Your Citizenship, Philippians, 3:20-21

I have to tell you, I've been really excited. As a matter of fact, I told Hal and Mike this last week. I said, this is just the greatest passage in all of Philippians. I've been really excited to be able to delve into it with you. So let's take a look at it this morning. It's just two verses, but boy, there's a lot in them. Boy, there's a lot in them. Okay. Mike read 20 and 21 for us here. And what he's doing is, last week, the passage we looked at, he ended up, he talked about those who walked. They were enemies of Christ.

And he went down several different items that were, you know, those who were of concern to him. Matter of fact, beyond concern, he said he wept. And the word he used was not to weep quietly, it's to wail out loud. for those who walk in this way." And the final point that he made about those here at the end of verse 19, he says, "...who set their mind on earthly things." And so here's his pivot point. He says, "...these, the ones I am wailing about, set their minds on earthly things, but..."

What he does here, in the end of verse 19, he makes that point, We have a citizenship which is in heaven. A huge contrast. Your mind is set here or it's in the heavenlies. And he doesn't just say we have our mind in the heavenlies. He says we have a citizenship that's in the heavenlies.

Let's take a deeper look at that. As we look at it, boy, the more I looked at it, the more excited I got. It's real tough for me about the middle of the week because I say, man, I got to wait several more days to talk about it. And OK, you can bear with me here. The thing we have to look at, let's go through a little bit of history to get the right context for this. Here's Philippi.

And as we mentioned back in January, it had been established as a colony about 30 BC. So what that tells you is the people that Paul is writing to and the people that he has been with are like the grandsons and granddaughters of those who were there when this was established. So that's going to give us a time context.

The thing to remember, it was established as a Roman colony. And what they would do is they would establish Roman officials, Roman soldiers, whatever it took. The idea was to make a place that was little Rome. Roman culture, Roman politics, Roman influence was to be established here in this colony, and everyone was to have a mindset, we are Roman. That was the idea. So what happens here is this is set in place.

Here's the Roman soldiers who were living there were given a special deal. They say, okay, if you be a Roman soldier for the Roman army for 21 years, we'll get you a special deal. You can live in Philippi, tax-free the rest of your life. And, how'd you like that? And, that's not all, we give you Roman citizenship at the end. After 21 years as a Roman soldier, assuming you lived through it, then you get to have Roman citizenship at the end, and all the rights and privileges of being Roman. But you've got to be just breathing Roman.

That was the idea. They had a whole collection of various things that they offered them. They would give them a chunk of land for free. So they had, here's a chunk of land, Roman citizenship, tax-free. It was a great deal. The other thing was Roman citizenship was a great thing to have even if you didn't live there. The idea was even if Rome was far away, it was kind of like the world standard place to have your citizenship. If you want to have citizenship anywhere, Roman citizenship is the place to have it.

So here's Philippi, this little place over in this area here. Rome is over here, some 800 miles roughly apart. And yet, you could live here, be a colony here, and have the citizenship there. Something else that we need to look at here. This is a picture of Philippi as it looks now. And this paved road was the old Roman via Ignatia, the Ignatian way that went right through Philippi. And this area in here is what we want to take a look at.

The temples and sanctuaries in this area were set in place with all kinds of different temples, but some of the temples were Roman emperor's temples, because after all, these folks were Roman to the core, right? And the Roman belief was that If a man was an emperor, he was a god. And when you went in to do your usual ritual in honor of the Roman emperor who was a god, you would call him a savior.

We'll get back to that in a minute, but hold on to that thought, okay? So the first word that pops up here as we look at this, Paul just starts right off in verse 20. For our citizenship is in heaven. All right, let's take a look at that word. Citizenship, in the King James, it says conversation, and believe me, it's more than just talking. But the Greek politeuma, if you want to call that a politeuma, go ahead, I don't care, but politeuma is the way they would pronounce it. We already looked at a related word here, and this is the noun form of the verb that Paul used in Philippians 127, which meant to conduct yourselves. The idea is to conduct yourselves as citizens. in a verbal form before, here he uses it as a noun. We have a citizenship. This is a noun that he's communicating to them. Alright, so he's telling them, you believers have a heavenly citizenship. We have a citizenship.

Now, think of it, you are at the church in Philippi. Good chance that you are either a Roman citizen or you're working for it. That's why you're in Philippi. You're either a Roman citizen or you're working for it, or you're living among those to whom that Roman citizenship is one way or the other very important.

What's happening though is they become believers, they're getting kind of pushed off to the side, rejected. They're starting to see the advantages of their Roman citizenship start to slip. Uh-oh, not so good. So Paul wrote here, though, that their citizenship, every single believer, their citizenship was in heaven. There was no way anybody who was a Roman citizen would even dream of having heavenly citizenship. That just was beyond their thinking. No one had even the slightest thought that all have some sort of a heavenly citizenship. Roman citizenship was as good as it got. So now, he comes on and he says, our citizenship is in heaven, okay?

So here's this Greek, uranois. You uranois? I don't uranois, but this does, okay? Uranois, okay. Most English translations will have this as a singular, okay? But the reality is this word is given in a plural form, So it actually has the idea of heavenlies. This is the only time that this word is used with the Philippians, but he doesn't use it incidentally. It's dramatic. The reason is this.

Here's most of these Roman soldiers working their whole lives long, and by the way, Roman soldiers, when they weren't in battle or training for it, they worked their tails off. by hand, they built enough roads to go around the globe twice, and the Roman soldiers did most of the work, and to do that they dug up deep by hand all the soil that the road was going to be built on, and from there they built up, and the top layer was big heavy rocks, some of them weighing over a ton. The Roman soldiers did all that work. They worked Hard. So when you're working for this citizenship, you're really going to work for it.

The idea that a person could simply believe in Christ and be a citizen that fast was absolutely stunning news. What? I've been working my tail off for this citizenship. You mean to tell me all I've got to do is believe and I have a citizenship in heaven? That's phenomenal! That's amazing! Who ever heard of such a thing?

Here's this little word, is, and you may be thinking, Vern, what are you doing, doing a word study on is? Well, there are two reasons why I would do a word study on is, okay? The first is, I have a prior president who didn't understand what this word meant, okay? All right. That's one reason. So it's clear we need to define our terms in this country. All right.

The other reason, and probably a more important one, is this is a different word for is than most of the New Testament has. Isn't that interesting? He didn't use the regular word for is, but he used another word. And so that's the main reason we're looking at it, prior precedents aside. This word is huparko. It's not the usual word translated is.

This same word was used in Philippians 2.6 to tell us that Christ was in the past God and now continues to be. See the reason for it? It's a word that says, was in the past, now continues on into the present, remains. That's the reason for it.

So it isn't, our citizenship is in heaven and might stay there. Our citizenship is in heaven, but God is not sure you're going to get it. Instead, he uses a word that tells them real clearly, our citizenship is in heaven, it has been there, And with the same certainty that Christ has been and will remain deity, that certainty is the same certainty, using the same word, that says our citizenship is and remains and will remain in heaven. The idea being it is fixed. And he even attaches another word in front of there that says in. It is fixed in heaven, okay?

If you want to put it this way, sort of a colloquialism, it's stuck there. It's really there. It is certainly there. It's remaining there. God is not being fickle about it. You've got it there. It's really there. That's His point. And our little word, is, doesn't quite get that across. But He says it in big, bold terms here with that word that He only used previously just to tell about Christ's deity. and it's permanence, he uses here to tell them that they have a citizenship that is not only fixed, but it's fixed in the heavenlies. That's where it is. That's where it's going to stay. It's not certain, and God's not being fickle about it. Then he says, "...from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior." There's the word eagerly wait here. Apoekdekomai. Okay? And I'm not sneezing. It literally means from out to receive.

It's a compound word that Paul uses several times and the author of Hebrews uses it as well. Frequently used for looking for the Lord's coming. And it doesn't mean, hey, I'm casually looking for the Lord's coming. It means I'm looking for the Lord's coming.

There is some definiteness and certainty and intensity about this looking. We see it here in the New Testament, and this Philippians passage is one of them. And it's the kind of anticipation... I was trying to think this last week. How do I convey what this means? Here's what I thought of. I hope you can handle it.

If you've ever been on a trip with kids, they're sitting in the back, you're sitting in the front, you've got this long trip, and what are they going to ask about every 30 seconds? Are we there yet? Yes, yes, you guessed it. That's what it's like. The Lord says, alright, you've got a citizenship in heaven, and He says it's good for you to ask every 30 seconds, are we there yet? That's what it's about. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Yeah.

That's a good thing. Regardless of what you may recall as apparent about that, or even what you may recall as a kid about that. The Lord says, this is a good thing. Keep on asking, are we there yet? As a matter of fact, that's what you can ask people when we're all done here. Are we there yet? That's the sense of anticipation that this is communicating. Now, we eagerly wait for a Savior. This is something that I think is real critical for us to take a look at. Here's why.

If we really understand what Paul is writing here, this is not boring stuff at all. In fact, I was talking with Brad, the fellow that was playing the guitar here earlier this last week, and I said, if people look at this, if they think it's boring, it's because they don't understand it yet. The reality is, if we understand what Paul is writing here, every other word here is slapping these people in the face. They're just, whoa, you're kidding! And here's why. Let's take a look at it. The Greek word is soter.

Paul had already told the believers at Philippi they had a citizenship fixed in the heavenlies. These people, of course, were Romans, and they would feel greatly honored if the emperor would come to visit, but that would be a rare event and you could hardly count on it in your lifetime. But nonetheless, what the Romans did is they would have these Roman emperor's temples in all the major cities. And certainly in a place like Philippi, which is Little Rome, you would have one of these as well. These particular pictures happen to be from Ephesus, where the Roman Emperor's temples are in a little bit better condition.

But the Greek word that they would call the Emperor when they were doing their worship of the Emperor in the temple, they would call him Soter, the same word. Or in the Latin, Salvator, English, Saviour, just like we have in the context there. Examples, we have an inscription from Ephesus, dated 48 AD, calls the Emperor Julius Caesar a visible god and a political savior of human life. Or another inscription, just written a few years after this letter to Philippians, in Egypt, calls Emperor Nero a savior and benefactor of the world. These were the terms that they would use to call the emperor. Now, instead of the emperor as divine savior, lord, and the focal point of their citizenship, Now Paul writes to the people at Philippi, to the church there, and he calls Jesus Christ the Savior and the Lord and the one for whom they're waiting.

Do you get the impact when Peter says in Acts 4.12, and there is salvation, soteria, get the point, the connection there, in no one else? Uh-oh. Uh-oh. So now Paul's writing this You're looking for this Savior and He's the only one. What does that tell you about the Emperor?

You're not going to call Him Savior. That verse, verse 20, puts the people in Philippi immediately in big trouble. Immediately in big trouble, because they're calling Christ Savior. See, the Romans didn't mind if you call a whole bunch of different gods and beings Savior. But to say that Jesus is the only, That's trouble. That's trouble. These were shocking words for the people at Philippi to hear. Then, in verse 21, we come across a word there, transform. Okay? Meteskematzo. And it means just to transfer the form. Transfer the form, okay?

Paul is giving this in the future tense. This is going to happen, okay? I make the point here, which is nothing to get tense about, okay? Paul is saying that this transformation will take place in the future. That's all he's saying. Now, the next thing, he puts us in the indicative mood, and Paul's not being moody either, but that means simply this transformation is a fact, okay? It's future, but it's fact. This is a fact to take place in the future.

That's how he's laid it out. He will transform us, okay? The next one is this phrase, humble state, which is carrying a cross of one word from the Greek there. And this tapenosis, and I put some red arrows here because you need to correct your handout. There's a typo in there. I claim fault for that. I'm the one that did it. So anyway, you might want to correct those two there. It's a long O sound, okay? And by the way, just to make clear to you all, see this horse is tapping their noses? That's not what this is about. This has nothing to do with horses tapping noses, okay? This word is in there.

It's to tell us something unlike the King James has where it says vile. It really doesn't mean vile and morally awful. Instead, what it's saying is just humble and lowly. In Luke 1, where Mary is told that she is to have the Messiah, to give birth to the Messiah, she uses that word just to talk about her humble state. So it's not talking about vileness.

Humble or low state. It's a word when we were studying in Philippians 2, 3, and 4. Humility of mind had that same prefix. Tapeno. And again, the idea there was low. It was a word used to describe rivers low or in construction to cut off the top of a mountain. Low, humble. That's the idea that comes across there. We have a humble body. This next word is potent.

Induconformity with. be fashion-like unto and the King James, okay? Sumorphos means, it's a compound word again, sun and morphe, together fashioned, okay? And you see a similar word in Philippians 2.6. We pointed out there that morphe was a Greek philosophical term which had to do with the outward expression of something essential and basic to the inner nature. outward expression of something essential and basic to the inner nature.

What is he saying? We will together outwardly express in our bodies the inner nature that we already have in Jesus Christ. How about that? Having been identified with him. We already spiritually have been changed. He's saying what's going to happen is that inner nature will be expressed outwardly as we have the same body. as Jesus Christ now has. See that? Amazing word. Here's what else is amazing, too.

Paul wrote to various churches. You know that. He wrote to the church at Rome, and the church at Corinth, and the church at Philippi. He used a lot of the same words. So we'll take a look at that here in a bit, just after we look at this one. Glory. Doxa. Okay? This word is short, but it's profound.

Your 2 Corinthians 3.18 says that, as we behold the Lord, we are being changed, metamorpho, so you recognize that word there, into the same image, icon, recognize that from English, from glory to glory, doxa.

Now, let's take a look, here's Romans 8.28-30, and we know that God causes all things to work together for good. By the way, that doesn't mean everything's pleasurable.

To those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose, for those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed. Here's that word sumorphos again. Conformed, it means not just molded on the outside, but remember, it's outwardly expressing the inner nature. He would be the firstborn among many brethren. And these whom he predestined, he also called. And these whom he called, he also justified. And these whom he justified, he also glorified. That's doxatso from doxa, glory.

See, Paul is giving the same message to each church, isn't he? These whom he called, he also justified. this transformation that is taking place. We, as we are here on planet Earth, are growing as we behold the Lord from glory to glory. There will ultimately be a transformation where we will, not just spiritually, but in body, be like Him.

The same image. The next word that comes up there in the English is exertion. And those of you who might be visiting us for the first time, just to keep you clued in here, this is the side of the handout that we're on. It's in the corner. Alright, this exertion or working in the King James. Energeia sounds like energy, right? That's where we get our word. It means in-working. It's a compound word. In-working. What it means is the putting into action of an ability that is already there. we might compare it to stepping on the gas in our car, okay? The ability is fully there. But this idea is placing that ability into action.

When my sons were younger, now they each have a wife and child of their own, but when my sons were younger, I took them to a drag strip. And, you know, the machines would sit there and make all kinds of noise and racket there at the starting line, but at first, I mean, nothing happened. You had lots of ability, you had lots of power, you had the fuel, you had everything in place, but until they put it into action, it was just a lot of racket. This is that same idea.

There's all the ability there, but this is the putting it into action. Now it's effective. Now In terms of the analogy, now the Lord puts on the gas. The ability is there. Now it's placing it into action. That's the idea. Then this word power comes up here. Power in the King James is able. It's dunamai.

In Philippians 3.10, so just earlier in this chapter, the related word dunamis was used when Paul wrote of knowing him and the power of his, that is, Christ's resurrection. So what does he do? Here Paul writes of that same power, dunamai, putting into action in our own resurrection.

The power is already well evident, but that power and ability will be energeia. It will be put into action in our own resurrection. Same power. That's his point. The power that was there that resurrection morning when Christ rose from the dead, and that same power will be applied to your body and to mine. That's good because mine needs something, more than what it's got.

Now, the last one that shows up there is subject, even to subject all things to himself. King James has subdued here, has hupotasso, to underplace. Why would he use this term? These people in Philippi are what? A good many of them, soldiers, former soldiers, working around soldiers. They would know very well what this word meant, so that's why Paul would choose that word. It would mean to place under rank, okay? The officer would say something and the others who were under him, this would be the word that would describe their being placed under their officers, okay?

First Peter 3.22, it says, Jesus Christ, and I'm inserting that from the prior context, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to him. Hupotasso, same word.

So it's that same power that subjects everything to himself. That's the power that will be effective in our lives when our bodies are transformed. When the inner nature that we now have, is now made to express itself externally with not just a new nature, but a new body. That's the point he's making here.

Let's look at this expanded and explained. And by the way, suggestion of Bob Lockwood, we are collecting these. So when we get done, we'll have a continuous Philippians expanded and explained. I don't know how many pages or binders it'll be, but we'll have it anyway. Get that available to you at the end there. Okay, verse 20 comes across like this. Boy, it's a lot longer this way, isn't it?

For just as you are all living in a colony far from Rome, every one of you recognizes the immense earthly value of Roman citizenship. Every one of us as believers already have our citizenship, with all of its rights and privileges fixed permanently in the heavenlies. Boy, was that news to them. And from the heavenlies we are continuing in eager anticipation... Are we there yet? Are we there yet? ...to await a Savior with which Rome's emperor cannot begin to compare.

Oh boy, that's going to get him in trouble. The Lord, having supreme authority, Jesus, whose very name means Savior, Christ, the Anointed One, the Prophet, Priest, and, oh yes, King. That one. verse 21, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transfer the form of this body, which has not yet been glorified but is still subject to the reigning principles of the present earth and is still now part of the old creation, into the full outward expression of the inner nature we have in our eternal position in Christ, so as to have in completeness the very likeness of the body of His glory as resurrected. as under the new creation. How about that? That will come by putting into action of the awesome authority that Christ has of the kind that will place all things without exception into entire subjection to Himself. Wow. Wow. What Paul has written here is absolutely stunning as these people read it. Absolutely stunning. It is both exciting as well as, I'm sure, causing them to shake their heads.

Oh man, you mean I have to look at Jesus Christ as the Savior and exclusive of all others? We may not have to go and we may not be asked by the world to go and to call some emperor the Savior or God. But the truth is, doesn't it have the same shocking news to us when we read this? Doesn't the world continually tell us that there are other saviours, or you are your own saviour? This is a contrary message not only for them, certainly it was for them, it's a contrary message for us too, isn't it?

Plus, to have this constant anticipation of His coming, such that, to use the comparison, are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? It's constantly on our mind. The world cannot comprehend that. The world's too busy trying to make it real comfortable here. The mindset that we would have an eager longing for the Lord's coming is completely contrary to what this world has to tell us, isn't it?

In Ephesians 3.20-21, Paul has basically said three things.

Believers have a citizenship which is fixed in the heavenlies. It's basic to our eternally fixed position in Christ. We have that position in Christ, and that citizenship is one of a whole raft, if you will, of things that we have in Christ that are part of our blessings, that we already have, that are part of our position. that we have in Christ. So I could start off writing to the Ephesians, you've been blessed with every spiritual blessing. Not 50%, not 90%, not you're going to get them, you've got them. Right now, all of them, 100%. Your citizenship is a part of it. You are already as a citizen there. We're just a colony down here. We're just a colony here, but our citizenship is there. That's really where we're planted. That's where we're seated.

The next thing he tells them is, we're eagerly awaiting Christ's return. The point, because he keeps bringing this up, you look at the letters to the different churches, he keeps coming back and keeps coming back and keeps coming back, it is his intent, not as just opinion, not as what he would like to see happen, but since this is inspired Word of God, it is his intent, by the Holy Spirit's inspiration, that this be a continuous, eager longing for us. That's what he has in mind. That's why he tells them, your citizenship is in heaven. You may be living here, but your citizenship is there. It's fixed there. When he returns, that was when Christ returns, he will transform our bodies into a glorified body like his. Our bodily condition will be made to conform that we have in Christ already.

The position is already there. There's nothing that you and I need to do to tweak it, or add to it, or improve it. There's nothing we can do. It's there. It's there 100%. You have every spiritual blessing in Christ. What this is talking about is a place and a time when our condition, our moment-by-moment condition, will be a place and a time when our condition, We're going to be completely, entirely, eternally fixed, consistent with our position. No exceptions. No reverting back.

That'd be scary, wouldn't it? It's not like Lazarus. Can you imagine Lazarus? He comes out of the tomb. I'm sure that was a shocking event for everybody, Lazarus included. He started back with the one he had. Can you imagine dying another time? Oh no, again? So here's Lazarus, he's going back to this thing again. We're not looking at that, are we? We're looking at a new body that doesn't revert back to this. It's not like, okay, we're going to come back and do this again and again. This isn't a Lazarus experience. This is a body that is unlike Lazarus and it will never again go through that. dying in this body again to go through.

But notice the focal point here is not just about the body. It's about Jesus Christ. Because it is a matter of we will be with Him. Paul writes to the church on Thessalonica and says, forever we will be with the Lord. It is with the Lord, not just the bodies, okay? Our body will be like His. We will be with Him. The focal point is with Christ. The focal point is we're with Him.

And that's not something we just wait for entirely. We know Him now. And we can grow in our knowledge of Him now. It's not someday it'll all be different. Okay? But instead, we grow in our knowledge of the Lord now. And that was His prior message earlier in the chapter. Knowing Him. Knowing Him. That's the focal point.

Let's put this in graphical form here just to make sure we've got it. Here we are on planet earth, okay? We're believers after the cross, burial, resurrection and ascension and feeding. But right here, we're eagerly awaiting for that time when our bodies will be transformed into a glorious body like the Lord's. Positionally, we have a citizenship right now fixed in the heavenly. There will come a time, though, when we will fully enjoy that citizenship.

That's what Paul's saying here, graphical form. Isn't it neat? It is not just a looking forward to, although there's every bit of that, but there's also a current enjoyment that we can count upon now. He didn't say you're going to have a citizenship. You have a citizenship. It is already fixed in the heavenlies. It's certain. Isn't that wonderful? That's marvelous good news. And, you know, it sure would be nice to have something better than this. Okay? It'll be great.

Let's pray. Lord, thank You that as we have this anticipation, the anticipation is not just because it'll be nice to have a new body, but that anticipation is, Lord, as we grow in knowing You and as we grow in our intimacy with You, we indeed can look forward to a time when we'll have a body fully compatible with continued intimacy with you. Lord, that's something we look forward to with eager anticipation. Thank you so much for your marvelous blessings that will take eternity for us to come to understand. We just pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.