Philippians 2:19-30

Philippians 2:19-30

POINT | The foundation for serving others well is loving God more.

Did you hate doing chores when you were a kid? Did you do it with joy?

Paul’s life at this point wasn’t going great by our standards—he was in the depth of persecution and was looking at death because of his faith in God.

In this passage, Paul speaks directly about two men, Timothy and Epaphroditus. We never hear a word from Timothy or Epaphroditus, but this is perhaps the greatest lesson that we learn in this passage.

These two men set a great example of what it can look like to serve God, not just with our words, but with the way that we live our lives.

The question is how do we serve sacrificially like that? How can we be like Jesus, who went from the perfection of Heaven to the humble position of a servant, sacrificing everything in obedience and love?

Is the answer just to serve more and try harder to put others first? I can promise you from personal experience that doing more and trying harder are two of the key ingredients in the recipe for burnout and exhaustion.

Serving others needs a fuel source, and that fuel is the love of God; a love that is patient, kind, and self-sacrificing. This type of love is God’s default posture towards us.

The foundation for serving well is loving well. God values people and relationships above all else. So, we become more like Him as we prioritize people.

This begs some questions: Are we prioritizing people? What are we willing to sacrifice on their behalf? What are we willing to let go of because we place more value in the relationships that will be blessed?