Philippians 3:20-21
20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.
Ephesians 2:11-22
11 Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.
14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.
17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
Peter 2:9-12
9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
10 “Once you had no identity as a people;
now you are God’s people.
Once you received no mercy;
now you have received God’s mercy.”
11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. 12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.
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To what extent are those of us claiming faith in Christ supposed to take these words? I’ve heard it many ways and in many ways, but I think as I know am rolling along in life and am currently experiencing what some have called the “real world” that a close look at my positions is in order. I see in scripture a plain and honest claim by God on me as His own. I see the words “citizenship” and “nation” used in reference to heaven and the universal Church. I see that government is not where my hope is to be put but rather a tool that God has instituted in order to maintain the lawless. In all of this I see the phrasing of Jesus, who said that His Kingdom was not of this world, in His “Sermon on the Mount” as one that uses fairly political language as if founding a standard for an organized body’s positions on morality, crime, social justice, and authority. Where does that leave us? I think it plainly leaves us in a place that stands distinct from geographical origins and loyalties. I think that it leaves us in a place that shows us that the man or woman born and raised in China who claims Jesus Christ as Lord is closer to my and more my brother/sister than the man or woman down the street who scoffs the name of Christ. I think it leaves me in a place where I cannot claim “the land of the free and home of the brave” as my truest home or greatest allegiance. You see, I believe in a Kingdom that was revealed with the incarnation of its King and that the true identity of that Kingdom as a national entity. I believe that I am more a citizen of heaven than of earth and that my patriotism is revealed on Easter Morning and not on “Independence Day.” I need to say that I have to a great extent revoked my so-called “independence” for a faith-filled dependence on a Father in Heaven who has called me to live as one belonging to a “Holy Nation” and “Royal Priesthood.” This Kingdom has no end, beginning, defeat, or civil division. It has no states of red or blue demographic, no physical boundaries, no national language, or dominant skin tone. Perhaps I’m wrestling with things out loud again and that may just get me in trouble. But perhaps I’m once more learning to take the Word of God at face value and recognizing that I also need to live it- no matter how unpatriotic that may seem. May we not forget that it was ultimately for “unpatriotism” and/or “treason” that our first brothers and sisters were persecuted for so long ago.
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Matthew 5-7
John 18:36-37
Romans 13
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