Young Adults' Group

Understanding Our Citizenship

by Pastor Mark
August 08, 2019

“We, the citizens of…”

This week, we celebrate our nation’s 54th birthday. We thank God for blessing our country all these years. God has given us a stable government and a strong economy. In many ways, we have progressed well as a nation and we must be grateful to God that we can live in relative comfort as compared to many other countries in the world. As a citizen, I’m proud to be a Singaporean. This place is where we call our home. This is where we feel a sense of belonging. Seeing all the difficulties that other countries have should make us appreciate how blessed we are and to be thankful to God for all that we have here in Singapore. Let us not take these things for granted in any way. Let us truly appreciate our blessing and joy to be citizens of Singapore.

The privilege of a citizen

As we think about our physical citizenship, we are also reminded of our spiritual citizenship. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,” (Eph 2:19) The Greek word for “fellow citizens” is “sumpolites” where “polis” means “city” and “polites” means “citizens of the city”. “sumpolites” emphasises the equality of rights as citizens. As Gentile believers, we are no longer regarded as strangers and foreigners in the household of God. When we have faith in Christ and become part of the church, we are given equal rights as all the Jewish believers have. We are regarded as saints in Christ. Being sanctified by the Lord, we stand as holy ones before Him. We also become “members of the household of God”. There is a sense of belonging in being a citizen, as a member of the church. Let us appreciate the privilege that we have as a citizen of the household of God.

The conduct of a citizen

“Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ,” (Phil 1:27)

The word “conduct” is Greek is “politeuomai” which means “to behave as a good and responsible citizen”. The challenge was given for us to behave and conduct ourselves well as a citizen of heaven. The use of the imperative indicates for us that this is a command, a rule to abide by. We should conduct ourselves worthy of the gospel. Paul set himself as an example of being worthy of the gospel. He showed great love by seeking to fellowship in the gospel with his brethren. (Phil 1:5) He showed awesome courage in going to prison for the sake of the gospel. (Phil 1:7) He had the boldness to defend and confirm the gospel. (Phil 1:7) Let us be challenged to conduct ourselves well as heavenly citizens who are worthy of the gospel of Christ.

The hope of a citizen

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,” (Phil 3:20) The Greek word “politeuma” means “citizenship”. We have a heavenly citizenship. We are to behave and conduct ourselves well as citizens of heaven. We want to walk in the manner that is of heavenly conduct. As much as we have our earthly citizenship, we should go beyond it. The reality of our heavenly citizenship should be greater than our temporal, earthly citizenship. We should seek to have hope and to wait eagerly for the Lord’s return. We should look beyond this earth to the Second Coming of Christ. This focus should fill our hearts and not the things of this world. Let us wait eagerly for the return of the Lord Jesus, who is our Saviour, Lord and Christ. Let us be challenged to conduct ourselves well as citizens of heaven in the hope of the Lord’s return.

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