This World Is Not My Home?

These are thoughts and reflections from yesterday’s sermon, preached at Faith Baptist Church, 4350 Russell Ave N, Minneapolis, MN.  To listen to the sermon please visit www.faithmpls.org in the next couple of days.  This sermon is the second in a three part series exploring the development of theology and how it affects our view of issues in the public arena.  Next week’s sermon is “Developing a theology of…  Civil Participation:  fight or flight?”  Thank you to everyone who texted questions; I hope that this post will answer some of them.

As a Christian, is this world my home or not?  How we answer this question will have a significant impact on how we view creation and our responsibility to it.   Paul’s letter to the Philippians addresses the question of our citizenship, and correctly understanding the argument that Paul is making concerning citizenship is crucial for an appropriate Christian theology of creation care and will also impact our theology of civil participation — but more on it’s affect on civil participation during next week’s sermon.  For now, let’s explore it’s impact on creation care.

As a child, I remember singing the old hymn This World Is Not My Home:

This world is not my home I’m just passing through
my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue
the angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door
and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore

O Lord you know I have no friend like you
if Heaven’s not my home then Lord what will I do?
the angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door
and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore

As a young adult I loved this song so much I purchased a tie that had “This World Is Not My Home” printed on the tie.  Since then, however, my understanding of this world — and the next — and our relationship to it has changed. I want to be clear that I agree with the sentiment expressed in this song that heaven is being in the presence of God and that we have no friend like Him.  I also want to be clear that I agree with the implied theology of life after death and life beyond time as we know it.  What is problematic, however, is how carelessly this song treats the gift of creation — the home that God gave to us and asked us to care for it in His place.  This world is my home, and it was  given as a gift from the Creator.   If this is true then, why does Paul tell the Philippians in chapter 3 verse 20 that their citizenship — and by extension our citizenship — is heaven.

In order to fully appreciate what Paul is arguing, one needs to realize that Philippi was declared a Roman colony by Caesar Augustus.  This was a matter of significant civic pride for the people of Philippi — they were not simply citizens of Philippi, but because of the status of their city, they were citizens of Rome, the most powerful city in the world.  As citizens of Rome living in Philippi, they were not to leave Philippi to go to Rome, but rather through their lives, their actions, their character they were to bring the kingdom of Rome and the reign of the Caesar to Philippi.  Caesar was lord and Rome was his throne.  Therefore, Paul is not arguing for a theology of escapism from this world to the next; rather he is urging the Philippians to see their citizenship in heaven in the same light as their citizenship in Rome.  For the Christian, Jesus is LORD and heaven is His throne, and it is our responsibility to bring the Kingdom of Heaven and the reign of Christ to this world.

This understanding of our heavenly citizenship is consistent with a theology of creation care that sees humanity as the benevolent ruler in the place of the Creator who gave all creation to humanity as their home to govern with love and care.  An appropriate understanding of heavenly citizenship, therefore, does not negate our responsibility to creation care but actually heightens it.  Whatever the next life looks like, whatever life looks like after time as we know it comes to an end, whatever eternity has in store for humanity — we can have certainity that we are to bring the Kingdom of Heaven and the reign of Christ to this world now.  While our citizenship may be in heaven, our responsibility is here in this world that God has given to us as a gift to love and for which we are to care.

I realize that there are dangers of “going too far” in regards to creation care.  At the end of the day, human life bears the image of God — not animal life, and I believe that God has given this world to us as a gift — a gift to be loved and for which we are to care — but a gift to be used for our benefit just the same.  I do believe that some have gone too far, but if most of us were honest we would have to admit that we are no where close of going too far.  Rather, most us just need to start somewhere.  I know it is a small thing, but for me it will start by throwing a tie in the garbage and hopefully a lot less of what can be placed in recycling.  My wife also called Chili’s last night to ask for a hundred reusable cups for our Super Bowl party so that we would have less trash (by the way they said yes), and later this week, we will purchasing 100 plates for the same purpose.  Small steps.  Will they change the world?  Probably  not.   But with them I believe that we can hear the Creator’s steps more clearly walking with us in the cool of the day through the gift that he has given us for our benefit to rule with love and care.  What small step can you take to bring the Kingdom of Heaven and the reign of Christ to a world that groans as it awaits restoration?