Philippians 3:20 (NLT) But we are citizens of heaven, where
the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as
our Savior.
1 Peter 2:9 (NLT) 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.
As believers it is important for us to understand that we
are not citizens of this earth but our citizenship is in heaven.
I. Role of Citizens of Heaven (1 Peter 2:9)
A. A chosen people
1. God chose each of
us to be citizens in His kingdom. Before
the world was formed God handpicked each of us.
Ephesians 1:4 (NLT) Even before he made the world, God loved us and
chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
2. Jesus chose the least likely to be his disciples. In Bible times a Rabbi would only choose the
best and the brightest to invest in. He
would not accept anyone who he did not find “worthy.”
When Jesus chose his disciples He chose:
a. Peter,
James, John, and Andrew –fishermen
b. Phillip,
Bartholomew, Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Judas Iscariot
(nothing is known about their occupations)
c. Matthew –
Tax collector
d. Simon – a
member of the Zealots
These men were obviously not
thought of as the best and brightest of their day or they would have studied
under rabbis. The fact that they were in
the “family business” or another occupation implies that they had been passed
over for rabbinical training.
Jesus was the greatest Rabbi to every walk on the earth and
yet he chose these “less than desirable” men to be the ones to who he entrusted
the future of the Church. Wow! How awesome is it to think that as citizens
of heaven we too have been entrusted with the future of the Church!!
3. In the kingdom of God we are all made worthy/qualified by
salvation through Christ.
Colossians 1:12 (NIV)and giving joyful thanks to the Father,
who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the
kingdom of light.
B. Royal Priesthood
We have a priestly responsibility today. It is not just something we will do in the
future when we rule and reign with Christ.
We need to operate as priests now to prepare for our roles in the
future.
1. Priests responsibilities
a. Priests have access to God that others don’t have. The lost do not have the same access to God
as believers do. You may be questioning
this statement but it is true.
We have been given promises that we can stand on as
believers. The unbeliever is not given these promises.
We can call on God for help in our times of trouble, with
certainty that, because we are children of God He will answer us. Unbelievers
don’t have the assurance that God will assist them in their troubles because
they are not His children.
As believers we are assured of a future in heaven; eternity
with God. The unbeliever is assured of
eternal separation from God.
b. The priest ministers to others. Our responsibility here
on earth is to minister to those around us whether lost or found (saved). We are called to be the hands and feet of
Christ on this earth.
c. We are representatives of the Kingdom of God. It is our responsibility to lead the lost to
Christ. We were given a commission along
with the first disciples to witness.
Matthew 28:19-20 (NLT) Therefore, go and make disciples of
all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the
Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given
you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
C. Holy Nation
1. Holy - 1 Peter 1:15 (NLT) But now you must be holy in
everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.
a. Our holiness comes from Christ. Isaiah 64:6 (NLT) We are all infected and
impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but
filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.
b. Staying holy is our choice. Isaiah 35:8 (NLT) And a great road will go
through that once deserted land. It will be named the Highway of Holiness.
Evil-minded people will never travel on it. It will be only for those who walk
in God’s ways; fools will never walk there.
When we come to Christ in repentance His blood removes our
sins. Once our sins are under the blood
we are free from the punishment for those sins.
The struggle we all face is choosing to walk in holiness; choosing to
live our lives free from the stains of sin.
When we willfully sin we are choosing to walk out from under the blood
and protection Christ provided through His death and resurrection.
If we were automatically eternally holy, Peter would not
have admonished us to be holy in everything we do. The good news is that once
we decide to walk in holiness the Holy Spirit begins to guide our steps and to
influence our choices. We must be
obedient to His voice, however, we will never be asked to walk in holiness
alone. He is always there to lead and
guide.
2. Holy Nation- 1 Corinthians 12:12 (NLT) The human body has
many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body [nation]. So it is with
the body of Christ.
We are all one nation as believers in Christ. In Nehemiah 3 we read the account of the
rebuilding of the wall in Jerusalem. The
chapter is divided into 11 sections.
Each section lists the names of family leaders and the sections of the
wall each family was working on. Around
then entire wall one family lined up next to another family and so on. They whole community worked together, side by
side, to complete the rebuilding.
The same holds true for us today. We must be united as one body, working together
for the cause of Christ. We need each other in order to walk through this life;
remembering our citizenship is in heaven, but our journey takes place in this
fallen world.
God has called us to carry each other’s burdens and to lend
a hand wherever it is needed. Galatians
6:2 (NIV) Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law
of Christ.
This doesn’t mean we get so burdened down with the cares of
others that we struggle to live our own life, however, it does mean that we
encourage and pray for each other’s needs.
D. God’s very own possession
1. Bought with a price. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV) Do you
not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom
you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price.
After the creation of the world, God created man. He provided him with everything he would need
to enjoy a full and happy life. However,
sin entered the picture and that perfect place became a place of bondage for
Adam and Eve. They were then sent out to
live in this fallen, sinful, broken world.
Choices they made affected the rest of their lives and ours as
well.
God however, had a plan to redeem mankind and to restore us
to right relationship with Himself. This
sacrifice came through the shed blood of Christ. The price for our salvation was the death of
the one and only Son of God. Imagine
being God and being forced to watch as your plan unfolded. Your most dearly love child goes to his death
on a cruel cross, mocked and despised by the very ones you sent him to save. The price to reclaim us as His own was very
high indeed!!
2. God’s possession
When I go shopping I don’t buy things I like usually. If I
am going to spend money I want to be sure that I get things I love. My possessions are things that have value and
importance to me. During this past 3 ½
years we have downsized a lot. We have had most of our belongings packed in
boxes for over a year. I can tell you
that while I have lived without the things in the boxes, I miss them!! I love our family pictures, our nice dishes,
our pots and pans (we have a few out and I broke into a box of baking pans
recently!) I love my down comforter and my jewelry (dug this out just the other
day. Been a long time since I had my earrings!) I know this all sounds trivial but try going
without the things us use and enjoy every day and you might feel differently. J
My point in all of that is to show us that we hold things
dear to our hearts for different reasons.
My possessions might not mean a thing to you; however, they are precious
to me. We are God’s possessions. He holds each one of us dear. We are precious in His sight.
The fact that God holds us dear should trump the opinions
others have about us. As citizens of
heaven and members of God’s family we are precious to our Heavenly
Father!! We are loved, cherished,
provided for, and protected by the greatest Father anyone could ever have.
We are citizens of the greatest Kingdom ever: The Kingdom of
God. We are citizens of Heaven!!!
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