am beginning a series called, “Why Did Jesus Come?,” and the first reason I want to mention is this: He came because WE were ENEMIES with God.
I. Jesus Came because We Are Enemies of God
A. Becoming an Enemy of God
18 For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
"many live as enemies of the cross of Christ"
The noun, enemies, comes straight from the verb that means, ‘to hate.’ In the Greek language, the word for enemy is ‘echthros.’ The word SOUNDS hateful.
The current teaching in Jesus’ day was that you were to love your neighbor, but it was OK to HATE your ENEMY—to hate those who were hateful to you, or who hated you. That’s what religious people were teaching.
Wars have been going on for quite some time, haven’t they? As people, we get to the point where we not only dislike somebody, we begin to hate them. Maybe it’s because they have done a wrong to us or to a loved one. Maybe it’s because a nation begins to oppress another nation. Maybe it’s because one religion opposes another.
We really have to go all the way back to the garden of Eden to find where it all started. Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command.
You know, when you break a rule, you are basically declaring that you don’t like the rules that the Rulemaker has made. This can even turn into dislike or hatred for the Rulemaker—how can this rulemaker dare to tell me what I can and can’t do.
In our culture where we emphasize the rights of the individual, there are many who simply don’t want someone else to hold them to a set of rules. They want to be able to make up their own rules—as they fit them.
So, Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In that act of disobedience, they declared themselves to be enemies with God.
We see it continue with Cain, as he became so angry and filled with hate, that he killed his brother.
Jacob deceitfully stole the blessing from his father, and Esau was so filled with anger and hatred that he declared he would kill his brother, Jacob.
But to be an enemy with God is a serious thing.
King Saul had been selected by God to be the first king over Israel. He began to do some things that he was not supposed to do:
He offered a sacrifice that only the priest was to offer
He became so jealous of David, that he tried to kill him several times
But the event I want to mention happened after Samuel, the priest had died. Saul did something that was a good thing—he got rid of all of the psychic, sorcery kinds of people, the mediums, the spiritists. But along came the Philistine army. Now, this is after the battle David had with Goliath, so the Philistines had regrouped and came back. Saul became very afraid. He inquired of the Lord for help, but God did not respond in dreams or through prophets, the Scripture says. God was silent, so Saul took matters into his own hands, as he had become accustomed to doing. So he located a medium, and asked her to bring up the spirit of Samuel.
Now, God commands that we not have anything to do with that, but in that moment, God allowed the spirit of Samuel to speak to Saul, and he said, “Why have you consulted me since the Lord has turned away from you, and has become your enemy?”
Saul became an enemy to God because he was trying to get God’s help in ungodly ways. He basically was trying to force God to do what he wanted God to do.
Isn’t that what people who believe in false gods try to do? They perform certain rituals and offer certain sacrifices to MAKE their gods do something good for them. When you try to do that with God, you make yourself His enemy.
Paul writes about what an enemy of God is like in verse 19, “Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.”
The result of their lives is destruction.
I like watching those video clips of buildings being demolished with dynamite. The people that do that spend hours planning and setting the dynamite in place and wiring everything, so that everything will just kind of fall in on itself, without affecting the surroundings. The main reason for demolishing buildings like this is so something new can be built.
The sad thing here is that their ‘destiny’ is destruction, their end-result. There’s no building anything new. They are moving toward a final destiny of destruction. It reminds me of the story Jesus told of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man died and faced eternal torment in hell—a destiny of destruction.
"Their god is their stomach"
In the Hebrew language implied a person’s emotions. Just like the word “compassion” is a reference to the bowels or intestines. This is saying that their god is what they are hungry for deep down.
"their glory is in their shame"
And they are so far removed from God, that the things that they believe set them apart, or makes them, or gives them their sense of being, or gives them glory, are things they should be ashamed of.
Today, there are many who openly declare their sins, and take pride in doing so. One example: “Pride” is the theme of the homosexual movement.
"Their mind is on earthly things"
They think about the physical, the material, what they can get, what they can have, what they can possess, what is temporary.
It doesn’t sound too far from where our culture is today, does it? There are many who are enemies of God, enemies of the cross of Christ.
But…
II. Jesus Came So We Could Be Citizens of Heaven
A. Our citizenship begins while we are here on earth.
But God is not about keeping us as His enemies. Romans 5:10, “For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, ...” (NIV)
God wants us to be ‘reconciled’ with Him.
How many of you still balance your checkbook by hand every month? How many of you have so little money in your account, you have to balance it every month? How many of you have so much money in the bank, you don’t have to worry about balancing it?
Every month the bank sends you a statement that tells you how much money you had in their bank when the statement was printed. You assume that is correct. Then you add in the deposits that you made after that date, and you subtract any checks and withdrawals that were made on that date. And your final answer should match with your checkbook ledger. If it doesn’t, then you have to look for errors and make the changes, or corrections, that will make them mutually agree.
That’s what the word, ‘reconcile,’ means—to make changes, so that two things are in agreement. Because of our sin we were enemies of God. And God wants us to be with Him forever. God made a change—He sent His Son, Jesus to die for our sins. And we have to make a change—we must believe in Jesus, and accept His death as payment for our sins. And when we do, we are brought into a right relationship with God.
20 "But our citizenship is in heaven..."
The word, ‘citizen,’ is where we get the word, ‘politics,’ from, but it basically means, ‘your behavior,’ or ’your way of living.’ The way that we live should be like we were in heaven.
A good example of this is something like a Chinatown. These are located literally all around the world. Many Chinese would settle in a place. And the Chinese population would grow and grow until the whole community took on the Chinese culture. And they live the same way they would if they were in China.
Paul is saying that, if you have trusted Jesus as your Savior, you may physically still live here on earth, but you need to live as though you were in heaven. In Jesus, we are no longer enemies of God, enemies of the cross, enemies of heaven; we are citizens of heaven.
While on earth, we are to live as citizens of heaven. But that’s not all.
B. God makes it possible so that we can really BE with Him forever in heaven.
One day, we will be “naturalized.” When an immigrant comes to this country, they are still citizens of their own country. There’s still a legal tie to that land. But for many, there comes a time when they say, “THIS is my home! This is where I live. This is where I work. This is where I raise my family. This is my homeland.” So they become full-fledged citizens. They are “naturalized.” They are given most rights and privileges of natural-born citizens.
With heaven, the process isn’t called “naturalization;” it’s called “glorification.” When we trust Christ as our Savior and submit to Him as Lord, we begin eternity, here on earth. But our physical bodies weren’t made to last forever.
And Jesus is going to “reconcile that, too. He is going to “make a change,” to make our bodies suitable for heaven.
Paul continues to tell about the One who makes our citizenship in heaven possible, and the One who will make this change possible.
20 "… And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,"
He is Savior. The Deliverer. The One who takes our sins away. He is “from” heaven. He ascended into heaven after His resurrection. He is the “Lord.” The One in charge.
Paul goes on in verse 21.
21 "who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control,"
Before He ascended, Jesus told His followers: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me...” Matthew 28:18, NIV
And by His authority, by His power, He...
"...will transform our lowly bodies [our physical, human bodies] so that they will be like his glorious body"
Now, we don’t know what all that includes; how exactly they’ll be changed, but they will last forever and they won’t experience pain. And with these glorified bodies, we will worship God the Father and Jesus His Son, throughout eternity.
Why Did Jesus Come? Because we were enemies with God. And God didn’t want to leave us that way. He wanted us to be citizens of heaven.
And while we are here on earth, we are to live like we are citizens of heaven. Do you know what that means?
That means faithfully representing Jesus, so that we don’t bring any dishonor to Him.
It means giving our whole-hearted praise to Him in worship.
It means fellowshipping together with other believers in our own “heaven-towns” I guess we could call them.
It means It means getting to know Jesus better through faithful reading and study of His Word.
It means It means loving one another and helping to meet the needs people have.
It means telling others they, too, can become citizens of heaven.
Are you living that way today? If not, I urge you to let Jesus know that you want to. Ask Him to forgive you and to help you.
If you’ve never trusted Jesus as your Savior, you aren’t a citizen of heaven—not here on earth, and not forever in heaven. I urge you—come to Jesus today. Invite Him to be your Savior and Lord.
