Slaves of Whom?

Question: if you were going to describe your Christian character to a group of people you were familiar with (they weren’t your best friends, but you were acquainted with them), how would you describe yourself? Pastor, deacon, Sunday school teacher, serve on this committee, volunteer in the children’s programs… How would you describe yourself? Look at verse 1 and please notice how Paul and Timothy describe themselves.

Philippians 1:1–11 ESV

1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Philippians 1:1 ESV

1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:

Philippians 1:1–11 ESV

1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

I am impressed with the fact that Paul and Timothy describe themselves as “servants” of Christ Jesus. The Greek word used here as “servant” is same word that is used in the N.T. to describe someone as a “slave.” Slaves or servants were plentiful in N.T. times. They had no rights as human beings. They were thought of as property. So it must have been shocking for the Philippians to open this letter and hear Paul refer to himself as a slave. Even if someone was a slave, it would be unlikely to volunteer that information. That is the type of information we try to hide. Does it seem like Paul is trying to hide that information? Not a bit.

Why is Paul not ashamed of the fact that He is a slave of Jesus Christ? The only time you would want to brag on the fact that you were someone’s slave was if that master was highly esteemed. If that master was very important and if that master was dearly loved by the slave. If the slave truly loved his master, he would volunteer that information. Does Paul love his master? You better believe he does. There is no doubt about it. So I come to the question that I’d like to present to everyone here this morning: Are you okay with being known as Jesus’ slave? The more you love Him the more you want to be known as His slave/servant. In fact, I am convinced that this is precisely what it means to be Christian. You cannot be Christian without enslaving yourself to Jesus. This is the very essence of when it says that we must “confess Jesus as Lord.” The prayer for my life is that I would love Jesus like Paul loved Jesus.

The reality of the matter is that we all are someone’s slave.

Romans 6:17–18 ESV

17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

There are your options. You can be a slave to sin or you can be Christ’s slave for righteousness. I know what I am choosing, what about you?

Someone might say, “I’m not a slave. I can do whatever I want.”

If you have yet to be born again by Jesus Christ, then you are a slave to sin. You can’t stop sinning. Probably don’t even want to stop. The majority of the world are slaves to sin and might not even know it.

Romans 6:16 ESV

16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Have you ever seen someone who keeps making horrible life decisions? You plead with them to stop, but over and over they keep making the same poor decisions that greatly affect their life. They’re enslaved to sin. All of us are or were. Some may be enslaved more than others. Our prison is large. It has big blue skies and wide open spaces, but the fact of the matter is that we all are or were slaves to sin. The number 1 proof of slavery to sin is death. Death is the direct result of sin.

Have you ever seen someone who keep making horrible life decisions? You plead with them to stop, but over and over they keep making very poor decisions. They’re enslaved to sin. All of us are or were. Some maybe more than others. Our prison is large. It has big blue skies and wide open spaces, but the fact of the matter is that we all are or were slaves to sin. The number 1 proof of slavery to sin is death. Death is the direct result of sin.

Genesis 2:16–17 ESV

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Sinful humanity can become so ignorant of spiritual realities that they try to convince themselves they no longer fear death. But even still, I am convinced, there is something inside every one of us that longs for life. I believe it is the fact that we were created in the image of God. We were made by God to thrive in this world, but sin turned all of that upside down. A sin-tainted world has produced human suffering. Our sin-tainted world has yielded death, the pain of death, the fear of death, the separation that death brings. The consequence of death that humanity brought upon ourselves is a burden to great for us to bear. The consequences of our sin is too great to bear.

And this is why Paul is content (proud) to call himself a slave of Jesus Christ, because he bore the burden of death on our behalf. It was you and I who deserved to die on that cross. Jesus didn’t deserve that death. Jesus didn’t deserve any death. He never once committed any sin. He was sinless. Jesus deserved eternal life. But He willingly (out of love) took your place and mine on the cross. He willingly laid down His life as sacrifice for sin. He became our substitute. This is the Gospel. Jesus died for you and me.

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Make no mistake, in order for someone to genuinely become a Christian, to be born again, they must become a slave of Jesus Christ. This is what Jesus means in:

Luke 9:23–24 ESV

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Luke 9:23–24 ESV

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Luke 9:23 ESV

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Luke 14:26 ESV

26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Here is the deal. Jesus does not enslave anyone. He only accepts volunteer slaves. Whether or not you enslave yourself to Jesus is up to you. I believe His Spirit is dealing with someone here and now. Don’t resist Him. It is sinful pride that resists enslaving yourself to Jesus. Sinful pride says, “don’t surrender to Jesus. Be your own person. Do what you want.” Not realizing all along you are already enslaved to sin, and that your eternity is at stake.

Here is the deal. Jesus does not enslave anyone. He only accepts volunteer slaves. Whether or not you enslave yourself to Jesus is up to you. I believe His spirit is dealing with someone here and now. Don’t resist Him. It is sinful pride that resists enslaving yourself to Jesus.

It is sinful pride that resists enslaving yourself to Jesus.

Perhaps it is fear that prevents you from enslaving yourself to Jesus. “What is God going to ask me to do if I entrust myself to Him as His slave?” That is a question I asked myself before completely surrendering to Christ. Here is how I would answer that question now? Me and countless Christians can reassure you that you need not fear becoming a slave of Jesus. He is a kind master.

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

You were created to yield yourself to Jesus Christ. He is a kind master. Also, I would tell you this. If you will volunteer yourself as a slave to Jesus, He will not leave you as a slave. He will make you His child.

John 1:12

John 1:12 ESV

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

But you can’t become a child unless you become His slave.

And God loves you. You need not fear becoming Christ’s slave and God’s child. No matter what He asks you to do as His child He promises that He will never leave you nor forsake you. He cares for you more than you will ever know. Even if you spend your entire earthly life in costly sacrifice to the cause of Jesus Christ, I believe wholeheartedly, you will find tremendous peace and meaning in living that sacrificial life. And whenever life on earth is over, there awaits you and ever other genuine Christian the promise of resurrection and eternal life. Just like Jesus, we get to defeat death and sin and live eternally in unhindered relationship with our Creator—Jesus Christ.

Invitation:

It is my prayer that the Holy Spirit is working on some individuals hearts right now. Perhaps you have grown up in church your entire life. You have prayed whatever prayer you were instructed to pray. You were dipped in water, but if you were honest it never seemed like you were born again. You never truly enslaved yourself to Jesus. You never genuinely made Jesus your Lord. You never fully surrendered. Today is your opportunity. says that “today is the day of salvation.” There is no better time to surrender your life to Jesus than now. If you are here and are uncertain if you are truly born again, I am going to ask you to move during the invitation time. I am going to ask you to bow at this alter if physically able, sit on the front pew if unable and there you pray to Jesus confessing your sinfulness and committing yourself to Jesus as His slave. I would be happy to pray with you, but I can’t save you. That is only something that you can do. Don’t worry about anyone else in this room. I know how Satan works at this time. I’ve heard the same lies myself sitting in the pews of church sanctuaries just like this. “If you confess Jesus today, what is everyone going to think of you? They already think you are a Christian.” Don’t worry about anyone else. When you die, you will stand before God alone. No one else will be there. It doesn’t matter what they think. And if they are a genuine Christian, they are going to be so proud that you settled this issue of salvation in your life. Only false Christians will be “dissapointed” that you weren’t already a Christian. Please, I beg of you. If the Holy Spirit is convicting you to move, please move. To stay put is to tell the Holy Spirit “no.” That is a dangerous thing to do. When you tell Him “no” the first time, it becomes so much easier to tell Him “no” the second, third, and fourth time until you can no longer hear Him at all. You have become callous.