Are you a native? That seems to be an issue among
some people in New Hampshire – whether we are homegrown Granite Staters or
imports from somewhere else. Are you a New Hampshire native? How many people here
born in New Hampshire? Let’s have a show of hands. I confess I am not a NH
native. My ancestors were among the first permanent settlers in NH; they were on
the very first boat of settlers who landed at Dover Point in 1623 and mostly
remained in that southeastern part of NH for 300 years. But that doesn’t help
me with my NH credentials because I had the misfortune of being born in
Massachusetts. My grandfather married a woman from Nova Scotia – my grandmother
- and then moved to the Massachusetts Northshore. That is how I was born a
flatlander! Now that you know that I am an immigrant to NH, let’s get to the
real important issue. How many of you are Sandwich natives … born in Sandwich? The
rest of us are immigrants then.
Immigration is a hot button issue these days in
Washington. There is a lot of talk about protecting our borders, illegal
immigrants and illegal aliens, and how to give them a path to citizenship. Today
I am not going to talk about that type of immigration. I will leave that to the
politicians and the talk shows. I am going to talk about citizenship in heaven.
Our epistle reading for today says in verse 20 “For our citizenship is in
heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The scriptures tell us in several places that in a spiritual sense we are
not natives of this country or even this earth. In the eleventh chapter of
Hebrews, the author gives a list of some of the great saints of the Old
Testament, and then concludes:
“13
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them
afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were
strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For those who say such things declare
plainly that they seek a homeland. 15 And truly if they had called to mind that
country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to
return. 16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore
God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”
This is the topic we are going to be looking at this
morning. I hope it will give us a new perspective on our place in this life.
First, I want to talk about our dual
citizenship. We have an earthly citizenship
and a heavenly citizenship. At my father-in-laws funeral earlier this month I
met some relatives I had never known before. One was my father-in-law’s brother
who is a 91 year old retired United Methodist minister. Early in his ministry
he was a missionary in Burma. His oldest daughter, who I also got to meet, was
born in Burma. That means she has dual citizenship. I read an article recently
about tour companies that charge high fees to bring Chinese families to visit
the US on what is called baby tours. Mothers who are eight or nine months
pregnant fly to California and stay in “maternity hotels” or “maternity
mansions” just long enough to have their babies here. Then after the birth they
fly back to China. They do this so that their children will have dual
citizenship; they are both American and Chinese citizens. They want this so
their children can easily attend US colleges and also to get around the China’s
one child policy. There is a loophole in Chinese law that says that children
born in the US to Chinese parents do not count for population control purposes.
In this way Chinese families can have more than one child.
As Christians we have dual citizenship. If we were
born in the US or immigrated to America and became naturalized American
citizens, then we are citizens of this land. As citizens we have obligations to
this country. We pay taxes to this country. Hopefully we vote in this country.
Hopefully we love this country. I certainly do. Many will serve this country in
the military and risk their lives and even give their lives for this country.
This is a noble thing.
We could also say in that we as human beings are natives
of this earth. Our ancestors were not aliens from another planet, regardless of
what Scientology says. We came from the earth. The Genesis creation story says
that our bodies were made from the earth, and will return to the earth at our
death. We are walking, breathing clumps of earth. So in a sense we are truly
natives of this earth.
But the Scriptures also say that as Christians we
are also citizens of heaven. As that passage in Hebrews says, we confess
that we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth. the old hymn says,
This world is not my home I'm just a passing through
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue
The angels beckon me from heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.
In a Christian’s life
there is a sense of dual loyalties. Jesus said that we are in this world but
not of this world. Jesus said of his
followers: “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” The
Philippians, whom the apostle was writing to in our epistle reading, knew what
this felt like. And it is instructive to remind ourselves of the historical
context of this letter. Paul wrote this
letter to the church at Philippi from prison in Rome. The city of Philippi was
a Roman colony. Although Philippi was located in Greece in the region of
Macedonia, it did not have a Greek way of life. The residents of Philippi lived
as if they were in Rome, even though Philippi was located in Macedonia. The
Philippians lived in Macedonia but they considered their homeland to be Rome. The
majority of the inhabitants there held Roman citizenship. Because they held
this citizenship, they enjoyed various special privileges. Paul himself held
Roman citizenship, which he was proud of and which he would use to his advantage
when dealing with the authorities. So when the Philippians heard the words,
"Our citizenship is in heaven" the disciples of Philippi knew exactly
what he was talking about.
Do we know what he is
talking about? I hope we do as Christians. I think that we should love our
heavenly country as much as our earthly one. There have been in the news
recently stories of people who have given up their citizenship, apparently to
save money on taxes. Eduardo Saverin, the billionaire co-founder of Facebook gave
up his American citizenship and is living in Singapore. The singer Tina Turner
is renouncing her U.S. citizenship in order to become a citizen of Switzerland.
Gérard Depardieu, the famous French actor, renounced his French citizenship
because of France’s high taxes and has been granted Russian citizenship by
Vladimir Putin. These folks obviously love their money more than their country.
I want us to contemplate for a moment our love of
country - love of our heavenly country. It is wonderful to love America. I love
this country, and I love to sing patriotic songs proclaiming love for our
nation. Some people are uncomfortable with singing nationalistic hymns in
church, that it is somehow a violation of the separation of church and state.
The chairman of deacons in my last church didn’t like it, but I enjoy it. But what
I don’t like is that many people who enthusiastically sing American anthems do
not have the same feelings for our heavenly country. I would go even further
than that. Many people seem to have more loyalty to a particular political
party than to their heavenly country. Many people are more knowledgeable about,
read more about, talk more about, watch news more about, the political and
social issues of the day than the spiritual issues of eternity. I think that many people’s hearts are much
more in love with earthly countries than heavenly country.
Let’s take about serving
our country as an example. We have many thousands who serve in our all-volunteer
United States military. They go through difficult training, endure harsh
physical conditions, risk their lives, and risk serious injury in places like
Afghanistan for their country. I respect them greatly. They do not get paid
what they should get paid, in my opinion. I think the wounded veterans don’t get
all the care they should – especially when it comes to mental and emotional
wounds like PTSD. I have the most tremendous respect and honor for everyone who
serves in the military, as you know. That is why I pray for them every Sunday
in worship. My point is that I just wish there was just as much dedication,
bravery and loyalty among Americans to Christ. I wish that just as many young
men and women willing to risk their lives to serve the cause of Christ. I think
about the example of Mormon missionaries, 18 year-olds who serve two years at
their own expense somewhere in the world under Spartan conditions. From the
time they are children they save up their money, not to buy a car or go to
college, but to serve for two years as a missionary for the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints. That is admirable. Why is there not a similar
dedication and sacrifice in Protestant churches? Mainline churches struggle
even to have this age group as part of their congregations, much less to serve
sacrificially as missionaries.
Let’s just not talk about young people. How about people
of all age? How about us? I am not saying this to make anyone feel guilty. I am
saying this to get us thinking about sacrificial love for God. How does our
love for God compare to our love for country? Jesus taught that the most
important thing in life is to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and
strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus loved God with all his
heart, and he loved us so much that he gave his life. How do we measure up to
this standard? This is something to ponder during Lent.
Another aspect of being a citizen of heaven is to
remember that we represent our country. The apostle Paul calls us ambassadors
for Christ. An ambassador for the United States represents the United States in
other lands to other people. In fact our embassies in our countries are
considered American territory. The way that ambassador speaks and acts and
treats people reflects upon the character of America. In a lesser sense that is
true of all Americans. That is why when a preacher in Florida burns a Quran it
has ripple effects across the globe in Muslim lands. They consider that the
behavior of that one American Christian preacher reflects America and American
Christians, even though we insist that it doesn’t. That is how Americans can do
great damage to the reputation of Christianity and America. The same is true of
that hate group known as the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas which is
notorious for their for picketing holding slanderous signs at just about any
event – especially funerals, military funerals and most recently the funerals
of the children who died in Newtown, Connecticut. They give a bad name to
Baptists, and I have to explain that they do not represent me or any Baptists
that I know. As Christians, you and I
represent Christ.
We represent our spiritual country here in this our
earthly country. A devotion that Paula Kuehn gave at a deacon’s meeting
recently on this subject reminded me of an experience in my own life. One time
in the church I served in Pennsylvania, a mother and child were coming through
the greeting line, shaking my hand after worship. The mother asked her son if
he knew who I was. He shook his head in the affirmative. Yes, he knew who I
was. His mother asked him “Who?” He replied, “God.” I represented God to that
little boy. Tell me that is not a heavy responsibility! I have never forgotten
that, and I will never forget it. I am not God, but I realize that as a pastor that
I represent God, and not just to four-year olds. I represent this church to
those outside this church. I represent Christianity to those of other religions
or no religion. In Pennsylvania I was a regular guest on a radio show called
“Religious Roundtable” in which I had on-air discussions with leaders of other
religions. After September 2001 I had a series on on air discussions and
debates with a Muslim imam from Pittsburgh. I was very conscious during those
shows that I represented Christianity to all those people listening. All of us
as Christians all the time represent Christ to others. We might not want that
responsibility, but it is our responsibility nonetheless. People will judge the
church by our behavior – by my behavior and your behavior. We are ambassadors
for God and his kingdom. We are ambassadors for our heavenly country to this
our earthly country.
Another point is that we are to live by the
standards of our heavenly country. A lot of Americans live by a lowest common denominator
morality of our country. By that I mean that if it is legal in the United
States of America, then we assume it is alright for a Christian to do. That is
not true. We are to live by a higher standard of morality than the culture
around us. That is what Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is all about. Over and over
he says, ‘You have heard that it was said… but I say unto you.” Jesus will
quote a law, but then say we are to surpass the law. For example he says, “You
have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever
murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is
angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.”
He says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and
hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse
you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you
and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” We are
to surpass the common standard of morality of our society because we are
citizens of a higher country with higher values. We represent our Heavenly
Father. Therefore it doesn’t matter what laws Congress passes; what matters is
God’s law. It doesn’t matter what our society says is permissible. What matters
is what is permissible in God’s eyes.
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