Citizenship Matters

November 11

(Acts 22:22-25 NIV) ““The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, "Rid the earth of him! He's not fit to live!" {23} As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, {24} the commander ordered Paul to be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and questioned in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. {25} As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, "Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn't even been found guilty?””

(Ephesians 2:11-13 NIV) ““Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)-- {12} remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. {13} But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.”

(Ephesians 2:19 NIV) “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household,”

Citizenship matters -- or at least it should! What many take for granted, others will risk death to obtain. It is that way with nations, and it should be that way with the Kingdom of God. Before we came to Christ, we were aliens to the Kingdom. We were outsiders. We were foreigners without hope. Then we became citizens of God’s kingdom, and when we did, we obtained not just the privileges of citizenship, but also the responsibilities of citizenship. We were no longer aliens. Once we lived far away, but then we were brought near. We found a new home. We began to learn a new language. We adopted the laws of the Kingdom as our own. People we formerly had no relationship with became like brothers and sisters to us. We began to behave as if we belonged, because our relationship had changed. We began to behave responsibly. Citizenship matters -- or at least it should! -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day