America wanted its own government and laws. That’s why we went to war. But Philippi did not. Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians, the text for the sermon today, with citizenship in mind. You see, Philippi was a colony of Rome and they proudly wore that nametag. They loved being a part of Rome. They even dressed in Roman clothes, spoke Latin like they did in Rome, and adopted many of the Roman customs. Philippians loved being citizens of Rome. And perhaps that is why Paul talks to the Philippians about citizenship.

This statement made by Paul, “Our citizenship is in heaven” meant more to the Philippians that it does to us because Philippi was so far away from Rome. They loved everything about Rome – except the distance between them. Paul could bridge the understanding of how much they wanted to be in, around and part of Rome with the understanding that we as Christians have a home that is far away as well. The Philippians probably understood this much better than us Americans because they longed for their motherland – Rome.

And besides being so far away from where they wanted to be, they had to put up with their neighbors. Philippi was east of Rome in Macedonia. It was surrounded by uncivilized barbarians. Philippi, wanting to be so much like Rome, loved living in their own little haven of civilization and wanted no part of the savages around them. Yet, these savages didn’t feel the same way. The Philippians often times found themselves fighting against their neighbors for their commonwealth and Roman citizenship.

And this is what Paul would say of the Christian – fighting on this side of eternity in this world against sin death and the power of the devil – fighting for heaven. We don’t fight so that heaven can be on earth. That would only be a dream and never possible in this fallen world. No, we fight against the forces of the world that are against heaven – Those who want to stifle the proclamation of the Word of God – the idea that we don’t need to depend on God – the desire to ignore the truth given freely to all of us.

Our citizenship is indeed in heaven and that is worth fighting for. But, beloved in the Lord, don’t forget that we are called into this life as citizens on this side of heaven as well. And we are privileged to be called United States citizens. We are privileged to have the freedom to worship the one true God any time our hearts desire. That is not a privilege everyone has. And that is a privilege we dare not take for granted.

There is a book on the best seller list called “The Black Book of Communism” written by Karel Bartosek and others. They recount the long history of tyranny that Communism and Socialism has had on the World. Throughout the history of Christianity since the birth of our Savior Jesus we might believe that the most difficult times and the most oppression for Christians were its early years. We call to mind stories of martyrdom of the early Christians. We recall how they served the church in the midst of persecution and often times lost their lives. We may think that the very early years of Christianity saw the most Christians die for the faith. According to Courtuis and Bartosek this is not true. They claim that more, many more Christian martyrs lost their lives in the 20th century. They estimate that some 100 million Christians were killed in this past century alone. When the Bolsheviks took over Russia, priest and church members were escorted away from their homes never to be seen again. An estimated 60 million Christians died when Communism took control of Russia. It is estimated that another 30 million died for their faith in China and 10 million in other places around the world. That is the stark reality.

And here is the warning: if we think that for one minute we are immune to ever having something like that happen in our own land, we are sadly mistaken. Beloved in the Lord, I am not an alarmist. I simply come to you with a warning. We must guard what is sacred and true or it will fall by the waste-side.

50 Years ago Fidel Castro stood before the U.N. and said, I’m not a communist. I have no intentions of being a dictator. Look where Cuba is today. The Christian Churches that were serving the One True God have been converted into storage unites, history museums, and even night clubs. The people in that country live under the tyranny of a ruthless dictator who mandates the people to worship the government and its idea of social justice. And this, dear Christian friends, all has happened 90 miles off the coast of Florida. Are you sure it can’t happen here?

Look at the country of Venezuela and its leader Chavez. This past week they have introduced new measures into their constitution that would slowly change that democracy into a dictatorship. Chavez is a socialist bent on world domination and he has his finger pointed right to the United States of America. What is happening in Venezuela has happened in many places throughout the history of the world. And just because the U.S. is a democracy now, doesn’t mean it is immune to leadership that desires to impose a form of government that could compromise our freedom.

Beloved in the Lord, again, I’m not an alarmist. I say these things about our citizenship not to worry you about what “will” happen but rather to prepare you for what “could” happen. Our country has gone to war for its freedom many times over. It could happen again. And also, I want you to know, that each day we live on this side of heaven we have to fight a battle for our Christian freedom. Slowly Christianity is being melded into general religions that include all gods as equals – or – our society has taken God out of the equation completely. We have a battle to be fought for our citizenship because our citizenship is in heaven and we cannot give that up.

We might not ever have to fight a foreign battle for our heavenly citizenship. But we do fight a domestic battle each and every day. In this secular world we are called by God to stand up for the kingdom of heaven. We are called to take a stand for our Savior Jesus. It’s hard to imagine a country in which we would not be free to do such things – but what if it became illegal? Would you still stand up for Jesus? It’s hard enough to do just that today. But yet that’s what we as Christians are to do – tell others where our citizenship is. It seems so far away – like those in Philippi who had their citizenship in the far away land of Rome. Our citizenship is in heaven – and being “far away” so to speak from heaven, doesn’t mean we forget about it or give it up. Rather, we live our life today for that citizenship – living as Christians that have a new, better and lasting home waiting for us.

Our Savior Jesus is the one who secured this citizenship for us in heaven. We dare not take such work for our life lightly. We live “in” and “for” this citizenship each and every day. This gift of the forgiveness of sins and a new and lasting home has come by way of a huge price our Lord paid for us – His life for ours. Citizenship is worth dying for. Just ask those who go off to service and live to die for our freedom. Just ask our veterans. Our Savior did the same – for a much better place for us. Our Savior lived to die so that we can have our commonwealth secured in heaven.

In the midst of a fallen world, we have much to look forward to. Just like St. Paul would say, “we eagerly await a savior from there (heaven), the Lord Jesus Christ.” We can be confident of what we have because of what Jesus has done for us. We dare not take for granted our freedom to worship the one true God. We have the freedom to live a life that can openly show others we have a bigger and better citizenship waiting for us. And beloved in the Lord, no government, no dictator, no philosophy that compromises the Worship of the One True God can take away what we have – heaven!! The reason: It has already been won for us and it is ours by grace through faith. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.