I want to begin this blog by stating again that I am grateful that God has sovereignly placed me in the United States where I enjoy the rights guaranteed by our founding documents. I am glad that I have the right to free speech, religion and privacy. I am glad that I have the right to lawful assembly and the right to vote. I have said it before and I will say it again, these rights are blessings and we should cherish them. However, I am also a citizen of heaven and as a result of that citizenship there are other standards to which I have been called and sometimes those heavenly obligations come in conflict with my rights.

Let's be honest, my rights are about- well, me. When I exercise my rights, more often than not. I exercise them for my benefit. But the standards of the Kingdom of God are different. Those standards are not about me at all. They are first and foremost about God and how He expects those who are part of His kingdom to live. Take a moment and look at the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. We know these passages in passing very well. Turn the other cheek. Go the extra mile. Love your enemies. The stark reality of the Kingdom of Heaven that it is often more about giving up what I have as a right as an expression of my love for God and for my fellow man than it is getting what I want out of something. As you read through the Sermon on the Mount you will again discover that the standards of the Kingdom of God are not the standards of this world. They are not about my happiness (though the beatitudes do show us how to achieve true happiness) they are about living my life in submission to the standards God sets as appropriate and acceptable behavior. Look real hard at the way Jesus speaks about murder, adultery and divorce. These three issues make it very clear that God's standards are not about me, but about Him and others.

Even Jesus calls us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ in the same way that He loved us; in demonstration and sacrifice (John 15:12-13). The Apostle Paul adds to this understanding of  by giving us a clear picture of how Christ demonstrated His love toward us in Romans 8: While we were still sinners Christ died for us. he loved us even when we were unlovable. If that isn't clear enough look at what Paul's says in Philippians 2:5-8. Jesus gave up his rights as God for our benefit. He made himself of know reputation, became a bond servant and humbled himself in obedience to the the point of death, a death on the cross. I know many of you may be say that that is all well and good for Jesus but that's not for me. Well let me challenge you again to look more closely at verse five in that passage. Paul says that we should have this same mind. In other words we should think like Jesus thinks and live, therefore, like Jesus lives.

As a citizen of this country, I have the right to live any way I want, whether my neighbor agrees with me or not. As a citizen of heaven, I do not have that right. I must live in obedience to the laws established by the king of Heaven.

As a citizen of this country, I have a right to have a say in the laws of the land. (For you purists out there I know we live in a representative democracy and we could debate that last statement, but it is what we are led to believe). As a citizen of Heaven, I am not given a voice in what is right and what is wrong. That is the domain of the King of Heaven and I am not he. I am called to live in submission to the King. Since I came into the Kingdom of Heaven by acknowledging that my ways were in opposition to the King of Heaven and that I have been living in rebellion against His edicts and laws it should seem simple for me to acknowledge now that His ways to true, pure and perfect and therefore, I should willingly yielding my views of right and wrong to His and trust Him for what is true and good.

As a citizen of this country, I have the right to spend my money any way I want. As a citizen of Heaven, I know that the King of Heaven has a soft spot in His heart for widows and orphans, the poor and the oppressed. In fact Paul warned Timothy to remind those who are rich in this world to do good, that they be rich in good works ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life (1 Tim.6:18,19) Notice that even in this passage the issue is our citizenship and where we are laying up our treasures. I also want to acknowledge here that there isn't anything wrong with having money in this world- it's what we do with it as citizens of Heaven.

I could go on and on giving examples where my rights as a citizen of this country can conflict with my citizenship in heaven but the question isn't if there are conflicts, it is to whom do I surrender when there are conflicts: My rights or My King?

Gather and Go

Pastor Dale

I just want to remind you that I am posting what I am reading to encourage you to read and to study scripture. Books about scripture are encouraging and informative, but the best place you can go to grow spiritually is to the Bible itself. I hope that if you choose to read one of the books that I post you will not to so at the expense of your own time in the Word.

What I am reading this week: Putting Amazing Back Into Grace by Michael Horton

I am also working my way through Nature's Destiny by Michael Denton.

I also hope to begin reading The Crimson Tapestry by Michael Joens by the end of the week

I am an American and as a result I live with “certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” However, I am also a citizen of the Kingdom of God and that means that I live by a certain set of morals, standards and laws that are established by God. I am grateful that God has given me the blessing of living in a nation in which I can participate in government and have a voice in the day-to-day affairs that affect my life. I am grateful that I live in a land where “all men are created equal” and I have rights guaranteed to me by the Constitution of the United States. As a citizen of the United States I have a great deal to be thankful for. As an Ambassador of the Kingdom of God I have even more for which I am thankful.

First, Paul writes in the book of Colossians that “. . . He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.” (Col.1:13). When God rescues an individual from the dominion of darkness, he doesn’t just leave them to wonder about aimlessly without direction or to return to their old ways, but he places them in the Kingdom of His Son so that they have a home, are cared for and are loved. Let me illustrate this with an example: When someone rescues a dog from an animal shelter they do not just turn around an put the dog back on the streets to be collected again and returned to the shelter. No people go to the shelters to select a dog that they will remove from the shelter and the consequences of the shelter to take home where they will be cared for and loved. Like unadopted dogs left in the domain of the shelter, those who are left in the domain of darkness face certain death, but like the dog rescued from the shelter, those placed in the Kingdom of God have a home where they are loved and cared for by the King Himself.

Second, Paul also wrote that we were rescued from the domain of darkness “. . . Although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind and engaged in evil deeds” (Col. 1:21). Again, using the example of a dog in a shelter, what Paul is saying is that, I (we), was (were) not the cute and cuddly puppy that everyone wants to take home from the shelter- but that I (we) was (were) the mean, snarling, snapping dog who held my (our) rescuer at bay unaware that it was just such behaviors that kept me locked in the domain of the shelter and destined to be put to sleep. If you read verse 22, you will see that Paul tells us that Christ “. . . has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him, holy and blameless and beyond reproach.” My citizenship in heaven is not secured by my ability to be a good person but by the actions of Jesus Christ in my place.

Finally, as a citizen of the Kingdom of God, when I break the laws of the Kingdom, I have an advocate who intercedes on my behalf (1 John 2:1, 2). That means when I am acting like a citizen of the domain of darkness and repent of my behavior, I know that Christ is there, interceding on my behalf, proclaiming my righteousness through His blood. I am grateful of God’s continued demonstration of His grace and mercy toward me through Christ Jesus.

As a citizen of Heaven I have a lot to be thankful for. As an American I have a lot to be thankful for. Yet, there are times when my dual citizenship clashes and I must decide- am I an American first or a citizen of Heaven first. More on that issue next time.

Gather and Go

Pastor Dale

I am an American and as a result I live with “certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” However, I am also a citizen of the Kingdom of God and that means that I live by a certain set of morals, standards and laws that are established by God. I am grateful that God has given me the blessing of living in a nation in which I can participate in government and have a voice in the day-to-day affairs that affect my life. I am grateful that I live in a land where “all men are created equal” and I have rights guaranteed to me by the Constitution of the United States. As a citizen of the United States I have a great deal to be thankful for. As an Ambassador of the Kingdom of God I have even more for which I am thankful.

First, Paul writes in the book of Colossians that “. . . He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.” (Col.1:13). When God rescues an individual from the dominion of darkness, he doesn’t just leave them to wonder about aimlessly without direction or to return to their old ways, but he places them in the Kingdom of His Son so that they have a home, are cared for and are loved. Let me illustrate this with an example: When someone rescues a dog from an animal shelter they do not just turn around an put the dog back on the streets to be collected again and returned to the shelter. No people go to the shelters to select a dog that they will remove from the shelter and the consequences of the shelter to take home where they will be cared for and loved. Like unadopted dogs left in the domain of the shelter, those who are left in the domain of darkness face certain death, but like the dog rescued from the shelter, those placed in the Kingdom of God have a home where they are loved and cared for by the King Himself.

Second, Paul also wrote that we were rescued from the domain of darkness “. . . Although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind and engaged in evil deeds” (Col. 1:21). Again, using the example of a dog in a shelter, what Paul is saying is that, I (we), was (were) not the cute and cuddly puppy that everyone wants to take home from the shelter- but that I (we) was (were) the mean, snarling, snapping dog who held my (our) rescuer at bay unaware that it was just such behaviors that kept me locked in the domain of the shelter and destined to be put to sleep. If you read verse 22, you will see that Paul tells us that Christ “. . . has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him, holy and blameless and beyond reproach.” My citizenship in heaven is not secured by my ability to be a good person but by the actions of Jesus Christ in my place.

Finally, as a citizen of the Kingdom of God, when I break the laws of the Kingdom, I have an advocate who intercedes on my behalf (1 John 2:1, 2). That means when I am acting like a citizen of the domain of darkness and repent of my behavior, I know that Christ is there, interceding on my behalf, proclaiming my righteousness through His blood. I am grateful of God’s continued demonstration of His grace and mercy toward me through Christ Jesus.

As a citizen of Heaven I have a lot to be thankful for. As an American I have a lot to be thankful for. Yet, there are times when my dual citizenship clashes and I must decide- am I an American first or a citizen of Heaven first. More on that issue next time.

Gather and Go

Pastor Dale