04 - The Examples Of Timothy And Epaphroditus By Pastor Jeff Wickwire Notes

Philippians—The Joyful Letter

Part 4

“The Examples of Timothy and Epaphroditus”

Last time we closed out with 2:13, which describes how God gives both the desire and the power to do His will.

Now in verse 14, the Apostle tackles again the issue of disunity and strife in the church:

2:14 “Do all things without complaining and disputing,”

Complaining comes from a discontented soul, as well as arguing. It is one of the sins that grieves the Holy Spirit so much. In fact, complaining is what ultimately kept the entire first generation of Hebrews from the Promised Land!

Paul says we Christians are to be isolated from it. Why?

2:15 “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,”

The word blameless means “without reproach.” Harmless means “simple.” We are to be unfamiliar with these things. Innocent of them. This is because we are to shine as lights in this world!

We live in a perverted, depraved, and rebel culture. And when a non-Christian in that culture sees a professing Christian (at work or at home) who is argumentative, hard to get along with, worldly in his conversation and behavior—using profanity, telling off color jokes, gossiping about others, losing their temper—the unbeliever will be utterly unimpressed with their claim of knowing Christ.

Hence, we’re to put away complaining and arguing, and put on the grace of Jesus Christ.

2:16 “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.”

Holding forth the word of life, the testimony of Jesus, is the way we’re to carry ourselves on this dark planet. Paul says, be sure your walk comes before your talk. If you do that, I know I didn’t minister to you in vain!

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2:17-18 “But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God. And I want all of you to share that joy. 18 Yes, you should rejoice, and I will share your joy.”

Paul was always ready to give his life in the cause of Christ. He viewed it as an offering to the God who had given His only Son to die for him. He tells the Philippians he wants them to share that joy of his. And he in turn would share their joy in Christ.

Paul had a stake in the Philippians as his spiritual children, and they had a stake in him as their apostle, whose ministry they financially supported. So the Apostle of joy says to them, “I’ll share your joy, and you share in mine!”

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Next, Paul holds up another example of the kind of Christian service we should all aspire to in the person of Timothy:

2:19 “If the Lord Jesus is willing, I hope to send Timothy to you soon for a visit. Then he can cheer me up by telling me how you are getting along.”

Timothy was Paul’s child in the faith, most likely saved during Paul’s first missionary journey. His mother and grandmother were both model Jewish women and his father was Greek. His father apparently died when he was very young, so his mother and grandmother had raised him, and gave him a good working knowledge of the OT Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:15).

Timothy was one of Paul’s most frequent companions, starting with his 2nd missionary journey. He was with him all the way to the end. He became the first pastor of the church at Ephesus. According to Nicephorus (a later Roman emperor), Timothy was clubbed to death at a feast of Diana for denouncing its immorality.

A side note, isn’t it interesting that we’re told today Christians should not denounce the sins of our culture; that it will turn people off to the message of Christ. That we shouldn’t judge.

But John the Baptist lost his head for calling out the sin of Herod’s adultery, and Timothy was beat to death for calling out the immorality of his culture’s idolatry. I wonder what those two would say if you told them they should have stayed silent?

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Paul next commends Timothy’s character:

2:20 “For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state.”

People who think like Paul are rare in any age. Apparently in all of Rome, Paul couldn’t find one believer he could send to Philippi. Some had the giftedness, but not the time. Some had the talent and time, but not the temperament.

No one was as much like Paul as Timothy, who naturally cared for the people. He wasn’t a hireling doing it for the money. He was a Christ-like servant that loved the people.

Paul next drops a stinging indictment:

2:21 “For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus.”

The curse of the local church is and always has been a lack of commitment. No one has time to serve because they are all focused on things pertaining to themselves. Hence, the same faithful few do all the work.

No wonder Jesus noted, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Timothy was different. He was a man of total surrender and commitment, qualities that made him extremely valuable to Paul and the cause of Christ.

Thus, Paul could heartily recommend him:

2:22 “But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel.”

We often make the mistake of setting someone into a ministry position too soon, before they are proven. I’ve done it several times and have usually paid a painful price. Paul lets the Philippians know that, with Timothy, this was not the case. His character was “proven.”

Notice, Paul didn’t say that his preaching gift had been proven. Or his way with people. Or some personal charisma. But that his character had proven true.

The word proven is from a word meaning “tested and true.” Timothy’s character had been tested in trials and proved true to Christ every time. So Paul could trust him with the most important assignments.

2:23-24 “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.”

Paul says, If I can’t come, the next best thing is Timothy, who I will send quickly.

We note here that Paul’s close walk with the Lord enabled him to sense the Lord’s will, no matter his circumstances. He writes to the Philippians with confidence from a Roman jail, “I trust in the Lord I shall come to you shortly.”

In his second letter to Timothy he has no such confidence. He knows in his spirit his time is coming to an end. Apparently Paul did finally visit Philippi instead of sending Timothy. We know from his later letters to Timothy that he had been set free for a season, just as he predicted.

And now, after holding up Jesus and Timothy as examples, Paul turns to his third example of the kind of character he wants the Philippians to walk in—the example of Epaphroditus:

2:25 “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;”

Paul has nothing but praise for this otherwise unknown Christian. Timothy was Paul’s son, and Epaphroditus was his brother. It was Epaphroditus that had been initially sent by the Philippians to give Paul their love offering:

4:18 “Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.”

But while with Paul, he proved himself a minister of Christ to imprisoned Apostle. Eventually, Paul decided to send him back to the Philippians, primarily because they heard he had been gravely ill.

2:26-27a “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;”

We don’t what his sickness was, but it was enough to have almost taken his life. For whatever reason, the Apostle Paul, who had seen many people healed through his prayers, did not witness a divine healing for Epaphroditus. It seems he weathered it naturally, which Paul attributes to the mercy of God:

2:27b “but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.”

There are times in our walk with God when we are brought to our knees to request His mercy. We find ourselves in circumstances in which we are helpless without a merciful touch from God. As the Bible says,

“Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not, they are new every morning; great is His faithfulness!” (Lamentations 3:22-23)

This is what happened with Paul regarding Epaphroditus. The last thing he wanted was for a precious brother in Christ, sent to him by a loving church, to die as a result. It would have added sorrow on top of his already considerable sorrows. Thank God for His mercies!

As soon as Epaphroditus began to recover, Paul told him “I’m sending you back home!” Always thinking of others, even though Epaphroditus had come to be such a comfort to Paul, he would much rather forego the blessing by sending him back to the church he missed, and to the people that also missed him!

2:28 “Therefore I sent him the more eagerly, that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful.”

Paul’s concern was for the Philippians, so much so that he sent Epaphroditus with haste back home. No doubt, his time with the great Apostle had left memories of rich conversations he couldn’t wait to share with the brethren.

Stop and think of Paul’s unselfish attitude. He sits in a Roman prison. He has no one with him steadily, only a stream of visitors. Epaphroditus had brought with him a kindred spirit to Paul, a man with whom the Apostle could converse, whose company he deeply enjoyed. Yet the Philippians also missed this treasured man, and were concerned about him.

So Paul would rather empty himself of this blessing in order to comfort the brethren in Philippi. I think again of his description of Jesus earlier in the same chapter, who “emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.” (2:7)

Paul likewise “emptied himself” of the fellowship of Epaphroditus in order to enrich others. So not only did he send Epaphroditus back, he also sent him with the letter we’re now studying! Thank God he sent him back with this joyful letter! We know Epaphroditus was the carrier of it because of the next verse:

2:29 “Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem;”

On his arrival back home, Epaphroditus handed the church leadership this very letter that instructs them in verse 29 to to receive honor this wonderful Christian man with high esteem. In other words, Paul is telling them that Epaphroditus had been a sterling representative of Christ.

And Paul wants to make sure they understand how strong his commitment had been:

2:30 “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.”

Epaphroditus had not been concerned for his own life, even though he knew he was under the dangerous, watchful eye of Nero.

And when he had begun to experience aches and pains and fever, he had shrugged it off in order to help Paul. As one commentator puts it, “On account of Christ’s work he was a death’s very door, playing as it were the gambler with his life.”

Such a sacrificial, giving spirit is rare in our day of self this and self that! May the Lord help all of us to learn to walk in the love that Jesus, Timothy, and Epaphroditus displayed!