This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, November 8, 1992.
We have returned to Paul’s letter to the Philippians this morning. We are in chapter 3. This is Philippians chapter 3. We are reading from verse 7. But what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect. But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, For getting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Brethren, ye followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example.
For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, for whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. I beseech Iohia and I beseech Syntyche that they may be of the same mind in the Lord.
Lord, we would not forget your people stretched out across the world. We would not forget those communions that seek faithfulness, who endeavor to stand firm in the faith once for all delivered to the saints. O Lord, we pray on their behalf that they might remain strong in the word. And Father, we would also ask for those that have been compromised, for those, Lord, who had even turned and walked in another direction. May it please you, Lord, to bring them back. And Father, we would also ask for the world itself, that you would draw from that world those whom you would call, those you would be pleased to save. And may we rejoice, Lord, in your electing love. we are children of the word, our boast is in our God, we glory in Christ and in his cross.
Amen. I want to begin this morning by reading to you a passage, no, not from a biblical writer, but from Nathaniel Hawthorne of all people, a passage from one of his short stories. I actually judge to be Hawthorne’s best. I know many wouldn’t agree with me.
The story is called The Celestial Railroad. And as those of you familiar with John Bunyan’s Pilgrim Progress will recognize, this story is a satirical updating of John Bunyan’s classic. Hawthorne’s purpose is not to satirize Bunyan, but rather to satirize the commercial established American Protestantism of his day. We pick up at the point at which the train, traveling along the Celestial Railroad, has just pulled into the station at Vanity Fair.
Hawthorne writes, Many passengers stop to take their pleasure or make their profit in Vanity Fair, instead of going onward to the Celestial City. Indeed, such are the charms of the place that people often affirm it to be the true and only heaven, stoutly contending that there is no other, that those who seek further are mere dreamers, and that if the fabled brightness of the celestial city lay but a bare mile beyond the gates of vanity, they would not be fools enough to go thither. The Christian reader, if he had no accounts of the city later than Bunyan’s time, would be surprised to hear that almost every street has its church, and that the reverend clergy are nowhere held in higher respect. And well do they deserve such honorable estimations. for the maxims of wisdom and virtue which fall from their lips come from as deep a spiritual source and tend to us as lofty a religious aim as those of the sagest philosophers.”
End of quote. Now we are certainly not to understand from this passage that Hawthorne himself had much interest in the true and only heaven, the celestial city, much less in the gospel of saving grace to the chief of sinners espoused by John Bunyan. Hawthorne was on target, nonetheless. in lampooning those Protestants who, although retaining language about heaven in their vocabulary, had no real interest in it. Nor did heaven in any meaningful way affect their lives. In turning to the Apostle Paul, we find a man for whom heaven provided more than passing interest, one for whom the very reality of heaven filled his life. So much is this the case that Paul could describe the Christian life in its totality in terms of heaven.
And this is precisely what we see in Philippians chapter 3, verses 20 and 21. Listen to him once again. This is what he writes. For our citizenship is in heaven. From whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself. You will note that this statement speaks about our present state, we are in fact citizens of heaven, and our future hope, that as well on the basis of the truth about heaven. Thinking then about the present state, starting where the apostle starts in that twentieth verse. We are described here as citizens, citizens of heaven.
Our citizenship, he tells us, is there. Now think about the Philippians for a minute, if you will. The Philippians lived in one of those privileged cities in the Roman Empire. A city where the people were born to Roman citizenship. They didn’t have to buy it. They didn’t have to wait for it. They were born into it. Not many cities in the empire had been such an advantage as that.
And these Philippians, as you might well expect, were quite proud of their status and standing within the Roman world. So Paul tells the Philippians, those who are a part of the church at Philippi, about a greater citizenship. granted them not by birth into an earthly empire under a worldly sovereign, one who might even claim the title of Savior, which in fact Caesar did. Rather, here was a greater fellowship a fellowship granted them by a new birth into an eternal empire under the resurrected Lord of Glory, the only true sovereign and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Now we are all aware of how great our citizenship is to us, we living here in the United States of America. Consider our privileges, our advantages. Surely our liberties and privileges exceed those known in the first century world under the Romans. But think of it now, even as we reflect upon the words of the Apostle. As wonderful as this citizenship is that we possess in this land, it is exceeded by the superlative citizenship granted us through the marvelous grace and matchless might of God. And what benefits? What benefits are granted us? Such as excel any extended from Rome to the Philippians. Such as excel any extended even from Washington D.C. to us.
Consider the fact that according to Paul, what we have read today tells us that we are privileged to know on an intimate basis the Lord himself. Look at Philippians 3.10. But I may know him.” That is not with respect to the prospect of knowing him. Paul is here speaking about a present reality into which he has entered. He does, in fact, know the Lord.
And backing up a verse to verse 9, another privilege there spoken of, for we are privileged to have the very righteousness of God imputed to us because of this vital intimate contact with Christ by faith. Not such as the state may grant us, Not such as might be granted us through our religious exercises even, but the very righteousness of God that can be procured only by the work of God through the giving of a gift. And this then realized in that vital intimate contact with Christ by faith. Even being the personal friend of the President of the United States can’t match being the friend, the intimate friend, of the Son of God.
After all, administrations on earth change. presidents rise and fall, just as do Caesars. But the administration of heaven never falls. this present citizenship that we have in heaven. We have set before us, well by Paul, privileges, wonderful privileges. But we also have set before us present duty. Even for the kingdom of heaven, you see, there are responsibilities. In fact, we can go on so far to say that while assuming the privileges that belong to citizenship in heaven and mentioning them as we have seen While even going to great lengths to describe what it took on Christ’s part to secure those privileges, He giving up His place in heaven, coming to earth, making Himself then subject to all of the hostilities and oppressions of men, that he might there undergo the wrath of God for sinners and be vindicated by his Father and resurrected into glory, even though we have all of this set before us in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Paul’s letter here, in its greatest emphasis, falls upon the duty, the present duty, that falls upon the citizens of the kingdom of heaven.
In fact, it seems that here we find the very heart of what Paul has been talking about all along. I want you to notice how Paul has laid this out in this epistle. Let’s look once more, beginning at Philippians 3, verse 20. Paul’s mention there in that twentieth verse, as we have underscored it.
Notice the mention made of citizenship in heaven. Keep that in hand. Now move on to the first verse of the fourth chapter. We hear Paul in this passage in joining these Philippian saints to stand fast That’s the authorized version, or to stand firm in the New American Standard version. So there we have, we have his mention in verse 20 of that third chapter of citizenship. Now, at the beginning of the fourth chapter, he is enjoining these saints to stand firm.
Two items, we move on to the second verse of the fourth chapter, where he has something special to say to two women of the congregation, Yodi and Sintokie, and he tells them to be of one mind. Those are the three things I want you to keep in hand. Citizenship in heaven, standing firm and being of one mind.
Now I want you to turn back to Philippians 1 verse 27. Now you’ll have to take my word for it here. This is where I say that the major portion of the letter begins. I realize that if you don’t have a King James in front of you, you might miss the point. I have taken a little liberty in reading the King James this morning at verse 20 of chapter 3.
Instead of saying conversation, the word that appears there in the King James, I have used the word citizenship. Now, that word conversation is a 17th century word that speaks about one’s behavior. And that word that speaks about behavior is taken from a Greek word, actually, that talks about one’s politics, because one’s politics is one’s behavior. Or, it reflects upon one’s citizenship.
So the word conversation appears in 320 in the Authorized Version. If you have a King James in front of you, you will notice that that word also appears in chapter 1, verse 27. Connecting the two, connecting 127 with 320. In the 127 passage, the verbal form of the noun that appears in 320 is used by Paul.
And this is how we might translate the opening, then, of verse twenty-seven in chapter one. Only behave, only behave in keeping with your citizenship as it becometh the gospel of Christ. Only behave in keeping with your citizenship as it becometh the gospel of Christ. add in that passage a reference to heaven, but he reserves that for when he gets to the last part of the third chapter. So we have then mentioned here in verse 27 of chapter one of citizenship, just as we did at the end of chapter three. But notice further what Paul goes on to say in that twenty-seventh verse.
He expresses his own hope and confidence that these Philippians are standing fast, standing firm. Remember the three items that we had? The end of chapter three, the beginning of chapter four? They’re going to appear here, it seems, in verse twenty-seven of that first chapter.
He expresses his own personal hope that these Philippian Christians are standing firm, the very words that he uses in chapter 4 verse 1. And finally, at the end of verse 27, Paul speaks about the unity that these Philippians ought to have as it expresses itself in a singleness of mind, in a singleness of spirit. Words again that reappear in chapter 4 verse 2.
Do you see what Paul has done? I am told that the device that he is using here is called framing. He has put a frame around the content of this central message in his epistle with these words. Citizenship standing firm and unity of mind. Paul then has placed his message unmistakably before us, as that message is framed beautifully, literarily, by the Apostle.
From the first chapter then through the fourth, Paul is speaking about one and the same thing. He is speaking about that citizenship that he mentions. in chapter 1, verse 27, as we find out that citizenship is precisely the citizenship of heaven. And his major concern is how do citizens of heaven behave themselves in the world presently? How do citizens of heaven behave themselves presently? in the world.
And about this he has two things to say. First, stand firm. Stand firm. Now he gives that instruction, you see, because he knows, regardless of what others may say, he knows that heaven has enemies. And it is necessary for the Church, if she is to be true to her heavenly citizenship, to stand firm by striving together for the faith of the gospel.
Those words also appear in verse 27 of chapter 1. Paul would have these people be aware, and we should be aware too, that the enemies of heaven don’t all come with horns and pointed ears and all carry pitchforks. Sadly but truly, many of them come in clerical garb, sporting religious titles, adept at religious talk, just as Hawthorne described them. Paul tells us that one of their chief distinguishing marks, however, That which opens up the root motivation within these people is the fact that they are, in the end, standing directly contrary to heaven itself, for they are earthly-minded. Do you see how he leads into that twentieth verse in the third chapter by describing those who are the enemies of the cross of Christ?
He ends by saying that they are earthly minded, they set their mind on earthly things. They might be very nice, they might dress well, they might even speak well, they might know the king’s English, but they’re earthly minded. They might have stories to tell, they might be able to tell you all kinds of wonderful religious tales. that they are earthly-minded. Secondly now, Paul believes the way these Christians behave presently as citizens of heaven while they are in the earth is in such a way so as to reflect a singleness of mind. He mentions doctrine first, and then he goes on to unity. Isn’t that interesting? Isn’t that interesting? Stand firm, and then he speaks about being of one mind.
The modern church has given up on doctrine. They don’t much care for it anymore, and especially if it’s doctrine about heaven. Paul leads into unity the singleness of mind from a vantage point of doctrine. Such a mind is itself set upon the truth and opposes error.
But such a mind also goes on to affirm the love that must be manifest among brothers. And Paul here has in mind something more than just tight friendships, bonding at the club. Paul has in mind here the prescription that is laid out in Christ. The mind we ought to have, after all, is the mind of Christ, who demonstrates his commitment to the unity of the body by giving himself sacrificially for his own. True unity of mind then plays itself out in a love that no longer counts cost.
If you want to read about that mind that we are to have, take a look at the second chapter, verses 5 through 11. This then is our message concerning our heavenly citizenship. and the present privilege and responsibility that that citizenship sets before us. We will have to delay our consideration of the hope that citizenship offers us for another time, but for now, and in closing, I want you to consider why Paul is able to subsume both his description of the Christian life in its totality and his message to the Philippians under the heading of Heaven and Citizenship in it.
You see, heaven is where Jesus is. Heaven is where Jesus is. Because heaven is where Jesus is, all of Paul’s energies and desires are directed heavenward because there is no one, there is nothing that Paul loves more than Jesus and he longs to see him. For all then who love Jesus and long to see Him, for all who would claim that they love Jesus and long to see Him, this then is where your heart must be.
Your life must be directed toward it, and graciously from God your life flows forth from it, so that even presently heaven is manifesting itself in the world, through you who have the hope of glory in your heart. The true and only heaven. This is what is at the center of Paul and his consideration of the Christian life. Should it not also have that place in your life?
Lord, in our love for our Savior, may we long to see him. But also, Father, in our love for him and even our present union with him, may there be the marvelous testimony to the fact that we do in fact know him. O Lord, may we rejoice in present privilege But may we also, Lord, delight in present duty, even as that duty makes us all the more conformed to his image. We pray it in his name.
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