Aliens & Citizens

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20 NKJV.

In some ways this follows on from Brief Word 109 & 108, Find Your Fit.

When we come to Christ, He abides in us.  We are transformed.  We become a new creation.  (2 Corinthians 5:17).  We take on the character and the culture of a new Kingdom, the Kingdom of God.

There is a sense that we don’t fit.  We don’t fit in here, we can’t connect with the world, we just can’t become one-of-them.

Well, let me tell you, that’s great!  It is as it should be.

I suspect that the feeling of not fitting, has much to do with this truth that we are discussing here.  Do we realise we are an alien in this world?  Or do we feel like we are a citizen, one of the locals, that we belong here?

Let’s briefly look at the meaning of three words, Alien, Citizen and Ambassador.

An Alien is described in www.dictionary.com, as:

1. A resident of one country who was born in or owes allegiance to another country and has not acquired citizenship by naturalisation in the country of residence (distinguished from citizen).
2. A foreigner.
3. A person who has been estranged or excluded.
4. Residing under a government or in a country other than that of one’s birth without having or obtaining the status of citizenship there.
5. Belonging or relating to noncitizens.
6. Unlike one’s own; strange; not belonging to one.
7. Adverse; hostile; opposed.

Paul describes that we were at one time aliens to the Kingdom of God.

that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Ephesians 2:12 NKJV.

When we became born again, our allegiance changed, and our birth status became one from another Government.

A Citizen is different:

1. A native or naturalised member of a state or nation who owes allegiance to its government and is entitled to its protection (distinguished from alien).
2. An inhabitant of a city or town, especially one entitled to its privileges or franchises.
   (www.dictionary.com).

Did you see that?  … owes allegiance to its government, and, is entitled to its protection.  Wow!  That’s a great thought right there!  That’s worth a ponder.

Rights and responsibilities.  We have them both as a citizen of the Kingdom of God.  Have we thought much about the responsibilities we have to our Kingdom?  And do we know what privileges and blessings being a citizen of God’s realm affords us?  That’s worth another ponder.

In our text for this Brief Word, Paul says to the Philippian Christians that we are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.  (For our citizenship is in heaven … Philippians 3:20 NKJV).

So what we really are is an Ambassador:

1. A diplomatic official of the highest rank, sent by one sovereign or state to another as its resident representative.
2. A diplomatic official of the highest rank sent by a government to represent it on a temporary mission, as for negotiating a treaty.
3. An authorised messenger or representative.
   (www.dictionary.com).

Is that quite clear?  Alien, citizen and ambassador.  We are actually all three.  We are an alien here on earth, at the same time we are citizens of another realm, and we are ambassadors of that Kingdom representing and bringing messages from our Sovereign, to this realm.

What does all this mean?  A lot!

Our behaviour, lifestyle and actions derived from our culture, should not be the same as the world.  If we feel like we fit in, something is wrong.  We should not fit in.  We should stand out as different, we should look different, believe different, speak different, think different, feel different, and act different.  Because we totally are!  We are just different to this world.  We don’t belong here. We don’t fit here.  We don’t have a place here.  Our allegiance is to another Kingdom.

We live with respect in this realm, honouring laws and culture as much as possible, but we are only here temporarily.  We serve another master, not the one who rules here.  There’s a blueprint for our life that is not accepted here.  We live for things and are motivated from different values.  We live to promote and to present the King of our Kingdom, and the wonders of living in His Kingdom.  We represent Him at all times in all ways with complete loyalty and commitment to our King.

That, is an ambassador.  Which is exactly what we are.  Because – in Christ – our citizenship is not from here, it is from Heaven!

²⁰ Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 NKJV.

I believe we live with the tension between two pressures.  On one side is the pressure to fit in, to feel like we belong, like we are one of them.  But then there is the pressure of finding our fit, and functioning in the gifts and talents God has given us.

Faith holds these two in tension without conflict.  (By faith, I refer to our relationship with the Lord).

We will never (or should never) feel like this world is our place, that we were designed for here, but, at the same time, we can know a peace from God that we have discovered, developed and deployed our gifts and skills for the good of the locals and for the King of our realm and His people.

Does that make sense?

But this is not about retreating to be a monk and living in a monastery.  It is about understanding something huge, that our walk with Christ on earth sets us apart.  Unlike a political ambassador who doesn’t have their king with them at all times, we do!  Our King is with us and in us.

There will be temptations and pressures to align ourselves with the ways of the nation we live in rather than the ways of God whom we serve.  We are aliens here.  But citizens of a greater Kingdom.  One day we will be home!  In the glorious presence of our King of Kings!

Our job while we’re here is to live an honourable lifestyle before our King, and to use whatever means at all times to present the wonders and the marvels of our King and Kingdom.

Let’s press in to know God more.  Let’s be 100% for Him.  Knowing God more and more leads to knowing who we are in Him, and our place in His kingdom.

May God bless your Ambassadorship in the coming days.

Photo by NASA on Unsplash