Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who 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 in their shame – who set their mind on earthly things.   (20) 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 even 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 Apostle Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians while in prison, probably in Rome.  This letter is a letter of joy and it is clear that Paul felt that he would soon be a free man. However,  in the verses we study today, Paul is concerned with the conduct of the Philippians – in the early church there was no code of conduct.  Paul invites them to imitate him –  he knew how to live with integrity.  He warns that there were false apostles and false teachers and while the people could not see Jesus but they could see Paul and compare him to the false teachers.   The Apostle makes his behaviour a standard of a new life in Christ.  Paul also encourages the Philippians to watch those who followed the pattern of his life.  I am reminded here of the saying in Alcoholics Anonymous:  “stick with the winners.”

Paul is concerned with enemies of the cross of Christ – those openly hostile and a hindrance to the spread of the gospel.  This warning was against those who professed to be Christians but lived as citizens of this world.  Paul declares that the end of these people is destruction.  By declaring this terrible outcome Paul is saying that such people will suffer total ruin – utter and hopeless loss.  Their existence would end in a destruction which would consist of the loss of eternal life – a separation from God with no possibility of a bridge between the sinner and God.  Their god is their body and temporal pleasures.  Their highest good is to satisfy themselves against God and the inner conviction of their own consciences.  Their glory is their shame and they think it freedom but are slaves to lusts.  They are insensitive to shame which is not a feeling but an experience and they sin against God.  The consciousness of these men is so dulled that they find delight in their sins and they love what they should hate, hate what they should love.  Such men make the standards of the world their standards.

Paul’s point is that we are to be citizens of heaven, not citizens of earth.  Christianity centers on Jesus Christ, and deeds are evidence of what men truly believe.  These men set their minds and the mind set is on the flesh and hostile to God. 

We are born again by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and become citizens of a heavenly kingdom and are given an entirely new set of standards by which to conduct our lives and function as citizens of the kingdom of heaven.  We need to live in such a way that others will see we are different.  Our bodies will be transformed – no more death, disease, sorrow, but an inward spiritual transformation in which we are delivered finally and forever from sin.    Eternal truths do exist and are not limited by time and sensibility.  Paul made it clear that there is an eternal destiny for the body and we have a responsibility as to how to use the body.

Paul turns from the “enemies of the cross” to believers.  He weeps over the one but is filled with joy at the other and contemplates their coming glory.  We have been bought at a price and he commands us to stand firm – persevere – press on toward the goal for the prize.