March 19 2026

Thursday March 19

Paul, a Bondservant of Jesus Christ

Philippians 1:1

“Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons.”

Today, we’re beginning our journey through the book of Philippians. It’s amazing that the Apostle Paul wrote one of the most joyful books in the Bible from a prison cell, encouraging believers—through difficult and terrible circumstances in the world at that time—to be joyful and to have a joyful mind. As a matter of fact, I believe we’ve already mentioned this, but some 19 times the word joy appears in one form or another in this book.

The book of Philippians is one of the very first books that I memorized. I’ll never forget, as a very young Christian, memorizing the book of James—all five chapters. What a blessing that was, once I had it down in my mind, in my heart, and in my thought processes, and could meditate on it anytime I wanted to. The second book I felt led to memorize was the book of Philippians. Actually, it was during the time I was traveling to the island of the Philippines—kind of goes together, Philippines and Philippians. It was on those airplane rides in the early 1980s that I memorized this entire book, all four chapters. Both of these books have been a tremendous blessing to my life ever since. I want to encourage you to take time to read through this entire book, thinking about how God is encouraging us—even today, despite our circumstances—to have a joyful mind.

Notice how this book begins: “Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons.” Right away, the Apostle Paul says something very interesting. He does not say, “Paul, an apostle.” If you go through his thirteen epistles, you’ll find that in most of them he does refer to himself as an apostle of Christ, or called to be an apostle. But in the book of Philippians, as well as in 1 and 2 Thessalonians and Philemon, he does not mention his apostleship.

However, in all his letters, he emphasizes that he is a bondservant—a servant, a slave—of Jesus Christ. The word bondservant refers to someone who belongs completely to another. When Paul says this, he is essentially saying, “My life is not my own anymore. I belong to Jesus Christ.” You don’t have your own agenda. You don’t simply do what you want to do. Instead, your focus is on what the Master—your Lord—wants you to do.

My friend, in this book we see that Jesus Christ is the owner of our lives when we fully yield ourselves to Him. We want to be where He is. That’s why Jesus said in John 12:26: “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also.” Why? Because we are there to do what He wants us to do. We don’t have our own agenda.

When I began to understand that as a pastor—after about twenty years in ministry—everything changed. I didn’t have to prove anything. I didn’t have to strive to be a “big-time” pastor or try to win the whole world to Jesus Christ on my own. All I had to do was be where my Master, Jesus Christ, is—follow Him, embrace His agenda, and do what He wants me to do. This truth is one of the most powerful realities at the heart of the Christian life. Salvation is not simply believing something about Jesus—it is surrendering our lives to Him. It is loving Him with all our heart, soul, and mind.

Paul includes Timothy here—Timothy, his spiritual son in the faith, whom he mentored and loved deeply. We also notice that this letter was written “to all the saints in Christ Jesus.” When Paul refers to “all the saints,” he is speaking of those who are in Christ Jesus. A saint is not someone who has lived a perfect life or someone recognized for extraordinary deeds. No, we are saints because we have been set apart. The moment we trust Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are set apart—set apart to live for God, to live for His glory, and to proclaim His name to the world around us.

Paul also mentions the bishops and deacons, reminding us that the church is to function with spiritual order and servant leadership. And that’s what we’ll be talking about tomorrow—servant leadership—because Paul makes it clear that he himself is a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So let me ask you: Are you seeing yourself that way? As someone who belongs to Him—His servant—doing what He wants you to do, going where He is, and faithfully following Him?

God bless you, and may you have a wonderful, wonderful day.