The letter to the Philippians was written to help Christians living as an oppressed outpost of Roman rule to understand that they are a promised foretaste of the kingdom which would replace all human kingdoms. They are citizens from above, called to live under the rule of King Jesus, whose love would one day conquer every rival power. And this means that the church is neither right nor left. It’s not just another institution of liberal democracy, or even a chaplain God sent to be the nation’s conscience. It is God’s politics, the global alternative to the world’s politics – an outpost from heaven.