I always love the music worship before we get started in the Word, and normally I think two songs is just a great amount before the sermon, but when you’re making the walk up here, you think to yourself, maybe seven or eight songs would be better.
It’s a privilege and humbling to be in front of you again this morning. And I don’t know about you, but I’ve been so blessed by the elders and leaders over the last few weeks teaching and preaching out of Philippians, and I’m humbled to continue that. This morning. This morning we’re going to finish up chapter two. And so if you would open your Bibles, please, to Philippians chapter two.
And we’re going to read verses 19 to 30.
It’s a fairly short and straightforward passage. When Rob handed out the assignments of what we’ve been preaching, I saw that it was short and straightforward, which to me meant that he was making a comment about the length of my previous sermons.
This one’s a little shorter.
All right, let’s start in verse 19.
I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare, for they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy’s proven worth how? As a son with a father he is sworn served with me in the Gospel. I hope, therefore, to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me.
And I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also. I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier and your messenger and the minister to my need. For he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. Indeed, he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him, but also on me, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow, I am the more eager to send him.
Therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. So receive him in the Lord with all joy and honor. Such men. For he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me. Let’s pray.
Father, thank you for this morning. Thank you for the little bit of rain we got last night that was so badly needed.
Father, thank you for this group together, these brothers and sisters. Lord, I pray that long after my words are forgotten that your word will be remembered. Pray these Things in Jesus name. Amen.
On January 3, 1892, an English banker, Arthur and his wife Mabel, gave birth to the first of two boys in their South African home. They named him John. A few years after his birth, his mother took he and his brother on a holiday to England. While there, his father died of rheumatic fever before he could join them. His mother remained in England soon after moving the family in with her parents.
John, or Ronald, as his family called him, was an exceptionally bright child. He loved the outdoors and the study of botany. He would spend hours drawing trees and plants. His true love, however, was books. In his youth, John would be heavily influenced by his close friends, whom he called his Fellowship.
He and his closest three friends formed a secret society they called the Tea Club and Barovian Society, alluding to their fondness of drinking tea illegally in the school library. What rebels? In the summer of 1911, he and 11 friends took a holiday to Switzerland, where they hiked through the Alps. John would remember that trip, the beauty of the mountains, and the fellowship of the 12 companions for the rest of his life. In 1915, John would be sent to World War I, where he again was heavily influenced by his new band of brothers.
He contracted trench fever in 1916 and was sent back to England, while many of his closest friends would never return. It was during this period of recovery that John began to write. He wrote a series of stories that would be called the Book of Lost Tales, though they were not published until long after his death in 1937, John would have a book published, a children’s fantasy novel by the name the Hobbit. The book was met with such critical acclaim that years later, John, whose full name was John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, would publish a much larger work, known, of course, as Lord of the Rings. As many, if not all of us are familiar, both the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings tell stories of epic quests where a fellowship is formed of different characters from different places, with different gifts, with a common goal, all forever bound together through the bonds of friendship.
In the Philippian Church, we see a fellowship of Christians bound together by a great spiritual quest. The Greek root word for fellowship occurs six times across the brief chapters of Philippians as partnership twice, partakers once, participation once, and share twice. Each occurrence emphasizes a different aspect of the Philippians fellowship. As we come to the end of chapter two, Paul writes to the church in Philippi that he is sending two of his humble servants, two from his fellowship, first Timothy and then Epaphroditus. Paul served with A fellowship throughout his missionary journeys.
Before Paul’s first trip to Philippi, he and Barnabas had returned victorious from from the Jerusalem Council. The Council had ruled that Gentile believers did not need to be circumcised or follow Jewish laws to be saved. It was a landmark decision. The door for Gentile evangelism had flung open in Acts 16. While Barnabas takes John Mark to Cyprus, Paul, Silas and Luke head out on his second missionary journey through Syria and Cilicia.
Timothy meeting up with them in Lystra. Paul had intended to retrace his first missionary journey. But in Mysia the Holy Spirit intervened, sending them instead to Macedonia. Paul and the company made the two day boat ride across to Neapolis and walked the nine miles along the Ignatian way to Philippi. Philippi was a city of no more than 10,000 in what is today northern Greece.
It sat upon the Via Ignatia, the famous highway connecting Rome to the eastern parts of its empire. Latin would have been the official language of this Roman colony, but the working class would have been Greek speaking. And it was this group to which Paul would be preaching. Traditionally, Paul would begin preaching in a Jewish synagogue when he entered a new city. But to form a synagogue, Jewish law states that a quorum of 10 men is needed.
However, there was such a small Jewish presence that no synagogue existed. After a few days the team did find a small group of God fearing Gentile women meeting outside of the city gates. These women becoming the first Christians of Philippi, led by a merchant named Lydia. We all know the rest of the story. Lydia’s whole household is saved.
Paul drives out a demon that gets he and Silas dragged in front of the Roman magistrates. The accuser identified the two of them as Jews, appealing to their anti Semitic prejudices. And these great men end up beaten and thrown in prison. The next few verses of Acts 16 are so beautiful that I want to just quickly read them. I’m going to start in verse 25.
About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. And the prisoners were listening. And suddenly there was a great earthquake. So that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
But Paul cried out in a loud voice, do not harm yourself, for we are all here. And the jailer called for lights and rushed in and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. And he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up to his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God just like the church. Just like that, the church in Philippi was born and Christ’s flag had been planted in Macedonia.
Fast forward about 10 years later and Paul would again find himself in prison. Around AD 61, Paul spent two years under house arrest in Rome. He needed support, and this little faithful congregation had delivered their monetary gift had been carried to him by a church member named Epaphroditus. Upon receiving this much needed support, Paul writes a thank you letter in return. This letter to one of Paul’s most beloved little congregations, one thanks them for their much needed support and encourages their faith, 2 explains why he is sending Epaphroditus back so quickly, 3 catches them up and informs the church that he would be sending Timothy to them soon, four warns them of Judaizers and five encourages them to stand firm and be united.
No other noun occurs more often in this letter than Christ College Church pastor emeritus Kent Hughes Comments Philippians is about Christ. Philippians is about people in Christ Jesus. Philippians is about people who are in the fellowship of the Gospel because they are in Christ. Philippians is about people whose citizenship is in heaven. Paul’s thought process in this letter had gone something like this.
In 1:27-30 Paul says, Live lives worthy of the Gospel as a contrast to the surrounding pagan world. Verse 27 Stand firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. 28 do not be frightened. 29 not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake. This is how the fellowship in Philippi was to live.
Next, Paul instructs them to live a life worthy of the gospel. Chapter 2:1 4 Treat each other with selfless humility. Do nothing from selfless ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourself. Look not only to your own interest, but the interests of others. These character traits were so important to Paul that in verses 5 through 11 he compares these traits to Christ.
Paul continues in verses 12 to 18 as Dave exposited so well last Sunday to command the church in Philippi to obedience, to walk worthy of the Gospel of Christ. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you. If the church can accomplish this, they will stand out and be bound together and be set apart amidst a worldly and sinful culture.
Paul ends chapter two with examples for them to follow. He points to two in his own fellowship the structure we’re going to use this morning breaks down easily into five parts. Verse 19 we’re going to talk about sending Timothy verses 20 to 21 Timothy standing alone verses 22 to 24 Timothy’s character verses 25 to 28 preparing to send Epaphroditus and end with 29 to 30 Paul’s encouraging hospitality.
Verse19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. As we already talked about, Paul is under house arrest in Rome. While he is enabled to preach, to write, and to see visitors, he would not be able to travel. Paul begins always acknowledging his subservience to the God whom he serves. 19 starts, I hope in the Lord.
This is not a glib cliche. This is not written out of tradition. That was how Paul lived his life, day by day by the will of God. In Acts 18:21, Paul left Ephesus and said, I will return to you again if God wills. In 1 Corinthians 4:19 he writes, I will come to you soon if the Lord wills.
John Piper comments on this, saying the following, for most of his life, Paul did not know if the next town might be his burial place. That was in the hands of God, and so are our lives. God will decide how long we live and when we die. God means for that truth, that reality, to shape our mindset and our attitude and our words. He means for that truth to be known and spoken about.
He means for it to be a part of the substance of our conversation. God means for a true view of himself to be known and believed and embodied, embraced and cherished and kept in mind and spoken of.
Paul understands that by God’s will he puts one step in front of the other, but that doesn’t stop him from walking. He longs to send Timothy to the church in Philippi. Paul sending one of his favorite people in the world to visit one of his favorite church churches. Oh, the joy that would give him. Paul’s emotions often rose and fell with the news he received from his church plants.
Paul had such joy in Christ’s message. But it was not blind joy. His ministry had great joys, but also deep sorrows. Earlier he had written to the Corinthian Church and apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak that I am not weak, who is made to fall that I am not indignant to the church.
In Thessalonica, Paul wrote, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain. Paul’s heart was with his people. He rejoiced in their holiness and he bitterly grieved their sin. I pray that we would have the same vulnerability and care for each other. But it works contrary to our natural inclinations.
We work most often not to further integrate with each other, but as a means of isolation, to be able to retreat and protect ourselves from the hardships of community.
When we do that, pride can set in. CS Lewis said in Mere Christianity that he thought pride was was the great sin. He’s not alone in that judgment. St. Augustine, in his commentary on Psalm 19 also said he thought pride was the great sin. When I talk about pride, I’m not talking about pride of a job well done.
Pride you take in your kids when they do something that’s noteworthy. I’m talking about pride that exhibits itself in pretense. We make ourselves look better than we are. I think our evangelical subculture can fall into this pattern easily enough. Inadvertently, we marginalize the struggler in our midst.
While nobody says it explicitly, the implication is that you have to be perfect in this community. And since none of us is perfect, we. We put forth a face that is better than reality. Becomes kind of a grace denying construct. There’s an old Japanese proverb that asks what sound does rain make?
The answer is that it doesn’t make any sound until it hits something. A street, a metal roof, an umbrella, a window, et cetera. In the context of grace, what sound does grace make? Well, it doesn’t make any sound until it hits something. A broken heart, an estranged relationship, a life that’s unraveling.
Honest, vulnerable community is absolutely necessary if we are going to to grow. Paul teaches us how to live in authentic community through his example and more importantly, pointing to the example of Christ. And it is not easy. This is why GK Chesterton, in his brilliant little book what’s Wrong with the World? Says history does not consist of completed and crumbling ruins.
Rather, it consists of half built villas abandoned by a bankrupt Builder. This world is more like an unfinished suburb than a deserted cemetery. The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried. The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting.
It’s been found difficult and Left untried.
Verses 20 and 21 Timothy stands alone. For I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare, for they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
As Paul was writing this letter, he probably wanted as much news from Philippi as possible because he needed some uplifting good news. Because the state of the Roman church sounded rather troubling, the local congregation had become afflicted with pride and self centeredness. Earlier in chapter 2, Paul had warned the Philippians about self centeredness. Verse 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. He probably writes that because he is currently experiencing the destruction that prideful self centeredness is causing in his local community.
Thus, many of the capable leaders in Rome were infused with with a mean spirited, selfish ambition. What self centered individuals was Paul referring to? Not Epaphroditus or Timothy, who would be bringing the message back to Philippi. He’s not talking about the women of the church because they would not be candidates to make the trip and carry the letter. Nor was he specifically talking about young children or the elderly.
He was calling out the men. The Roman church had a leadership problem. The church in America today has a leadership problem. In 2001, the US Congregational Life Survey released data that showed the average congregation in America is 39% female and 61. Or, excuse me, 39% male and 61% female.
Does anyone think that number has gotten better over the last 20 years? The American church is failing. We have tried so hard to take society’s egalitarian victimhood culture and shoehorn it into the church. No wonder men and women see the hypocrisy and want nothing to do with it. I don’t blame them.
That is why here at Red Village Church, we start with the Word of God. The Word of God is the foundation of our church. Every Sunday we exposit the Word.
Our church is led, informed, organized and structured by God’s holy Word. We want the church to take the Word of God and let the Word inform your view of the world and not the other way around. This is why Paul spends so much time in his letters delineating leadership roles in the church. When we follow God’s Word, we have a healthy church. And when we don’t we do not.
Paul was dealing with a leadership void in the Roman Church. Perhaps Luke and Aristarchus were away at the time, we don’t know. But he did have Timothy. Young, sweet Timothy stood alone in his commitment. Paul knew that Timothy’s concern for the church in Philippi would be as genuine as his own.
Timothy had learned the spiritual discipline of putting himself above others.
Timothy was the only one left with Paul, who he trusted to serve the Philippian Church out of love for Christ and love for his people. Hughes says the following what a strange irony that the Gospel could become the occasion for a profound self absorption. We do live in an age of unprecedented self, of weightless souls consumed with their own gravity. And today many Christians actually believe that it is Christian to to pursue self fulfillment as an ultimate goal in life. I have witnessed this several times when I have sat listening to a preacher offer up the common bromide, we cannot love others until we love ourselves first and have seen the congregation nod and murmur assent while I am inwardly saying no.
What unbiblical foolishness in life together, Diedrich Bonhoeffer writes the we must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions. We may pass them by, preoccupied with our more important tasks as the priest passed by the man who had fallen among thieves, perhaps reading his Bible. When we do that, we pass by the visible sign of the cross raised in our path to show us that not our way, but God’s way must be done. It is a strange fact that Christians frequently consider their work so important and urgent that they will allow nothing to disturb them.
They think they are doing God a service in this, but actually they are disdaining God’s crooked yet straight path. They do not want a life that is crossed and balked. But it is part of the discipline of humility that we do not assume that our schedule is ours to manage, but it allows it to be arranged by God.
Verses 20 to 24 Excuse me 22:24 but you know Timothy’s proven worth how as a son with a father, he has served with me in the Gospel. I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go for me. And I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.
The Philippian Church would have been familiar with Timothy’s character. Timothy was with Paul 10 years ago when the fellowship made the original trip to Macedonia. Timothy would have been there when Lydia responded to the Good News and invited the group to her home, where her whole household was baptized. Timothy was devoted to Christ. He was also devoted to Paul because he had come to Christ under Paul’s ministry.
At the end of verse 22 how a son with a father he has served with me in the Gospel. The bonds of their fellowship had only increased as they traveled together through time. Paul twice calls Timothy my child, in 1 and 2 Timothy. He trusts Timothy to act just as he would, but more importantly as an imitator of Christ. Paul wanted to send Timothy to be an example of one who lives a life worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Timid by nature, Timothy had stood firm with Paul, striving side by side for the Gospel. He had long put away selfish pride and shined as a light in a dark world. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, Be imitators of me as I am of Christ.
That is no small statement. May we encourage each other on so that we could say, imitate us as we imitate Christ.
Verses 25 to 28 I have thought it necessary to send you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. Indeed, he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious.
We see that the church in Philippi had decided to express their concern and care for Paul by taking up an offering for him and sending epaphroditus on the 800 mile trip to Rome, pay Paul’s prison expenses and minister to his needs. This would have been very important because unlike our prison system, the Romans didn’t provide clothing, food, or medical care. Epaphroditus would have been entrusted with a considerable sum of money, so as was the custom at the time, he was probably not traveling alone. Apparently the church in Philippi knew of the trouble he experienced on his journey and that he had fallen gravely ill. Most likely one of two scenarios had occurred.
One, a member of the team had turned around and returned with news of Epaphroditus illness. Or two, an acquaintance met on the road had delivered the concerning news. Paul called Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier. In the Civil War, the Confederacy did not have a system of awards or medals for bravery or success in battle. The highest honor you could receive was being mentioned in one of General Robert E. Lee’s dispatches.
Much the same, there are few honors higher than Paul calling you his brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier. In a letter to the church, Paul uses the word soldier because he understands the stakes of his work. In his letter to the church in Ephesus, he says, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. It was a battle of life and death, and Epaphroditus was his fellow soldier. Here’s the point.
Epaphroditus was a layman who we never would have known if it was not for Paul’s brief reference here. There’s no mention that he pastored a church, that he took the gospel to an unreached people group. He received no special revelation. He wrote no biblical texts. What he did was faithfully discharge the duties given to him for the glory of God.
If you went to a Christian college like I did, you were probably at some point required to read Anthony Trollope’s famous 1857 novel Barchester Towers.
This classic comedy satirizes the structures and politics of the Church of England with many colorful characters, both ridiculous and beloved. One of the beloved characters is the Reverend Mr. Harding, the protagonist of the earlier novel in the series the the Warden. Harding is a meek, humble servant, a character whose many good deeds are known just to the reader. Barchester Towers ends with these concluding words about Reverend Harding.
The author now leaves him in the hands of his readers not as a hero, not as a man to be admired and talked of, not as a man who should be toasted in public dinners and spoken with with consent, conventional absurdity as a perfect divine, but as a good man without guile, believing humbly in the religion which he had striven to teach and guided by the precepts which he had striven to learn. These few sentences of tribute to the humble Reverend Harding outline a life well lived for all of us will pass away and be forgotten. Let me see if I can prove it to you. Let me ask you a question. How many of us in this room can name the eight first names of your great grandparents?
Anybody?
I can’t.
That means we live in the shadow of facing some of the consequences of decisions from those that we don’t know their names. We also are informing future generations that won’t know ours. We are two generations from being forgotten. We could do a lot worse than to leave this world, a humble servant of Christ, known by few good needs, known only by our Creator. This is what makes up the church, small deeds known only by our Lord and Savior, and only for his glory.
Do you make coffee on Sunday morning? Good. Do it that God may be glorified. Do you organize the kids table? Good.
Do it that God may be glorified. Do you serve in kids ministry? Good. Do it that God may be glorified. Do you come on Saturday morning and help clean up the yard?
Good. Do it that God may be glorified. Epaphroditus longed to go home, not out of homesickness, but because he knew the news of how serious his illness was had reached his brothers and sisters, and he longed to relieve their concerns. Any parent who has waited for a call from a spouse, who has a child in the emergency room knows the feeling like Christ. Paul was a man of sorrows.
God in his infinite wisdom, had spared Epaphroditus from death, much to the delight of Paul, who, the text says, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Paul was under house arrest, dealing with an unhealthy Roman church, and a healthy Epaphroditus helped relieve his troubled mind. Nothing would please Paul more than sending him home to a joyous reuniting in Philippi. Lastly, verses 29 and 30.
So receive him in the Lord with all joy and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me. Paul ends chapter two, encouraging the Church to give Epaphroditus a hero’s welcome. He, through tremendous hardship, had delivered their help to Paul. He was a man to be honored for. It is not just the upfront people who are to be celebrated and valued within the Church.
All who use their gifts in service to Christ need to be valued and celebrated. Of course, the opposite of that is also true if you do not give of your gifts and abilities, however small, you think of them to be like the servant who buried his one talent in Matthew 25. God will certainly see that too, and you will be held accountable.
Signups to work downstairs will be right after this.
Over the course of chapter two, Paul had spent considerable time extolling the Philippians to humility and selflessness. He commands in verses three and four, do nothing but from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Paul held up the ultimate example of Jesus. In verses 5 to 11 he raised up the example of his protege Timothy in 1924.
Lastly, he raises up the faithful Epaphroditus in verses 25 to 30. 30.
There is one name notably missing from the list, and it’s Paul. Practicing what he preached, he skipped over himself and gave the honor to others. The ultimate example is, of course, our Lord Jesus, both fully God and fully man. He died on a cross, taking our sin on himself so that we could be found justified before a holy God. May that reality drive our church to form a deep fellowship.
May this church tell a story of a great epic spiritual quest where a fellowship of different people from different backgrounds, from different places, with different gifts, with a common goal, all forever bound together through the bonds of salvation we have through our Savior, Jesus Christ.
May each of us someday be left in the hands of our Savior, not as a hero, not as a man or woman to be admired and talked of, not as one who should be toasted at public dinners or spoken of with conventional absurdity as a perfect divine, but as good, without guile, believing humbly in the religion which we strove to teach and guided by the precepts which we had striven to learn. Let’s pray.
Father. How humbling it is for us to all be here together, all of us with different gifts, with different backgrounds, striving for a common goal, to plant Christ’s flag here in Madison. Oh, Father, may we be faithful. May we humbly love one another. Thank you for your word.
Amen.