As well as persecution and conflict, it’s clear from this week’s passage, that the church in Philippi was also dealing with the age-old problem of false-teaching from within. Paul, who is never anything but crystal clear about how to deal with anything or anyone that would infiltrate, distract or dilute the central message of Jesus’ saving power in His churches, reminds his friends of who they are (making some fascinating tangential remarks about maturity, and what it looks like, along the way.) To a city built on a colonist’s mindset he makes the searing statement: You are citizens of heaven, NOT to keep their eyes focussed on future glory (in this instance) but to reverse that logic. It is your highest call, to bring the ways of heaven (its love, justice, and humility) to earth! To meet your universal human condition, wired for tribal belonging and expansion, with a totally other kind of existence. A challenge surely as relevant to us today, as it ever was!
By Hannah Flint