In Philippians 1:21-26 “Paul exhorted the Philippians in a way which would have appealed to them. What he said, literally, was: “Exercise your citizenship worthy of the gospel of Christ.” Philippi was a Roman colony, a title seen as one of the coveted prizes of the Roman empire. “Colonial’ status meant that the people of Philippi were reckoned as Roman citizens. Their names were on the rolls at Rome; their legal position and privileges were those of Rome itself, but all this was also true of them spiritually. As men and women in Christ you also are citizens of heaven first. Grace has made you citizens of a heavenly city; heaven’s laws are your laws, and its privileges, your privileges. The life worthy of the gospel is an inescapable obligation: it is the essence of the homeland where all whose names are written in the Book of Life will live for all eternity.