Philippians 1:1 (Paul- Slave of Christ)

Philippians 1 1:1 From Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the overseers and deacons. 1:2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! 1:3 I thank my God every time I remember you.  1:4 I always pray with joy in my every prayer for all of you 1:5 because of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.  1:6 For I am sure of this very thing, that the one who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. 1:7 For it is right for me to think this about all of you, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel all of you became partners in God’s grace together with me. 1:8 For God is my witness that I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 1:9 And I pray this, that your love may abound even more and more in knowledge and every kind of insight1:10 so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ, 1:11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. Introduction I. Background a. To understand the epistle to the Philippians, we need to know about the background of the church in that city, which we discover in Acts 16:6-40. i. On Paul’s second missionary journey, he and Silas were traveling through Asia Minor (modern Turkey) when they came to the town of Lystra. ii. The fact that they went to Lystra shows Paul’s courage, because on his first missionary journey, in Lystra he had been stoned and dragged out of the city as dead (Acts 14:19). iii. But God miraculously raised him up and he left behind there a small church, among whom was a young man named Timothy. iv. By Paul’s second journey, Timothy had established himself as a faithful disciple, and so Paul invited him to accompany them on their mission. v. So, the three men, Paul, Silas, and Timothy, traveled toward the northwest. vi. For reasons we are not told, the Holy Spirit forbade them from speaking the word in the western part of Asia Minor, so they sought to go to Bithynia, an area on the north of Asia Minor, on the southern shore of the Black Sea. vii. But again, for unknown reasons, “the spirit of Jesus did not permit them” (Acts 16:7). viii. When they arrived in Troas, on the far northwest coast of Asia Minor, Paul had a vision that directly affects you and me: He saw a man of Macedonia appealing to him to come there and help them. ix. And so, the gospel came to Philippi and other cities of that region. x. The reason that vision affects you and me is that in turning west, the gospel spread into Europe and from there eventually came across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States. xi. If Paul had instead turned back toward Asia, who knows whether the gospel would ever have moved in our direction as it did. xii. Before leaving Troas, Paul, Silas, and Timothy were joined by a fourth man, a Gentile physician named Luke (the author of Luke and Acts; we know this because in Acts, Luke shifts from “they” to “we” at Acts 16:8, 10, 11). 1. We can also surmise that Paul left Luke behind to pastor the fledgling church at Philippi, because the narrative shifts back to “they” in 17:1 and remains that way until Paul sails from Philippi with Luke in 20:5, 6, about seven years later. b. The city of Philippi, founded by Alexander the Great’s father, Philip of Macedon, in 356 B.C. i. Philippi was proud to be a Roman colony, which meant that the citizens enjoyed the protection of Roman law, they were exempt from paying tribute, and they were free from the provincial governor, answerable only to Rome. ii. Veterans of the Roman army were often given property there. c. So, about A.D. 50, Paul and his companions came to this city in response to his vision. i. In spite of the broad mixture of the population, there were not many Jews in Philippi. ii. We surmise this because to start a Jewish synagogue required ten men; but Philippi lacked a synagogue. iii. After a few days, Paul and his companions went to the riverside, where a small group of Jewish women met for prayer. iv. As Paul spoke about Jesus as the Messiah, the Lord opened the heart of a woman named Lydia to respond in faith. v. She was a businesswoman from Thyatira in Asia Minor who sold purple fabrics. vi. She was probably a widow. vii. She and all her household (any children and relatives, plus servants) believed and were baptized. viii. She apparently had a large enough house to accommodate the four evangelists, who stayed there. ix. Later, the church seemed to meet there (16:40). d. As always happens when the gospel begins to take root, the enemy becomes active in opposition. i. In this case, it was a demon-possessed slave-girl who brought her owners much income through her ability to tell fortunes. ii. As with the demons in the gospel accounts who recognized and shouted out Jesus’ identity, this demon recognized Paul and his companions and cried out, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation” (16:17). iii. This went on for many days, but finally Paul grew annoyed and cast the demon out of the girl. iv. Luke doesn’t tell us whether she was converted, but I’m inclined to think she was. v. Whenever the preaching of the gospel deprives greedy sinners of their money, there will be trouble! 1. These unscrupulous slave-owners who lost their source of income dragged Paul and Silas before the authorities, had them beaten and thrown into jail, where their feet were fastened into the stocks. 2. Perhaps only Paul and Silas were apprehended because Timothy was half-Gentile, and Luke was Gentile. 3. The charges against Paul and Silas included the fact that they were Jews, and as such they were painted as being anti-Roman (16:20, 21). 4. It was about this same time that the Roman emperor Claudius had expelled all Jews from Rome. 5. Anti-semitism would have been strong in this colony that prided itself on Roman citizenship. e. Where was God in all this? i. Remember, the Lord had seemingly led these men to Philippi in a distinct way. ii. Had He forgotten them? iii. Had Paul missed the signals? iv. No, as the timely, powerful earthquake showed, God was still in charge! v. The earthquake led to the dramatic conversion of the jailer and his household. vi. So when Paul left town, he left behind Luke and a small, but powerfully converted young church. f. By the way, Paul’s insistence that the local magistrates personally come and apologize was not a case of asserting his rights for his own sake. i. He did it to protect the church. ii. If he had quietly been let out of jail and left town, the church would have been ridiculed as being started by some Jewish rabble-rouser. iii. But when news of the magistrates’ mistake spread, it gave credibility to the church, because the word spread that it was founded by a Roman citizen. g. The setting for the writing of Philippians was about 10-12 years later. i. During those years, Paul had re-visited Philippi at least twice. ii. He probably wrote Second Corinthians and Galatians from there on one of those visits. iii. But now Paul was in prison in Rome, not in a dungeon, but in his own rented quarters, yet chained constantly to a Roman guard. iv. He was not able to work at making tents, and so was in a tight spot financially. v. The Philippians heard of Paul’s situation and sent a gift in care of one of their faithful members, Epaphroditus. vi. He stayed on with Paul for a while, helping in his ministry in Rome. vii. But he became sick to the point of death. viii. News of his condition had reached Philippi, and they were concerned about their brother. ix. But God had mercy and restored Epaphroditus to health. x. The Philippians were also concerned about Paul’s impending trial. h. On his part, Paul was concerned about some friction in the flock at Philippi, and also about how the church was bearing up under some persecution from the outside. i. He was also concerned about the pervasive, insidious teaching of the Judaizers, men who dogged Paul’s steps and taught that in addition to faith in Christ, a person must be circumcised and follow the ceremonial laws of Moses to be saved. i. So, Paul wrote Philippians to inform them of his situation; to tell them of Epaphroditus’ recovery and to insure a warm welcome for him on his return; to encourage the church by expressing his thanks for them and their gift to him; to encourage them to stand firm under persecution; to exhort them to unity; to warn them about the legalistic Judaizers; and, to encourage them to joy in the Lord in all circumstances. j. It is one of Paul’s most personal letters, oozing with his love in the Lord for these people. i. With that background sketch, let me draw a few lessons from the man himself. II. The letter begins with one name. Paul. a. Paul (3972) is from Latin, Paulos meaning "little, small". Before his Damascus Road experience he was known by his Hebrew name Saul (Greek Saulos) which means "desired" or "ask" (derived from Hebrew word for "ask"). b. Jesus desired Saul. i. PAUL was a man whose life, existence, mission, purpose, ministry, affections, thoughts, actions, words, writings were dominated by one thing. That was a unbreakable love for Jesus. c. When he was converted on the road to Damascus he saw face to face the one in whom he would dedicate every day for the rest of his life to. Paul from that point on became a man driven by a desire to know Christ and experience Christ in the fullest possible way. i. He saw life and death as Christ. ii. He saw comfort in Christ (2 Corinthians 1) iii. He saw Christ a Lord of his thoughts iv. He saw Christ a more valuable that all of his achievements 1. Philippians 3:7-8 a. 3:7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 3:8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,  d. He wanted to know Christ in the power of his life and death. i. Philippians 1:18 1. 1:18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, 1:19 for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 1:20 according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 1:22 But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. 1:23 But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;  e. He knew the power of Christ in the midst of suffering. i. 2 Cor 12:7-8 1. Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me-to keep me from exalting myself! 12:8Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. 12:9 And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 12:10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. III. His Christianity was not dictated and dominated by his feelings and circumstances. Christ was the center of his Christianity. a. Christianity without Christ is insanity. b. Here he is in prison. IV. 1:1 From Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the overseers and deacons.  a. He calls himself a servant or bondservant as the English Bible says. i. But in the Greek, that word means “slave”--never means anything but “slave.” 1. It doesn’t mean “servant”; it doesn’t mean “worker”; it doesn’t mean “hired hand”; it doesn’t mean “helper.” a. There are six or seven Greek words that mean “servant” in some form.  b. Doulos never means “servant.” c. A servant is someone hired to do something. d. The slave is someone owned.  e. But it’s not translated that way in the English Bible. b. The word slave has a negative connotation. i. A decision was made by the early translators of the Geneva Bible not to translate doulos “slave.” The reason? ii. There’s too much stigma with the concept of being a slave. iii. It’s too strong a downside. iv. It’s too humiliating, too belittling. v. So, they opted to cover the word by replacing it with “servant,” “bondservant,” and eliminated the word “slave,” except when the New Testament talks about an actual, physical slave, or an inanimate object, as I said, like slaves of sin or righteousness. They said it’s just too negative. V. But nonetheless, the Holy Spirit inspired the word doulos.  a. Since we don’t see that word in our English Bible, we are missing a paradigm in which to understand our relationship to Christ.  i. Jesus said, “No man can serve two”...What?...“masters.” 1. Well, you could if you were a servant, right? 2. You could serve two people, couldn’t you? 3. You could have a day job and a night job. 4. A lot of people work for more than one person, but you can’t be a slave to two masters because you can only be owned by one. 5. Jesus talked slave talk all the time. 6. The writers of the New Testament talked slave talk all the time. 7. But we don’t see it because it’s not there in our English text. The Russian Bible has it right. 8. Other international translations have it right. 9. We don’t. This was how Christians referred to themselves in the early church. b. It is interesting to note that slave is a favorite self-designation for the apostles and other writers of Scripture. i. James claims this title for himself in the opening verse of his epistle (Jas 1:1). ii. The same is true for Peter (2 Pet 1:1), Jude (Jude 1:1), and John (Rev 1:1). iii. On top of that, Paul repeats that he is Christ’s doulos throughout his other letters: in Romans, 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Timothy, and Titus. iv. The term is used at least forty times in the New Testament to refer to the believer, and the Hebrew equivalent is used over 250 times to refer to believers in the Old Testament. v. We may safely conclude that the Lord wants His people to understand themselves in this way. vi. At its core, the essence of the Christian life can be described in terms of slavery to Christ. 1. There’s a story about a man named Epheneus who was imprisoned by the Romans for his commitment to Christ. And then he was brought into some inquisition, and they asked him to answer their questions and to recant his devotion to Christ and swear his allegiance to Caesar. Every question they asked him got the same answer. He said this, “I am a slave of Christ. I am a slave of Christ.” And for that, he was executed. c. When you think about terms used to describe Christians in the New Testament, we’re called children of God, right? i. We’re called heirs and joint-heirs. ii. We’re called members of the body of Christ. iii. We’re even designated as branches, sheep. iv. And you don’t want to mix all those metaphors because each of those gives you a facet of understanding and aspect of our relationship to Christ. But the dominating word inside of which our full understanding of salvation is best seen as this word “slave.” d. Now there’s a corresponding word that I want to mention as well, and that is the word “master,” right? i. If I were to ask you...let me ask you a fundamental question: “What is the foundational reality that defines what it means to be a Christian? 1. What is the fundamental reality that distinguishes the believer’s relationship to Christ? 2. What is our great confession in three words?” a. Jesus is Lord. b. And the simple answer to that is this. c. If He is Lord, which is to say He is Master, then I am His slave. d. There’s no such thing as a master with no slaves or a slave with no master.  e. In fact, if you want to be saved, Romans 10:9 and 10 says, “You confess Jesus as Lord.”  i. Kurios is the corresponding word to doulos. Kurios is “lord and master.”  ii. Doulos is “slave.” You can no more eliminate doulos from the believer’s relationship to the Lord than you could eliminate kurios. iii. What does that mean? 1. It means He is in charge. 2. He commands, we obey; but He commands us with full disclosure of all the reasons, marvelous, glorious reasons for doing what He’s doing. f. Our life is not defined by our own wants, our own will, our own desires, our own ambitions, but by His will, His desires, and His purposes. This is the basic truth of Christianity--Jesus is Lord. g. When I say I’m a Christian, I am saying Jesus is the sovereign over my life. Whatever He wants, I submit to that. That’s the first great understanding of Christian life VI. Paul says we were bought with a price. a. Slaves are owned by their masters. As Paul says to believers so clearly in 1 Corinthians 6:19–20: “You are not your own. You have been bought with a price.” i. We were bought with a price, and so we belong to the One who has paid that price. ii. “Therefore,” Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:20, because you were bought with a price and are not your own, “glorify God in your body.” 1. You start to study slavery; how did it work? 2. The slave market, right? Slave market. 3. Slaves are on a block, for sale. 4. You want to buy a slave; you go into the slave market. 5. You pick your slave and then you pay for your slave and then you own your slave, and then you control your slave, and then you provide for your salve, and then you protect your slave, and then you discipline your slave, and then you reward your slave. 6. That’s slavery. 7. Think about that with salvation in mind. 8. The Lord went into the slave market of sin, didn’t He? 9. And He chose, and then He paid the redemption price, and it wasn’t silver and gold. 10. What was it? Precious blood. 11. And we are not our own; we are bought with a price. 12. And now He is our Lord and we belong to Him. b. When it’s all said and done it will be the faithful slave who is rewarded. i. We are rewarded--“Well done, good and faithful slave.” 1. All those concepts within the magnificent realm of what it means to be a Christian are tied to the concept of being a slave. c. You will never understand your relationship to Jesus Christ until you see it in this sense. Jesus is Lord, I am His slave. You say, “I still have a problem. It seems demeaning.” d. You have a loving Master who is all-wise, compassionate, generous, powerful, resourceful, protective, kind, merciful, forgiving, who takes you from being just a slave to making you a slave that is also a friend...Are you ready for this one?...and takes you from being a friend to a son, and not just a son but a joint-heir. e. And if you follow the rest of the count in the New Testament, you become a citizen of His Kingdom. f. Do you understand that no slave in the Roman Empire could be a citizen? g. Couldn’t own anything? h. Didn’t have any rights? i. Couldn’t give testimony to a court of law? j. Couldn’t be defended in court? k. This is a different kind of slavery. l. He provides everything you need; makes you an intimate friend and gives you full disclosure of everything that’s on His heart. VII. You are either a slave to Christ or you are a slave to sin. a. John 8:31 i. 31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 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?” 34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 1. But, by the power of Christ to overcome the power of sin, “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6:18) VIII. Communion a. 1 Cor 11:23-25 i. 23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” b. John 6:35 i. 35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. c. 1 John 1:8 i.  7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[b] sin.