Philippians 3:17-4:1.    Be what you are: citizens of heaven!               24/2/13

 ¹⁷ Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. ¹⁸ For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. ²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. 4:1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!

 Here today in this reading we have a very encouraging, but challenging message for us as God’s people. Be the people that you are. Live the good life that is ours, in Jesus Christ. Our citizenship is in heaven. So we are a part of a life that is truly remarkable and great. So live and be what you are.

 However, it is interesting isn’t it? We have and are a part of this great existence and yet what do we do? All too often we live as enemies of the cross of Christ. We live as if our destiny is destruction, our god is our stomach, and our glory is in our shame. Our mind is set on earthly things. We live miserable, self-centred, pleasure-seeking lives despite the fact that our citizenship is in heaven: despite the fact that we have every possibility and help to live positively. How sad is that?

 We stand in midst of the filth and grime of this life and we live as though that is our life. We can readily see the results of our current world view of life, and yet we continue to chase after these things as if they are the be all and end all. We willingly allow these other influences to crowd out that which we know is good and right. All of this drags us down and leads us away; and all too often it seems that we don’t care.

Yet let me remind you again, Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!

Look, each one of you is important and valuable: you are loved; God longs for us all to share in his glory. And most importantly he has made it possible for this to be so for us all. Jesus himself came into our world for the very purpose of dying on the cross so that we might be forgiven and thereby be assured of our citizenship in heaven.

 Because of what Jesus has done for us through his coming down to earth and dying on the cross we now have been given access to heaven itself, where everything will be good and perfect and go on forever. There will be no more pain, dying, crying or anything bad at all. It will all be laid on for us because of what Jesus has done for us.

 In our baptism’s we are reminded that we are joined to his death and resurrection and all that he has won for us. We have been made a part of the family of God; citizens of heaven. In Holy Communion, week after week, he further reminds, reassures and comes personally to us, so that we can be empowered in that reality that we are loved, forgiven and have a place in eternity with himself.

 At the same time he now makes available to us here and now, what we need in order to live in comfort and peace in the midst of a world that is messed up by sin. He gives us weekly worship so that he can give us the things that he knows we need in order to face up to the week ahead. He gives us Bible Studies and other helps so that we can keep our focus on the things that are important for us. He gives us his Word so that we can know how to live and act in the face of the evil around about us.

 Through all of this, now can have peace and contentment; hope and confidence. We are a part of something great, that is going to be even greater in the future. We have with us Jesus Christ who is our Lord and our saviour: the only one who can truly help us and see us through. So we have everything going for us.

 Therefore let us stand up and be what we are. Since we have this assurance, what on earth are we doing by turning our backs on all of this and going back to live the old dark life. Is that what we want our life here and eternity to be? Surely we don’t want to live as enemies of Christ.  Surely we don’t want destruction to be our destiny, our over- abundance of food to be what is all important for us. Neither do we surely want the shameful things that are taking place all around us to be what we think is right and good, even though we know they are so destructive. Surely pleasure ‘here and now’ to hang with the future, is not all that we have in mind for our lives.

 No, surely after all that Jesus Christ has done for us, we will have so much honour and esteem for him that we will want to be where he is and we will do what he wants us to do.  We will stand firm in the Lord.

 We will come here week after week as often as we can, recognising that our great and gracious God is here present with us. The Almighty God is here to forgive us for the failures of the past week so that we can hold our heads up with confidence and hope. Through his forgiveness we are then once more able to go forward to do the best we can in our relationship with him and in our world around us.

 His Spirit is here to remind us of and apply to us his Word that he knows that we need to hear and hold as vitally important in our lives. He continually points us to Jesus Christ and the importance of his death on the cross for our salvation and assurance of eternal life. He also reminds us of how he would have us live and act both in our relationship with him as well as with one another. Because we know that our sinful world gets it all wrong over and over again, we will eagerly want to hear and study what our Lord has to say, knowing that his word is good and right and lasting.

We will spend much time in prayer, both in our Divine Service and in the rest of our lives, for we now know that he wants to be in communication with us and hear of wants, joys and sorrows; our thanks and praise; as well as our prayers for others around us. We will recognise that our General Prayer in church and the Lord’s Prayer each week covers all the things that need to be prayed for. When we pray for the sick and lonely, each of us mentions those that we know of. When we pray for our nation we bring before our God in our thoughts those issues of the day that are on our minds. So this is both the prayer of the church and our individual prayer as well.

 Then week after week we will long to come forward to the communion rail so that we can commune with our Lord and Saviour. We will want to receive his Body and blood so that we can be further reassured that we have forgiveness of sins and full acceptance of our Lord. As well, we will want the strength that comes from receiving Jesus Christ himself into our very being so that we can know that he goes with us into the rest of our week, wherever we are and whatever we are doing.

 We will stay to the very end of the service so that we can have his blessing pronounced on us and go with us as we leave that service and go to live the rest of the week in our rough and tumble world. Then we will go out into our daily lives to stand up and stand firm in our Christian faith. We will seek to live and be his people wherever we are.

 We will not give way to the destructive forces that are so subtly leading us away from our Lord, We will not make our food and material possessions our god; or willingly go along with many of the shameful things that are going on in our society around about us. We will recognise that earthly things are not the be all and end all of our existence.

 So we will make every effort to be the people that we are in Jesus Christ. As much as we possibly can in this life we will aim to be the kind of people that our Lord would have us be. Yes, we will recognise our weaknesses and failures but we will strive not to give way to them or to conform to the ways of this world.

 Instead we will also recognise that our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

 So there will be what we seek to be a part of, and so we will constantly look to our Lord Jesus Christ and the help that he offers in this regard. For to him alone belongs all glory and honour, now and always.

 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends! AMEN

 Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish