Paul, a Bondservant of Christ, to the Saints

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains the common letter-writing form of the day, where sender and recipient are identified at the beginning, and argues that despite its commonality, the Holy Spirit has…

Compares modern mail delivery (sender/recipient on envelope) to ancient letter writing (sender/recipient in opening lines) to explain why Paul's salutation is structured as it is, given the lack of postal service.

at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. These two verses are commonly designated the salutation or the general greeting of the letter. And the apostle uses a form that was common for letter writing in that day. You see, when we write letters, the, the recipients of the letter as well as the sender of the letter are immediately indicated on the envelope.

4:02 - 4:38 Read in full sermon

Driving home: No, the Holy Spirit has sanctified what we would call common courtesy in the writing of a letter in order to convey some of the most central and profound truths of the Christian faith.

A humorous anecdote about a camp counselor reading return addresses during mail time to illustrate how sender and recipient are known before a letter is opened, reinforcing the previous analogy.

The recipient and the sender are intimated on the envelope. Some of you kids who go to camp, you're very much aware of this when it comes time to pass out the mail and the counselor goes into the cabin says mail time. And then he begins to look at the letters and you're a young man who's just begun to develop a relationship with a young woman. And in camp, they just love to bleed this for.

5:09 - 5:32 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The heart of that biblical concept involves the recognition that the slave is the property of another. However, he exists solely to do the will of another and wonder of wonders. He glories in that very relationship.

Asks listeners to strip away common negative associations with 'slavery' (enforced subjugation, cruelty) to arrive at the biblical concept of a bondservant as property existing to do the master's will, but voluntarily and out of love.

Christ. Now this idea of bond service or slavery bristles for us with both nasty and negative connotations. What do you think of when you think of the word slave? Well, even the children here, and surely most of the adults, immediately with the word slave come such thoughts as enforced subjugation.

15:29 - 16:00 Read in full sermon

The point: Ask yourself, if you could sing the hymn 'Dear Lord and Master, Mine' with judgment day honesty, do the words answer to the deepest consciousness of your soul?

Reads an entire hymn to illustrate the heart and language of a true bondservant of Christ, prompting listeners to self-examine if these words reflect their deepest spiritual consciousness.

Let me ask you, if you could sing this morning with all your heart and soul with judgment day honesty, the language, the language of this particular hymn. Listen as I read the words. Could you make these your words?

23:23 - 23:39 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He explains the first part of the recipients' description: 'all the saints in Christ Jesus.' 'Saints' means 'set apart unto God,' and 'in Christ Jesus' signifies their union with…

Uses the example of describing an unknown person (Dr. Ferguson) at an airport by distinguishing characteristics (age, height, limp) to explain how Paul describes the church at Philippi in a three-fold manner, focusing on its distinguishing features.

But rather, he addresses the church, as the legitimate recipients of this letter, in a three-fold description. For instance, when at times we have different ones going to the airport to meet an unknown person, we try to give a description of that person. I had to do that just this Friday with respect to Dr. Ferguson's coming.

28:13 - 28:40 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin argues that church leadership (overseers/elders and deacons) is not a congregational invention or pragmatic expediency, but a divinely appointed structure established by…

Presents a hypothetical scenario of a church deciding to elect leaders based on business expediency (like Lydia's business) to contrast it with the biblical method of appointing elders and deacons, arguing against human-devised church government.

who serve officially in the office of service in the direction or at the direction of the overseers of the church. Now how did that condition come to pass at Philippi? Did the saints in Christ Jesus find that as they sought to fulfill the will of God, they were just on a treadmill and one of them one day stood up in a meeting and said, you know, brethren, things are not going well. And I've noticed that every successful business here at Philippi, take our dear sister Lydia over there. Why, she's got a chairman of the board and she's

42:23 - 43:00 Read in full sermon