‘Citizens of Heaven’

What does it mean to be ‘CITIZENS OF HEAVEN,’ what does that look like for us here today? 

We’re going to have a look into this concept Paul talks about in Philippians 3:20, and we’re going to use our gospel reading from a few weeks ago to help us understand what this means, what this looks like.

In Luke 6:27-38 we’ve got a great set of values, principles, teachings Jesus gives us for doing the Christian life, for living as CITIZENS OF HEAVEN, including the golden rule:‘do to others as you would have them do to you.’

At first this makes me think of those one-liners my school-teachers would say over and over again back in my primary school days… ‘no hat no play,’ ‘slip slop slap,’ ‘if you can’t say something nice don’t say anything’…

And sports coaches too: every time we got in the huddle my old AFL footy coach would always say, “like I say, the onus is on you blokes,” and one of my old cricket coaches regularly said to us to “hit the ball; the ball is not your mother!”

Interesting with things we hear from our school teachers or sports coaches, some of those sayings relate to a specific context/for a particular use, but with these words of Jesus it’s a bit different – they apply across times and places, really everywhere and with all people. Words we need to hear, words that we need to let ‘sink in,’ words we live with and continue to learn more about all throughout our lives.

We can break this passage of Jesus teaching in Luke 6 into 3 sections:

• 27-31 – Ways to respond to other people
• 32-36 – How we respond + how God operates
• 37-38 – Living out the life we have received

27-31 – Ways to respond to other people

So we read here about loving our enemies, doing good to those who hate us, blessing those who curse, praying for those who treat us wrongly.

Turning the other cheek! Give without worrying about getting back, overall it comes down to this: do to others as you would have them do to you. As citizens of heaven, this is what we’re called to do.

I came across an interesting layer to this a few years ago, when I heard an interview with an AFL player who tweaked Jesus’ words here a little bit – I don’t think he knew it was Jesus who said this, but he did know the line! – he changed it to be ‘do to others as they would have you do to them.’  Very interesting!

He makes a good point there – important to consider what other people need, not assuming we know what they need or giving them something they might not want! That is an important step in this for sure, not treating someone as if they’re specific needs are exactly the same as yours. Seeking to meet other people where they are is what Jesus calls us to do.

But Jesus’ words go deeper than what any one of us might need at any given time, in what Jesus’ teaches we see the core focus here is not in trying to figure out what we need or what other people need, but listening to him because he already knows! He knows what we need before we do! 

In Jesus’ words we have teaching that applies to all people in all contexts, and it relates to matters of life and death. In matters of life and death we can all receive the same thing from Jesus – Hope. Peace. Love. All the good things Jesus has won for us. Again Jesus’ words here hold up over time, they apply in all situations. They are so simple yet so far-reaching that they apply to any person of any time.

At the same time just about all of these are extremely hard to do! Love enemies, bless cursers, pray for wrong-doers. Very difficult. We could say the ‘devil is in the detail’ here! How this plays out is where it gets really hard for us, much easier said than done. 

But we know what we are called to do, how we are called to live, is not separated from who we are called to be, who Jesus says we are – citizens of heaven.

32-36 – How we respond + how God operates

Love those and do good to those who don’t love you, who don’t do good to you. More on generosity, give without expecting something in return > God’s reward is better than anything we can get in this life. And how does God operate? He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked, he is merciful. He operates with kindness and mercy.

He gives undeserving people kindness and mercy, people who do wrong things, who sin, who curse… that’s us! 

This is where see what Jesus is talking about is not only an example to follow, but a relationship to live in: we get to be children of this kind and merciful God > key bit there in verse 35: ‘you will be children of the Most High.’ 

This is the life God’s children are called to live, Jesus shows us how (and also makes the way for us to even be God’s children) and the Holy Spirit helps us as we follow along on the journey.

Our God is a generous God, and we’re called to be generous, giving people – which we see here doesn’t only mean financial giving but giving of whatever we have – coat, shirt, also time, energy, gifts and abilities etc. Giving in the holistic sense, having a ‘default setting of generosity’ in how we relate to other people.

Because we know Jesus is a ‘holistic giver!’ He gave every bit of himself, for us. Not to gain anything for himself, but to give it all to us.

37-38 – Living out the life we have received

Here Jesus says judge and be judged, condemn and be condemned! Heavy stuff. Also forgive and you will be forgiven, give and you will receive, the measure you use will be applied to you!

This is so profound to the way we interact with other people, with our friends and family, our church, in formal and casual settings > all of the above.

I wonder if you’ve ever had the experience of the realisation dawning on you that ‘oh no, I’ve gone about this the wrong way,’ ‘I’ve done the wrong thing.’ Actually a really important step in learning humility, in learning how we are sinful and only have any hope because of Jesus. We all need to learn this, whatever age or stage of life we’re in, we continue learning and making mistakes the whole way through. Those moments where we realise ‘oh no, that was wrong, not right, should’ve been different’ etc.

A moment where you judged someone, or condemned someone. This extends to those times where we speak poorly of someone, we look down on other people, we spread rumours and gossip – what’s happening there is us trying to make ourselves look good at the expense of other people. We all do this, we all make this mistake – it comes back to that school teacher saying if you can’t say something nice don’t say anything – that rings true here doesn’t it!

It’s a very sobering thought to consider ‘the measure we use’ here too > Jesus says for the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Think about what you’re doing, how you approach life, how you view other people and the world around you. Serious stuff.

So if we take this seriously, if we are CITIZENS OF HEAVEN, what are we called to do?

We are called to love others, not shame them. To encourage, not discourage. To share God’s word and God’s love with others, not keep it to ourselves. To lift up and build up, not crush and tear down. Simple but not easy. 

Most – if not all – of the time it’s going to be harder to go with what God says, than what we would like to do ourselves. It’s hard to love people, especially if we don’t feel like it or don’t see a reason to. It’s hard to put ourselves out there on matters of faith, because we’re worried about how we might look or what might to happen to us if we do, or it might feel to awkward or uncomfortable. It’s harder to build someone up than it is to tear them down – that’s easy. 

But being a citizen of heaven means we belong to God’s family, we have a status that goes beyond anything in this life, we might be living here on earth but our real home is in Jesus, who is in heaven but remains connected to us through the Holy Spirit, and who calls all of us to do life with him. 

This is about belonging, out of having the safety and security of belonging to Jesus through our baptism into God’s family. From there we have confidence to live as we’re called to live, to follow what Jesus says, to seek to learn and grow and deepen our relationship with him and with others.

In Philippians 3 Paul calls us to ‘wait eagerly’ for Jesus, the one who’s really in control, and to ‘stand firm’ in the Lord. 

Think about that for a second: wait, and stand firm Paul says. These are not easy things to do either! They are very hard things to do, they are things we struggle with. But they are also ways to lean on Jesus, to put our hope and trust in him > he is worth waiting for, in him we can stand firm. This what a CITIZEN OF HEAVEN does, this side of heaven, living on earth before we are called home to heaven, living with our eyes fixed on Jesus and the things of heaven, the things of God.

So today Jesus calls us to the hard way, the long way, the challenging way > but that’s the road he’s on. That’s the road he’s already walked, for us. 

He’s with us on this road – we are not alone. It’s not a solo journey, even if it feels like it at times. When we live as CITIZENS OF HEAVEN we’re not doing it on our own – the very essence of the Christian life, of being citizens of heaven, is that Jesus is with us.

Let’s receive these words from Jesus today, let them sink-in, let them reach us in our hearts and minds, in our soul. Let his words call us to something more, something better, something more than the world can offer, something that goes beyond the challenges and the suffering of this life. Something that gives us confidence and hope in our everyday lives.

Our heavenly Father is kind and merciful, even to those – like us – who struggle and get it wrong, time and time again. What hope we have in our God, what a future, what a way to do life: with Jesus, following Jesus, living as children of God, living with a hope and a future, as CITIZENS OF HEAVEN.

Lord we thank you for your kindness and your mercy, that you would forgive us and not condemn us, you would love us when we don’t deserve it. Help us to love as you do, to continue to receive your love that it would flow out of us in service to others. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.