Our Citizenship is in Heaven

I'm probably going out on a limb with this one.  I don't claim this particular blog will be one of my best.  I know that I might say some things that will tick off some of my friends, let alone those with whom I have disagreements.  This all started out as a response to a friend who sent an article to me for my comment.  I have tried to remove vestiges of the article and personal references to my friend.

Here goes:

Our nation and our world are very obviously in trouble.  There is a fear that I see running rampant in our country which feeds on issues in society, and which makes it very difficult to tease out the truth from the many falsehoods.  It is the fear of xenophobia, which is defined as “intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries.”  I see our President afraid to label terrorism of the type we saw in Paris as islamic terrorism.  He is afraid of being politically incorrect and seen as xenophobic.  I know that not all Moslems are evil; most are just as concerned about being good citizens as we are.  But there are islamists who are willing to take their twisted sense of faith and used it for evil.

The same can be said of other religions, Christianity included, where people are willing to take their tenets of faith and twist them for their own political ends.

I grew up on the South in the late 40s to the 60s and whites were very much afraid of blacks and things were done to keep the races separate.  I remember the separate restrooms and bus station waiting areas.  I remember water fountains being label "white" and "colored."  My Quaker church was segregated, not by chance but by choice.  We were a white society very much afraid of "colored folk."  Xenophobia that was the heart of racism.

I wish we could keep English as the official language of our country, while trying to help those who don't speak English learn it and assimilate into the culture.  To that end there is nothing wrong with the message "Por español, oprima dos."  It's helpful.  I’ve been to Costa Rica, Haiti, Mexico, Spain, France and Cuba and never expected the governments to use English as the official language.  I was of course grateful when people would try to speak English with me so we could communicate.  But if I were emigrate to one of those countries, I would expect to learn the national language.  We can certainly make room for those who come to our country without losing who we are as Americans.  Remember, except for Native Americans, we all are immigrants.  (And even Native Americans came from somewhere else.)

Diversity is one of the wonderful attributes of our nation.  We are a nation of immigrants.  We need to be welcoming to all who want to come to our country to live, as long as they come legally and do all they can to assimilate.  Assimilation does not mean that the ethnic distinctives are lost.  In fact, what makes America such a wonderful place to live is that every people group that comes brings with it something to contribute to the American culture.

I am troubled about the direction our country - and the whole world, for that matter - is taking.  We have probably gone too far to turn back.  But students of the Bible should not be worried about what is happening, because we are right on course for what the Bible says will happen in the latter days.  Our fears become the transmitters of all kinds of evil.

1 Timothy 4:1–2 ESV
1 ¶ Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,

2 Timothy 3:1–7 ESV
1 ¶ But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,
4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions,
7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

1 John 2:18 ESV
¶ Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.

I used to tell the church that I’ve read the Book and we are “on course.”  Things are not going to get demonstrably better over the months and years to come.  Humanity is on a downward spiral.




One last quote from Paul:


Romans 1:28–2:1 ESV
28 ¶ And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,
30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
1 ¶ Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.

Remember that those of us who judge have no excuse ourselves, because we will practice "the very same things."

We are not to give up, however.  Ever since I read it the first time, I have kept the Parable of the Starfish as a guide for my life:

One morning an elderly man was walking on a nearly deserted beach. He came upon a boy surrounded by thousands and thousands of starfish. As eagerly as he could, the youngster was picking them up and throwing them back into the ocean.

Puzzled, the older man looked at the young boy and asked, "Little boy, what are you doing?"

The youth responded without looking up, "I'm trying to save these starfish, sir."

The old man chuckled aloud, and queried, "Son, there are thousands of starfish and only one of you. What difference can you make?"

Holding a starfish in his hand, the boy turned to the man and, gently tossing the starfish into the water, said, "It will make a difference to that one!"

                                                                                                        (source unknown)

I watched the President’s speech last night and on the surface it seemed like a nice speech.  He said a lot of nice things.  But is was obvious to me that the Democrats and the Republicans - on the whole - are not interested in working together to fix the problems of our country.  They each have their own ideologies and turfs and hidden agendas and will do all they can to further those at the expense of the nation.  There are some very good, noble statesmen and stateswomen in our Congress, but they are the ones who have the most difficulty making a positive difference.  One of the most moral Presidents that I can think of in recent history was Jimmy Carter, but he was also one of the least effective Presidents because he was too moral. He lived by the Christian faith.  I didn’t agree with everything he said, but I admired the man.  He was just not corrupt enough to make things happen, for good or for bad.

Anyone who makes it to the Oval Office has already paid off a lot of folks on the way and is beholden to them.  He is not his own man, but is owned by those who helped him get there.  They expect things in return.

We have One, however, who is beholden to no one and who we can trust implicity with our lives and our future - Jesus Christ.  The only solution to our problems is for us to follow Jesus Christ alone and give him alone our allegiance.

I’m going to quote the entire third chapter of Paul’s letter to the Philippians.  In it Paul points to things of this world about which men can boast, about which he himself could boast.  He writes about how many have fallen away from the faith.  And he points to where his citizenship lies:

Philippians 3:1–21 ESV
1 ¶ Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.
2 ¶ Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.
3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—
4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:
5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
12 ¶ Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
17 ¶ Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.
18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.
19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

We are citizens of the Kingdom of God first and foremost.  We live in America.  I am glad to be an American.  When I travel abroad I am proud to carry an American passport.  But my first allegiance is to Jesus Christ and his Kingdom, then to America.



We Christians have our feet in two worlds, the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world.

Don’t worry about America.  Nations and kingdoms have risen and fallen over the ages, but God is still on the Throne.