Greetings!

Philippians 1:1-2

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,

To all of 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.

When I was a senior in high school, I received a strange letter in the mail. Those were the days when mail carriers still brought something other than bills and circulars and announcements that “you are pre-approved” for “our plan to drive you into deeper debt” and other such junk mail.

The thing that made this letter strange was that I recognized the writing on the envelope, but I couldn’t place it. There was no return address, but the writing was so familiar that I just knew I had seen it before.

I just wondered: Who is this letter from?*

When we read Greco-Roman letters, they make this matter a little easier; the writer identifies himself at the outset of the letter. So we know that Paul and Timothy wrote it. Paul was Timothy’s mentor and spiritual father, and Timothy was well known to the church in Philippi. Scholars believe that Paul was the primary author, and Timothy was most likely his secretary.

The most important part of the salutation is what is and isn’t included. In most of Paul’s letters, he includes his qualification as Apostle. However, we find none of that in his letter to the Philippian church. Why not? Because he doesn’t need to include it. You see, in many of Paul’s letters, he is writing to remedy some problem in the church. But he is writing to encourage the church in Philippi during a tough time. He doesn’t need to lean on his qualifications. Instead, he simply notes that this letter comes from Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus.

At this moment we find our first issue. The word that our Bible has translated “servant” is the Greek word douloi. While the translation “servant” is ok, it doesn’t carry the force of its true meaning. The Philippian church would have always seen a doulos as a slave. Here’s the difference: a servant is an employee. A servant has the choice to work or not, and a servant gets paid a wage. But a slave is owned by and subservient to a master.

Does this make you a little bit uncomfortable? It does me. We like to think of ourselves as complete free agents; we are in charge of ourselves and we can do whatever we want. Here’s the thing: if we want, that’s completely true. We can do what we want. However, we talk about accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior – we recognize the Savior part easily; Jesus saves us from our guilt and sin and from the punishment of that sin. But when we acknowledge Jesus as Lord, we are in effect, positioning ourselves as slaves.

Here’s the deal: we like to have things our way. We like to have choices. We like to believe that we are sovereign, that we are in control of our own lives. Some of us have realized that this control is a mirage, that we really have much less control than we would like to think, but most of the time, we live our lives catering to ourselves. I’m not talking about non-Christians here – I am talking about us. I hear all the time about what people do like and don’t like – without even a thought as to whether God likes it or not.

And then it comes to evangelism. When I say that word, some people start to get uncomfortable. Some of you just might have the spiritual gift of evangelism. I know there are some of you with a passion for evangelism; you are always telling someone the Good News about Jesus. But there are others here who cringe when they hear the word, because you know it means that you’re going to have to go way out of your comfort zone and maybe you’ll get rejected, maybe you’ll get laughed at, maybe it will affect a relationship with a friend or co-worker.

Hear me: a slave does not operate within his or her comfort zone. A slave obeys his or her master. Period. And this is what we are called to do and to be as Christians. Those who automatically obey what God tells us. Sure, we can disobey, but we don’t. Because we, like Paul and Timothy, are called to be slaves of Jesus Christ.

The other part of this slavery is that a slave must rely on his master for everything. The question, then, is: What kind of Master is Jesus? Understand as we go through Philippians that this is the Master to whom every knee will bow and who every tongue will confess, to the glory of God the Father. But we also know this Master as the One who we can depend on in times of trouble. This is the Creator and Sustainer of all life. This is the lover of our souls. He is also the One who went to the cross on our behalf, serving us as no other.

This is the Master who gives everything to His subjects. 

Paul and Timothy are writing this letter as slaves to Jesus Christ, which indicates that they aren’t writing it on their own. Indeed, as Jesus’ slaves, everything they do must be under the authority of their Master, which includes any letter they write. In 2 Corinthians 5:20 and Ephesians 6:20, Paul refers to himself as “Christ’s ambassador” which means he has been given the authority to speak on behalf of Christ. So we should not simply read this as a letter from one early church leader to a church; this is God’s voice speaking.

Before we go on, I want to acknowledge that the spoken word is powerful. God spoke the world into existence, and God, in creating humanity in His own image, gave us powerful voices as well. As Christians, we, too, are called to be Christ’s slaves as well as ambassadors, so when we speak, we speak on behalf of Christ Himself. How are you using your words? Do your words build up or tear down? Do you listen to the Holy Spirit directing you to speak to someone or even when not to speak? You might be the encouragement someone needs today. You might be the only one speaking Truth to someone you love. I have had experiences where someone has been on my mind and I’ll call them or drop them a note or even an e-mail, and they’ll later tell me that they were so discouraged that day and the call or the note was exactly what they needed.

One more thing before we get to the audience of Paul’s letter. As Christ’s slaves, understand that everything we say or do is under scrutiny. We all live in a fishbowl. Know that you will stumble, but that our Master is forgiving. But also know that when we misrepresent Him, we are, in essence, taking God’s Name in vain. That commandment is not just about not saying “God” as a swear word. It’s about misrepresenting Him in the world and giving Him a bad name. So watch what you’re saying, out of respect for His Name.

OK, now that we have that all straight, let’s look the audience of this letter. Paul writes this: To all of God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons;

I like that the NIV translates hagioi as “all of God’s holy people” because it literally means “the holy ones.” Other more literal translations render this: To all the saints in Christ Jesus, who are in Philippi. Unfortunately, the term “saints” has so many connotations that it is completely unhelpful here. When we think of “saints” we mostly think of some outstanding Christians who are holier, more sanctified, more virtuous, and who have maybe even done a miracle. They are the elite, while we are just regular Christians. There is just one problem with this kind of thinking: the Bible does not support it whatsoever.

There are not two classes of Christians. There is no distinction of holiness between clergy and laity either, for that matter. The Bible sees Christians as “God’s holy people” period. God’s people are those who are set apart by the Holy Spirit for God’s purpose in this world – to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. So do you know any saints? They’re sitting around you. Turn to a Christian around you and say, “Hi, saint.”

Much like Christ’s slaves, all of God’s holy people are called to live out God’s character in the world.

Paul addresses all of God’s holy people “together with” the overseers and deacons. I love the wording he uses; there are some leaders who expect to rule a church with an iron fist: my way or the highway. I know some of us have heard the sentiment: “the church has to change and if the people won’t, then the pastor should just change things and we can find new people.” This is not the kind of leadership that Paul is calling for in Philippi. The Philippian Church is led by overseers who take a servant leadership role and by deacons, whose title is a transliteration of the Greek instead of a translation. Transliteration means they just took the Greek word and made it into an English word – if we were to translate it, deacon would be “servant.”

I actually see a lot of servant leadership in this church. When the church council meets, I see people who are actually working. I see many of the same people who are serving in the kitchen for our lunches and dinners and many who work to set up before special events and clean up afterward. I like the policy in our district that anyone working for the district must have their own area of ministry, and I expect that of the leaders in ministry here in the church.

The point is: in the church in Philippi, leadership worked alongside the laity (which is just a fancy church word meaning “the people”). They weren’t two separate classes or categories requiring different letters from Paul. They were one.

So we now get to Paul’s greeting. Now, I’m so familiar with Paul’s standard “grace and peace” that I was going to go off-the-cuff to explain it to you, but I decided to do some research and I found out something new (funny how that happens, isn’t it?!) Where Paul says , “grace” he is taking a traditional Greek greeting, chairein which means “to rejoice” but had come to mean “greetings” (kind of like “howdy” is an abbreviation of “how do you do?” but nobody who says “howdy” expects an answer), and he turns it into charis, which means “grace.” Grace is the unmerited favor of God – meaning there is nothing we can do to somehow deserve it. While our sin deserves death, God’s grace gives us life, and life abundantly.

To this, Paul adds the traditional Jewish “Shalom” which is so much more than just “peace” – it is wholeness and healthiness and prosperity as well. So instead of simply saying, “What’s up?” he greets the Philippian church with grace and shalom.

Paul has this tendency to make everything into a sermon, so even his greeting is one. He isn’t satisfied just to greet the church with “grace and peace” but he needs to include in there the fact that of where this grace and shalom comes from. Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, Paul and Timothy here have the authority to bring greeting not only from themselves, but from God and Jesus.

But even more, this greeting stands as a reminder that grace and shalom only come from one source. God is the giver of grace, and God is the only one through whom shalom comes. God gives wholeness. God is wholeness. It is only through God that we can be who God made us to be.

Next week we will continue with Paul’s thanksgiving and prayer. Your assignment for next week is to start reading the book of Philippians. Try to read the whole book; it’s not all that long and if you read one chapter per day, you can cover it in less just over half the week. Then concentrate on chapter 1:3-11, where we will be next week.

*By the way, I had written the letter to myself as a part of an assignment in 8^th or 9^th grade. The teacher compiled them and held them until we were weeks away from graduation and then mailed them out.