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Awaiting the Savior
Philippians 3:20 – 4:1
Introduction: Keeping our thoughts connected on the main message of a NT letter as we look at the details can always be a challenge. When we look at the beginning words of our text (“but our citizenship is in heaven…”) it requires us to ask the question, “How did Paul get to this point?” Here is what we need to see to make our text make sense: in chapters 1-3, Paul revealed a strong emphasis on Christians who were giving themselves over to death to serve Christ:
- Paul concerning himself: “That with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death” (1:20).
- Concerning Jesus: “Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus…he humbled himself becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death on a cross” (2:5, 8).
- Then concerning Timothy in 2:20-21, he said, “For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.” Notice why others are not genuinely concerned for the welfare of the Philippians: “they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.”
- Then Epaphroditus in 2:30, “For he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.” At this point, Paul had completed a strong emphasis on Christians who were giving themselves over to death to serve Christ:
- Finally, in 3:10, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.”
With that said, Paul places a strong emphasis on imitating him and others who live this “death-type” life:
- 3:15 “those of us who are mature think this way”
- 3:17 “Join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us”
- 3:18, in contrast, “many walk as enemies of the cross of Christ…with minds set on earthly things.”
- 3:21 “But our citizenship is in heaven…” Therefore, our minds and lifestyles reflect our heavenly homeland. Our minds are not set on earthly things because this world is not our home.
- 4:1 concludes this life-of-dying for Christ with this words, “in this manner stand firm in the Lord” (CSB).
The Importance of Heavenly Hope (Motivation)
First, please consider that Paul does not say, “Our citizenship will be in heaven.” No, it is in heaven. Paul is grounding us on who we are now so we know how to live and think now and not think in terms of a future change in who we are. We become and live as heavenly citizens now, which is a contrast to those “who are enemies of the cross and mind earthly things.”
Therefore, Paul’s point reminds us of something we typically allow to slip from our minds: our salvation is primarily rooted in our hope! This is evident not only in this text but in numerous places throughout the NT writings:
Romans 8:22-25 Notice what true “hope” does for us and the reason we are saved in this hope: “we ourselves…grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” The words “groan” and “wait eagerly” reflect a life that has a passion for the next life and a dissatisfaction in what this life offers. This person does not try to grasp and retain this world and what it offers because [vs 18], “I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed.”
Hebrews 11 offers repeated pictures of hope driving our faith. For example concerning Abraham, “he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (11:8-10).
And again, “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland” (11:13-14). The word “homeland” is also another meaning for “citizenship.” There is a specialness about home and homeland that can never be replaced anywhere else.
Therefore we must ask ourselves the question, “Where is my homeland?” Am I trying to grasp and retain all that I can get out of this life, or am I willing to risk my life for the cause of Christ? This is an especially important question as we live with the threats around us whether it be political, physical, or cultural. The cause of Christ must go on. The threats we face today are nothing compared to the threats against Christians during the reigns of persecuting emperors and what we read in Revelation. If we cave in fear today, what will be our condition when a true persecution comes?
Even in the midst of mass murder by the Roman government, Christians would not be silenced (Rev. 12:11). When Saul was breathing out “threats and murder” and the disciples scattered, they “went everywhere preaching the word.” When the apostles were beaten and warned not to teach any more in his name, they were in the temple the next morning teaching and preaching Jesus. Do we have that attitude? There is only one way we will and that is because “our homeland is in heaven, not on this earth.”
“We Await a Savior”
These words again adjust our thinking. Our homeland is in heaven, but we await a Savior. We live now as citizens of heaven – that’s the present condition. But we await a Savior – that is our future hope. “Heaven” is not the hope per se. Heaven is the homeland, but it is a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ that we await!
There is a critical difference in the two and it is dangerous not to recognize it. God’s pursuit of us since the Garden of Eden has been an intimate communion together. When God made the woman and brought her to the man, he said, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” Later, Paul would say concerning this verse, “This is a great mystery, and I am saying it refers to Christ and the church” (Eph. 5:32).
Therefore, if it is not a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ that we are awaiting, there are certain things amiss in our lives:
- First, we need to correct the way we study our Bible. If we are not eagerly waiting to see his face, then we have not come to know him well enough that we have fallen in love with him. Please ask yourself, have you fallen in love with Jesus? Are you falling deeper in love with him every day? The major error of Bible study, which was practiced by the Pharisees and many others, is to miss God’s reason for the revealed word. It is primarily intended to create a love for him and a relationship with him. In John 6:44, Jesus said, “No one comes to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. As it is written, ‘They all shall be taught of God.’” Being taught of God is to draw us in love toward him.
- Consider this question: if we made sure we obeyed all God’s commandments, would we be pleasing to him? Our tendency would be to say, “Yes, certainly.” But that would be taking the same path as the Jewish nation. It was God’s rebuke in Isaiah 58 and Hosea 6:6.
- Consider please, Revelation 2:1-4. This church was as doctrinally correct as one could get. But Jesus was not their first love. This kind of marriage today is not uncommon!
- The Jews seemed to know the scriptures inside out, but had not been drawn to God or to Jesus. Cf. Psalm 63:1-8.
- Further, it is that knowledge and deep love for Jesus that keeps our hearts from being enamored with earthly things. It keeps our minds where it ought to be. The best way to overcome sin and temptation is to know and love someone so much better than sin’s inferior offer. It is like love in a great marriage, where the love, devotion, and knowledge of one another is so deep, that no one else could tempt you away. You would truly laugh at any other offer.
Then there are those words, “who will transform our lowly body [“body of our humiliation” ASV] to be like his glorious body.” I would suggest two important conclusions:
- First, consider the pursuit that Lord has placed before us. Again, Paul is giving us the most grand motivation. It is a pursuit that is unmatched by anything in this world. People talk about having a “bucket list” of pursuits. But when compared to what Jesus is offering us, who cares?! This world is the pigpen of the Prodigal Son compared to being in the Father’s house.
- Second, that bride and groom relationship that God spoke of in the Garden would certainly be incomplete if we remained in any earthly, mortal, material body. This body is a body of humiliation. It is a lowly nothing. But look what he has offered. It is not simply something better than what we are now housed in. It is not a physical body that simply lasts forever. It is a body that he transforms to be like his glorious body. That is the only way that heavenly marital relationship can come to its greatest glory. What a beautiful picture we are given in Revelation 19:6-8.
John said it this way: “Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when he appears, we will be like him. Because we will see him just as he is” (1 John 3:2). That is the reason Paul concludes this section with the words of 4:1, “So then, my dearly loved and longed for brothers and sisters, my joy and crown, in this manner stand firm in the Lord, dear friends” (CSB).
Conclusion: Knowing what he has promised and the glory to be revealed, how could we not stand firm in the Lord. Nothing else is worthy of our attention. Now we are truly seeing why Paul said, “Rejoice in the Lord, and again I say, Rejoice.”