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 15, 1992.

Once more, we are reading in Philippians chapter 3. We begin at verse 7. Hear the word of God. But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ? and I count all things but lost 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 done that I may win Christ. And be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is of through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him, 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 dead. 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, forgetting 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, be 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, 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 even to subdue all things unto himself. Therefore, my beloved, dearly, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. I beseech Jodius and I beseech Syntyche that they may be of the same mind in the Lord. And I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers whose names are in the Book of Life.”

Father, strengthen us by your spirit in this bond that we have with you and with one another Encourage us by your word to this end. Surely, Lord, in this bond, we suffer with those who suffer. Therefore, Lord, we pray that you will be gracious to those that are bereaved and stricken, and may your kindness sustain them. in the certainties of our faith and through the power of the resurrection. And with respect to our joys, Lord, we would remind ourselves of how you have proved faithful with respect to our prayers, that you have heard us and where we have cried out to you on behalf of those in need, even in need of employment, You have graciously responded and granted to us our prayer. Receive our thanks, Lord, and we who sorrow and we who rejoice, may we know that our sorrow and joy is in the Lord, and may we gain new strength from your word. For Jesus’ sake, amen.

What I have contended with you is this. Heaven is a comprehensive category for the Apostle. Heaven itself is a comprehensive category for the Apostle, pertaining to present life and to future hope. beneath which then the totality of Christian experience can be subsumed. We have spoken already about this matter in terms of how the present life is seen beneath the category of heaven. You remember the opening of the twentieth verse of this third chapter.

Our citizenship, we are told, is in heaven. Now that is not merely pointing us to some future point. That is a comment about present circumstance. That is, we are presently citizens of heaven. Now as such, as was pointed out previously, this means privilege. This means blessing. Paul speaks about these blessings as you build up to this 20th verse, through those verses that we read this morning. He speaks of having gained Christ. He speaks about being found in Christ. He speaks about knowing Christ.

All of these privileges of our present citizenship with respect to heaven. We also marked out duties that pertain to this citizenship, not just privileges, but duties as well. And at that point, you might recall, we return to the twenty-seventh verse of the first chapter, and we looked through that verse one more time. identifying those distinctive duties that are ours as citizens of heaven. We are told we must as such stand firm. We must as such stand firm. We are told also that as citizens of heaven we must have a common mind because we have a common citizenship. We must think similarly because we have this common citizenship. And in terms of this common mind, in terms of this imperative to stand firm, We are encouraged to strive for the truth of the gospel. We are encouraged to strive for the truth, to struggle for the truth of the faith.

Now, all of this finds reflex in other writings of Paul. For instance, Paul speaks about privilege that is ours presently, as if these things have already come to pass for us. For instance, in Romans chapter 6, where he tells us that we have, as it were, already been raised up with Christ. As if resurrection were a past event, having present blessing, presently for us. He tells us in Galatians chapter 6 that we have been crucified to the world and we have been made, as it were, new creation already. He tells us in Ephesians 1 that we’ve been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus and that presently, so in other portions of Paul’s writings, he sets before various congregations and various people these blessings with respect to our present citizenship in heaven.

He also speaks about duty in different language than what we find here in Philippians. He talks about the imperative that falls upon us with respect to the walk that should be ours, where we are putting away sin, where we are refusing sin, where we are instead putting on righteousness and truth and love and kindness and gentleness, where we are cultivating these things. We think of passages in the later chapters in Ephesians. We think also of the latter chapters of Colossians, where these things are spelled out for us. We think of many portions in Romans in the latter chapters there, to be sure, including, of course, reflection upon the sixth chapter once more. privilege and then responsibility and duty, these things pressing in upon us because of our present participation in a heavenly citizenship. But not just present life, as that which is subsumed beneath the category, the heading of heaven. our future hope as well.

And that future hope spelled out for us in the latter part of that twentieth verse in Philippians chapter three. Our citizenship is in heaven, Paul writes, then he goes on to say, from which also we eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse twenty-one, the work which this one will perform when he comes from heaven, he will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself.

Now, I am bold to say to you even on the basis of this text that the supreme category here for the Apostle Paul is that of heaven. It’s an exposition of this category that he is now setting before this Philippian congregation. And the reason that I say that I am bold to say this to you this morning is because of the confusion and the contradiction that has introduced itself into the Church and into the Reformed world. I know how the argument goes.

There are those who want to turn us to 2 Peter 3.13, speak to us about the fact that there is a new heaven and a new earth coming, with all of the emphasis seemingly on their part upon the earth aspect of that promise. The new heaven and the new earth, they concentrating then upon the earth and the continuation of and life as you know it presently into that new earth and even unto all eternity.

My caricature of this point of view is that then God’s children will always be looking up. that other perspective that comes to bear, even on texts like 2 Peter 3.13, texts like Hebrews 11.16, where the enterprising of faith as it pertains to the patriarchal generation, Sarah herself being included, is spoken of along these lines.

They were looking for a better country. They were in the land of promise. They were looking for a better country, and then the writer to the Hebrews says, a heavenly one. And because of that, God was not ashamed to be called their God, and he has prepared a city for them. So whatever estimation you are going to make with respect to that promise of a new heaven and a new earth, you must submit to the overwhelming power and testimony of scripture that the primary category is heaven.

It is not the earth. Now I may get a little bit more exercised about this than you do. You see, that’s because I have to read the literature. I have the stuff coming across my desk, day in, day out, that tells me that our objective is the remaking of the world. And that is not the remaking of the world.

Even from that text in 2 Peter, the testimony is that this world will be destroyed by fire and intense heat. So I press my case, I press my case even here in Philippians 3 verses 20 and 21. But the category that is over all in these considerations from the apostle is that of heaven. His interest is heavenly. He first of all speaks about our citizenship, belonging there. It’s a citizenship that doesn’t end with the second coming. It is rather perfected. You see? This is not a temporary citizenship. This is an eternal citizenship. And it is from this place, this region, this region of glory that Christ comes for those who eagerly await him. As the rest of the verse says, Christ then coming forth from this region for us.

To what end? As it is expressed in verse 21, the end is the transformation of our body, that is, our body in the flesh, our body in its humble state. Our body as it has been subjected to humiliation and is in fact subjected to humility. This body of the flesh is to be transformed in order that it may be conformed to his glorious body. What body is this which is in view as we move through that twenty-first verse?

The body of Christ. specifically being the resurrected body, a body fit for glory, a body fit for heaven. The body in you, therefore, is a heavenly body. It is a spiritual body. It is a body now raved by the power of the Spirit, appropriate to dwell within the realm of the Spirit.

There is reflex here in this twenty-first verse of Philippians 3. Looking back then to Philippians chapter 2, where you have the process described with respect to Christ, who has Himself taken upon Himself a body of humility, and then moved from humility to exaltation. And that position of exaltation is, in fact, a position in glory and in heaven.

The coming of Christ, then, out of heaven, is for the purpose of changing our earthly bodies for their eternal dwelling, that they, then, who have had faith in Christ, may be made over into his image, having a body like unto his resurrection body. That body, then, never suffering decay. that body never being again subjected to corruption. We could say it like this. Christ came out of heaven to be made like unto us, that we might come into heaven having been made like he had become.

Now you see, this message is at the very heart of what the apostle wishes to communicate to these Philippians. In fact, this message stands at the very center of the gospel which he preaches. So when he goes on to ask of these Philippians that they stand firm, it is with respect to this doctrine that he is encouraging them to stand firm. And when he enjoins upon them that they might be of one mind, single in mind, it is specifically this common mind with respect to hope and with respect to present obligation under heavenly citizenship, it is specifically these things that he has in mind. And when he speaks about them striving for the truth of the gospel and the truth of the faith, it is specifically this which he has in mind. And by so setting this at the center of things, he is able to make demarcation between those who truly understand the message of the word and those who don’t.

Who are those who truly understand? Those who are heavenly-minded. Who are those who don’t? Those who are earthly-minded. And it doesn’t matter, you see, what their religious pedigree is. It doesn’t even matter how moral they are. It doesn’t even matter how much they revere the law of God. You can employ the law of God to earthly ends. Do we need lessons in that? Should I bring up the Pharisees?

But of course, you see, as exercised as I am, the Apostle Paul is gentle and intriguing. He is warm and pastoral. He beseeches, as it were, these who are confused that they might see a light their present life and their future hope in terms of the glories of heaven.

And my appeal in conclusion should be no different than what we hear from the apostle at the opening of that fourth chapter. As I would speak about you as the dearly beloved of the Lord, as I would see you as my joy and crown, and plead with you that you would keep your heavenly citizenship front and central. The very vitality of your personal life depends on it. The very vitality of this church depends upon it. Once you consider that, the apostles in treaty and meditate upon his words and consider afresh your heavenly citizenship and all that that means. Our Father, the temptations may be severe because we are drawn away by the things that we see.

We even hold to those things and develop our religious devotion around those things, even justify our devotion to those things because we feel that yes, your law and yes, the realistic and earthy aspect of your revelation in fact vindicate us in our convictions that we pray Lord that we would hear the Apostle that we Lord would be called up short that we would see the more glorious picture in its comprehensiveness in its brilliant colors and be drawn Lord even more to you and to heaven above from which Christ shall come And that day he comes, he shall fit us for our dwelling with bodies like unto his, resurrection bodies that cannot then be subjected to corruption. We thank you, Lord, for our hope, and we plead with you that we might live responsibly as citizens of heaven here in this world. For we ask it in Jesus’ name.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.