“Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved,I do not consider that I have made it my own but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.  [O]ur citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” 
Philippians 3:12-13,20

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The best way to get residents to take pride in their homeland is to take pride in themselves. Our identity and confidence is closely tied to the place we call home. In this week’s message, Pastor Amy Perez gives us three key ideas on how to be citizens of heaven.

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Context of Cities

• A city is the smallest, most basic unit of government, and was often tied to a particular municipality
• Cities in the Bible are deeply human in their origin, usually founded by fear, violence and revenge
• God didn’t plant a city where he placed Adam and Eve, but a garden.
• The biblical image of the city is all about self-preservation and peace enforced by the threat of death. The garden had rivers that flowed out to all and there was abundance—the opposite.
• Even New York City is a breeding ground for the very founding principles the very flawed humans started with–and that we have perpetuated to this very day.
• The Bible speaks of a “New Jerusalem,” Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is at hand!” Paul calls us “citizens of heaven.”

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Humble Acceptance

• Outside the garden, our temptation is to draws walls around us and divide: us vs them
• The challenge to being a citizen of heaven is humble acceptance
• Every single one of our citizenships began the same—a confession of sin and of faith, of the need of grace.

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Holy Dissatisfaction

• As citizens we need Humble Conviction, John Piper calls this, “holy dissatisfaction”
• While we are not citizens because we have done anything to earn our status, we also do not live like the world around us—because this is not our home.

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Hopeful Perseverance

• There is an endurance to living counter culturally. It takes discipline and steadfastness to swim against the current.

• Our home is in the now and not yet.
• We don’t make ourselves at home in this world, in this present reality, because God has so much better for us.

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Additional Scriptures

• Revelation 21:1-2
• Ephesians 2:19
• Philippians 3:19