Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who do so walk, as you have us for a pattern.  (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 their shame  – who set their mind on earthly things.  (30) For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, (21) who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able to subdue all things to Himself.  (4:1). Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved. 

The letter to the Philippians was written by the apostle Paul. In our verses today Paul is using the analogy of citizenship to warn and encourage the faithful to stand firm as citizens of heaven. The Christian Philippians are advised to live like Paul  – he is not saying  that he is perfect but that his life is a practical example of how to walk with God.

The faithful in Philippi lived in this world but were not of it; they were citizens of heaven.  The seductions of this world are traps and stumbling blocks  and some who claimed to be Christians were false teachers – the enemy from within. These people didn’t live as Christians – their deeds spoke who they were. They took their freedom from the Law, in Christ, as permission to be free from God’s moral law and were citizens of this world. They were enemies of the cross who emphasized human worth.  Their end is destruction which is eternal punishment not temporal judgment. They were in the church at Philippi but not truly born again.  They lived for things of this world; their god was their appetite for selfish and sensual pleasures. The Bible does not tell us to live as ascetics but God should be central, not earthly pleasures.

Citizens of heaven wait for the second coming of Christ – this is mentioned in every book of the New Testament except for Galatians – there is debate of the particulars of the second coming but no debate over the certainty of that event. Our bodies will be raised and transformed and Jesus will subject all things to Himself – either voluntarily or by force. Jesus will either come as our Savior or as our judge. Paul warns that in light of the truth of the  second coming we are to stand firm.  Wear this world lightly.