You’re a citizen with an unelected King.

Steve Brown:
You’re a citizen with an unelected King. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
God’s grace changes everything, how we love, work, live, lead, marry, parent, evangelize, purchase, and worship. This is Key Life, with practical Bible teaching to get you home with radical freedom, infectious joy, and surprising faithfulness.

Steve Brown:
Well, if you were listening yesterday, we ended the talk about joy with a subject of death. That sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But it’s not because.

Eye have not seen, nor ear heard, nor mind of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.

I read, a good while ago, Lyle Dorsett’s very fine little book. It’s a biography of Joy Davidman, who married C.S. Lewis. It was really kind of interesting. As you know, Lewis is my hero, and if you know dirt on him, please keep it to yourself. I’m sure it’s there, I just don’t want to hear it. He wrote a book early in his life, shortly after he’d become a Christian, called, Surprised by Joy. And it’s a good book, it will let you know something about C. S. Lewis. His testimony was about as exciting as a bag of chicken feet, he said.

When I left for Whipsnade Zoo in the morning, I didn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God. When I got to Whipsnade Zoo, I believed that Jesus was the Son of God.

Now, I would have appreciated a few more details. At any rate, he titled the book Surprise by Joy, and years later he met Joy Davidman. They fell in love and married, and Surprised by Joy took on another meaning. At any rate, in Dorsett’s very nice and wonderful little book on Davidman’s biography, he describes the scene around the deathbed of Joy Davidman. She had said her goodbyes. It was her deathbed. She had gained peace with God. She had joked with her friends. And Dorsett’s description is just mind blowing. He said that C.S. Lewis was beside her when she died. And he witnessed her last smile, but it was not for him. Joy and death, we don’t think so, but they go together. Now, let’s turn to another subject and another text. We’re going to talk for the rest, well, today, and then we’ll set it up today, and then next week, and maybe the week after, we’re going to talk about the nature of citizenship. You’re a citizen of a nation where the king was never elected, and the king will never be deposed. That’s what happened with Augustine. Rome had fallen. He loved Rome. He wept because he loved Rome. But he sat down and wrote his masterpiece, The City of God. And that was about a different nation, that would never fall. A king who would never be deposed, a nation that his citizenship made all the difference to. So, we’re going to talk about citizenship, and I’m going to show you something in this text that you maybe haven’t noticed before. And it’s a theme that Paul uses so often through his letters in the New Testament. Let me read the text to you first, it’s Philippians 1:27 through 30.

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, then whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit.

Sometimes when I’m speaking at conferences, I say to them. Look, we may never see each other again, but I give you permission, if you want to, if my name comes up in conversation, to say I remember him, he spoke at a thing I attended a long time ago, the old guy did. Is he still walking with Christ? And if they say, oh yes, then you can rejoice and that’s my gift to you. And I say, it goes both ways. I’ve met a lot of you at this conference, probably won’t see you again, but your name will come up in conversation sometimes. And I’m going to ask them, is Joe or Sarah or Bill or Sarita still walking with Christ? And if they say, oh yes, then that’s the gift that you give to me. That’s what Paul’s talking about.

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, then whether I come and see you, or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved. And that by God, for it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him. Since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

Now, let me tell you something about metaphors and analogies. One of the things you’ll notice about a good communicator is that that person uses analogy. The nature of the Christian faith is such that its greatness can only be understood in terms of metaphor and analogy. That’s why God uses so many of those. He’s big, and we’re small. He’s eternal, and we tarry, but just a little while. He’s everything, and we’re nothing. And we’re finite, and we approach an infinite God, and we could never understand. It’s bigger than our mind grasps. It’s bigger than our mind can grasp. Jesus said.

To what shall I compare the kingdom? It is like.

And then he used analogy or illustration. Now, it’s dangerous to take an analogy too far. Now, listen, I’m going somewhere with this, so stay with me. But analogy is necessary. When we talk about the hotness of hell and the gold in heaven, we’re using an analogy. Gehenna, for instance, is a word that Jesus used, and it’s a place where garbage was burned outside the city. Someone who’d been in a hospital in a coma for a long time, told me when he came out of the coma. At first I thought I’d died, but my feet were cold and I knew I wasn’t in hell. And I was hungry, and I knew I wasn’t in heaven. Well, it isn’t good to take an analogy too far. Analogy or metaphor are necessary to understand the concepts about which the Christian faith is concerned. The apostle Paul, when the words were written that we are studying now, was in prison in Rome, not only that, he was there because he was a citizen of Rome, and he used his citizenship to appeal to Caesar, which was the privilege of only a citizen of Rome. As he went through his imprisonment in Rome, he had an opportunity to see the great city. The disciplined legions, the flashing standards, the awesome power, the civic pride. And when he wrote to his friends in Philippi, he used, believe it or not, the analogy of citizenship to describe what a Christian ought to be. In Hebrews, the writers of that letter, or writer, we don’t know who he or she was, makes the same analogy. In Hebrews 11:10.

For Abraham was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

And then in Ephesians 2:19.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household.

Philippians 3:20, and we’ll see this later.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is interesting to note here that when Paul uses the verb in the 27th verse, it is a universal verb that means citizenship.

Let your manner of life be worthy.

There are two Greek words that Paul could have used, and one he normally uses and it means literally to walk about. But here he uses a word which means literally a citizen, he says literally, dispose your duty as a citizen of the gospel. We’ll talk about it, but for now, remember the nation to which you belong. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve. That wraps up this week’s journey of joy through the Book of Philippians, but we shall continue on Monday. And between now and then, we have the nearly world famous Friday Q&A. Tomorrow, Steve and Pete will tackle this question, when is it appropriate to break fellowship? Be sure to tune in for their answer tomorrow. Well, if you’re a regular listener to Key Life, I think you’d agree that Steve and Pete are a great pair. And here’s another great pair, the Key Life Digital and Print Magazines. Our new digital issue features articles from Steve, Kendra Fletcher, Barry Smith, and me. You can access that digital magazine right now for free at keylife.org/magazines. We also have a print magazine with a whole different lineup of articles. If you haven’t claimed your print magazine yet, we still do have some copies, but I would hurry. So, call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that magazine. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Just ask for your free copy of Key Life magazine. And before you go, if you’re blessed by the work of Key Life, would you help share that blessing with others through your financial support? Giving is easy. You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or simply text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.