Servants of Christ
“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Something that has recently gone out of fashion is letter writing, in the age of technology people probably feel that there is no need for it anymore. Although somebody I know has recently taken it up as a hobby, which I think is a great idea, because nowadays the only letters we receive are from companies which are not very exciting. So, for anybody who is looking for a new hobby letter writing could be for you. And, it is common, when writing a letter to sign your name off, like;
Yours sincerely,
James
Well in our culture we end with this, but in the ancient world they began their letters with this. So, this is Paul letting the Philippians know that it is him writing them.
Paul is writing this letter to the Philippian church as a thank you letter because one of their ministers, namely Epaphroditus, travelled all the way to Rome from Philippi to give him a gift to cater for his needs (Phil 4:18). He is also writing them because Epaphroditus fell very ill, close to the point of death, and Paul wanted to let the Philippians know that Epaphroditus was alive and well, and that there was no need to worry about him. Paul also used this letter as an opportunity to exhort and encourage them to keep living for Christ’s sake.
He begins by saying that he and Timothy (who was with Paul at the time) are servants, this word for servant in Greek is ‘doulos’, which means slave. In the ancient world this was a person who had no rights of their own, they belonged to their master, a slave lived to serve and please their owner, a slave was completely dependent upon their owner. And you might think, what a terrible life, what a sorry sight, two men with no rights, no freedom, no purpose of their own.
But quite the opposite is true, to be a slave of Christ, is a highly honoured position. Their master, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the owner of the entire cosmos, they serve him who created and sustains all things. They serve him who is good beyond human minds can conceive.
Christians, we have a Master who has all authority over heaven and earth yet loves us unwaveringly. If that doesn’t make us want to serve Him fervently then I don’t know what will. And this Master strengthens us to do His will, he doesn’t expect us to serve him in our own feeble ability, but He empowers us and equips us for every duty.
It is a delight to serve this Master, as we see in verse two, it is his pleasure to dish grace and peace out to his people, and when an infinite God gives out grace and peace, he doesn’t measure in ml’s or cm’s, he measures in ocean loads, meditate on this and serving him will become a great pleasure and will never become a chore. However, we must remember that this grace and peace will not be completely revealed until we get to heaven, but we serve him in faith. We don’t deserve to have a Master like this, we deserve to be damned by him for serving his enemy, sin, and the devil who used to enslave us. But knowing that he has set us free from enmity, and deception by his blood, makes this grace and peace all the more precious. Indeed the grace and peace he gives, cost him the highest price. So, to be a slave of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ is something to rejoice over, for there is joy in serving him, our Lord, there is strength when we depend upon him, and there is purpose when we are in line with his will.
As we consider the grace and peace of our Lord, let us serve him today with joy.
