Crystal Sparks' Podcast

196. [Philippians Study] Citizens of Heaven

• Crystal Sparks

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What if the real test of faith isn’t what you believe in theory, but how you walk it out with other people—especially the ones who rub you the wrong way? Journeying through Philippians 3, we explore why Paul refuses to let belief stay abstract. He moves us from orthodoxy to orthopraxy, from ideas to daily habits, and he roots the entire shift in one provocative claim: Christians don’t live fragmented lives. Our heavenly citizenship informs everything—work, politics, relationships, desires—because Jesus is not a weekend identity; he’s the organizing center.

Expect some holy discomfort as we challenge fragmented living and gimmick-driven spirituality. Paul’s invitation to imitate his life confronts our obsession with polish and ease. He was poor, opposed, often alone—and deeply content. The early church saw glory through a cross-shaped lens, not a pain-free one. That vision steadies us now: we can lean into community when offended, guard doctrine without losing love, and set our minds above without abandoning the world we’re called to serve.

My hope is that this podcast helps grow your faith and equips you to accomplish your dreams and goals!

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SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to another part of my Philippian study that I have been doing with our staff at Staff Chapel. If you haven't listened to the other parts, you might want to go back deeper into my podcast, check out those episodes, and catch yourself up to join where we're at today. Sometimes it feels like it. Hey, guess what? Next week we're gonna be in Philippians still. I know you're shocked. And we're gonna actually make it to chapter four. Yeah. Most of you only knew Philippians for chapter four. But now you know one through three after today. You're done with three. And now I'm heading into the territory that you're like familiar with, which is actually the hardest thing as a teacher is not teaching uh it's teaching things people already think they know because it's the lullaby effect that you're like, I already know this, and so we tend to tune it out. Can I just pop off for a second? I don't, I shouldn't read reviews, but every now and then I do. And I thought it was so funny that somebody left a review for our church because they were mad that David Hall preached on the woman with the issue of blood, and they were like, get a new story. And I was like, okay, just so you know, we have 66 books of content. Like, you're gonna like re-preach things. If we're coming up with new stories that you've never heard before, that means that we have an open canon, which means that we are now a cult. So I guess she was looking for a cult. I hope she finds it. And so I wanted to reply to her and be like, well, maybe before going to a church, you should search and see if they preach, you know, Bible stories that you've heard before, and don't go there. Here's some cults that you might be interested in. I just thought it was a pretty great way. I mean, if you're gonna get a bad review, I feel like it was a pretty good bad review. Honestly, I'm like valid. Oh, they're they're ascribing to orthodoxy. Yeah, I'm out. I don't want this. Anyways, okay. Um, we don't have the TV today. Um, so I trust that you'll just be able to take uh notes. Um, so just to sum up the entire Bible, um, it begins with God's law, which is the first five books of the Bible, then it moves into God's people, which are our historical books of the Bible, then it moves into God's wisdom, um, then God's prophets, which is God calling back his people, and then it moves into God's son, then we see God's church, and then finally God is coming back. And so Philippians uh chapter three, Philippians chapter three, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, first and second Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians. So Philippians in my Bible, it's page 1396. And it says, This brethren, join in following my example and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly await for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body, according to the work by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself. Okay, so for us, um, keeping in mind um how many times he uses the word mind previously, and um, we kind of talked about that in our last session about how this is an emphasis for Paul of there being unity of mind, not not pushing against diversity of opinions, but there's a unity of mind. There's something that we all come back to that these things we agree upon, and this is what makes us a body of believers. And so he goes from doing this. Now keep in mind that Paul is always gonna move um from this. He's gonna talk about orthodoxy, and then he's gonna move into orthopraxy. So our orthodoxy is what we believe, and orthopraxy, think practice. How do you like practice this? How do you live it out? So he set up for us some orthodoxy. Now he's gonna go into orthopraxy of us walking it out. How do we live this? Now, anytime we see walk in the Bible, it should represent to us our daily manner of living, our daily manner of living. So whether it's talking about walking in darkness or whether it's talking about walking in light, we should think our daily manner of living, not your weekly attendance of church, not just your 21 days of prayer and fasting, not that. No, your daily manner of living, not just your devotional time in the morning, but your daily manner of living. It's how you conduct our lives. So Paul links their walk not just with him, but with the body of believers that they surrounded themselves with. And so the test, um, here's here's the thing is uh for us in our lives, is like, how well do we do with the people that we're walking with, that we're called to walk with? And so he's saying this walk, this journey, again, keeping in mind that for Paul, faith is always a uh group activity. It's a community event, it's not a solo sport. And so he's like, as you are seeking your personal walk, your walk is connected to the community of people that you're aligning yourself with. And so there has to be this awareness of it. Okay, so um I read this book and I think it's interesting. I'm reading it for school, and um, it's called Blue Parakeet, if you want to read it. Um, but it's just about Bible interpretation, it's a whole book on hermeneutics. And um, but one of the interesting things is he's a professor at a um college and he's teaching these students about um God and the Bible, and he said that every semester he starts out with this test, and it's 24 questions, and it's basically asking the people um about Jesus. Like, does Jesus' mood go up or down? Yes or no? Um, how do you view Jesus as talkative? Yes or no? Um, how would you would would you describe Jesus as fun? Yes or no? And it's 24 questions that people answer. Like, how would you say that Jesus um sees people that are oppressed? Yes or no? Like, would Jesus speak up? Yes or no, like if something was wrong. So they go through all this, and then he has a section after that 24 questions, and he asks them their name, their gender, um, their religious affiliation, tell a little bit about your story. So almost like allowing their brain to reset. Does that make sense? And then he moves into, he tells them, you cannot look at your previous answers. Now answer the 24 questions. Do you view yourself as fun? Yes or no? Do you view yourself as talkative? Yes or no? Do you do you are y'all following me? The same 24 questions. He said 100% of the time the test reveals the test results showed that even though they like to think they are becoming more like Jesus, they consistently make Jesus like themselves. So that's why when we look at the Bible, we typically, and we did our observation in the college recently about Cartavaggio and his view of David and Goliath. And his view of David and Goliath was actually a window into his pain, which changed how he saw the story. And so he saw the story different because we were seeing into his heart, which changed his hermeneutical application. Are y'all following me? Why we need community is not that you need community who vote like you, who believe like you, who dress like you, that lives the same life as you. You actually need other people to remind you that Jesus is not exactly like you. Are we okay? And I think if we're not careful, we silence voices that disagree with us. And I will just say at the core foundation of everything that we saw this week is a departure from Imago Day. And Amago Day means that we are created with the image of Christ, the image of God on us, that we are all image bearers of Him. And when I start saying that I cannot, I can't even live on this earth unless you're gone, you're dead, there's something wrong. And and Paul's saying, guys, the strength of our community is not, I'm just gonna pop off for a second. The goal is not that we start a cowboy church. So I go to church with everybody who likes what I like and dress like I dress and has the same hobbies as I have hobbies. Are y'all following me? The beauty of the body of Christ is people coming together that would normally never even hang out together, that would normally not even do anything together. And that we all come together around one name and that is Jesus. And it's when we're walking together that there's sandpaper in you that's softening me, but there's sandpaper in me that's softening you. And Paul's going, guys, if you're gonna live this out, because he's talking about being one mind, how are you gonna do it? You're gonna do it in the context of community. You don't get to remove yourself the minute I disagree. You don't get to, does this make sense? Like it's part of it, is like, is having that friction. And if you're gonna be here in this house for any length of time at all, I will say something that's gonna offend you. Pastor Brian's gonna say something that's gonna offend you. Pastor Jimmy probably won't ever offend you. You're just always gonna love him, and that's great. Like, that's awesome. Just keep all your beef with Brian and I, right? But we're gonna do something that disappoints you. That's not the reason to remove yourself from community. It's actually the time to lean in. It's actually the time to go, okay, God, I'm seeing, like, I want to see you more clearly right now. Like maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe I need a different perspective right now. Does this make sense? So Paul doesn't say your lack of being in the same mind means you get to remove. No, he says, no, you got to get back into community. You got to walk along other side other people. And again, what is walk? Your daily manner of living. You got to keep yourself in the context of community. You know, I think the biggest fallacy is we see scripture. I heard this thing said a long time ago, it was a propagated a long time ago, but that the whole Bible is basically creation, fall, redemption. That's the whole story of the Bible. There's creation, people fall, God redeems. Creation, fall, redemption. And that's not true. It's actually creation, fall, community, redemption. And God's solution to what's happening in the earth is community. It's literally community. What is Israel when God establishes Israel? A community of people, a community of believers that goes in. What is Acts chapter two? It's Jesus establishing a church to change the world through the context of what? Community. And so I can't remove myself from the very thing that, the very thing that God wants to use. I have to keep leaning into those spaces. And so this is the power of community. They remind you what you need to work on. The things that bother you are are indicators, like like if something, somebody's differing opinion, if it bothers you, like keep holding that and going, okay, God, like what in this, why does this bother me? And is there something you want to show me? Does that make sense? The problem isn't the person. The problem is maybe it's sharpening something in you, maybe it's softening something in you. Um, they have different viewpoints of the world, they have different things, different likes, passions. Um, we're not hard on people. We do guard our ideas. Like, and by when I say ideas, I say this that we hold tightly to doctrine, but we're loose on opinions. And I'm not gonna like, I'm I'm not gonna lose my influence over the next election, but I am gonna hold tightly to doctrine. Does this make sense? I I'm not gonna lose my influence over um something that is is peripheral, like whether or not you like Chipotle or Choloso better. Like I'm not, I it's not, it doesn't matter to me whether those things, I'm gonna I'm gonna hold those things loosely, but I'm gonna fiercely guard doctrine. And and I feel like as a body of believers, we need to be reminded of that. And there's certain truths that we have to hold on to as a body of believers, Amago Day being one of them, and that we don't, we, gosh, I'm just like, I'm trying to like get this to you. Are y'all, are y'all, I'm trying, I'm trying to be not too cryptic, but also like open. Does that make sense? Um, and what does this do? It keeps us in a place of humility. Pride says, I'm right, there's no other way. Humility says there might be another way of seeing things. Okay, there's no other way to see doctrinal issues. Jesus, born of a virgin, third day, rose again, ascended to the Father, seated there, from which he will judge the living and the dead. Like there's certain doctrinal stances that we are unapologetic, gonna hold to, Amago Day being one of them. I'm not gonna back down off of that. So Paul says this. He says that you're join in following my example and note those who walk as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and and now even telling you in weeping. So he's saying to follow my example. Now, think of this that Paul is not someone you would want to uh imitate. He's not. In fact, he's the he's the anti-hero of the American church. He's poor. And in an American church, money is the primary motivator for us. Like, how am I gonna be benefited from doing what God's called me to do? He's like, no, I'm actually like, I have nothing. He told us I've learned to be content, whether a base or abounding. Um, he's in prison. We think doing good things means we won't have bad things happen to us. That's literally what we believe. That's why the events of this week shook us to our core, because we believe that when we do what's right, when we love God, and whether you agree 100% with Charlie Kirk and everything he said and did, I'm not making it about that. I mean we think that if we're a righteous person, that we live according to God's word, that bad things, we're exempt from bad things. And Paul is actually living proof to us it's the opposite. It's actually when you live for Christ, bad things are going to happen to you. Jesus even said that, but for some reason, we want, we want to only do good things if we're guaranteed that nothing bad will happen to us. He has a lot of people who hate him. Like Paul has a huge group of people who do not like what he has to say. They don't like the message. We we post based on what we want people to celebrate. Like we have this deep desire, this deep need to be liked and appreciated and affirmed. Paul didn't get any of that. He's alone. Much of his time is spent alone. We have a society that hates being alone. We fill every living moment with noise. We can't go to the bathroom without our phone. We can't drive down the road in silence. We've got to have noise going. Like we have a podcast going, we have something, music going, like we constantly no, he's alone. Like he's saying, imitate me. We don't, we don't want to do that. Like, we don't want to be with our thoughts. Um, he has terrible fortune, and I kind of touched on this, but he was shipwrecked, beaten, so many awful things. And so uh in this, to keep in mind what Paul has already told them to imitate. He told them to imitate Christ and his suffering in Philippians 1.28, and he told them to imitate in the rejoicing in 218, and now he's saying to imitate me. So I'll just say when we say for somebody, I think when we're looking for examples of a life we want to live like, Paul's characteristics here, he would not be the person that you would walk up to and say, Can you disciple me? Like, because we're looking for somebody with a really nice car, really big business, really popular. Paul's like the anti-hero. He would be the opposite of what our culture would want to celebrate. So in this, um there's so I I just think there's okay, I'm trying to think if I want to touch on this. I only have 11 minutes. Oh, God help me. Okay. Okay, all right. So walk um, the walk of the righteous, of the unrighteous in verse 18. So he says, Um, for many walk in whom I've often told you, and now I tell you, even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. Okay, so the walk of the unrighteous. So again, the daily manner of living of the unrighteous. Do we all commit unrighteous deeds? Yes. But I I love, I heard this years ago, that David was called a man after God's own heart. Now, do we all know that David failed? Yes. Do we all know that he fell short? Yes. In fact, when you're reading first and second Samuel, notice that once God makes covenant with David from that point forward, it only records his failures, not his victories. Just a little fun fact. All before that, it's only his victories. After covenant, it's his failures. Why? Because covenant was never about how good I am, it's about how good God is. That he's the covenant keeper. I'm not the covenant keeper. Okay. So the the thing is in our life is that we get to a place where the average of our life is more righteous than unrighteous. Does that make sense? That we get to a point where it's like, I'm living. So he's saying the daily manner of living of the unrighteous. And so they are enemies of the cross. He doesn't say they're enemies of the church. They're enemies of the cross. Keep in mind, church, that we are battling a spiritual battle between light and darkness. People want to make it about people. They want to make it about your group, your affiliation. It's none of those things. Enemies of the cross. We have to keep our eyes that there is a devil and there is a righteous king. And everything that's happening, I think my biggest, I'm just like gonna pop off for a second. My biggest thing that I hear people say is it's not about politics, it's about Jesus. Okay, let me let me just tell you what you're saying is that I live a fragmented life and that my Christianity never informs my politics, and my politics don't inform my Christianity. That never existed previous to like around 1900, this ideology of two-story Christianity, that I have a political stance that does not touch my Christian standard. I am a Christian first. He says, You're a citizen of heaven. Like all of us, it's all about Jesus. Like our lives are about Jesus. And he says, they're enemies of the cross, not enemies of one church. They're not enemies of Brian Sparks, they're not enemies of Jimmy Sai, they're enemies of the cross. And we have to keep the main thing, the main thing. And he's like, guys, this whole thing, this thing that you're in, hello, wake up. This is about darkness and it's about light. And what the enemy wants to do is throw red herrings and get us all talking about a party, get us talking about a person. Are y'all following me? Keep your eyes, be smart. We're talking about a spiritual battle here between light and dark. So quit propagating of it's not about politics, it's about Jesus. You don't live a fragmented life. You don't live a fragmented life. Quit fragmenting. Well, how do I, how do I balance my work life and my personal life? You don't live a fragmented life. Your work life is informing your personal life, and your personal values are informing your work values. And when your personal values get aligned with what Christ says, your work values begin to change. Does this make sense? But we have this fragmented, and you know, anything that's fragmented is broken. And so we are broken as a nation because we try to keep breaking our faith. Does this make sense for my everyday life? I've got the work me, I've got the friends me, I've got the personal me, and then I have the church me. No, the church you informs everything else. There is just the Christian you, and then anything else is secondary to that. Does that make sense? Are we following here? Okay. So they're enemies of the cross. So the battle that we're in is about light and darkness. They do not hate you, it's about what you represent, which is Christ. If they do not like you, they are rejecting Christ. That's what Jesus says. They said that if they hear they reject you, they're rejecting me. That's what it is. So keep our eyes on the main thing. Quit taking it personal, what people are saying about you, and realize it's about the light in you. So Paul keeps it very clear that this battle isn't about their lives, it's about what they are doing, and it's all about Jesus. Um, I think in 1.8, um he tells us, and we had talked about this in Philippians 1.8, and the the translation of this is for God is my record who greatly I long after you. And remember how it meant the bowels of Jesus Christ. And we talked about how the original Greek word, it's like from the deepest place, like the second brain of us, it's like the deepest place that he's crying out for them, that he loves them. He's using the same thing. So the way he began this letter with his deep love for them. He's like, now it's in my deep love for you that I'm crying out for you to realize that these people are enemies of the cross. And you gotta be careful who you're walking with. You gotta be careful who you're walking with. Like, don't walk with the unrighteous. They're shaping you. They're shaping you. Come on, we gotta walk with the righteous. We gotta get our past aligned with people that believe what we believe. And so, uh, does that make sense? Like, and I'm not talking about that they agree with uh secondary opinions, I'm talking about orthodox issues. I'm talking about core doctrines. Um, so he pleads on their behalf based on the love he has for Christ for them. So keeping in mind for us that correction to the people that we're discipling always comes first and foremost out of a place of a deep love for Christ for them. Like it's the deep love that I love them, that I'm coming to them. Okay, so Paul makes four points. And remember how he began in 3-2. He says, Beware of the dogs, beware of evil workers, be beware of the mutilation. And so this is he's defining what are the dogs. Who are the dogs that he told us to beware of? He's now defining it out for us here in this verse, in um Their enemies of the cross, verse 19, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who set their mind on earthly things. So here we have four things. This is a chiastic structure for my one college students. You know so well what that is now. Um the the desire, God is their the their God is their desires, which is their bellies. And so it's when my flesh gets the final say of what I do. Chrysostom puts it like this He says, of this verse, let us build bigger houses, let us purchase bigger fields, let us obtain more wealth to be as rich as we can be. Where on earth, of course, these are the ones whose desires is their belly. And so the next one is whose glory is their shame. When people boast about sin and unrighteousness, they are not, they they are enemies of the cross. When they're boasting of sin and unrighteousness, they are enemies of the cross. Can I be any more clear of that? When you're boasting of the things that are going wrong in the earth, you're an enemy of the cross. When you're boasting to your friends about how drunk you got last week, says they their glory is their shame. What should be their shame is their glory. They love to boast about it. They're an enemy of the cross. The next one is who set their mind on earthly things. So earthly things are things that I I can see for this present time. So this is when like people for setting our mind on earthly things, we're thinking about what I can get, what I can benefit, what it can do for me. My mind's all set up on this. Um, I could go off on this so hard, but when youth groups grow youth groups by giving away iPads, you're setting them up to set their minds on earthly things. You're teaching them that to follow Christ there has to be a reward. Literally. Our uh Pastor Tyland's doing an incredible job. And it's not through gimmicks, it's not through giveaways, it's through the power of Christ and community. That's how he's building this thing. Not come and you'll get an iPad. What the freak are we doing? Like, actually, what are we doing? Like, do you think Jesus grew his ministry? Like, come follow me and all your wildest dreams will come true. He's not Napoleon Dynamite. All right. Number four, the end is destruction. When you're doing um the above three, it feels like there isn't a consequence. And sometimes when we're watching people do the above three, it feels like there's not a consequence. But I'll just say there is an eternal consequence. And even though we it sometimes it feels like the unrighteous are getting away with unrighteousness, I will just say that everyone will stand before the throne of judgment. And there will be a consequence, whether on this side or on that side, there will be a consequence. So the top of our chaotic structure is a citizen in heaven. That's the main point. The main point of our Mountain One college students up at the very top of your triangle should be that we're a citizen in heaven. So their Roman citizenship would have been their reason to boast. And Paul had already let them know that I'm giving up every right to boast in the earthly. My boast is that I'm a citizen in heaven, that I belong to that first, that I'm a Christian first and foremost, and that informs everything else that I do. I'm not living a fractured life. I'm not a Roman Christian, I'm a Christian Roman. Does this make sense? I'm not an American Christian, I'm a Christian American. Like my Christianity informs everything. I'm not a one-church Christian, I'm a Christian who goes to one church. Does this make sense? And when we get that straight, it changes everything else. Then Paul goes down on the other side of our chaotic structure. Um, they eagerly await the savior, which is setting their mind on things above. He's like, uh, we're eagerly awaiting our savior, which is setting our mind on things above. Um, we know that this is well said, for we ought to live as strangers and um of this earth, not using the creation to satisfy our passions, but high-mindedly and with thanksgiving. This is Clement of Alexandria. I love that so much. So our mind is looking to eternity. We live for that place. Number two, um, would he will transform our bodies. In other words, our desires are gonna change. Like as you live this Christian walk, your desires begin to change. He's transforming us. He's transforming us. Number three, that we're conformed to his glorious body. Now keep in mind the conform to the glorious body is not Jesus with a crown sitting on a throne. The early church saw this conform to his glory body, glorious body as the one on the cross. That messes us up because we see victory as no suffering. But Paul is painting a picture, and the early church would have seen the crucified Christ, not the Christ that's removed from suffering. In fact, even for all of time, the Bible describes him in Revelation that he is the lamb who was slain. Like he appears in the midst of everyone worshiping in Revelation as a bloody lamb standing. In the midst of them. He doesn't come as a king pristine from any wound. Does this make sense? And so for them, they would have been like, okay, it means that as I'm the further I follow God, the more I'm walking with this, I'm okay to suffer as he suffered. I'm okay for that. Number four, the end is victory in Christ. Our end is this victory in Christ. So your feet of your mountain is gonna be the end is victory in Christ. And the other end is of course destruction. So with all that said, you're at the end of Philippians chapter three. And next week we will begin Philippians chapter four. You guys are doing so good, and it'll be part 14, legit, of our study together. So um, Jesus, we just thank you so much for what you're doing. God, we just thank you. Um Lord, I thank you that the entire scripture is about faithful witness, that Lord, you're looking for people who will be faithful witnesses to you. And so, Father, I just thank you that, Lord, we're gonna be those that walk um with the righteous. That, God, I thank you that you're doing something within our hearts. God, change our desires, change our passions, change the way that we've seen things, God, where we've been misaligned, God, with what your word says. God, would you realign us back? Um, Lord, I just thank you, God, for all that you're doing. And Lord, I just say, here's our life, you can use it. Lord, we commit ourselves to you. Lord, whatever you want us to say, we'll say. However you want us to shine, we'll shine. And so, Father, I just thank you, Lord, for the beauty of community. God, thank you for this amazing church that you placed us in. That Lord, every person here is is meant to make us stronger. And so, Father, help us see you the way that you see people. Help us see people the way we see you. And God, I just thank you, uh Lord, for a greater alignment, Lord, in our vision in Jesus' name. And somebody believed it said, Amen. I love y'all. Thanks so much for hanging out here on my podcast. Do me a favor and hit the subscribe button if you haven't done so already, so you never miss out on anything here on my podcast. Also, one of the best ways for us to begin to reach other people is by you sharing. So if you can do me a favor and share this podcast with a friend, family member, or maybe on your social media, help us get the word out so we can help others.