Have you ever noticed that when you spend a lot of time around someone or when you admire someone you gradually become more and more like them?
In middle school, I was desperate for the love and acceptance of my friends. I wanted to watch what they watched and read what they read. I wanted to dress like they dressed and talk like they talked. I wanted to do all the things they did and spend all my time with them. I wanted to be like them. The more time I spent with them, the more I became like them, and that wasn’t a good change.
Thankfully, the Lord intervened, and I realized near the end of my time in middle school that I was different from all my friends, and that was okay. If they wouldn’t accept me for who I was, they were not true friends.
Through all of this, I learned that seeking God’s acceptance and becoming more like Him is much more important and necessary than seeking a friend’s acceptance and becoming more like her.
And Paul teaches a similar truth to the Philippian church.
As he wrote the letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul was in prison. He wrote the letter to thank the church for their generosity and to encourage them in their faith, even when they endure suffering. After assuring the Philippian believers that the gospel was being proclaimed through his suffering and expressing his belief that he would return to them, Paul instructs them,
“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,” Philippians 1:27, ESV
Paul exhorts the Philippian believers to live their lives worthy of the gospel. At first glance, we might think this verse just means that we’re supposed to live good lives and obey God’s Word.
But it actually has a deeper meaning.
The phrase used in the beginning of the verse is translated from the Greek word politeuomai. This word can also be interpreted “to behave as a citizen”.(1) So, Paul is basically telling the Philippians, “Only behave as a citizen worthy of the gospel of Christ.” But what does it mean to behave as a worthy citizen?
When immigrants from other nations desire to become citizens of the United States, they must swear an oath of allegiance. The oath begins,
“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic…”(2)
The city of Philippi was a Roman colony. Because of this, every Philippian was a Roman citizen, which granted them honor and privileges that other people just didn’t have. The Philippians were proud of this, and they looked up to their Caesar. But in a later verse, Paul reminds the believers that “…our citizenship is in heaven…” (Philippians 3:20). He is exhorting them here that they must behave as citizens of heaven, they must look to Christ instead of Caesar, they must stand together and declare that their primary allegiance is with God, His kingdom, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.(3) When suffering comes, they should not run away and try to hide behind their Roman citizenship. They should not seek the acceptance of others. Instead, they must renounce their allegiance to Rome and defend their faith in Christ, no matter the cost.
What does this all mean for us? We do not face nearly the level of persecution and suffering that Christians living in the Roman empire did, but there is something we can learn from this verse. Our primary allegiance is to Christ, not our family or our friends or our bosses or our political leaders. Our primary allegiance is to the kingdom of God, not our jobs or our hobbies or our other earthly commitments. If someone is doing something that goes against God’s Word, we cannot obey or imitate them, but we also cannot stand idly by. We must imitate Christ, stand up for what is right, defend our faith, and declare our allegiance to the One True God, the King of kings.
Doing this is not always going to be easy. You may be shunned or fired or punished. But you don’t need the acceptance of others. You only need the acceptance of God. He will give you strength to endure, and He will continue to sustain you through it. Sometimes you may question whether this allegiance stuff is worth it. Let me encourage you – it is! One day, you will leave this earth and enter into the glorious, eternal kingdom of God, where there is no more sin or suffering. And you will see that remaining faithful and loyal to God was oh-so worth it.
“I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.” Psalm 89:1
- “G4176 – politeuomai – Strong’s Greek Lexicon (ESV),” Blue Letter Bible, accessed December 18, 2019, https://www.blueletterbible.org//lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G4176&t=ESV.
2. “Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, modified June 25, 2014, accessed December 18, 2019, https://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship/naturalization-test/naturalization-oath-allegiance-united-states-america.
3. The ESV Study Bible, Personal Size, ESV Bible (Wheaton: Crossway, 2008), 2282.
