Philippians 2:19-30
I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon.
But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety. Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him, because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me.
It has been said no sermon is complete until lived out in the lives of God's people. By such a measure a twenty minute sermon is too short.
The perennial rag on pastors is the question of how long a sermon should last, but that depends on what you mean. There are those who would say a sermon should go on indefinitely. Living the Word is not twenty minute employment.
Hearing and responding are both the result of God the Holy Spirit moving us in faith toward action. It is only tedious because it is so important. The Bible says St. Paul once talked so long-all night in fact-that one young fellow dropped asleep on a window ledge, fell out of the third floor and died from the fall (Acts 20:9).
Mercifully, the Lord miraculously brought young Eutychus back to life, but you wonder how St. Paul would otherwise explain his interminably long talking. He didn't exactly choose the easiest time or duration for it.
Of course, it's not the length but the substance which matters. Paul preached Christ. "Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." (Eph. 3:8) (Also 2 Cor. 4:5 "We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.; 1 Cor. 1:23, "We preach Christ crucified." 2:2, "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.")
Timothy and Epaphroditus were men who said "Amen" to the preaching of Paul with Christian lives of devotion, risk, stress, service and self-sacrifice. Their "amen" was to work for the Gospel (v. 22), care for the needs of others (v. 25), and help where others could not (v. 30).
St. Paul commended these men. Of Timothy, he said, "I have no one else like him," and "He takes a genuine interest in your welfare." Paul's intention was to use Timothy, to employ this young man because someone who listens well will also serve well. Those two things must inexorably go together.
Listening without responding is vacuous. Work without faith is barren.
St. James wrote in his epistle (1:22-25), "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-- he will be blessed in what he does."
Of Epaphroditus (I wonder if anybody nicknamed him "Epie"), the apostle said, "He almost died for the work of Christ." What a precious example. You can bet he didn't limit his time with Jesus to 20 minutes.
Paul commended these men, Timothy and Epaphroditus.
By "commend" I don't mean mere compliments or flattery. Paul sent these fellows to the churches as men who could be trusted. They would take a job when asked. Their greatest interest was in the concerns of Christ, not their own pursuits and pastimes.
They were men of Christ because our Lord is involved and full of life. He works.
Jesus once said, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." (John 5:17) Up at the crack of dawn, even after a previously exhausting day, Jesus would work at his prayers. Then he would hustle along. "Let us go somewhere else-to the nearby villages-so I can preach there also. (Mark 1:38) Jesus preached the kingdom of God. He preached, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." (Mt. 4:17). He preached, "--good news to the poor - freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind- and the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18)
Jesus also lived what he preached. I don't know how many minutes the "Sermon on the Mount" lasted but Christ's behavior, His life and service was the living sermon just as your work and charity are a confession of Him.
You can trust someone whose creeds and deeds harmonize when the core of both is Christ.
That's why Paul urged the church to welcome, respect, and trust guys like Timothy and Epaphroditus. It was the Word and Spirit of Christ which moved them. The church has always needed more men and women like them. That was true in Paul's time because he sadly observed, (v.21), "For everyone looks out for his own interests." Self-interest remains an affliction in our modern world.
So, how grateful we are for those servants in the church today who believe the Gospel has positive consequences and who live what they hear proclaimed.
These are the folks you trust with your life.
We have trusted Jesus with our lives because He has put them above His own. We have trusted Jesus with our lives, not because he "almost died" for us-but because He really did die for us.
So, let us indeed always trust Jesus not only with our ears and hearts but also with our hands and backs and shoulders to show that we really have heard the Good News preached to us. And so, through Christ, be a Timothy or an Epie to others.
