Sermon: Citizenship in Heaven

Citizenship in Heaven

By Curtis Karns

Preached 02 21 16 at First Presbyterian Church of Anchorage

Background: not in the sermon

In an interview during the popes visit to Mexico, the question Phil Pullella of Reuters asked was this, “Today you spoke a lot and eloquently about the problem of immigrants. On the other side of the border there is an electoral campaign that is rather hard. One of the candidates for the White House, Donald Trump, in a recent interview said that you are a political man, and indeed perhaps a pawn of the Mexican Government when it comes to the policy of immigration. He said that if he were elected president he would build a 2,500-km wall along the border. He wants to deport 11 million illegal immigrants and, in that way separating families and so on. I would therefore like to ask, first of all, what you think of those charges against you, and if an American Catholic could vote for a person like this?”

The Pope responded, “Thank God he said I am a politician because Aristotle defined the human person as an 'animal politicus' [a political animal]. So at least I am a human person. As to whether I am a pawn, well, maybe, I don't know. I'll leave that up to your judgment and that of the people.”

 “And then, as far as what you said about whether I would advise to vote or not to vote, I am not going to get involved in that. I say only that this man is not Christian if he says things like that. We must see if he said things in that way and in this I give the benefit of the doubt.”

Introduction to the Scripture readings:  How recognizable should faith be in our lives?
The pope and Donald Trump tangled a bit this week when a reporter pointed out that Trump’s plan to build a wall along the border of Mexico contrasted so sharply from the pope’s call for giving aid and shelter to immigrants.  The reporter went on to ask whether a catholic American could cast a vote for Trump.  The shortened version of the pope’s response that was most reported was this: “a person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not in the gospel…I only say that this man is not Christian if he says things like that…”

Trump responded swiftly at a campaign event in South Carolina, saying: “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful.”…“No leader, especially a religious leader, has the right to question another man’s religion or faith,”

Now, this has been in the news since Thursday, and there could be a lot more to report on the story if it was really worth it.  What I find useful for a sermon from this piece of news, is this:  The pope was not sure what Trump had said or not said, but he lifted up a principle for Christians to ponder.  So I want to pose that principle as a question, not for Trump, but for you and me.

How should our faith show itself in our words and actions?

                  Or, How recognizable should faith be in our lives?

For me, this discussion in the news on “being Christian” comes in the very week when the recommended Scriptures for today are these passages found in Philippians and in Luke.  Let’s take a look at these scripture passages and see how they guide us in our own way of bearing witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3:17 - 4:1

3:17 Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.

3:18 For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears.

3:19 Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.

3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

3:21 He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

4:1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

Luke 13:31-35

13:31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you."

13:32 He said to them, "Go and tell that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.

13:33 Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.'

13:34 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

13:35 See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

Scripture: The Contrast—The Healing of Justice-Love vs the Wounding of Domination

We only have time to look at small passages of scripture each week.  But the gospel reading this week is really full.  What a contrast of images are contained in this one paragraph! 

First, notice where this passage (in Luke 13) falls in the Gospel of Luke.  Everything that happens after Luke 9:51, tells of Jesus going to Jerusalem, the city where he knows he will be persecuted. Luke 9:51 tells us that “from that point on, Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem,” so today’s passage is a part of that courageous, intentional journey Jesus is making.

Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem and travels to that city to face the religious and political powers of the world, as well as the spiritual powers—all the powers that would be so offended by his ministry that they would sentence him to death and kill him on a cross. Jesus is going to Jerusalem, knowing that they don’t want his prophetic message there—Jerusalem kills its prophets.  So, at this point, Jesus is in the midst of that last, oh-so-courageous journey to Jerusalem.

The Pharisees tell Jesus to flee; the ruler of that region, Herod, wants to catch him and kill him, they say.  What does Jesus respond?

Jesus basically gives a two-part response.  In the midst of it all, Jesus describes his daily activities.  He has been busy healing and casting out demons.  We actually see this if we continue reading in Luke. All along this journey to Jerusalem (just check out the very next paragraph after this one!) Jesus is all about healing and casting out the powers. In fact, Jesus really claims that this is what all of his ministry is about, even going to the cross; it’s all about healing what sin has caused and casting out the powers that hold us back from God’s grace in our hearts and in the way we live.  

But on the other end of the spectrum in this same passage we have Herod and the Roman Empire, which is itself a wounding force—they will kill Jesus, after all--and one of the things Jesus is doing by going to Jerusalem is joining in solidarity with all the others who are victimized by the powers of empire.  The whole Roman Empire—and every government—is demonic to the degree that the leaders, and the population, become blind to the values which the empowered people accept that allow their society to damage people (and the rest of the world that God loves). 

This is why the church of Jesus Christ is always at work in the world today.  Our world always needs reform.  Let me give you an example from our own society.

I visited an 81-year-old man in prison recently, who was guilty of something, so his lawyer told him to plead guilty to misconduct.  Unfortunately, the lawyer had not followed changes in the law and had him plead guilty to the wrong kind of misconduct, shocking him when it resulted in a 10-year sentence instead of a 2-year sentence.  It will cost him thousands of dollars to attempt to get this injustice fixed, money he doesn’t have. 

But it’s not just individual injustices.  25% of the people incarcerated in the world are in prison in the USA.  For a variety of reasons that I only slightly understand, our prisons are based on a punishment system, rather than a rehabilitation system.  That is, rather than trying to heal whatever brokenness put people in prison so they can learn to live well in the world, we punish them for their misconduct, without providing much opportunity to learn a new way of being in the world.  No wonder people keep going back to prison after they get out.

And that is only one of the reasons our correctional system is not working.  Our systems are demonic to the degree that we don’t address the way they are set up for failure.  I am glad that this seems to be a moment in history when society is calling for a review of our prison systems.  It needs to happen.

For Christians, living the way of Jesus is about addressing the real issues in the world around us.  This is why Jesus set his face to Jerusalem.  He was standing out as a different power in the world; not a power of overwhelming domination, but a power of compassionate love, and of justice that heals.

In our reading from St. Paul in Philippians, this same contrast is lifted up—a contrast between living out of trust in God and the grace of Jesus Christ to give blessedness compared to the way of the world, which is living according to trust in wealth and personal power to give blessedness. 

Paul tells us that our citizenship is in heaven—we need to live according to that way.  The ways of citizens of heaven are to be different than the ways of the world. The people who live the way of the world are governed by their appetites.  They want more stuff for themselves and their own wellbeing, because they think that is what will bring them happiness.  This way of living, Paul tells us, is against the cross of Christ.  Jesus died for the way of heaven.  We should not weaken in our resolve to live for that way, too. 

And that is important, because Paul was writing some while after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven.  Paul’s writing reflects on what the earliest church thought was really important about Jesus’ message.

Well, I started out talking about Donald Trump and the pope—I mean, how could I not when they offer such tempting, provocative statements in the press?  And I said that their trading of words in the press raises a question for us:  How recognizable should faith be in our lives?

Let me address this question in two ways.  First, since we started out with a political example, let’s ask this in a political way.

First, do our politics all have to agree if we are Christian? 

Many years ago a pastor said on television said he would gladly shoot a democrat if he thought he could get away with it.  I read in a public blog from another pastor that, according to him, it is quite clear that republicans clearly are not Christians.  Yeesh!  I guess we need the pope to comment on the behavior of a few more of us American Christians!  That kind of vocabulary is absolutely out of bounds.  Not only is it untrue, but pastors have to be careful about what people will do with their words.  For some worshipers, who are already upset and not in good spiritual space, that kind of talk sets up some real stinkin’ thinkin.’  That can set up the kind of thinking that leads people to doing violence in the name of Christianity.  Jesus way is not the way of the world.  Quit doing violence to one another in the name of Jesus—that is against Christ.

And I have seen politicians use religion badly from both parties.  In one church where I was pastor, a democratic politician showed up in church only when he was campaigning for reelection, and on no other occasion.  Boy that ticked me off.

When I became pastor in another church, we ordained one of our members an elder, he promptly filed to run as a republican for the state house of representatives, and we never saw him in church again—let alone at a session meeting.  But his campaign literature always listed him as an ordained elder.

Both sides of the aisle can misuse religion.

But both sides of the aisle can include faithful Christians, whose faith drives their passion for good government.  No one party has a corner on Christianity.  Whether it is the Christian Right or the Christian Left, they don’t have a corner on it, no matter what anyone tries to say.  Wouldn’t it be a great thing if the Christians on both sides of the aisle insisted on talking to one another somewhat regularly, despite their different political philosophies?  That would be so much better than publicly demonizing one another just for being from the other party.  We can honestly disagree and still be Christian, and our politics can disagree.

Indeed, I would go so far as to say there should be Christians in all parties.  Because whenever one party gets too much power, and one way of thinking becomes the only way of thinking, a whole new set of temptations will arise.  We need one another to combat the arrogance that would make us think that any one of us, or any one party, has the only direct line to God.

There is another question, though, is more pertinent to what I think the pope was getting at.  If we claim to be Christian we need to be able to describe how we believe the way we live, and what we do, is guided by our Christian principles.  To simply say we are Christian, without showing how our lives are guided by that faith, is truly not enough.  So my 2^nd question, a question for each of us, and for any of our politicians who claim to be Christian, is this: How does our Christian faith show itself in our lives.

Douglas John Hall, a Christian teacher said it well, I thought.  He said a true confession of faith has three parts.  First, there is a stance that we take.  It is a stance that shows how we are different than the world today because we stand with Jesus.  Jesus power was about healing and casting out those invisible powers that keep us from living like citizens from the Kingdom of heaven.  That was much different than the status quo of the world around him that was based on slave labor and military might.  So that’s a question for us:  When you stand for Jesus, what does that mean?  What are you standing for, and what are you standing against?  Like Jesus we have to ask: what is the stance I take?

Second, Hall said, a true confession of faith puts that stance into action.  When we pray “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done,” we have to follow up that prayer by living it out.  We have to put our faith into action to make a difference for Jesus, and for the world that Jesus loves.  So... that is the second question for you and for me:  Once you know what you are standing for, what are you doing about it?  How does your life show what you stand for?

Finally, he said a true confession of faith includes the Word.  We have to describe our faith and actions in terms of the biblical faith of Jesus Christ as revealed through Scripture.  And we have to do it in a way that helps our actions to make sense. And so that is our third question:  How does that stand you take, and the actions you take for that cause, fit the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Conclusion:

As for whatever candidates you will find yourself supporting, how does supporting that person reflect your true identity, a citizen of the Kingdom of heaven?  Because that is what we want our world to look like.  The Kingdom of heaven is where justice also reflects God’s love, and where people seek to live in right relationships with one another and with all creation?  Our lives and our world need to be places where reform has a chance of bringing our both our lives and our world more and more into line with the Kingdom.

But when speak and when we vote we need to do so with a certain amount of humility.  We need to learn from the Christ, who did not consider equality with God something to be gripped with white-knuckle further, but humbled himself to take on the form of a creature, a human being.  And in doing so Jesus was telling us that he insisted own remaining related to us, no matter our stinking' thinking'.  Indeed, just because we probably wouldn't get it otherwise, he even took on our DNA--insisting that much that God wants to be related to us no matter what.  In Jesus God signals that God does not put us down for our race or our religion or even our sin.  God works to restore what has been damaged, and refuses to cast us off like so much damaged goods rejected from the assembly line.  And that is how we should be and our politics should be, too.  The world needs healing.  Our societies need reforming, patterned after the kind of justice, tempered with love, that leads to wholeness.  That is the way of the Lord, and that must be our way, too.