Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20040609.htm

APPLYING THE CHRISTIAN'S POSITIONAL RICHES IN CHRIST
Part XX: Applying The Truth That Believers Are Heavenly Citizens
(Philippians 3:20 et al.)
  1. Introduction
    1. One of the great burdens that Christians can bear is the grief of losing what it used to mean for them to be citizens of a specific earthly nation, a loss due to human failure in history: for instance, an American Christian may lament and seemingly vainly struggle to reverse the fact that his country that was once based on Biblical principles is now post-Christian, cf. The Rebirth Of America, 1986 ed., p. 12-141.
    2. As we will learn in this lesson, the Philippian believers had experienced loss in the history of their citizenship, something a Roman emperor sought to alleviate but with imperfect results.
    3. However, one of the 33 positional truths we believers have the moment we come to faith in Christ is a heavenly citizenship that fully compensates for citizenship losses in this life much like what the Philippian believers would have known, cf. Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, vol. III, "Soteriology," p. 252. Paul's solution given to the Philippians based on this positional truth applies to believers today who have experienced loss in the value or possession of their earthly citizenships as follows:
  2. Applying The Truth That Believers Are Heavenly Citizens, Philippians 3:20 et al.
    1. When Paul wrote in Philippians 3:20 NIV to Philippian Christians that their citizenship was in heaven, he wrote to people who understood what it meant to experience a loss as Roman citizens that was never quite fully recompensed by their homeland's emperor as follows:
      1. Due to a Roman civil war, some landowners in Italy who supported the triumphant forces of Antony were nevertheless "stripped of their holdings in Italy," Zond. Pict. Ency. of the Bible , vol. Four, p. 760.
      2. To compensate them for their loss, the Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar "opened up the city" of Philippi in Macedonia for them so that, even though they had to move from their former holdings in Italy, they could still enjoy Roman citizenship in distant Macedonia, Ibid.
      3. Thus, some of the Philippians were aware of or maybe had been descendants of once land owners of Rome's native land of Italy but now were located in this distant Roman colony "as colonists while their citizenship was in Rome," Bible Knowledge Commentary, New Testament, p. 662.
    2. In a statement full of meaning for these Philippians with their unique history, Paul mentioned the heavenly citizenship they had that would compensate them far beyond what their Roman Emperor could do:
      1. Paul mentioned to his Philippian readers that, in contrast to the false teachers who minded "earthly things," they were citizens of heaven, Philippians 3:19-20.
      2. However, in vast SUPERIORITY to their CURRENT lot as displaced Roman citizens from Italy who lived in a Roman COLONY in Macedonia, their HEAVENLY citizenship would supply FULL CITIZENSHIP PRIVILEGES that their ROMAN citizenship FAILED to do (as follows):
        1. Instead of having to settle for life in a foreign colonly away from their former land holdings due to the injustices of a civil war they experienced, heavenly citizenship supplied the hope of the coming of Christ who would change their bodies for transport TO heaven's HOME in vast superiority to what unhappy and unjust DISPLACEMENT they had experienced in history, Philippians 3:21.
        2. Hence, these believers were not to focus on "earthly things" such as what could be gained or loss in this life, but on heavenly things where full citizenship blessings awaited them, Phil. 3:19b-20!
        3. Other New Testament passages telling of the temporary nature of our earthly sojourn due to our heavenly destiny caused by our heavenly citizenship would include Luke 10:20, Hebrews 12:22, 2 Corinthians 5:8; 1 Peter 2:11 and Hebrews 11:13; Ibid., Chafer.
Lesson: Instead of struggling or lamenting over the irretrievable loss of the value of our earthly citizenship due to the failure of human history, God calls us Christians to focus on the hope of all the blessings our heavenly citizenship provides, and to look expectantly for our Saviour, Jesus Christ, to take us out of our troubled nations to live in heaven where our citizenship blessings will overflow.

Application: As believers in Christ, when we see the sad fall of our respective earthly nation's once lofty citizenship into apostasy or loss of some kind, instead of focusing on this usually irretrievable loss, God calls us to hope and live for our heavenly citizenship and for our coming Savior, Jesus Christ!