Living Between Two Worlds - Part A

How do you strike the balance between being a citizen of heaven?

That's where we're going to end up. Philippians 3 20, our citizenship is in heaven. Well, at the same time, being responsible as a citizen of this earth.

How do we live in between these worlds? We're moving to heaven, but we're on the earth. Philippians gives us a real good structure on how to do that.

Warren Wiersbe said, Christians have a dual citizenship on earth and in heaven, and our citizenship in heaven ought to make us a better people here on earth. Today on Connect with Skip Heising, Skip shares how you can overcome one of the biggest challenges you'll face as a Christian. Before we begin, here's a resource that will help you become the difference maker God created you to be. I've enjoyed watching the growth and the ministry of my friend Levi Lusko. This month's Connect with Skip resource, Take Back Your Life, the new book by Levi Lusko.

Here's Levi to tell you about it. It's all around this idea of taking back your life. It's a 40-day interactive journey to thinking right so you can live right. And it's going to be really powerful and special, I think, for people to have this.

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It'll deal with internal difficulties and help you deal better with external circumstances that are challenging as we explore how we can get to the very best version of ourselves that we are meant to be. Get the book, Take Back Your Life, with a donation of $35 to connect with Skip. Call 1-800-922-1888 or online at connectwithskip.com. This hardcover book by Levi Lusko will help you take back your life. It's a 40-day interactive journey to thinking right so you can live right.

1-800-922-1888. Okay, let's get into today's teaching. We're in Philippians chapter 1 as we begin our study with Skip Heitzig. It's been four months that we've been studying eternity. We've followed the Christian from the grave to glory, from death to eternal life, from the temporal into the eternal, from earth to heaven. And we've seen all of the different stages and all of the different phases and you know that's one journey you want to make sure you're ready for.

We're all going to take it. You want to make sure that you're ready because the Bible says it's appointed unto every man to die once and after this comes the judgment. But to get to heaven you have to have the right approach. You can't just say well I just decided I want to go there and that's a good decision but you got to make sure that you come to the right channel. Just like if you were to go to a foreign country you couldn't just decide I'll buy a plane ticket. You can't get into a country unless you have one of these. I brought mine this morning because there was a time when I forgot mine at the airport in Los Angeles. I had flown from Albuquerque to LAX. I had been doing domestic travel and I just didn't think about putting the passport in. So when I got to my connecting flight at LAX they asked for this and my heart sunk because I knew I didn't pack it.

So I had to stay overnight in LA airport while this was being overnighted to me. The passport allows you entrance into a foreign country and so too to get into heaven you have to come with the right documentation. Not because you have a big bible or a bumper sticker on your car or because you attend a certain church but you've come the way of Jesus Christ alone.

And so I want to sum up all that we have studied with today's message. There's two things you need to be sure of. You need to be ready to die and you need to be ready to live until you die.

First you need to be ready to die because that moment could come at any moment. I heard a story of a bank in Binghamton, New York that wanted to send flowers to a competitor bank that had moved to a new location. So they sent the flowers but the flower shop got the card mixed up. So you imagine their surprise when this new bank at their new location saw a card on the flowers that read with deepest sympathy. This wasn't the right message. The flower company was embarrassed but they were even more embarrassed because they realized at that moment there's a funeral home in that town and a flower bouquet in front of a casket with a card that said congratulations on your new location.

Which is pretty accurate actually if you think about it. That person in the casket is no longer there. They're at a new location. Question is where are they?

It may or may not be a cause for congratulations. So you want to make sure that you're ready to die but are you ready to live until you die? And this is where we now come to Philippians. How do you strike the balance between being a citizen of heaven, that's where we're going to end up, Philippians 3 20 our citizenship is in heaven, while at the same time being responsible as a citizen of this earth.

How do we live in between these worlds? We're moving to heaven but we're on the earth and Philippians gives us a real good structure on how to do that. I'm taking you to chapter one. We're going to read a section of verses together and I'm going to give you four words that will describe how Paul strikes the balance between the present and the future. Those words are simple and they're in your outline, rustling, wanting, willing, and waiting.

And we'll see how that unpacks as we go together. Let's read the entire section beginning in chapter one verse 19. For I know that this will turn out for my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ. According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed but that with all boldness as always so now also Christ will be magnified in my body whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh this will mean fruit from my labor yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. I'm hard pressed between the two having a desire to depart and be with Christ which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. And being confident of this I know that I shall remain and continue with you for your progress and joy of faith.

That your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again. It's pretty obvious from this paragraph that that Paul is wrestling with something. He's struggling with how he feels about what the future might bring. You see he's in prison. He's been arrested and he doesn't know how the trial is going to go.

If he's going to get a death sentence or if he's going to be released he may live he may die. He didn't know and so he's very honest emotionally about how he takes the situation. And I'll tell you when I first read this paragraph I'll tell you what came to my mind immediately. Remember Fiddler on the Roof? Remember the patriarch of the family named Tevye? His three daughters are getting married and this guy thinks out loud he processes out loud and one of his daughters wanting to marry this guy they don't really approve of the guy and so Tevye says on one hand he's not the one I would have chosen but on the other hand she loves him. And on one hand he goes back and forth deliberating with this choice. Well that's what Paul is doing here. He's thinking about the possibility of living and continuing his ministry or dying and going to heaven. Notice verse 23, I'm hard-pressed between the two.

We'd say I'm in between a rock and a hard place. In fact the idea the picture behind the language that Paul uses is the picture of a traveler on a narrow road with a canyon walls on either side and as he travels they're pressing in further and further and constricting his travel more and more. So think of it this way so think of it this way on one side is the wall of what Paul wants for himself in the light of his situation.

I'd rather just be in heaven. On the other side is the wall of what they the Philippian church need for Paul to continue and to minister to them and to live as an example. Now let's apply that. Sometimes our lives become confined. Things narrow.

Our options are less today than they were yesterday. We feel like life is closing in on us at those times. It could be an illness that we face. Loss of a loved one. Loss of a job. Career change.

Death of a vision. Break up of a relationship. We feel like our life is being constricted. Those moments our choices are very critical and and we as Christians are faced with the choice am I gonna am I gonna land on choosing to live for God's glory or for my personal comfort. Typically when we go through a hard time our first response is how can I get out of this? It should be what can I get out of this for the glory of God. Now I'll tell you why that's a critical choice because in those times if our motivation is for personal comfort rather than God's glory we're gonna end up in one of two different camps. Number one some become fatalistic.

That is this is hard. Heaven is better. It'd be better if I just die. I know people who live their whole life that way. They're never happy. It's always a bummer.

It's a drag. Life's horrible. We're gonna get to heaven soon. It'd be better to die. Now those people can develop suicidal tendencies. It can be a very dangerous way to think. Others rather than becoming fatalistic become totally materialistic. Yep life is hard.

This is a drag. I know I'm going to heaven but till I get there I'm gonna make it all about me and have as much fun and spend as much money as I can on my own personal comfort. They become materialistic. I know that she didn't really completely understand what she was saying but I'm going to tell you a story about a girl that I met years ago. We were all talking about she was a believer. We're all talking about the Lord coming soon and she was just getting engaged to a young fellow and I never forget what she said. We said yeah Jesus could come at any moment and she said well I hope he didn't come right away because there's still a few things I haven't done yet. There's a few experiences I haven't made it through like marriage and children and I'd like to buy a house and she had a little list of things she wanted before the Lord came. Now I understand that kind of emotion but she really sold the Lord short on that. Not understanding what eternity had in store for her as a believer.

Sort of reminds me of Mark Twain when he was told about heaven he said you can have heaven you just give me Bermuda. You know for him the temporal was more important than the eternal. So here's Paul he's in a predicament he's in prison he doesn't know which way the verdict's going to fall and so he's wrestling. Now he tells us also in the same paragraph what he wants personally. He's wrestling with a predicament he's wanting to push off and I'll tell you why I use that language in a moment.

Look at verse 23. He said I'm hard pressed between the two these constricting walls of my emotion having a desire to depart and be with Christ which is far better. So what does he want? What does he want to do?

He has a desire to what? Depart. The word he chose is a very telling and descriptive word on a loose eye and on a loose eye means to let loose of or to break up or to undo and it was a word a couple thousand years ago in the Greek language that was used number one of mariners who were leaving port and what they would do is they would loose the ship of the moorings they would untie the ropes they would bring up the anchor and that would give them the freedom to set sail. That's what they meant by the word departure and it's a beautiful description of Christian death.

I'm going to pick up the anchor and I'm moving on. Paul used it that way when he wrote to young Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 4. He was toward the end of his life and he said I'm already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure on a loose eye is at hand. Timothy I'm already untying the ropes I'm bringing up the anchor I know my time is short I'm setting sail. Now this imagery has found its way into hymnology. Some of the hymn writers speak about gathering together on the other shore or setting sail.

There's a second way the word on a loose eye was used in ancient times and that was for striking a camp or breaking up a camp. Soldiers would camp out in their tents when it was time for them to move on they would fold their tents up they would take out the tent pegs they would wind up the cords and they would move on. That's a beautiful description of death as well. We're pilgrims we're traveling through we're camping out on this earth this isn't permanent. Now camping is a lot of fun for like a day okay for a week or two but you know you know after like two or three weeks in a tent it gets really old doesn't it?

You know you long for something more permanent you long for a shower because you're smelling pretty ripe after a few weeks I don't care what KOAs have it's just different. And so the Bible is very descriptive to say this life is like living in a tent we're camping out and when we die we strike the camp and we move on to something more permanent. 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. We know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down that is when we die and leave these bodies we'll have a home in heaven an eternal body made for us by God and not by human hands. And if you're an honest person the longer you live you realize yep it is very temporary and I am in a tent.

I woke up this morning and looked at my tent in the mirror and I saw the flaps and the tent is stretching out a little bit the cords are wiggling a little bit looser and you can't wait for something more permanent. A few days before he died a guy by the name of FB Meyer he was a pastor of last generation wrote to a friend now here's a guy on his deathbed and he says this I have just heard to my great surprise that I have but a few days to live. It may be that before this letter reaches you I shall have entered the palace. And he closes don't trouble to write we shall meet in the morning.

That's so beautiful. Hey here I am I'm writing you you may not even get this before I'm in the palace I get to heaven I've moved on don't even bother to write see in the morning. I've also discovered that departure can come at any moment you might think today oh I won't depart from this life for years you might not be here next week there are just no guarantees it can happen at any moment. Here's Paul saying I'll tell you what I want I would love to depart I'd love to set sail I'd love to strike the camp and move on to something more permanent. Notice what he continues to say in that verse. Having a desire to depart and be with Christ. Now that's the best part. The best part isn't the departure it's the arrival it's the encounter. I think I told you about JB Phillips who wrote that great translation of the New Testament and he conducted so many funerals in his lifetime but he never spoke about a Christian who died as the dearly departed you ever hear a pastor say that at a funeral here the dearly departed is he didn't say that he talked about them as the one who has arrived and if you're a believer when you die you've really arrived. So there's the departure but there is immediately the encounter I have a desire to depart because it means I'm gonna be with Christ and we have spent four months talking about the arrival four months talking about what it's like the moment we die and we're in glory and we get reunited with loved ones and we're in the throne room of God and we see the lamb and the choirs of heaven and what the resurrected bodies will be like and all of that hope upon the arrival now you know there's there's two modes of transportation to heaven number one death and so far that's how everybody has gotten there who's gotten there death number two is when the Lord comes back and the Saints who are alive are instantly translated into heaven that's the rapture of the church that's another way to get there those are the only two modes of getting to heaven that's described in First Thessalonians chapter 4 it says we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and here's the best part and so shall we always be with the Lord there's the departure there's the encounter and the encounter is the best part because once you're with him you'll always be with him right once you're caught up in the air or you die and you're instantly in heaven you'll always be with him you'll be with him when he returns to the earth you'll be with him in the millennial rain you'll be with him in the eternal city forever you'll be with the Lord no wonder he says then in the same verse having a desire to depart and be with Christ look at this which is far better two words far better in Greek it's three words you know what it reads literally which is much more better if you're an English teacher that's repulsive to you that's bad English happens to be good Greek and it's great theology heaven is much more better than earth the arrival is much more better than even the departure and being here now for Paul to say this it's pretty obvious that he believed the moment he died he would at that very moment be with the Lord there's no holding pattern there's no waiting there's no going somewhere else there's no limbo there's no purgatory there's no soul sleep as some hold that if you die as a Christian you go into this sort of suspended state of unconsciousness until the Lord returns then you're awakened and you're with him Paul wouldn't have said that if he believed that because he thought when he departs he'll be with Christ which is far better he was anticipating to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord I'm gonna read you something else Dwight Lyman Moody I've quoted him on many occasions a great evangelist and pastor of moody Bible Church last generation he was on his deathbed while he was there and he didn't know what the future state would be he told his family gathered around him I'm not discouraged I want to live as long as I'm useful but when my work is done I want to be up and off I want to push off that's my desire to depart when it's my time after a particularly restless night the next morning with a very careful measured speech he said this earth recedes heaven opens before me now his son who was at his bedside thought pops is dreaming and Dwight said to his son no this is not a dream will it's beautiful if this is death it is sweet there's no valley here God is calling me and I must go what a great way to go it's so great to have lived that kind of a life so that at the end you are this is it I'm graduating now this is sweet so go back to Paul he's in prison in Rome writing to the Philippians doesn't know which way the verdict will pass on his behalf or will he be killed and as he rustles with this he says let me just tell you where I'm at where I'm at my own personal desire be a lot easier a lot better for me to leave this earth and be home with the Lord however the 24th verse switches gears so that's what he wants the third word he's willing to persist he's willing to stay and work for the Lord on earth for he says nevertheless to remain in the flesh or in my physical body is more needful for you and being confident of this I know that I shall remain and continue with you for or excuse me I forgot the word all and continue with you all he's from the south for your progress and joy of faith so you see what he's saying as much as I want to go home I understand that I have some unfinished work here and I have a hunch that I'm gonna stay around for you all this is what I want you to notice here's a spiritual man caught between two worlds earth and heaven and as a spiritual man though he would love to just be in heaven because it's a place of comfort and joy and reward he's balancing out what he wants with what they need and he places what they need before what he wants that's a spiritual man that's Skip Heitzigened with a message from the series from the edge of eternity now here's Skip to share how you can keep these messages going strong to connect more people to scripture even believers can fear from God's calling for their lives but God will always do what it takes to bring you back into his fold well our heart is to come alongside listeners like you as you follow God's calling on your life and you can help do the same for others help share these encouraging teachings with more people through your generous giving here's how you can give a gift today visit connect with Skip comm slash donate to give a gift that's connect with Skip comm slash donate or call 800-922-1888 800-922-1888 thank you for your generosity and come back tomorrow as Skip heissig shares the Apostle Paul's life motto and challenges you to evaluate what you're living for this is his motto this is his slogan for me to live as Christ and to die as game I wonder what one sentence would sum up your life if there was going to be something on your tombstone that marked who you were in this life and how you live what what would it be make a connection make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on his word make a connection connection connect with Skip heissig is a presentation of connection communications connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times