“Just one thing: As citizens of heaven, live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, in one accord, contending together for the faith of the gospel, not being frightened in any way by your opponents. This is a sign of destruction for them, but of your salvation—and this is from God. For it has been granted to you on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, since you are engaged in the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I have.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

We are in the thick of college basketball’s conference season. Teams all over the country are playing their conference rivals in a quest to finish the season on top of that smaller contest so that when the time for March Madness finally arrives, they’ll be well positioned to secure their spot in the Big Dance, as they call it. In this effort, wins are what count most. You don’t get credit for anything other than that. Playing well but not outscoring the other team is meaningless. A loss is only a loss. But what if it wasn’t? What if a loss only seemed like a loss on paper, but what really mattered was how you played? As Paul points out here, in our efforts to advance God’s kingdom something entirely more like that is the case. Let’s explore these powerful verses.

There is some important truth in these verses, but let’s make sure we remember where we are. Paul has been encouraging them on toward Gospel faithfulness in light of his own sufferings for his efforts to advance it. The last thing he expressed to them was his confidence that God would allow him to see them again after delivering him from his present sufferings so that he could encourage them on further toward Christ. Here then, he is finishing up this opening section with a final charge.

The charge is simple, but profound. “As citizens of heaven, live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ.” Let’s quickly talk about each part here. First, he calls the Philippian believers “citizens of heaven.” Citizenship was a big deal in the first century Roman Empire. Being in possession of Roman citizenship—which Paul was—gave you access to all sorts of benefits that were not similarly available to the rest of the population. In this nation, we are in the midst of a generational debate over whether American citizenship should come with certain benefits that are unavailable not non-citizens.

As followers of Jesus, we are citizens of heaven. We are citizens of the kingdom of God. That is our primary citizenship. It is where our first and best loyalties should lie. And we can have this citizenship no matter what physical nation we might be citizens of. This citizenship gives us our identity. It extends benefits to us that those who have not accepted Jesus’ invitation into His kingdom cannot access.

For Paul’s audience living in Philippi where Roman citizenship was an especially big deal thanks to the large number of retired military officers who tended to be enthusiastically patriotic, knowing they had access to a citizenship that was even greater than Roman citizenship was an enormous encouragement. For those who didn’t have Roman citizenship and were thus looked down on by the broader population, even if the culture around them told them they didn’t matter, they worshiped a God who told them in no uncertain terms that they did.

What’s still more than this, their citizenship in God’s kingdom would persist no matter what happened to them. They didn’t have to be frightened by their opponents. Even if they struggled—and oh how they struggled—this was only a sign that the world around them recognized that they were different, a recognition that would bring the blessings of salvation. When the world could tell they didn’t belong to it anymore, that was a good thing. “For it has been granted to you on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, since you are engaged in the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I have.”

When those around them recognized them as not belonging to the world any longer, that meant for their opponents that they were still of the world. This was a sign of God’s impending judgment on them. “This is a sign of destruction for them, but of your salvation—and this is from God.” The struggles and challenges they were facing were a gift from God. They were a clear indication of who was who in terms of God’s kingdom citizenship. They could be sure that those who were not part of God’s kingdom would face God’s judgment while they would know only His salvation. Trials and tribulations now are an indicator of a coming reversal that will make all the challenges worthwhile and even good to have faced.

Because they had this great citizenship, then, they needed to “live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ.” If you are a citizen of a particular nation, you have a duty to live up to the demands and expectations of your citizenship. You should, in other words, live worthy of it. As an American citizen that means abiding by the laws of the land. It means participating actively in the voting process. It means living up to the ideals of our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. It means maintaining a healthy sense of national pride. You should be a good, conscientious citizen.

The same basic ideas applies when it comes to our citizenship in heaven. We should strive to live up to the ideals of God’s kingdom. We should be loving, compassionate, gentle, and kind with others. We should work for justice for the oppressed and relief for the suffering. We should be a people of hope and joy and peace. We should welcome the stranger, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the orphan and widow, and visit the prisoner. We should live in such a way that brings glory to God in Christ. We do this by the things I just mentioned, but also by keeping His command to love one another after the pattern of His love for us, to love even our enemies just like He does.

We do this when things are easy. We do it when things are hard. We do it in every situation we find ourselves in no matter what it happens to be. We are to stand “firm in one spirit, in one according, contending together for the faith of the gospel, not being frightened in any way by your opponents.” This was Paul’s charge the Philippian believers, and it is one we still need to pursue today. Of course, we don’t do it on our own. This will only happen successfully when we are doing it in the context of the church. Indeed, Paul was writing this to a group of believers who were a community together, not merely a bunch of individual followers of Jesus.

Living up to the expectations and demands of our heavenly citizenship is not easy, but we serve a King who will help us along the way. We won’t ever be doing it on our own. Whatever obstacles arise, though, we keep pressing forward because our kingdom citizenship is eternal while our worldly citizenship will come to an end when our eyes close on this life if not before as nations are temporary. God’s kingdom is not. So then, “as citizens of heaven, [let us indeed] live our [lives] worthy of the gospel of Christ.” Nothing else is more important than that.