All right, so we're gonna read from, we're still in chapter one, and we're finishing off chapter one this morning, and we're reading from verse 18 B, which is just that second half of the verse, and then all the way through to chapter 30. So let's read that together. Hey, are we ready? Yeah. Awesome. Yes, I will continue to rejoice because I know this will lead to my salvation through your prayers and help from the spirit of Jesus Christ.
My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything but that now always with all courage, Christ. Would be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Now, if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me, and I don't know which one I should choose. I'm torn between the two. I long to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.
Since I am persuaded of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for you of, of you, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that because of my coming to you again, you're boasting in Jesus Christ may abound just one thing. As citizens of heaven, live your life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then whether I come and see you or an absent, I will hear about you.
That you are standing firm in one spirit, in one accord, condemning together for the faith of the gospel, not being frightened in any way of your opponents. This is a sign of destruction for them. But of your salvation, and this is from God, for it has been granted to you on Christ's behalf, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.
Since you are engaged in the same struggle that you saw I had and now here that I have, there's a great difference about knowing about something and then living something. Imagine speaking to someone who has studied a map of a terrain for a hiking trail. They've got profound knowledge about the trail. They know the weather patterns of that trail. They know everything you can know about the trail, but that person has never walked the trail.
Compare speaking to someone who has packed her bags, put on her shoes, and hiked that trail many times for all the knowledge of that first person may have. There's something deeper, more dependable about talking to the person who has walked the trail. There's a great difference between knowing about something and living that something.
I remember as a young guy at the age of 16 going off with mom and dad across the Nullabor with my parents, my brother and my sister, and the smallest little camper van that you could think of. It was snuck. My dad's actually from regional Victoria. He comes from a small town called fra, just outside sale in one of the most beautiful places you can go in Australia. I. Surrounded by dairy country. It's a beautiful place.
I remember being on this trip and one of my uncles and two sons would ride into something called Hill Climb Racing. Anyone heard of hill climbing? Yes. It's just mad people driving really fast on grovel roads, up hills, and it's all timed, so it's the fastest person to get up that hill and they'll ride into it. Right? They were drivers, they had cars. And I remember being on this trip and I was, I was still on my old plates. Go away, Steve. No, it's not.
I remember being on my old plates, my uncle giving me some advice on how to drive on gravel. I. And then I also remember, obviously we're towing a van and him giving some advice on how to tow a van and if you get into trouble this is what you should do and, and all that. And, and that information just sort of got filed away. Alright. I'm 16 years old, I'm like, great.
I. Now, we were away on a three month holiday last year that we crossed null ball, went all the way around, um, the, the, the base of of Australia went up to Sydney and then back down the Murray River. How beautiful is the Murray River there? Nice little spots along there as well to taste and see that the Lord is good in particularly wineries. And when we were on this trip, we were just coming outta Sydney.
We were just out of Sydney, literally just outta Sydney, about half an hour from Wollongong and one of our wheels came off of our single axis van. I was doing a hundred kilometers an hour, on a see there? There you go. A hundred. That's all right. I was doing the speed limit and it completely came off the whole hub. Came off in the moment that I was going, oh, 20 years ago. No, it's like 24 years ago. 24 years ago. In that moment, all that knowledge came back to me.
It came back to life to me, and I lived the, the knowledge I lived it. I was able to keep the car from swaying outta control. The van, sorry. And we pulled off and we pulled off safely. Weren't in the safest position to be honest, but we were off the road. That knowledge was of no importance for 24 years until I lived the story. Now, the knowledge has become something more than just thoughts and ideas. It means something more to me. I've lived it.
And Paul is calling us in this letter in a similar way to live, to have our being is Christ. He's inviting the hearer to not just know about, but to come and walk the trail, to come and live the story, to be in the story with Christ. And this living the story I. Is one of finding a whole new life that we can step into. Now, I've used this particular translation on purpose because I think it renders a word more appropriately. It gives it more sort of a, a feel of what Paul's doing here.
The translation that we see rendered, in verse 20. Seven that normally is rendered living according to or conducting ourselves. In this translation, uses the word, the word, the phrase, the citizens of heaven. He says, just one thing. Remember, you are citizens of heaven and why? Why does this translation use this? Because the Greek word is a political word. It's poly twoo and this word is only used twice in the New Testament and it is overtly politically LA political language.
Paul Paul Strays from using all this other language that was available to him that could convey the point of just conducting in or living if it was just a moral call. But he doesn't, he strays away and he uses this word on purpose. So what is his point? His point is that our being in Christ is not simply something to come and believe in.
It's, it's our living in Christ is in embodying our whole selves, our whole stories into his as Michael Gomer, a Pauline theologian says, we are becoming the gospel. We as God's people are becoming what the gospel is saying about us. Look at what Paul's done thus far in this letter of Olympians in the start that. That Dale gave us in week one. Speaking of this utter joy and loving service to this church, despite being imp pri prison, he is living the gospel and then he moves on to welcoming.
These people to come and join him with gospel declaration, living the gospel. Then he reveals his hand in the end here of verse of chapter one in verse 24, 27, you see the clash of the church of Philippi's feeling the kingdoms of the world are on the doorstep of this church. This is a big trading city. There's many gods, there's temples all around. There's a lot going around them. The rub is real. Can I, Paul, can I just think gospel thoughts? Can, can I even just speak gospel truths?
Is, is that enough? And Paul goes, no. No, Paul declares that their citizenship is to no other kingdom, but God's citizen is a term that strongly hints at this corporate life Together. It's an individual who has civic responsibilities at home in their kingdom. They're contributing members of the community.
An active member in the affairs of the community, someone who is seeking the overall good of that community, the reader is being invited into the depths of what life in Christ can mean for them. Wholly devoted, loyal unto this kingdom of God. Therefore living lives of interdependence with one another under King Jesus, we can begin to see that just simply knowing, even sharing, the knowing isn't enough.
According to Paul, it's the living in, it's the full participation with all of ourselves into gospel life. F becoming the gospel, the renewed community here on earth, A community that lives as citizens of a foreign kingdom. We live a foreign civic identity in Christ here and now. Here. And now we are continuing with heaven's ideals. Its ethoses, its honoring of its ways in life here and now.
We have found resisting in being conformed to the foreign cultures that we find ourselves in to live as a good citizen of heaven is to live out our allegiance and our commitments to the social and moral identity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Who of us right now can say, man, there are parts of my life where this is not the case. I have succumbeded to the kingdoms of the world.
I do not practice as a citizen in that area of my life as a kingdom of heaven, that we're stuck, we're uncertain of the way forward. Many of us find ourselves stuck in the knowing about, and we continue to read and learn and learn more and more about Christ. Yet we're found lacking. We dare not to enter the fray of his story. And that's been my confession. That's been my prayer that I start walking the trails, living the gospel story. I wanna be someone that does that.
Do you, many of us may be stuck in the knowing about through others. That we've considered, we believe the lie that, oh, we, we are just the ones on the sidelines of the kingdom reality here on earth. Remembering the context of this. Paul's in present, isn't he? And it's not, it's not like he's in a little bit of trouble. He's, he's in a bit of trouble and there's a possibility that they might execute him. He could die. It makes these words like so much more real, don't they?
But they're not just theological points to know about. These are words that have been lived out yet. When we, when we read this, what do we find? We find this man full of joy in service and love. Could this be because Paul is actually living that story of the Ucmi crucified Messiah? That these aren't just ideas or things to know about, but he's actually embodying the story of Christ that Paul's actually living as a citizen of heaven devoting his whole life unto the ways of Christ.
'cause you don't pick up a concern about the kingdom of the Roman Empire in this letter, do we? Is he, is he kind of going, oh, these guys are just so mean and I just. We, he doesn't go there and he could have, like Paul's a very honest writer, like read it, read Philippians again, and just think, is this guy being honest? He's being very honest. He's being very, very open. So he is, but he is, what we do hear from this letter is that he's very concerned about the kingdom. He's a part of.
Very concerned and he's very, he's very concerned for the people that are a part of that kingdom, and he's very concerned about living a life and obedience to the king of that kingdom. He's very concerned about that. Where are we knowing and not living as citizens? Where do you are? So desire to sit with the joy that we witness in Paul's words. Where is that? In our lives, we don't taste and see, we don't live the joy that we witness in Paul, where is that? Examine your life.
Examine what is going on in you do, do you? Do you have feelings where you live in the culture of the world? The kingdom of the world and and are there moments where you feel, oh, I don't feel like I belong here? Similar to the way that CS Lewis in that famous quote where he says, if I find myself desires in, in myself, desires, which nothing in this world can satisfy, the conclusion is maybe I'm wasn't made for this world.
He's making the point that this kingdom that I live in, I feel like a fish outta water and maybe, maybe I was made for another kingdom. Maybe I was made for another kingdom. Do you feel at times that you're not at home with the ways of the kingdom of the world? Do hunger for peace? Do you hunger for joy and love this incredible sacrificial love that we see Paul write in Philippians. Here. Paul so longs for us to enjoy this and this letter to the church in uncertain times.
This is his life giving answer that we are invited to come and live as citizens in this kingdom. Okay. We've harbored on that point. Let's move on. Let's actually start thinking about what does this kingdom look like? What does it look like? If you were to describe it, and I've written a list here of things I think the Kingdom of God looks like. I think the Kingdom of God is a society where we are interconnected and mutually reliant upon each other.
Amen. You are very, they're very excited today. Steve stole my thunder, didn't he? That'd be right. The kingdom of God is the society that is marked by the cares of others. Yeah. It is shaped by justice because God is a just God. God is desiring for those that are things that have gone wrong in the world to be put. Right. He's a God of making the wrong right again. We're empowered by love that agape love, that self selflessness of serving one another. We dwell in peace. Why?
Because our king sits on the throne. It's not a throne of this world, but it is a throne above all things. So we live in peace. Wisdom flows in and through it. Oh, we so desire the presence of the Holy Spirit to speak us the wisdom of God. Amen. It is a community that knows its history, it knows the word, it knows who has come before us, and we are so eager to learn from them. It's a society that is living out that memory, that they're not just words on a paper, but we are invited to come live.
The story of what has gone before us. And we value the fruit of the society. We rejoice in what God has given us, and then finally, it cares deeply about its future. We are not people that care about just the here and now. But we are preparing a way for those to come. Amen. That is the society that I think the kingdom of God looks like. The kingdom in fact is in fact a kingdom, right? Many people, many of us called to love God, love others, and love the world.
To use Scott McKnight's words, the kingdom according to Jesus was. Listen, God's dream for this world come true. Oh, that's good. God's dream for this world to come true. That is. That is what the kingdom of God is up to. It's truly making all things new. It's right again. It's making all things good again. And Paul's invitation is to live in the security of this reality.
That despite what might be happening, God is on the move and he's desiring for us to move with him in the ways that he always wanted us to move and have our being guess what we get if we join in with God. If we come and live in a society like this, we get the peace, we get the joy and the love that we see in Paul in this letter. So what is God in Christ Jesus welcoming us to come and live in? So that's what it looks like, but how do we come and live in this as citizens of heaven?
Number one, a life of participation in the gospel. We are all, each one of us active participants of the gospel, meaning everyone is in the waters of this gospel participation. Everyone, everyone needs to get wet. No one's left on the sidelines, no one's left out. And we do the work of gospel participation, both in personal ways, in corporate ways.
So first, personally, we see in Philippians chapter two, five through to 11, and this is, this is, this is the, it's a just a beautiful passage of scripture, isn't it? Where Paul's articulating this, this way of being. This way of participating in the Kingdom is, is the way that Christ has demonstrated that we're we're to adopt the same attitude as Christ had. We are conformed into his image. What is the image like? Well, according to those verses, it's a self-sacrificial type of love.
That's the image that we are welcomed into. It's the sacrificing type of life that is demonstrated in Christ. Do you, do you see this type of love as something as you read in chapter two verses five seven? Do you see it as something that you so desire to come and walk in with Jesus? Have you reflected on your life and witnessed a greater willingness over time to to live that type of way, to adopt this same attitude that Christ has demonstrated to us?
And then secondly, corporately I. In two Corinthians five 18. Through to 20. It says this, everything is from God who has reckon, reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation that is in Christ. God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed this message of reconciliation to us. So. So his ministry has now been passed on to us, his church. Therefore, we are ambassadors.
Another political language of Christ. Since God is making his appeal through us, we plead on Gr Christ's half. What do we plead to the world? Be reconciled to God, be reconciled to God. Do we plead threats? No. Be reconciled to God. Paul's commissioning the church to continue the work that Christ has started corporately together, this ministry of reconciliation, starting with God to his people, that we have received that ministry of reconciliation first from God.
And then God welcomes us in to come and journey and to distribute, to speak of, to live out that reconciled life as an example to others. He is not using individualistic language here. It's we have, as his people have received reconciliation. It's then followed by partnering with each other. Yes. In the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We've gotta have the Holy Spirit to do this work. And then we see that another politically charged, term ambassador. Pleading. So we're not from here.
We're from some other kingdom. We're coming into the kingdoms of the world and we're pleading with the kings of the world and those that are in those kingdoms come and be reconciled with Christ. That is the good news that we have. So it's number one, come a life that is. Of participation in the gospel. And secondly, what do we come, what are we invited in to do? Well, it's a life shaped by the cross. We are people shaped and formed by the cross of Christ.
The cross continues the work in us that was started by Christ, one of self-giving love, which I just mentioned, Galatians, two 19, um, through to 20. Gimme two says this, for through the law, I die to the law so that I might live for Christ. I've been Cru crucified with Christ and no one, no and no. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life is now lived in the body. I lived by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Who loved me and gave himself for who?
The son of God. What's that term? The Son of God. What was that used? It was used by the Israelites to describe who? The future King, the Messiah, the anointed one. The Christ. The Anointed king. The anointed king. Has chosen me and loved me. That's good news. That's what the, that's what the cross tells us. This is, this should shape us, shouldn't it? Our king has demonstrated the way in which he rules in the cross. It's a ruling of self service in and through love.
When the flesh takes control and pushes us to Lord over others, control the other, slander the other. We aren't living our civic, our foreign civic identity in the kingdom of God. The ambassador, the citizen represents the lives lived out in the ways of their kingdom and therefore representing their king. Our lives look like the cross of Christ. As Paul so confidently states, I've been crucified with Christ, he, he says, that's my identity as well.
And this forming by this cross of Christ leads us to the community of Christ into dangerous and destructive ways according to the kingdoms of the world. And Paul makes that quite clear in Philippians, verse 28, there, where he says, this is a sign of destruction for them as citizen shaped by the cross. We should expect resistance. May we pray today. That we welcome afresh, the formation of the cross of Christ in our lives. Amen. And number three, what does this life look like?
We're justified for the work of justice. Now the word justification is consistently, by theologians. And also Bible teachers used to talk merely just about personal salvation, which is not wrong, but it's not the whole story. By the way, Paul uses this word justification across his writing, express his letters. It seems to in indicate that we are justified and transformed, made righteous as a people to live what actively God's justice in the world.
We practice this living in our church communities here. Then. Then we go out and we shine the light of God's justice in our living, in our believing, in our confessing. Therefore, as citizens, we aren't just saved sinners, but we are agents of justice in the world. Well, in what way? You say, in what way do I join in with the justice of God in the world? Well, it's the promoting of peace and unity. That's a kingdom feature, isn't it?
It's, it's the living, the life of generosity that we just spent four weeks in a, a couple of weeks ago. It's, it's being those people that are hospitable and have a care and disposition to see those that are marginalized, pushed aside by society to reclaim their identity and purpose in Christ. I. Just two biblical examples of many that I can make for this point. That we are justified for the work of justice in Romans 1213 where Paul is giving guidance to the church in Rome.
He says to share that our disposition as Saints should be to share in our needs and to pursue hospitality always. And I would also encourage you to go read our second Corinthians eight and nine, which I totally forgot to put there. I'm so sorry. The church practicing generosity, a new and good way to be human in the kingdom of God. And then fourthly, we are a people that is Holy Spirit formed. We are people who live reliant upon the Holy Spirit.
Our trust is that he will do the work of formation in you and I, that we shall grow more so into the likeness of Christ because he's forming us. Amen. We also live dependent on the Holy Spirit to empower us all to live out, to witness to the world, this gospel of Jesus Christ. It's gotta be, it's gotta be Holy Spirit dependent. Don't, don't, don't get fired up and run out and just do it all in your strength. Start here. Start here in the Holy Spirit.
Yeah, finally, the Holy Spirit brings us all together. In the community of diversity, this diversity is a profound gift. In the midst of that diversity, there is a profound gift of the unity of Christ to discover together. That's the gift of the Holy Spirit. We're Holy Spirit formed people. And then finally, we are, we are communal in our devotion, not just to one another, but communal in our devotion to God.
In our serving in God's kingdom, we move together and it's a radical marker of God's reign in our world to see a community of people living in love, generosity, and justice together to make it clearer for us. The church is to be a living embodiment, an incarnation of what the gospel is telling us. Look out for this in Philippians. Go read Romans 1215 and read the letter of Ephesians.
The call isn't to simply distribute information about Jesus, but to dis demonstrate his love and his power through our corporate living together, our communal devotion to one another. Now this morning, I don't want to end with more information. But I do want to end with a moment of inspiration, a testimony of a life lived as a good citizen under the rule of Jesus. And as I read about this life, I want us all to close our eyes.
So I want you to close your eyes now, and I want you to receive this story, not as, oh. This person has lived an amazing, no, it's not that. The story is inspiration to be invited into what God is calling you into. Yeah. What have you got in your hands? So let's just start with prayer. Oh Lord of the Church. Holy Spirit, we ask that you would come in this place right now and transform our thinking, our believing, and our doing. By your power and by the grace of Jesus Christ we pray.
There is a powerful story of self, self-sacrificial love in following Jesus, and that is of a woman by the name of Gladys Allwood. She was a British missionary in China who risked her life to care for orphans and share the gospel. She was born in England in 1902. She worked as a maid. But felt this strong, overwhelming calling. To become a missionary in China. However, she was rejected by missionary organizations due to her lack of formal training and education. But Gladys refusing to give up.
She used her own savings to travel to China alone in 1932. Enduring a Ja enduring a dangerous journey through war torn Russia. Once in China, she settled in a remote province called Yang Chen and worked with an elderly missionary by the name of Jeanie Lawson. Together they opened an inn for Travelers where they shared Bible stories with those who stopped for the night. When Jeanie passed away, Gladys took over the Miss Mission on her own.
She quickly became beloved by the local people, especially after she was appointed a government official to help end, end the brutal practice of foot binding for young girls. Chua took, an abandoned children and cared for them in or in orphanages, raising these children as her own, and then during the Sino-Japanese War of 1937 to 1945. China was invaded by Japan and her hometown became a war zone. Refusing to abandon the children.
She led over a hundred orphans on a dangerous a hundred mile journey over the mountains to safety, avoiding soldiers, bandits, starvation. She suffered from. Really severe illnesses. Despite the hardships, her faith remained unshakeable. After the war, she continued to work, founding more orphans, more schools dedicating her life to surf. Others. Her life was told in a film, the in of the Sixth Happiness.
And a life remains to this day, an incredible testimony of faith, courage, selfless love, a life truly laid out for a master and the love of others around her. And I'll just end with this quote that is from her and she said this, I have not done what I wanted to do or what I could have done, but what God has asked me to do. So, Lord Jesus, we ask that your people here at the Red Door Church may grow in desire to do what you have asked us, that our lives may be worthy of the Gospel of Christ.
We pray this in your name. Amen.