This time, I would like to share something from my online Bible Study. As the title says, it is about who we are before Christ our God. As Paul's says in Philippians 1:1, we are the servant OF Christ Jesus, and also saints IN Christ Jesus. It is the basic which should drive the wholeness of our life. This is something basic that drive how our relation with God should be as Christian. I Hope this short message could edify us and so that our love may abound more and more in knowledge and all discerment, that we may approve the things that are excellent, that we may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
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Bible verse: Phillipians 1:1
Servants of Christ Jesus (1:1a)
"1Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." (Philipians 1:1-2)
Letters in Paul's day usually had a set format: "A to B, greetings."1 Notice how he identifies himself and Timothy as "servants of Christ Jesus." "Servants" is probably too weak a translation. The Greek noun doulos is used of "a male slave as an entity in a socioeconomic context," or "one who is solely committed to another, "slave, subject,"2 denoting "compulsory service."3 Hired "servants" come and go, but "slaves" are committed to their Master for life. I recall Paul's sense of responsibility about preaching. When he writes to the Corinthian church he says,
"Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!" (1 Corinthians 9:16)
To the Romans he writes,
"I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish." (Romans 1:14)
He is a slave to do God's will and fulfill God's purposes for his life -- not just to play at serving God when the notion strikes him. But he isn't a slave that complains about his lot. He finds joy in doing God's will. Genuine love for God is the key to joy in service.
Saints in Christ Jesus (1:1b)
Next, Paul addresses the recipients of the letter:
"To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons" (1:1b).
He writes to the whole church and then includes the leaders. It's backwards from the way we might address a group -- distinguished leaders first, then fellow citizens.Have you ever been uncomfortable to be referred to as a "saint"? This word isn't referring to your perfection -- as in, "I'm no saint!" -- but referring to who owns you. Let me explain."Saints" is the Greek adjective hagios. As an adjective it pertains to "being dedicated or consecrated to the service of God." Here it refers to believers as "the holy ones, saints," as consecrated to God.4 When we are "saved," when Christ's Spirit comes into our lives, we become holy. No, not perfect or perfected, but dedicated, set apart to the service of God. We are now his sacred property and off limits to profane use.
Paul reminds the Corinthians:
"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
You can't make yourself holy by doing good deeds. You are made holy by being purchased by God at the cost of Christ's blood (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 1:18; Revelation 5:9). It is because you are now holy, separated to God, dedicated, "sainted," that you now want to clean up your act. Salvation and sanctification are both God's work in us. So settle it in your heart, you are a "saint," no matter how rough-hewn your spiritual life seems to be right now. You belong to God. When you think about it, being a "slave of Christ Jesus" and being a "saint" of God are pretty much the same thing, just looking at different aspects of belonging "lock, stock, and barrel" to God!
One minor point: Have you ever wondered why Paul sometimes says "Jesus Christ" and other times says "Christ Jesus"? They mean the same, it's a matter of emphasis. "Christ," of course, is not Jesus' name but his title: "Messiah, Anointed One." When Paul says "Messiah Jesus" he is especially emphasizing that title.
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I guess the next question after reading the above messages is: what's the implication in our lives?
These status must not be seen as a negative statement as some of us might seen this as something that we are forced to do this because it is not according to what we like. Yes! i would say in a sense that's true as our nature in this sinful world are still corrupt, we like to do sinful thing, and so we like to do our will and not His will. But to the contrary this is a positive statement; when we really see again to what God has done for us, which is to SAVE us from the death that we began to realise our life before Him is not obedience because of constraint but obedience because of love (natural).As said in the Exodus that He is God that takes us from slavery of sin to be His people, and He became our God - a covenant relationship.
We are supposed to live as a servant of Christ and the saint in Christ, and this is based on what Christ has done for us. We are called to be His servants and His Saints because He has purchased and saves us from Sin - from the death; and so it is natural that we should dedicate the wholeness of our life to Him alone, as Paul's says in Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." In marriage, a husband must not fulfill his wife need because he feels obligated, and the same with the wife does not obliged to fulfill her husband needs, but instead husband must love his wife and therefore naturally he is willing to fulfill his wife's needs because he finds joy in the joyfulness of his wife and vice versa: the wife love her husband therefore she obey him.
This is what we are, we have received God's love and therefore we serve Him as our act to Him who has first (again) love us, and called us (purchased us) to be His Saint. Let our life become an life-offering to Him. To close this i would like to stressed on the verse i have mentioned in the beginning, so that we may memorize it and so the Word maybe shown in our daily lives: "And it is my prayer that your love may be abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God." (Phillipians 1:9-10 ESV)
~ Paul Hartono
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