Intro: Sandy Perceval lived in a 97 room manor, built in 1864. He had lived there more than 30 years, he had been going into the cellar, when needed, to get a cigar from the bunch of cigars that he had found there.
He never thought much about it until in 1995 he gave one to a friend. This friend was so impressed with it that he asked if he could take a few of them to be appraised. It turned out that the cigars had been rolled in 1864, making them the oldest smokable cigars in the world!
Sondra Bazrod writes in The Hunt for Amazing Treasures, “Thanks to the mist from a nearby lake, the Irish damp, and the temperature of the wine cellar, the cigars survived in perfect condition.”
Originally there were thousands of cigars but by 1995 there were only a few strays left, plus an unopened box of 500 cigars. The estimated value of that one box - $1,000,000!
2. Who would think that some old, smelly, cancer causing cigars would be so valuable? It’s the same with Slavery – who would think that slavery would be something of inexpressible joy!
3. The Joy of Slavery.
Philippians 1:1 (NKJV)
1 Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
I. For starters, slavery Defines Paul’s Ministry.
A. The History of slavery.
1. The Situation in Paul’s day.
a. The various Routes to slavery: Birth, if your parents were slaves, so are you; Debt, if you could not pay off your debts, you could sell your children into slavery to pay them off; Adversity, if you were captured in war, or kidnapped you would go into slavery.
b. The Results: it is estimated that about 50% of Rome were slaves.
c. The Recipitants of this letter.
(1) Mostly Gentiles. Slavery for them usually meant cruelty. But could mean Dignity if they were slaves in a royal household.
(2) Jews, like Paul, could only be forced slaves by fellow Jews, for 6 years (Deut.15:12, 16-17). If a slave loved his master he could choose to be a slave, they would bore a hole in his ear (Ex. 21:5-6). Gal. 6:17, the word “mark” refers to a slave’s brand.
2. The Correlation to us.
We are born in a Slave Market, this worlds system (I Jn. 5:19) under a Slave Master, Satan (Jn. 12:31), thus all of humanity are Slaves (Eph. 2:2-3), until we are Saved from it by the Blood of Jesus Christ (Heb. 2:14-15/I Pet. 1:18-19). Now we are only slaves by choice! (Rom. 6)
Abraham Lincoln detested slavery. He once came upon a woman who was being auctioned off. He made the highest bid on her and then told her she was free. She said,
“Free to do whatever I want to? Free to do whatever I want?” He said, “Yes, you are free!” She said then I’m going with you, while Abe turned the offer down, our Lord does not.
B. The Ministry of slavery.
Paul’s ministry was all tied up in being a slave of Jesus Christ (Rom. 1:1/Tit. 1:1). Every real man of God ministry is tied up in slavery to Jesus Christ. Whether it is Abraham (Psa. 105:42); Moses (Num.12:7/Josh. 14:7); Joshua (Josh. 24:29/Jud.2:8); David (Psa.89:3); and all the prophets (Jer. 25:4/Ezk.38:17).
This slavery-ministry brought Joy! Because about 19 times Paul uses that word in this little letter. Slavery usually isn’t linked with joy, you would think if some one is a slave they would be miserable…not so!
Maybe you have seen the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds? It looks likes a bad situation for those being chased by those birds. But those were trained birds! Ray Berwick trained the birds to land on people’s head when they were standing still. The actors weren’t really being attacked or harmed, but were having fun!
The world thinks slavery to Christ is something terrible but not to us! To the believer in Christ it’s fun, its joy unspeakable and full of glory.
II. Furthermore, slavery Determines our Soul-mates.
Paul and Timothy – there was always a natural bond between slaves. They were in it together, they understood a slaves like better than anyone else! The worked side by side; they served the same master.
All believers are Soul-mates! We alone understand what the Body of Christ is really all about; we work side-by-side for the same Lord and Master. How sad not to realize this truth among believers.
When Yvette was 3 years old and her brother James was 7 months old their father and mother separated. The father took James, and the mother took Yvette and that was the last they heard or seen of each other.
James went to school in Philadelphia and got a job at the Post office. He worked the 4 pm shift along with 4,100 other people. One day he was talking to Barbie Bowens about his life, here is how the Boston Globe reported the story:
James [Austin] told her that his father died young and that he never knew his mother. Bowens asked his mothers name and realized it was the name of Yvette [Richardson] mother too. For 2 years James and Yvette had worked side by side, shooting the breeze but never prying into each others personal life…Now they discovered they were brothers and sisters.”
Every thing changed after that. Why? They had always been brother and sister. The difference now they knew it and acted upon that fact. We are brothers and sisters in Christ, but we must act upon that Biblical fact.
III. Thirdly, slavery Demands our Whole Shooting Match.
The whole shooting match – is slang for everything. If we are willing slaves of Jesus Christ then we should render unto Him total obedience. Mt. 6:24; 8:9/ Ac. 9:6/ I Cor. 6:19; 7:22).
One noted, “The slave was owned and totally possessed by his master. He existed for his master and for no other reason. He had no personal rights whatsoever. He was at the master’s disposal any hour of the day. The slave’s will belonged to his master He as allowed no ambition of his own.”
In Tokyo there was a man named Ueno who owned a dog. Ueno was followed by that dog to the railroad station everyday, where Ueno caught the train to work. That dog waited at the train station until that man returned from work that night.
In May 1925, Ueno died at work. That dog waited at the train station until midnight and then went home. He returned the next morning waited all day until evening and then went home again. He did that everyday, waiting for his master until the dog died in 1934!
His loyalty to his master so impressed the people, that they built a statue honoring him, the dog. In fact every year they hold a memorial service in honor of that dog’s loyalty.
We should with joy, get up everyday of our lives and say “Lord, here I am, at your beck and call, ready to loyalty serve you until I die!
IV. Finally, joyful slavery Depends upon the Master.
It’s not slavery itself that brings joy. There was no joy in being a slave to Self and Satan! The joy is in Jesus Christ! Phil. 3:1,3; 4:4, 10.
Truth is – we are all slaves to someone. All are in some sort of prison.
Johnny Cash never spend one day in prison. He got the idea of writing Folsom Prison Blues from watching a documentary on TV entitle inside the walls of Folsom Prison. He said, “It struck me that most people live in a prison of one kind or another, and they can relate to a song about prison, as much as they would about trains or broken heart.”
He was right, but to be a prisoner of Jesus Christ is sheer joy. Paul was a Prisoner of Rome – or that’s the way it looked to the uninformed from the outside. But Paul’s prison was the Person of Jesus Christ and that’s real freedom.
As one song Johnny sang, “Inside the walls of prison my body may be, but my Lord has set my soul free!”
Con:
1. Joy of slavery. Slavery Defined Paul’s Ministry; Determined that he and Timothy were Soul-Mates; Demanded his giving the Lord the Whole Shooting Match, and was a joyful experience when it Depends upon Jesus Christ as the Master.
2. To the world is a contradiction of terms – joyful slavery. But to us who have experienced it, it is a daily reality.
3. Bill Morehouse brought a Victorian house, in Three Oaks Michigan. A huge storm hit and water seeped in the walls through the leaky roof. As workers tore down the plaster they discovered old movie posters – thousands of them stuffed into the walls of every room.
It turned out that the house had belonged to the manager of the town’s movie theater during the Great Depression. For years he’d brought several Window cards home and used them as insulation, because they fit perfectly between the studs in the walls.
Some window cards featured, The Girl from 10th Avenue starring Bette Davis [the only one known to exist]; a I’m no Angel, starring Mae West; and Song of Songs starring Marlene Dietrich.
Dwight Cleveland, a Chicago movie poster dealer said, “Their condition was so good it was like they were in a time capsule. The estimated value of the entire collection – hundreds of thousands of dollars! Morehouse said, “It was like winning the lottery!”
I imagine that house appeared to be just an old, run down, leaky house…But once inside, it turned out to be a wonderful place to live. To those on the outside, Christianity doesn’t seem like much, Paul a man associated with suffering and rejecting. Sitting in a Roman prison – but once inside, one finds a treasure of freedom, love, acceptance, and pure joy!
Johnny Palmer Jr
www.strugglingthruscriptures.ning.com
www.blogtalkradio.com/strugglingthruscriptures
