How large were the churches in the New Testament? What were their attendance & membership numbers? The church in Philippi had started with a Jewish lady’s prayer meeting, but then God began to bless. Through persecution the church became well-known in town. By the time Paul was in Rome how large had it become? A hundred members? Three hundred? How many of the members did Paul know, and how man did he specifically name here in this letter? Less than a dozen; less than half a dozen.
Paul was led of the Spirit to mention three of the members: Euodias, Syntyche and Clement. But there were certainly many others who could have been named for a great many reasons. And probably there were some who thought they should have been named. But Paul grouped them all together in a graceful, half-apologetic reminder that their names are written in a greater book than his little letter. It is as though he said, “Don’t be upset if I don’t mention your name. You can afford to be anonymous in this little epistle, because your names are inscribed in the Book of Life.”
There is great consolation for good, but obscure, people whose names are never in the limelight. You may not be a preacher or teacher, or holding any great office in one of the churches of the Lord. Your name may be held in reverence by only two or three hearts in the entire world. Your name may or may not even be inscribed on some tombstone somewhere, sometime. But if your name is written in Heaven, then you can easily dispense with any other recognition.
“The Book of Life” appears in God’s Word from early on to the very end. But I’m not going to get into the theology of the book this evening. Let me just say that there appear to be two different kinds of “Books of Life.” There is one from which our names might be erased, and one which is inscribed in indelible ink. Moses speaks about being removed from the Lord’s book, if it guaranteed Israel’s redemption. That is the first mention of a “Book of Life,” and there are others similar to it. But the last mention is found in the Book of Revelation –and it is “the Lamb’s Book of Life.” I believe that Paul is referring here to the Lamb’s Book.
To be listed in the Book of Life speaks of CITIZENSHIP.
That was a theme upon which Philippians chapter 3 ended.
In international law, a country’s embassy, situated in the capital of another nation, even an enemy nation… That embassy is considered to be a little bit of the homeland in a foreign land. The other day President Obama closed a number of Russian buildings, believed to be filled with spies. He sent the residents of those compounds backing. But the actual Russian embassy in Washington was not touched, because it is Russian soil. And in this light we remember that Philippi was a colony of Rome – not just a Macedonian city. Unlike many other Greek and Macedonian cities, Philippi was a little bit of Rome far away from Italy. Every citizen of Philippi had his name registered, not only, on the rolls at city hall, but also again in Rome. Similarly, Paul was a native of Tarsus, another colony, and as such had privilege of being a Roman citizen.
If we have our names written in “the Book of Life,” we are citizens of Heaven as well as residents of earth. We are come unto the city of the living God …. whose names are written heaven. “Our citizenship is in Heaven, from whence we also look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” And as such Paul expects us to behave like citizens of the Gospel of Christ.
The first thought coming out of this theme is that as citizens of another kingdom, we belong to another King. The plain and simple conclusion ought to be: we should cultivate a sense of belonging to Heaven. Just as the heart of the simplest Philippian might have swelled with pride to think he was a Roman citizen, the Christian’s heart ought to recognize, “I belong to another world, and another eternity.” To live in the light of Heaven should not hurt our day to day life in this temporary world. We should still remain the best citizens that any earthly country could possibly have. But our higher citizenship should fill our lives with the sense of nobler responsibilities. As people whose names are written in “the book of Life,” our Christian character, not only will glorify God, but it ought to draw the respect of people around us. The Lord expects his people to be moral, pure, honest and clean living. Not only is this EXPECTED by our King, but it will keep us from great harm in our Macedonia as well.
Remember that there is no greater place of recognition than to have our names in the Lord’s great book. The Ancient Venetians used to record the names of their heros in a golden book, kept in their palace. But Jesus said, “Rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” The great baseball player wants his name written in stone in Cooperstown. The football player wants his name in Canton, Ohio. A lot of fools try to get their names in the “Guiness book of World Records.” But there is no greater record than “the Lamb’s book of life.” If our name is there, but no other place, we better off than Olympic Athletes. If our name is in the Savior’s book, and we come up in the obituary column of the news paper, it’s OK.
The second thing suggested by this title, is the possession of the LIFE which is different from all others.
This book is called THE “book of life.” The other book of life is actually the “Book of the Living.” From that record the names of our Christian ancestors have been removed, because they are dead. But this is not “the Lamb’s Book of the Living,” it is the “the Lamb’s book of LIFE.” Not to be mentioned here means just the opposite of spiritual life – spiritual DEATH.
The Lord Jesus once mentioned this book. The disciples came back from a preaching tour – filled with joy at their apparent successes. They had been able to preach the word with power, and many were saved. They had been working great miracles as well, healing the sick and casting out demons. But the Lord said, “In this rejoice, not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice that your names are written in Heaven.”
There are several implications and lessons in Christ’s statement. But one of them is the idea that there might be people out there working miracles in Jesus’ name who are not named in Jesus’ book. That is perhaps the greatest tragedy ever experienced by the sons of Adam. There are churches around this country filled with the dead. There are dead men preaching sermons; dead men counting the offerings. There are dead men being honored for their diplomatic skills, and their political abilities. There are dead men winning football games, and hitting three-point buzzer beaters.
The people whose names are in this book were once nothing but dead bones in the valley of Ezekiel. Then the Lord came along ordering their reassembly, then came flesh and then came the breath of life. Christ has died for us, and lives in us; we are those whose names are written in this great book.
We are also reminded here that the Lord takes PERSONAL INTEREST in all His children.
When I was office manager at the mall, I had a list of the people who worked through that office. That list contained all the names and phone numbers of our maintenance, office and security staff. But in addition to that list of names was a file drawer filled with dossiers on all those people. In those files, I could find the names of our employees’ husbands or wives, children or parents. In those files, I could look up their social security numbers, their birth dates, and anniversaries. In those files, I had their pictures, their driving records and copies of their hand writing. In those files, there were copies of their resume and their school records. In those files the mere names took on personality and form.
I rejoice to know that the Lord Jesus takes personal interest in me and cares about me. I am not just a name or a Heavenly social security number. He doesn’t just fling out His blessings in our direction in some general sort of way. The Lord loves me as an individual among thousands of other individuals. When I hear the preaching of the Word of God, I realize the Lord has something specific there for me. I loose a blessing if I think that the pastor is preaching to the entire crowd. No, the Lord has something for me in that message – in this message. And every morning when I wake up I know that the Lord has things especially planned for me. I am not a number in the Lord’s book; He knows my name, and sees my face every minute of every day.
And this is important doctrine. If your name is in this book, then the Lord Jesus died as a sacrifice for YOU, specifically for you. And your name has been in his book from before creation. Revelation 17:8 teaches that our names were “written in the book of life from the foundation of the world.” God says, “I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.”
How many stars are there in God’s creation? I have heard there at least a hundred million, billion stars, but that may be a low number. Scripture says that the Lord can tell the number of the stars; and He….. “He calleth them all by name by the greatness of His power; for He is strong in might, not one faileth.” The God who knows the names of every star in the universe, knows all His children. And He knows our aches and our pains; our joys and our hopes. He knows us better than we know ourselves.
So deliverance and security are the results of this individualized care. Do you remember the attire of Israel’s High Priest? He carried on this shoulders and then again over his heart the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. But OUR great high priest doesn’t just carry the name of our tribes, but he carries us ourselves. “I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.” The name and face of everyone who loves, serves and trusts Christ is printed deep in the flesh of the Saviour. I don’t believe that God is honored when Christians are tattooed. But we were honored when the Saviour tattooed our names into His flesh.
Furthermore, this record is a REGISTERED PASS into the land of eternal life.
We read of this theme negatively when we look at the Book of Revelation. “And whosoever was NOT found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire.” At the judgment in the last day, one very important question will be: “Is this man’s name written in the Lamb’s book?” Or put another way: “Is this person a citizen of Heaven?” “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Only citizens are authorized to enter that city; aliens are forbidden.
Paul, in writing to his friends in Philippi says that their names are written in the book of Life. How did he know that? Was he given the privilege of viewing that blessed book? Did the Lord fax him a copy of the table of contents or the index? I mentioned those files that the mall has on all its employees. Those files were kept in a locked room in a locked filing cabinet. They were only open to a very few eyes. How did Paul know that these had their names in the Book? He assumed that they were there because their LIVES MATCHED their professed citizenship. With their mouths, they testified that they were the children of God. They permitted themselves to be buried in the likeness of Christ’s death, and raised again… And now they were living as though they were dead to sin. They were living as servants of God, citizens and denizens of Heaven.
Here is a question to mull over as you go home this evening: “If Paul was to look at us would he say the same thing about us?” If he can’t, then we must assume that the problem is with us, not with Paul’s sight or God’s files.