The Outpost

I am now an alien here, a stranger in a strange land. The manners, customs and behavior of this land are strange and, at times, repulsive. I am a foreigner serving at an outpost of the homeland/kingdom, far from home. I have my own home and am a citizen of another community (politeuma) and it is not of this world.

Philippians 3:20
For our citizenship (Gk: "politeuma"-citizenship in a commonwealth) is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ...

Context: Paul was speaking to Philippi here. They were a Roman colony formed in 41-42BC after the defeat of Brutus. Octavian reconstituted the colony and it took on a decidedly Italian flavor due to the presence of Italian settlers and the constant movement of Roman troops passing through the city becasue of its strategic position in Macedonia.

John 17:14-17
"I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

We are like a military outpost in the wilderness like John Dunbar on the frontier of Dances With Wolves. We live in this world but we are strangers to it. We are here to send a messege of redemption, atonement, peace....the message of Jesus Christ

The whole time we are here on the frontier we continue to look for others like ourselves but one of our main tasks is to spread the seeds of salvation on the borderlands of the frontier in hopes that some of these seeds will meet fertile ground.

Matthew 13:5-8
Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

Because once some of these seeds take root and germinate, the possibility that they will come to full fruition is certain.

Hebrews 10:22
“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.”

1 John 3:9
No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.

The word seed in 1 John 3:19 is transliterated from the Greek word sperma: something sown, i.e. seed (including the male "sperm"); by implication, offspring; specially, a remnant (figuratively, as if kept over for planting):--issue, seed. Something that, once it germinates or begins at conception...pushes outward displacing in volume what was once in it's place. In the case of a seed the seed of a tree (mustard tree) displaces soil. In the case of a human fetus, it pushes out into the world. Both produce more offspring or seeds. These seeds are planted and germinate because of faith given to us through grace from the Lord Almighty. Implication: As Christ grows (like a seed) in us He forces out everything else. We grow in holiness. We become sanctified towards our ultimate goal of glorification in Christ. The analogy the Lord has put in the Bible is nothing short of perfectly brilliant.

Since we live as an outpost on the frontier (this world) far from our real home(Heaven) we need to sow the seeds in the outer fields and while we are out there on the edge we are to act as sentinels or sentrys, outlooks to protect those in the faith and to spot prospective recievers of The Word.

John Dunbar, first represented the Army and secondly represented himself. We represent Christ and His Kingdom and secondly represent ourselves. What we do on this frontier dictates whether we live or die and whether others live or die on the eternal scale of things. It is a matter of life and death. The chances of survival are greatly increased when we plant seeds to produce new seeds and recruit those around us to be a community and establish a bastion of like-minded people. That like-mindedness? Jesus Christ. We become a light on the dark frontier to bring people in from the wilderness so they too can live.