Follow...

Alright everybody well let's go ahead and get into what we are doing tonight. I want you to go ahead and turn in your bibles to Philippians chapter 2, tonight we are going to be finishing out the rest of this chapter.

And as you’re turning there…I actually want to dive into something that can be a point taken from tonight’s passage…and is relevant to this month…and that’s found at the end of our passage. It’s sort of this separate moment that happens that I’m not going to cover in our main part of the message tonight…but at least want to use it especially as it’s relevant.

Philippians 2:29 ESV

29 So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men,

Honor Pastor Rob

Alright, with that said let's go ahead and get into the rest of the text. Let's get back into the beginning of our text and see what else the Lord would have for us in this passage.

Philippians 2:19–27 ESV

19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. 20 For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. 23 I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, 24 and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also. 25 I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, 26 for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. 27 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.

One of the things that we see in scripture, especially with letters like this to churches. Is the thought that we are often called to follow after the apostles as they follow after Christ. This is not a unique concept, this is not something that is unfamiliar to us... in fact if you were with us way back when we were preaching through first Thessalonians you're going to remember that we quoted this often... we quoted the idea that we are to follow after Paul as he follows after Christ.

In fact we see that in first Corinthians Chapter 11 verse one...

So that's what we are going to be doing tonight. We are going to be looking at the examples of those in this passage and we are going to be following after them as they have followed after Christ. We are going to be learning some of the things that are required of us if we want to live for Christ, and we're going to see those things played out in the lives of the two men here.

Now, the first person that we are going to be looking at is found right there in the first verse and that is Timothy. And that's our first main point for tonight...

Follow Timothy (v.19-20a)

And here's why I say that we should follow Timothy look back with me at the beginning of 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...

Guys, do you see it right there? Someone like the apostle Paul, who has planted many churches at this point, who has met hundreds and hundreds of people, and has probably led hundreds and hundreds of people to come to know Jesus, that apostle is the one that is saying that he has found absolutely no one like Timothy. And so, what I'm saying is that if the apostle Paul looks at someone like Timothy in terms of what it means to follow after Christ, and says that he hasn't found anyone like him, then that means for us that we should want to be like him.

That means that we should want to be like Timothy and so, we are going to follow after Timothy. We are going to be learning some of the ways that we can follow Christ by modeling what we see about Timothy. And here's the first thing that we see and how we can follow after timothy...

Serve others (20b)

we see that in the second-half verse 20 there. The scripture says “for I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.”

Guys, being concerned for the welfare of others means that you are serving others. Another translation says it like this, for I have no one else who will genuinely care about your interest...

I wanted to word the point like this, because when we truly are concerned for others... when that care has truly impacted our hearts and causes us to change the way that we act, then that means that we are serving others. Because, we are so concerned for their well-being that we take action to make sure that they maintain that well-being and that they are better off.

If you’ve ever had a deep relationship in life…you know what I mean.

So... True concern for others... means truly serving others. And this shouldn't be a big surprise to you. Because, this is something that we have already talked about in the book of Philippians. This is something the apostle Paul has already called the Philippians to do.

We saw it back in chapter 2 verse four. When Paul tells the Philippians do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others....

And if you guys remember, the place that Paul is saying to do this, is in the middle of talking about how Jesus himself served us by laying down his life. Paul is talking about how Jesus himself laid down his life and did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped in order to serve us.

So... Do you see what I mean? Do you see how it's undeniable that if you truly care about others you will serve others?

That's a simple point of application for tonight and honestly it's a pretty easy application point. I don't think this should take much explaining. I don't need to tell you how to go about serving others because there are so many opportunities to do that not only in our culture but here at this church. There are opportunities to serve the youth of our church by being a youth group leader... There are opportunities to serve the kids of our church by volunteering and helping at kids club on Tuesday nights or in the kids ministry on the weekends. And on top of those things there are many many many opportunities for us to serve the community through the things that we have going on in our outreach ministries and also general service areas of our church on Sunday mornings.

So first point, super easy application, what we see when we follow after Timothy is that we are to serve others.

The second point that we see when it comes to following after Timothy is this...

Serve Christ (v.21-22)

look back at me in verse 21, this is where we see this.For they all seek their own interest, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.

So you can see the implication here. You can see that Paul is implying by using contrast that while others don't care for the interests of Jesus Christ Timothy does care for the interests of Jesus Christ. Practically, guys, just like caring for others means serving others... So too does caring for Christ mean serving Christ.

And this is something that is also so easy for us to do. This is something that has such an easy application for us.

I've already implied a few of them when I mentioned how we can serve others, because one of the ways that we serve Christ is by serving others. Jesus loved people, he loved people because he created people because he died for people. Jesus called us to take care of the poor, to take care of the lowly, to serve those in need. Jesus called us to love children and to teach children and to serve children.

So one of the ways that we serve Christ is by serving others and certainly by doing that through the ways that the body of Christ has equipped us to do so. Because that's what the church is, it is the body of Christ. But, it’s not just about serving people…it’s about serving for the work of the gospel. You see it there at the end of verse 22…it says that Timothy was serving with Paul IN THE GOSPEL.

Serving Christ isn't just about the physical things that we do on a daily or weekly or monthly basis. Yes, it is a large part of what we do because the actions we actually take with our hands speak loudly of the ways that our heart actually thinks and the way that our heart moves and it speaks of the things that we value. But, the way that we serve Christ is not just in the daily work of our hands... It is in the consistent meditations of our heart and purpose of our lives to ADVANCE THE GOSPEL.

We serve Christ not only through our hands but through our heart and through our minds. We serve Christ by meditating and reflecting on him daily. But, we also serve Christ, by directing our hearts and minds and very lives towards the cause of the Gospel.

And we know that this is exactly what Timothy did. Timothy was a pastor in ephesus. That is what God called him to do. That is what Paul equipped him to do. We know that because if you read the books of Timothy found in scripture it is revealed to us that he was the pastor there in ephesus. Which means, that Timothy didn't just serve physically in these times when Paul needed him, but it means that he gave his whole life for the carrying out of the work of the gospel.

Now that doesn't mean that you have to become a pastor in order to serve the cause of the gospel and serve Christ through that... But we do know that that means you need to live your life as if it was given over to the Lord in ministry.

Guys, my life... and your life...shouldn't actually be that different. Yes, it might be different in some ways... the amount of kids that we have, the cars we drive, the places we live, the type of work we do… However, there should be a huge commonality between my job as a full time pastor and the careers that you choose, and that is that we are both serving christ full time.

Guys, no matter what I'm doing on a physical day-to-day basis the intent is always to serve the Kingdom of God and to build up the Kingdom of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that calling is no different for you in your careers…no matter what you’re doing on a day to day basis the intent must be to serve the Kingdom of God...

Our cause, our passion, our fervor to see the Kingdom of God grow through serving Christ in the gospel should be exactly the same, because we are all disciples who follow after Christ.

One of the main ways that we serve Christ is by directing our very lives to put ourselves in the vein of continually serving him. One of the ways that we serve Christ is by making sure that in our career we have the ability to make disciples. One of the ways that we serve Christ is by making sure that in the money that we make from doing our careers we use that money for his glory to build his church to spread his name.

I could keep on going on this but we have a few more points to hit tonight so I'm gonna leave that there I'm going to trust that the Holy Spirit is convicting you and encouraging you in the things that you need be or the things that you are already doing.

So, we saw that if you are going to be following after Timothy and therefore desiring to follow after Christ that you are going to serve others and you are going to serve Christ.

I told you that we will be looking at following after two people in this passage. And you might think that we are going to be following after Timothy, and Epaphroditus because that’s who listed…but actually we are going to be looking to follow after Paul…because, the way that he speaks of the situation with Epaphroditus and the situation that he is in… is what I think the Lord has for us to follow tonight. So that’s our next point..

Follow Paul.

And the first thing that we see about following Paul is that we should...

Trust God (v.23-34)

I get this from verses 23 and 24. Where it says 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.

Do you see the bit of weird language that is going on there. Like, in the first half paul is talking about waiting and seeing what is going to happen, but then in the second-half he's talking about how he trusts in god that he will be released from prison. Because, if you remember Paul is in prison as he is writing this letter.

And so, this should feel just a little odd for us…because in some ways it almost sounds like two different thing. But, in reality is not. Because, what Paul is really doing, is seeing the reality of his situation... While acknowledging the reality that he is in relationship and knows the one true holy and living God.

Paul is looking at his life as it is in the moment layered upon his life with God. And he has such a deep trust in God that he's looking at the physical circumstances through a different lens. If you were around when we began this series in Philippians you'll remember that I preached a message called the gospel lens that focused on this very thing.

You'll remember that we spent a message talking about how we should look at life through the gospel lens just like Paul looks at life through the gospel lens and this moment right here is another example of that. So, yes, I could have named this point used the gospel lens. But I wanted to get even more specific since we have already talked about using the gospel lens, and tell you, in all circumstances of your life, no matter how they look they will end up, to trust that your life is more than just what your physical circumstances are.

I'm challenging you to not only look at life through what is actually going on, but to be in communication with God and to be in relationship with God in a way that causes you to consult him and all that is going on. And I'm not just talking about consulting him when times are hard, but I'm talking about consulting him when times are unknown, and certainly when times are good.

Now, I believe that this point is actually a bit harder of an application. Because, I believe that just somebody telling you to trust God doesn't actually give you the resources to be able to do that. And so, just like any other time that I try to preach a message to you, I want to try as much as I can in a very short amount of time, be able to give you at least one practical thing you can do to begin trusting God. And here's what I have for you tonight...

I want to encourage you that you can trust God by gaining a bigger view of God. And this application point actually ties right in with the last point of our message tonight and that is you can follow Paul by seeing God.

See God (v. 25-27)

Look with me versus 25 to 27 and I'll tie all this together.

I have thought it necessary to send to you a Epaphroditus my fellow 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.

So, I want you to see here that this man, Epaphroditus, was sent to Paul by the Philippians to help minister to Paul. Perhaps, this man was sent to Paul because the Philippians had heard that Paul was in prison. It's possible that this whole letter exists because Epaphroditus visited Paul and relayed to him how the Philippians were feeling.

So Paul is with this man from Philippi, and at some point Epaphroditus gets sick. So sick, that he almost dies. But, he doesn't die... in fact he gets better. This in itself is really great, but what we should see here is how Paul is viewing the situation. And this is how it ties in with our previous point in our application i want to give you on how to trust god...

Paul doesn't just view this moment in time as Epaphroditus getting better, he views this moment in time as a moment in which God had mercy on him and allowed him to be healed not just for his own sake but also for the sake of Paul's. And what I want to ask you is do you understand just how big of a mindset that actually is?

Like, do you understand that Paul wasn't just looking at this moment in which Epaphroditus was healed and rejoicing, but Paul was looking at god so big that he saw god's purposes not only in healing this man but also in allowing him to be healed so that paul would not feel sorrow. He viewed god as so big that god was moving in ways that not only impacted a path roditis but also impacted Paul. Paul viewed God so big that he knew that God could have multiple purposes in healing somebody.

Now imagine how Epaphroditus might view that... Think about what Paul is saying and the implications that that has. Because, if I'm Epaphroditus I'm thinking that Paul just said that the reason that I was healed is that he would feel better... that Paul would not have to be sad. Now, you can imagine just how sassy one might get when you start thinking like that right?

Because, it seems a little self-centered. “Well, gee Paul, thanks so much for praying for me, thanks so much for tending to me while I was sick, I'm glad that the reason you did it is so that you wouldn't have to feel sad period.”

You see, that's how we could take something to mean when we hear that. However Paul has an understanding that the way that God works is for his own goodwill and purposes and yet, can have multiple implications in our lives. You see, Paul trust God, because his view of god is so big, that he knows that all the things the Lord does have multiple implications, have multiple facets of understanding, have multiple outcomes, for multiple people.

And so, to wrap up, i want to encourage you to trust God and to do so to trust God more by seeing God more, to trust God more and grow in your trust of God because you understand and grow in your understanding of who God is. Now, there are ways that you can practically grow in that. You can sit under biblical teaching which I pray is what you are experiencing here tonight. You can read the word of God yourself and as long as you're approaching the word of God with an attitude of submission then you will understand just how big and good God is to have revealed himself in this word and you're going to believe what the word says about him.

If you want to increase your view of God you can speak with those around you here at college ministry, and your leaders, and those at church on Sundays, and ask them of how God has worked in their lives... And you will be amazed at the ways that God has worked... and you will be encouraged at just how big God is... and you will be able to trust God all the more for whatever season of life you're in.