There´s no place like home!
There’s a common saying: “There’s no place like home.” My wife, Leily and I have had the privilege of travelling to some countries, and every time we are flying back, one of us would always say, “I can’t wait until we get home.”
Since we went back to Brazil from Ireland in 2016, We lived in 8 different places. Every Time, We were saying: there´s no place like our home!
There´s No doubt! The world is a beautiful place to live, but there´s no place like home! Home sweet home!
Home is one of those words that bring such a fond meaning to our
hearts and to our lives. We often say, “There’s no place like home.” How true is that. Home is where you feel the most comfortable, where you feel loved, where you feel protected and taken care of- home has a special place in every person’s heart.
But, I’ve a question for you: Where is your real home? What is your Citizenship? Where do you belong?
If I asked you today, “How do I get to your house? How do you get
home?” Well, you could tell me, “You take this road, and you turn right here…No, no..” You could tell me the directions to your house. But, What about for the child of God?
John 15:19 Jesus says: “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”
WE DO NOT BELONG TO THIS WORLD! WE ARE NOT FROM HERE!
C.S Lewis said: “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”
1 Peter 2:11 “Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.”
Peter said that You are strangers in this world. He means that we should not think of ourselves as locals, but as people who aren’t from around here. The transformation God has made in Christians through Christ is so extensive, so complete, that our home town has changed. What used to be normal for us is now foreign. We no longer fit naturally into the thinking and practices of the world around us. And we must not try to fit it; we’ll be going home soon.
But, Peter admits, this can be difficult. Our body wants to sin in the way that comes so naturally to humans, to those who are at home here. Peter has made it clear that we have been saved from the punishment of our sins through Christ. And we have been freed from the authority of sin; we have the ability to choose not to sin now, in the power of God’s Holy Spirit.
We have to understand: We are here in this world, But we do not belong to it!
The name of this message is: I DO NOT BELONG to THIS WORLD!
IF you get this message, you can receive a freedom to believe in God and Be a good Son of God in this world!
Please ,open your Bible in:
Philippians 3:17-21 and 4:1 “Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!”
The Philippians were crazy about their Roman citizenship. Roman citizens were among the most protected and privileged people of the ancient world. The fact that the Philippians enjoyed these benefits while living in Greece (which was part of the Roman Empire!) understandably gave them a sense of pride, but it also tempted them to overemphasize the importance and privileges of that earthly citizenship, which in turn made them forget of the privileges and obligations of their heavenly one.
The Philippians were living in Greece, but did not belong to Greece! They were Roman Citizens!
Likewise, the church is a colony of heaven that is here on earth. We have heavenly citizenship! We are born of God and belong to heaven! Heaven is our homeland, our house is there, but for now we are in this world. So we live in a strange land. We do not belong to this world!
Vs. 17– Paul here elaborates on some of the practical ways this citizenship has an impact on us. The first is the imitation of godly examples. Paul tells them: “be imitators of me”!
What kind of example did Paul set? Virtue, victory over the flesh, enduring love for God and others, loyalty to the truth, and more. In him we see not merely commands to follow, but real life examples set by a man who is a sinner like us. He was only able to overcome his flesh by listening to the Holy Spirit within him.
We need to have an identity! We need to be imitators of Paul! I tell you: You are a Citizen from heaven! We are all citizens from Heaven! We are children of God, saved by Jesus Christ. We are witnesses of His power and love.
The world should see Christ in our identity! We don’t carry a passport of Heaven with us, but we do have assurance of our heritage!
Also, Every Heavenly citizen has his home, his life built in Jesus!
In Matthews 7:24, Jesus said:
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
This is the real Heavenly citizen! Who hears God’s Word and puts it into practice!
How have you been living? Do you live as a citizen of heaven? What kind of words come out of your mouth? Heavenly words? Bad words?
Remember that: We do not belong to this world!
Vs. 18 and 19
“Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.
These were people who thought Man belonged here on earth, far away from Jesus and of his heavenly Citizenship. There´s no hope in his heart! His Treasure is on earth!
Jesus said an important thing:
Matthews 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
As you read these verses I think you can see that Jesus is telling us that there is no security in material things. They can be destroyed by moths, they can rust away and they can be stolen.
Please, don’t waste your life in this world while You have an eternity ahead! Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven!
Now, the Vs 20 says: “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ”
Billy Graham, A Great evangelist who died recently, said:
“Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.”
Hallelujah! Glory to God!
It’s a stirring remark that captures the heart of an evangelist’s life and his message, his focus on the gospel and his confidence in eternity.
He is a Citizen from Heaven! He just changed his address! Now He is in Heaven! And There is a house there for us!
In John 14:1-4 Jesus said:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
If we are in Christ, we have a heavenly Citizenship! Jesus prepared for us a home! Sweet home in Heaven!
Jesus said, He is preparing a place for us in our Heavenly Father’s home. The home Jesus is preparing for us will be our final, eternal home.
Christ’s promise of peace reaches far beyond this life, and into eternity. He assures us that he left this earth and went to his Father’s house in heaven to prepare a place for us.
This wonderful promise gives our lives meaning. Instead of viewing this life as a few decades in which to accomplish something and then die forever, we understand that this life is a short though difficult journey to an eternal home where we can accomplish everything good and satisfying, and never die!
Brothers and sisters, we are in this world just passing by! There is a home, sweet home awaiting us in heaven!
For now we are part of a colony of heaven here on earth, but soon we will be with our Lord Jesus, face to face, forever worshiping the one who overcame the world and death!
In Revelation 21:1-7 we can see a description of how our real home in heaven will be!
Please, open your bible there! Revelation 21:1-7
“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.”
- There will be no more tears!
We can know from this passage, then, that as long as we’re in this life, and in this earthly pilgrimage, there shall be tears in our eyes. Until we come to the gates of heaven itself.
This will be one of the characteristics of this blessed state, not a tear shall ever be shed there. How different will that be from the condition here.
- There will be no more death or pain!
In that future world of glory, no one shall ever die; not a grave shall ever be dug! What a view do we begin to get of heaven, when we are told there shall be no “death”! for the old order of things has passed away. Christ has conquered Death!
My brothers and sisters, we do not belong to this world. In this world, we have many troubles, afflictions, diseases. But when the time has come, We will live in a new home! Home, sweet home! We’ll meet with Jesus Christ, our saviour, and we’ll live forever in eternity worshiping God, far away from troubles, sin and death!
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends! We do not belong to this world! You belong to Heaven!
Build your temporary home on the rock until the great day you’ll change your address and reach your true home!
We can sing now a song to praise the lord! (Hillsong – Cornerstone)
Hillsong – Cornerstone
My hope is built on nothing less, Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly trust in Jesus’ nameChrist alone, Cornerstone, Weak made strong, in the Savior’s love
Through the storm, He is Lord, Lord of AllWhen darkness seems to hide His face
I rest on His unchanging grace, In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil, My anchor holds within the veilThen He shall come with trumpets sound
Oh, may I then in Him be found
Dressed in His righteousness alone
Faultless, stand before the throne