WHERE IS YOUR CITIZENSHIP?
Our nation has learned some very valuable lessons in the years since the Viet Nam War. I’m sure you’ve read of or heard about some of the soldiers who went overseas to fight in a war they didn’t necessarily understand – only to find themselves rejected upon their return by some of the very people they thought they were defending. Today our nation is involved in a couple of wars that some people back and other people condemn but support for the young men and women who risk their lives in service to their country seems to be evident in both camps. Case in point, listen to the following story that was written by a minister by the name of John Besore. He writes:
I enjoy flying, and some things are humorous in the airport, while some things just annoy me – but then again, I am an old geezer. When I flew to Kansas City last week, I was sit-ting in the airport waiting for the P.A. announcement that it was time to board. Before that announcement came, some people rose up and stood near the ramp door. I can only guess that they looked at their watches and it was getting close to the time of boarding. Of course, when the announcement came, their seating assignments were such that they were not in the first group to board. But still they had to stand near the door for some unknown reason, blocking others from getting to the door. Did they think the plane was going to leave without them?
Then, when on the plane, getting to one’s seat is an experience because everyone in creation brings those luggage bag things on wheels which they stuff, beat and shove into the overhead bins which – of course – takes more time. By the time you finally get to your seat and buckle the seat belt you’re ready for a “come to Jesus” moment. Then when the plane lands and stops at the gate, everyone on the plane immediately stands up in the aisle, hoping to be the first one off the plane. It’s as if the flight attendants are going to stop those people and say, “Sorry, you have to stay on the plane forever!”
I tell you those things to share with you something very cool which happened on the Kansas City flight. There were three service people on the plane going home on leave after serving overseas. When we got close to landing, a flight attendant got on the P.A. and asked if everyone would please stay seated so they could get off first, as their families were waiting for them. When the plane got to the gate, everyone was quiet and remained seated. When the three servicemen began going down the aisle, everyone started clapping, and kept on clapping, until they were off the plane. Then, strangely, people got up in the aisle; no longer in a hurry and with a completely different attitude.
Isn’t that a beautiful story? It kind of restores your faith in human nature, doesn’t it? We’ve developed a tremendous respect for the men and women who risk their lives in service to their country. Perhaps that’s a part of what we call patriotism.
Now listen to this. My father-in-law is a true war hero. He’ll be 85 years old in April. He served in World War II and was a recipient of the Silver Star and the Purple Heart. He was a 19-year-old boy when he left his home to serve his country. He was a 21-year-old man when he returned.
He spent the bulk of his time in Italy. One time, during a lull in a battle, he and his buddies were in a foxhole and they were bored. So they started lobbing pebbles at one another’s helmets. “Ping!” the sound could be heard when a pebble struck its target. Ah, boys will be boys. Then the bullets started flying. Suddenly, my father-in-law felt a sharp pain in his side. He turned and yelled at one of his buddies, “Hey! Let me know when you’re gonna throw rocks at me!” One of them cried out, “You’re bleeding!” The pain he felt in his side was not a pebble. A bullet had ricocheted off a rock behind him and had gone clear through his side.
It wasn’t a major injury, so they patched him up and sent him back to his unit a couple days later. Shortly thereafter, he and his unit were walking through a little town. There was a dense fog in the air and they thought they were safe. Suddenly the fog lifted and a German unit in a church tower riddled them with bullets. Everyone was killed except my father-in-law. He laid in the snow, bleeding. In fact, it was probably the cold of the snow that kept him from bleeding to death. I once asked him what he did while he was laying in the snow all day. He said, “I prayed a lot!” When darkness fell, he managed to crawl to safety. He was pretty badly wounded and that was the end of the war for him.
Now let’s fast-forward to the year 2009. There aren’t that many World War II veterans left, so a group of Iowa V.F.W.s raised enough money to send some of them to Washington D.C. to see the World War II memorial. My father-in-law was among those chosen to go. The veterans were carted all over town in tour busses and shuttled from one sight to another in wheelchairs that were pushed by volunteers. One afternoon they were in the Smithsonian. There happened to be an elementary school group there at the very same time. Someone explained to that school group that the men in the wheelchairs were World War II veterans. Then one little boy walked over to those veterans and said, “Thank you for everything you did for us.” And as the volunteers wheeled the veterans out of the room, the class stood as one and saluted them.
How’s that for patriotism? Patriotism, in my mind, has to do with love of one’s country and support for those who risk their lives to serve it. Patriotism does not mean that you blindly agree with everything your government does. Patriotism does not mean that loyalty to your country has to supersede all of your other loyalties. Nor does patriotism mean that you must be swallowed up by a particular culture. But patriotism does have to do with love of one’s country and support for those who risk their lives to serve it.
Patriotism was strong for the people of Philippi in the passage we read from the book of Philippians as well. In fact, they may have even gone a bit overboard with their patriotism, as we shall soon see. Philippi was a small city in the southern part of Macedonia – what we call modern day Greece. Philippi was founded in 356 B.C. by King Phillip II of Macedonia. It was not a seaport – one of the reasons it never grew beyond 2000 people. But it did have some gold mines and rich, fertile farmland, so that’s probably why the city was founded. By the time our passage from the book of Philippians was written, there was not a whole lot left of Philippi. But a Roman highway ran through it – the Via Egnatia – and they did have one major claim to fame.
The battle of Philippi was fought there in 42 B.C. Julius Caesar had just been assassinated. There the army of the assassins – Brutus and Cassius – met the army of the avengers – Mark Antony and Octavian. Antony and Octavian’s army was victorious, Octavian later changed his name to Caesar Augustus, and the rest is history. Some say this battle marked the true beginning of the Roman Empire. In any case, the dying outpost of Philippi played a major role in the formation of the Roman Empire, and they took great pride in that. Their patriotism ran deep. As one commentator put it, “Perhaps there was no city in the Empire which was more conscious of its dignity and importance than this outpost of Rome in Macedonia.”
In fact, the Philippians were considered Roman citizens themselves. That was a major part of their psychological makeup. They wanted to dress like Romans. They wanted a Roman form of government. They wanted to worship the same gods the Romans worshipped. And they wanted to hold the same values that other Romans held. In short, they were completely wrapped up in Roman culture, so much so that it tended to supersede all of their other loyalties.
It was into this community that the Apostle Paul entered on his second missionary journey in 49 or 50 A.D. According to the book of Acts, he was guided there by a vision of a man from Macedonia. Accompanied by Silas, Timothy and Luke, Paul preached in Philippi. There Paul baptized a woman named Lydia, a purple dye merchant, who invited the missionaries to stay in her home. He also drove an evil spirit out of a slave girl there who worked as a fortune teller. Her owners became angry because they couldn’t make money off of her any more. Paul was thrown into prison but an earthquake shook the land and the prison doors flew open. The jailer was ready to kill himself because he was afraid his prisoners had escaped, but Paul talked him out of it and the jailer became a Christian himself. The point is that Paul formed a nice little Christian community there.
It was to this little Christian community that Paul addressed his letter to the Philippians. At the time of its writing, he was likely in captivity in Rome. Like I said, he was addressing a very patriotic group of people. They took great pride in their Roman citizenship and they wanted to be like the Romans in every way. Paul wrote, “For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. I have told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
In other words, the Philippians, patriotic as they were, were more wrapped up in their culture than they were in their faith. They were citizens of Rome, but Paul was calling them to be citizens of heaven first. Again, they were citizens of Rome, but Paul was calling them to be citizens of heaven first.
Could it be said of us that, while we are quite patriotic ourselves, we too are more wrapped up in our culture than we are in our faith? There are those who might agree with that statement. David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons are the authors of the book unChristian, which we studied in our Sunday school class about a year ago. They point out that Christians are better known for what they stand against than they are for what they stand for. Young people today are quick to point out that they believe that Christianity is no longer at all what Jesus intended. In their minds, it has become unChristian. Thus, the title of the book.
For example, among young people outside the church, 84% say they know at least one committed Christian. Yet just 15% believe the lifestyle of those Christians is any different than the lifestyle of anyone else. To them, that makes Christians hypocritical. Some would dismiss the label by saying, “Christians aren’t perfect, only forgiven. Christians are sinners like anyone else.” While that may be true, young adults have seen our lifestyles and heard our excuses and still they land on the label, “hypocritical.” Could that be said of us? Are our lifestyles different because of the faith we profess, or are we more wrapped up in our culture than we are in our faith?
That’s why the Apostle Paul was critical of those who set their minds on earthly things. To the Philippians he said in essence, “You may be citizens of Rome, and you may love all things Roman, but you are citizens of heaven first.” I have a sneaking suspicion he just might say the very same thing to us. We may be citizens of the United States and we may love all things American. And that could imply that we are more wrapped up in our culture than we are in our faith. To that, Paul insists we are citizens of heaven first. So I ask you now: WHERE IS YOUR CITIZENSHIP?
I think of a wonderful quip. It says, “Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is not.” Yet in order to be citizens of heaven, I think we do have to grow up. We have to mature as individuals, and we have to mature in the faith. Living a mature life of faith is how we show the world that we are citizens of heaven.
I can’t help but think of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Fifty years ago there were laws in the South that were simply discriminatory. Martin Luther King stood up against the injustice of those laws. Does that make him somehow unpatriotic? I don’t think so. I think it makes him a citizen of heaven first. For you see, in order to be a citizen of heaven first, one must place the public welfare above the welfare of the individual. One must place the kingdom of God above one’s own personal interests. One must give of oneself in the name of Jesus Christ out of gratitude for all that God has done for us.
You’ve heard me say this before. After 50 years of studying the Bible, I think there are two major themes that seem to come through. Number one, God is trying to get us to think of someone besides ourselves. And number two, God wins in the end. God always wins in the end. To think of someone besides ourselves is to be a citizen of heaven. And because God always wins in the end, being a citizen of heaven is a worthwhile thing to be. Perhaps John F. Kennedy put it best when he said, “And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” That’s patriotism, and when done in the name of Jesus Christ, it’s putting heavenly citizenship first as well.
We are called to be citizens of heaven first. So I ask you now, “Where is your citizenship?” Amen.
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