LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 104

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104 ESSAYS ON STEWARDSHIP

Citizens of heaven in the 20th century need to
remember where their first loyalties are. Most of us were
given our citizenship papers in the Christian church on
the day of our Baptism. They were written in the
purifying blood of God’s Son, and certified by His
mighty resurrection from the dead. On that day of our
spiritual rebirth, when the Holy Spirit wrought the
miraculous work of faith in our hearts, we died with
Christ, and rose to a new life in Him. On that day
everything He had done for usin His lifetime and death
upon the cross was credited to us. Then and there He
took our sins and gave us His holiness, took our ugliness
and gave us His beauty, took our hell and gave us His
heaven.

As citizens of heaven, life has taken on new meaning
for us, because Christ is our Life. “If any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed
away; behold, all things are become new.” While we
must speak the language of the land in which we live, we
speak it with a foreign accent. There is something about
us, even when we are doing the same things other people
do—and which we must to a large extent do—which tells
that the same things are done by us from different
motives. We belong to another order—a heavenly one.

As we go Forward in Remembrance of His grace
toward us, we do not hesitate to speak the language of
heaven and of the heavenly land. This is where our
treasure is. This is where Christ is. This is the land we
love. We do not hoist the flag of faith at half-mast. Our
King is not dead. We are not fighting the lost cause of a
pale and conquered Galilean. He lives! He rules! And He
is coming back! “Our citizenship is in heaven, from
whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ.”

II

Citizens of heaven live the resurrected life, and have
clear goals for their life in Christ. St. Paul tells the
Colossians and us: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek
those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on
the right hand of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and
your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is
our Life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with
Him in glory” (Col. 3:1-4). Citizens of heaven have
heavenly and heaven-directed goals, the goals to “seek
those things which are above” and to “set their affection
(or mind) on things above.

God’s Holy Spirit effects a great change in us when
we are “baptized in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit.” St. Paul reminds us of the
miracle wrought there when He writes to the Romans:
“Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into
Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we
are buried with Him by Baptism into death: that like as
Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life”
(Rom. 6:3-4).

Christ’s death and resurrection are for us the ground
of our salvation, the pattern for our life, and the

prophecy of future glory for all who put their trust in
Him. Our life from Christ, our life in Christ, and our lif
for Christ is both a death and a resurrection, which
results in a radical moral change, a value systenj
sanctified by His good and gracious will, and a consciou:
ness of goals and purposes in life patterned for us by our
Lord. It is a hidden life; its roots are in Him. Linked ta
Him by the bond of faith, we draw daily on the power 0
Him who, “at the right hand of God,” rules and governs:
the universe with a special eye on His beloved churel
and each citizen of heaven. Since we are united to Hi
by faith, our union with Him is where He is..O
affections are “on things above.” Our life is at best aj
imperfect compromise between worshipful contempla
tion and lively action. We serve like Martha, and yet. weg
constantly sit with Mary in rapt attention at the feet; :
Him whose footstool is the world. =
Citizens of heaven seek—aim at—things above
“Things above” can in the simplest terms be describe
and summed up in “Jesus Christ.” We aim continual},
to be and to become like Him, to think like Him, to tal
as He talks, to love as He loves, and to live as He lives
And our final aim is to “appear with Him in glory” an
to sing the International Anthem with all the saints,

Il

Citizens of heaven will someday gather round th
Throne of the Lamb. What will that gathering be like
Who will be there? What songs will they sing?

After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which noma
could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, an
tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lani

clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; nit
cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God w!
sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all:
angels stood round about the throne, and about the el
and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their facel
and worshiped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glor}
and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, 4
might be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. And one.Ggg
the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these w ,
are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And
said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, 1:
are they which came out of great tribulation, and
washed their robes, and made them white in the blood 6
Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God;
serve Him day and night in His temple; and He that si
on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall h

no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun!
on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in th
of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead the
living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe aw@
tears from their eyes. (Rev. 7:9-17)

Perhaps one of the reasons most of us are stirr
the depths of our souls during a presentation of Han
Messiah is the feeling that we are being transporte
the very halls of heaven and are glorifying the
slain from before the foundations of the world. New
Flower describes Handel’s intensity during the tim
His composition of the Messiah: “He was uncons'
of the world during that time, unconscious of its P
and call; his whole mind was in a trance. He did.
leave the house. His manservant brought him food, #
as often as not returned in an hour to the room to
the food untouched, and his master staring: