Now of course for a government to be a socialist government they've got to persuade people to give up their responsibilities and authority, and progressively they've done that. Okay, getting the idea? So then we get down to democracy. Now we can have a look at democracy and what it is, then see how it differs. Because we're used to democracy we can't see the emergence of socialism. Let's have a look in Philippians 3:20. So when you get born again, look at this, look what it tells us. Philippians 3:20, when you are born again. When you are born again, okay. It says our citizenship is in - where? Our citizenship is where? [In heaven.] Our citizenship is in heaven. Now that word citizenship means a native or naturalised member of a state who gives allegiance to its government and is entitled to its privileges and protection. I'll read that again. A citizen is a person who is native or has been naturalised as a part of a state or country; he gives allegiance to its government and he's entitled to its protection. See, that's a citizen.
So what are we citizens of? Citizens of? [Heaven.] Heaven, heaven. Where does your citizenship - and you know that's why Jesus wrote your name there. He wrote your name on the - not the electoral role, the kingdom role. See, put it on the electoral role, you get to vote; put it in the kingdom role, you're part of a family. Get the idea, the difference? So when you got born again Jesus wrote your name and your name is recorded that you are now a citizen of heaven. If you're a citizen of heaven your first loyalty is to the king, because it's a kingdom, not a democracy. It doesn't have a president over us, it has a king over us, see? There's a king over us. Okay, so we are part of - so the kingdom that we're part of has a king. It has protocol, it has laws, it has a culture, it has principles. It has values, it has authority, has power, has all kinds of things, and you and I are part of that.
You were born to be part of that. Now we're all New Zealanders, so as New Zealanders we belong to New Zealand; we're either born in New Zealand or naturalised in New Zealand, and now we're also part of a democracy. So here's the interesting thing: our primary allegiance is to a kingdom which is not from this world, it's from heaven, but we live in a democracy which we're called to represent the kingdom interests in. Getting the idea? It's sort of straight forward isn't it really? Of course the problem is you get confused and think democratically about the kingdom of heaven, then you've got a real problem. So we live in a democracy, but we are truly representative of a kingdom. Now of course what happens is over the course of history, if you have a look at the history of the church, the church was called - and we'll look at this in its [unclear 00.24.17] - the church is called to advance the kingdom of God. This brought it into conflict with the state regularly through history.
So why did the first Christians get martyred? Because they said there's another king, His name is Jesus. The government said there is only one king, his name is Caesar; bow and worship Caesar or you die. They said we will serve only one king, His name is Jesus Christ. We will not bow - so they died. Now the same thing happens around the world, exactly the same thing, whether it's communist or socialist it happens all around the world, same thing. It ultimately boils down that the conflict everywhere is about who will rule. Okay, now having got that let's have a look at democracy and the kingdom and what I want you to do is I want you just to begin to think, we're going to just describe under a number of areas - I've picked about six or seven - how the thinking and mentality is different. Now currently you're either thinking democratically, or you're thinking and you've modified your thinking to your new nation which is heaven, see?
And so what I want you to do as we go through these things, I want you to think how your thinking operates currently and what really prevails, whether you are still immersed so much in the culture of New Zealand and the democratic style and our ways, or whether you have actually immersed yourself in the new place you're a part of where you'll spend forever in. Because one day you'll leave New Zealand forever, but you'll enter your citizenship in heaven forever see? So you really want to know about where it is you're going to spend forever in and learn how to operate there, because the one we're in now is only temporary. Getting the idea? Alright then, what I did was to make it easy to follow, I put it under just some simple headings which address different areas of life, and then we can just have a think about them, think about each one. There'll be heaps of scriptures, I've just chosen one to give a representation of it.