Citizenship in heaven.
I. THE FACT. Christians are citizens of heaven.
1. They are under heavenly government. Other men are ruled by earthly influences—laws of the state, social customs, worldly expediency, etc. The true followers of Christ obey higher laws and serve an unseen King. It is their recognized aim to do God's will on earth as the angels do it in heaven. They confess supreme allegiance to a heavenly Lord.
2. They perform heavenly functions. To be a loyal citizen means to share in the common municipal life. This Christians undertake in their relations with the city above. Their conversation is to be in heaven. They are to set their affections on things above. Their chief concern is to do their work on earth so as best to promote the glory of heaven. Generally they are to shape their lives according to the celestial polity.
3. They enjoy heavenly privileges. Citizenship is a privilege. This was well understood in St. Paul's day, when some men prided themselves in being born Romans, while others were willing to pay a great price to obtain the rights of Roman citizenship (Acts 22:28). Englishmen now claim protection and immunity from foreign exactions in all parts of the world on account of their nationality. So Christians have the high privileges of Divine liberty, safety, and honor that accompany a heavenly citizenship.
II. THE INFLUENCE OF THIS FACT. If it be a truth that Christians are citizens of heaven, it must be a most important truth. Yet many men who consider themselves Christians live as though they had not the faintest conception of the significance of their heavenly relationship. Others have taken the opposite course; forsaking the joys and duties of earth, and treating the world as a sort of Siberia, they have lived like exiles waiting only for the time of their departure. Clearly this is not the use of the heavenly citizenship which the apostles would have advised.
1. It should lead to living worthily. It is a disgrace for an Englishman, on visiting a country of savages, to abandon the decencies of civilization and adopt the practices of the natives. Christians belong to a higher kingdom than anything earthly. They are, therefore, to see to it that they do not degrade their citizenship by following the evil customs of the world, but abstain from fleshly lusts as strangers and pilgrims (1 Peter 2:11). Living in the world, enjoying its innocent fruits, and doing their daily work, they are to keep themselves undefiled and to behave with the purity and charity that befit the fellow-citizens of angels.
2. This citizenship should prevent Christians from being disappointed at receiving adversity in, this world. They are to expect it. This is not their rest. Sojourners on earth, they are not to be surprised if they miss some of the treasures of those who have only earthly possessions.
3. This hot should inspire a constant hope. True Christians must live in the future. Their heavenly citizenship is the promise and pledge of the enjoyment of the inheritance of the saints in light. They are to look for "a city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God." Members of the higher kingdom, they should live in expectation of the glorious advent of their great King.—W.F.A.