Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore

We all know our country was under British rule for over 300 years. We were a British colony, “colony” meaning the British would bring their people here, settle them here for some time, and through them try to establish their government’s ways here. In the same way, the city of Philippi was a Roman colony. People who settled there were Roman citizens. Being a citizen of Rome was one of the greatest and most desirable statuses in those days. You could get it either by being born in Rome or by living there for many years, being loyal to Rome, and then paying a large amount of money. Roman citizens who settled in Philippi had very special privileges; they ruled their city in the Roman style, wore Roman clothing, and Roman fashions, customs, and Romanesque architecture were all incorporated into the Philippian lifestyle. If someone touched one of them, the whole Roman army would come to save them. They could appeal to Caesar anytime and go meet him and tell him their problems. These Romans did not mingle much with the native people, whom they called barbarians. They lived differently with Roman pride and culture. Though they lived in this foreign land, their citizenship was in Rome, with all its privileges.

In today’s passage, Paul is using that political relationship between this city of Philippi and Rome as an illustration for the Philippian church about their relationship with heaven while living in this world. He shows their high status as God’s children. He says, “our citizenship is in heaven.” If Roman citizenship is so great, can you imagine how much greater and higher a status it is in the universe to be a citizen of heaven with all its privileges? It is not a future thing. It is not that our citizenship will be in heaven. “But our citizenship is in heaven” (v. 20). It IS presently in heaven now. Our home is heaven, and here on earth, we are an outpost of heaven’s citizens on earth, just as the Romans were in Philippi.

We know the context of the passage. After warning of the dangerous influence of the legalistic Judaizers from outside the church, from verses 1-16, then in verses 17-21, Paul soberly warns with tears about the subtle influence of antinomianism, which says that since they believe in Christ’s perfect righteousness, it doesn’t matter how they live. These groups can terribly hinder the growth and destroy the Philippian church. He helps us to identify this group; remember CID: their character—three things: sensuality, whose god is the belly; shamelessness, they glory in their shame; and worldliness, they mind earthly things. And then their true influence is as enemies of the cross of Christ, destroying the purpose, power, and spirit of the cross in our lives. The purpose of the cross is to deliver us from sin in every way, not to encourage men to go on in sin with no fear of punishment and judgment. People who are sensual, shameless, and worldly, whatever they say, are enemies, and whatever hope they have in Christ or dream of heaven, their end is fixed perdition. So Paul uses verses 18 and 19 to strengthen his command to follow him and others who pattern themselves in the apostles’ line.

Now, verses 20 and 21 come in the same connection. You notice verse 20 again starting with the word “for.” He is saying, “See, Philippians, follow me because there are many wrong examples you shouldn’t follow. Their perspective and lifestyle are the exact opposite of true Christians. Their prominent mark is that they set their mind on earthly things.” Why are they wrong examples? Because, “For” (v. 20), in contrast to these people who set their minds on earthly things, true Christians’ citizenship is in heaven. And in verses 20 and 21, he goes on to amplify those things which characterize the true people of God.

Let us understand verses 20-21 under three headings: Christian’s Status, Expectation, and Hope. First, Christian Status: “For our citizenship is in heaven” (v. 20). The verb is in the present tense. This is not talking about a future status, but our present rank and status. This concept of citizenship was very big for those in Philippi. Being Roman citizens, they belonged to the superpower, the greatest nation at that time, the most civilized, educated, and advanced nation, Rome. Today, it is like having US or UK citizenship. Philippi was not their homeland; they were living as foreigners in a Roman colony. They could grasp this concept very clearly. They understood what it was to be a citizen of a higher country and live in a lower country. They had to live differently from the local barbarian people in the way they talked, the food they ate, the dress they wore, and the principles they followed. It would have been such a foolish and shameful thing to eat dirty food, wear ugly dresses, and follow the superstitious principles of local barbarians. They had to live worthy of their Roman citizenship. This is just for unbelieving Roman citizens.

In a more sublime and higher sense, Paul says, “You Christians dwelling in Philippi must realize that your homeland and citizenship is heaven.” Just as you were born in Rome and transported from Rome to be posted in Philippi, you were born in heaven by regeneration. That new birth happened in heaven. You are born from above; you entered heaven’s kingdom by new birth, and you are enrolled as a citizen by divine birth. Your spiritual Aadhaar card says your place of birth is heaven, and you are a Heaven’s citizen. Regeneration has given them this entitlement. By Christ’s work, you are even adopted as an heir of the riches of the king of that heavenly country. You are sons and daughters of God. Your inheritance is undefiled, incorruptible, and reserved in heaven for me, says Peter. “You’ve been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies.” Though we are not physically in the place called heaven, we are experiencing heavenly life. We have the life of the God of heaven within us. We are under the rule of the heavenly king. We live by the rules of the heavenly kingdom, the Word of God. We are ruled by heaven’s king, we live for heaven’s cause, we obey heaven’s laws. We make our investments to lay up our treasure in heaven.

Certain things will happen to us before we finally arrive in heaven, but our citizenship is as definite now. We may be physically present here, but our position is that we are seated in the heavenlies in Christ. Here on earth, we are just temporarily posted for some colony work.

That is our status. We know what status is. When we talk to someone, we might say, “Do you know my status?” My status as a heavenly citizen brings infinite privileges. Firstly, my King provides for all my needs while living in the colony. I have 100% protection here. We are very, very special to our king, because he made you citizens with a very, very costly price, the blood of his own son. He will never fail to keep his blood-bought people; they are the apple of his eyes. The King guards his colony. And if you ask to what degree, he tells us, “to the very hairs of our heads.” This king is so sovereign that nothing happens in the colony without his will. He will not allow anything in a citizen’s life which is not for their good. If the barbarian tribes threaten me and attack me, I can appeal and patiently wait, and be assured, my emperor will come with all his army to set things right in this colony. I have rights before the throne of heaven. If I have a problem in this foreign land, I can appeal to my Caesar, our Father, who, however busy he may be, when I appeal from this colony, he immediately hears me. I can tell my difficulties in this colony, and God listens as though there were no one else in all the world he had to pay any attention to but ourselves. So we have an audience and access to our great Ruler. It is the highest citizenship. Great privileges bring great responsibilities.

The recognition of status is a powerful motivation to live a particular kind of lifestyle. People will not go down below their status. We all heard about how a beggar, when he heard he was born to a royal, rich man and is an heir of great riches, suddenly changes his thinking, style, and dressing. In the same way, Paul reminds us here about our true status, city, and hope, and makes us realize how we should live as citizens of heaven. Paul used a verb form in 1:27 where he says to “conduct yourselves as citizens in a manner that is worthy of the gospel.”

This status should color our whole perspective on life. He is not telling us to live, “Live a good life, better than those of the average person.” He is saying, “Live up to this status of yours.” Begin each day with a purpose to honor your king, “King of my life I crown Thee now.” Praying, “may your name be hallowed.” As heavenly citizens, we run our lives by heaven’s laws. So we pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We know our king is sovereign, and he orders every circumstance in our life, so we live without complaining or murmuring in this crooked and perverted generation.

A genuine, authentic mark of a true Christian is that he lives by faith in that truth. He sets his affection on those things above. This has always been the attitude of true people of God in every age. Even in the Old Testament, when there was so little revelation, the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 11 that all those true Old Testament believers lived with the faith that their citizenship was in heaven. Verses 13 through 16: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”

Even in that dark age of less revelation, true believers lived as citizens of heaven. If they did, with full revelation, how much more should we live as citizens of heaven? As citizens, what is our expectation and hope? What is he going to do for us?

Secondly, Paul talks about Christian’s Expectation. “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 20). Our citizenship is in heaven, from which place we are eagerly waiting, expecting something. Not this blessing or that blessing, or this commodity or that commodity; we wait for a person. We are expecting and longing for a person.

Notice how he is set before us. He is called, first, a Savior. Not “a” savior, but “the” Savior, the only Savior. This is amazingly unique. Most places when talking about our Lord’s coming, it says he will come as an awesome, august judge, a consuming fire, with feet of brass to trample underfoot all of his enemies and utterly to crush them. 2 Thessalonians 1 says, he’ll come in flaming fire to take vengeance on his enemies. All these enemies of the cross who set their mind on the things of the world and destroy the purpose of the cross—he will come and crush them in hell for all eternity.

Here he says he will come as a Savior. Why? Because for those who live as citizens of heaven here, he will come as a Savior only for them. “Savior” means “deliverer.” One who rescues from danger and evil and secures us to safety. These citizens have him as a Savior, not only saving them from the penalty of sin by justification, but in sanctification, delivering them from the power and dominion of sin so they don’t live like those whose belly is their God, but live as heavenly citizens. That is why citizens of heaven live with an eager expectation; only they can live like this. The Savior who delivered us from the penalty of sin by justification and the power of sin by sanctification—behold, he comes to accomplish his climactic saving work, to deliver them for all eternity from the presence of sin, and even for the full redemption of our bodies. He comes as a complete, perfect savior.

Then Paul identifies him in his glorious person by his full title, “the Lord Jesus Christ.” That title, “Lord,” points always to two things: the dignity of his person and his exalted position. The dignity of his divine personage: Jesus is the second person of the Trinity, heir of all things. Secondly, it points to the exaltedness of his position. After his work of redemption, Peter said that God has lifted him up as Lord. He is exalted as Lord of all, with all authority over heaven and earth. All things have been placed under his feet, with absolute ownership and complete authority. Caesar claimed to be “lord,” but he is the greatest Lord, above him. Caesar ruled Europe and a little part of Asia. This Lord rules from the east to the west with illimitable sway, with cosmic authority.

Then, “Jesus” indicates his humanity, the name “Jesus” meaning “Jehovah saves.” It is Jesus who took human form, came into human history, and his life and saving works and message were recorded in history. It is the same historical human Jesus whom so many rejected who will come in all glory. “Lord Jesus, then Christ,” the one anointed and set apart by God to be his final Prophet, Priest, and King. If you reject him, there is no excuse, no other chance. He is the only final anointed messenger of Christ of God, God’s appointed mediator.

This Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is not coming by spirit, secretly. He is personally and bodily coming to the same earth to which he came in humble form 2000 years ago. This time, he is coming with all glory. He will come in all the paraphernalia of deity, with the splendor and majesty of God himself. He will come “in the clouds of heaven”; he will come with the innumerable holy angels, with the voice of the trumpet that awakens the dead. He will come to the accompaniment of the greatest redemptive events such as were never seen since the first dawn of creation: the resurrection of the dead, the great judgment, and the re-formation of heaven and earth.

Paul says we as citizens eagerly wait for this coming. The word “eagerly waiting” is a rich word. We wait with full attention, with perseverance, and with great desire. It talks about a strong, eager expectation and waiting. It’s the kind of thing we often see if we watch any kind of news when an unusually dignified person is coming to a specific place and crowds are gathering, waiting for the arrival of that person.

A foolish example… how worldly men wait for their hero to appear on the stage, whether a film actor or a politician. Sometimes to watch them or their movie, they travel a long way and literally stand in a long queue through the entire night, hoping that when their hero, their god, comes, they can get up on their tiptoes and just be close enough to see him. And you see the eagerness, the longing, the yearning that counts the loss of a whole night’s sleep as inconsequential. You can see the people are up on their tiptoes and their necks are stretched out, eagerly looking and waiting and longing. That’s the picture of this verb. It’s the word used three times in Romans 8 with respect to the eager awaiting of the redemption of our bodies.

Think of how all the expectations of suffering mankind from Genesis onward. They are expecting someone, a deliverer. All the consequences of sin, injustices in society, the evils of sin inside, suffering from diseases, death, poverty. Every soul is expecting someone who will set all this right. They run after this person and that person, and are always disappointed. The whole universe is cursed and affected by sin. We want a savior, not a political savior, not an entertainment savior, but a savior from sin. The whole universe waits for him. Romans says the whole creation groans and waits for his coming. There is an expectation in every man’s heart created in the image of God. The whole history, all times, sages, stories, and myths of the universe wait for someone. For thousands of years, they have been waiting and waiting. Men are running after that political savior and this entertainment savior, but the citizens of heaven wait for this true Savior. We are on tiptoes, stretching out our necks, and concentrating our attention upon that one who will come out of the place of our citizenship. He will be the one who will restore heaven and earth; he will bring a golden age. He is the fulfillment of all deliverers.

So the person coming for us is the Savior in the fullness of his saving work, the Lord with sovereign authority and right. It is this Jesus who died, who was buried, and who was raised again from the dead on the third day. And he is the Christ, the anointed one, God’s great and final Prophet, Priest, and King who fulfills all that God has promised with respect to the mission and the activity of the Messiah. He is the one coming. As citizens of heaven, we wait for his coming with eagerness. We have read in Matthew 24 what kind of eager waiting this is: watchful, prepared, and faithful service using the talents we have now. Whatever belief you have about his second coming, if that belief doesn’t make you live as a citizen of heaven and produce this kind of waiting, it may not be the right belief.

So we have seen the Christian’s status and the Christian’s expectation. Now, thirdly, the Christian’s hope.

Verse 21: “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.”

There are many glorious things the Lord will do at his second coming. He will judge all men and angels, and restore a new earth and a new heaven. But only one thing is highlighted by Paul here. Isn’t it amazing that Paul highlights what he will do with our body?

The first thing you notice is the contrast between what our bodies are now and what they shall become at the return of Christ. How does he describe our bodies in their present condition? “who will transform our lowly body/body of our humiliation.”

The word “lowly body” doesn’t mean our bodies are evil and lowly and only the soul is higher and good. I already told you that the Bible doesn’t teach this wrong teaching that our body is all evil, not important, and only the soul is pure and important. When we were created in God’s image, we were created as both body and soul. Both are important. Any demeaning of the body is a demeaning of God, who created that body.

Though we were created with God’s glorious body and soul, what we have right now is a body humbled by sin. It is a lowly body for two reasons: its weakness and its mortality. It suffers all the consequences of sin in a general state of weakness, suffering, and decaying. It gets old, gets sick, and faces the ultimate humiliation of death and the grave.

Secondly, it acts as an instrument for sin. In this present condition, it is often the instrument of sinful acts and desires. Sin doesn’t dwell in the body, but Romans says we were “presenting the members of our body as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin.” Even in a Christian, the body’s members so often become the vehicle through which sin is committed, making it a lowly body. Oh, how much we struggle with sin in this body. We are so ashamed that a body that is the temple of the Holy Spirit, purchased at the price of Christ’s redemption, and a body in which we long to serve Him with all our heart, is not only a body of humiliation because of its weakness and mortality, but it often becomes an instrument of sin. Remember Paul, struggling with sin, cried out, “Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?”

Don’t we know it is a lowly body as we grow older? How many diseases, how many health problems, how many old-age problems? How discouraging to live with that body. “I do not have the energy I used to have. I feel so bad. I cannot read anything without glasses, so frustrating. I cannot run as I used to.” I saw an old man struggling to hold a cup of water, and it was shivering. “Oh, I will be like that one day soon.”

These are our “lowly bodies”! What struggles with sin we have with this body, struggling to pray and meditate, and how easily it becomes a means for sin. But see the Christian hope.

A Glorious Transformation

What will those bodies become? Look at the contrast. He will transform our lowly body and make it what? The beautiful word is “conform.” It means to completely and exactly make it like His glorious body in every atom and part. By a divine activity, these very bodies of humiliation shall be transformed into the body of Christ’s glory.

The Bible only reveals glimpses of how glorious that body is, and that in itself is so exciting. I think we have already looked at this, but let me quickly remind you of the glorious body you and I are going to get.

1. It will be the same body, but transformed into a glorious body with new attributes, like a caterpillar turning into a beautiful butterfly. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul lists some five attributes of the new body. First, it will be a deathless, immortal body, imperishable. All the negative things of this body will be gone: no weakness, no suffering, no liability to death. It is the dream of all wise men and sages: immortal life and eternal youth. No thyroid, no cholesterol, no sugar, no high blood pressure. No baldness, no wrinkles on my face, no shrinking of skin. We will always be youthful. All scans and medical metrics will be perfect. Weight and balance will be perfect.
2. It will be a body of His glory. Bodies so luminous, so splendid, so light-bearing, and so majestic that in them the glory of God Himself is seen. Reflecting God’s image in us perfectly.
3. It is called a spiritual body, with the ability to interact with physical and spiritual worlds and realities, with visible and invisible things. We can see all spiritual realities with as much clarity as we see with a physical body. Oh, the bliss of a beatific vision of God! We shall see all the infinite beauty of God face to face while in a body, something unprecedented in history. Our resurrection body will be able to dwell with God. This body is perfectly suited to live in the perfect place of Heaven as citizens of Heaven.

Eternal youthfulness. A body with unlimited energy, capability, stamina, athleticism, speed, reflexes, coordination, and durability, more than we have ever had. In our homeland of Heaven, we are going to need such bodies to dwell, enjoy, and use them more than ever. Some have a vague idea that Heaven is all spirit and clouds. No. Heaven is going to be a physical universe. As I taught during Covid, the new, redeemed Earth will be like a garden to Heaven. We are going to live in a new Heaven and a new Earth with physical bodies.

I imagine how I will feel: eternally youthful, made instantly into the perfect form of Christ as a perfect, holy instrument for service, worship, and praise, with never an evil impulse, never an errant movement, with a mind full of the pure light of God’s truth, a brain of undiluted love, undiluted joy, undiluted peace, and undiluted goodness, with emotions in perfect expression at their fullest and yet in perfect balance. Every tear will be wiped away; every need will be met. Every longing will be fulfilled. Every goal will be achieved. Every sense will be satisfied. We see Him as He is. We are with Him. We see the beatific vision of God. Oh, what bliss every atom of my being will feel when I first see God, the source of all blessedness, beauty, and goodness. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. When I am overwhelmed with that sight, Jesus will hold us, hug us, and whisper, “This is forever. This is My gift to you.” There will be no sin, no sorrow, no pain, no disappointment, no doubt, no fear, no temptation, no weakness, no failure, no hate, no anger, no quarrel, no more prayer, no more repentance, no more confession. Just perfect pleasure, perfect knowledge, perfect comfort, perfect love, and perfect joy. That is the great hope and confidence which every citizen of Heaven now on Earth expects.

Verse 21 not only tells us what He will do but also states how He will do it.

Cosmic Omnipotence

Many do not believe the biblical truth of the resurrection of the body. They argue, “Are you saying that the Bible teaches that this very body that is buried, that lives in the mud for thousands of years, eaten by worms and others, will be raised from the dead?” We say yes. “Wait a minute, what about that Christian who was eaten by lions back in the early days of the Christian faith? And his body was shared by ten lions, and later on, the lions died and were eaten by vultures. Fifty vultures, so now you’ve got one Christian, ten lions, and fifty vultures.” Oh, people do talk this way.

“What about that person who died at sea, that Christian who died at sea and was thrown overboard and was eaten by 50 sharks? And ultimately the sharks, as they died, were eaten by 10,000 other small fish? You mean to tell me you actually believe that there will be some kind of continuity between the body that was thrown overboard and the body given at the last day? That is impossible!”

In a way, to answer that, look at the language of the verse. Note the power by which the change will be affected. “Who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body.” This transformation of the body will be done, literally, according to or by the measure of what? “According to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” In other words, there is cosmic omnipotence committed to bringing this to pass. Cosmic omnipotence. He who is able to subdue all things, every dimension of created reality to the farthest galaxy, is under His power. All His omnipotent power, all His wisdom, creativity, and providential reign will be concentrated on transforming our body.

The argument is from the greater to the lesser. If He is able to subdue the entire universe under His power, will He not have the power to gather all the atoms of my body, however scattered in different forms, and bring me back and transform me? If someone climbed a 1,000-foot mountain easily, what is this 10-foot mountain? If He has done the greater, surely He can do the lesser, and that’s what Paul is doing here.

So Christians, this is your hope. Don’t allow any human argument to shake you. Christ will use His cosmic power, who by the working of His own power is able to subject all created reality to Himself. He can easily gather all the disintegrated body atoms and cells together. We can just trust that the job is in the hands of a Savior who is able to subdue all things to Himself, and He will do it. That’s all I need to know. We can live with that hope.

So we have seen the Christian’s status—he is a citizen of Heaven. The Christian’s expectation—eagerly expecting the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Christian’s hope—He will transform this humble body to His glorious body.

Application

After terribly exposing the enemies of Christ’s character, their character is three things: sensuality, whose God is their belly; shamelessness, they glory in their shame; and worldliness, they mind earthly things. Their end is destruction. Here, Paul gives a contrast to help us examine ourselves and see to which group we belong. There are key ideas in verses 20-21: Heaven, Savior, and body. This is a wonderful basis for personal self-evaluation. On Tuesday, I teach the sobering truth that there are many false faiths, even those believing in Jesus, but there are unique signs of saving faith. Here are three signs.

First, what is your actual relationship to Heaven? In true biblical Christianity, Heaven is not just our ultimate destiny. Heaven becomes the dominating and regulating power for our lives here and now. You see, he did not simply say our destiny is Heaven. He said our citizenship is in Heaven because where a man’s citizenship is, there his ultimate loyalty lies. The laws of his homeland are his regulative power. The desires of his heart are in the direction of his homeland’s soil. All the investment of his life, including his thoughts, desires, energy, efforts, and money, goes toward his homeland. And that’s why Jesus could speak of kingdom people as those who do not lay up treasure upon Earth, but they lay up treasure in Heaven. Their investments are in Heaven. “Where your treasure is there, will your heart be also.”

You see the contrast with the enemies of the cross. They set their mind on the things of the world. But if we ask them, “Will you go to Heaven when you die?” they say, “Sure, on what grounds? Oh, I trusted Jesus and His righteousness to take me there.” Oh, is that so? By what laws do you live now? Paul says they live by the laws of the belly, their passions, and appetites; the pleasure of their body and flesh, whose god is their belly. They live by the dictates of this present evil world. They mind earthly things. A Christian is a man who not only has Heaven as his destiny, but Heaven has entered him now, and Heaven is the regulating power and principle of his life here and now. The enemies of the cross are those who say they will go to Heaven but show no evidence that Heaven had invaded their hearts while they lived. So they set their mind on the things of the world.

Now, my brothers and sisters, where are you? What is your actual relationship to Heaven? Do the laws of Heaven, do the principles of Heaven, do the standards of Heaven, do the realities of Heaven, do these touch and affect your life now? Or is Heaven just the place you think you’re going to be whisked off to when you die? If Heaven is not in your heart now, it will never be your destiny then.

Then the second question I press upon you is this: what is your personal relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior? You see, in our text, Paul indicates that the Christian’s hope focuses on a person, an eagerly awaited person. We eagerly await and anticipate a person. Why? Because whenever the Spirit brings a sinner to embrace the work of Christ and gives him saving faith, He always draws that sinner into a loving, growing, believing attachment to the person of Christ, and you never have one without the other. 1 Peter 2:8 says, “whom having not seen ye love.” It is always a sign of saving faith. The Holy Spirit never brings a sinner into the possession of the benefits of Christ’s work without bringing that sinner’s heart into a growing love and attraction for Christ’s person. 1 Corinthians 16:22, “if any man loves not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.” 1 Corinthians 1:9, “God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son.” You were called, yes, to obtain the blessings of His redemption, the wonderful benefits of His death and resurrection, but you were also called into the fellowship of His Son Himself.

In saving faith, as we go daily to pray to God, we realize it is all because of Jesus’s work that we are accepted before God and sanctified by His power. Our future hope is all because of Him. Now, if we have this attraction, love, and attachment to Him, it is inevitable that there shall be a longing for Him. Paul says of the new church in 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, “how you turned unto God from idols to serve a living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven.” You not only turned from idols to the living God, but your saving faith made you wait for His Son from Heaven. The New Testament shows this is a sign of saving faith.

Now let me ask you the question, friend: What is your personal relationship to the person of Christ? You claim to be saved by His work for sinners. Is there evidence of a loving attraction and attachment to His person in love? How do you express that love? He said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Do you express love for Christ by reading, meditating on, and obeying His word? That is the greatest purpose, just as David says, “Be bountiful with me, so I live; the purpose of my life is to keep Your word.” “I value life only for that.” So a Christian can be described as a believer in Christ, a lover of Christ, and a subject to Christ. Now, do all three describe you? Do they? If they don’t, you have no biblical grounds to take upon yourself the name of a Christian. You may not have saving faith.

Then we have the third question: What is your practical relationship to your body? For this, too, is a telling question. Paul describes true Christians: on one side, they are humbled by their body’s present condition and their struggles with a “body of death” that makes them excited about the future condition of their body. One of the greatest attractions for a true Christian of the coming of Jesus Christ is that he will never be able to sin again with this body and grieve God, because he struggles so much in this body of sin. Like Paul, he cries out, “O wretched man that I am,” mourning for sin.

You see, enemies of the cross have no sense of that. They don’t think their body is in a humble state. Their body and belly are their god, and though their body makes them sin so much and be enslaved to bodily pleasures, they set their mind on the Earth, on which they should be ashamed. They are so proud of their humble body; they worship it, they satisfy all its lusts and desires, and they live for bodily pleasures.

A true Christian, though he recognizes that his body is presently the temple of the Holy Spirit, he knows that that treasure is in an earthen vessel, and he groans, being burdened with a body of sin. How it makes him sin sometimes, what a hindrance it is to grow in holiness, what a hindrance this body is to meditating on God’s word and praying fervently. It becomes tired. It’s the body of his humiliation. Oh, the struggles with sin make him cry out.

This is what makes the Second Coming of Christ such a yearning thing for him, because when He comes, it’s going to be conformed to the body of His glory. Forget about sinning; he will reach a stage for all eternity where he will not even have a small sinful thought or even an inclination to sin. He will be so conformed. The same word is used in Romans: “whom he did foreknow, He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.” That word “conformed” is the one used here. “Conformed to the body of his glory.” What will total conformity to Christ mean? Body and soul exactly like Christ. Our whole person is destined to become a flawless image, or reflection, of Christ’s glory. 1 John 3:3 declares, “We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.”

Think what it will mean to have a heart that has no distracting elements, carrying out all of its holy impulses in a body that never grows weary. Think what it will mean, child of God, to have fully sanctified ambitions and aspirations and longings and a body able to carry them all out without a moment’s distraction or dullness or weariness. That’s enough to make you want to pray, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

So you see, on the one hand, the Christian is struggling with his lowly, imperfect body as an instrument of sin. His great hope is that it will be transformed to be like the body of His glory. And the Scripture says, “every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure.”

So the Christian says, “Look, this body is marked for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, to be completely like Him. So I dare not make it the willing instrument of sin. I dare not give it to the service of uncleanness with such a hope. I must by the grace of God go on in the path of progressive sanctification.”

So I ask you those three simple questions this morning. What is your true relationship to Heaven? What is your personal relationship to the Lord Jesus? What is your practical relationship to your body? The apostle describes true Christians with respect to those questions in our text. They acknowledge their true homeland. Their citizenship is in Heaven; all their lives are regulated by that. Their thoughts, emotions, energies, and investments are toward that homeland. True Christians with saving faith love the Lord Jesus Christ so much that they eagerly wait for His coming. They know the struggles to live holy in this lowly body to such a depth that their hope is that when He comes, He will transform the body of humiliation to be like the body of His glory.

If you call yourself a Christian, make sure your citizenship is truly in Heaven. Then live as a citizen of Heaven, not as a citizen of this Earth, as an enemy of Christ.

If you say, “Pastor, all this seems like old ‘pie in the sky by and by’ religion. Nothing now, it is all for the future,” yes, that is the true religion of the Bible. If you want a religion that is all here, you’ll have to make your own. But it won’t take you to Heaven when you die.

People say we should not become so heavenly-minded that we’re no earthly good. Can I say that when we become only heavenly-minded, we can do the greatest good on Earth and live the best life we can? Think of Paul, who would say he did little good as a heavenly-minded man.

The more heavenly-minded a man is, living in communion with Christ and contemplating the world to come, the more he’s determined that here and now he will live in such a way as to bring glory to the God of Heaven. He does the greatest good by his life on this Earth. Oh, may God make us heavenly-minded because “Our citizenship is in heaven, whence also we wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation conformed to the body of his glory.”

If that’s not your hope, my friend, it can be yours if you believe in Jesus Christ today with saving faith. You can become a citizen of Heaven by new birth. Can I ask all of you who are still not saved: you’re going to die. You’ve got a body, however proud, that is a lowly body. It is going to decay, get sick, and rot in the grave. What is your hope? Oh, how wonderful to face the inevitable rotting of the grave with the hope and certainty that one day that grave will open, the Lord Jesus Christ will raise your lowly body and transform it like His glorious, eternal body. You can have that hope if you put your faith in Christ today. Scripture promises, “Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).