Scripture: Philippians 3:17- 4:1
Theme: Citizenship
Title: I Just Became a Citizen of Heaven!
This sermon deals with what it means to be a Citizen of Heaven. 1. Born from Above 2. Filled with God’s Holy Spirit
INTRO:
Grace and peace to all of you this morning from God our Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
In some part of our country there is a passionate debate going on concerning citizenship. Some people don’t care so much about becoming a citizen of our country as much as they care about the freedom and opportunities for a good life that they feel like they can experience here in the United States. They just want to live here. They don’t care how they get here they just want to live here in the United States. That is especially true for those who live under difficult circumstances in other countries.
In many ways, I don’t blame them. If I found myself or my family being under the rule of an oppressive government and knew that I could in some way come and experience the freedom found in here in the United States then I would do everything I could to get here. I would do everything I could to get my family here.
Actually, that is how many of our ancestors did get here. Both the Puritans and the Pilgrims came here in the 1600’s to avoid persecution and be able to enjoy a life of liberty and justice in the New Country.
The Irish people started coming to America in large waves as early as 1820. When their crops started failing in 1845 (the Potato famine) that wave got larger and larger. Over time, almost 5 million Irish immigrants landed on our shores to find a better life. Today, one in 10 people in our country have Irish roots (over 33 million).
The same could be said for the Germans, the English, the French and other Europeans. All in total there were more than 30 million people who escape Europe to come and live here in America from 1836 to 1914. Almost 40% of the people living in the United States in 1914 were not native born citizens of the United States but immigrants.
We know today that people are still trying their best to come to the United States. And they come for all kinds of reasons – for jobs, better family situations, to escape political and religious persecutions etc…
And while 120 years ago all you had to do was to land on our shores and over time just become an American Citizen, today we have a rather complicated system. There are some hoops to go through to become an American Citizen.
Step 1: Check Eligibility for US Citizenship – get a visa or a green card – which can cost somewhere between $ 1,250.00 to 6,500.00
.Step 2: Complete Form N-400 – US Citizenship Application
Step 3: Obtain 2 Color Photographs
Step 4: Photocopy Documents – Your Green Card/Other Documentation
Step 5: Send In Your Application Package – minimum cost of the package is $725.00
Step 6: Get Fingerprinted
Step 7: Attend Naturalization Interview
Step 8: Take English and Civics Test and Pass It
Step 9: Wait for a Decision
Step 10: Take the Oath
From the time you get your first visa, your green card, take your classes and pay for all the documents (usually some additional lawyer fees) it usually runs on average around 6,000 to 8,000 American Dollars (https://www.doughroller.net/smart-spending/costs-of-becoming-a-us-citizen/) to obtain citizenship.
Then, once all the forms are filled out and you past that last test on U.S. History and the Constitution you are ready to take the final step – Taking the Oath.
This is what you say:
I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.
Once those words are spoken your life is forever changed. Not just paying taxes changed. You now have all the rights and privileges afforded being a citizen of the United States.
Now, that was a great history lesson on what it means to be a citizen of the United States. Something that most of us probably take for granted since we were born into citizenship. We did not have to get a visa, a green card, apply for an application, get fingerprinted, study US history, the Constitution and pass a test. We didn’t have to stand up and take the oath of citizenship. All we had to do was to be born on what is called American soil or have a parent who was already a citizen.
Getting into the Kingdom of Heaven is somewhat the same but also vastly different. That is what Paul is sharing with his readers who lived in the city of Philippi. They knew what it meant to be a citizen of Rome even though they lived 800 miles away. 800 miles is not a great distance today but in that day it was huge.
But even though they lived that far away from the capital of the Roman Empire they were no longer Macedonians but Romans. Their lives were ruled by the Romans. Their schools followed Roman teaching. Their culture was Roman. In every aspect they were Romans.
This morning, I want to us to look a little more in depth what Paul was talking about when he told his readers that they were Citizens of Heaven. We touched on this subject a little last Sunday but I felt like we needed to look at it a little deeper this morning.
I. We are citizens of Heaven by Birth
Becoming a citizen of Heaven is different than being a citizen of the United States or any other country for that matter. Your earthly birth does not make you a citizen of heaven. Being born of Christian parents does not make you a Citizen of Heaven. Being raised “right” does not make you a Citizen of Heaven. Being born on the earth just means you are a citizen of Earth; a citizen of a fallen world.
Sadly, therefore, being a citizen of earth makes you a sinner; which of course means that you are under the authority and rule of sin. And being under the rule of sin can lead you to have a darken heart and mind. Being under the rule of sin can cause a person to become enslaved to sin, live a life of sin and be bound for Hell.
Now, aren’t you glad you were born a citizen of a fallen world?
The Apostle Paul is clear about all of this. Listen to his words:
Romans 6:23 (NLT)
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
Romans 5:12 (ESV)
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
Ephesians 2:1-3 (ESV)
2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Galatians 5:19 ESV
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Now, none of those verses make us feel cozy. None of those verses tickle our ears, hearts or minds. But all of those verses are truth.
There are only two kinds of people that are walking on our earth today. The first are those that are only citizens of earth. The Bible calls them sinners. They may be nice but they are sinners. They may be highly educated, wealthy, successful and popular but they are in the end sinners.
They are people who are enslaved to sin. They are people who are ruled by their lower nature. They are people headed for destruction. They are people who ultimately will be cast into the lake of fire in Hell.
The other group of people are those who have experienced a Second Birth. They have been born Citizens of the Earth but they have also experienced being Born Again as Citizens of Heaven.
This is what we read about in the Gospel of John chapter three. Jesus is talking to Nicodemus. They are having a discussion about what it means for an earth bound person to become a heaven bound person.
Nicodemus is discussing all of this with Jesus when Jesus tells him very plainly:
“I tell you the truth, unless you are born again (literally born from above), you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” – John 3:3
And of course, Nicodemus was a little confused. He knew about the Law but he didn’t understand fully what Jesus was talking about. He was confused about what Jesus meant when he said “born again” (born from above)? How could an earth person experience another birth. They have already been born. They are already a citizen of this earth.
Jesus then gently but firmly revealed to Nicodemus God’s Plan of Salvation. To be Born Again means that you experience a Second Birth; a birth that comes not through a human mother but from above – from Heaven; from God.
Now, Nicodemus was a good man. As a Pharisee he would have memorized the first five books of the Bible – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. And if you are checking, that is 187 chapters and 5,873 verses depending on what version of the Bible you are reading.
187 chapters, 5,873 verses memorized. That’s impressive. Nicodemus also tithed faithfully; 10% of everything he increased. Nicodemus prayed at least three times a day, every day. He faithfully obeyed the Sabbath, fasted on special days and was faithful in His worship.
But none of those things brought him the New Birth. They were all good things and made Nicodemus a good person outwardly. No doubt they made him a good citizen of earth. But in order to be Born Again you have to experience a Second Birth. You have to be born again from above.
Only the LORD can cause a person to be Born Again. It does not happen just because we were born into a Christian family or we have Christian friends. It does not happen because we attend a certain church or even because we can do supernatural things.
Jesus made this plan when you said these words in
Matthew 7:21-23 (NKJV)
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Now, why say all of this? Why focus on this today?
Because it is Important.
There is no other way to experience everlasting life on the New Heaven and New Earth unless we have been Born Again. The New Birth, the Second Birth is essential.
We cannot earn our way to salvation; to being a Citizen of Heaven. We cannot fill out some kind of special report. There is no written test to become a Citizen of Heaven. There is only one way – we must be Born Again.
We must not only understand that for us but we must understand that for our family members and our friends. The only way they are ever going to live in Heaven and on the New Earth is to be Born Again. Nothing else will do the job. We/They must be Born Again.
At times the Devil has been successful in telling people inside and outside the church that all this stuff about the Second Birth is either a lie or is unnecessary. You don’t have to be born again. All that matters is that you were good, or at least better than other people, which most people would agree that they are as good as if not better than most people they know. Being better will not get you to Heaven. Being Born Again is the Only Way to get to Heaven.
Everyone has to do what the Apostle Peter says in Acts 2:38
“Peter replied, ‘Each one of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of the Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
It is just that simple. We need to be reminded of this fact. Not just for ourselves but the more we understand the New Birth the more we will be ready to share with our children, our grandchildren and our friends the Plan of Salvation. The more we understand this fact the more we will be praying for the lost and the unchurched.
It isn’t that they are going to miss out on all the benefits of living a Christian Life here on this earth. Without experiencing the Second Birth they will miss out on Heaven. And the alternative existence – the one in Hell is unthinkable.
No can experience your New Birth for you. No one can repent for us. We all have to turn to the LORD and experience His New Birth. We all must be born from above. If we do that then there is an amazing gift God gives us:
II. God fills us with His Holy Spirit.
Go back to the Apostle Peter’s words in Acts 2:38. There is a 2nd part. Yes, there is a 2nd part. There is a gift that comes with being Born Again.
It is called being filled with God’s Holy Spirit.
Just like Adam had God’s breath breathed into his lungs when God first created him from the dust of the earth, so, too when we are Born Again the Holy Spirit comes and infill us. We are literally born through the power and presence of God’s Holy Spirit living inside us.
Without the Holy Spirit there is no New Birth. Without the Holy Spirit there is no New Life. This is what Jesus was telling Nicodemus and what the Apostle Peter was preaching about on the Day of Pentecost.
John 3:16 reminds us that Jesus, the Son of God came to earth so that we might be saved. Jesus did not come to judge us but to save us.
Jesus said more about this in John 14 when He explained to Thomas:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
And then on and on throughout John chapters 14, 16 and 17 Jesus tells us over and over again that after His mission is done (His death, His resurrection and His ascension) the Father would send the Holy Spirit who would never leave us and would lead us in all truth. (John 14:16-17)
The Holy Spirit will be the one who will convict people of their need for salvation. It will be the Holy Spirit that will lead and guide people into a life of holiness. It will be the Holy Spirit that will enable us to be One with God and One with Each Other.
Just as vital as it is to be Born Again so too is it to allow the Holy Spirit to be in our lives. It is the Holy Spirit that Jesus tells us that will give us our strength and our power. It is the Holy Spirit that will reveal to us the truth about Jesus, about the plan of salvation and about the life we are to live here on this earth.
Too many people want Jesus to save them and then pretty much leave them alone. They want a “Get Out of Hell Card” (who wouldn’t) and then go their own way and do their own thing.
However, salvation is not like that. Being born again is not like that. Being born again means that something happens for you and to you.
Being Born Again means that your sins have been forgiven forever!
Being Born Again means that you are now a whole New Person – Paul calls us a New Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Being Born Again means that you are not alone – You are now what the Apostle Paul calls a Temple of the LORD – in other words, you host the presence of God’s Holy Spirit inside you.
And it is the work of the Holy Spirit in us that enables us to enjoy both the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
What that means is the Holy Spirit makes us more like Jesus. The longer we have the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives the more we talk like, think like and act like Jesus. The more we allow the Holy Spirit to have control in our lives the better life we are going to experience.
The Holy Spirit enables us to have a personal relationship with the LORD and with one another. We see Jesus speaking about this in John 15 especially in verses 15-17:
“I no longer call you slaves, because a master does not confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love One Another.”
Now, think about this for a moment. We are called to be Born Again. That in and of itself is more than wonderful. If that is all there was to the Christian Life we should be praising the LORD every moment of every day. To go from being a sinner bound to the pit of Hell to being a Born Again Believer bound for everlasting life on the New Heaven and New Earth should be enough to make us rejoice forevermore.
But being Born Again is only the starting point. Being Born Again leads us to being filled with God’s Holy Spirit. Being filled with God’s Holy Spirit opens up for us a whole New World. Being filled with God’s Holy Spirit opens up for us a world of Power and Presence. Being filled with God’s Holy Spirit opens up for us a world in which we can enjoy a Personal Relationship with God and One Another.
God wants to have a personal relationship with us. That is the whole reason behind the New Birth and infilling us with His Holy Spirit and that relationship is to be personal and not mechanical.
Now, what do I mean?*
In other words God does not want to talk to us like we would speak to a robot or to our car or how we communicate with our computers. We communicate with them mechanically. For instance:
+If we want our car to start we push a button or turn a key communicating with the car to start
+If we want our car to go we push down on the accelerator and if we want it to stop we push down on the brakes
+If we want to communicate on our computers we push certain buttons to put certain letters together on our screens. We then push other buttons or keys to allow those letters to be transferred either to a website or on to paper through a printer.
+If we want our computers to be “smarter” we put in more data, more storage space and a better processor.
But the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY is not interested in merely having a mechanical or robotic relationship with us. He doesn’t want to just push our buttons and cause us to do certain things. He doesn’t just want to fill our heads with data and then watch as we react to that data.
That is how some people view God. They want God to push their buttons. They want God to make them feel guilty or shame them into living a better life. They want God to put a little hell fire around them.
They read their Bibles like God is just wanting to dump some data into their heads. And then they hope that the data will change them like putting a new computer chip in a computer changes the computer.
God isn’t interesting in having a mechanical relationship with us. If that had been His will then He would have made human robots.
From the very beginning, God not only gave us free will, He gave us the ability to experience relationships. First it was a relationship with our world, with the animals, the birds and the plants. Then it was a relationship with other human beings. But all behind this was the relationship we were to have with Him.
God came down in the cool of the day to walk with Adam and Eve.
God comes down and eats with Abraham and Sarah.
God sits by the fire with Moses.
God meets Gideon while he is threshing wheat.
God talks to Amos while he is picking fruit.
God calls Peter, Andrew, James and John along the sea shore.
God meets Matthew working at the Tax Office.
God walks on the shore to meet the Man who was filled with enough demons to cause 2,000 pigs to take their own lives.
God deeply desires a relationship with us. That is why God gives us His Holy Spirit so that He can have a personal relationship with us. You can’t get any deeper than living inside someone.
Our relationship with God is to be like that of a friend who talks, who discusses, who shares life; meals, conversation, ideas, dreams and goals. Our relationship with God is to be like that of a friend who sits down with us, laughs with us, cries with us, encourages us, challenges us, teaches us and shares with us.
At times we are tempted to treat God as a Sign Post or a GPS system. We want God to give us some directions – how to live and where to go. We want God to show us the way but too often we don’t want Jesus to go with us along the way. We want God to be our Heavenly GPS System. We want Him to help us so that we don’t get lost.
But God wants more. He died to have more. He wants to be our friend. He wants to laugh with us, worship with us, share with us, live with us. He wants to join with us as we learn how to navigate His world. He wants to help us grow and produce a life of fruit not to be put on the shelf but to share with others. He wants to help us reach becoming the best we can be in this life and in hereafter.
God wants us to be full of joy. God wants us to be successful. God wants us to enjoy life to its fullest. That is the reason He died for us. That is the reason His Holy Spirit wants to live in us.
The question we have to ask ourselves this morning is what kind of relationship are we enjoying with the LORD right now. It is Salvation, Salvation Only or is it Salvation and Holy Spirit infilling?
Are we enjoying the full depth of the relationship that we could be experiencing with the LORD?
Or, are we content just to be saved?
Or do we want more?
Do we share the Psalmist passion when he wrote:
“As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.” – Ps. 42:1
Do we want to be what to be both saved and infilled with His Holy Spirit?
Do we want the LORD to talk to us everyday – not push buttons or merely dump data into our heads and hearts. But to open ourselves up and have a real relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
I fear too many people believe that Heaven is just going to be this place where all the resurrected folks have conversations with one another and God is off somewhere on His throne taking care of things – telling angels to do this or that. But as far as God coming down and speaking to us that won’t happen very often. He will be too busy.
Is that what Jesus did when He came to earth?
Did Jesus just isolate Himself?
Did Jesus set up shop on some street corner and put a sign out – Knock and perhaps if I am in then I can give you some spiritual GPS directions?
Or did Jesus live among us? Did he walk on our streets, travel up and down our hills and valleys? Did Jesus take boat rides and eat fish around a camp fire? Did Jesus dance at wedding and have a cup of wine? Did Jesus rejoice with those who could walk again, see again and be pure again? Did Jesus play games with children and bless them over and over again?
Did Jesus have relationships with people? Relationship as deep as they would allow Him to have? Relationships that led people to allow Jesus to change the direction of their lives like Matthew and Mary Magdalene?
This morning, as we close and share Holy Communion:
+Jesus comes to make Being Born Again a Reality in Our Lives
+Jesus comes to Infill Us with His Holy Spirit
We will allow Him to do that for us? Will we allow Jesus to make us a New Creation? Will we allow Jesus to infill us with His Holy Spirit? Will we then live out a live dedicated to exercising the gifts, graces and produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit?
As we partake this morning, let’s allow Jesus to save us, redeem us, sanctify us, fill us and renew us.
Open Altar/Holy Communion/Prayer/Blessing
*Dr. Robert Morris speaks on this at great length.
