It's good to be here tonight. Appreciate the presence of all
that have come to be with us. And we are very grateful that
you're here. We're continuing in our study on
the book of Philippians and the set of questions covers chapter
2 and verses 23 through 30. So we'll be finishing.
Philippians chapter 2 tonight. What I'd like to do though is
I'd like to go back to verse 19 and we're going to begin reading
there and I'll read down through the end of the chapter just for
context here. Beginning there in verse 19.
But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly that
I also may be encouraged when I know your state for.
I have no one like minded who will sincerely care for your
state for all seek their own, not the things which are of G's
of Christ Jesus. But you know, his probe is
proven character that as a son with his father.
He served with me in the gospel. Therefore, I hope to send him at
once as soon as I see how it goes.
With me, but I trust in the Lord that I myself shall also come
shortly yet. I considered it necessary to
send done to you, epaphroditus. My brother fellow worker, and
fellow Soldier, but your messenger, and the one who
ministered to my need since he was longing for you all and was
distressed because you had heard that he was sick for indeed.
He was sick almost unto death but God had mercy on him.
And not only on him but on me also lest I should have sorrow
upon sorrow. Therefore I sent him the more
eagerly that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may
be less sorrowful receive him therefore in the Lord with all
gladly gladness and hold such man in a steam because for the
work of Christ, he came close to death, not regarding his life to
supply. What was lacking in your
service. Add me correctly, read and
barring any mistakes on my part reads.
Those verses of scripture that are under consideration tonight.
In the latter part of Philippians chapter 2 and just
to kind of set the tone for what we discussed last time.
Very briefly, we had studied that Paul wanted to send Timothy
Timothy, was a man that was very close to Paul considered as one,
perhaps, that would have been his son in the faith.
You know, we talked about Timothy being the young
evangelist. We talk about him like that and
Timothy labored together with Paul, in fact, it was well known
about. His character as well known
about his priorities and all of that.
In fact, we just studied last time that Paul said that he
labored with me in the gospel as a son and a father.
Now interestingly about that that doesn't mean that Paul
being the father and Timothy being the son and Paul was in
charge and and ruled over Timothy and Timothy obeyed and
so forth, like a young child would do in the home.
That's not what that means. What he's saying about Timothy
is And his relationship with him.
We labor together like a father and son, you know, there's
nothing greater than the Loyalty of Father and Son when both of
them have the same regard for the other and are working
together with great loyalty. So it was a loving relationship
that he's describing with Timothy and Paul.
And Paul said, I have no one else that I could send that is
greater than Timothy. I have no one else.
That would care for you like Timothy.
In fact, Paul said he said this. He said most people think about
other things and they think about themself and most people
don't think like Timothy. But as I paraphrase, Timothy
thinks about Jesus Christ first and the cause of Christ first.
So he'd love to send Timothy. He would also love to go himself
but he knows that he can't as of right now.
And then in verse number 23, he said this I hope to send him at
once as soon as I see how it goes with me.
And this covers the first question actually, I'll read
another the second verse verse 24.
And then we'll look at the question Paul says, but I trust
in the Lord that I myself shall also come shortly.
So, what was Paul referring to when he said as soon as I see
how it goes with me? I think the answer is obvious.
I think, Paul as he was personally imprisoned at the
time, Or currently imprisoned at the time.
And he was looking at his situation, his impending trial.
And he said this, I desire to go to.
I want to go with Timothy so I'm not going to send him yet.
But as I see what's going to happen to me in my impending
trial, just maybe I can go to and I would love to join him and
go shortly. In fact, that's what verse 24
says. He said I trust in the Lord that
I myself shall also come shortly.
I want to notice that phrase I trust in the Lord.
You know what Paul was saying is he was saying this and many
times Paul understood this very concept and it's a great concept
to know it's a great concept for all of us to know even today in
our life. When you are a Christian, you
put your life in the hands of God in both Time and Eternity.
And you put God in charge. In other words, what Paul was
saying here? I want to go.
I want to go to Philip II, want to go with Timothy and see you,
but I got to wait to see what's going on here, but I trust in
the Lord. In other words, it's in his
hands but he also had faith that it would be.
All right and he would be able to go to Philippi.
He said I trust in the Lord. In other words, determining
voice that holds the future is the Lord.
And I believe that he thought that he would be able to do that
by faith to but in verses 25 and 26.
Yet, I considered it necessary to send to you.
Epaphroditus notice how he describes epaphroditus.
This is really incredible. He calls him.
These are some high praise words.
He said he's my brother. He's my fellow worker.
He's my fellow Soldier but then he says, but he's your
messenger. You know, interestingly about
this word messenger, it could be used in a generic sense and it
can be used in a specific sense and often times this word and
its Origins is translated as apostle and we can look in the
New Testament. We can find that.
The word Apostle is used to describe those that were set by
the Lord. And by the way, that's what that
means, it means to be sent and we can look at the specific
office of an apostle, and the 12 apostles And one fell and
Mathias was added to the 12. And Paul was added later on.
They were Apostles in an official sense in that they were
sent by the Lord Chosen and sent this man.
Epaphroditus was not an apostle in an official sense, but in a
general sense or generic sense, he was an apostle in that he was
sent, he was a minister. So Paul said this about
epaphroditus, he's my brother. He's my fellow worker.
He's a fellow Soldier but he's your Messenger.
And the one who ministered to my need.
And then in verse 26, Since he was longing for you all and was
distressed because you heard that he was sick.
You know what? I think sometimes it's Human
Nature. It's human nature sometimes when
we have things that go wrong. In our life or our health.
And we worry about ourselves. I think it's human nature to do
that and be really concerned about our self.
And really if you talk to people about their worries, usually
they're worried about things that are going on in their life.
And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that,
sometimes we worry and then the Bible tells us what to do about
worry is, you know, be anxious for nothing but pray about
everything. But it's human nature to be
concerned about the things that are going on in your own
personal life. What's amazing about?
This is epaphroditus was sick and the people that were there
in Philip, I were concerned for him and his health and they were
worried about it in fact and that's what it says in verse 26.
It says since he was longing for you all and was distressed
because you had heard that he was sick.
What's amazing is Epaphroditus was distressed, not because he
was sick or his own problem. He was distressed because they
were worried That's amazing. How about being so selfless?
That you have an illness and we're going to find out was an
illness that almost took his life.
It was a serious illness and he's concerned and he's
distressed because and the word distressed me, the Greek term
describes, the confused or chaotic, a heavy state of
restlessness, that results from a time of turmoil or great
trauma. So, epaphroditus was distressed
because they were worried about him.
Because he was sick men in verse 27 for indeed, he was sick
almost unto death, but God had mercy on him and not only on
him, but on me also lest, I should have said, I should
sorrow. Had lest, I should have sorrow
upon sorrow. You know.
This is really amazing because if you think about this and I've
always known about this, but I haven't really looked at it as
closely as I did today. But have you ever stopped to
consider that? Just maybe there are times when
God spares the life of someone and extends mercy and Spares the
life of someone for showing Mercy for somebody else.
You ever stopped to consider. That's exactly what Paul is
saying. Paul is saying God had mercy and
extended that Mercy in sparing, the life of a peppered itis.
But Paul said Not only did he extend Mercy by extending his
life, he extended Mercy to me. So I would not sorrow upon
sorrow that I lost my friend in the faith.
You know, that's really a powerful thing.
I got to thinking about that. I got to thinking about, you
know, there's a lot of things I don't understand about what God
does and God's providential care and we studied about that in a
Bible, study the other night, but a God's providential care.
I just know that God's Providence God is involved in
his providential care and God makes decisions.
Sometimes, we don't understand that.
But in this verse, it's saying this, I'm going to read it again
for indeed. He was sick almost unto death,
but God Had mercy on him and not only on him but on me also lest
I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
That's pretty powerful. And that's what that phrase
means sorrow upon sorrow. The first idea is Paul was
undergoing terrible persecution. Paul was imprisoned, Paul had an
impending trial coming his way, Paul had some real trouble.
And instead of allowing him to have sorrow upon sorrow, and
that would be with epaphroditus now Dying.
God was merciful to epaphroditus and he was merciful DePaul and
he spared his life. And then the phrase that I may
be less sorrowful one scholar said to relieve the tension was.
Another reason for sending epaphroditus back to Philippi at
this time, besides the one mentioned in verse 25, in other
words, when the Brethren got to see him, you know, today we just
text I knew Chris was going to Chris and his family were
running late. So I texted him to take the
invitation song in the closing prayer.
What I'm getting at is this, we have access to people, easily,
instant instantaneously, even if you're in other parts of the
world, But in this case, they didn't have that, they don't
have cell phones, they didn't have ways of picking up the
phone and making a phone call. So, Paul said it's good.
That epaphroditus goes back and relieve the stress because these
Brethren and Philippi were greatly distressed and greatly
sorrowful and worried sick about epaphroditus.
So, he said, I'm going to send him back and it will relieve
that very thing, and also relieve the stress that was On
Paul worried about them all. First 29, which covers question.
Number four. Receive him therefore in the
Lord. With all gladly gladness and
hold such man in esteem. You know, the question is simply
is this how does a Christian receives someone in the Lord?
Well, first of all, when you receive someone in the Lord, you
are receiving a fellow Christian, you are receiving a
brother or sister in Christ. In this case, it's a brother in
Christ. And the brother in Christ is
epaphroditus. Now, interestingly they loved
him. So they didn't need instruction,
or they didn't need admonition. He wasn't correcting them.
I think this was really just a friendly, loving encouraging,
reminder receive him in the Lord.
Now, this is what that means. I think it means this in two
ways. Number one, it means receive him
as a brother. That's number one, number two,
receiving him. In the Lord also means receive
him in the same way that the Lord would receive him.
Have you ever stopped to consider the word?
Christian means christ-like. And that means that in our life,
we behave like Christ, if we're going to follow our leader, if
we're going to follow Jesus and he is the, he is the husband and
we are the bride being the church and we are Christians,
meaning, we are Christ. Like that means that in every
aspect of our life, we have to do our best to try to act like
Jesus. You know the world even came up
with a number that wwjd what would Jesus do?
You know, I don't think people need to have some sort of a sign
or a bracelet or a shirt. I think that people ought to be
able to have Christ Living in them to the point.
They don't need reminders like that.
If Jesus Christ is in me and I am following him, then his word
is burning in my heart too. I'm not going to need those
extra reminders. I got the word of God and I've
got Jesus Christ in my heart. So to receive him as you would
in the Lord is to receive him as you will, as Jesus would do
also. And then he says to receive him
and give him honor or esteem because of his work sake.
And finally, verse number 30, the question is summarize, this
verse and then Briefly summarize the chapter So verse 30.
Here's the Reason, by the way, he got sick.
And I've looked and looked and researched and read scholar and
after scholar. And I tried to find out what
exactly the illness was and some have speculated but I'm going to
tell you, I don't think we can know, I don't think we know for
sure. All we know is what happened and
when he got sick and it's in verse 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? So evidently they didn't have
sufficient enough or Provisions enough for him to take it to
Paul and have Paul have what he needed.
So, what did, what did epaphroditus do, he tarried?
He stayed along. He stayed there and did
something of a secular. In order to create or have the
provisions and bring it back to Paul, when Paul was imprisoned,
whatever happened, whatever, you people speculate, whatever
happened, he became ill. And in that period of time, it
was an illness that almost took his life, very serious.
Now, it's very important to note this too.
When they didn't have enough Provisions, it wasn't the fault
of those in Philippi. It wasn't the church is Fault.
In fact, we find out later. They didn't have they lacked
opportunity. In other words, it wasn't their
fault. It just happened.
They wasn't enough and epaphroditus had to stay on got
ill, whatever happened to him, and almost died.
Paul said I need to send him back to relieve the stress to
relieve. The worry, also to get a good
report and Paul was longing for the time.
Very shortly perhaps that his matter from a legal standpoint
would be cast aside. He would be released from
custody and be able to travel with Timothy and go back there
and check on the church in Philippi. so, That's the
questions under consideration. So let's say I'm just going to
give you a quick summary of the chapter that will open it for
discussion. The chapter begins with the
theme being humility. And not only just humility but
humility with regards to its role that it plays in unity.
You know, it's really amazing. If, if people didn't have a
problem with humility, we really wouldn't have any problem with
unity. It's easy to be unified when
people possess the spirit of humility and the idea is this
don't just think about yourself. And by the way, remember in the
beginning of the chapter in the beginning of the chapter, if he
wasn't condemning someone that thought about his own needs or
his own self. He talked about, not thinking
about only, Be your own self. That's the problem.
So in the midst of taking care of my obligations, if I think of
somebody Beyond me or somebody above me and I put him above me,
that is humility. And that actually works together
to bond with unity and that covers verses 1 through 4 verses
5 through 11. And I love this because now the
emphasis on Jesus. Here's the example.
So this is what I need you to do.
But here's the example and verses five through 11.
The emphasis is on, Jesus and his humility and exultation in
other words because he humbled himself, God, exalted him, and
gave him a name. That was greater and higher than
every name. And I think that name is Lord.
Why do I think that obviously is Jesus Christ?
It is the description of him, but it has to include Lord.
It has to, if it doesn't. Then why does it say that when
Jesus comes back? They'll be a time when every
knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord,
So Not only was he given all power and all authority in
heaven and on Earth, but he was also given the title of Lord.
He is Lord of our life. He is Lord of it all.
Therefore, he's been given that name.
Why he humbled himself in submission to God's plan and God
exalted him for doing that? All right, verses 12 through 17.
Now, Then he talks about letting their light shine to the world.
Paul encourages them to work out their salvation with fear and
trembling practical things that they can do.
He tells them to hold fast the word of life so that Paul could
rejoice in the day of Christ. Now, something about that.
Paul said you keep going, So that we can rejoice in the day
of Christ and what's that mean? Well the day of Christ is
talking about the second coming. It's talking about when Jesus
comes back. So he says that there's going to
be rejoicing when you make it, and I think it's really
important because there are people in your life.
For example, that you have had, some sort of effort, you've done
something that has helped convert them, and maybe you go
years and you've never seen, you never see him again.
When the Lord comes back, there's rejoicing because they
have kept the faith and you have kept the faith.
And I think about that a lot too.
I think about the fact that there's a day of rejoicing in
the Lord comes back to hang in there and know that when the day
of Christ comes the labor is not in vain.
That's what Paul said that the labor would not be in vain now,
got to add this though. Paul was not saying when he said
my labor is in vain. He was not saying that he was
going to be judged based on their obedience and I don't
think we're going to be judged either based on somebody else's
obedience and faithfulness. You know, we can do all that we
can we can take the word of God to people.
We could preach the truth. We can do all that, but there
comes a time when a person has to make the choice on their own,
and if they choose something else and they choose to turn
their back on the Lord, we're not going to be judged for their
making that choice. Their faithfulness does not mean
whether the work was successful in terms of doing our part.
You know why? Because all we do is plant and
water, that's it. And God gives the increase so we
don't get the credit when they obey and we won't get the blame
when they disobey. But what he's saying is this, my
labor would not be in vain? In other words, I look at it as
a success. If you make it to the end and I
make it to the end and together, we Rejoice that covers those
versus now. 19 through 23. It was Paul's commending of
Timothy. We talked about that in the
introduction. I'll not do that.
Again, his proven character and all that he was known for
wanting to send Timothy understanding that, perhaps he
would be out of the imprisonment soon and he can go to, and then
finally verses 25 to 29. It covers, the questions under
consideration tonight and that is for the most part about
epaphroditus their relationship. Their love for him, what he did.
You sacrificed and God's Great Mercy in sparing his life.
Absolutely and Terry read that scripture when he said that they
came to his Aid and he says and he wanted them to do that but
not so that he could receive a gift.
But so that it would be fruit credited to their account.
Anytime a congregation is behind financially, a work.
It is fruit for your account every time.
And that means this to in a practical sense, there's going
to be people just because you're a member of this congregation
and it is a command to give and we give of our means on the
first day of the week we must give.
And when we do give whatever amount that is, we give that
which is purposely purpose in our heart, as we've been
Prosper, like the word of God says, okay, when that money from
the treasury is taken and used to preach the gospel.
There's going to be people in heaven because the support of
the preacher that sent that is sent from the congregation.
There's people in heaven that are credited to your account.
That means this, just like Danny said, you are involved in every
aspect of a work. When you're behind an evangelist
preaching, the gospel in every aspect of it.
I think the greatest things that are done for the cause of Christ
are oftentimes done behind the scenes when nobody even sees it
it could be a During Christ doing something behind the
scenes. It needs to be done, could be a
brother in Christ. Could be an older person could
be a younger person doesn't really matter, but some of the
greatest things that are ever done are done behind the scenes
when nobody knows and the greatest things we can do God
sees that when we're not trying to do it to get the credit.
We're just doing a little part, a little work, God sees every
bit of it and that's credit. That's fruit credited to your
account. We thank you for listening to
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