Philippians 3: Our Heavenly Citizenship

"Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. 18 For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. 19 Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21 He will transform the body of our humiliation so that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself. 4: 1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved."

Connecting the Dots...

This passage links us nicely to each of the other lectionary readings for the week. Paul's commitment to the Gospel here is a result of his goal-directed behavior, described in 3:14-16. He presses on toward the goal of the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus (3:14). The Gospel reading for the week stresses Jesus' "goal-directed behavior," when he says that it is impossible for a prophet to perish outside of Jerusalem. He must be on his way, just as Paul, and those who imitate Paul (i.e., us) must be eager followers of Christ. But the foundation of this eager activity is a confident belief in God. That is what the OT passages for the week emphasize. Gen 15 stresses Abram's confident belief in God after God' promises to send hin a son, and the Psalm (27) bespeaks an atmosphere of quiet trust in the God who is our light and our salvation. Therefore, the themes of belief, trust and eager goal-directed activity in service to God/discipleship to Christ are brought together in these readings.

Today's exposition will treat three issues: (1) Paul's aims in the Epistle to the Philippians; (2) The Importance of Imitation; and (3) Our Heavenly Citizenship.

I. Understanding Phillipians

The Epistle to the Philippians is one of Paul's most disarmingly intimate letters. Instead of Galatians, where he begins with a harumphing "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ," in Philippians he breathes a spirit of ebullient gratitude. "I thank me God every time I remember you," (1:3) he says. He urges them to live their lives in a manner "worthy of the Gospel of Christ" (1:27) because there are people out there who would try to turn the Philippians' devotion to Christ (and to Paul) to other, less worthy, ends. But Paul's letter also gives us insights into developing Christian doctrine. In Phil. 2, for example, he recites the famous Christ-hymn, which emphasizes Christ's "self-emptying," taking the form of a servant, to die on our behalf. This is the so-called kenotic hymn (kenoo is the Greek verb for "emptying"). The movement of emptying is complemented by the divine movement of exaltation so that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (2:10-11).

II. Obedience To/Imitation of Paul (3:17-19)

Discipleship is a matter of discipline, and discipline entails imitation. Imitation was especially an important issue in the earliest Christian communities because the new life in Christ was unprecedented. That is, there were no "lives of the saints" to follow; no textbooks on discipleship to read; no NT Scripture to read and apply to life. To imitate him (i.e., Paul) meant three things: (1) to follow his example in personal conduct; (2) to mimic his desire; and (3) to avoid the people who would lead them astray.

(1) In I Cor 11:1 Paul says: "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." In what way does Paul want them to imitate him? Well, he describes his personal "style" in two places. "Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, so that they may be saved" (I Cor 10:32-33). Or, in another passage he says, "To the weak I become weak, so that I might win the weak. I Have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessing" (I Cor 9:22-23). Imitation of Paul means that we do what we can to make the Gospel attractive to all. We become "all things to all people" in order to try to save some. Judgmentalism is not allowed, even though we have to exercise judgment about what is true or false.

(2) Paul's desire is always on his sleeve, so to speak, but the passage just before ours captures it beautifully. We imitate Paul's desire in serving God. How so?

"Not that I have already obtained this (i.e., the resurrection of the dead) or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own...but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus" (3:12-14).

We imitate Paul, who imitates Christ, who sets his face to Jerusalem. Our heart's desire, according to Paul, is to press forward toward our high calling in Jesus Christ. The author of Hebrews likened it to a race that is set before us (Heb. 12:1); Paul talks about it as a sort of boxing competition (I Cor. 9:24ff.). What will it be for you? Don't you ever get inspired when you read or see stories of someone whose energy and focus has led them to accomplishments that few of the rest of us could achieve? Those "pictures" or stories out there are meant, I am convinced, as spurs to get us out of our own lassitude and laziness and urge us to strive with all our might to serve Christ.

(3) But the reason we need these spurs is that there are forces out there which would try to turn us aside from a good path. Paul speaks of those who "live as enemies of the cross of Christ.." For us it may be people who try to entice us away from what we know to be a good path. We imitate Paul, and through Paul we imitate Christ, because we realize that our life is one of imitation anyway and that we do best by choosing a divine model or one who has spent his time understanding the divine than by following those whose "god is the belly" with "minds set on earthly things."

III. The Heavenly Citizenship (3:20-4:1)

The "stakes" for which Paul is playing are huge indeed. In the last few verses of this passage he stresses that our home is in heaven, but we are a sort of colony or outpost of heaven here at this time. The thought that links us from this place now to heaven in the future is the concept of transformation. Christ will "transform" our earthly body, our "body of humiliation" to be a glorious body. The Greek verb for "transform" (metaschematizo) can be translated as "change" or "disguise oneself." In a negative sense it can be used to express how Satan "disguises himself" as an angel of light or how certain people "disguise" themselves as apostles. But Paul uses the term primarily as a term of transformation. Its most unusual usage is in I Cor 4:6 where Paul says that he will apply certain lessons to himself and Apollos. The verb is metaschematizo...and the implication is that Paul will so learn the lesson from the people that he will become transformed as he integrates the message into his very being. That is the way I read the passage in Phi. 3:21--our bodies will be transformed to a glorious one by the powerful working of Christ. This theme is also discussed throughout I Cor. 15.

One final note. Already the pundits and political prognosticators are weighing in for the election of 2008. A consensus seems to be emerging that one of the great political themes of 2008 will be "transformation." Look for the ways that the candidates use that word or images relating to it. Somehow there is a human longing for transformation even in the secular society. How much more for those who are pursuing the living Christ in imitation of him!

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