Citizens of God’s Kingdom
From My Notes by Pastor Ron Campbell
We could spend a lifetime trying to create a perfect home for family, but that should not be our focal point. We need to focus on our eternal identity in our Lord Jesus Christ and being a citizen of the Kingdom of God.
In Ephesians 2:19-22 Paul writes “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
This is the citizenship, the home, and the community that should be of most importance, and with Christ as the cornerstone, it is completely unshakeable.
When we talk about our eternal identity and our eternal home it’s the same eternal identity and home as it was for Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for Moses and Rahab, for all the heroes of the bible, and it is in place for every believer today, in every nation on earth. People convinced their citizenship is in heaven are people who acknowledge that they are strangers and exiles on this earth. Because of the cross, Christians know where we are headed, and because of our belief in Jesus, we are guaranteed citizenship in God’s Kingdom. It is the country we belong in, the home and land we’ve been looking for all our lives. All believers can have full confidence and complete comfort in knowing that, because of Christ, God will not be ashamed to be called our God and that he has prepared a place for us. (Hebrews 11:16)
Remember… our church building is sometimes called God’s house. However, in reality, God’s house is not a building, but a group of people. Jesus lives in us and shows Himself to the world through us, and the world is watching. As we live in harmony with each other and in accordance with what God says in his Word, the people of this world will see that God is love and that Christ is Lord, and as believers, we are already citizens of God’s kingdom and members of his household.
