New Beginning...

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I am so happy!  Yesterday I started a women's small group with friends in Selkirk.  A couple of the ladies were in the last small group I had here which ended three years ago and I have hardly seen them since.  It is surprising to me that I have lived in Manitoba long enough to have friends like that!  I am so grateful to God for this opportunity to fellowship, study Scripture, and pray together every Thursday morning.  We are studying Philippians so that will be the topic of my blog this fall.

Let's jump in:

Philippians 1:1-2
"Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

There are two things that stood out to me from this greeting.  Identity and attitude.

First, identity.  
Paul and Timothy describe themselves as "servants of Christ Jesus".  I don't know about first-century Europe (Philippi was in what is now Greece), but today, the idea of being a servant is not the ideal held out for us by media and culture.  Identifying themselves as servants of Jesus meant that Paul and Timothy knew who they were serving and that they were willing to serve Him.  Do we identify ourselves as "servants of Christ Jesus"?  If so, are we confident in who Jesus is?  Do we serve Him willingly? 
The letter is written to the Christians in Philippi and they are addressed as "saints in Christ Jesus".  They are God's holy people.  Those who have been redeemed by Jesus' blood and made spiritually alive by the Holy Spirit.  They are holy and blameless in God's sight and have all the spiritual blessings and resources available in Christ.  Do we know ourselves to be saint?  
Sometimes I think we can get weary and overwhelmed being servants of Christ.  We find our strength is gone and we don't know how we will go on.  That is why I think it is imperative that we hold to our primary identity in Christ Jesus - saints.  We are God's beloved people - freed from sin and given new life.  It is from this identity that we then come to identify ourselves as servants.
What is most significant to me is that BOTH servants and saints are connect to Jesus - "of Christ Jesus" and "in Christ Jesus".  These identities are a result of a relatedness to Jesus.  Our identities are found in Christ.

Second, attitude.
I love the salutations in the Epistles.  I think it would be marvelous if we walked around and greeted each other with "grace and peace"! Why?  Because the attitude displayed with that greeting reveals a desire for the best for the person you are talking to.  Grace - God's favour to be poured upon you.  Peace - the state in which there is no conflict between us and God and between one another.  Notice where the grace and peace come from - "God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." We don't need to generate grace and peace.  We receive it and then pass it on.  The Triune God is our source.  

So I think our group got off to a good start.  Focusing on our identity as both servants and saints in Christ Jesus and committing to an attitude that is open to both receiving and extending God's grace and peace. And I hope that you will receive encouragement as you journey along with us through the blog. 

grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
Tracy




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