My Beloved

Sunday, March 4th, 2007
Second Sunday of Lent
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Text: Philippians 3:14-4:1

14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
15Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. 16Only let us hold fast to what we have attained. 17Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. 18For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. 19Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.
4Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

The music is almost not there at the beginning, just a high steady note on the strings … then the voice over begins; “These are the voyages …” the confident voice of command, enunciating the mission:

“…to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life, and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before!”

The music swells, and the last word is almost shouted, and the Spaceship Enterprise flashes by the screen moving at some multiple of the speed of light.

It was a regular Saturday evening ritual in the dorm room or in Claude’s den, to have supper ready and be sitting in front of the television come 7 PM, such was the draw for me of the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series. You’ve heard me speak of it before; of the different characters, the conflicts that they were confronted with in dealing with either newly-discovered species or with some internal problem … watching those same episodes when they come on now, they seem pretty cheesy, but at the time, the special effects and production values were state of the art.

I’m a fan of science fiction. I enjoy a good thick book with lots of technological wonders and preferably lots of strange looking aliens. Now it is mostly for pure escapist enjoyment that I pick one of the books or movies, but I am still stirred by the possibilities that are presented … what IF … we COULD zap ourselves from one side of the planet to the other in a couple of seconds, what if we could speak to a computer and have a cup of 'earl grey, hot,' materialize in front of us? I suppose it speaks to the basic hope that I hold inside. But what has always been missing has been the in-between stage – the part where it explains how we get from HERE to THERE.

Usually, with the science fiction that I’ve read or watched, the in-between involves the near-destruction of the world as we know it – if not the ACTUAL destruction of the world as we know it – and what is left is a remnant of humanity that goes on … after the vast majority of the population has died or been killed off. Not a very hopeful view of the near future of humanity, is it? To base the advancement of the human species on the premise that, first, we get rid of all but those who are the smartest and strongest, or who in some way are away from the ‘great unwashed masses’ of humanity.

It reminds me of a Far Side cartoon where a scientist has filled a blackboard with equations and scientific notations – covered the left side of the board with all this stuff that seems to be leading somewhere, and on the RIGHT side of the board there is an amazing result – and square in the middle, the critical piece of the formula, was the outline of a cloud with the words ‘and then a miracle happens’ in the middle of it.

The critical piece was not there.

Paul’s tone in our passage this morning is almost imploring. His letter to the church at Philippi has always been one that has been highlighted by the way he expresses his love for the people there. Scholars believe that Paul was writing near the end of his life, when he was in something of a contemplative mood – looking back over his lifetime of mission work for the Gospel. It is apparent on reading the letter that the Philippians had a special place in Paul’s heart. There is, in this passage, an expression of a nearly overwhelming need to communicate the critical piece between now and then to the people of the church at Philippi.

And it is not a piece of concrete, hands-on, insert tab A in slot B kind of information. It is simply a reminder: ‘our citizenship is in heaven’.

An interesting thing, citizenship; you don’t lose it unless you renounce it. It stays with you, no matter where you are, or where you go. And it is, for the most part, recognized by whoever it is that you are around, whether they care to or not. It is a part of your person. It is not determined by something you wear or carry, by how you dress, or don’t, but by who you ARE.

In our case, as members of the body of Christ, it is a matter of WHOSE we are as much as WHO we are. Because you see, as followers of Jesus, we have given ourselves to the life of the Kingdom, to the work that will bring forth the presence and work of the Holy Spirit on the earth until the Lord returns.

Paul’s plea to the Philippians to ‘stand firm’ is phrased as a reminder, a theory in the face of the fact that they were currently living in the reality, albeit temporary, of an empire that held the ruling Caesar as divine, more often than not, allowed and in fact encouraged the worship of a whole pantheon of gods, and could be brutal in shutting down anyone who spoke against the governing outlook from Rome.

Paul’s concern was ultimately with the eternal, as is ours, but it was expressed in very real life-on-earth terms. The competition from false teachers, and pagan doctrine, and any number of other distractions to the pursuit to which God has called us is serious and real. There are an overwhelming number of distractions to the task at hand on any given day – and when we actually turn TO that task, the distractions only seem to increase.

So what does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?

It means that, very simply, we need to focus on what it is that God has for us to do, and while doing it, never lose sight of the hope that we have in Christ, who has granted us citizenship in heaven. Our task, if you will, is no small endeavor.

We are to change the world, to help break in the Kingdom of Heaven, to take part, in some way, in the reconciliation of humanity to God. To follow Christ in the most faithful way we can, with our whole heart, soul, mind and body. Jerusalem has a history, and it is one that includes both the doing of that and the falling short of that. That is part of what happens in a fallen world. We don’t have an unbroken record on either side. What we DO have is a legacy of faith that continually calls us back to Christ, back to the Bible, back to the good news and to the reality of the Grace of God available to all humanity through Jesus Christ.

Let’s pray.