Sermon Starters: Dual Citizenship

Location: North Collins Wesleyan Church
Date: July 4, 2021
Text: Philippians 3:17-21

Introduction

• Joke about the man who was always telling the story of how he survived the Johnstown flood. He gets to heaven and starts to tell the story there but is warned that Noah might not be too impressed.
• Paul in Philippians 3 -- he gives his impressive earthly resume, but it is nothing when compared to Christ and the power of resurrection.
• Today we celebrate the founding of the USA. For me, it is an incredible privilege to live here. This is a place where every person is supposed to have equal rights and freedoms. This is a place where in theory everyone can prosper. But also have to keep in mind that all these earthly goods are minuscule when you put them next to Jesus and the kingdom of God.

1. "All created equal."

• A great line from the Declaration of Independence voted on 245 years ago today "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
• In practice, of course, it is not always true. The rich and the powerful almost always have an advantage over the rest of us.
• Illustration--an acquaintance from Missouri who had a good lawyer, celebrities
• Illustration--the fact that slaves were counted as 3/5 of a person, redlining, Langston Hughes poem, "America."
• It is true in the kingdom of God. Galatians 3:28. Women will not be "given" in marriage. There will be no poor. There will be no immigrant. There will be no "in-group." We will all be in the in-group.
• philosophy class -- what is a human being? roadkill? 
• The DoI was a reflection of the trajectory of Judeo-Christian values. Thomas Jefferson the Deist. It wasn't a perfect image. The equality of the kingdom will be beyond our comprehension. Some "Christians" today might not like it if they could catch a glimpse of it.

2. A Bill of Rights

• right to a trial, habeas corpus, face accusers
• In practice, of course, doesn't always lead to justice. People on death row wrongly convicted. Disproportionate number of people of color in our penal system. Penalties for drugs typically used by white people less severe than those used by black people.
• "The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Martin Luther King Jr.
• True because God gets it right every time. 
• "Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." -- includes you and me, includes presidents and kings

3. Freedoms

• religion, speech, vote, defend ourselves
• The "theology" of America here fits very well with the Wesleyan-Arminian God. In this age, God gives us the freedom to obey or disobey. I would argue that there is an impulse by other traditions to try to force the rest of the world to conform to Christ. That day will come but it is not now.
• Christians live a little differently within this context. We do not live as a community focused on our freedom but on true freedom. We do not live for ourselves but as servants of others.
• I am free to try to bend my leg forward rather than backward, but it wouldn't feel too good. The freedom of the Lord is a freedom and empowerment to "bend" the way God made humanity to bend.

4. Prosperity

• Free Enterprise system -- Adam Smith designed it to be the great equalizer, to empower the poor to become rich. My first visit to Berlin
• It has not worked perfectly to that end. Anti-trust laws. 
• Avoiding the emergency room because of cost. Avoiding doctor because of expense.
• 55% of world's wealth in US, only 17% of population. The Sierra Leone pastor who used the US as an illustration of heaven.
• Nothing compared to the kingdom of God -- 1 Corinthians 2:9 in an extended sense. The old songs, "I've got a mansion..." probably some misinterpretation going on there, but the sentiment isn't wrong.

5. A King

• Thor, Captain America listening to War Machine in Avengers
• Jesus is the king of the universe
• Roman Empire must have seemed incredibly powerful. Citizens of Philippi were citizens of Rome. Paul says, your citizenship in heaven dwarfs any privileges you have with Rome.