Show Me Your Passport, Please! - Part A

All of us are foreigners making our journey on a pilgrimage towards heaven. We have a passport because we trust in Jesus, but we need more than a passport. We need partners.

We need patterns. We need people who have walked the walk before us or will walk beside us and show us in real time how it's done. Because the journey gets hard sometimes. Did you know that one of the first passports ever issued was in the Bible? In the book of Nehemiah, the king of Persia sent Nehemiah with a letter requesting safe passage as he journeyed home. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip talks about what it means to live as a foreigner on earth because you're a citizen of heaven. But first, we want to invite you to see the very places Jesus walked, taught and performed miracles. Have you ever tried to imagine the places in the Bible? You can study the scriptures where it all took place when you joined Skip for his upcoming trip to Israel in 2022. Make lifetime memories and deepen your faith as you see the Bible come alive before your eyes. Find out more at inspirationcruises.com slash c-a-v-q.

Now we're in Philippians chapter three as we dive into our study with Skip Heitzig. Whenever you travel outside of this country, you're going to need one of these. This is a passport and the passport designates that you are a citizen of whatever country it is that you were born in. You have citizenship there and you can't just walk from one border into another border and say I've decided to visit. They're going to ask you, some official is going to say please show me your passport or they might not use the word please. They might just say passport and you have to show it to them. It designates where you're from and then there are certain stipulations about where you're going. Now when you arrive at an airport in a foreign country, you're going to see two lines. One that will say citizens and one that says non-citizens and that's because if you are a citizen of a country you are afforded certain privileges that non-citizens don't have in any country. If you were to look at the first page of the American passport it says the Secretary of State of the United States of America hereby requests all whom it concern to permit the citizen or national of the United States named herein to pass without delay or hindrance and in case of need to give all lawful aid and protection. Now let's say that you don't belong to this country but you want to become a citizen of the United States.

You can do that. You can do that by becoming what is called a naturalized American citizen and there is a process that you would go through in order to become naturalized and once you go through the process you then swear an oath in public and part of the oath reads like this. I hereby declare on oath that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince potentate state or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion so help me God. So though you may be born elsewhere not of your own choice of course it was a choice of your parents you can become a citizen of this country by choice and by oath but by becoming a citizen of this country you also become a foreigner of every other country of course there are exceptions there's a thing called dual citizenship which interestingly wasn't even possible until recently it was the late 1960s where you could hold dual citizenship but that's more of a recent development effectively becoming a citizen of one country means you are a foreigner of other countries likewise when you become citizens of heaven you become foreigners on this earth this earth is just like a transit lounge in an airport you're passing through this isn't where you're going to spend the bulk of your time you have an eternal home in heaven with that in mind let's go to our text Philippians chapter 3 beginning in verse 17 what I call the citizenship clause of the book of Philippians brethren join in following my example and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern for many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame who set their mind on earthly things for our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait for the savior the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself now in calling believers citizens of heaven that would be meaningful to the Philippians here's why Philippi though it was about seven to eight hundred miles away from Rome if you were born if you were born in Philippi since Philippi was a colony of Rome any citizen of Philippi was a citizen of Rome so those in Philippi did not speak the language of Macedonia they spoke the language of Rome they wore not Macedonian clothes but Roman clothes they were loyal to the Roman government and when they tucked their children in bed at night they didn't tell them stories of local heroes they told their children stories of all the glories of Rome we too because we have citizenship in heaven we're temporarily living in this colony called the earth that's the metaphor that's the idea behind Paul's usage of the term however there was also another group they were foreigners of heaven trying to pass themselves off as citizens they're fakes they're fake citizen now in the passport you know most people don't read these things but there's fine print in every passport and it says on one of the pages it is unlawful for any person other than the original lawful recipient to use this passport and then there's a little clause that says alteration or mutilation of the passport and it reads like this this passport must not be altered or mutilated in any way alteration could make the passport invalid and if willful may subject you to prosecution now why would they have to put a warning like that in a passport because it's one passport per person I can't just say hey you want to travel take this passport go ahead why spend the money on yours just borrow mine you couldn't do that and some people would be tempted to take the passport cut out my picture and put their picture in it and change the name because there are people who are false citizens now Paul has that in mind also when he writes this paragraph if you remember there were religious groups and Paul makes mention of them along the way so far that have infiltrated the church in chapter one Paul said some speaking of among them some among you preach Christ out of envy and strife from selfish ambition not sincerely as we move on in the letter he gets stronger by chapter three and he says beware of dogs beware of the evil workers beware of the mutilation now he's calling them out he's speaking specifically of those legalistic judaizers who were saying you need to go through the process of circumcision and keeping the law of moses in order to be saved now he gets even stronger and he calls them the enemies of the cross of Christ so we're going to be considering both of these groups citizens and non-citizens as we work our way through the passage but let's go back to the passage and allow me to give you some distinguishing characteristics of citizens of the kingdom of heaven first off citizens walk with partners citizens walk with partners verse 17 brethren join in following my example paul writes and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern you know it almost goes without saying that paul the apostle was like a model citizen of heaven and he says follow my example now this is not arrogance paul is not putting himself on a pedestal above them we know that because remember in verse 12 he says not that i have already attained or were already perfected so he's not placing himself on a pedestal above them he's placing himself on a platform next to them and he is saying just as i am pursuing christ with all my being i invite you to join me in that pursuit this is the philippians 3 way of saying what he writes in first corinthians twice follow me as i follow the lord or imitate me as i imitate christ something else notice that he moves beyond his own example and he draws a bigger circle he says note those that's plural who so walk and you have us again plural as a pattern so in paul's mind he is saying you can use me timothy apaphroditus your own elders and deacons leaders of the church that he mentions in chapter one all of us as partners and as patterns of how to walk here's the principle all of us are foreigners making our journey on a pilgrimage towards heaven we have a passport because we trust in jesus but we need more than a passport we need partners we need patterns we need people who have walked the walk before us or will walk beside us and show us in real time how it's done because the journey gets hard sometimes it gets lonely sometimes in this road and it's nice to have people around us who are to have people around us who will encourage us and show us how to walk you know psychologists have said that they can tell a lot about an individual's personality by the way they walk you know how some people just sort of walk shuffle in their feet it says a lot about that person you know just go meandering and they get distracted very easily other people have a cadence and a gait they want to go to a certain place it reveals about their personalities one time dl moody was having a conversation with a friend and a man walked by moody had never met him but the friend he was talking to knew him and as the man walked by dl moody said to his friend he must have been in the army the friend said well he was in the army how did you know moody said i could tell by the way he walked you know soldiers walk a certain way don't they cowboys walk a certain way at least they do in the movies you know john wayne had sort of that swagger didn't he could tell it was him when he was coming christians are to have a certain walk and of course i'm using that metaphorically walk as a way of living a manner a lifestyle living their life and so as you walk note those who so walk you have them as partners you have them as a pattern mark twain once humorously wrote few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example may i just say we need more of that annoyance we need the annoyance of good examples around us those who have been involved in 12-step programs or those who teach them for alcoholic recovery or addiction recovery will say that an addict cannot recover unless they have a sponsor and they say it's the sponsor that serves as a motivator an encourager a person with whom they can be accountable and i would say that we can't really mature well we can't grow well unless we have a sponsor a mentor it's it's called discipleship in the new testament we're never to be alone or isolated we need to walk with others and citizens will walk with partners i think we could learn from the elephants i read an article about an elephant herd in africa and to thin out the herd it was growing it was becoming a little too populous so to thin out the herd authorities decided to kill off some of the older males in that herd and relocate the females and the young bull elephants to another area now in the area they moved them to was a herd of white rhinos and they noticed that once the elephants were in that region the white rhinos were being killed off not by poachers but by elephants young bull elephants who were very aggressive and i guess wanted to prove their elephanthood started killing these white rhinos in fact the authorities noted it was as if one of the elephants got a gang together and went after tour buses so they had another problem on their hands now to address that problem they decided let's kill off some of the young bull elephants that didn't really fix things so what they decided to do is to release a few older males from another area and they noticed it fixed the problem it wasn't long before those young bull elephants got back into line and they discovered that these young elephants don't know how to act from day to day without the example of older elephants so it's not just in the animal kingdom where that is needed it's in god's kingdom in the christian life we need to see the young bull elephants and the young elephants need to see that life lived in others citizens will walk with a set of partners in a pattern here's the second characteristic citizens watch for pretenders verse 18 he says for many walk the reason we need people who walk well is because many walk of whom i have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of christ whose end is destruction whose god is their belly or their appetites whose glory is in their shame and who set their mind on earthly things you see not everybody within the borders of a country are citizens you can have people in the general population they look like everybody else but they're not loyal citizens they're actually hostile to the national interests and every country knows these people can be a problem paul knows it's a problem even within the church and he goes you know i've told you about this before but now i'm writing this to you and as i'm writing i'm weeping isn't that a weird word to read in the book of philippians we've noted already that this is a letter that 19 times uses the word joy or rejoice it's the epistle of joy nothing could take paul's joy away but here paul says i'm weeping he's not weeping for himself he's weeping for the church because he knows the outcome could be catastrophic and so he warns them these are fake citizens that is they know the heavenly language but they're not conformed to heavenly laws remember jesus said beware of false prophets they come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves and predicted jesus this will be a problem even to the end of the age in matthew 24 when he speaks at the end of the age he says many will come in my name and will deceive many and as you thumb through the new testament you find out this is an ongoing issue you get to the book of acts you get to chapter eight there was a guy named simon magus who was a fake believer among the general population of believers in samaria go a few more pages acts 13 there was elemas the sorcerer then you get to the 20th chapter of acts when paul is about to leave the ephisian elders and before he leaves he says i know that after my departure savage wolves will come in not sparing this flock in fact men from among your own selves your own rank will come in speaking perverse words to draw the disciples to themselves he knew it would become an issue as we go on through the new testament paul calls out two people in the church at ephesus this is in the book of first timothy named hymenaeus and alexander whom paul says whom i have delivered to satan that they may learn not to blaspheme then we get to the writings of peter first peter second peter second peter has three chapters two of those three chapters are totally devoted to the issue of false teachers false teachers false prophets within the church he says there are false teachers among you who bring in destructive heresies why so many warnings i didn't cover them all there are many more in the new testament why so many because it brings up a truth scattered among every church are pretenders they may be sitting next to you right now now i don't say that so you'll give them the evil eye it must be you i knew that about you but that you're aware of it nonetheless many people can sing the same songs pray the same prayers engage in the same activities and at the same time be pseudo citizens pseudo citizens they speak the language of the court but christ is not their king there's no allegiance to him and you shouldn't be surprised by this you know some of us go i can't believe that would happen in a church really you shouldn't be surprised because jesus said that the good seed is sown in the field and it brings up a crop but the enemy comes along and sows tears among the wheat and then jesus even said not everyone who says to me lord lord will enter the kingdom of heaven so apparently according to jesus and peter and paul and john and everybody who would contribute to the new testament understands that wherever there is something true there is going to be something counterfeit that'll be next that'll be next to it like the puritan william gurnall who said these are people who love god in their mouth but the world is in their hearts notice how paul writes about them he says they are the enemies of the cross of christ wouldn't you like to know exactly who he's talking about now i say wouldn't you like to know i can't be sure exactly what group paul is referring to because in philipi like just about everywhere else in the new testament early church there were two groups that were on the opposite end of the spectrum both were problematic one we've already noted were the judaizers these were people who said you have to keep jewish law go through jewish ritual in order to be saved keep circumcision they were the legalists on the other hand there were the gnostics and the gnostics were not legalistic they were antinomian that is having no law at all and the gnostics believed that all matter was evil only the spirit is good and that you can be saved by aligning your spirit in surrender to god but you do anything you want with your body because your body is irredeemable so in effect the gnostic said as long as in your heart you believe in god and follow christ you can live any way you want with your body that was problematic so we don't know if he's referring to the legalistic group or the antinomian group the judaizers or the gnostics either way both groups being problematic would fit the description enemies of the cross of christ they are a menace that's Skip heitzig with a message from the series technicolor joy right now we want to share about a great resource that gives you incredible insight into what's going on in the middle east and why it matters for you the beating heart of bible prophecy is the land of israel and the middle east joel rosenberg has his finger on the pulse of the world shaking changes happening right now and he unveils them in his new non-fiction book enemies and allies this is the first book of its kind that takes you inside the oval office inside the palaces of the kings and crown princes the presidents and the prime ministers in israel and in the arab world as as we ask them what do you think about religious freedom about making peace with israel about the threat from iran about u.s arab relations u.s israel relations enemies and allies from multiple new york times best-selling author joel rosenberg takes you on an unforgettable journey inside the turbulent middle east you'll go behind closed doors to hear from the very kings and crown princes presidents and prime ministers who are leading the charge enemies and allies includes exclusive never before published quotes insights and analysis from the author's conversations with some of the world's most controversial leaders your hardcover copy of enemies and allies is our thanks for your generous gift of 35 or more today to give call 800 922 1888 or visit connectwithskipp.com as believers we are earthly and heavenly citizens and our lives can lead many more people to become citizens of heaven that's why we make these bible teachings available to help you live for jesus so you can lead others into his kingdom and you can help many others do the same when you give a gift today just call 800 922 1888 and give a gift today that's 800 922 1888 or visit connectwithskipp.com slash donate that's connectwithskipp.com slash donate thank you tune in tomorrow as Skip heitzig shares what happens the moment jesus changes you completely and you perfectly reflect his beauty our hope is not in the coming of the lord our hope is in the lord who is coming i'm not waiting for an event to bail me out i'm waiting for a person that i know and love he's coming back he's my lord he's my savior and that intimacy will be fully realized at that point connect with Skip heitzig is a presentation of connection communications connecting you to god's never changing truth in ever-changing times