This is a copy of my talk given at Ayia Kyriaki and Saint Stephen’s in the Anglican Church of Paphos on Sunday 16 March 2025. The Bible reading was Philippians 3:17-4:1.

Prayer

Heavenly Father,
I thank You for Your word.
By the power of Your Holy Spirit,
May You speak to my heart,
And change my life.
In the precious name of Jesus I pray.
Amen.

Introduction

When you visit another country, you know how fascinating it can be – different language, different culture, different sights, different smells, different food. It’s all wonderfully interesting. But whilst you are there, you are always aware that you are not from there. You’re just visiting there. Perhaps you are still feeling a little like that here – whether you’re on holiday or even though you may have lived in Cyprus for years. Any trip away from home causes the same feelings. And with most trips away from home, even wonderful holidays, we are often a little relieved to be home again. How many times have you heard it said: I need a holiday to recover from my holiday!

In today’s reading from Philippians 3:17-4:1, Paul tells us that, as Christians, our whole life is like this, vs20: “Our citizenship is in heaven.” In other words, as Christians, we are no longer citizens of earth, but of heaven. We live here on earth – that is true. But we’re passing through, on our way home. And our true home is in heaven. Remember the words from that old hymn:

This world is not my home I’m just a-passin’ through
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore

Oh Lord, You know I have no friend like you
If heaven’s not my home then Lord what will I do?
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore

  1. Our Hope Is Not Found On Earth

I suppose we all know that already. But it’s easy to forget. It can be easy to get so caught up in this world that we forget this is not where we are from. And when we forget our true home is heaven, this life can weigh us down.

When we remember that our citizenship is in heaven, it changes how we live here on earth. Our life here has a hope, a resiliency, a buoyancy, that nothing in this world can weigh down. “Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal,” as Thomas Moore’s beautiful poem/hymn puts it. Or, as Paul reminds us in First Corinthians: “If it is for this life only that we have hoped in Christ, then we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:19). Some versions say ‘most miserable.’

Our hope is much greater than anything this life can offer, because our citizenship is in heaven. And this gives a certain lightness to living here. Our sorrows don’t overwhelm us. Our worries don’t depress us. Our possessions don’t possess us.

We care about this world and this life, of course, but not in the same possessive way that we would if we were only citizens of this earth, and if we were only living for this life. We live in this world, yes. But not of this world. We know that one day we will go home again.

I think we can all agree that we are in the middle of a very challenging times in our region and in our world. Our worries and concerns seem to grow every week. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war between Israel and Hammas and the suffering that is taking place is certainly at the top of the list. But we have many other worries and concerns. Many of us have personal worries and concerns, too, that don’t make the news but often keep us awake at night.

All of these things matter. Our life on this earth matters, to us and to God. Why else would God’s Son have come down to earth and joined us here? But what difference does it make, in our daily lives, when we embrace the fact that our citizenship is in heaven?

  1. Jeremiah’s Letter To The Exiles

I think that there is a wonderful example of that in the Old Testament. A challenging time in the life of Israel was when they were captured by the Babylonians and sent to live in exile. They were away from their true home, from the promised land, and they weren’t sure what that meant. The prophet Jeremiah wrote a letter to these exiles offering them instructions on how to live faithfully while awaiting their return home. And if you think about us as living in exile, away from our homeland of heaven, then these instructions can also apply to us. Jeremiah 29:4-7:

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:  Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

That is what we should be doing, too. We, whose citizenship is in heaven, should be seeking the welfare of this place, of this community, of this nation. We should pray to the Lord on its behalf. We should recognize that in its welfare, we will find our welfare. Story of the beginning of Redeeming Our Communities. 

But we should do all of this, like the Israelites in Babylon, where they were called to live differently from the Babylonians, even whilst living with them, even while they were praying for them and seeking their welfare. And all of that is true for us Christians, too. We live differently because we are Christians. Even as we pray for our community and world and seek its welfare.

  1. The Letter To Diognetus

I want to share one more example of what it might look like to live in this world, but not of this world. And this is from a famous letter written back in the second century, called the Letter to Diognetus. An example of Christian apologetics, writings defending Christianity against the charges of its critics.

Christians display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others and yet endure all things as if they were foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers … They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives … To sum it up – what the soul is in the body, Christians are in the world … The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world.

When you read that letter to Diognetus, it is obvious that Christians were being observed. People were curious about them, because they did live differently. The same could be said for the Israelites living in Babylon. It was the same for the early Christians in Acts and the same can be said, I believe, for you and me. We dwell in the world, but we are not of the world. Because we are Christians. Our citizenship is in heaven. We are just passing through.

  1. Imitate Paul, Imitate Christ

This letter also hints at one other way for us to think about what it means to live here as citizens of heaven. People who know us, but don’t share our faith, are curious about how our faith changes us. If our faith really matters, then it will really change us. And if it doesn’t change us, then does our faith really matter? Those who do not share our faith observe us to learn what it means to be Christian. And this calls us to live in a certain way. Paul tells us in vs17 that we should imitate him and in 1 Corinthians 11:1 Paul says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”

Why? Because that is how we will teach others about our Christian faith. People are watching us. They are learning from us. Again, it is kind of like when we are traveling, isn’t it?  When we visit a new place, people watch us. I mean, it’s not hard to tell who the tourists are this time of year is it? We notice them!

We are on our way to our heavenly home. And while we wander, people watch. Much of what people know about Christianity, they learn from watching us. Or, to put it another way, the chances are that for someone you encounter this week, the only Bible that they read will be you – your words, your actions, your life. All they will learn about Christianity is going to be learned by watching and talking with you. You are their connection to heaven.

No pressure, right? It can be a little intimidating to think about that. But it doesn’t make it any less true. But that brings us to the second half of the verse from Philippians that I have been focusing on. The first half of the verse is those five words, “Our citizenship is in heaven.” The next half of the verse is: “And it is from there that we are expecting a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

That’s good to remember, isn’t it? We don’t have to get this citizenship of heaven thing perfect. The pressure really is off, because if heaven means anything, it means that we have a Savior who is dying to forgive us, and who loves us, and who is always ready to help us when we fall.

Conclusion

Citizenship is important to many people in our world, especially those who dream of becoming citizens of a wealthy and politically stable nation. Citizens gain benefits from their respective countries, but they also have responsibilities to live according to the laws and customs that have been established. There is a certain allegiance that comes with citizenship.

When the Apostle Paul writes that we are citizens of heaven, he has in mind that we have been received into the wealthiest and most powerful Kingdom in existence and have been given all the rights and privileges that accompany our heavenly citizenship. That is our home, our true home. This place where we are now? This is just where we currently happen to live. We are just passing through. Wanderers, pilgrims on the way home. Heaven awaits us.  And how blessed will it be when our Saviour returns to bring us to our heavenly home a place of amazing grace and eternal forgiveness. Amen.

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER The text contained in this sermon (except where stated) is solely owned by its author, Revd Paul A. Carr. The reproduction, or distribution of this message, or any portion of it, should include the author’s name.