Day 16 - A Dot and a Line

Key #4 – We Have a Kingdom Citizenship

Hebrews 11:13; 2 Corinthians 5:20; Philippians 3:20; Hebrews 11:16

• If we consider these passages in context we realize that the point of citizenship in the ancient Roman world was generally that your citizenship was in Rome but your call was not to try to move back to Rome one day but to expand the borders of the Empire by moving to new areas and showing the people around you how to live like a Roman and calling them to “convert” to the Roman culture and way of life themselves
• Our citizenship is in the Kingdom of God and we need to always remember that
• We represent our true citizenship to those around us, showing them what it looks like to be loyal to God, do his will, and calling others to this type of citizenship as well
• We are aliens in the present age in that we should not conform to the culture and patterns of those around us in the world but should demonstrate citizenship in the Kingdom of God
• Where you choose to store your treasure depends largely on where your citizenship is

• If people had to judge your citizenship only by the way you live your life and handle your resources would they think you were citizens of the world just like everyone else or would they be able to tell that you were a citizen of the Kingdom of God?


• Imagine that you had to leave your home in the US and go to Europe to work and live for 6 months in a hotel
• You won’t be able to bring anything back on your flight home
• Would you send most of the money you earned back to the US or would you fill your hotel room with all sorts of expensive furniture and appliances?
• You would keep enough to get by and would invest your money in your home
• Our home is in the age to come not in the present age so does it make sense to invest most of your resources in the things of this present age or in the age to come?


• Do you live as though your citizenship is in the Kingdom of God? How does understanding that you are a citizen of the Kingdom make your life different from those around you?



1 Peter 1:3-5
• The restoration of God’s creation (Matt. 19:28; Acts 3:21) will come one day and all things that are not fitting for God’s Kingdom will be judged and removed
• Heaven and earth will no longer be separated (Eph. 1:10; Rev. 21:1-5) and we will be in a sin-free environment where the will of God rules in the hearts of everyone
• Can you imagine what that will be like?
• We will be transformed (Phil. 3:21) so that we will be absolutely at home in such in environment in the presence of the holy God for eternity
• It makes sense to live for and invest in the eternal and Godly things that will be part of the age to come rather than the profane things that will be laid bare and eliminated (see 2 Pet. 3:10 where “the elements” basically refers to the “abc’s of the present age”)

• In what ways do you live with the reality of the coming age in mind?

• The old bumper sticker says “he who dies with the most toys wins” and many live as though that’s true, but we know that when we die the toys become meaningless to us in eternity
• Think of your life in terms of a dot and a line
• Our life in the present age lasts for a brief time and then is done
• It is a dot
• But then from that dot, a line extends that goes on for eternity in the presence of God


Convictions
• Are you living for the dot or the line?
• The shortsighted person lives for the dot. The person with perspective lives for the line.
• For which one will you live?