A PERSONAL CITIZENSHIP
(Message by Tanny Keng)
1. The Priceless Citizenship
Ephesians 2:19
"You are fellow citizens with the saints."
a) In this world, we can gain the right to enter another country and stay there awhile, even though we are not citizens of that country. The permission to enter usually comes in the form of a visa. When we come back to our own country, we have no need of a visa, for we are citizens.
b) Heaven is a country that issues no visas. Nobody may enter that country unless they are citizens. If you do not have citizenship, you cannot come in. Heaven has no tourists, temporary residents, or asylum seekers. Citizens only may enter in.
c) This citizenship has several characteristics. As we meditate upon the nature of our heavenly citizenship, we will look at some of these characteristics.
2. A Personal Citizenship
a) Our citizenship is a very personal thing. When Paul says, u are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints" (Ephesians 2:19), he is speaking to a group of Christians (the Gentiles in the churches of Galatia), but he is also expecting each one individually to take what he says to heart and make a personal application of it. For we are not known and recognised by God merely as a group, but each one of us is known personally.
b) Jesus spoke of "one flock and one Shepherd" but he also said, "I am the good Shepherd, and I know my own" (John 10:14-16). The shepherd does not merely know the flock as a whole. He knows each individual sheep. He does not lay down his life for the flock only as a whole, but for each one of its members individually.
The End ...
1. The Priceless CitizenshipEphesians 2:19
"You are fellow citizens with the saints."
a) In this world, we can gain the right to enter another country and stay there awhile, even though we are not citizens of that country. The permission to enter usually comes in the form of a visa. When we come back to our own country, we have no need of a visa, for we are citizens.
b) Heaven is a country that issues no visas. Nobody may enter that country unless they are citizens. If you do not have citizenship, you cannot come in. Heaven has no tourists, temporary residents, or asylum seekers. Citizens only may enter in.
c) This citizenship has several characteristics. As we meditate upon the nature of our heavenly citizenship, we will look at some of these characteristics.
2. A Personal Citizenship
a) Our citizenship is a very personal thing. When Paul says, u are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints" (Ephesians 2:19), he is speaking to a group of Christians (the Gentiles in the churches of Galatia), but he is also expecting each one individually to take what he says to heart and make a personal application of it. For we are not known and recognised by God merely as a group, but each one of us is known personally.
b) Jesus spoke of "one flock and one Shepherd" but he also said, "I am the good Shepherd, and I know my own" (John 10:14-16). The shepherd does not merely know the flock as a whole. He knows each individual sheep. He does not lay down his life for the flock only as a whole, but for each one of its members individually.
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