You Are a Citizen of the Kingdom That Wins

My father was born under a tent.

Not a campsite tent with a sleeping bag or a lantern.

A refugee tent.

Dirt floor.

Summer heat on the plains of India.

His mother lay there with no doctor.

No hospital.

No safety net.

Just the sound of a camp full of people who had lost everything and didn't know what was going to happen next.

In 1947, India and Pakistan were partitioned.

One of the bloodiest events of the 20th century.

Millions were displaced in a matter of months.

Whole villages emptied overnight.

My grandfather's family had lived what is now called Pakistan.

They were pushed out with nothing but what they could carry.

They ended up in a city named Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal, in a camp with thousands of others just like them.

My father's mother gave birth to him there.

Under that tent.

Shortly after the youngest child arrived, both parents died.

Twelve children.

No mother, no father, no home to go back to.

No country that fully claimed them.

The eldest brother, my uncle.

He could have sat down with that loss and never gotten up.

He had every reason to.

But something in him looked at his eleven brothers and sisters and decided we are not staying here.

So he picked a direction.

He got them through school.

He studied engineering.

He found his way to the United States.

One of the hardest things a man from a refugee camp in India to do in the 1950s and 60s.

He got here.

He became a citizen.

And then one by one, year by year, he reached back across the ocean and brought each of his siblings over.

Sponsored them.

Signed for them.

Gave them the destination they couldn't have ever reached on their own.

But he arrived.

Because his older brother went first.

They ran together towards something.

Because someone showed them where to go.

Not in church language.

In real life, this week.

For some of you, it's a dream that you're chasing.

For others, you're just trying to get through the week.

Paul writes in Philippians chapter 3, starting in verse 12, not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.

But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

All of us, all of us then, who are mature, should take such a view of things.

And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.

Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

You see, there's a prize, a goal, a prize that Paul is running toward.

But that prize is not a place, it is a person, Jesus Christ Himself.

Now, this is the Apostle Paul talking.

The guy who wrote much of the New Testament.

This guy planted churches, he saw the risen Christ, and yet he says, I haven't arrived.

I'm not perfect.

I'm still pressing on.

I still need more of Jesus.

See, before he met Jesus, Paul had the most impressive religious resume in the room.

I mean, he was he was a Hebrew of Hebrews.

He was a Pharisee, which means he was one of the most strictly religious people in his entire culture.

He was trained by the very best from childhood.

I mean, this guy was blameless under the law.

By every external measure, he had arrived.

But then Jesus found him on a road.

And everything changed.

And he says in verse 12, I press on.

I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Now, this word that Paul uses for press on, it's actually the same word he used earlier in the chapter when he's talking about persecuting the church.

It's an intense word.

It's relentless, like someone chasing after something with everything that they have.

Paul took all of his intensity, all of that focus, all of that relentless pursuit, and he turned it in a completely new direction.

See, before meeting Jesus, Paul used all his strength against the church.

After meeting Jesus, he used all his strength to know Christ.

Same intensity, but a completely different direction.

And that changes everything.

Everything about why you run.

First in our family.

And I gotta tell you, I don't get it.

Like I genuinely don't understand running for four to five hours on purpose.

Like, why would you do that?

I just don't get it.

Well, a couple of years ago, my son-in-law Liam and Kaylee, they started training for this marathon.

And they've been training for months, you know, morning runs, night runs, miles and miles every single day.

Well, on race day, you know, they get they're ready to go, they're they're energetic, they're they're ready to do this marathon, very excited about it.

Race day comes.

Liam starts to struggle.

He uh he started to, you know, kind of it's like, ooh, he starts experiencing some stomach problems.

He's like, oh, okay, all right, you know, let's just say he had to make some unscheduled stops along the way.

All right, I'll just leave it at that.

Now that caused him to fall a little bit behind, Kaylee.

But he caught back up, so it's no big deal.

Now, Kaylee, on the hand, other hand, I mean, she was feeling completely fine.

She's running, she's singing, she's dancing, she's like, la-da-da-da-da, like having a great time, no big deal.

She's just having a blast with this marathon, very cheerful.

Meanwhile, Liam's just struggling over here.

She's just cheerful.

Yeah, you know, okay.

Finish line starts to come into their sight.

It's in their view.

And when they both see the finish line in their view, something changed.

Liam started pushing harder.

He started pumping his arms.

He started pulling ahead, trying to get in front of Kaylee.

Now, Kaylee, she's pretty competitive.

She's very competitive.

And she looked at him, and her first thought was, what is he doing?

I mean, is this a pride thing?

Is this a male ego thing?

Is he really in a place where he's not willing to lose to me right now?

I mean, that's that's kind of ridiculous.

What's what's he doing?

So, what does she do?

She starts running faster with a smile on her face.

Bye-bye, Liam.

She passes him.

But what does Liam do?

Oh, he's determined.

So he pumps his arms even more and he starts pulling ahead.

He's running as fast as he can, and he finally pumps.

I mean, his legs are exhausted.

Okay, his stomach is aching, he's running on empty, and he pulls ahead and he makes it to the finish line.

And he gets there, he gets to the finish line first.

And then he gets down on one knee.

Kaylee crosses the finish line.

Liam's already there, ring box open, waiting.

You see, he wasn't really running toward the finish line.

He was running toward a future.

Something so important that the pain, the bathroom stops, the burning legs, none of it mattered.

Because the goal was worth everything.

Every hard mile, every painful step, the goal is worth it.

You see, I wonder how many of us are frustrated with our Christian lives right now.

Frustrated with how hard it is, how slow it feels, how many times we have fallen and gotten back up only to fall again and again and again.

And we start to wonder: is it really worth it?

Am I doing something wrong?

Why does this feel so hard?

I think for a lot of people, it's not the effort.

I mean, we're trying.

That's not the problem.

I think the problem is the vision.

We've never seen the goal clearly enough to make the pain feel worth it.

See, Liam ran through exhaustion and a bad stomach because he could see clearly exactly what was waiting for him on the other side.

He could see exactly what was waiting for him at the finish line.

When you can see the goal that clearly, the pain changes.

It's not that it disappears, but the pain suddenly means something.

Paul says, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Friends, the goal is not self-improvement.

The goal is not religious achievement.

The goal is Christ.

And in Christ, the goal is glory.

Knowing him, looking like him, being with him forever.

I mean, we spend our whole lives either chasing something or running away from something, convinced that when we finally get there or finally get away, everything will finally feel okay.

And Paul knows this.

In fact, he looks around and what he sees moves him to tears.

Paul gives us a warning in this passage, and he's not going to deliver it with anger, he delivers it with grief.

Verse 17 join together in following my example, brothers and sisters.

And just as you have have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.

Their mind is set on earthly things.

See, Paul told us that he's pressing toward Christ with everything he has.

And now he's looking around.

He's looking around at the people beside him, at the people in the opposite direction, and what he feels isn't anger, it's grief.

He says he's telling them this with tears.

Paul's not standing at a distance pointing his finger at people he despises.

He's weeping over people he loves.

People who are running as hard as he is, just in the completely wrong direction.

And he's not talking about Christians who struggle.

He's talking about people who don't know Jesus.

People running hard in the opposite direction away from God and calling it freedom.

And look, let me say this: that was us too.

We were also at one point running in the opposite direction away from God.

In fact, you know, I think as a church, not just this, not this church, I'm talking about the church at large, the global church, the universal church.

I think as a church whole, we've gotten very comfortable saying we're all broken.

Right?

You're broken, I'm broken, we're all broken, everybody's broken.

And look, that's true.

I'm not saying that's not true, but I think we've softened something.

Right?

Because being broken is the outcome.

What caused the break?

We weren't just victims of our circumstances, we were rebels, enemies of God, running from him, actively hostile, or worse, indifferent to him.

That is what scripture calls us before we were saved, not just broken, lost, dead, enemies.

And God he came after us, anyways.

I mean, in fact, that's the only reason any of us are able to even sit in this room.

Not because we we turned toward him first, but because he came after us.

Mercy we didn't deserve.

Grace we couldn't earn.

And now Paul is looking around at people that are still on that road, people he loves, people who remind him of who he used to be.

He doesn't stand at a distance and point.

He weeps.

Think about someone in your own life who doesn't know Jesus.

I mean, you can see where they're headed.

You can see where where this road ends, you can see what it's costing them.

That's what Paul feels.

Not judgment, grief.

And this grief is the kind of grief of someone who knows exactly where that road ends.

Because he was on it.

Paul was on that road until Jesus came in.

And Paul, he loves the person way too much to just look away.

Because he knows the end.

That road, destruction.

And he weeps because he loves them.

You see, and then Paul shows us what a life of someone running away from God actually looks like on the inside.

See, he tells us that their God is their belly, their glory is in their shame, their mind is set on earthly things.

Now understand, when Paul says their God is their belly, he's not mainly talking about food.

He means whatever appetite rules you.

Right?

What is the thing you're chasing hardest right now?

The thing you're trying to get or protect or keep.

Your belly is whatever your happiness depends on.

Right?

Appetite is kind of like a Thanksgiving dinner.

Right?

The first bite feels amazing.

Woo, it feels so good.

But by the third plate or fourth plate, you feel terrible.

You got to get your stretchy pants on.

Right?

In the moment, appetite said, more, more, more, and you listened.

And it lied.

That is the belly god.

Whatever it's promising you, it will always say you need more, want more, get more, and it will always not quite deliver.

It'll never quite deliver what it said it would.

Now, for some people in this room, the belly god, it's simple and maybe desperate.

It's it's safety.

Just making it through the week, just making it to next month, just keeping the lights on and the kids fed.

Look, that ache is real.

But that ache is just as capable of running your life, drifting you away from God, and robbing you of joy.

For others, it could be status, comfort, pleasure.

And for some of us who have been following Jesus for many years, the appetite could be less obvious.

We show up, we sing the songs, we listen to the sermon, and then we go home and live exactly like everyone else.

Faith that costs us nothing, changes nothing, demands nothing.

Look, the shape of the appetite, it changes.

But the problem is still the same.

Something other than God is running your life.

Something other than God is running your life.

And look, let me just clarify.

The things we organize our life around, the things that that the things we're trying to get aren't always bad things.

Wanting safety for you and your family, not wrong.

It's not a wrong thing.

Wanting to build something that lasts, wanting to belong somewhere, wanting wanting your life to have some sort of meaning, those things are not bad.

They're not wrong.

These are good desires.

God gives them, gives us these desires.

The problem is not the desire.

The problem is where do we get those desires met?

And Paul calls this out.

Because he loves these people.

Not to scare them, but to wake us up.

Because I'll tell you, the belly makes a terrible king.

But it is a persuasive salesman.

Right?

It'll promise you everything comfort, relief, significance.

Just one more thing, and you'll finally feel okay.

And you get that thing, and for a little while, you do feel okay.

You get a little high, you get a little relief.

You know, it seems to be working.

And then, you know, shortly after, salesman back at the back door.

Why?

Because the high never lasts.

It never lasts as long as you need it to.

You get what you were chasing, and it's never enough.

So you chase more and more, and it's still never enough.

Look, that's not just a problem.

That's our fallen human condition.

St.

Augustine called this restlessness.

And he said something that is so spot on.

He said, Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God.

Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God.

That low hum underneath everything.

That feeling that something isn't quite settled, no matter how much you strive, no matter how much you try, no matter how much you achieve or accumulate or experience, that restlessness, that is your soul telling you the truth about something.

That you were made for God.

And everything else was never gonna be enough.

Now look, let me be honest with you for a moment.

I know what it is to chase after the wrong things.

Not just before I became a Christian, after, long after.

I've stood in pulpits and preached about knowing Christ, while quietly in my heart, it was it was more organized about being seen as someone who preached.

As well rather than being centered on knowing him well.

So I know the struggle.

John Mark Comer once described a season when, by every external measure, his ministry was succeeding.

But inside, he said he felt like a ghost.

Half alive, half dead, numb, flat, living with this low-grade anxiety that wouldn't go away.

Then he said something that landed on me like a stone.

He said, You can be a success as a pastor and a failure as an apprentice of Jesus.

And you don't have to be a pastor to know what that feels like.

You can keep everything moving and still feel like your soul is coming apart.

And Paul sees this and he weeps.

Not because he's better, but because he knows there's a better way.

And what waits at the end of that way changes everything.

See, Paul has seen every version of this.

The kingdoms people build their lives around, the empires they trust in with everything that they've got.

Look, every earthly kingdom thinks it will last forever.

Rome thought so.

I mean, its armies were feared.

Its roads connected nations, its power looked permanent.

Today, the greatest monument Rome left behind is what?

I was gonna say the Colosseum.

Either way, tourists are taking selfies in front of it.

Every earthly kingdom eventually becomes a footnote in a history book.

Every single one.

And Paul knew this.

And he wrote to a city that had staked its entire identity on Rome.

I want you to hear what he says.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

But our citizenship.

It means a colony, a people who belong to one kingdom while living in another.

And the people of Philippi, they fully understood what this meant.

Philippi was a Roman colony.

The people were living living there were Roman citizens.

Not because they were born in Rome, but because Rome had planted them there.

So they carried Rome's laws, Rome's culture, Rome's identity into a city from the capital, far from the capital.

They lived in Macedonia, but they belonged to Rome.

They carried the Roman kingdom into Macedonia.

And Paul looks at this church and he says, You're doing the same thing, but you're doing it for a better kingdom.

You are not citizens of Rome.

You are citizens of heaven.

And heaven has planted you here, in this city, in this neighborhood, in that workplace, in that family, to carry the culture of another kingdom into this one.

Friends, let me tell you something.

The church is not a Sunday service.

It is a colony of heaven in West Palm Beach.

And I'll tell you something else.

Citizens of heaven are the freest people in any city.

Not because life is easy, not because we're we're better than everybody else, but because we have nothing to prove and nothing to lose.

We can sit with the homeless man on Dixie Highway and not be embarrassed.

We can do business on Palm Beach without becoming what Palm Beach worships.

We can forgive.

We can live generously.

We can love boldly.

We can love people in the city that this city has neglected and thrown away.

Why?

Because our identity does not come from West Palm Beach.

It comes from Jesus Christ.

And Paul is not calling us tourists of heaven.

He is calling us citizens of heaven.

And let me say this: people who belong, people who belong somewhere so deeply that it changes how we show up everywhere else in West Palm Beach as it is in heaven.

And Paul doesn't stop there.

He doesn't stop his citizenship.

He goes even further.

I don't know if you've noticed, Paul has a tendency to do this.

He says some profound things, and then he goes even further and further and deeper.

Verse 21 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.

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.

The Savior we are waiting for, the second coming, will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.

I want you to sit with that for a moment.

Not our souls, talking about our bodies, this body, the body you woke up with this morning, the one that's tired, the one that has been through things that you don't like to talk about on Sunday mornings, the one that has carried marks of what this life has cost you, the addiction, the illness, the years, the grief, the things that happened to you that you never asked for, the body that aches in ways you can't always name, this body, this body transformed, conformed to the likeness of Jesus' glorious resurrection body.

Now, for everyone in this room who's over 40, this is probably the best news in the Bible.

Right?

Because you wake up, nothing pops, nothing clicks, nothing aches before you get out of bed, no Advil, no heating pad.

You just wake up and you feel the way you were supposed to feel.

You feel great.

But those of us under 40, well, you just wait.

I'm 45, I go to bed feeling fine, and I wake up as if someone was just beating me up all night long while I was asleep.

Look, this what Paul's describing here, it's not some vague spiritual hope.

This isn't you, you know, floating somewhere as a ghost.

This is your body, your physical body made new.

No more decay, no more addiction, no more disease, no more weakness, no more shame, no more death.

And this isn't a metaphor, it's reality.

Physically, your lowly body will one day be resurrected and made like his glorious body.

And listen, you're not just getting relief from pain.

You are being brought in to the glory of the king.

Not the glory that belongs to Christ alone.

That's his.

But by grace, pure undeserved grace, he brings his people into it.

You're not gonna just watch his glory, you're gonna share in it.

You're not just forgiven.

You will be glorified, you will be made like him, and you will reign with him.

See, every person in this room who belongs to Jesus, that's what we're running toward.

Every person in this room who belongs to Jesus is on their way to glory.

The person next to you, whatever they look like, whatever they've been through, whatever they're carrying, they are becoming glorious.

And so are you.

And here's what's even better news with that.

It's already begun.

While you're sitting in that seat, while your body is tired, while your week was hard, you are already seated with Christ in the heavenly places, which means the glory isn't here fully yet, but it has already begun.

Let me give you an example.

When you worship, and sometimes you you kind of feel that unexpected joy that kind of catches you off guard.

That's a taste of where this is going.

See, running towards Jesus isn't only about where you end up.

It's about who you are becoming in the here and now.

Every time you choose forgiveness over bitterness, that's glory starting.

Every time you repent instead of defending yourself, that's glory starting.

Every time you choose his way over your way, that's glory starting.

Now look, it's slow, it's often invisible, but it's real.

And God has started something in you the moment you are united to him.

And he will not stop until the work is complete.

In fact, let me just ask you, take a moment for a moment.

Actually look at the person next to you.

Like, actually look at the person next to you right now.

Give it a second.

Just look at the person next to you.

Look at them.

Look at that person.

That person you're looking at is becoming glorious.

Now I know they don't look like it.

Neither do you, neither do I, but that's the promise.

That's where this is going.

Glory.

So now how do you get in?

How does anyone become a citizen of this kingdom?

I mean, you don't apply for it, you don't earn it, you don't run fast enough or clean enough or long enough to qualify.

My father was born stateless under a tent.

No country, no papers, no one to claim him.

But his older brother went first, established himself, and then he reached back and brought the others in.

They didn't earn their citizenship.

It was given because of their relationship to him.

Jesus did something better.

He didn't give you a passport.

He went first.

Into death, into the grave, into resurrection, into glory, and from that place he reaches back and he brings you in.

Not based on what you deserved, but based on who he is.

Your citizenship was not earned.

It was signed for by the one who went ahead of you.

And the destination isn't just a better country.

It's glory.

Full transformation into the likeness of our king.

You came in here this morning carrying something.

Some of you came in here carrying a week that nearly broke you.

Some of you came in carrying a pass that you just can't seem to put down.

Some of you came in here running on empty.

I want you to hear this.

You are a citizen of the kingdom that wins.

And the king is making you glorious.

That is who you are.

Not who you were, not what you've done, not what's been done to you.

You are a citizen of the kingdom that wins.

I mean, that is why you can lift your head.

That is who you are.

See, West Palm Beach is a it's a city of extremes.

Extreme wealth and extreme poverty, separated by just a few miles of road.

People with with everything who still feel empty.

People with almost nothing who feel forgotten.

But imagine a church whose identity doesn't come from this city.

It comes from somewhere better.

Nothing to prove, nothing to lose.

Imagine a man walking out of the Palm Beach County jail on Gun Club Road with nowhere to go, no family waiting, no plan.

And someone from this church is already there.

Not a program, a person.

Sitting with him, walking with him, telling him, You belong somewhere new.

You belong here.

Imagine a boardroom on Flagler Drive where a business leader makes a decision that's gonna cost him something.

But he does it because he knows it's right.

Not because the market rewards it, but because his standing isn't built on the market.

Imagine a neighborhood where the church isn't just a building people drive past.

It's the reason the block feels different, safer, kinder, more alive.

Imagine this church becoming known, not because we launched some campaign, but because citizens of heaven showed up in the jail, in the boardroom, in neighborhoods, in workplaces, carrying the culture of another kingdom into this one.

Imagine the city asking, what is it about these people?

And imagine us having an answer.

We are the citizens of the kingdom that wins, and the king is making us glorious.

That is the colony, and it starts here with us.

If you've never received Christ, receive him today.

Turn from whatever it is you've been trusting in and trust Jesus instead.

Place your life in his hands.

He offers you mercy today.

And Paul ends this passage with a word stand firm.

We press on toward Christ by standing firm in Christ.

Not standing perfect, not standing impressive, not standing alone, standing firm in the Lord.

At the beginning of this morning, I asked you, What are you running toward?

Here's your answer.

Every morning, before anything else gets to you, before you pick up your phone and start checking your notifications or checking your email, I want you to say this out loud.

I am a citizen of the kingdom that wins.

I am running toward the glory of my king, and my king is making me glorious.

In fact, can I ask everyone to stand with me, please?

I want to ask you to repeat this with me.

On three, one, two, three.

I am a citizen of the kingdom that wins.

I am running toward the glory of my king.

My king is making me glorious.

We're gonna say it again.

I am a citizen of the kingdom that wins.

I am running toward the glory of my king.

My king is making me glorious.

Church, I want you to say that every morning as much as you need to until it gets deep into your bones because the glory is coming.

Glory has already started.

So God is calling us to press on toward Christ.

Can we sing together?

Can we sing graves into gardens this morning?