Philippians 1:1-11
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.
8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
The letter to the Philippians was written by Paul most likely from prison in Rome sometime around the year of AD 62.
It is interesting that the letter starts out with “Paul and Timothy” as if they co-wrote the letter but throughout the letter the singular first person is used; Paul either uses I or me or my to refer to himself except for the few times when it indicates a group of people.
The next phrase indicates that Paul and Timothy were servants of Jesus Christ. The Greek word “doulos” which literally means slaves is used here although various translations have rendered the word as servants, bond-servants and slaves.
Slaves were common at the time of Christ.
The slave might be treated badly by his master or treated very well.
The slave might hate his master or even love his master.
The slave was the property of the master because they he been purchased as a slave or he may have been born into the group of slaves owned by a master.
A slave could be assigned to menial tasks and hard labor or they could be given a position of great authority in the household even being put in charge of the business dealings of the master.
People who were once free could become slaves through tragic loss if they had debts that could not be repaid.
A child might even be sold into slavery by his own parents if they could not provide for the child. This would bring in some temporary income and result in one less mouth to feed.
Being a slave could even be a pleasant way of life with a kind and considerate master or could result in a torturous life with an early death if the master was cruel and unmerciful.
So, why would Paul describe himself and Timothy as servants or slaves of Jesus Christ?
Here’s the thing, when it comes to our life on earth we are all slaves! As proud, self sufficient Americans we rebel at such a thought. We proclaim loudly that we are free citizens of the United States of America! We are not slaves to anyone!
That reminds me of the protest by the Pharisees in John 8:31-34 when Jesus said,
“If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
“They answered Him, ‘We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?’
“Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.’”
So, you see, in the spiritual realm we are either slaves to the evil one or slaves to Jesus Christ.
Slavery to the evil one will result in a life wracked with the disease of sin which leads to death.
Slavery to Christ will result in a life delivered from slavery to sin which leads to life.
Romans 6:16-18 says it like this:
“Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
“But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.
“You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”
Do you know what a default setting is? The most common use of a default setting is in computers today. For instance if you have a printer that can print in color or black and white the default setting is usually color for any document that has color on it. However, for most printers, you can go into the settings for the printer and change the settings from the default of color and force the printer to print in black and white only.
When we are born our default setting is slaves to sin or slaves to the evil one. You see, we just can’t help it! Ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed the Lord the image of God within us has been unable to function properly. It’s like we have a computer virus and every time we wake up in the morning we start living lives of disobedience to God. It’s like our hard drive has been corrupted.
But, praise be to God, He knows how to reset everything so that we can escape from the brutal slavery to sin which leads to eternal death! We can move into the kingdom of God where we become His adopted sons and daughters and out of love and thankful hearts we then consider ourselves to be slaves to Jesus Christ. This leads to peace, a wonderful relationship with our Creator and eternal life in heaven with the One who gave His life for our redemption, Jesus Christ our Lord and Master!
You see, whenever we view slavery, we view it through the lens of the most negative sense. Where slaves are forced to live in harsh conditions, given only enough food to survive, where they are abused, beaten, raped and killed.
But when we become slaves to Jesus Christ He changes the harsh conditions of broken relationships into opportunities of forgiveness and reconciliation.
When we become slaves to Jesus Christ He has promised to supply our daily needs and we have the great provision of feasting on His Word.
When we become slaves to Jesus Christ He loves us where we abused before, he heals our wounds from our previous beatings and He gives us life everlasting instead of what the Bible calls the second death?
What a choice! Who would choose to remain a slave to sin and all of the despair that comes with it? Who would refuse such a great salvation? But many do …
Have you come to the point in your life where you’ve realized what a desperate position you are in without having Christ as your Lord and Master? Well, that’s who this letter is being written to; to those who have become slaves of Christ Jesus.
The verse continues on with it’s greeting “To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:”
All the saints! That’s a global designation! That’s everyone who has become a servant of the Most High God! If the letter was coming to us in the mail today the address would look like this:
Crossroads Church of The Nazarene
Attn: All followers of Jesus Christ and the Church Board
369 Route 39 W
Arcade, NY 14009
That’s everyone of us in this place who have made the choice to follow Jesus as their Savior by the grace of God!
In addition, it also points out the “overseers and deacons.”
These in the case of Crossroads Church of The Nazarene would be the Stewards and the Trustees with the Stewards being responsible for many of the spiritual activities and oversight of the church and the Trustees being responsible for the business, property and other practical matters of the church.
Why do you suppose the overseers and deacons are specifically pointed out in this greeting?
It is because the church, even though it is a spiritual entity, still exists in a physical world and therefore has physical needs that must be cared for.
I must say that we have a wonderful church board! I always enjoy our bi-monthly meetings and look forward to them as a time of working through some issues with my brothers and sisters in Christ.
These are not glamour positions. These are not always easy positions. These are only for those who are absolutely committed to the work of Christ at Crossroads.
These positions are for those who have their roots down deep into Christ and in His work here in Arcade.
These positions are for those who are willing to give up a night every other month or even more often if necessary to make sure that the business component of the church does not become unraveled and interfere with the spiritual aspect of the church.
These positions are for those who are willing to say, “I know it’s not glamorous. I know that no one sees it, but, it is necessary to the work of the Lord and since He is the Master and I am the servant,
I am willing to do whatever He asks of me.”
Being on the church board is a “whatever” ministry. Not “whatever” like your teenager might say it to you, but, it is throwing your arms wide open and saying, “Lord, whatever you need from me, that is what I am willing to do no matter how laborious or tedious it might be. I am Yours. Use me as you see fit!”
If you find a faithful, truthful, fair and dependable automotive mechanic you have found a treasure. But, here’s the thing, nobody sees what he does but he is the one who keeps your car going up and down the road with minimal mechanical malfunctions.
That is what a faithful, Holy Spirit filled, conscientious church board does for a church. Behind the scenes all of the mundane duties that no one ever thinks about are being taken care of by the church board.
Aren’t you glad, for instance, that when this church was built they put in a large enough septic system so that week after week, month after month, year after year the toilets keep flushing? You never think about such a menial thing but what would it be like if you had to wonder each week if the toilets would flush or not?
So, I ask you, those of you who are members of this church, if you are nominated by the church nominating committee that you would make your response a matter of real, earnest prayer and not a matter of personal avoidance of inconvenience or trivial duty.
No task in the kingdom of God is trivial.
If you feel that the Lord is leading you to accept a nomination but you are unwilling in your heart either ask the Lord to change your heart or say “no” until an overwhelming love for Jesus causes you to throw your arms wide open and to say, “whatever You would have me to do, Lord, that I will do!”
In the book of the Acts of the Apostles they chose seven men filled with the Holy Spirit to take care of the mundane matters of the church.
Filled with the Holy Spirit and willing to do whatever needed to be done.
Filled with the Holy Spirit and we never heard about this problem raising it’s head again.
Ahhhhhhhh… that’s the kind of servant the Lord can really use and He faithfully blesses obedience that is driven by a pure love for Him.
As we put a close on this morning’s message let’s just take one more look at the two opening verses of Philippians
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Are you a servant of Christ Jesus? A servant who has volunteered to be one out of a deep, deep love for Jesus?
If you are, that makes you one of the saints of Crossroads Church of The Nazarene in Arcade, NY.
If you are one of the overseers and deacons, or board members as we call you, Thank You! For your willing hearts to serve Jesus in this manner.
And, finally, “Grace and peace to your from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
God bless you all.
See you tonight for a time of singing and Bible Study, now, as Pastor Parker would say, “Shake hands and be friendly!”
God bless you!
