For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. 

Philippians 3:20-21  

If we are citizens of heaven today, what does the future hold? Paul speaks of it in our text. While we are living as strangers and pilgrims in the earth, we ‘eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.’ We look forward to His Person and we also look forward to His work. Part of that work will be to ‘transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body.’ This combines the prospect of seeing Christ in Person, being with Him, and being like Him. These are glorious prospects. These prospects cause whatever sacrifices we make now to pale in contrast to the glory that is to follow. We become keenly aware that what occurs in this life by way of hardship, persecution, affliction and adversity is, as Paul says elsewhere, ‘a light affliction which is but for a moment.’ We are as close to hell as we will ever be. Heaven and home await. This is a brilliant future. To understand this brings hope, joy and peace to our hearts, because we can eagerly await that which will soon arrive. ‘A few more rolling suns, at most, will land us safe on Heaven’s Coast.’ We are eagerly waiting.   

Our Great and Gracious God, 
we rejoice that You have a brilliant future prepared for us. 
We praise You that where we are now, 
is just a prelude to what will follow after.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all  things to Himself. 

Philippians 3: 20, 21 

Where is home? Paul understood that for those who believe, ‘our citizenship is in heaven.’ Hence, this world is not our home. The more we are able to bear this in mind, the more it will enable us to navigate the path of life as we follow Christ. It will affect our identity, for we are not our own, but Christ’s. It will affect our understanding of why we are here and how we live, ‘for to me to live is Christ.’ It will affect our view of death, for, ‘to die is gain.’ It will affect our view of others, for if our home is in heaven with Christ we will desire that others should know Him.  If our citizenship is in heaven, then this life is only a prelude to what follows. Eternity is the main event and the grand concert. At best, this life is the overture. Once we understand that, the elements of this life begin to have a different priority in our eyes. We realize that the things that matter most are those which are eternal. Thus, while we have to live in this world, and do what is necessary to function in it, ‘our citizenship is in heaven.’ There we shall rest in the Presence of Christ Who has made us His for all eternity. 

High King of Heaven, 
we rejoice that You have made us Your citizens. 
We praise You that You have prepared for us a home 
and will take us there in due course of time. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,  

Philippians 3:20 

If we are citizens of heaven, how did it happen? Paul lays it out for us in other places. In Ephesians he writes, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will….’ In Romans, he delineates it when he writes, ‘For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.’ Thus, our citizenship in heaven has happened because of what God had done. The effective means He has used has been the Person and work of Christ. It was Christ who took unto Himself a true body and a reasonable soul. It is Christ Who has lived perfectly to satisfy all the demands of the law of God in precept. He died sacrificially to satisfy all the demands of the law in penalty. By His death, He purchased our redemption. What Christ purchased, the Holy Spirit applies to all for whom it is intended. Thus we have become citizens of heaven because of the work of God. We have received regeneration, repentance, faith, and the effectual calling unto Christ. The adoption we have received has made us members of the family of God which means we are also citizens of heaven. God is both our Father and our King. His home is our home. His city is our city. His kingdom is our kingdom. 

High King of Heaven, 
we rejoice that You have made us Your citizens. 
We praise You that You are preparing us  
for our eternal home. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind. 

Philippians 3:14-17 

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 

Philippians 1:21 

Paul became an example for others as he imitated Christ. Not everyone is. There is a wide gap between mere professions of religion, or even declaring that one ‘follows Christ,’ and how that looks in real time. Paul refers to the others in the verses that follow our text, ‘For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame – who set their mind on earthly things.’ By contrast he says, ‘Brethren join in following my example and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.’ What was that pattern? In Paul’s case specifically, it was a pattern of life that lived Christ. To Paul, Christ was everything. He was Savior, Lord, Master, Teacher, Friend, Brother, Helper, and Example. All else was of less value than to  know Christ, to follow Christ, and to imitate Christ. He was not alone. According to our text there were others like him. These were those who by their imitation of Christ were worth imitating. It is worth noting that these were the people most likely to endure opposition by organized and institutionalized religion as well as the secular state. That was where all the Apostles landed. The question for us becomes, where are we to find such patterns today? Who is like Christ? Who is doing as He did, speaking as He spoke, and living as He lived? 

Our Glorious, Living Christ, 
we rejoice that You have lived before us as our great example. 
We praise You that You have set in the earth, 
others who have followed Your example before us.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning