BCP Trinity 23 - Philippians 3:17-21

17 ¶ Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. 18  (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19  Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) 20  For our ( citizenship) conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21  Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

Researchers at Southampton University' are developing a "gait recognition technique" that should be useful because, says team leader Mark Nixon, a person's walk is unique." And unlike fingers and faces and irises, walking can be spotted at a distance.
"Bank robbers can wear masks or helmets to hide their faces," Nixon says, "but if you want to move quickly or naturally, it's very hard to disguise your walk without drawing attention to yourself -- and you don't want that if you have just robbed a bank." Even Shakespeare had the basic idea, because "he often talks of characters recognizing one another by their gait."
Nixon says his researchers take the images of a person walking, put it into a computer and "throw a great bundle of mathematics at it." From that, he explains, "we get a signature for each person -- a set of numbers" unique to an individual.

3:17 followers together of me/following my example. As Paul follows the example of Christ. mark them which walk/ take note of those who live. The life-styles Christians lead ought to be models worth following. 3:18   live as enemies of the cross. In glaring contrast to Paul's conduct (v. 10) and to the truth of the gospel.

3:19   destruction. The opposite of salvation.
God is their belly/ god . . . stomach. A deep self-centeredness; their appetites and desires come first.
glory is in their shame glory = self-disclosure, they revel in their misdeeds which disclose what they are really like
earthly things. They have set their minds on the things of this life;
Danger today of materialism - expand.

3:20   citizenship. In this world Christians are aliens, fully involved in it, yet not of it.
in heaven. Where Christ is and where they are--in union with him; contrast the "earthly things" of v. 19 (see Eph 2:6; Col 3:1-4).
eagerly await . . . from there. Something else in life, not material.

3:21  he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. Christ's present power, earned by his obedience to death (see 2:8) and received in his resurrection and ascension, is universal and absolute (see Mt 28:18; 1Co 15:27; Eph 1:20-22).
Who shall change our vile body, By the Holy Spirit at the resurrection.  Subject to weakness, decay and death, due to sin .
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, will transform. The resurrection body, received already by Christ, who is the "firstfruits," will be received by believers in the future resurrection "harvest". It is "spiritual," i.e., transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We are to 'walk the walk' in a distinctively Christian way. We are to do this because we are citizens of heaven and not of earth. We can look forward to the day when Jesus will return and give us perfect resurrection bodies.

In this country we have a TV programme called 'Faking It' where people learn to be and try to be something that they are not. They are then assessed by a panel of experts who try to discover if they are real or fake.

Some years ago Hollywood made a folk hero of a man dubbed "The Great Impostor" who did a similar thing.  In the real life that inspired the film, the impostor, though unqualified, assumed the roles of medic, college professor, priest, military officer, and diplomat.  Eventually he even posed as a Baptist preacher and pastored in the Pacific Northwest.  But his undoing was his inability to give evidence of authentic spiritual life.  He found it harder to be an impostor in faith than in medicine or academics.  Only true faith can stand such tests.

We have to be authentic in our faith and show in every walk of our life that we are citizens of another place.

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