Citizens of Another Kingdom | Bellevue | June 28, 2026

Spring Lake Church – Bellevue

Sermon: Citizens of Another Kingdom

Teacher: Arlen Chastain

Passages: Jonah 4:1-11

In “Citizens of Another Kingdom,” we explore what it means to follow Jesus while living as citizens of an earthly nation. Through passages including Philippians 3:20, Matthew 22:15–21, Micah 6:8, and 2 Corinthians 5:20, we are reminded that our ultimate citizenship is in heaven. This message encourages believers to seek justice with humility, pray for governing authorities, resist political division, love their neighbors, and live as Christ’s ambassadors. Join us as we learn to represent God’s Kingdom in a divided world. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, good morning. It's good to see you guys. I'm back. I'm back. If I've never met you, my name is Arlen. I am the Lawrence Campus Pastor. Uh just honored to get to be here with you as a church. We are in the middle of a series, week three of a series called Uncomfortable. So the question to today is who's ready to get uncomfy? It's going to be a good one. We've been in the middle of uh this series. We've been walking through uh different topics, uh, but kind of help set the tone uh for what this series is and what today is is uh whenever a church kind of tackles hard topics or like hot button-y uh issues, sometimes it can feel like a lecture or it can feel like a beatdown. Um and I want to get out ahead of that today and say that that is not my heart, nor is it the heart of Spring Lake. But we're doing a series like this because we just truly believe that when a church has hard conversations, it only strengthens the church. Amen. It's good for us as believers to have conversations uh that might feel uncomfortable. It's good for us to understand what God's word says about some of these things because the truth is the world's already talking about them. And so it's good for us to understand what God's word says. And so we're week three. The first week you guys kicked it off with Jack. He came in and he talked uh about uh church leadership and church hurts. And then last week Adam told you you were gonna die. And then this week uh we're following it up with an even uh with a difficult one in politics. And so uh when I said that, some people immediately like sat back. Like, no, I don't want to do that. Some people leaned in. Um and but it's a conversation that we're gonna have today. Uh and here's the reason why I think it is such an important thing to talk about as a church. And when we were picking topics and things that we want to talk through, this is one that kept coming to my heart. And I'm gonna be transparent uh with you on why. I think that politics is one of the biggest barriers that keeps people from walking through the doors of a church. And then I'm also gonna be transparent with you in my heart that I just get really burdened when I see the church at large start to become politicized. And when I see the church at large start to align themselves with things just that just aren't Jesus. And so we're gonna have that conversation today. And to start it off, I'm gonna say the two words that nobody in church ever wants to hear: Republican and Democrat. We did it, we survived. But let's have this conversation because here's the truth Jesus was not a Democrat, Jesus was not a Republican, those things didn't exist in Jesus' time. Jesus is Lord. Amen. And that is what we need to cling to today and throughout the rest of our lives as we engage with the political world. And so today's conversation's honest, might even be uncomfy. And it's not meant to shame anybody in this room, but it is meant to help us love each other better, love our communities better, and ultimately love the Lord with everything that we have. Let me pray for us, and then we'll jump in. Lord, we are so thankful for you. We are so thankful that we get this opportunity to be in this room together, that we get to worship you together, that we get to celebrate you together, that we get to uh just explore what your word has to say. And Lord, we are so grateful that you have just sent your son for us, that you have made a way for us to have access to you. Lord, I pray in this moment that you quiet our hearts, that you quiet our minds. Lord, I pray that you speak through me and that you reveal yourself to us today. And Lord, I pray for all of those around the world who don't know you, I pray that they have an encounter with you. Lord, we love you, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So to start this conversation, I have a question for you, and it's a question that I think everybody at some point in their life should answer. So it's an important question, and the question is this uh who are you? This is a question that I want us to start with, um, and I want us to sit with it for just a second, and here's why. Because if I were to cook if I were to ask any of you this question, I'm gonna get various responses. Um I'm gonna get something like, hey, I am a mother, or I am a father, or a sister, or a brother, or some people might tell me I'm a contractor, or uh I am a lawyer, or some people might lead with their nationality. But however you answer this question uh is gonna vary. Whenever we do ask people this question, and the reason that I want us to sit with this question for just a second is because how we view ourselves directly uh reflects how we engage with the world around us. And politics is one of those things that is so deeply rooted in identity, it is so deeply rooted in where we get our identity, how we view ourselves. And uh the reason that this question is so valuable is because hopefully we turn to the Lord to answer that question. Amen? Then we answer that question in the Lord. And so we're gonna take it a step further back. Before we have any political discussion, before we talk about politics, let's answer this question together. Who are you? Because we're gonna talk about who a Christian is, and that's the primary focus of who I'm talking to today is the Christians. Um, if you're in this room and you're not a Christian, I'm so happy that you're here, and it's actually really good for you to hear how the church should engage with these things. But Christians, I'm talking to us today, and it's so important that we answer this question through the lens of Scripture. And so if we actually go to the New Testament for a second, uh the New Testament, if you read through it, a good chunk of it is just letters that are being written to groups of people or to churches. It's letters. And at the beginning of these letters, how the authors actually address it is really valuable because if you read through it, Paul is a great example. Most of the letters that Paul wrote, he starts in the same way. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, or Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, or Paul, uh he just is saying immediately, I am aligned with Jesus. And if you read through this, none of these New Testament authors actually open with like their nationality, none of them open with their occupation or their political standing or their social status, but the very first thing that we get from them is their allegiance to Jesus. And I don't think that that's an accident. Because immediately it is telling us, the reader, they are not writing this for their own agenda. They're not coming to us as like a Roman citizen or a Jewish leader or a political voice. They're coming to us as someone who belongs to Jesus, and everything else flows from that. They set their identity and then the rest followed. And here's why that matters for us, and why it's true for us today. Your identity does drive how you engage with the world around you. And if we get the order wrong, everything else downstream is off. If you get that core identity piece wrong, everything else downstream is off, whether by a degree or a hundred degrees. If you see yourself as an American first, you're gonna engage with politics like an American first. If you see yourself as a Republican or Democrat first, you're gonna engage like one. But if you see yourself as a follower of Jesus above all else, it changes your posture, changes your tone, and it changes what you're willing to say and what you're willing to let go of. And that's what we're building towards today. And so some of you guys are like, I get it, Arlen. Uh Jesus first. I get it. But I'm still an American, still live here, still vote here, still pay taxes here. What do I do with that? And that's a good question. And it's a question we should be asking, and it's a question that we should wrestle with. And the answer is not to disengage, like the answer isn't just throw your hands up and pretend it doesn't matter. Like, I'll just wait for heaven. That's not the answer. Because the tension is that we live in two kingdoms simultaneously. And navigating that's one of the greatest challenges of Christian life. And so uh the first piece of scripture, we're gonna look at several different pieces of scripture today, and we're gonna look at what God's word as a whole has to tell us about our identity and how we should engage with the world around us. And the first one that we're gonna go to is in Philippians, Philippians uh 3.20, and it says this but our citizenship is in heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I want us to understand something about uh who Paul is actually writing to. Paul is writing to like a Roman colony at this time, um, and he is writing to uh some people that might have been Roman citizens, some that might not have been, but they were deeply aware of the Roman culture, and Roman citizenship was actually like a great privilege for people. Um, it came with protections and social standings, and people were proud of being a Roman citizen, and they wore that identity, and it shaped who they were. And then Paul speaks into that culture, and he says, but our citizenship, Christian, follower of Jesus, our citizenship is in heaven. And notice what he's not saying. He's not saying like Rome is the worst, or he's not saying Rome doesn't matter, he's not saying ignore civic life, he's saying get the order right. There is a citizenship that supersedes all other citizenships that you hold. And if you lose sight of that, everything downstream is off. We are citizens of heaven. Amen. And then Jesus himself actually gives us kind of a framework for how we should engage with the world around us. And uh this comes from Matthew 22. And it's when uh the Pharisees come up and they're talking to him uh about paying the imperial tax to Caesar. It says in verse 15, then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. Teacher, they said, We know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by others, but you pay no attention, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax. They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, Whose image is this and whose inscription? Caesar's, they replied. And he said to them, So give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God, what is God's? And this is this is a beautiful story because I love how Jesus handles this. Every time you see Jesus in Scripture, they try and nail him down somewhere, and he just corrects the whole situation. He's not trying to dodge the question, he's actually answering it in a really healthy and beautiful, like faithful way, because he's saying, Hey, uh, you're asking about the coin, bring me the coin. They give him the coin and he hands it up and he says, Who's this coin belong to? Look, whose inscription? Whose image is on it? And they say Caesar's, and he said, So give it to Caesar. But then give to God what is God's. He's saying, Caesar's real. Government is real, civic life is real, engage it, pay your taxes, participate. It's not beneath you. But he says, give it to him because his image is on it. But give back to God what is God's. And we bear the image of God. We are his creation, we are made in his image, which means the deepest part of us belongs to God. Amen. So give to God what is God's. Give to Caesar what's Caesar's, but give to God's what's God's, and we belong to God. And so I want to say this as clearly as I can. Sometimes something might be good for a country, something, sometimes something might be good for America, but it might not be good for the kingdom of heaven. And we as Christians have to know where we stand in that, and where our allegiance is. And when I say that, here's what I'm not saying. I'm not saying that America doesn't matter, and I'm not saying we shouldn't love our country. We should be in great, be grateful for it, and we should engage it. I love this country, and I love the freedoms that we have in this country, and I love the freedom that we get to do this right here, right now. And that is such a beautiful thing that we should never take for granted. But the biblical reality is this we are citizens of heaven living as foreigners in America. Scripture actually uses that. In 1 Peter, he says, foreigners in exiles. Not because the world is evil and we should hide from it, because it's not our final home. We're passing through. And that should change our posture. Think about it this way: if you move to another country, you get called, you get offered a job, you go and you live in that country, you'd probably follow the laws. Or at least I hope you would. You'd probably pay the taxes they asked you to pay. You'd probably be a good neighbor. You'd probably love the people around you. But if that country's values start to wrestle with and butt up against the values of the country that you came from, you wouldn't forget your home. Don't forget your home, Christian. We're citizens of heaven. We're guests here. Grateful guests, engaged guests, but guests nonetheless. And so, yes, love your love America, love your country, love the place that you live. You should do that. That is good. Jeremiah 29. They were told to seek the peace and prosperity of the city that they had been placed. But love your city and where you live in the way a kingdom citizen does. With open hands, with Christ at the center, and with a clear-eyed understanding that our ultimate allegiance was settled long before we ever stepped into a voting booth. Amen? It's quiet in here. How are we doing? Look, this is faithfulness to the Lord. We're Christians first. Amen. So then what do we do with this? Right? Like, where do we go with this? And I have four things I want us to talk about. I call them the do's and I call them the don'ts, right? The do's and the don'ts. And so uh the first do that we're gonna talk through the do's uh together, and the first do that I have for us is this do seek justice with humility, not just victory. And so this is how we should engage the political world around us. Do seek justice with humility, not just victory. And so uh I get I got this from a study in Micah, Micah 6, 8 is actually what we're gonna be looking at for just a second. Um, and the reason that we're going with this is Micah thematically deals with a lot of uh things like idolatry and injustice, and we can actually start to glean a lot from this book and how we should engage with the world around us, and it says this He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. This is an instruction from the Lord. And three distinct things are packed into this one verse. And so get ready for like a sermon within a sermon, really quick. Because as we walk through this, what does the Lord require of you? The first is to act justly. And we should want justice. God wants justice, and politics can be a very legitimate place to pursue justice for the poor and for the phone for the foreigner, for the vulnerable, for the marginalized. God cares deeply about justice, and because God cares about it, we should care about it. Amen? We should care about the things that God cares about. And politics can actually help us do that. And so to engage with politics for this reason, I would argue is a good thing for a Christian to do. If we seek what is right, if we seek what is good, and we seek what is of the Lord, that is good, and that's our instruction. But notice what comes next: act justly. Love mercy. And this is where it gets hard. Because justice without mercy is just self-righteousness. And we are called to show mercy. Because if we're not careful, it just becomes about being right rather than doing right. And a motto that I've clung to uh in my life as a Christian is if I'm wrong about the way that I'm right, I'm wrong. If I'm wrong about the way that I'm right, I'm wrong. If I might, I might have the right idea, I might have the right uh uh theology, I might have the right opinion, I might have the right whatever, but if I'm wrong about that and how I go about that, if I go about it without any mercy or compassion, I'm wrong. We should want what is good and what is of the Lord, but we should also do that in mercy and compassion. Mercy matters. We have to be pursuing what is good, but doing it in the way that the Lord commands us. And then the third is to walk humbly. And can we be honest? Humility is just absent from political discourse. Most of the time, everybody just thinks that their opinion is the right opinion. Everybody thinks that their thought is the right thought. Everybody is certain that they have the right answer. And when that kind of absolution for things other than the gospel bleeds into the church, it can be damaging. It can be hard. And so we have to have humility and not lose sight of what's important. And walking humbly means hold your political convictions with open hands and being willing to admit I might be wrong about some of this. And I need to seek what the Lord wants. And I need to seek what Jesus is calling me to, because the goal of Christian engagement within the political world isn't just to win, it is to see flourishing for the neighbor, for the vulnerable, and for the common good, even for the people that don't vote the way that we do. Because if winning is just a primary goal, we have lost something far more important than the election. We should want people to hear the name of Jesus. Amen. Do number two. Do pray for all governing authorities. We get this from 1 Timothy 2, verse 1 and 2. I urge then all, first of all, that petition, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for all people. Everybody say all people. Let's try it one more time. All people. For kings and all those in authority, that we may, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in godliness and holiness. And uh, when I said that, a lot of you just started nodding along, right? Like, yeah, we should pray for them. And I want us to focus on something because our natural tendency is just to pray for the ones we like. Or the ones we voted for, right? Like that's the natural tendency. But if you look at when this was written historically, um there's kind of two debates on when it was written. Uh, but the the large gen, like the large consensus is that was this was written under Nero, who was not a good emperor. But if it wasn't, it was actually written under another Roman emperor, and it was not written under like a government that these people could choose. It was probably written in the culture that did not like Christians very much. And it was written where they had really kind of no say in who their governing authority is. It wasn't written in like a friendly, fun democracy. But yet, he still says it. Pray for all governing authorities, pray for all people, for kings, for leaders. And so I have uh homework for you today. When you leave here, pray for a leader that you don't agree with. Pray for a leader that you just you struggle with and maybe you might not like. And here's what I don't want you to go home and pray. Don't go home and pray that they lose. Or that their agenda fails, right? Pray for them. Pray for them genuinely. Pray that the Lord works on their hearts. Pray that the Lord opens their eyes, pray for their salvation, pray for their families, pray for their safety, pray for that that the Lord uses them, pray that the Lord gives them wisdom according to what he wants. But pray for them. Genuinely pray for them. Pray for their family, for their kids. It's really hard to dehumanize people we're praying for. Amen. Pray for them. How are we doing? Those are the do's. You guys ready for the don'ts? All right. So uh the don'ts. Before I jump into these again, I want to remind us this is in a lecture. And the first one comes because I genuinely care for uh God's church. And I want to see God's church thrive, and I love that we exist in a body of believers, and I love the global church. So that's where this first one comes from. And the first don't is don't make your party your tribe. Don't make your party your tribe. Psalm 146, 3 tells us, don't put your trust in princes and human beings who cannot save. And so here's a question that I have for you, and I want you to sit with it honestly. What happens when your side loses in an election? What happens to you emotionally if your side loses? Because if the answer is despair, loss of hope, and if like a bad election cycle wrecks you in the same way a personal tragedy would, it might be an indicator that our hope is in the wrong things. That our hope is in the wrong place. If your party has become more than just like a political preference and it's become an identity, if it's become a tribe, those should be warning signs to us that our allegiance might not be where it needs to be. And I want to be gentle, but I also want to be clear. No political party of any governing authority of any country bears the name of Jesus. And the moment that we start equating like Republican or Democrat platforms exclusively with the gospel, we run the risk of watering down something that was never meant to be diluted. And so here's the honest truth: the world is not broken because a Democrat spent tax dollars in a way you don't agree with. And the world is not broken because a Republican made a policy that you don't value or agree with. The world is broken because sin exists. Full stop. That is the reason that the world is broken. That's the diagnosis. And no election, no matter how important we see it, fixes that. So again, let me say this as lovingly as I can. If there is a political leader of any country, any nation whose name has been placed even close to the name of Jesus, that's a red flag. Jesus is king. And I'm not saying that leaders don't matter, and I'm not saying that policy doesn't matter, but no leader, no matter how good, no matter how much a leader might align with your values, no leader died for your sins. And no leader rose from the grave for you. And no leader holds the fabric of the universe together by his power. Only Jesus does that. Amen? That is where our allegiance should be. Jesus' name is not a political brand, and it can't be. And so wherever you land on the political spectrum, if we found ourselves defending leaders and aligning with them and excusing behavior from a politician that we would never excuse from anybody else because they're on our team. And that's where it belongs. With Jesus. That's our tribe. That's our home. We live in a world that has really politicized everything. And in that politicizing everything, somewhere along the lines, we started treating people on the other side of the aisle, not as neighbors, not as image bearers, not as not as people that were loved and valued by God, but as enemies. And I want to remind us what Scripture tells us, Matthew 22, starting in verse 36, they're talking to him, they're like, what's the greatest commandment? And Jesus tells them the first is to love the Lord with all your heart, mind, and soul. And then the second is like it love your neighbor as yourself. Look, the church is not immune to having been cruel to people on the other side. We have pastors who take sides from the pulpit. We have Christians compromising the truth of God's word because it's more comfortable than addressing their own political tribe. We have people who are louder on Facebook about insert whatever political agenda than they are about the gospel. If we're outspoken, more outspoken about our political frustrations than we are the gospel. That might be a good indicator of where our heart might be. And I say it gently, but I mean it. Church, I need us to hear this today. The person on the other side of the aisle from you is not your enemy. They're an image bearer. They are someone that Jesus died for. They might be your neighbor, they might be your coworker, and they might be the very person that God has placed in your heart, in your life, to hear the gospel from you. And if our political identity burned that bridge, that's a tragedy. Look, lying is wrong, full stop. Doesn't matter if the right or the left does it. Cruelty is wrong, dehumanizing people is wrong, and we must hold that standard consistently, not just when it's politically convenient for us. Because the second we compromise the truth to protect whichever political side of the aisle we're on, that is not an allegiance with Jesus. He's worth more than that, he's more valuable than that. We should just cling to Jesus, amen? See people as Jesus sees them and love them. So how do we how do we end today? Like, where do we go from here? And I understand that this is probably not everybody's favorite sermon, right? Uh welcome to church. But this is a hard one. I get it. But we started with a simple question. And that question is, who are you? And I hope by now the answer is a little clearer. We're citizens of heaven. We're faithful foreigners. But scripture actually uses another name for us. And we get it from uh 2 Corinthians 5, which says, we are therefore Christ's ambassadors. As though God were making his appeal through us. And that word ambassador, I want to sit with uh for just a second because uh it says as though God were making his appeal through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. Think about what an ambassador actually does. Think about what an ambassador does. They live in a foreign country, they engage with its culture, with its government, with its people, they follow its laws, they work for its good, and they might even love it deeply, but they never forget who sent them. And when the values of that foreign country conflict with the values of the one that they represent, there's no confusion on where they stand. Because their identity was settled long before they ever got on the plane. And that's us. We're not refugees from the political world hiding from it, pretending it doesn't matter. Checking out because it's too messy. We engage in it. And we we do our best to seek justice in it. But we're also not conquerors of it. As if the right election cycle finally ushers in the kingdom of God. We're ambassadors. We show up, we love our neighbors, we pursue justice, and we pray for our enemies. You hold the truth without apology and without conviction. At the end of the day, at the end of every election cycle, every news cycle, every exhausting political season, we know where home is. Christian, don't forget where home is. And so before we leave today, I want to bring it back to who it should go back to, and that's Jesus. Amen? I should go back to Jesus. Because here's what I don't want you to leave with today. I don't want you to just leave with like a list of do's and don'ts. I don't want you to just leave feeling guilty about like a bumper sticker or something that you put on Facebook. This isn't a civics lesson with some scripture sprinkled in. Let's bring it back to Jesus. Here's the thing, though. Jesus is the ultimate example of everything that we talked about today. He was a citizen of heaven who came into a foreign land and he engaged with it fully, with the culture, with the government, with the broken, in the messy, in the politically charged world that he was in, and he didn't check out, he didn't hide, he showed up and he and he wrestled with it and he loved it. And yet he he never lost sight of why he came. And when they tried to make him a political king, he withdrew. John 6 tells they tried to take him. And he withdrew, not because he isn't a king, but because he understood that he was a king of a bigger kingdom. And his kingdom was eternal and it was better. And he gave to Caesar what was Caesar's, but he gave everything his life, his blood, and his last breath to God. And because he did that, because he lived perfect as a citizen of heaven here, and he died in our place, and he rose again for us, that gives us access into the kingdom. Not because we earned it, and not because we voted for it, but because he gave it to us. That's the gospel. And that's what's at stake when we attach his name to anything less. And so here's my charge for us as we go home today. Ask yourself that question. Who am I? And I really, really hope the answer to that question is I am a follower of Jesus. And if that is your answer, ask yourself the follow-up question. Do I engage with the world around me like a follower of Jesus? This November, when you're at Thanksgiving, and politics pops up, and it will pop up. How does your family see you? Do they see you as a faithful citizen of heaven, Jesus follower? Or do they see you as like a cable news commentator? When you're scrolling on Facebook, and we all do it. We see something that frustrates us, something that brings up that like familiar rage in us, how do we respond to that? My hope is that we respond as a citizen of heaven. And when you walk into that voting booth, and let me be clear, I think you should walk into that voting booth. Do you walk in as someone whose ultimate hope is in the candidate? Or do you walk in as someone whose ultimate hope was settled on the cross? Look, you're an ambassador. You've been sent. You have a role, and your role is not to win the culture war. Your role is not to own the other side. Your role, my role, is to represent our king. Amen? And represent him faithfully, humbly, courageously, lovingly, seeking justice in what is good and right, but doing it in mercy. And in every conversation, every post, every vote, every interaction with someone who sees the world completely different than you do, our hope and our driving force should be to see them come in contact with Jesus. And I'll leave it with this the world is not in need of just better politicians. The world is in desperate need of Christians who behave and act like Jesus. Be that person. Be an ambassador. Be a Christian first, and then everything else will flow from there. Amen? Let me pray for us. Lord, we we need you. We know that. I need you. I know that. I know where I fall short in my life, and I know where I've gotten this wrong, and I know where I've put emphasis on the wrong things and where I've put my trust and the wrong people or my hope in the wrong people. And Lord, I repent of that. And Lord, I pray that as a church, Spring Lake as a church, I pray that we are known for loving you above all else. Lord, I pray that your church globally is known for loving you above all else. Lord, I pray that our our just interaction with those in Green Bay and throughout northeastern Wisconsin, Lord, I pray that every single interaction that we have is focused on you. And to lead people to you. Lord, we we know that you are right, that you are good, and that you are holy. Father, in this moment, we pray that you were pleased by us in our worship and our singing to you. But Lord, ultimately, we just want to give this time to you because you are worthy of everything that we have. We are yours, Lord. And we ask that you just continue to guide us and strengthen us as a church. We love you. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.