Philippians 2:19-30
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Students week 6!
Continuing chapter two of Philippians!
I hope this has been a joy for you like its been for me!
We started the series by looking at Phil 1:1-11 asking the question “Would Paul thank God for me?”
Then we moved to Phil. 1:12-20 where we found out what it looks like to have joy
Next we looked at Phil 1:21-30 where we saw that we are being challenged to live worthy of the Gospel
Then we hit Phil. 2:1-11 we saw how believers are called to be like-minded and how tough that is
Last week looked at Phil 2:12-18 — where Paul spent time telling us what it will take to reach our friends, how we must quit yapping, be blameless, and know the Word
Today Paul seemingly takes a detour from everything that he’s been talking about
All of chapter two focused solely on the idea of the Philippians being like-minded
Like minded so that they can experience the blessings of God, and then like-minded so they can reach the lost
Now Paul in the end of Chapter 2 moves to talk about two guys: Timothy and Epaphroditus
To understand this section lets first read it all:
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 has 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 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. 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.
On the surface
On the surface
Reading the end of Chapter 2 it appears on the surface that Paul is completely shifting gears
He is now no longer talking directly to the Philippians about things they need to do, but rather is spending his time talking about two guys — Timothy and Epaphroditus
However, as you dive deeper the reality is actually quite the opposite
See Paul set up all of chapter 2 to encourage the Philippians to:
2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
He wanted them to complete his joy by being like-minded
And we dove all through that the last two weeks
Now Paul spends time giving us two different guys as positive examples
How to Act
How to Act
In essence he is trying to show the Philippians two things — and really us two things
The first thing is from Timothy and its this how to act
Listen to what Paul says about Timothy again:
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.
Paul tells the Philippians that there is two ways they should imitate Timothy or seek to act like Timothy
Like minded with Paul
Like minded with Paul
The first thing is that
Be Like minded in Christ
Tired of it yet?
Paul is telling the Philippians that they should be like Timothy because Timothy is like-minded to Paul in his approach to life
Translation: Timothy is doing everything that Paul is laying out to the Philippians
He is concerned for the welfare of others — not of himself
He is seeking to help and not hurt
He loves Jesus and is seeking to imitate him
So while being in prison Paul cannot be there — though as he says he hopes to be there — Timothy coming is almost a surrogate Paul
Think about the praise that is for Timothy — being like the man that is reaching the nations
Having the man tell others to imitate him
So Paul is looking at the Philippians, and to us, and telling us you need to be like-minded
Like go and do what I’ve been telling you!
Don’t wait!
High Character
High Character
The second thing Paul says the Philippians should imitate is:
Live a life of High Character
Paul tells is challenging to imitate Timothy’s high character
He says that Timothy:
“proven worth” “no one like him” “served Paul in Gospel”
Man Paul is looking at Timothy and praising him for the life and character that he has and challenging the Philippians to do the same
Listen to what Paul says in 1 Timothy:
1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
These are considered the qualifications of a Pastor — something that every church today uses to mark if someone should be a pastor or not
Above reproach — so far from sin that you cannot identify something they do wrong
Love their wife
Self-controlled to flee bad things, limit neutral things, and run to positive things (Matthew laid that out amazingly on Sunday)
They are well respected
Their household is good
He doesn’t fall to pride or ego but stays humble
All of these characteristics are things that Timothy himself is embodying
That big list from 1 Timothy 3 is the life of Timothy
How to act
How to act
So Paul is telling the Philippians in chapter 2 — I am sending you Timothy so that you know how to act
I’ve told you, but maybe you need an example
Timothy is your example
He is like-minded with me, seeking Jesus not himself
He is a man of good character
Paul is showing them, this is how you are to act
Man this is me all the time
I am a visual person
You can tell me 500 times how to do something
You can explicitly give me step by step instructions on how to do something, but until I see someone do it I can’t do it
I think about loading the dishwasher at home
I used to just throw everything in there and say “water will hit it”
What I found out is that Kase has a way she likes everything loaded
She told me and told me and told me how to load it
I even knew what she was saying and yet I couldn’t load it properly
Finally she showed me and I saw what she was doing and now I load it (mostly) right every time
I’m not the only person like this though
Paul looks at the Philippians and is like “I’ve been telling you how to act, let me send someone who will show you”
How to think
How to think
So Paul uses Timothy to show them how to act
Paul uses Epaphroditus to show the Philippians how to think
Lets read it again:
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. 28 I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. 29 So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, 30 for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.
We only get a picture of Epaphroditus here, but we can piece together what happened:
Paul is put in prison and in need
The Philippians hear about his need
They send Epaphroditus to Paul to help him
Epaphroditus gets sick and almost dies
Paul and crew must help Epaphroditus
Word is sent to the Philippians
The Philippians write back worried
We then get to what Paul wrote here — he is sending him back to help them
Success comes from obedience
Success comes from obedience
But the way he writes is ultimately to teach the Philippians how they are to think
The first way he wants the Philippians to think differently is:
Obedience is Success
The reality is Epaphroditus utterly failed in his goal
He was meant to come and be a blessing to Paul, but instead he got sick, almost died and had to be taken care of
The Philippians could have absolutely shunned him and rejected him for failing
They live in a honor-shame culture one that highly values output and honors those that produce and shames those that don’t
We don’t see this as much in America today, but its still present:
Imagine having a huge gathering of family and friends over for a Thanksgiving feast.
Everything is ready, all the seats are filled, and all that’s left is to bring out the turkey.
Now imagine that as you’re carrying the turkey in, you trip over the cat, completely dump the turkey on the floor, and end up landing on top of it, pulverizing it into an inedible mess.
How would you react in that situation (other than wanting to kill that cat)?
Yes, there is the task of carrying the turkey that was left incomplete, but you’d likely feel something more.
There would be the embarrassment of not seeing the cat and falling.
There would be shame and mortification of having invited people who expected a wonderful meal, and then having nothing but potatoes and cranberry salad to offer them.
Imagine how the guests would feel.
Not only would they be disappointed, but they would probably be embarrassed for you.
They might not even know how to respond. Do they tell a joke? Do they offer to help clean up, or would that just make matters worse?
This was exactly the situation the Philippians are left in
Yet Paul is teaching them that success is from obedience not in the output
WE know this because of how the responds to Epaphroditus
He calls him:
My brother
Fellow worker
Fellow Solider
Essentially Paul is looking at a man that was obedient to the call of God, utterly failed, and yet is saying he is an equal to me!
He succeeded in come here
Despite no actual input
Paul could have shamed the Philippians and Epaphroditus, but instead he demonstrates God’s grace in action. He could have gone prima donna on them, complaining about the imposition Epaphroditus’ sickness caused, but he doesn’t.
Imagine we are back at the Thanksgiving feast.
You have just stood up after falling and are brushing turkey off your shirt.
There is a horrendous silence as everyone is embarrassed and afraid to speak.
What if the most respected hostess present—the Martha Stewart of the bunch—stood up to help and began to tell a story about how she did something far worse?
The incident would not go away, but it would be positively spun.
Everyone would look at it with comedy instead of shame
This is what Paul is doing by propping up Epaphroditus instead of shaming him
He’s teaching them that when you are seeking to follow God and be like-minded with Christ, you might fail and thats okay
Success isn’t in the output, its in the obedience
Honor the workers who go
Honor the workers who go
He then teaches them a second big lesson that goes along with it
He says you also need to change the way you think and:
Honor those who go
This is connected to the first point — but Paul tells them you need to honor those who go for the Lord and seek to serve Him
You should celebrate them and their obedience
He says “receive him in the Lord with all joy, honor such men, he nearly died for the work of Christ”
Man what would it look like if we changed our thoughts how we should honor people?
Pretty much in churches people are propped up for going and sharing the Gospel and then they get saved
They went to another country, shared the Gospel and the entire nation turned from God so we celebrate
What if instead we were like what Paul was describing and celebrated all the moments that don’t feel special?
The moments that seem like utter failure —when we bring up Jesus and they immediately change the subject
What if we celebrated that? Why?
Because they stepped out in obedience
Conclusion
Conclusion
Man I love what Paul does here
He knows we are visual learners — he knew that about the Philippians
Because of these he challenges them to change how they act and how they think by using Timothy and Epaphroditus
Students lets do the same!
Lets be like-minded and high character
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions
Among your circle of Christian friends, for whom do you have the highest regard? Why?What message is Paul trying to convey to the Philippians by sharing the examples of Timothy and Epaphroditus?
In what ways have you proved to be a reliable servant of God?
In what ways can we strive to be more like Timothy in our daily lives?
How does understanding that 'obedience is success' change your perspective on personal failures in your faith journey?
In what ways can we honor those in our community who have served selflessly, similar to how Paul honors Epaphroditus?
What risks are you willing to take on behalf of other Christians?
