Notice how it doesn’t begin: Not, Paul the Apostle, like he began his epistle to the Galatians. He didn’t need to defend his authority here. The Philippians loved him and accepted his apostleship. Not Paul, the hotshot celebrity, or super leader. Not Paul, the one you have to respect and obey as a church leader. He just calls himself a “bondservants of Jesus Christ.”
The word bondservant is doulos in Greek. It was a word used for the lowest of slaves totally owned and controlled by another. So Paul isn’t resenting himself as a prima donna who had to be worshipped, or a fragile hero who had to be treated with kid gloves. But the lowest form of a slave. A slave was a person who did not control himself, but was totally owned by another. But that status didn’t change Paul’s joy – it didn’t hinder it because he was a “bondservant of Jesus Christ.”
To understand this, you really need to go back into the Old Testament to the book of Exodus. There in Exodus 21:5-6, we see a ritual that took place quite often. It involved a slave who was to be given his freedom. His time of indenture was up maybe because the debt he owed had been paid or because it was the year of jubilee. Yet, the slave loves his master. He wants to stay and serve the master he loves. So he voluntarily remains a slave and submits to the ritual here in Exodus.
Paul likewise chose to remain a slave of Jesus Christ.
Exodus 21:5-6 records the ritual of voluntary slavery:
“But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.”Paul is saying, “That’s me! That’s Timothy! Jesus set us free from the bondage of sin and death. But we knowingly indentured ourselves to be His slaves.”
Every true believer has said that very same thing: They have said in their heart, “I choose to give my life to Jesus, I choose to serve Jesus as my Lord.”
Have you made that commitment? Is He Lord of your life? Until you’ve made that commitment you will be forever struggling to find happiness on your own rather than allowing Jesus to grow the fruit of joy within you.
So that was who Paul was, the author of this epistle, along with Timothy his traveling companion. They claimed to be no more than slaves of Jesus Christ, yet this was the real source of their joy.
Now who was Paul writing to? Philippians 1:1 continues by saying, “To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons.”
The word saints in Greek is hagios. It means a people set apart for God - a people who are also “bondservants of Jesus Christ.” Every true believer is a saint, and every saint is a bondservant of Jesus. We are saints, not because we were recognized by the Roman Catholic church, nor because we did necessarily great things. We are saints because of our position in Jesus Christ. Just like the Philippians, we are holy, not because we look it or act like it, but because we are set apart for God’s use.
This introduction includes “the bishops and deacons.” This is because Paul is writing to a local church with the usual officers. A bishop is the King James way of translating the word for overseer. It is a word that is synonymous in Scripture with pastor or elder. We should note that they had the same two officers in that early church as are present in the modern church.
Paul’s greeting continues in Philippians 2:2, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Grace is from the Greek word charis (related to joy) while peace is from the Hebrew word shalom. It was Paul’s common greeting used in all his letters and always in that sequence. God’s grace is necessary in order for us to find peace with God. As Romans 5:1 says: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” God provided the grace to justify us through the blood of Christ, and that brings us peace with God.
Have you experienced the grace of God? Have you received the peace with God that comes from trusting Jesus Christ? Then you should be able to live in the same joy as Paul did in spite of any adverse situations. But you have to choose that joy
In one of Tim Hansel’s books, he gave the true account of an 82 year old man who had served as a pastor for over 50 years. But now, as an old man, he was suffering from recurring bouts of skin cancer. He had already had 15 operations. He was in constant pain and embarrassed to go out because of his scarred face. Then one day, someone gave him Tim’s book, “You Gotta Keep Dancin” in which Tim tells of his own struggle with chronic, intense pain. In the book, Tim Hansel wrote of the day that he realized his pain would be with him for life, and that day, he realized that he could choose how he responded to that pain. Tim wrote that he chose joy.
The old pastor laid the book down thinking, “He’s crazy. I can’t choose joy.” But then, later, he read the words of Jesus in John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” He realized that Jesus wants to give us joy, and not just joy, but a joy that is full and complete. The joy Jesus wants to give us is the joy Peter wrote of in 1st Peter 1:8 – “a joy unspeakable and full of glory.”
The pastor thought about it, then got down on his knees, and prayed. “Well, then, Lord, give it to me.” And then, as he described it, it was as if “This Incredible hunk of joy came from heaven and landed on him.”
“I was overjoyed,” he wrote, so he cried out, “Turn it on, Lord, turn it on.” Before he knew it, he was dancing around the house. It was, in his own words, as if he had almost been born again. He had to get out, so much joy can’t be cooped up. He went down to the fast food to get a burger, and a lady saw how happy he was, and asked, “How are you doing?”
He said, “Oh, I am wonderful.”
“Is it your birthday?” she asked.
“No, honey, it’s better than that.”
“Your anniversary?”
“Better than that!”
“Well, what is it?” she asked.
“It’s the joy of Jesus. Do you know what I am talking about?”
“No,” she said, “I have to work on Sundays.”
What a typical response. But there are two types of people. There are those who choose joy, and there are those who don’t. There are those who let their circumstances rule how they feel and wallow in unhappiness and self-pity in every crisis; and there are those who choose the joy of the Lord. Have you chosen the joy of the Lord? As Nehemiah said, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” Will you choose joy?
In the poem, The Wind of Fate, Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote:
“One ship sails east,It is not your circumstances that determine your joy, it is your relationship with Jesus Christ. Do you have a relationship with Him? Is He your Lord? Do you rejoice in that?
One ship sails west,
Regardless of how the wind blow,
It is the set of the sail,
And not the gale,
That determines the way we go.
Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate,
As we voyage along through life,
“Tis the set of the sail
That decides its goal,
And not the calm or the strife”
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