I imagine many of you of been receiving your census forms in the mail lately. We received ours not long ago, and I didn’t time myself but I think it took me a bit longer to fill it out than the ten minutes that they’ve been advertising on TV. I had to chuckle a bit when I came to the section where I filled out my race. For some of the categories, the form gave an opportunity to get very specific about your nationality. For the Hispanic category for instance, the form asked you to specify your ancestry, whether it was Cuban, or Mexican, or Panamanian, etc. The Asian category asked you to specify the same thing—whether your ancestry was Japanese or Chinese or Vietnamese, etc. But when you looked at the Caucasian category, there was just one big, all-inclusive option that said, “white.” I was a little disappointed; I wanted to identify myself as “Swedish-American,” but I didn’t get the chance.
Forms like that make you think a little bit about your ancestry and your nationality. People often take great pride in their national identity. The Winter Olympics that ended not long ago were a great example of that national pride. In some cases, we saw athletes who lived in one country but competed under the flag of another country because that was their heritage. Their ancestry came through that other country, so that’s the country that they chose to represent.
People take great pride in their national identity, but we don’t always think so much about our spiritual identity. Some people spend a great deal of time tracing their physical heritage through family trees and genealogies, but what about our spiritual heritage? Who are we spiritually, and what kind of identity does that give us in this world?
Questions like this are so important because what we choose to think about ourselves often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. That is to say that the thoughts we think about ourselves often show themselves in our lives. Thus, if I think that I am nothing but a failure in life, I oftentimes will fail at the things I try to do. Or if I think that I have no talents to offer to the world, I oftentimes won’t try to use my talents for others.
Thus, what we think about who we are is vitally important, and for Christians it is crucial that we understand who we are in the eyes of God. This morning we are going to start a series in the book of Philippians, and we are going to take a look at the first two verses of the book where Paul makes some very important statements about our identity in Christ. Would you turn with me to the book of Philippians?
Let me describe the circumstances of this letter for you as you’re turning there. This letter was written by the apostle Paul while he was in prison in Rome. You might remember from the book of Acts that Paul was arrested at the Temple in Jerusalem after an angry mob thought he had taken a Gentile—a non-Jewish person—into a part of the Temple where only Jewish people were allowed. After Paul was arrested, he was put on trial before the Sanhedrin, which was the Jewish Supreme Court, but after a murder plot was hatched against Paul, the Roman authorities sent him up north to the city of Caesarea to have the Roman governor sort everything out. From there Paul proceeded on to Rome after he appealed for a trial before Caesar himself, which was something that Paul had the right to do as a Roman citizen.
So Paul was now in prison in Rome, and while he was there he received a visitor from the church in Philippi by the name of Epaphroditus. The Philippians had sent Epaphroditus to Rome to deliver a financial gift that they had collected for Paul. Paul was preparing to send Epaphroditus back home, and as he did he took the opportunity to send a letter back to the Philippians with Epaphroditus. That letter is now the book of Philippians that we are about to study.
In this letter, Paul takes the opportunity to thank the Philippians for their financial gift and to give them an update on his circumstances. In this regard, Philippians is similar to some of the letters that you and I might receive today. If you have ever given a financial gift to a ministry, you’ve probably ended up on their mailing list. And normally after you give a gift, they will send you a letter thanking you for your gift and giving you an update about what’s going on with their ministry. That’s the basic purpose behind the writing of Philippians, although Paul of course takes the opportunity to address some needs in the church that he undoubtedly heard about through Epaphroditus.
As we go through this book, you’ll probably notice that this letter to the Philippians is a very friendly and heartfelt letter. There were times when Paul had to write some fairly stern letters—like Galatians or 1 and 2 Corinthians—and there were also times that Paul wrote to people whom he had never met—like the book of Romans—but that was not the case here. These people were friends, and they had supported him financially ever since he first came through their city, so Paul had a sincere affection for them.
Now in the first two verses of this book we find the introduction of Paul’s letter. In that time there was a fairly standard way of writing a letter, but in our day and age, letter-writing is kind of a lost art. Today we live in the age of e-mails and text messages. We don’t worry about form and most of the time we don’t really worry about spelling, but back then they followed certain forms for writing different letters, and we can see that in Paul’s letters.
So in the introduction, Paul identifies himself and his readers and he makes four important statements about who we are as Christians. Let’s read these two verses and then we’ll take a look at these four statements of our identity in Christ [READ vv. 1-2].
I. Jesus is the master whom we are to serve (“bond-servants” or “slaves”)
In v. 1, Paul identifies both himself and Timothy as “bond-servants” or “slaves” of Christ Jesus. Paul identifies himself in different ways in his letters, usually depending on the tone of the letter. Sometimes he spells out his credentials as an apostle when he needs to give someone a verbal spanking, but there was no such need in this letter so he identifies himself in a very humble but very meaningful way—he calls himself a “bond-servant” or a “slave.” Your translation might say “servant,” but “slave” is probably the most accurate translation, even though that word brings up a lot of negative ideas for us. But for Paul, the idea of being a slave of God was not a negative thing at all—in fact, it was an honor. Some of the greatest heroes of the Old Testament were called slaves of God—men like Moses, David, and Elijah. The idea was that they were carrying out God’s work; they were pursuing God’s objectives, not their own, and that idea was exactly what Paul wanted to communicate.
According to Paul, when Jesus paid the price for our sins, he purchased us as his own people to do his will. Paul writes this in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20—“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”
It is important for us to understand that when God set us from the penalty of our sins, he set us free from our old master—sin—so that we might serve a new master—Jesus. What this tells us is that we are not supposed to live as though we are the final authority in our lives. We are supposed to follow Jesus as the final authority in our lives and do what he tells us to do. We are supposed to pursue his goals and objectives, not worldly, selfish ones.
So this means that when we’re making decisions about how to behave, we need to do what our master tells us to do. When we’re dealing with a difficult family member or co-worker or classmate, we need to go to the Bible and do what our master tells us to do. When we have questions about how to handle our money, we need to find out what our master tells us to do, and do it. In our lives, the buck does not stop here (with us); Jesus is the final authority in our lives, and we are to carry out his will as his people.
II. Jesus gives us a unique relationship with God that makes us different from others (“saints”)
And speaking of living as his people, that is the second statement about our identity in Christ—Jesus gives us a unique relationship with God that makes us different from others. Notice that I did not say “better” than others or anything like that; I simply said “different.” When Paul addresses the recipients of his letter, he writes, “to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers (or elders) and deacons.” Now when we hear the word “saint,” we probably think of the people who are called “saints” in the Catholic Church, people like St. Augustine or St. Thomas Aquinas or St. Patrick. These people are given the title of “saint” as an honor, and the idea is that they lived a life that was so godly that they are in a league of their own. They are in a class by themselves above that of ordinary Christians.
Not to criticize the Catholic Church, but the Bible never uses the word “saint” in that way. According to Scripture, anyone and everyone who believes in Jesus Christ is to be called a “saint.” Even immature believers are to be called “saints,” as we see in the introduction to 1 Corinthians. We are given the title not because of anything that we have done, but because of what Jesus has done and because of what we are called to do as a response.
The idea of being a saint is that we enjoy a unique relationship with God that those who don’t know Jesus do not have. Thus we are a unique people who are called to live in a unique or special way, to live a life that is different from those who don’t know Jesus so that they can see what God is like through us. So this title reminds us of both our privilege and our calling as Christians. It reminds us of the wonderful privilege that we have in our relationship with God, which was something that we did not have before we placed our faith in Jesus to save us. We now have the honor of being part of God’s people in this world, but with that honor comes a responsibility—the responsibility to live like Jesus and to be his ambassadors to the rest of the world.
This title should be such an encouragement to us because it tells us that we have such a meaningful role in this world. Even if we think we’re not special to other people, the fact that we are saints means we’re special to God—we’re part of his special people and we have a unique relationship with him. And we have such a profound reason to live because we have a special mission as ambassadors of Christ. So please don’t ever think that you’re not special or that you have no reason to live.
The third statement about our spiritual identity is this…
III. Jesus is the reality in whom we now live (“in Christ Jesus”)
In v. 1, Paul not only says that we are “saints,” but then he states that we are “in Christ Jesus.” This is a very interesting concept, and if you read through Paul’s letters you’ll find that its one of his favorite ideas. The idea is that Jesus is the reality or the atmosphere in which we now live. Let’s think about this in physical terms for a moment. The atmosphere around us on planet Earth is so vitally important because we draw our strength from it; it sustains our lives. We breathe in the air of the atmosphere around us, we eat the food that the ground produces, we drink the water that flows through the water cycle.
Now the analogy is this: what our atmosphere is to us physically, Jesus is to us spiritually. We draw our spiritual strength from him; he sustains our spiritual lives. Jesus described this so beautifully in John 15 when he said that he is like a vine, and we are like branches that grow out from him. The branches draw their life through the vine, and so we draw our spiritual life and vitality through Jesus.
What this really teaches us is how utterly dependent we are upon Jesus Christ. Our spiritual strength and power come through him, so how sad it is that we find ourselves at times going through a whole day without prayer, or without reading God’s Word. Would we try to go through a whole day holding our breath? I don’t think so! So why do we think we can make it through a day without drawing spiritual strength from Jesus? Why do we think we can make wise decisions without consulting his word? Why do we think we can love our family and our co-workers without drawing our strength from Jesus and acknowledging our dependence upon him? We must understand that we now live in Christ Jesus; he is the atmosphere in which our spiritual lives will grow.
IV. Jesus has made us children of God (“God our Father”)
In v. 2, Paul writes out something of a prayer for the Philippians [READ v. 2]. Here he refers to Jesus as “the Lord,” which can also be translated “master.” So this is the same idea that he communicates in v. 1 when he says that we are “bond-servants” or “slaves” of Jesus Christ. But before that statement in v. 2, Paul reminds of a beautiful piece of our identity when he states that God is our Father. As the apostle John wrote in John 1:12, “As many as received Jesus, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” And when John thought about this in 1 John 3:1 he said, “Behold how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.”
According to Scripture, when we place our faith in Jesus Christ, God not only releases us from the penalty of our sins, but he also gives us new spiritual life and adopts us into his own spiritual family. He doesn’t just forgive us—though that by itself is wonderful enough—he then says, “I will take on the responsibility of being a spiritual father to you; to provide for you and protect you, to discipline you and help you grow up spiritually into the kind of person that you should be.” That would be like a judge paying the fine for a criminal who is on trial in his courtroom and then welcoming that criminal into his own family to take care of him and show him how to live a better way. I don’t think we could EVER imagine that happening, but that is precisely what God has done for us.
So now when we think about obeying God, it’s not in terms of taking orders from a boss, but in terms of pleasing a loving Father. God has adopted us and he now empowers us to bear the family resemblance in terms of our character. We don’t need to worry or fear because God has obligated himself to take care of us, and he will not be a dead-beat dad.
Today we have seen some key statements that make up our identity in Christ. It is so important that we choose to think about ourselves in this way, because it will have such an impact on our lives. We will remember that we’re not worthless—we have tremendous value as a child of God. We are not aimless—we have a purpose in life in serving our master, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not nameless or anonymous—we have a unique relationship with God and we enjoy a special relationship with him. We are not powerless—we live in Christ Jesus and we draw our strength from him. This is who we are, even when we don’t feel like it and even when other people tell us differently. Remind yourself of these things often, and that biblical perspective about yourself will start to work itself out in your life, so that more and more, you will bear the family resemblance of a child of God.
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