A Burrito And The Gospel – Philippians 2:19-30

Fellow soldier, who is also your messenger. The word messenger is the word apostellein, where we get our word ‘apostle.’ Sometimes people ask me, “Do we still have apostles today?” It's kind of a trick question, really. Because on the one hand, we say, well there's no more creation of scripture. Nobody's writing any more books of the Bible today. Nobody's going to add to the scriptures as the authoritative standard. So in that sense, there's no apostle. But there is this sense in which were all apostles, we’re all messengers, we’re all apostellein, as the word is being used here.

That he is your messenger and minister to my needs. Now we're starting to get into the second one. That not only is he reliable, but he is compassionate. He's ministering to my needs. That becomes the second one.

But notice in the next verses, starting in verse 26, how many words he's emotionally connecting these compassionate feeling words are used. Let me read this. Because this is where we see that not only is Epaphroditus a reliable person with all those five words, but he's also someone who cares. Listen to the words. For he has been longing for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. He was sick indeed, nearly unto death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow. So Epaphroditus is a guy who cares. He has this compassion. Remember, that's the second ingredient that he needed. So that's the second one. Now he has mercy on him, he has compassion.

Then notice, let's go to the rest of the verse in verse 28. He talks about how he's eager to send someone. He's eager to send Epaphroditus to these people. And again, he's available. That's the third thing. Are you available? So you see here, Epaphroditus is reliable, he's compassionate, and he's available. The same things that we need in our lives.

Let me finish the passage, and then we'll talk about it a little bit more. It says there – So that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less anxious. There's that word anxious again. When we get to chapter 4, we'll do a theology of anxiety a little bit and we'll learn some practical things. But here's our word again.

Verse 29 – Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him, because he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for your deficit of service to me.

So there we have it. We have these two guys who had three qualities. Those qualities are compassion, availability, and reliability – the same things that you and I have. God is saying I want to pass on this message to you so that you can share it with others. I'm looking for faithful people, reliable people, I'm looking for people who are compassionate because I have a message called the gospel that I want to advance. I want to spread it around and give it to people. That's the message. Now the question is, are we in that place where we can take that message and run with it?