Philippians 2:19-30

Examples of Living like Christ

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Timothy Commended

19 But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state. 20 For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. 21 For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. 22 But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel. 23 Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it goes with me. 24 But I trust in the Lord that I myself shall also come shortly.

Epaphroditus Praised

25 Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need; 26 since he was longing for you all, and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. 27 For indeed he was sick almost unto death; but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 Therefore I sent him the more eagerly, that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful. 29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem; 30 because for the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me.

 The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Php 2:19–30.

Transcript

Welcome to God's Word for You, a Ministry of Sharon RP Church in Southeast Iowa. We want to thank you for listening today and we pray that you'll be blessed by both hearing God's word as well as having it applied to your life and your heart. 

Philippians chapter two, this is God's word, give ear to it. “Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interests of others.”

Verse five, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on the earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. 

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not is in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do according to His good pleasure.

“Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. 

“Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice for you all. For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me. 

“But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state. For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel. Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it goes with me. But I trust in the Lord that I myself shall also come shortly. 

“Yet I consider it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need; since he was longing for you all, and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. For indeed he was sick almost unto death; but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore I sent him the more eagerly, that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem; because for the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me.” The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. 

When I was growing up, we were the type of family that when the car broke down there wasn't the option of getting a new car. Dad had to muster up whatever finances possible to fix the car. But that meant sometimes he had to take time off work because he depended on that car. And so fixing the car was a fast endeavor. Get it done. Which meant kids- not in the garage. And so there was a whole apprehension I had to fixing cars, because I didn't know what I was doing. And I remembered being fearful. And even though I was a mechanic in the Navy, when it came to my car, that was, “I don't know what to do with this thing.” Until I had a roommate, my best friend, Jesse, in the Navy, who had a Jeep. And this was like his pastime. If you've ever met someone with a Jeep Wrangler, that's their whole life is they just like to fix up their jeep. They've got this dodad and that doohickey, and they just want to keep adding stuff on there and switching parts out, it’s like a giant Lego set. And I remember him telling me, “Hey, Bryan, just come down, I need help changing out the alternator. I just need an extra hand.” And so I would come down. I would just watch him. And then something else he would want to change. And so I'd watch him change that other thing. And then he wanted to put something else on. And so I watched him put something else on, and soon enough, somehow I was working on my own car because I had just watched Jesse do it again and again. Jesse was an example to me. As he worked on his car, I learned how to work on my car.  

And in a like way, when we come here to verses 19 through 30, God gives us an example. God gives us an example. And if we're to be like Christ, we can look to Christ and he shows us that in verses five through 11. But he gives us also two godly men as examples. Timothy and Epaphroditus. Examples for how we're to build our faith, how we're to live our lives. And so your call this morning, as they lived their lives to be like Christ, so you must live your life to be like Christ. 

So first, a little bit of background. This is, remember, Paul is in prison. Paul is in Rome. This is towards the end of his life, and the Philippians want to know what's going on with him. Where have you been? How's the trial going? What's going on? And this is part of Paul's letter back to them. Here's what's going on. And here, there's a lot of commentators who will write about this is Paul's getting back to kind of what's going on in his life. This is how my travels are going. But while it might seem that there is a shift, almost like he's changed gears here, it's not quite that way, because he uses parallel language that he had used earlier in chapter one and in chapter two, that this is flowing out of what he has said before. 

This is all tied back together with that command in chapter one verse 27, “Only let your conduct be worthy of the Gospel of Christ.” And we had looked at that, what it meant to be gospel citizens. Paul is still telling them, “This is how you live as gospel citizens.” And then in chapter two verses two through four, he got a little bit more nitty gritty with what that looked like: “fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look not only for his own interest but also for the interests of others.” Paul is saying, “We need to live like God-full citizens. Don't be all about yourself. Don't be conceited. Be about other people.” And then he shows us, in verses five through 11, what that looks like in the life of Jesus Christ, who came to the Earth “though he was in the form of God, did not consider robbery to be equal with God but humbled Himself into the likeness of man. And became obedient, even obedient to death, even the death of the cross.” 

It is in that light that now he comes to us saying, “Here are two men who are like this. Here are two men who live these things out.” But you might feel like this is a heavy burden on you, over the last few weeks, over the last month, as we've been looking at all these commands weighing heavily on our hearts. Two weeks ago I was talking to you about how we needed to have role models. And when I was in high school and in college, I was on the swim team, and my role model was Michael Phelps. But if you told me I needed a swim like Michael Phelps, the gazillion Gold Medal Award winner, I would say “You're nuts!” That might be something I aim for, but I could never get there. I mean, Michael Phelps is six foot four, but his wingspan is six foot seven. Size 14 shoes. I'm sorry, I don't have that physique. I can't swim that fast. I can't be Michael Phelps. And that's what you might have felt like a few times as we've looked at Paul's commands, to live as gospel citizens. 

But the point is, yeah, you're never gonna be a Michael Phelps, a Michael Jordan, a quarterback who, I won't mention his name... But you are. You are a new creation, aren't you? Who is at work in you, Christian? Who is it that is in you? Who is it that is working in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure? You have been remade, Christian, and God is saying this is the ideal you’re to live up to: Jesus Christ. But what's your identity? If you were to call yourself a name? If somebody said, “Well, what religion do you follow? Who are you?” What would you say? I'm a: Christian. Because you are in Christ and Christ is in you. You are identified with Christ and Christ is your life. So when these commands come to you, it's not some type of perfectionism, it's saying you are trying to be more and more like the one who is in you, and the one who saved you. 

So yes, you can do these sayings. And, no, you're never gonna do it perfectly. You're never gonna do it perfectly. You're never going to be Christ. But we are called to be like Christ. And here we come to our two examples, and your first example is look to Timothy. Look at Timothy. Both of these men, I'm gonna point out six characteristics that we should look at, that Paul, that God, brings us to here in His word. 

The first of these characteristics in Timothy is that he was like-minded. Look with me at verse 20, “for I have no one like-minded.” This idea is, “same souled.” It’s not just that he thinks like Paul, but he's, at the very core of his heart, of who he is, he's like Paul. He loves what Paul loves. He wants what Paul loves. He’s saved, like Paul is saved. And he desires what Paul desires: Jesus Christ and his church. See, both Paul and Timothy are united to Jesus Christ, and they have a like soul. They have a like love. So you too, Christian, must love Christ. And that must be how you are, like-souled, like-minded. 

Secondly, in Timothy, we see that he is sincerely concerned. Look at verse 20 again with me, “for I have no one like-minded who will sincerely care for your state.” Remember that previous portion, in Philippians, where Paul is saying that not everybody is a good preacher. Not everybody is preaching out of good motives. Not everybody wants to preach for God's glory, but people are doing it for their own glory. People are preaching Jesus Christ because of their own vanity. But that's not Timothy. Timothy isn't one of those preachers. He's not one of those ministers. He's not one of those elders. He's not a “me, me, me” preacher. But he's a “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus”, preacher. He cares about Christ and he cares about bringing Christ to people and seeing people flourish in Christ. 

Thirdly, look at how Timothy is not after his own advantage. Verse 21, “for all seek after their own, not the things which are of Christ.” This is exactly what Paul is saying in chapter two verses one through four. Remember, we spent a whole hour just on that, of what it was to not be so conceited. I mean, our entire world is about, “get, get, get; me, me, me; comfort, comfort, comfort. Amass my 401 k. I want to feel healthy. I want to feel wealthy. I want to be prosperous. I want, I want, I want.” But that's the opposite of what Christianity looks like. Christianity looks like, “I love Christ. What do you need?” Christianity looks like, “I love Christ, so I love the widows. I love Christ, so I love the orphans. I love Christ, so I love the oppressed. I love Christ, so I love the poor. Because all those things Jesus loves. All those people, Jesus died for, cared for, redeemed for, spread his blood for. And this is Timothy's heart, not like all the rest. It's amazing, that phase, “not the things which are of Christ, for they all seek their own.” Everybody's just seeking their own, just doing their own thing. But here's Timothy, next to Paul, seeking the welfare of the church. Is that not a Christ-like attitude? This is why we had to start in Isaiah chapter 52, because Jesus Christ was willing to suffer the shame for you. 

Fourthly, look at Timothy's proven character. Verse 22, “But you know his proven character.” How is Timothy's character proven? Well, Timothy’s been with him a long time, right? This is the end of Paul's life. This isn't the beginning of his ministry. This isn't like you just met him. No, Acts chapter 16, when Paul is on a missionary journey, he stops in Lystra and who does he find there? A disciple named Timothy. And Timothy does a Matthew four thing, he leaves right away. Paul says, “Come and follow me,” and he leaves. He goes with Paul, and he goes all throughout Asia. And where was one of the places they stopped on that missionary journey? He went to Philippi. The Philippians knew Timothy personally. And they had known him proven in his character as he preached. They knew him proven in his character as he was prosecuted, and they knew him proven in his character as he was persecuted. He was proven in his character before their very eyes. 

And if you think of the qualifications of an elder in First Timothy chapter three verses 1-7, do you remember some of those qualifications for what it is to be an elder? What's the assumption there? Paul is saying, “Timothy, go throughout every land and appoint elders in the churches. These are brand new churches. We need elders in these churches. Here's the qualifications for those elders.” Timothy matches those qualifications. This is why Paul can trust him to do this work of establishing elders in the congregations. Paul has a character, proven. He shows that he is about Christ’s work and that Christ is at work in him. 

Likewise, you, Christian, are to have a proven character. You are to have visible signs of holiness, of the Holy Spirit working in your life. That you would bear fruit and that others in the congregation, others in your life, would be able to see it. That that man, I've met a lot of bad men, but that man is a good man. I've met a lot of women who are back-biters and talkers, gossipers and slanders. But that woman loves Jesus. The people around you see proven character like they saw it in Timothy. Is the Holy Spirit working in your life in the same way? Pray for it. Long for it. 

Fifthly, look at Timothy who served like a son. Timothy served like a son. Again, verse 22, “But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel.” This is an interesting idea here, Paul says as a son with his father. And remember, Paul is a rabbi. Paul studied under Gamaliel. Paul was literate in both Hebrew and in the Greek Old Testament. Paul knew his Old Testament Bible like the back of his hand, maybe more like the front of his hand, he knew both sides. And there was a tradition, an interesting tradition when a rabbi would make a disciple, or when a rabbi would introduce a gentile into the covenant, it was said in that tradition that they had begotten a child; that they had given birth to a child. And here we find Paul the rabbi. He goes to Lystra, the hometown of Timothy, and Timothy becomes a disciple. And then Timothy comes along with Paul and learns how to live the Christian life, learns how to preach the Christian gospel, learns how to suffer like Christ suffered. Timothy was to Paul a son, a true son, one who stuck close to him. 

Why would he stick close to him? Timothy stuck close to Paul because Paul showed him Christ. Because Paul showed him what the true son of God acted like. He told him about Christ’s keeping the law, he told him about Christ dying on the cross. He told him about Christ adopting him, of Christ giving him righteousness. He had a loyalty to Paul because Paul was loyal to Christ who was loyal to his Father. Timothy is an example to you of serving like a child. 

Lastly, this example of Timothy is that he served the gospel. Again verse 22, “But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel.” See, Timothy put his money where his mouth was. There are lots of people who will say they're Christians. There are lots of people who will say they love Jesus, but they won't pick up a pinky finger to serve him. There are lots of people who say, “I have accepted the gospel,” but don't give two licks about the church. They don't give two cares about other Christians. They're still about “me, me, me, my, my, my.” But this isn't Timothy, is it? Not only was he like a son to Paul, but he served the gospel with Paul. He got up and he went. He went on missionary journeys with Paul. And even while Paul is in Rome now at the very end of his life while he's in chains for the Gospel, where is Timothy? By his side, ministering there in Rome, to Paul and to the church. There's Timothy, putting his feet where his confession is, walking the road, being a faithful Christian, because he loves Christ. Are you serving Christ? Do you love Christ so much that you are willing to serve him? Are you willing to serve others out of love for him? Or are you still about me? Are you still about what you want and what you desire?

Well, that's Timothy. Our first example. That's a real man. This isn't some make-believe example. This is a real person, flesh and blood that Paul is actually talking about. That is not somehow, Timothy the super saint. This is Timothy like you, like me, brought into the covenant, who the Spirit is alive in. That can be you, Christian. That should be you. 

But Paul gives us another example in Epaphroditus. Look with me at the life of Epaphroditus. Paul gives him three titles right at first in verse 25. “Yet I consider it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother.” My brother. Epaphroditus is a Greek name. I mean, there's no more Greek than you can get in a big name like Epaphroditus. The very word in it has the word of a Greek god in it. And yet Paul, the Jew of Jews, the rabbi of rabbis, calls Epaphroditus his gentile convert, brother. Brother, that's who you are, Christian. You are a brother to other Christians. You are a brother because we are the adopted sons and daughters of God. That's who you are. 

The next part of Epaphroditus’s life is he is also a fellow worker. Look with me at verse 25 again, “yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker.” But again Epaphroditus is a real person. Epaphroditus had real problems. Epaphroditus had a real family in Philippi. And yet Epaphroditus was a worker. You remember what it was like when you were a kid and your mom would tell you to go clean up your room, especially if you shared a room with your siblings? And she would tell you, “Hey, all of you just go clean your room.” And you had that brother or that sister, you know that brother or sister I'm talking about, who would go to their room and they were in the room, but they weren’t actually cleaning. I had that type of sibling. I'm guessing some of you had that type of sibling. But there was that other sibling, that man, they just they just cleaned up everything. “It’s just not worth it. Let's just get it all clean. Let's just take care of this mess. Let's just get this work done.” That was Epaphroditus. He was a fellow worker. He was a doer. He was a pick up his shovel, pick up his plow and get to work type guy, because he loved Christ, because he knew Christ was working. So you must be a fellow worker. 

Thirdly, Paul calls him a fellow soldier in verse 25. “Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier.” Look up on the page to verse 27. Chapter one, verse 27, “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel.” Do you remember the imagery that's there? That imagery of stand together of the Spartans who would stand together with their shields in front of them, shoulder to shoulder and what were they charged to do? To stand there as a wall against the oncoming ways of the enemies. Epaphroditus was a fellow soldier that you wanted next to you. Paul is saying, “I was standing there when we were fighting shoulder to shoulder and Timothy was here and Epaphroditus was there, and we were waving off the attacks of the devil and of Satan. Epaphroditus was that type of fellow soldier. You could count on him. He was right there fighting with him constantly. Don't leave your brothers and sisters alone. We need each other. You need Epaphrodituses. We need Phoebes. We need Timothys. We need brothers and sisters who come alongside us and help us and hold us up and fight off the attacks of this world together. Be like Epaphroditus. 

Fourthly, look at Epaphroditus who was a messenger and a minister. Verse 25, not only is he a fellow soldier, “but your messenger and the one who ministered to my needs.” Epaphroditus was both a postman and the pastor to Paul. The Philippians want to know how Paul is doing in Rome. What's going on? What's the state of the trial that's against you? And Epaphroditus is their dispatch, he’s their envoy, he's the one that they give the letter to, to go give it to Paul. But when he gets there, he doesn't just drop off the letter in the mailbox and high tail it back to Philipii. No, he stays and he ministers to Paul. He cares for his needs. He makes sure that he's provided for. He's a messenger and a minister. Why does he do this? Why does Epaphroditus minister to Paul? Why does he go on this long journey across Macedonia, over the sea and into the heart of Rome, where people hate Jews, and Christians were a sub sect of Jews? Why would Epaproditus do this? Because he loved Christ. The Spirit of Christ was in him. And so he loved Paul in the ministry in Rome. So he went. 

Fifthly, look at Epaphroditus, who longs for the Philippians and is distressed for them. Verse 26, “since he was longing for you all, and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick.” This idea that he longed for them is the same idea that Paul longed for the people of Philippi, with all the affections and longing of Jesus Christ. The same way that Paul longed for the Philippians, loved the Philippians from his very bowels from like down in his kidneys, he just wanted to be with them, that's what Epaphroditus was like. He wanted to be with them. He loved them, he cared for them, so, yes, he was torn. This was a guy who wanted to be in Rome, wanted to be ministering to Paul, and yet finds himself also wanting to be back home to care with the Christians who were there. He's longing for them, and he's distressed for them. This word for ‘longing’ is only used one other time in the New Testament, and that's when Jesus is distressed when he goes to Mount Gethsemane, when he starts sweating drops of blood because he knows that the cross is coming. That type of anguish and distress, that type of love and concern is what is what Epaphroditus had for the people in Philippi. Do you long for and care for the people in the pew next to you like that? Do you love each other? Do you care about each other? This is how Christ longs for and yearns for you. 

Lastly, look at Epaphroditus, who was exposed for the gospel. Verses 27 through 30, “For indeed, he was sick almost unto death; but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore I sent him the more eagerly, that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem; because for the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me.” We don't know if Epaphroditus got sick when he was on his way to Rome or if Epaphroditus somehow got sick and was close to death when he was in Rome. But the point is, while he was either on the way, or while he was there, even while his health was failing, even when he was on the brink of death, his heart wasn't about himself. His heart was about others. 

It's not impossible, Christian. It is not impossible to be the body of Christ. This is a fleshly example. This is a human who's put in front of you of, “this is how you live a Christ honoring life” amongst other Christians. He cared about them even to the point of death. Paul says to hold men like this, like Epaphroditus in high esteem. 

This is why it's so amazing to us when we find out about these great preachers of the past, when we hear about Martin Luther, and Martin Luther with sick man. I mean, he suffered with sickness his whole life. This is why we think of John Calvin and we think of when he wrote his final version of the Institutes in 1559, he wrote it while he was sick in bed for years. This is why when we think of Charles Spurgeon, that great preacher in the 1800s in London who couldn't walk up the stage to the pulpit because his gout on his feet was so bad, they had to carry him up and put him behind the pulpit. And he still preached Christ. Those type of men, those type of women, those types of people we hold in high esteem, because they love Christ. They're serving him. It's not an unattainable task. It's a matter of, “Is the Spirit working in you like that? Are you longing for him? Is that your goal?” 

It's not just people of the past. I'm always amazed when I talk to missionaries who come to different gatherings who are ministering in closed countries, countries we cannot say right now because they would be persecuted if they found information about them on the Internet, whose very lives are at danger, and yet they forsake this world. They live under the threat of persecution because they want to see others brought to Christ and grow in Christ. We should hold those people in high esteem, because they've forsaken the goods of this world for the sake of Christ and his bride. This isn't unattainable for you, Christian. This isn't something far off from you. You can do it here. You can do it now. If you love Jesus Christ, love your brothers and sisters. If you love Jesus Christ, be like Jesus Christ who poured out his life for his brothers and sisters. You, be like Christ, and be assured that this is something you can do. Timothy and Epaphroditus are examples to you of attainable, practical, real holiness that is possible by the work of the Spirit in you. Do it. Pray for it. Live it. 

Let's pray. “God, we thank you so much for Jesus Christ. We thank you for giving us a Savior. Lord, forgive us for our lazy faith. God forgive us for how often we get consumed in what we want and we don't think about our brothers and sisters. God give us a heart to be like your Son. Lord, pour out your Spirit in us, that we would indeed be a body enlivened by the Spirit and loving each other, that You might be glorified. In Jesus’s name we pray, amen. 

Thank you for listening to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon RP church in Morning Sun, Iowa. We pray that you would be blessed as you grow in your love for God, your love for His word as well as your love for His people. Until next week. God bless you.