I recently finished my series on Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church. I have been systematically going through the New Testament in the order that the Holy Spirit revealed it to the church.
I started with the four foundational books – James, First Thessalonians, Galatians and Mark. The next thing on the Holy Spirit’s agenda was to inspire books that dealt with our personal walk with the Lord. These books include Second Thessalonians, First and Second Corinthians, Romans, and Luke.
After that, the Lord gave us books dealing with our corporate walk. We need to understand life as a church. These epistles are Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.
The end of the book of Acts finds the Apostle Paul standing trial at Rome. This was his first Roman imprisonment. It seems that he had his own apartment while under house arrest.
It was during this time that these books were written. They are also called the prison epistles. It probably gave Paul a lot of time to reflect on what it means for the body of Christ to be a living organism. We are not just a social organization.
We’re now starting Paul’s letter to the Philippian church. It was established by him on his second missionary journey. We’ll find that this is more of a heartfelt letter to a church that has supported him throughout his ministry.
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints 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 NIV
Paul uses some interesting language in this verse. He calls himself and Timothy servants of Christ Jesus – literally slaves. It’s interesting, because on various occasions Paul made a point of proving his freedom.
Once, he was arrested and he asked the guard why he was being denied his right to a trial as a Roman citizen. The guard explained that he, personally, had to buy his freedom. Paul, on the other hand, said that he was born a free Roman citizen. (Acts 22:25-29)
At that time, if you were born a slave, you were expected to be a slave forever – there was no escaping it. Under Roman law, a slave could find out his “sale price” from his master.
Then, if he saved enough money, he could pay the buying price to his master and have the ownership transferred to one of the many Roman gods. Then, as a slave to that god, could serve as a free man.
I believe this was in the back of Paul’s mind as he penned these words. We’re all born under slavery to sin. That was our unfortunate lot for the rest of our lives.
Jesus Christ paid the “slave price” for us. Now, just as Paul did, we need to transfer the ownership of our lives over to the true God. As God’s slaves we can now serve as free citizens of the kingdom of Heaven.
We have to live under this knowledge if we’re going to have a fulfilling life in Christ. We don’t own our lives.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!
Philippians 2:5-8
Christ, Himself, set the standard of living that we need to follow. He said that He came to live a life of service. That should be our attitude as well.
The Apostle Peter also understood this truth.
Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.
1 Peter 2:16
Once we’ve transferred the ownership of our lives to God, our callings will open up to us. We’re now free to serve Him to the best of our ability. This is the attitude that will push you to do great things in the body of Christ.
Question: How do you view the ownership of your life?
© 2023 Nick Zaccardi
The Spirit and the Word 