Celebrating Freedom in Another Land - Peru 2010

Well, yesterday was July 4th, but we we're obviously in Peru not the United States! So on the way back through the Andes Mountains from Huancayo to Lima on July 3rd, I asked Dr. Tolbert what we were going to do for the Fourth of July. We immediately thought of trying to stay at the IMB Guest House in Lima so we could buy some hotdogs and hamburgers for a cookout. But the IMB House wasn't available. So we thought we just wouldn't be able to celebrate the Fourth like we normally would in the States.

But since our team went to two separate Churches on Sunday, July 4th, we learned one of the Churches was having a Fourth of July picnic after their services and kindly invited our mission team to attend.

When we arrived, it was awesome! There were red and blue stars hanging from the ceiling, red and white checkered tablecloths for a real picnic feel, and the Church leaders were dressed in various red, white, and blue clothing combinations. But the best part of all was the hamburgers, hotdogs, potatoe salad, baked beans, bags of chips, and soft drinks! It was a freedom feast, indeed!

Of course, this made me think. The Peruvian Independence Day is actually later in July, so we were celebrating freedom as a group of "dislocated" North Americans, but the general population in Peru wasn't celebrating anything at all.

Do you know what Paul says in Philippians 3:20-21? Listen to his words: "Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eargerly await a Savior 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" (NIV).

You see, in Paul's day, Philippi was a colony of Roman. Therefore, even though the city of Philippi was geographically disconnected from the city of Rome itself, the culture, politics, laws, etc. of Rome were the authority in Philippi.

Do you realize that the Church is a "colony of Heaven"? Yes, we're not literally in heaven, yet; we're sojourners in this life. We're aliens on the earth. But we don't live by the rules of this world; we live by the rule of Heaven!

Of course, the world doesn't understand us. We're celebrating our freedom in Christ, but they're not because it's not their "Independence Day" since they've never experienced freedom in Jesus. This is why we must be on mission throughout the world. We're commissioned to make disciples of all nations so they can move their citizenship from their respective countries to Heaven. When this happens, they too can join in the celebration of freedom in Christ in another land!