What does it mean to be so heavenly minded that you are nothing but earthly good? God has given us examples in His word.

Standing firm as a Foreigner in a Foreign Land

Philippians 3:17-4:1

(Children's Sheet for Sermon Interaction is at bottom. Notes are throughout sermon)

Pastor Kerry Kinchen, Bridgeway Bible Church

Please turn to Philippians 3:17-4:1. We are going to be studying 3:17-4.1. As you are turning there, I want to ask you a question:

Can you imagine being Paul the apostle?

In chapter 3 of Philippians, Paul tells us how, at one time, he relied upon works based righteousness to make himself acceptable to God. Paul worked and worked, but the fact of the matter is that Paul was not acceptable to God. He was an unsaved man just spinning his religious wheels. A lot of us can relate to that. We worked and worked, but we were merely spinning our wheels going nowhere. But when Paul was confronted, and abducted by the beauty of grace--when he was blinded by the radiant glory of Christ--Paul's wheels came to a skidding halt. Paul counted all his works as a waste of time and effort. Christ and His righteousness is so beautiful. The beauty of Jesus as our spiritual life is what shows us that all endeavor to please God outside of being in Christ, is like dung. I remember years ago when I was a child. I first read where Paul used that language, where he said his works were like dung, and I couldn't believe it. I thought,

Is that really in the Bible?

But that is what all of your accomplishments are like, if you think they earn merit points with God in some sort of list keeping righteousness. They are dung. So Paul uses his history of religiousness, where he is trying to please God (It's religiousness but lostness) and he uses it as a contrast to where he is now, which is being found in Christ in rest and salvation in 3:9. Here is how I want us to think about it:

--Paul was once a citizen of the world.

--Now, Paul is a citizen of heaven.

And now that Paul has been drafted into service for the King of glory, Paul wants more of the heavenly kingdom life right here, right now. It is an insatiable hunger, and the Holy Spirit is leading Paul to urge you and me to have the same craving. I know that many of us here have the same craving. It is the craving where Paul does not want to act like a mere citizen of earth anymore. Paul wants to act like He is a citizen of heaven on a mission to earth. Christ does this. Paul knows that Christ is working in him because (in salvation) we are the body of Christ. This is how you can be here right now, and yet at the same time you are a citizen of heaven--because you are in Christ. But, Paul wants more. He wants to live like that resurrected person that he knows he will fully be when he dies and is taken to be with the Lord. Paul wants to live, breathe, act, and think like a foreigner from heaven who is passing through a wicked foreign land. In verse 3:12, he says he has not attained the perfection of it yet. Nobody has attained the very highest standard yet. Yes, you are forgiven. Yes, you really are God's righteousness, but you are not always righteous in every thought and action. The Holy Spirit is Who moves you to crave for the much more of the upward call. Paul reaches out and stretches forward as He runs and runs to attain this upward call of being more like the heavenly Jesus than a mere earthly mortal. He wants to lay hold of what was laid hold of for him by Christ. This is the context. This is what Paul says coming into our passage, where the Holy Spirit continues to exhort us. Keep the context in mind as I read,

"Brothers, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. 18 For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. 4:1 Therefore, my beloved brothers whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved." Philippians 3:17-21, 4:1

Please prepare your heart to learn from the preaching of God's word. The theme of this sermon has to do with who we are, where we are, and how we are. The theme is,

Standing firm as a Foreigner in a Foreign Land
[prayer]

God's word tells us that we all need mentors. Paul's urging to the Philippians teaches us that we should be following the example of Paul and other heavenly minded Christians who walk according to the pattern of the apostles. The reason is because they were God's chosen people to represent written Christianity as God's word. They demonstrate to you and me, in a real, living way, what it means to live in the heavenly Kingdom as a foreigner in a foreign land. They were the first fruits of God's Kingdom, so under Christ, they are the examples God gave you and me. Paul says,

"Brothers, join in following my example, ..."

@1 God wants me to follow the___________of Paul the apostle.

What this means for you and me, can be boiled down to a few primary points.

/1/
One is that you and I, as the Father's foreigners, can trust in the complete sovereignty and provision of God in all circumstances; even the ones that hurt and seem hopeless. Paul used his imprisonment to show us how we can trust in the sovereignty of God when life seems like a wreck. Paul completely trusted God when life seemed like it was falling apart. It was Paul's way of thinking. God is telling you and me to trust Him no matter how painful it gets. God is saying,

Look at Paul--He is my example to you of an upstanding citizen of heaven.

You already know what the pain is. There is no need to look at it. But seeing God in the midst of it, and trusting God, is what God wants you to do. So, the first example of Paul that God puts before our eyes to look at, (the foreigner in Christ who is standing firm), is to trust God completely in all things. Trust Him, mother's to be, when you are pregnant and you think you can't go on. Trust Him when you are about to lose your job. Trust Him when you do lose your job. Trust Him when everyone around you leaves you. Trust Him when you are persecuted for your faith. This is how you stand firm as a foreigner in a foreign land.

/2/
The second thing that God reveals in the first two chapters of Philippians, is that you and I should be walking in humble, loving, unity, as the body. It is where you better be preferring others in the church over yourself. Paul served the churches with the love of Christ in the way that Christ would serve the churches. He poured himself out like an offering for people. Paul said he was a nobody. He tried to be as small as he could be. This is your pattern as a foreigner whose citizenship is in heaven. Die to yourself. Quit being a somebody, quit being angry, quit being divisive, quit walking away, quit being selfishly ambitious in your unbiblical activity that rips apart the pattern, and then the Holy Spirit will use you in a powerful way.

/3/
Then the third thing is that you and I should walk like Christ is our righteousness. Christ is your righteousness when you succeed; (A lot of Christians get that) but you also need to get that Christ is your righteousness when you fail.

Just like pain, nobody has to convince you that you fail, do they?

I think one of the biggest problems for Christians in our day, is being assured from the word of God that we always succeed by resting in God's grace. Again:

You always succeed by resting in God's grace.

We always think we have to be doing something, and we have to do it perfectly to succeed. But the way you succeed at being the righteousness of God, is to rest in Christ. Paul lived by this fact. In Christ, you are more than a conquerer. Paul gave his life preaching this truth. Paul did not condemn himself. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Paul rested in Christ while he ran the race.

You need to rest in grace while you run the race.

Paul knows what you need to know. Paul's success was the grace of God working in him. You need to realize this. Paul also knew that when he failed, the same grace was there in him. Christ is the New Covenant. Christ is your way, your truth, and your life. He is your all in all. He is your success. There is no place else for the Father's foreigners to go.

/4/
And then there is one other thing. You and I should be striving for the much more of the higher standard in our Christian walk. Don't be comfortable with settling for anything less than the best. This was Paul. Paul was not satisfied with mediocre service to God. Paul had the bigger picture in mind. There is always much more that you can attain. There is always a high standard for the Father's foreigners. The standard is your citizenship. During his whole saved life, the issues Paul entertained were heavenly issues. You see--

What God wants you to be is so heavenly minded, that you are nothing but earthly good.

Instead of allowing the world to dictate to Paul what was important. Paul trusted the King, of Paul's kingdom of citizenship, to dictate to him what was important, and then Paul dictated to the world what was important, whether the world agreed or not. Paul's example, is the pattern for us to follow. You and I need to act like foreigners on a mission in a foreign land. Physical death to Paul was to go home. Paul was sold out to God. Paul was also sold out to God's people. His Christianity, and his view of the church was not me-centered, self-centered, like so many Christians today. Paul demonstrates to us that for us to live out the law of love of the kingdom, then it must become more than a verse on a page. You must do it by being committed to the church in self sacrificing concern, and real, forgiving, heavenly minded, commitment that manifests love for God. God wants true concern, and true commitment. Paul takes no heavenly citizen for granted because Paul knows that Jesus takes no member of his body for granted. Paul's whole ministry focus in his epistles is the local church. And Paul hated it when people sowed seeds of discord among the body. Paul hated it because Jesus, the heavenly King hates it.

Do you love God? Then love the body like God loves the body.

Paul sees that Christians are the important beings that the Father created to populate heaven for eternity. This is our example in Paul. Ask yourself:

Am I standing firm like my godly examples?

Or,

Am I being earthly minded according to carnal examples?

We need to notice that Paul only says that he is an example because Jesus is Paul's example. Paul would never bring glory to himself. In 1 Corinthians Paul says the same thing. He says,

"1 Be imitators of me, ..."

But then Paul gives the reason,

"... just as I also am of Christ." 1 Corinthians 11:1

@2 God wants me to imitate Paul the apostle because Paul is of_____________.

That is our key. It is not about Paul, or you, or anyone else. Christ is our big example of the model citizen. So, it is not worship of Paul for you to follow Paul. It is obedience to God and His word to follow Paul, who is also of Christ. And there are other godly citizens who stand firm. Look at 3:17,

"Brothers, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us." Philippians 3:17

Paul is the pattern. He also groups himself in with others. Timothy is one of the Father's foreigners that God raised up as a pattern. Paul said of Timothy back in the introduction,

"Paul and Timothy, bondservants [slaves] of Christ Jesus," Philippians 1:1

Timothy served the Lord like a slave. In Chapter 2, Paul says of Timothy and his pattern,

"19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, ... 20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. 22 But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father." Philippians 2:19-22

@3 God wants me to seek after the interests of ___________ ____________.

The pattern is to be seeking the interests of Christ Jesus. Paul and Timothy know they are slaves, and act like slaves. We should be the same way. They are trying to attain much more. You should be trying daily to attain much more. They rely upon grace alone. You and I should do the same thing. But I want us to really digest this fact that Paul wants the Philippians to observe other foreigners who are walking according to the pattern. Those others, are members of the body who are seeking to live according to the same word of God. So, we look around us in the church and we observe those foreigners who are walking according to the pattern of Paul and the apostles. You know who those people are. They are people that we trust to be mature in spiritual mindedness. The reason that Paul says to do this, is because there were many people of that day and area who claimed to be followers of Jehovah, but they were really enemies of the cross of Christ. They claimed to know that Jesus was the Christ. They claimed to follow Christ. They even claimed to love Christ. But, when you look at those people in comparison to Christians who walked according to the pattern, you see the differences that are so vital for separating the false citizens of heaven from illegal aliens. These people that Paul is talking about are enemies of the cross of Christ though they claimed to believe in Christ. How can that be? What Paul means is that they are enemies of what God intended the cross of Christ to be for all along. Paul says,

"18 For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things." Philippians 3:18-19

The cross was God's means of eliminating the curse of sin. It is where Christ became the curse for all of us whom He saves by transferring us out of the domain of darkness into the Kingdom of His beloved Son. Paul says,

"But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Galatians 6:14

"For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18

@4 The word of the cross of Christ is the power of God to us who are being____________.

The cross is in God's plan of salvation by grace through faith apart from works based righteousness. This is the part that people, outside of the kingdom, are enemies of. The cross of Christ is offensively exclusive. It is the eternal icon that represents the only way to be saved. People hate the cross for the reason that God loves it. But, since you are living as a foreigner in a foreign land, you should be very careful not to embrace bits and pieces of this way of thinking that is so prevalent in our midst. What I mean is that most of us here remember when we first got saved. We remember the time when grace was really grace to such an extent that we knew we had nothing to offer God. I'm not saying that you don't know God's grace right now, but follow my point, because my point has to do with a taint that comes in and skews the proper mind of Christ that God wants us to grow in. What I am saying is that in new salvation, we knew, in a pronounced way, that God just saved us while we were wretched sinners. The thanks, appreciation, and love for being rescued out of unconditional love, was like a romance, wasn't it? You knew that you did not, and could not earn God's love. We all realized that we had nothing to offer God. Christ took our sins upon Himself, and it blew us away. Every single moment we basked in the glory of His grace. It is the same grace today, but back then you were so close to the time when you were lost beforehand, and separated from God in your sinful state, that grace seemed magnified. Your old friends, and most of your old thoughts of the domain of darkness, were still around haunting you, reminding you of what you were saved from. You were so thankful to God that the blood of Jesus shed on the cross cleansed you from all sin and judgment.

So, what is my point?

My point is that oftentimes something weird happens to so many Christians. It doesn't happen to all Christians, but it does happen to way too many. They go along in years, and they begin to forget the fullness of grace. This forgetfulness has to do with bad personal interpretations of scripture, or bad preaching, or bad discipleship. Basically, they have begun to entertain some bad theology. What happens is that they think that the longer that they are Christians, the less grace God has on them in certain aspects, and now that they have been a Christian for a while, (whatever that means) God has switched over to judging them based upon whether they keep a list or not. They go from the blessing of the sin bearer, which is Christ, and His righteousness, over to the curse of the standard bearer, which is self, and condemnation. You might ask them if this is so, and they will tell you it isn't, but in their thoughts and actions, they look at their relationship with God like it is true that somewhere in their salvation God has switched over to judging them based upon a list of successes and failures, and so what happens is that they begin to wonder if the cross of Christ really has covered all their sins. But, here is the problem. If the cross of Christ has not covered every single one of your sins, then you are not saved. You are not a citizen of heaven.

Is this you?

Dear friend, the cross of Christ has never changed. God has never changed. Grace does not change. Being saved, and kept, and loved by grace through faith has not changed. Just because you have been saved a while, God does not suddenly replace the cross with your own cross. What changes is a wrong understanding of your position in Christ Who is your righteousness. What changes is looking to a wrong pattern.

Is this you? Have you lost the joy, and rest in your salvation that you started out with?

What you need to do is start falling in love with the cross of Christ in a fresh new spiritual revival. You need to repent from starting to have affections for your own works, and start falling in love with God's finished work all over again. You need to empty your mind of all the false doctrine that has tainted you. You need to renew your mind with the pure, lovely, eternal grace of Christ and His finished work where He accepts you. Let me tell you another part of the problem: Just like you couldn't work to be saved in the first place, because such work always fails, you will always fail to live up to a perfect standard to satisfy your desire for your works. Now, let me share another huge and insidious manifestation of this problem. I've seen it over and over again:

People who start thinking this way, start to have less and less grace on others in the body. They take their skewed views of how they think God is thinking about themselves, and they begin thinking about, and treating people in the church the same way they think God is treating them. But since this is not really the way God thinks, they are actually in sin against the church, which means that they are in sin against God.

This is the horrible consequence of the curse of the standard bearer as opposed to the blessing of the sin bearer. It does not just hurt you, but it also hurts and damages the rest of the body.

So, in your salvation, you know that you love the cross of Christ, but what you need to do now is get back to the basics of staying there in the romance of the love behind the cross. You need to know that God loves you at every moment for just being you through the cross of Christ (the born again you). You need to get back to the family love, where you are the helpless little child who is in complete reliance on the fact that through the cross, God holds you when you fail every day. The same Father Who holds you, is the same Father who wants you to know that there is more that He wants to do with your life as his foreign diplomat in this cursed world, but you should only be doing those things from complete rest in Him. This is to be a true friend of the cross. God is saying that you must rest in His Son while a foreigner in a foreign land.

This is why realizing the three tenses of your one salvation is so important:

1) Your salvation is always permanent, and it happened in your past in your conversion. You got saved. It is a done deal. It is your position and it continues.

That is the first tense of your salvation. Then,

2) You rest in your salvation every day, and you practice out your salvation every day in your present actions in your condition.

You will fail, and you will succeed, but God loves you either way. Then,

3) You will be heavenly promoted in perfection later on in your salvation. Either you will die, or Jesus will come and get you.

God teaches all three to us in His word. He wants you to consider all of them equally. Rest in the permanence of your salvation. Grow, but grow while you rest. Rest, until you leave this cursed foreign land and you go home.

But, we need to remember the people that Paul warns the Philippians about. Those people are not Christians who love the cross of Christ. They are people who are not saved. They are the legalistic Judaizers that Paul warned about,

"Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision;" Philippians 3:2

Through the cross of Christ, all Whom He saves become the true circumcision in Him. The problem with the Judaizers was that they claimed Jesus was their friend, but they did not believe the gospel of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone in the finished work of Christ on the cross alone. They never had any rest at any time because they never had the romance to begin with. They were never in God's kingdom. They believed that you had to attain law righteousness to be a true child of God. It is a false gospel. Paul wept because he understood those people. They were proud of their works like he once was. But now Paul is a foreigner to them. Paul knows that the work of God is what produces the works--not the other way around. Paul says,

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." Ephesians 2:10

@5 In salvation, I am __________ by God in Christ Jesus.

This describes your identity as a citizen of heaven. So what is going on in Philippi, and in other churches that Paul planted, is that there are some people there who are not really citizens of heaven, but they are trying to act like they are.

Those kinds of people are the wrong pattern aren't they?

Remember, God wants us to follow the right pattern. Those other people have four other distinct identifiers that point them out as citizens of the domain of darkness. Those identifiers are not marks of the body of Christ.

A)
The first one is that their end is destruction.

There is no enemy of the cross of Christ that will not have a destructive end. God is not a universalist. Everyone is not a citizen of heaven. All who reject the cross of Christ will perish in their sin. Just as the Lord dealt out retribution on the first generation, the Lord Jesus will deal out the same eternal destruction on all who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

"7... out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power," 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9

@6 All who do not obey the gospel by receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior, will pay the _______________ of eternal destruction.

So, first, the enemies of the cross of Christ will pay the penalty of eternal destruction.

B)
Secondly; their god is not really Yahweh, but it is there appetite.

The Greek word literally means, "belly."--their god is their belly. This expression means that these kinds of people only cared about their own self-centered interests in their false religion. Paul uses the same expression in Romans.

It describes the Judaizers perfectly, and it gives us a colorful sense of where the danger lies,

"17 Now I urge you, brothers, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. 18 For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites [their bellies in the Greek]; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. Romans 16:17-18

@7 God wants me to_________ __________ from people who live contrary to Bible teaching.

The appetite of the false teachers was to assert their error and try to convert Christians to their way of thinking. There are cultic groups like that today, like for example the Jehovah Witness cult, and the Mormon cult. One thing that keeps these people running the endless treadmills of their false doctrine is that they think they are doing everything right because they manifest a certain level of matching up their actions with things like certain clothing styles that are like uniforms that are considered to be the proper ways to dress, or of being helpful to people in the community in a social gospel, or in reading religious materials, or praying to their deaf god, and a lot of other empty activities. The one thing that is consistent with all these lost religious people, is that they think that their brand of legalism kinds of good works stuff proves that they are followers of God. So, to feel good, they hunger for this stuff. It is the appetite of their bellies. And further, they are not content with craving it. They want to dish it out to everyone else. So, here is our caution: Here is what we need to be careful about today--We citizens of heaven need to look out for these kinds of people and not be swayed by any of their infecting false doctrines.

C)
The third thing is that their glory is in their shame.

This is part of why Paul gives this warning with tears. My dear brothers and sisters, we should always be saddened at the error and sin of the unsaved. It is truly lamentable to think that these people have pride in the very things that are actually shaming them. Remember, their works and rituals are their tainted trophies. People pray in false religions. Prayer is just one of the trophies. They point to their prayers, and they think,

I am doing it all right. This is what you do when you are pious, so I must be on the right path.

Or they only eat certain kinds of food. Or they observe certain holy kinds of days. All these things are tarnished trophies, but false citizens put them on the mantle of their religious pride.

D)
Finally, Paul says, these people set their minds on earthly things.

All effort based righteousness is based on the temporary cursed earth. The eternal things, are the heavenly things. They have to do with what Christ pleased the Father with in His mediation of the eternal covenant of the cross. Christ is the covenant, and He is seated in the heavenlies. God wants us to set our minds there, on where our citizenship comes from. It is where our King reigns;

"1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." Colossians 3:1-4

@8 In salvation, my _________ is hidden with Christ in God.

As foreigners in a foreign land, the way we remain steadfast is by keeping our eyes gazing over the heavenly border. Whenever you get bogged down with life, you know that you are looking down, and not up. It is okay to feel out of place. But God wants you to have joy and steadfastness in every place, even though you are out of place. Keep looking up from the earth to the place where your citizenship lies. Christ is your joy and steadfastness. Things down here won't do it. Even earthly friends won't do it. But keep your eyes upward on who you are in Christ and where you are going. It is steadfastness, joy and strength. Unsaved people don't remotely understand this. Everything is about what is down here. It is all about their friends. It is all about making money. It is all about being successful according to a pride oriented standard. It is all about sinning but trying to paint the sin like something good. But, remember, Paul says that he wants to live like a resurrected man right now on earth. He wants to attain to the resurrection life right now in Philippians 3:11. Paul said to citizenize worthily while in our short stay on earth. So in contrast to these earthly minded religious but lost Judaizers, Paul makes the contrast that identifies you for what you really are in respect to them,

"20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself." Philippians 3:20-21

@9 In salvation my___________ is in heaven. When I go there, my body will be made better.

I remember living on the Ryukin island of Okinawa when I was a little boy. Even at the age of 6 and 7 I had a distinct understanding that I was in a foreign, and what seemed to me, a very strange and exotic land. The people seemed different in so may ways. The language was different. The food was different. The trees and wildlife were different. Later, we lived on the Island of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. It is where I got saved. Puerto Rico is a tropical Island where the people speak Spanish. The food is unique. The look and feel is unique. It is so different than your typical United States area. Later, I lived in South Mexico for a while. I lived in North Mexico for a while. I lived at the entrance of an Indian Reservation (Jido) in the North for a while. My log cabin was a couple hundred yards away from a cave dwelling indian. While in Mexico, there is no mistaking the fact that you feel like a foreigner in a foreign land. I lived in India for a summer. The contrast of India to my native land is so stark, I wouldn't know where to begin to describe all the differences. I've spent a summer in Europe. It's the same way there. No matter how things seem similar, I am still a foreigner in these other places. When in these places, I know it. I feel like it. I feel like I am just a little bit out of place. The bottom line is that you know that you are a foreigner when you are in a foreign land, and no pretending is going to change it. It is an odd feeling, especially when you are despised for being associated with the country that you are from. Even certain ways that you talk can mark you as an enemy in the eyes of many people who are citizens of that place. Mannerisms are different. Customs are different. Some of you know what I mean. You've experienced the same kind of thing in your own way. You have been planted someplace where many of the people look a little different than you do. The food is different. The practices are different. The beliefs are different. You feel out of place because your true home is someplace else. You realize that at times, no matter how used to the environment you become, there is a sense of comfort and rightness in the place of your home. You and I belong to another Kingdom. Our citizenship is all about a spiritual Kingdom--not an earthly one. It is a heavenly place--not an earthly one. The customs, manners, practices, language, and look is glorious. God wants us to look forward to the moment when we walk over the border and enter into the glory of our eternal heavenly existence. This is our hope. It should give you a correct perspective on things when you are frustrated with your job. It should soothe you when you hear of, and even see, people die. It should bring joy to your soul to know that all the pain and frustration that you go through in this foreign land is going to be a distant shadow of a memory in light of the glory and brightness of your happy future. We know how good it is, and how perfect it is, and how beautiful it is. Probably one of the biggest battles of the Christian mind, next to letting the romance of the cross of Christ become stale, is to begin down the road of the temporary, where we get our minds off the expectation of our future glory. Set your minds on the heavenly--(That is what God is saying) and always be mindful that no matter what happens, everything around you is going to fade away, but the things of the Lord will last and last and last. Paul sums up his point with this same encouragement. Drink it in. God is going to change us foreigners after we die, so let's stand firm, knowing and nurturing these wonderful things. God is waiting and ready;

"21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. 4:1 Therefore, my beloved brothers whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved." Philippians 3:21-4:1

You are not going to be the same. You are going to be completely different than you are now. The transformation will be beautiful, and you will smile, and be happy, and it will never end. John says,

"Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is." 1 John 3:2

In the meantime, we live in this world but we are not of this world. So, let's heed the word of God. Let's watch people that live according to the Scriptural mandate as seen in the life of Paul and the other disciples. Let's make it our practice to steer clear of fake Christians. The best way to identify such people is to compare them with clear, classical, simple Biblical Christianity. Do they love the cross of Christ?; Or, do they seek to take away from it, or add to it for salvation? If they do try to add to it, or take away from it, for attaining salvation, then they hate the cross. This problem moved Paul to tears. We should be moved to tears too. But, stand firm in following Paul's example as a foreigner of the Father. Live right now, like a citizen of a better place. Let's do this each day as ambassadors of Christ who represent Christ in a foreign deceived land. Someday you will go to your heavenly kingdom to live with Christ forever in a new body, with a new mind. You will no longer feel like, or look, like a foreigner. You will feel at home. It will be glorious!


@1 God wants me to follow the___________of Paul the apostle.
@2 God wants me to imitate Paul the apostle because Paul is of_____________.
@3 God wants me to seek after the interests of ___________ ____________.
@4 The word of the cross of Christ is the power of God to us who are being____________.
@5 In salvation, I am __________ by God in Christ Jesus.
@6 All who do not obey the gospel by receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior, will pay the _______________ of eternal destruction.
7@ God wants me to_________ __________ from people who live contrary to Bible teaching.
8@ In salvation, my _________ is hidden with Christ in God.
9@ In salvation my___________ is in heaven. When I go there, my body will be made better.