Paul – Part I

LIFE LESSONS
PAUL – PART I
DR. JIM DIXON
ACTS 22:25-29, PHILIPPIANS 3:20-21
JULY 3, 2005

In the year 1863, a man named Edward Everett Hale wrote a short story and for that short story he became famous. The short story was called, “The Man Without a Country.” One hundred and ten years later in the year 1973, Hollywood made that short story into a movie starring Cliff Robertson and Bo Bridges and Peter Strauss, a movie called, “The Man Without a Country.”

Hale’s story tells the story of a fictitious man named Phillip Nolan who aligned with Aaron Burr in an aborted rebellion against the United States Government. Then Phillip Nolan was brought to trial for treason and he was condemned. When he was pronounced guilty, Phillip Nolan shouted out in a moment of rage, “I wish I could never hear the name of the United States of America again.” The judge gave him his wish and issued his judgement and rendered the decision that Edward Everett Hale would never hear the name of the United States of America again. He would be banished, in confinement, aboard U.S. Naval Vessels. He would never step foot on American soil. He would never be allowed to hear the name of the United States nor given any information about what once was his country. He would be the man without a country.

In this worship center, no one is without a country. If you’re a Christian, if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, you have at least two countries because Christians have dual citizenships. We are citizens of an earthly country and we are citizens of a heavenly country. This morning as we come to the Apostle Paul, we look at our dual citizenship as Christians and we have two life lessons. The first life lesson is this. As believers in Jesus Christ, we are to be faithful to our earthly country. This is the first life lesson. As believers in Jesus Christ, we must be faithful to our earthly country.

The Apostle Paul was a Hebrew, born of Hebrews, but he was not born in Israel. Paul was born in Tarsus which was the principal city of the Province of Cilicia which was in Southeast Asia Minor. According to Jerome, the ancient monk, Paul’s family left Galilee and moved to Cilicia or to Tarsus in the year 63BC when the Romans conquered Palestine. We’re told in Acts 22, verse 28, that Paul was a Roman citizen. He was not only a Roman citizen; he was born a Roman citizen. That means that his parents before him had been Roman citizens and how this Jewish family had been granted Roman citizenship we do not know.

But we know this: In this first century before Christ, the Province of Cilicia, and indeed all of Asia Minor, was under the authority of two Roman generals, the Roman General Pompei and the Roman General Anthony. Both of these Roman Generals had the power of the imperium which meant that they had the power to grant Roman citizenship and it’s believed that either Pompei or Anthony granted Roman citizenship to Paul’s family. It’s thought perhaps they granted Roman citizenship because Paul’s ancestors. Paul’s family, and indeed Paul himself, were part of the skinopoioi. The skinopoioi were the people in the region of Tarsus who took goat’s hair and they made it into a cloth called cilicium. This cloth was used by the Romans in the making of Roman tents and in the making of Roman sails. Roman tents were critical to the Roman military, to all of their movements. Roman sails obviously critical to the Roman Navy, to the Roman fleet, and therefore the family of Paul was in a trade that was extremely important. Perhaps for that reason they were granted Roman citizenship.

We know that every Roman citizen was given three names. There was the praenomen, which was their first name—all these names were in Latin—the nomen gentilicium, which was the family name, and then there was the cognomen, which was the additional name. The Apostle Paul, a Hebrew, at his birth was given a Hebrew name which was Saulas and then he was given a cognomen, Paulus, or Paul, but we do not know what his praenomen was. We don’t know what his nomen gentilicium was. If we knew these things, we would know a whole lot more about Paul, his background and his family. We do know this. We know that Paul was a Roman citizen and that a Roman citizen had rights and the rights of a roman citizen, those rights were called the “Lex Valeria.” If you were a Roman citizen, you had a parchment on you, a parchment that was called the diptych. This parchment was normally carried by every Roman citizen on his person. You could claim the Lex Valeria, you could claim your rights as a Roman citizen, if you showed your parchment, if you showed the diptych, and if you said the words, “Civis Romanis Sum,” “I am a Roman citizen.”

We know that Paul claimed the Lex Valeria three times. He did this in Acts, chapter 16 when he was in Philippi. He did this in Acts, chapter 22, when he was in Jerusalem and then again in Acts 25 when he appealed to Caesar. When he appealed to the Emperor himself, he claimed his rights as a Roman citizen. He claimed the Lex Valeria. Of course, Paul, during his ministry years, saw three different emperors of Rome. There was Caligula, there was Claudius, there was Nero. All of these were flawed Roman Emperors and yet there’s every evidence that Paul was pleased and proud to be a Roman citizen and indeed every evidence, according to Titus, chapter 3, verse 1; Romans, chapter 13, verses 1- 7; that Paul really believed in the Pax Romana. Paul believed in the Roman peace even though it was a peace that came by conquest, it provided a rule of law that was far more fair than what existed in Barbarian nations.

So Paul wrote to Christians throughout the Roman world, throughout the Roman Empire, and told them to be faithful to their earthly country. Paul told them in Romans 13 to submit, the Greek word “hupotasso,” “align yourself under,” “arrange yourself under.” It meant to obey the laws of the land, submit to the governing authorities, obey the laws of Rome, submit to the Roman authorities. This is part of your obligation as a Christian to be faithful to your earthly country. Paul also told Christians in the Roman Empire to honor Roman institutions and dignitaries, give honor where honor is due, respect where respect is due. Paul told Christians living throughout the Roman Empire that wherever they lived they were to pay the appropriate taxes. Taxes varied from province to province, but “render taxes as taxes are due,” Paul said to Christians in the Roman world.

Paul reminded Christians throughout the Roman Empire that the Roman Government had been granted the sword and it had been granted the sword by God. Paul taught that all earthly governments had been granted the sword and that earthly governments, by the will of God, were to use the sword to deter evil on the earth. This made governmental power, in a sense, noble. In those early centuries many Christians throughout the Roman Empire served in Roman law enforcement. Many Christians served in the Roman military. Many Christians served in the Roman Legions. In fact we know that one Roman Legion at least was predominantly Christian at a particular point in time so indeed Paul told Christians throughout the Roman world that the government had been given the sword by God and Paul told Christians throughout the Roman world that they were to pray, they were to pray for the governing authorities, the leaders of their earthly country.

We live in the United States of America. We are Christians living in the United States of America. This is our earthly country. We are blessed. We are blessed to live in this nation. I know this is today I think the modern equivalent of ancient Rome. The United States of America is the most powerful nation on the earth. Our military and our politics and our socioeconomics impact the world. We live in the modem day equivalent of the Roman Empire.

Some of you are frustrated with our nation’s judicatories. You’re frustrated with the Judicial Branch of our government. You feel like the judiciary is building the so-called wall of separation between church and state higher and wider. You feel like Christianity and religion in general is being pushed to the margins. Some of you are frustrated because you see a growing secular culture, the erosion of Judeo-Christian values. Some of you are frustrated because you see an increasing economic polarity and you’re concerned for the middle classes and for the poor. Some of you are concerned about our nation because you’re concerned with regard to environmental abuses in a nation that is one of the most wealthy industrialized nations on the earth. The abuse of the environment is certainly a danger.

Some of you are concerned because you’re kind of conflicted about the War in Iraq. Some of you have written me letters. Some of you have sent me e-mails. Some of you have called me. Some of you have stopped me in the hall. Some of you have asked to see me. You’ve told me you love your country, you support our troops, and you’re concerned for their very lives as they have put their lives in harm’s way to defend their nation’s purposes. You have told me that you would love to see a democratic republic established in the Middle East, you would love to see civil liberties come to the people of Iran and Iraq, but you’re afraid this war isn’t going to work. You’re afraid it just isn’t going to work. Some of you have told me that.

It’s okay to be frustrated. It’s okay to be concerned, but remember as Christians we have this life lesson from the Apostle Paul: Be faithful. Be faithful to your earthly country. That means submit to the governing authorities, “hupotasso,” “arrange yourself under,” obey the laws of the land. That means honor American institutions and dignitaries. Give honor where honor is due. That means give respect where respect is due and it means pay taxes. Whatever part of America you live in, pay federal, state and local taxes. Pay taxes where taxes are due. You’re a Christian and you need to be faithful to your earthly country. It means our nation has been granted the sword and this nation, the United States of America, is called to use the sword to deter evil on the earth. It is a noble thing to serve in law enforcement, to serve in the military. God wills that the sword be used by earthly governments to deter evil.

It means to pray. If you would be faithful as a Christian living in this nation, pray for the governing authorities. Pray for our President. Pray for all of our branches of government. Pray for our Congress and our Senators. Pray for our local authorities. Pray for our law enforcement officers. Pray. Pray with gratitude. I mean particularly living in the United States of America we can pray with gratitude because we’re blessed to live in a nation that is one of the most affluent nations on the earth with incredible opportunities. Pray with gratitude because we’re blessed to have the civil liberties we enjoy including freedom of worship. There is so much to be thankful for, living here in the United States.

It’s kind of ironic that the Apostle Paul who told us as Christians to be faithful to our earthly countries was ultimately executed by his earthly country. That’s what the Bible tells us. Paul was a citizen of Rome, born a citizen, his parents before him, and yet Paul was ultimately executed, beheaded at Three Fountains in Rome by the order of the Emperor Nero. Paul was executed because he had participated in civil disobedience. Living as a citizen of an earthly country, he committed civil disobedience, so he was executed. Our Bible tells us that as Christians we can and indeed the day will come when we can and indeed must commit civil disobedience on the day Antichrist comes. The Bible says Antichrist is corning, Antichrist will corrupt the governments of the world, the nations of the world and Christians will be called to commit civil disobedience. This of course was the argument of Diedrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who became part of a coup, a part of a plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler. Bonhoeffer believed that Hitler and the Nazi Government had become Antichrist.

But you understand Paul didn’t believe that Rome had become Antichrist. That’s not why Paul committed civil disobedience. Paul knew that the emperors were flawed but he still believed in the Pax Romana. He did not believe that the Roman Government had become Antichrist. Paul committed civil disobedience for the sake of the Gospel. You see, the Roman Government sought to thwart the preaching of the Gospel. In various provinces, Paul was brought to governing authorities who told him no longer to preach, no longer to share the claims of Christ, no longer to tell people about Christ, and so Paul committed civil disobedience because Paul was a citizen of a higher country. Paul was also a citizen of heaven. He said, “Our citizenship is in heaven. From it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly bodies to become like His glorious body by the power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself.” Paul knew he was a citizen of heaven and so he must preach the Gospel and therefore he participated in civil disobedience.

I wonder what is coming to us here in the United States of America? What’s going to happen to us? As our freedoms are perhaps more and more restricted, as Christians are less and less politically correct? I wonder if at any point we’re going to need to commit civil disobedience in order to proclaim the Gospel faithfully. It could happen but this leads us to a second life lesson and that is that we are citizens of a higher country. As Christian, we’re citizens of the kingdom of heaven, citizens of heaven itself. That’s where our highest citizenship resides, in heaven. Paul would remind us of this. Our commonwealth, our citizenship, is in heaven. I think this has been difficult for Christians through the centuries and through the ages, this dual citizenship. It’s been very difficult for Christians to understand.

In the year 305 AD, Constantine I ascended the throne and became the Emperor of Rome. Seven years later, in 312 AD, he had some kind of mystical experience of Christ. Two years later, in 314 AD, Constantine signed the Edict of Milan and that gave freedom to Christians, gave civil liberties to the Christians. For the first time in the history of the empire, Christians were free to share their faith and they were free to worship openly. They could leave the Catacombs. They could leave the dens and caves of the earth. They didn’t any longer have to have house churches. They could build churches. The Edict of Milan. They were free. Of course, Christians had always been faithful to share the Gospel and at a cost. Sometimes they were incarcerated. Sometimes they were executed but they continued to share the Gospel but now with the Edict of Milan they were free and Christianity began to grow all the more. By the death of Constantine I, by the death of Constantine the Great, Christendom had been established; Christendom.

Of course, we have seen that the word Christendom is used in a variety of ways but oftentimes this word Christendom refers to the dominion of the church over the state. It refers to the rule of Christians over earthly countries and nations. Christendom combines Christian and dominion. Christendom is the dominion of the Church, the rule of the Church over earthly nations and countries. That began with Constantine the Great and other Christian rulers throughout the Middle Ages helped to build the world of Christendom. It never should have happened. You see, biblically, Christendom waits. It waits for Jesus Christ. When He comes again, He will establish Christendom, the dominion of His kingdom and church. He will rule the nations and the kingdoms of the world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. Christendom. But now in this age Christendom was never meant to be. In this age, the call of Christ upon His people is simply this. Grow His church. Build His church. This is the call of Christ upon His people in this age. Grow the church. Build the church.

It’s been so difficult for Christians with this dual citizenship to understand this. I mean some Christians have kind of confused their heavenly country with their earthly country. They’ve tried to merge the two, creating one country and you can’t do that. As citizens of heaven where our supreme allegiance lies, this is our call—grow the church. This was the call of Paul. I promise you, this is what Paul lived for, to build the church of Jesus Christ. It’s what Peter lived for, to build the church of Jesus Christ. It’s what Jesus Himself said when He said, “I will build My church, and the gates of Hades, the powers of hell, the powers of death will not prevail against it.” It’s all about growing the church. As you live on this earth in this earthly country where you are a citizen and you also hold citizenship in heaven where your supreme allegiance lies, are you really seeking to grow the church of Jesus Christ? Are you inviting other people to become citizens of heaven? Do you want them to join with us in learning what heavenly citizenship requires? Are you seeking to serve and build the church?

A few months ago I heard about a man who was traveling through Kansas. He came into a small town. The weekend was approaching, and he would be there on the weekend. He thought maybe he would go to church. He saw a little church building and he went in to talk to the pastor. He said, “What time are your church services?” The pastor looked at him and said, “Well, what time can you be here?” Now that’s a small church! Of course, Christ loves all churches. When they’re small or when they’re large, Christ loves His church. The truth is that the average church is still less than 100 people. There are sometimes good reasons for churches to be small. It may have to do with their demographic. There might be a variety of circumstances, but churches are to seek to grow for Christ’s sake. We’re to constantly invite people to become citizens of heaven. Jesus Christ said, “Go ye into all the world and make disciples.” Jesus said, “You shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the outermost parts of the earth. The kingdom of heaven is meant to grow like a mustard seed. The smallest of all seeds is meant to grow until it becomes the greatest of shrubs.”

I love the story of D.L. Moody. D.L. Moody was an evangelist. It was Moody who established Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and the great Moody Memorial Church. Moody accepted Christ through a shoe salesman when he was very young. In those early years Moody grew in his faith and he shared his faith with other people, inviting others to become Christians and then Moody sought out a church, that he might join a church. Moody came to this church in Chicago. He was still a young man and he was wanting to join. He came week after week and he would bring high school students with him wanting them to hear the Gospel. Moody would kind of recruit them and they would all come and sit in the front row. This was kind of a stuffy church where they wanted people to have a certain amount of education. They wanted people to dress a certain way. They really weren’t concerned with growing.

Moody came and he was sitting in the front row. He would always bring these high school kids and people in the church began to get a little upset. The kids weren’t dressed right. They were too young. Moody wasn’t dressed right. He had been raised in relative poverty. One day Moody came up to the church leaders and said, “I’d like to become a member of the church.” The church leader said, “We’re not sure we want you. You don’t dress right. You bring all these kids into church, and they don’t dress right. We’re not sure we want you. Why don’t you go home and pray about it and see what God tells you to do.” Moody left and he never came back. One month later he did run into one of the church leaders. The church leader said, “Well, did you pray about it? What did God tell you to do?” Moody said, “God told me not to be concerned. He’s been trying to get into your church for 25 years and hasn’t been able to.”

I can tell you this: If a church doesn’t want more people, God’s not part of that deal. God has called us to reach the community. God has called us to reach the world. God has called us to invite people to become citizens of heaven and join with us in serving Him on this earth and in this earthly country. That’s the call of Christ upon His people.

There are a lot of high threshold churches these days. Churches are called high threshold churches when they make membership really hard. I’ve read of some churches that are so high threshold that they make new members sign a statement that they won’t miss more than four Sundays a year. I don’t think we’d have any members here if we did that. High threshold churches. Sometimes in order for people to join a church they have to sign a statement that they will tithe and that they will always tithe before taxes. Some churches have actually required that people submit income statements so they can make sure these people are faithfully tithing. High threshold.

Some churches require that in order for people to become members, they have to sign a statement that they will be in a weekly Bible study group, a weekly small group, and also that they will be involved every week in some ministry or service. Again, you can’t become a member until you sign that you will do these things. It’s like you’re required to be mature before you can begin. High threshold churches. It reminds me a little bit of these two Texans who were talking to each other. They were both ranchers. They had just met. The one rancher said to the other rancher, “What’s the name of your ranch?” He said, “Well, it’s the Awesome A, Box B, Circle C, Double D, Easy E, Flying F, and he went through the whole alphabet.” The other rancher said, “Wow! How many head of cattle do you have?” He said, “Not many. Very few survive the branding!” That kind of reminds me of a high threshold church. Not many survive the branding.

Of course, we care about growing in maturity. Certainly we would love to see our members be faithful in attendance. Certainly we want our members to be faithful in giving. Christ wants this. Certainly we want our members to be involved in acts of ministry and service and we want them to be involved in small groups and Bible studies. We want this for all of you but we’re seeking to grow the church and we’re seeking to reach the community and invite people to become citizens of heaven and then grow with us as we understand together what it means to be a citizen of heaven on earth. So we have this call together. It’s part of our heavenly citizenship and what it means to have supreme allegiance to Christ.

As we wrap this up today, I want to tell you a story. It took place beginning in 1853. It was in 1853 when an archeologist named J.E. Taylor was digging around with a team of archeologists in Mesopotamia. J.E. Taylor was a world-famous 19th century archeologist. He was in Mesopotamia, and they were twelve miles from the Euphrates River. They were doing a dig there and made an incredible discovery. This was in a region that is now part of Iraq. They made an amazing discovery. They discovered the ancient and biblical city of Ur. Ur was the ancient capital of the kingdom of Sumer. In the Bible it is called Ur of the Chaldees. As they began to unearth the city, they made more and more discoveries as to what this ancient city once looked like. In fact from 1922 to 1934 there was a great excavation at Ur conducted by the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania. They unearthed all the streets and all the buildings. This was an incredible city. It was called, “The Capital of the World.” It was four square miles in size and had 400,000 residents. It was huge.

They discovered that something happened long ago to the city, this city that had been lost for more than 3,000 years. They discovered that around the year 1800 BC, something moved the Euphrates River. They don’t know what but they know that around 1800 BC the Euphrates River changed its course and moved 12 miles away from Ur. People began to exodus the city in droves. One of the families leaving Ur in 1800 BC was Abraham, the family of Abraham. Abraham and his family went north to Heron and there they heard the Word of God. God spoke to Abraham. God said to Abraham, “Go. Leave your country. Go and I will bless you and I will make of you a great nation. I will multiply you.” Of course, we all know about the call of Abraham. What an awesome moment that must have been and what a mighty thing God did through Abraham’s life and through the lives of his descendants.

I think as Christians we sometimes don’t understand that God has given the same call to us. God has given the same call to you. It doesn’t matter what country we live in, God comes to us and He says, “Go.” God says, “I will bless you. I want to multiply you. I want to make of you a great nation,” and you see that great nation is called the church. He wants to build His church and He wants to do it through you. This call is upon us.

This last week I met with some of you in a dinner setting. Some of you asked me what’s the most critical need that we have as a church as we look to the next five years. I think the most critical need we have is to motivate our members to share their faith. I think this is the greatest need of churches all across America, that we might, by the power of the Holy Spirit, motivate our people to share their faith. We live in a hard time for the church of Jesus Christ. There’s not a single county in the United States of America that has more Christians today as the percentage of the population that it had 25 years ago because Christians are no longer sharing their faith.

So we have these really critical life lessons. The first is, if you’re a Christian, remember to be faithful to your earthly country. We’re blessed to be citizens of the United States of America. Submit to the governing authorities. Honor our institutions and dignitaries. Pay taxes. Respect the sword and pray. Then of course the second life lesson is that we might give supreme allegiance to our heavenly country. This means, above all else, that we would seek to serve and grow the church of Jesus Christ. This call is upon us. It was on the Apostle Paul years ago. It’s upon us today. We should be as faithful. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.