Citizens of Heaven: Philippians 3:17-4:1

Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.

Follow my example. Paul could say this without arrogance because he followed Christ. The chain of imitation: Christ, then Paul, then believers.

Keep your eyes on. Watch. Observe. Learn by seeing. The Christian life is taught but also caught—absorbed by observation.

For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.

Even with tears. Paul wept as he wrote. This wasn't cold condemnation but grieved warning.

Many live as enemies of the cross. Not opponents from outside but those within the community. People who claimed Christ but lived against his cross. The cross called for death to self; they lived for self.

Their destiny is destruction.

Destruction. Apolia. Ruin. The end of the road that rejects the cross.

Their god is their stomach.

Their god. What they worship, what they serve, what drives their decisions. Appetite. Desire. The belly enthroned.

And their glory is in their shame.

Glory. What they boast in, what they celebrate. But it's shameful. They boast in what should make them blush.

Their mind is set on earthly things.

Earthly things. Temporal. Passing. The horizontal rather than the vertical. They think about what they can see and taste and possess—and neglect what is eternal.

But our citizenship is in heaven.

But. The contrast. Their citizenship is earthly; ours is heavenly.

Philippi was a Roman colony. Its citizens were Roman citizens—with Roman rights, Roman protection, Roman identity—even though they lived far from Rome. They didn't need to go to Rome to be Roman.

Our citizenship is in heaven. We don't need to go to heaven yet to be heavenly citizens. We carry heaven's passport. We live by heaven's values. We await heaven's king.

And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Eagerly await. Apekdechomai—the intense expectation. Not passive waiting but active anticipation. A Savior is coming.

From there. From heaven. The direction is clear. Salvation comes from above.

The Lord Jesus Christ. The title is maximal. Lord—kyrios, the name above every name. Jesus—the human name, the one who lived among us. Christ—Messiah, the anointed king.

Who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

By the power. The same power that raised him. The same power that seated him above all. That power will transform us.

Our lowly bodies. The body of our humiliation. Aging, decaying, dying. The body that aches and fails. Lowly.

Like his glorious body. The resurrection body. The body that passed through walls and ate fish. The body that ascended. Glorious.

He will transform. Not destroy our bodies, not replace them—transform them. Continuity and change. The same body, glorified.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!

Therefore. Because citizenship is in heaven. Because the Savior is coming. Because transformation awaits. Therefore.

My brothers and sisters. Family language. You whom I love. Affection explicit. Long for. The ache of absence.

My joy and crown. They were his joy—the source of delight. His crown—the reward of his labor, the garland of victory.

Stand firm. The charge. In the Lord. The location. In this way. As citizens of heaven, awaiting the Savior.

Dear friends. Agapetoi. Beloved ones.

Stand firm.

The citizenship is already yours. The Savior is already coming. The transformation is already certain.

Stand firm.

Heaven is your home.