Sermon from 20th July 2008

Today Simon Brindley concludes our study of Paul's letter to the Philippians. Our reading is Philippians 4, 10-23

A NEW GENEROSITY

Today is the last in our series from St Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi, what Adjoa called, a few weeks ago, a love letter to a group of people who were very dear to Paul and what John described last week as a friendly letter in its style. And in these final few verses of the letter Paul is extremely grateful for a gift that the church at Philippi have sent him and he remembers also a gift or gifts that they have sent him previously. I don’t know what answer you would give if you were asked which gifts or presents you have been given that most stand out in your memory. What springs to your mind as the best present you have ever been given? Of course it might be the gift of a child or the gift of recovery from illness but for the moment I am not talking about that kind of thing so much as a normal present or gift you might get from a friend or someone in your family. The ones that spring to my mind are not necessarily the gifts that cost the most money, although Jennie did give me a beautiful watch for my 50th birthday last year of a make that I had always wanted to have one day and I really appreciated receiving that. But the gift that often springs first to my mind is an envelope that Jennie gave me for Christmas in 1989. It was the last gift I opened that morning. The envelope had arrived in the post a couple of weeks previously and Jennie had intercepted it and kept it for me specially for Christmas Day. And in fact the contents had not cost Jennie herself anything at all because when I opened it I saw that it was a successful entry to the London Marathon the following April, something I had been trying to get into for years. It meant an awful lot to me at that time and Jennie knew that and had known how much it would mean to me and so had put the envelope aside especially for Christmas. And I realised that was why she had done so and I was very grateful. Sometimes gifts do look beautiful and exotic like jewellery or an expensive watch or a gift of money and those things of course are great to receive but precious gifts need not look beautiful at all. I really appreciated being given this – show piece of wood – a couple of years ago by a colleague at work. It looks like nothing more than a dirty old piece of wood, which in fact is what it is, but before you think I am completely mad, this wood comes from a layer of damp earth in a cliff face in Suffolk where archaeologists have also found mammals teeth and flint tools belonging to the earliest humans who were living on this land about 700,000 years ago. This dirty old piece of wood has not been fossilized but was preserved in the damp earth beside a riverbed and is nearly ¾ of a million years old, the same age as the oldest known evidence of human beings in the British Isles. And I really appreciated being given it because I find that thought so fascinating…(If anyone knows of any simple techniques for preserving ancient wood like this, please see me afterwards as I am a bit worried that having survived so long it might actually crumble away over the next 20 years!) “How grateful I am and how I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again” says Paul to the church at Philippi. I wonder if what makes the best gifts so good is the realisation that someone has been specifically thinking about you and wanting to do something good just for you. It affirms the value or the worth or self-esteem of the person who receives it when they realise someone has been thinking about them in that way. Perhaps it really is the thought that counts. What seems to have happened in Paul’s case is that the small band of people who made up the church at Philippi had decided that when they could they would support Paul financially to help him in his work of spreading the gospel. It seems clear that in fact they had been the only church, of all the many churches Paul had visited and worked with on his journeys that gave Paul financial help when he brought them the good news. They then sent him money on his travels on more than one occasion even when he was away from them in the area known as Thessalonica. And now that Paul was imprisoned they had sent more than enough gifts with Paul’s friend and co-worker Epaphroditus. It seems clear that giving in this way was not always easy for them because Paul says in the letter that he knows they have always been concerned for him but for a while they did not have the chance to help him. But when they could, they gave generously and Paul was clearly extremely grateful! It seems to me that generosity is one of the themes at the very heart of the Christian faith. God gives us himself in the person of his son Jesus Christ (“God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son” so that we might have eternal life.. is the well known verse from John 3:16) and we are called to give love in return, with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, nothing held back. The gift of Jesus Christ is so precious that Paul himself in this letter says that “everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (that quotation is from the recent New Living Translation). And we are called to love our neighbour just as much as we love ourselves. The gospels and other parts of the New Testament are in fact full of dramatic images of this generosity of God and the generosity invited from his people. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a pearl of great value says Jesus, so much so that a man sells everything he has to buy it. The Kingdom of Heaven is like the buried treasure a man finds in a field. It is worth so much that he sells everything he has to buy that field. So valuable is what God gives to us. On the last and most important day of the Feast of the Tabernacles, Jesus stands up in the Temple and says in a loud voice, “Whoever is thirsty should come to me and drink. As the scripture says, “Whoever believes in me, streams of living water will pour out from his heart”. These are images of the great abundance of the generosity of God. You have everything you need Jesus tells the rich young ruler but one thing you lack. Go and sell everything you have and give it to the poor then come and follow me. When you give, says Jesus, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, almost as if he is suggesting that our generosity ought to be only barely under control…..The widow’s two tiny coins are of far greater value than the easy largesse of the wealthier givers in the Temple, says Jesus because the coins are the only money she has and she wants to give it all for God’s work. These are dramatic images of the generosity that God invites from his people. I think Paul understood that this element of the new life that Jesus Christ brings had become embedded in the life of the Philippian Church. Theirs was a truly Christian response and so he is able to describe the consequences to them of their Christian generosity. Paul is clear that the consequences of generosity tend to be good. Generosity tends to have knock–on effects. First Paul himself is delighted by it and feels grateful, supported and built up. Secondly, he says that God will reward the Philippian church. “This same God who takes care of me” he says, “will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus…they have been generous and God will acknowledge this and supply all their needs. And thirdly, and more importantly, God himself is delighted by Christian generosity. The Philippian’s gifts, Paul says “are a sweet smelling sacrifice that is acceptable to God and pleases him”. When a teacher of religious law asked Jesus which was the most important commandment and Jesus replied the first is to love God with all your heart and so on and the second to love your neighbour as yourself., the teacher’s response was to agree wholeheartedly with Jesus and then to say that to love God and your neighbour in this way, “ is more important than to offer all the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.” Generosity has become the new sacrifice. Love God with all your heart and love your neighbour as much as you love yourself……. But Paul was also aware that this new generosity is not easily and readily found. The Philippian church were the only ones, of all the churches Paul visited and helped to build up and stayed closely in touch with through all his missionary journeys over a number of years who had supported Paul in this way. That’s not to say of course that the other churches may not have been generous in other ways but I suspect Paul knew that abundant generosity does not always come easily. So I think the Philippian church had clearly discovered something of the new generosity that God invites from his people as part of their new life in Christ. But Paul then moves on from this because he understood the impact that his own new life through faith had had on his own attitudes to giving and receiving and to the material things in life. Although he is hugely grateful for the Philippians’ gifts, interestingly he also says “Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need. I remember very well the first time I heard these words, in a slightly different version. Jennie and I attended a large meeting at St Mark’s Church Kennington, perhaps 25 years ago now, or thereabouts. The speakers were 4 Bishops from Uganda, men who had lived through the suffering around the regime of Idi Amin, who had without doubt rejoiced with those who rejoiced but with little or no material wealth and wept with those who had wept. One of them was Bishop Festo Kivengere, an impressive speaker and writer on the power of the Christian gospel in meeting hatred with forgiveness. I can’t recall the names of the others. But in the service sheet that evening were the words, “let me have everything or let me have nothing” and I remember taking them home, deeply impressed. For Paul, his new life in Christ Jesus has so much transformed his attitudes that he is free from an unnecessary dependence on material wealth and behaviour. Not that he does not enjoy good things – “I have learned to get along happily with much and with a full stomach” he clearly says. But he is not dependent for his self worth and self esteem on the material things he has. “I have learned to get along happily with little and an empty stomach” he also says. I have learned the secret of living in every situation. Because for Paul, and what he urges on the readers of this friendly love letter consistently throughout the four chapters is that everything else just pales in comparison with his new life in Jesus Christ. “Yes, everything else is worthless, or garbage,” as Gill reminded us 5 weeks ago, “when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord.” You can just feel into Paul’s soul as he harks back to his meeting with the living Jesus on the road to Damascus. Don’t tell me about the value of anything else he says. “For to me living is for Christ but dying is even better, because then I will go and be with Christ, as Cameron expanded upon at the beginning of this series.” Find in your relationship with the risen Christ your true worth and your most valuable attitudes. Then you will not worry so much about what you have was his challenge to the readers of this letter and to us today…. Similarly in Chapter 3.....don’t put your trust in the external things, Paul had said to them – the circumcision, the Jewishness, the religious education. I had it all says Paul, and more than anyone. Don’t tell me about those things. I could beat the lot of them. I once thought these things were so important but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done…..and for us perhaps the house, the car, the education, the holidays, the dishwasher, the payrise, the bonus, the promotion, the acclaim? Don’t have these things as your foundations and never judge anyone else by what they have, perhaps Paul would say to us. Get along happily with much, if you are blessed but could you also get along happily with little if these things were taken away? Your life in faith might take you there…Have you learned to put wealth in its proper place he seems to be saying. Remember the stark contrast in Paul’s eyes at the end of Chapter 3 as Trevor reminded us a couple of weeks ago – this may be a friendly love letter but St Paul is never going to mince his words – the stark contrast with those whose conduct shows that they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. Their God is their appetite, they brag about shameful things and all they think about is this life here on earth. Their future, Paul says, is eternal destruction…. So, a new attitude to material wealth and a new generosity do seem to be hallmarks of a new life in Jesus Christ. Does this mean we should be foolishly generous, giving away all we have and sitting in rooms devoid of furniture but full of whoever is the most demanding of our friends and neighbours? I opened the door of a flat I was living in as a young man once and on the doorstep was a man a year or two older than me who said he was desperate for somewhere to live. So I invited him in and gave him a bed thinking that must be the Christian response. He ended up far outstaying his welcome, thieving from me and most of my other flatmates – I was jokingly reminded of this by text this week by a friend now in Manchester who said he’s just got round to replace his Diana Ross tapes that this guy pinched, CD’s now of course – and much of the next few months was spent by me talking to other people in the area whose Christian hospitality had been similarly abused by the same man, as the extent of his activities emerged. No, we must of course be careful, but with a new life in Christ will come a new freedom and a new generosity if we allow God’s spirit to work in our lives….. and a Christian community will become marked and built up by endless acts of generosity as this is worked out…..I think of the neighbour who for week after week, month after month and year after year takes meals to her elderly neighbours, another who, quietly and untrumpeted, volunteers to relieve the feet of the homeless, another who goes out of her way to visit the bereaved, another who by sharing her skills and by patient encouragement seeks to build the self-esteem and confidence of young children who may well need just that if they are going to make their way in the world as they grow to adulthood, another who does just the same to build or rebuild the self esteem and confidence of prisoners and others who endlessly bring gifts large and small to their neighbours and their children….and of course these are just examples….there are many more… I think of a little elderly widow who worships at the same church as my parents in Northumberland. She smokes a bit too much – probably quite a lot too much - and is fond of a drink but her husband left her some money so for 15 years she decides to focus her generosity on a link the church has with a church in Zimbabwe and for 15 years she gives regularly as the income from her investments comes in, sometimes tens, sometimes hundreds, perhaps sometimes even more. Then this year after endless visa applications, the elderly Zimbabwean pastor and his wife are finally able to visit. “Would you like a brandy?” she is reported as saying to the pastor’s slightly bemused and teetotal wife, “or a nice drop of Scotch?” but the visitors are far too aware of the impact of generosity on those who really are being challenged to live in every situation, whether with full stomachs or empty, with much or little, to worry too much about these things. I am not there yet says Paul to the Philippian church and by clear implication, neither are you. But we look forward and press on with our eyes set on the prize that God through Jesus Christ has set before us. Our new life in Christ brings new attitudes, new ambitions, new friends, a new unity, new hopes, a new generosity. I want you to understand what really matters Paul says at the beginning of this letter before he then unpacks what this means for them and for us in the real world of suffering, of our human nature with its tendencies to dispute and division, of opposition and normal worldly pressures and expectations. And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit he says to them at the end of the letter. In God’s strength, and by the power of his spirit, founded on new relationship with God through Jesus Christ we are invited along just the same paths as they were. Whatever else you read this summer.…I would urge us at the end of this series to re-read the whole of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. It’s only 4 chapters. If you read quickly it might take you 10 minutes, more slowly perhaps half an hour, 45 minutes at the most. Read it this week. Read it tomorrow…or why not re-read it today! We’ll be challenged but I don’t think we’ll be disappointed..

Sermon from 13th July 2008

Today, our Associate Vicar, John Itumu, preaches. His sermon is based on the reading from Philippians 4:1-9

New Resources

As we near the end of this beautiful letter that Paul wrote to this ancient 1st century church, we can’t help but marvel at the depth of friendship that radiates through it. Look at some of the statements he has made: 1:3 I thank my God every time I remember you… I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel… 2:2…be like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind…look out to the interest of others… Philippians is truly a letter of friendship, but what kind of friendship? The Greco-Roman world took letter writing very seriously. It is said that formal schooling would have included instruction in letter writing. Scholars classify over 21 different types of letters and this one fits the category of the friendly, familiar type of letter. It is the sort of letter that people who shared some core ideals, eg where there was giving and receiving of benefits (social reciprocity), wrote to each other. The mutual goodwill between Paul and this church shines through the letter. They are his partners in the gospel. And it is this deep affection that gives him the audacity to confront an issue that if not checked was going to undermine their relationships with each other and with Christ. It often takes a friend, and a sincere one, to confront our ugly side. 4:2I plead with Euodia and with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord Very little is known about these two ladies, except that their names roughly mean ‘success’ and ‘lucky’; names that indicate pagan origins. What we do however know is that Paul refers to them as his co-workers who have ‘contended by his side in the cause of the gospel’.v3 He devotes part of his letter to the church to urge these women to put aside their partisan quarrel and cultivate a spirit of gentleness and kindness toward each other. I don’t know about you but I find disagreements and arguments very energy draining. My mind keeps replaying the whole situation until it is resolved. If you have been unlucky to have had an argument with your spouse or a close friend then you know just how true this is. Do I speak a foreign language? We can easily fight and argue over lots of things – even in church. Now, we don't know what Euodia and Syntyche quarrelled about. Maybe, as someone once joked, they probably argued about whose name was harder to pronounce. But things had not always been so. Before this confrontation, these two women had co-operated and worked with Paul. Its worth remembering also that the church at Philippi initially began when women (like Lydia) gathered by the river on the Jewish Sabbath for prayer. Acts 16:13-15.There’s a good chance that Euodia and Syntyche were part of that original group, household leaders and therefore church leaders. Perhaps house congregations of Philippi still met in their homes. Common faith and desire to serve the Lord does not necessarily prevent us from having differences with each other. Sometimes very sincere people who love God and His work can disagree. And Paul does the brave thing. In the spirit of sincere friendship, he appeals to both women and refuses to take sides. He mobilises all possible resources of the church to mend this rift in their fellowship. V3 …Yes and I ask you, my true companion, help these women… No effort was too great to maintain the peace of the church. And he was right, because a quarrelling church is a church in which Christ has been shut out. Psalm 133. How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity…for there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life for evermore. And since Paul recognises that differences can often be very tough to resolve, he invokes the Lord’s name. He suggests that their lack of unity is no longer a personal matter between them but affects the gospel of Jesus Christ in the church at Philippi. This is reason enough to quickly resolve it. So he tells them, ..be of the same mind in the Lord. Sometimes, resolving conflict requires supernatural strength, the supernatural power of God. And Paul urges these two ladies to tap into that power source and agree in the Lord. Be encouraged that this awesome power of God, the power that can turn foes into friends, is always available. It is always switched on. Friends, the always available Jesus is the power source behind our ability to be in right relationship to one another. A commitment to His purposes is the common ground on which we ought to base all our relationships. Remember, issues do not make quarrels, people do, and we have a choice in this matter. Being like minded, having the same love and being one in spirit, these things perfectly imitate Christ’s humility, which climaxed at his being crucified on a cross. This mindset finds expression when we look out for one another’s interest, especially in the believing community. What a magnificent resource to help us stand firm in the Lord and in relationship with each other! So rejoice in the Lord always. And just in case you doubt I will say it again: rejoice. Paul concludes with these famous words by reminding us that in spite of the tough times that we go through in this life, being in the Lord ought to give us a reason to rejoice. But what does this mean? It means contemplating and longing for God’s presence in all situations we find ourselves in. It means pouring our hearts out to God in joy and prayer and thanksgiving. It means being aware of God’s presence while travelling, at work, at home and when we worship together like now. It means choosing to delight in God, regardless. The righteous will rejoice in the Lord… Psalm 64:10 These moral imperatives are true marks of believers. A Christian’s joy is not of the temporal kind that is there when we open a gift and is gone in minutes. It is an abiding deeply spiritual quality of life. Rejoicing, we are reminded is not an option, but a command. Rejoicing is to mark the individual and corporate lives of all in Philippi. Rejoicing in the Lord is a command for us today in Herne Hill. And what more qualified person to remind us this than Paul who writes these words while in prison! Rejoicing, yet another resource for us! Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy – think about such things. Fill your mind with such things. We are to choose to refocus our minds and put them to work contemplating who God is - and what He can do. The prophet Isaiah 26:3 reminds us that People with their minds set on God, He keeps completely whole. Let us learn to focus our minds on Godly thoughts.; allow God to change the way we think. Encountering God is affirmative, but also transformative. It confronts our corrupt and fallen human nature. It confronts our sin. Unfortunately, we live in modern times when even Christians cannot agree on what sin is. The supremacy of Christ and authority of scripture has been questioned. It seems to me that we believe what we want depending on where we come from. It is at such a time that we urgently need to go back to this word which was bequeathed to us by God through the people He inspired to write it. Living in 21st century Britain is no excuse to invalidate what the bible encourages and admonishes. Psalm 19:7-9 reminds us that the precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. Anyone who dares fill their heart and mind with God's word will have a built-in radar for detecting and filtering out wrong thoughts. I can testify that one result of frequent (if not daily) meditation on God’s word is a renewed mind. Don’t even make it you goal to always look out for fault; we can all do that. fill your mind with praiseworthy thoughts. Surround yourself with optimistic people who look at life through Christ's eyes. Christ brings hope. Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy – think about such things. Fill your mind with such things. These resources are yours and mine, at our disposal. But what do we do with the depressing epidemic of knife stabbings, you ask. It just fills up our minds. Well, let it cause us to pray and cry to God and join with other Christians who are trying to do something about it. Ask God to reveal to you how you can help. Now, all this is not a naive behaviour for the believer. It's not ignoring the bad in our world. No, it is simply remembering that God is in control, and because He is at the helm, He can make all things work for our good, however impossible it seems. Amen.

Sermon from 6th July 2008

Today, Trevor Tayleur, one of our Lay Readers, preaches based on the passage from Philippians 3:12-21

New Ambitions 2

Those of you who were here last week will have noticed that today’s reading from Philippians is exactly the same as last Sunday’s. Now I was momentarily tempted to preach the same sermon as John did last Sunday in the hope that no one would notice, but decided actually that wouldn’t be a good idea. I would be caught out when I started to sing the praises of Kenyan long distance athletes! But of course the real reason for not preaching the same sermon is that the decision to have two sermons on this passage wasn’t a mistake, but a deliberate one. One sermon isn’t enough to do justice to this passage. And I’m going to build on one of John’s points from last Sunday.

As John explained, Philippi was a Roman colony, and many of its residents were Roman citizens. Being a Roman citizen carried with it many privileges, but Christians have dual citizenship. For the Christians in Philippi, their utmost allegiance wasn’t to the Roman emperor, but to another Lord, Jesus Christ. Christians are also citizens of heaven, and so the Christians in Philippi were to function there as a colony of heaven in a Roman outpost.

When you think of colonies, what thoughts come to mind? Britain was of course once a great colonial power, ruling large parts of Africa, Asia, America and the Caribbean. But today colonialism gets a bad press. When we think of colonists, we think of people who left their home countries, sailed off to far away countries and then took over the land, with scant regard for the indigenous people. The truth is probably a bit more complex than that. Many colonists had good motives, but I think it’s fair to say that colonies were set up to the benefit the home country, rather than the colonies. And that was also true for the Roman colony in Philippi.

Rome fought many wars very successfully, but there was a problem. What should be done with the soldiers when they weren’t needed for fighting any longer? The answer was to set up colonies in places like Philippi, in Greece, and to give the ex-soldiers land there. The original inhabitants mightn’t have liked it, but that was tough. So Philippi attracted ex-soldiers and their families, and developed as a Roman colony. The Roman colonists were Roman citizens, something of which they were very proud, and they tried to model their lives on the way things were done in Rome. And this included worshipping the Roman emperor as Lord and Saviour. And it was in that context, to draw a contrast with Roman citizenship, that Paul wrote in vs 20, “But our citizenship is in heaven.” In other words, we are citizens of heaven.”

What does it mean to be citizens of heaven? I suspect many Christians today misunderstand what being citizens of heaven means. It’s very easy to think that it means that heaven is where we belong, and in this life we’re simply waiting for the time when we can go and live there. But that’s not what Paul meant.

The Roman citizens in Philippi owed their allegiance to Rome, but the last thing that the Roman Emperor wanted was for them to go to Rome and actually live there. Their task was to develop Philippi as a Roman colony, and to strengthen Roman influence and culture there. Something similar happened in the history of British colonialism. The first major British settlement in South Africa took place in 1820. In 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo, Wellington defeated Napoleon and his French army, but after the war was over, times were tough in Britain. There was a lot of unemployment, and so the British government persuaded 4,000 people to emigrate to South Africa which had just become a British colony. Their task was to create a piece of Britain on the African continent. They remained British citizens; they still called Britain home, and so did their children and grand-children, but their tickets were one-way. Very few of them ever returned home.

And for those of us who are Christians, citizens of heaven, our task is to establish a colony of heaven here on earth. There is, of course, a crucial difference between the colony of heaven and the Roman colony in Philippi or the British colony in South Africa. The colony of heaven is to serve the local inhabitants and to encourage them to become citizens of heaven as well. In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “Your will be done on earth as in heaven.” As citizens of heaven, our job is to do our best to make sure that God’s will is done on earth, to help to answer that prayer.

Thinking again about the Roman colonists in Philippi – what was in it for them? How did they benefit from being Roman citizens? Suppose there was trouble in Philippi, and there was a local uprising against the Roman colonists. Then the full might of Rome would be unleashed; the Roman legions would march in and suppress the rebellion. And indeed that’s what happened in South Africa. The 1820 Settlers faced a lot of opposition from the Africans living in the area where they settled, and the British army was sent in to quash the resistance. The Roman emperor and the mother country were ready to rescue their citizens in the colonies.

Now we in the church, as citizens of heaven, often struggle. We face difficulties and sometimes opposition; some Christians face persecution. We often feel weak and tired. Now, unlike the Roman or British armies, God isn’t going to intervene militarily on our behalf! But the God we believe in is the creator of the whole universe. He is infinitely more powerful than the Roman legions that dominated the world in Paul’s time. He is infinitely more powerful than all the armies of the world combined. But God’s power is a different sort of power, as Paul so graphically describes in verses 20-21. When Jesus was crucified, his body was cruelly tortured and he died. But Jesus rose from death; his body was transformed so that it became astonishingly alive again with a life that death can never destroy. And Paul tells us that Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, will do the same for us. He is going to come from heaven, and transform this world, so that it will be full of his glory and love and of the power of heaven. And as part of that process, Jesus is going to transform our own bodies, to make them like his own glorious body. Knowing this will enable us to stand firm in the Lord, as Paul declares at the start of the next chapter. In vs 1 of Chapter 4 Paul writes, “(T)hat is how you should stand firm in the Lord.”

For the Philippians, standing firm in the Lord meant giving their allegiance to Jesus as their one true Lord, and not to the Roman emperor. When Paul wrote about being citizens of heaven, the Philippians would have realised that Paul was contrasting it with Roman citizenship. And the challenge that Paul was setting down to them was to work out what it meant to give their primary loyalty to heaven, and not to Rome, and how to serve Jesus as Lord, and not the Roman emperor. But in working out what it meant, they also had the promise that one day Jesus will return, bringing the life and rule of heaven to earth in all its fullness. And the challenge for us is to work out what it means to be a citizen of heaven in 21st Century London.

However, Paul has made clear it earlier in the chapter that being a citizen of heaven isn’t just a matter of looking to what Jesus will do in the future. It starts very much in the here and now. “Join with others in following my example, brothers,” Paul writes in vs. 17. And how are Christians to follow Paul’s example? Paul has also described how he gave up the privileges of his birth. A few weeks ago Gill explained how Paul gave up his family, friendships and freedom to know Jesus and his power. In verses 4-11 he describes how he gave up all his privileges to know Jesus. He considered his privileged background as mere rubbish, so that he could gain Christ. Now, most of the Philippians couldn’t follow Paul’s example exactly, as they didn’t share his background. But they had to work out what it meant to owe their primary allegiance to Christ, rather than to the Roman emperor. And we to need to think out what it means to owe our primary allegiance to Christ in a society where there are so many other competing claims for our loyalty.

And Paul also gives a warning. As we try to work out what it means to be a citizen of heaven, we need to take note of Paul’s warning in verses 18-19.” For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.”

So, who are these enemies of the cross of Christ? Paul tells us three things about them which show that their ambitions are very different from those of the citizens of heaven. The first is that their god is their stomach. Their appetites dictate their lifestyles. God has made us to enjoy the physical side of life – good food, music, sex, exercise, clothes and sport. God isn’t a kill-joy. He wants us to enjoy life, but within the boundaries he has set. The problem arises when the so-called good things of life become our idols, and displace God. With the economy getting worse, perhaps some of the worst excesses are beginning to subside, but for many people life is simply about pleasure. Just read many modern magazines; their pages are devoted to physical pleasure of one sort or another – sex, perfume, food, drink and jewellery. They are all about the body, about physical pleasure, about self-indulgence. What is our ambition? Is it to put God first, or is it to pursue the pleasures of this world?

The second thing that Paul tells us about these enemies of the cross is that their glory is their shame; they boast when they should blush. I’m sure we’ve all heard people boasting about things when they should really be ashamed – boasting about how much they drunk the night before, or their sexual conquests, or how they conned money out of an insurance company or evaded paying their taxes. They may have achieved their ambitions and think they are very clever, but they have achieved nothing. They are chasing after false idols.

And the third thing about these enemies of the cross is that their minds are locked into this world. Paul writes at the end of vs.19, “Their mind is on earthly things.” This echoes what Jesus said in the Gospels. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” What are our ambitions? To get to the top in this life – to make lots of money, to be a celebrity? Or is it to live as citizens of heaven, knowing that it is the things of God that have lasting value.

Our citizenship is in heaven. Or is it? Are we first citizens of heaven, or are we first British citizens, or Kenyan, or South African or Barbadian? Where does our ultimate loyalty lie?
Let’s pray.

Lord, Thank you that we are citizens of heavens. Help us to be worthy of our citizenship, to live as your true followers in the colony of heaven that you have put on earth. In Jesus’ name. Amen.