The Qualities of Faithful Workers

Philippians 2:19-30

INTRODUCTION

Introduce yourself!!

Let me start by asking this question: how important is faithfulness to you in your walk with the Lord? I think we all recognize the importance of faithfulness in other areas of life, right?

It’s important that you faithfully complete your schoolwork on time and well. Otherwise, you’ll face the consequences of a bad grade, right?

It’s important that you faithfully attend sports practice. Otherwise, you won’t improve your skills! You won’t play as well in the games in either.

It’s important someday that if you get married, that you are faithful to your spouse! That is a way that you show honor to the Lord, as well as to your wife or husband.

But, how often do we think of faithfulness in our walks with the Lord? Do we pursue faithfulness to Christ more than we pursue faithfully attending classes or sports practice? Do you know what characteristics constitute a faithful follower of Jesus Christ?

Big Idea: Timothy and Epaphroditus are examples of faithful servants in ministry.

So, if you’re ever wondering, man, am I being faithful? Am I what God would define as a faithful worker? A faithful laborer for His Kingdom? Where should you go? Philip. 2:19-30.

Before we jump into the text, let’s get a little bit of context shall we?

CONTEXT

Who wrote the book?

Does anyone remember where Paul was when he wrote this letter?

What was he doing in Rome?

Bonus: How long had he been in Rome for at this point?

Paul under house arrest in Rome. This was Paul’s first imprisonment, and was written around 62 A.D. He had been in Rome for about 2 years at this point. Another important piece of context is that news and supplies traveled between Paul and churches, like the one in Philippi, via messengers like Timothy and Epaphroditus. And these messengers weren’t just anyone; they had an important task! Sometimes they carried letters from the Apostles to the churches, like in 1 Thessalonians, sometimes they carried supplies like in the book of Philippians.

Paul, in the passage we are going to talk about this morning, shifts his focus from working out our salvation with fear and trembling,not grumbling, to sharing his plans of sending these messengers to Philippi. The reason Paul did this was to encourage them and see how Philippians doing spiritually. In sharing his plans, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is going to shed light on some of the qualities of faithful servants of Christ Jesus.

If you’re not already there, please open your Bibles to Philippians 2:19. Our text is in Philippians 2, and I’ll will start reading in verse 19 in a moment.

Let’s begin our study with a quick word of prayer.

TIMOTHY (vv. 19-24)

Alright, in v.19, the text says that Paul hopes to send Timothy to the Philippian church. Ask them who Timothy was.

Who was Timothy? ( Acts 16:1-5)

Let’s turn over to the book of Acts to review a little bit. Acts 16, verses 1-5.

So, what did we learn?

A disciple, who had a Jewish mother and a Greek father

He had a good reputation

A committed disciple, enough so that he began traveling through various cities with Paul.

What else do we know about Timothy? That’s a good review, but there is a little more I think we need to know for our text here this morning.

he was with Paul when he wrote the letter (Phil.1.1).

That he and Paul were incredibly close. In the greetings of 1 and 2 Timothy, Paul refers to him as “[his] true child in the faith” and “my beloved child”.

He was a pastor. This is made clear through the letters of 1 and 2nd Timothy.

Excellent. Turn back to our text in chapter 2, v.19. This was the Timothy Paul was hoping to send to the Philippians. And notice the last half of this verse, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. Paul, as a caring shepherd, wanted to know how the believers were doing in Philippi. So, he was going to send one of his closest friends to check on them and see how they were faring.

Naturally though, this raises a question. Why did Paul send Timothy? Didn’t he have other people he could’ve sent? What do you guys think?

Let’s look at v.20 to find out.

A Genuine Concern (v.20)

I want to draw your attention to the phrase, “no one like him”. NASB: “Kindred spirit”. In Gr., it literally means “one souled”. Paul and Timothy thought so similarly, had the same priorities, had the same goal of glorifying Christ, that they were like one soul.

This is the reason why Paul wanted to send Timothy to the Philippian church. Out of the people Paul had access to in Rome, Timothy was unique; he stood out. Why? He was the only one whom Paul could trust to genuinely care for other Christian’s spiritual welfare.

Sadly guys, I think this is still the case today. There are far too many Christians, who, even though they are true believers in Jesus, they still lack a genuine concern for the spiritual well-being of other pilgrims. Have you guys seen this? I have. And first and foremost, I’ve seen this in my own heart too. Yet, this should not be. Believers in Christ ought to watch out for each other right?

What do you guys think it looks like to genuinely care for your brothers and sisters in Christ? What kind of questions could you ask to get a better idea of this?

Let me give you some questions you can use to think about your friends’ spiritual condition:

Are they loving Jesus more this year than they did last year?

Are they actively trying to kill sin?

How often are they getting into God’s word?

Those are some questions I would encourage you to ask yourselves about your friends, so that you can get a pulse on how your friends are doing spiritually. I would submit to you that this is the first quality of a faithful worker: a genuine concern for other believers.

Now, I think this statement merits a question: why were there not more believers who had a genuine concern for the spiritual well being of others? What was it that was keeping them from doing this?

Let’s look at the next verse to find out.

The Interests of Christ Jesus (v.21)

Why didn’t they genuinely care? They were too busy seeking after their own interests.

I want to draw your attention briefly to the word: seek. To seek means to search for. This is an active, purposeful word. So, what Paul is saying is that the believers he had in mind were so focused on searching out their own interests, that they were failing to search after the interests of Jesus. In other words, their interests were being pursued, at the expense of the interests of Jesus Christ.

Guys, do you think that should be the case? No!! Listen to this quote from Matthew Henry:

“Note, seeking our own interests to the neglect of Jesus Christ is a very great sin, and very common among Christians and ministers. Many prefer their own credit, ease, and safety, before truth, holiness, and duty, the things of their own pleasure and reputation before the things of Christ’s kingdom and his honour and interest in the world”. (Matthew Henry, 736).

Could I encourage us all here, myself included, does this describe me? In other words, are my interests regularly taking second place to the interests of Jesus, or am I preferring my own ease and safety before holiness and duty?

Before we move on, I want to clarify something that would be easy to remain unclear in our minds. What does the text mean when it says the interests of Christ Jesus? What do you guys think those are? What did Christ prioritize?

Loving God more than anything this in this world (Mat.22:37)

Obedience to God - Phil. 2.5, Lk. 11.28

God getting the glory He deserves - Lk. 19:45-46

The lost getting saved - Lk. 15:4-7

Excellent. I wanted to ensure we had a clear understanding of the interests of Jesus Christ. This is the second quality a faithful worker of Jesus Christ: seeking after the interests of Jesus more than you seek your own.

By God’s grace, this was a known fact about Timothy’s life.

Timothy’s Proven Worth (v.22)

Timothy, by God’s grace, this was a known fact about his life. That he cared more about Jesus’ interests, than he did his own.

Take a look at the phrase “Proven worth” in v.22- one word in the Gr., proof or test. In this context then it means tried or approved character. Timothy’s character was not good theoretically, it was good, historically; it had been battle-tested, side by side with Paul in the fight for God’s Kingdom.

It was this battle-tested son that Paul was going to send to the Philippians, as soon as Paul knew what would happen to him. We see that in v. 23. And in v.24, we see that Paul hoped in the Lord that he too would see them soon.

So, up to this point, we have seen two qualities of faithful workers of Jesus Christ:

A genuine concern for fellow Christians.

Placing God’s interests above your own.

Moving forward, we will see one more from the faithful worker called Epaphroditus. Look at v. 25.

EPAPHRODITUS (vv. 25-30)

Who was Epaphroditus/Epaphras? (Col. 1:3-8)

Well, we know several things! Notice how Paul describes him: as his brother in Christ, as a fellow worker, and as fellow soldier. I want you guys to catch this. Paul didn’t describe him as funny, or the guy who always struggled to spell his name. No, the defining features of Epaphroditus’ life, in Paul’s eyes, were that he was a brother, a fellow laborer for the gospel, and a fellow soldier.

Wow. Don’t you want that to be true of you too? Not your hobbies, your interests, but that you were laborer and soldier for the gospel?

Now, there is some debate as to whether or not Epaphroditus, as seen here, is the same man as described in Colossians 1. I don’t think they are the same person, but if they are, then Epaphroditus came to know the Lord through Paul’s ministry, and planted a church in Colossae.

Role as Messenger (v.26)

Notice that word messenger. This was one of Epaphroditus’ tasks! It was the task of taking the gift of supplies that the Philippians had gathered all the way to Rome. But that wasn’t his only task. Notice too that it says minister to his need. Epaphroditus was to help Paul with whatever he needed help with.

So, if one of the reasons why Epaphroditus came to Rome was to help Paul, why was Paul sending him right back home?

His “Longing” (v.27)

The first reason is that Epaphroditus was homesick! He was longing for his church family. He had probably been away for some time, with no communication with them since he left, so it makes sense that he was really missing home.

That’s not the only reason though. Look back at the text (read vv.26-27). He was distressed that his church family heard he was sick. How sweet and selfless is that? It doesn’t seem like he was very concerned for himself. The thing he was worried about was his brothers and sisters in Christ being worried about him! That had heard that he was sick, but they hadn’t heard anything after that. Did he get better? Is he ok? Did he die?

As the text says in v. 28, this is why Paul wanted to send Epaphroditus back to his church family.

Risking Much for Christ’s Service (v.30)

So, the Philippian church was to receive this courageous servant of Christ Jesus with great joy. Their dear friend, who risked it all for Jesus, was coming back home. Recognize that he didn’t just risk being laughed at because of his faith. He didn’t risk being rejected by a dear friend because he shared the gospel with them. He didn’t risk being angrily told off by someone on the street. He literally risked his life. And there, we find our third quality of a faithful worker of Jesus Christ: willing to risk much for Christ’s service.

CONCLUSION

What a remarkable testimony. And to try and help us apply this passage to our hearts, let me close our time by giving us three applications.

Following Timothy’s Example

First, I would exhort you to follow Timothy’s example of genuinely caring about your fellow Christian’s welfare. As we’ve seen to today, this is a mark of a faithful servant of Christ Jesus so ask a fellow brother or sister in Christ how they are doing! Are they loving Christ Jesus more this week than last week? And follow up with them about it! And if you fall short in this, welcome to the club. Ask for forgiveness for not caring about your fellow believer’s spiritual well being, rejoice in the promise of 1 John 1.9, and ask God to change your heart.

Following Epaphroditus’ Example

Next, I would exhort you to follow Epaphroditus’ example by being willing to risk a lot for Christ’s service. I would ask you, how much are you willing to risk for Jesus’ sake? Are you willing to be laughed at by friends when you don’t help them do something wrong? Are you willing to potentially lose a close friendship because you love them enough to share the gospel with them? Are you willing to risk your life for Christ’s sake like Epaphroditus did?

Showing Honor to those who Serve

And lastly, I would exhort you to honor those who serve. This is what Paul encouraged the Philippians to do with Epaphroditus and I believe that is a principle we can apply to our lives as well. Who do you know that faithfully serves and gives up a lot for Christ’s service?

Pastor Bryan, Jesse, Jon Montoya; Missionaries, you name it.

Give these people respect. Thank them for what they have done and maybe share with them how they have encouraged you. Pray for them and their impact for God’s Kingdom.

Let’s close in a word of prayer.