Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all God’s holy people 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. - Philippians 1:1-2
Main Readings: Acts 16 & Philippians 1 1-6 (Related Readings: Psalm 84 & Luke 11 1-13)
This is a letter written to a group of people. When we read verse 1, did you notice their location? I’ll rephrase that… did you notice their locations? Because there are two. These people lived ‘at Philippi’. But they also lived ‘in Christ Jesus’. Their physical location was ‘at Philippi’. Nothing special – just another town. But their hearts and minds and spirits lived ‘in Christ Jesus’. That is special. So special, that this letter addresses them in an extra-ordinary way - ‘to all God’s holy people’. Wow! - ‘God’s holy people.’ How do people as broken as me get to be ‘God’s holy people’? Well, the answer’s here - ‘God’s holy people in Christ Jesus’. That’s the only way. ‘In Christ Jesus’. By faith in God’s Son.
If we’re believers, our lives are lived in two places. I live at Ossett. My house is there. My job is close by. I’m not a Philippian - I’m an Ossettian. Nothing special. I’ve never heard anyone boast about that! But I’m also a Christian – now living ‘in Christ Jesus’. And the truth is - though my tiny mind struggles to grasp it - that makes me one of ‘God’s holy people’.
As believers, do we see our lives in this way? I think one of the biggest causes of ongoing trouble in my life is that I get this so wrong. I find it so easy to focus on my house, or my job, or other things – like having the right kind of friends or relatively good health. If I’m keeping up with the rent, and all is going smoothly at work, and I can get outside and enjoy the fresh air, then I’m content. But life is often not smooth. There’s no guarantee. Life can be so unstable. It can change in a moment with no notice period. We can easily feel the threat of being forced to move. Or fear redundancy - or having to move school or college. Our health may decline. Relationships may breakdown. If our joy is only in those places, then our joy may be short lived.
If only I could grasp the Bible’s truth better – the place where my joy should come from. Not joy from the temporary - today - circumstances of life in Ossett. But joy from being - always – in Christ Jesus. Here, I can’t get behind with the rent. Cos ‘in Christ’ I’ve nothing to pay. I won’t be evicted from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The main author of this letter is the apostle Paul. One of the reasons for writing this letter is to encourage those Christians to find their joy in Christ. Recently, I finished a series on Acts. We left Paul in Rome – a prisoner, waiting for a hearing before Caesar Nero. Under house arrest for two whole years. Imagine if that was you. You – restricted – not able to come and go at will. Your freedoms curtailed. Your life turned upside down and inside out. How would you feel? Perhaps you don’t have to imagine. Because life has a habit of making this kinda thing all too real.
If I was in Paul’s situation and wrote a letter to my friends to describe how I was feeling, I know the words I’d use. Some probably aren’t the kind of words for a Sunday morning in church! I’d be fed up – frustrated – bored of looking at the same four walls, with no end in sight.
Let’s imagine you received my letter. ‘Oh no!’ you’d think. I’ve got to read this. I’m obliged to. But it’ll be all doom and gloom.
Why do I mention this? Well, during that time in Rome, Paul wrote four letters that are found in our Bibles. From Rome, he wrote Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and this one – Philippians. These letters are not all doom and gloom. In fact, this one, is the opposite. It’s full of ‘joy’. The word first appears in verse 4. And the theme runs right through this letter. It’s like Paul dropped his writing pad in a joy-puddle. Philippians is soaked in joy and thanksgiving. Yet it’s written by an imprisoned man. How can this be? How can someone in his situation be joyful? It’s because his physical situation – being in prison –influenced his thinking less. And his non-physical – or spiritual – situation influenced him more. Paul was in prison. But Paul was also in Christ.
The letter begins with Paul’s name. And, his friend, Timothy’s. ‘Paul and Timothy’. This is a church that were now receiving the thoughts of two men - Paul and Tim. How like Riverside?! But who were these men? ‘Servants of Christ Jesus’. That’s what it says. But in the original Greek it says more. Our NIV translates their job as ‘servants’. Difficult to argue with. Paul was a servant of Christ. He served and served and then some. But other English bible versions translate this slightly differently.
The original Greek word for servants is ‘doulos’. The ‘dou’ part, means tied or bound. Something that it locked tight. Why do we lock things tight?
As most of you know, I love my bike. Obviously, not the same way that I love my wife and family. But a very close second! Even when it’s in my locked garage, I lock it again. Cos I don’t want it to go AWOL.
Doulos – these were not just servants. They were locked in. They were tied and bound to Christ. That’s probably why the NASB and others, translate this as ‘bond-servants’. And the NLT and others, use the word ‘slaves’. Paul and Timothy were Christ’s slaves. It’s a word that conjures up really negative stuff. Horrible things from human history. But, the church at Philippi would have understood what Paul meant. They lived under Roman rules. Slaves were everywhere - people who once had a very different way of living. But their former way of life was gone. They were now owned by a new master. Their new life was not meant to serve their own interests above everything else. It was now arranged to serve the one they now belonged to.
That’s what it is to be a Christian. Not just Paul and Timothy. All Christians are all called - to be Christ’s servants and Christ’s slaves. And if that makes you feel uncomfortable, never forget – he’s the good master. He’s the best there is! Oh, to realise this. Oh, to dwell in that right-minded place of Psalm 84 10 – ‘Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.’
Verse 2 has a greeting. Letters are often started in this way. Emails, texts, WhatsApp messages are no different. When there’s been a pause in contact for a period, people often begin with something like, ‘I hope you’re well…’ It conveys a desire from one person to another. ‘I hope.’ ‘You are well.’ Paul had a desire for these people at Philippi. He could have written, ‘I wish… you grace and peace.’ But he didn’t.
Recently I’ve seen lots of people in TV studios wearing Olympic medals. The conversation has centred on that new possession that they have. But no-one said to them, ‘I hope you get a medal to keep.’ Because they already had it.
So here - grace and peace would’ve been good things to desire for them. But why desire to have something when it’s already yours by right. And so, Paul doesn’t wish them those things. He’s reminding them that they’re already theirs. And where those things continue to come from. ‘Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.’
Cos it’s easy to get this wrong. We’ve been reminded this morning that all Christians are called to serve Christ their new master. Sometimes these things cause us to examine our lives. And to realise we’re coming up short. Our instinct is to think, ‘I must try harder - I will try harder. I’m so ungracious - my life needs more grace than it has. I need a greater sense of peace than I’ve had recently. I need to do something. I. I. I.’ No. Grace and peace are not things that you conjure up with a whole heap of hard work. They’re things that he gives. To those who live ‘at Philippi’? No - those who live ‘in Christ.’
Again. This is what it is to be a Christian. In these first two verses there are three short words which are positional – words which describe position. Those words are ‘of’, ‘in’ and ‘from’. And they’re used in relation to Christ. God’s holy people are so, because they are in Christ. Because they are now in Christ, they can now be ‘servants of Christ.’ How do they serve. By ‘Grace and peace… from… Christ’ - only as they are supplied by him. Always because they are supplied by him.
If you want an example or two then head to Philippi. Not when Paul wrote this letter but about 12 years previous – when this church was started by him. That account is recorded in Acts 16. Part way through that chapter, Paul is ‘thrown into prison.’ – again! He was with his friend Silas. They’d upset people with their Jesus talk and they’d been flogged, beaten and stripped. What does it mean to be ‘stripped’? They lost everything - even their clothes. But then they were supplied. With grace and peace. How else do you explain what they did? – praying out loud and singing hymns at midnight.
And we know the result. Those two Christ followers were supplied with such grace and peace that it overflowed. It poured out of them. That prison began to fill up. The Philippian jailor was a man who’d hit the bottom of life’s empty pool. And there seemed to be no way up and out. But there was. The grace and peace that overflowed from Christ’s servants soon had this man floating. And the moment he looked upwards? Heaven’s great lifeguard reached out and rescued him!
So, another question? How soon after becoming a Christian can we start to serve. The jailor shows us. His new life began ‘immediately’. In his old life, he was happy to see Christ’s people rot. Now he washed their wounds and fed them. And something else - ‘he was filled with joy.’ Why? ‘Because he had come to believe in God.’ When he started his shift that evening, he was without God and without hope. Just another human whose heart was emptied by life. But he clocked off now ‘in Christ’ – and ‘he was filled with joy.’
Immediate Christian service is also seen with Lydia. Her life circumstances were vastly different to the jailor. Her life had much. But she still needed Christ. She heard ‘Paul’s message about Christ.’ But she still needed to respond. Would she open her heart to receive him? Not quite. In one of the most beautiful statements about the workings of God, Acts 16 says, ‘The Lord opened her heart.’ Lydia was quickly baptised and then we read, ‘she invited us to her home. ‘If you consider me a believer in the Lord,’ she said, ‘come and stay at my house.’’ What would Paul’s response be? ‘Hang on a minute, you’ve only just become a Christian – wait until you’ve learned a few things before you serve.’ No. She’d given no option. She seems to’ve immediately grasped the truth. ‘If you consider me a believer… stay at my house.’ In effect – ‘Your choice. Am I in Christ? If so, I must serve his people in whatever way I can.’ And then we read, ‘And she persuaded us.’ As well she might!
Verses 3-4 are about prayer. Paul dearly loved the church at Philippi. They evidently meant much to him. I love the connection with the theme of God’s supply in Christ. It reminds me of Oliver Twist and his most famous line. Oliver is the main character in a famous Victorian novel by Charles Dickens. He is orphaned and sent to the workhouse. The master of that house is a mean man. The unwritten rule is - keep your head down and your mouth shut. But desperation makes Oliver open his. Cos he’s starving and wasting away. And so, one supper time, having finished his tiny portion of watery porridge, Oliver goes back to the master. He doesn’t want to. But he must. And he says, ‘Please, sir, I want some more.’
Oh that Christians would be more Olly Twist. Our new master is not mean spirited. He’s the open-hearted, opener of hearts. We’ve a God who, in Christ, is ready, willing and able to supply our lives with what is most needed. And yet, all too often our response is the wrong one - ‘I must try harder’. Rather than the right one – ‘Please Lord, I’m desperately lacking - I need more of your grace and peace. And I’m confident you’ll give it me.’
Paul was ‘confident’. We find that word in verse 6. And Paul was willing to pray. He was willing to pray for his Philippian friends ‘in Christ’. Because he knew that their God was willing. And he knew that God ‘will’. That word is also in verse 6 – ‘will’. It’s one of the most confirming verses in the whole Bible – ‘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.’
‘He who began’ – does it remind you of Lydia? Who began that life of faith? The Lord did when he opened her heart. ‘But what about me?’, someone might say. ‘My heart seems so closed off from God. I want to believe. I want to believe more than I do. What should I do?’ Ask him to do what you can’t!
This verse doesn’t just remind me of Lydia. It also reminds me of the BBC quiz show, Mastermind – with its famous black chair. Apparently, the show’s creator drew his inspiration from being interrogated by the Gestapo during World War II. The show features an intimidating setting and challenging questions. Mastermind has a famous catchphrase. It’s succession of hosts have all used it. When the buzzer sounds – time is called on a contestant’s turn. But it isn’t all over. The host has begun a new question and so they go on with the words, ‘I’ve started, so I’ll finish.’
It's so like verse 6 here. We’ll need it. When life in Christ leaves us facing challenging questions, in bad situations, and we feel clueless. Those days when… you know what happens - ‘you’ just happen. That’s the time to realise the awesome truth of Philippians 1 verse 6. That’s when we’ll need to realise it’s not about you. But about he who began a good work in you. When Satan seems to be calling time on our Christian life. Then may we hear the great Master Mind of our salvation, crying out, ‘No! – I’ve started, so I’ll finish!’
One of the commentators says this, ‘as a believer in Christ, you are as certain of heaven as though you had already been there ten thousand years.’
What reason for joy! In Christ Jesus.
When this letter was received by the Philippians, it wouldn’t’ve been the only thing they ever read. Perhaps there was even a news parchment called, ‘You know you live in Philippi when…’ Cos, now there’s similar – there’s a Facebook page for people like me – living in Ossett. It’s called, ‘You know you live in Ossett when…’ It gives details of local happenings – both the weird and the wonderful.
Paul could’ve titled this letter, ‘You know you live in Christ when…’ It’s full of the wonderful. And the weird - I mean, how did Paul seem to sweat beads of joy when in prison? In chapter 4, he’ll get to the ‘secret.’ He’ll tell us about some harsh life experiences. And tell us how he got through – ‘through him who gives me strength.’
Do you ever cry out, ‘give me strength!’? If you’re in Christ, be assured of this. He will. When it seems most unlikely to you. It’s still certain to him - him who began with you. What he starts, he finishes. This letter is meant to assure us that we’ll know we live in Christ when – when despite heartache and heartbreak, we can and will still find a measure of joy and peace in what we believe. It shouldn’t make sense. On the face of it, it’s weird. But it’s also wonderful.
Over the coming weeks, my prayer for all of us, is that Philippians will be wonderful for our lives. Our lives. Lived in Christ.
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