Citizenship

Introduction

Setting goals is not an easy endeavor. With the new year approaching you may already be thinking of things you would like to accomplish in 2017 to make life better or at least different. We know several things about setting goals that increases the likelihood of success. First, the goals have to be specific. To say that one wants to read more is wonderful but it isn’t specific enough. So we might set as a goal to read one book a month. Second, when it is specific enough it will be measurable. You will know if you succeed or not based upon the specifically stated goal. Third, it has to be positive rather than negative. Someone might have as a goal to lose weight. So they make the goal to stop eating sweets. A worthy goal. But to stop something is more difficult than doing something positive. So instead of saying I will stop eating sweets, we say we will eat a piece of fruit for dessert. Finally, goals work better if they are shared. It is difficult for a person to change something if others in the family do not share the same goal or at least are willing to help you reach your goal.

What about spiritual goals? Do we even think in terms of spiritual goals? What kind of specific, measurable, positive, and shared goal do you have spiritually? Paul wrote in 3:10 that his goal was to know Christ and everything that goes along with that. He wants to know power and suffering and the resurrection. Lofty goals. Interesting goals. Challenging goals. In our text this morning, we want to talk about motivation for spiritual goals. If our goal is to know Christ, how do we do that? How do we move toward the goal of knowing Christ? Let’s be encouraged today.

Motivation

Paul begins this section with a reflection on the goal that he pursues. Verse 12 is clearly linked to what precedes it. Notice that he writes that he has not obtained all this. The word “this” is an insertion. Every translation has to do something with this phrase because Paul is writing in typical Greek style. He leaves out the direct object of the verb. What is Paul saying he hasn’t already attained? The resurrection. That seems odd. He is using the symbol of the resurrection to stand for much more. To know Christ is to know the resurrection. Nor has Paul reached perfection. He still struggles. He isn’t so spiritually mature that no longer experiences times of temptation. He hasn’t come to know Christ fully yet. He has not received a special maturity as a follower of Christ. So what is Paul doing? He is hotly pursuing knowing Christ. This is his purpose in life. To know Christ. To know him in such a way as to know everything there is to know about him—his power, his sufferings, his death, and ultimately his resurrection. He wants to take hold of Christ because Christ has taken hold of him. He has been reached by Christ and so he wants to reach Christ.

So Paul puts his past behind him. He doesn’t dwell on his failures or his successes. He doesn’t rest on his laurels or beat himself up for his past sins. Instead, Paul strains to move not forward but upward. His eyes are not on this world but on the world to come. His expectations are not about making this world better but to know that real life is found in Christ Jesus. This way of thinking is the way all who follow God should think.

Amazingly Paul’s readers are in danger of losing sight of what is real and important. There are some who live as enemies of the cross. This is a reference to Jews who reject Christ. Notice Paul’s emotional reaction to this truth. There is no pleasure to know that some are rejecting God. There is no pleasure in thinking about his fellow Jews moving toward destruction. Their mind is on earthly things.

But not Paul and those who are trying to follow Christ. We belong to a different country. Our citizenship is heavenly where our Savior lives and the day will come when he will return and transform our bodies into a glorious body. This is where our motivation comes from. We understand that our purpose is found in heaven not on this earth. We pursue Christ because we know that he is the one that matters. We want to know nothing more than Christ and we long for the day when he will return.

Application

What is your spiritual goal? Reaching heaven may be your answer and it is a fine answer. What does it mean to know Christ? What does it mean to strain for the goal? Every facet of life is about living for God. We think about God; we wake in the morning thinking about God; we make decisions thinking about God; we spend money thinking about God; we plan our lives thinking about God. So what does this look like?

First, it means to put the past behind. There are so many things that we may want to change about the past. There are so many ways that we messed up or sinned. We may still hold those things near to us. We may live with a lot of guilt and shame as we try to deal with life. We may have lots of regrets. Such thoughts leave us experiencing doubt and uncertainty about our relationship with God. On the other hand, there may have been so many good things that happened. We may be able to point to past successes and hold these near to us thinking that such past victories secure us for the future. But to live in the past is to settle rather than pursue knowing Christ. Paul’s resume in verses 4-6 suggests both successes and failures. He had a resume filled with success in Jewish thought. But what he gained matter little when compared to Christ.

Sometimes we beat ourselves up over past sins not recognizing that Christ is greater. Sometimes we applaud our accomplishments not recognizing that they pale in comparison to Christ. To know Christ means to leave the past behind and look up. Don’t look back; don’t look down but look up.

Second, to reach our spiritual goal means that we have to think about ourselves living as part of another country. This is hard for us. We live in a wonderful country. It affords us many luxuries and freedoms that are not found in other places. Many in this audience served in our military and I do not want to be misunderstood. I am not taking away from what you did for this country and thousands upon thousands who have given their lives so that this country can be what it is.

Paul is clear. As followers of Jesus; as those who look upward, we recognize that our citizenship is in heaven. We belong to a different country. If we lived in a 3rd world country, this would be good news. But living where we are, we might say the words but not believe them as intensely. Paul was a Roman citizen and there were times that he used his citizenship in order to advance the gospel. But once he began to follow Jesus he recognized that God’s power was far greater than Rome’s.

The word for citizenship is used in extra-biblical sources and is translated to mean “constitution.” The constitution over these United States has been called one of the greatest political documents ever written. But it is not perfect. It is not perfect in writing nor clarity. Our constitution is found in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Perfectly lived out in his life on earth. Perfectly designed before the beginning of time. Perfectly capturing the heart and intent of God. Perfectly empowered by the resurrection. And one day perfectly fulfilled when Jesus returns and every knee shall bow and call him Lord.

So while we wait, we look upward and we remember that our real citizenship is in heaven.

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