Our identity and our role

But [we are different, because] our citizenship is in heaven. And from there we eagerly await [the coming of] the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ - Philippians 3:20

So we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us; we [as Christ’s representatives] plead with you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. - 2 Corinthians 5:20

All these died in faith [guided and sustained by it], without receiving the [tangible fulfilment of God’s] promises, only having seen (anticipated) them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. - Hebrews 11:13

 These passages seem to pit themselves against a large proportion of evangelical teaching, preaching and literature that is geared toward making us more at home in this world.

You adulteresses [disloyal sinners—flirting with the world and breaking your vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world’s friend [that is, loving the things of the world] is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. - James 4:4

If you address as Father, the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in [reverent] fear [of Him] and with profound respect for Him throughout the time of your stay on earth. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers [in this world] to abstain from the sensual urges [those dishonourable desires] that wage war against the soul. - 1 Peter 1:17; 2:11

 We must not become too much at home in this world or we'll become useless to our true kingdom.

Our earthly bodies are called tents, temporary dwelling places for our eternal soul. Paul contrasts our brief time on earth with what he regarded as the real life, of which this is but a foreshadow --

For while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened [often weighed down, oppressed], not that we want to be unclothed [separated by death from the body], but to be clothed, so that what is mortal [the body] will be swallowed up by life [after the resurrection]. - 2 Corinthians 5:4

Here is what it means to be a pilgrim --

By faith Abraham, when he was called [by God], obeyed by going to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went, not knowing where he was going.  By faith he lived as a foreigner in the promised land, as in a strange land, living in tents [as nomads] with Isaac and Jacob, who were fellow heirs of the same promise.  For he was [waiting expectantly and confidently] looking forward to the city which has foundations, [an eternal, heavenly city] whose architect and builder is God. - Hebrews 11:8-10

 Abraham didn't know where he was going, but he knew with whom he was going.  Some of the greatest Old Testament saints were those who ultimately saw beyond the temporal to the eternal becoming models for faith --

All these died in faith [guided and sustained by it], without receiving the [tangible fulfilment of God’s] promises, only having seen (anticipated) them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. Now those who say such things make it clear that they are looking for a country of their own.  And if they had been thinking of that country from which they departed [as their true home], they would have had [a continuing] opportunity to return.  But the truth is that they were longing for a better country, that is, a heavenly one. For that reason God is not ashamed [of them or] to be called their God [even to be surnamed their God—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob]; for He has prepared a city for them. - Hebrews 11:13-16

Because they lived on earth in light of their fixation on heaven - God was not ashamed of them.

Moses also lived with an acute awareness of the eternal --

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 because he preferred to endure the hardship of the people of God rather than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.26 He considered the reproach of the [a]Christ [that is, the rebuke he would suffer for his faithful obedience to God] to be greater wealth than all the treasures of Egypt; for he looked ahead to the reward [promised by God]. 27 By faith he left Egypt, being unafraid of the wrath of the king; for he endured [steadfastly], as seeing Him who is unseen. - Hebrews 11:24-27

 Moses could let all of these pleasures and possessions go because how could they measure up to those anticipated pleasures and possessions that would last forever.




Bible Verses about Our Identity in Christ

Four Ways Our Identity in Christ Changes Our Lives

Two treasuries

“Knowing the tendency of the human heart to become unduly attached to earthly goods, Christ warned against it. The "things" which the Father gives are to be understood as provisional merely and must never be considered our real treasure. The heart always returns to its real treasure, and if a man holds corn to be a real form of wealth his heart will be where his corn is. 

Many a man has his heart locked up in a bank vault, and many a woman has her heart in her jewel box or stored at the furrier's. It is a great moral tragedy when anything as wonderful as the human heart comes to rest on the earth and fails to rise to its own proper place in God and in heaven.

Treasure, incidentally, may be discovered by this fourfold test: (1) It is what we value most. (2) It is what we would hate most to lose. (3) It is what our thoughts turn to most frequently when we are free to think of what we will. (4) It is what affords us the greatest pleasure.”

A.W. Tozer (1897-1963), excerpt from “The Transmutation of Wealth” in Born After Midnight (Harrisburg: Christian Publications, 1959).

When money and possessions are spent on heavenly treasure, the equation changes radically. The investment takes on eternal value. This because God, His Word, and people are eternal, what will last is what is used wisely for God, His Word and His people.

Christ's primary argument against amassing material wealth isn't that it's morally wrong, but simply that it's a poor investment. Even if they escape moths and rust and thieves, they cannot escape the coming fire of God that will consume the material world.

"I value all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity."
John Wesley 

“I place no value on anything I have or may possess, except in relation to the kingdom of God. If anything will advance the interests of the kingdom, it shall be given away or kept, only as by giving or keeping it I shall most promote the glory of Him to whom I owe all my hopes in time or eternity.” - David Livingston

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

 Jesus vividly described what it's like when we discover true wealth --

“The kingdom of heaven is like a [very precious] treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid again; then in his joy he goes and sells all he has and buys that field [securing the treasure for himself]." Matthew 13:44

Note that the central focus is accumulation of heavenly treasures, not the renunciation of earthly treasures in Matthew 6:19-24.

"As he came naked from his mother’s womb, so he will return as he came; and he will take away nothing from all his labor that he can carry in his hand." - Ecclesiastes 5:15

Be not afraid when [an ungodly] man becomes rich,When the wealth and glory of his house are increased;
For when he dies he will carry nothing away;
His glory will not descend after him.
Though while he lives he counts himself happy and prosperous—
And though people praise you when you do well for yourself—
He shall go to the generation of his fathers;
They shall never again see the light.
A man [who is held] in honor,
Yet who lacks [spiritual] understanding and a teachable heart, is like the beasts that perish. - Psalm 49:16-20

Paul spoke about the Philippian church's financial giving --

Not that I seek the gift itself, but I do seek the profit which increases to your [heavenly] account [the blessing which is accumulating for you]. Philippians 4:17

God keeps an account open for us in heaven and every gift given for His glory is a deposit in that account.





The Two Treasuries