Sabbath Reflections

Taranaki Daily News, 17 August 1935, Page 21 (Supplement)

Sabbath Reflections

“COLONISTS OF HEAVEN”

CITIZENS OF ETERNAL KINGDOM. COMPARISON WITH PHILIPPIANS. “For. our' conversation is in heaven.”—Phil. 3-20 (A.V.). .“But we ; are a colony of heaven.”—Phil. 3-20. . (Moffitt). ' ' I Difficult days were being experienced by the Christian congregation at Philippi, and they were in much need of sympathy and. help. Not only had they to endure-the oppositions and persecutions of enemies of Christ on every side, but there-were also subtle influences within their own ecclesia, of which Says Paul “I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping”; influences that would spoil the Church of God, and bring the Cross of Christ to open shame. So the apostle, in his tender letter would inspirit and encourage these sorely tried disciples in Greece. He does so by reminding them of the greatness of their calling and destiny and of Whom they were. Your King and Head, he ■tells them, is the Eternal God, in whose hand are the lives of all earthly potentates and rulers. You, yourselves, are citizens of high heaven, deliberately and trustfully set in this place, so wage a good warfare for your Lord and Master. Let nothing distress or alarm you, for under God Jhe issue of it all is sure and certain. Our”Authorised Version is somewhat misleading here, and has given tens of thousands a misconception of Paul’s meaning. The Greek word is “politeuma,” from “polls,” a city, from which we get our “police” and “politicians," those engaged ( upon the order end wel- ; fare of a city or city-state. The original

word has nothing .whatever to do with talk, gossip, or_the. interchange,of common social amenities; >lt refers to colonx--sation, to citizenship,-as you may gatherfrom, any reading in the revised version. To these particular followers of Christ, it was a most striking and significant word. -Philippi, after all, was riot simply the chief city. v of .Macedonia; it was a Roman colony also. 'That; was’the fact of special import.to - them. • Philippi was’ a free town,' with'''all the -rights "and" privileges enjoyed by .ffiose dwelling within the very, Imperial, city itself.. Paul’s word, .we are sure, was 'designed •

to convey to them something, like. this-— “You Philippians '.arts ’Roman citizens, who never forget-the dignity, with which citizenship in that- mighty' empire 'has invested you.;; Your -sense.- of indebtedness and. your proud relationship helps you everywhere to. obey the laws •of Caesar, and to act in ways appropriate, to your high, name and notable association.” Then, by an inevitable transition of mind: and association of. ideas;, their, thoughts" would turn from . satis-. faction in their imperial -relationship to a juster pride in their Heavenly One, He would remind them that they ara citizens,. also, of that Eternal and Sacred City whose Builder and Maker is God. “You. have a wondrous franchise in Heaven,” he says. “You dwell on earth, but never forget it is yours always to enjoy the protecting care of the Almighty.,Sovereign, the rights and privileges thereunto belonging, and the knowledge that when your work is accomplished, peace, honour and reward await you in that Eternal Father’s palace on high. So behave yourselves worthily as become? such noble citizenship.” Now. we do not need to enumerate the. privileges and responsibilities implied in Roman citizenship. Quite patently, in a Roman colony set down in some conquered territory their standard of private living, their ideas and administration of law and justice, their military, political and social codes, would be Roman and not Greek, or Jewish, or Egyptian, or Barbarian, or anything else. Their chief task would be to see that the populace honoured their Emperor and obeyed his laws and their constant endeavour would be-not only to maintain the land won, but also everywhere to extend the power and dominion of Rome. The - analogy was patently clear to these Christians. Their citizenship was of Heaven. They were set in a world whose ideas, laws, customs and practices were alien. They were not to “go native” and live down to the people around them. God was their Lord. His laws they were to obey. His plans and purposes they were to fulfil. And not only were they to hold what had been gained for His Kingdom, but they were also to carry forward His banners and extend His sovereignty over yet wider areas.

For ourselves we have only to think upon the early European settlement in Taranaki and at New Plymouth among the Maoris to appreciate the lesson of the text. The emigrants, though so far

distant from the Homeland, never forgot / whence they came and of whom they were. The Queen and her statutes were as real to them as to the dwellers about

Westminster. The traditions of their faith and political creeds and what was appropriate to them in speech and behaviour, they never forgot. Their actions were determined not by the practices of the dark-skinned' inhabitants around them, but by what was right and proper 12,000 miles away. And their aim was to establish themselves with their own distinctive culture in this place, and gradually to permeate the surrounding community with their ideals, their standards and norms, their hopes and expectations, until all were one in the kingdom. We to-day are very much in the condition of those Macedonian Christians. We are racial colonists of that Empire that occupies a corresponding position in the modern world to that of Rome in the first and second centuries. We are intensely proud of that association. Not only are we’ citizens - of the great British Commonwealth of Nations, but likewise, we are citizens of the Eternal King and His Kingdom. This possession arid this knowledge ought to. bring to us a profounder satisfaction and should rejoice our hearts mightily. God, the Eternal and Almighty Ruler is ever behind and about us; His divine sway and holy purposes are ever being effected in the earth by angelic and human agencies; and before us. is a happy Homeland, where appreciation, reward, peace and joy await us. The lesson to be learned by us from this earnest appeal of Paul to the Philippians is clear to us all. We, before everything else, are subject to God. Our primal obligation is to Him. . His laws we must obey. His purposes we must fulfil. Whether we are upholding worthily our Heavenly citizenship, whether we are maintaining what was won by saints and martyrs and the faithful fitnesses of God in the past, whether we are personally true to our privilege and obligation—let us examine ourselves and see.

It might help us all to clearer appreciation of the situation were we to ask ourselves, say,, whether'the Christian position; once ’ gloriously ‘ secured in such matters as the Lord’s Day, religious and political freedom, social purity, commercial honesty, and so on,- stilb maintain? Here is Dr. C. J. Cadoux’s judgment concerning one of these items ■and it is by no means flattering or reassuring. “The spirit of the world has eaten deeply into the vitals of the Christian commonwealth,” he says, “so much so that the charge can be made that the average moral life within the Church is-little higher, if higher at all, than the average life withdut; that the ‘Church is as much the home of lazy reaction and selfishness as it is of idealism and progress.” • . McLaren of Manchester used to say there were four things Paul would have these Philippian Christians to remember, and therein we may find our lesson. First they were to keep strong arid fervent the home ties.. They must: never be out-of touch or out of. sympathy with Imperial Rome. Its . characteristics, its aims, its ideas, its customs, its manners, its distinctive quality they should never lose. And to that end they must keep intimate and vital all ties and affinities. So, likewise, should the Christian be bound to heaven and be at one with its spirit and eternal purposes. Second, they must ever be loyal to the laws of the kingdom. As Romans they never demeaned themselves by subservieirce to any other nation or national code; so as Christians they must obey only Jesus Christ and be ever true to His principles and His commands.

Third, as Roman colonists they were not simply to hold ttye ground won by the legions; to the utmost of their power and in every way possible they were to advance the eagles and possess new territories in the Emperor’s name. So they were Christians not for their own sakes, or for barrack room or parade purposes, but to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth and to bring land into subjection to Jesus Christ, their Lord and King. Fourth, they were in both relationships to act as though assured of victory. Nothing in this world was to affright or daunt them. They were to have no fears or misgivings. about the ultimate triumph of evil or any earthly thing. Whatever the appearance, whatever the portentous and fateful circumstance, they assuredly were on the winning side. He must reign until all things are put under His feet. Our own attitude ought always to be that forward one of the courageous Crusader. When in the thickest of fight and sore bestead, he threw the golden casket containing the king’s heart into the very midst of the enemy, shouting, “Lead on, brave heart, I follow thee.” And so he pressed on as one who had already conquered. Ours truly is a great heritage, a prideful tradition and association. We are citizens of God, a colony of Heaven in this place. And the great example for us may be found in those of whom it was written, “They overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.” —“But we are a Colony of Heaven.”