Citizens of Heaven

I'll return to the posts on Matthew 7, but as we worship this Lord's Day, I wanted to share a snippet I found on the resurrection, heaven and what being a Kingdom community is really all about.

(T)he resurrection stories in the four Gospels aren't about going to heaven when you die. In fact, there is almost nothing about "going to heaven when you die" in the whole New Testament. Being "citizens of heaven" (Philippians 3.20) doesn't mean you're supposed to end up there. Many of the Philippians were Roman citizens, but Rome didn't want them back when they retired. Their job was to bring Roman culture to Philippi.

That's the point which all the Gospels actually make, in their own ways. Jesus is risen, therefore God's new world has begun. Jesus is risen, therefore Israel and the world have been redeemed. Jesus is risen, therefore his followers have a new job to do.

And what is that new job? To bring the life of heaven to birth in actual, physical, earthly reality...

Jesus' resurrection is the beginning of God's new project, not to snatch people away from earth to heaven, but to colonize earth with the life of heaven.

NT Wright

Comments

[Against Christianity]

Here is something I wrote several years ago, very much in keeping with the substance of this post :-)

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The Colony of Heaven in Brooklyn

General Outline and Description

Core Commitments

1. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe.

2. The Gospel is a call not only to personal faith in Christ Jesus, but also to a deeply committed and shared life in community with other believers...this community being a Colony of Heaven on earth.

3. The Colony of Heaven is to be a living expression of the Word of God, particularly the Sermon on the Mount which we hold to be the "Ten Commandments" of the New Covenant, the Constitution of God's Holy Nation, according to the Gospel of Jesus.

4. The Colony is an alien community in America, a counter-culture, sojourning here as wedded to God and declaring our Independence from the ideals, ways and the value-set of the world system which surrounds us.

5. The Colony is an incendiary fellowship, kindled at the central fire of Jesus Christ, kicking out sufficient heat to warm one another and sufficient spark in the Holy Spirit to set our neighborhood ablaze in the holy Gospel.

6. The Colony is a unified family, a brotherhood of love, caring for it's own holistically, with truth, affection and discipline in the Gospel. When one suffers, we share in his pain; when another rejoices, we share in her joy.

7. The Colony is an army of love, a militia of New Creation, moving out to conquer our neighborhood with the weapons of word and deed in the Gospel, prepared to endure the sufferings and the losses which are inevitable in any war.

8. The Colony is a specialized task force, a Spiritual Marine Corps., working hard by division of labor to advance and accomplish our mission in the Gospel. Extraordinary effort and exceptional dedication are required of all, just as the Gospel demands.

9. The Colony breathes on the Gospel, but works by the Cross. Our Life is in God, but our life in this world is cruciform. We die daily and we are ready to die finally, that Life may be the issue... for "the blood of martyrs is seed," just as we see in the Gospel.
"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

10. We believe the whole earth shall be Colonized by Jesus Christ while He remains upon His seat of authority at the Father's right hand in Heaven. "He will not suffer the reproach upon His Name that He was not able to convert the world in righteousness."

Mission

The primary mission of our Colony is to so live in spiritual union with the Three-Personed God that we are able to reflect back to the Father, Son and Spirit, in some genuine measure, Their manifold love, goodness, holiness, mercy, patience, faithfulness, longsuffering, wisdom and truth--those virtues which eminently qualify us in Christ to participate in the Divine Joy. The Colony seeks to be, in some real and substantial degree, an extension and display of the intra-Trinitarian Love and Affection. We are attempting to create a society of heavenly-minded spirits, redeemed from the American Culture and World System, who live with God presently in Cross and Resurrection, in suffering and in the Joy of Heaven, in this otherwise meaningless and burdensome sojourn in the earth. The Colony is an outpost of Heaven in the world, a settlement of Glory in enemy territory, a holy nation moving through a vast corruption. We are a Spiritual and alien people in the midst of the kingdoms of flesh, vulnerable to the values, assaults and formidable powers of the Dark world; yet we are striving as patriots of Heaven to remain steadfastly allied and devoted to the Celestial Powers above and our Motherland beyond, which gave birth to us all and to which we press forward together, seeking our Final Rest in Him whose Presence is the undiminishable and unassailable Kingdom of Light. Our objective is to love God first and last, and to love only those things which He loves, forsaking all other interests and affections; while at the same time we endeavor to appreciate and love all those aspects of being and life which He has created, approved and summoned us to celebrate and enjoy with Him and in Him.

Secondarily, the Colony exists for the comfort, encouragement, sanctification and joy of it's citizens--this care extending from soul to body. We believe that it is virtually impossible to live a stable, strong, and consistently holy life devoted to God and His Kingdom without plentiful and meaningful fellowship from brothers and sisters of serious mind and pious intent. That is, we believe that the power of sin which indwells and surrounds us is so pervasive, so treacherous, so subtle and deceitful that we desperately need fellow patriots who will "stick their nose in our business" every day, several times a day often, to exhort us to live lives worthy of our King and Savior, Jesus, the Holy One. Further, we need brothers and sisters constantly stepping into our daily lives to comfort and console us with the precious Gospel when we fall in our pursuit of so high and noble a standard as the King of Heaven sets before us. As failure is almost ubiquitous, so also our need for comforters and counselors. In every place and at every time, we need one another. And sometimes that need is for something as simple and mundane as a ride home in cold weather.

Of paramount concern as well, the Colony seeks to offer to our neighbors a living witness to the eschatological realities of the Kingdom of God which is come; that is, we seek to be diligent in giving public testimony to our faith in the resurrected Christ by word and deed, hoping to embody a counter-culture of meekness, courage, generosity, humility, grace, holiness, love and service which both convicts our neighbors and attracts them. We view ourselves as resident aliens in this present world whose mission here is characterized by a serious attempt to win loyalists to our King and to His Throne in Heaven. We earnestly desire to expand the Colony of Heaven while we remain on earth and are prepared to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to become disciples who bring love and friendship, food and prayers, a cup of cool water or a serious warning of the wrath to come, each according to a person's need, and all in the context of the precious Gospel of our Lord Jesus, which constrains us to do all in a spirit of love and humility.