We Are Not Ordinary Citizens
- Message Excerpt by
- Topic: Government
Audio Transcript
As redeemed children of God, our primary and decisive citizenship is in heaven, not in America or any other country. With the transfer of our citizenship to heaven, we have become sojourners and exiles in America — and everywhere else on earth.
Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. (Philippians 3:20–21)
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. (1 Peter 2:11)
When Christ died for his church (Ephesians 5:25), she died with him to the elemental things of this world (Colossians 2:20). Died to the law (Romans 7:4; Galatians 2:19). Died to the world (Galatians 6:14). Died to sin (Romans 6:2). And she rose from the dead to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). A new birth (John 3:3). A new person (Ephesians 4:24). A new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). A new covenant (Hebrews 9:15). Heirs of a new earth (2 Peter 3:13). “He [Christ] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13). We have passed from death to life (John 5:24). We are seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6).
This is why we are fundamentally free from human institutions. We have already died. We live in heaven in a profound way. We are not ordinary citizens of America. When we testify as Christians to other Americans, we are not calling them to “make America great.” We are advocating for a transfer of citizenship — an eternal one.
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