Paul, you will remember, writes these words from a Roman jail. And he is not there for committing a crime; he is there for his commitment to Christ. But, even though he is in Rome, he is concerned about his friends in Philippi, some eight hundred miles away. They are concerned about him, too. In fact, they sent Epaphroditus to Rome to look after Paul. But at some point after Epaphroditus arrived, he got sick, really sick. And Paul – still in jail – wants to be sure Epaphroditus home, and he is going to send Timothy with him. Timothy will be able to care for Epaphroditus on the trip, and he will be able to carry this letter with him. Then, when he comes back, he can bring Paul news about how things are in Philippi.
In our passage today, we see how Paul commends these two men. We’re told about Timothy that there is “no one like him” (v. 20), and, with regard to Epaphroditus, we’re told to “honor such people,” because, of course, Epaphroditus and others like him have done honorable things. So, what do we do with all this high praise for these two men? Here’s what we could do. We could set these two men up as good examples. In fact, that’s what they are. We could do worse than emulate their qualities. We could do the same thing with other people we meet in the pages of the Bible. Who wouldn’t want to have the courage of David when he was facing Goliath? Why wouldn’t we “dare to be a Daniel” when we find ourselves in the fiery furnace for our faith?
Timothy and Epaphroditus may not be as well known to us – especially Epaphroditus – but here were two men who put the welfare of others before their own, and they were willing to bear hardship for the sake of the gospel. Epaphroditus, in fact, “came close to death for the work of Christ” (v. 30). I can’t see any reason why we would not want to be like him – or Timothy either, for that matter. But just to say, “Here’s a good example; follow it,” isn’t the gospel. If it’s good examples we’re looking for, why limit our search to the Bible? There are lots of people – people of character – from whom we could learn a thing or two. Why not surface a few heroes from the pages of history – people like George Washington, say, or Rosa Parks – and present them for consideration?
But the Bible’s primary aim is not to give us good examples to follow. It’s not to show us Timothy or Epaphroditus and tell us to be more like them, and neither would that be the aim of these two men. They wouldn’t want that. They would want us to see what the Bible wants us to see. They would want us to see Jesus. That’s the point of this passage here in Philippians – as it is of the whole Bible. Although Paul talks here a great deal about Timothy and Epaphroditus, he wants most of all to show us Jesus.
So, where do we see Jesus in this passage? His name is mentioned, of course, in a few verses, but the point seems to be more what Timothy and Epaphroditus did for Jesus than what Jesus did for them. And other than that, we don’t see Jesus’ name. God is mentioned once, and there are a couple of references to “the Lord.” But the truth is: we don’t have much to work with if we want to see Jesus in this text.
But what if we approached it from another angle? What if we looked for the evidence of Jesus’ work in the hearts of these two men, Timothy and Epaphroditus. There is definitely something distinctive about them, something that sets them apart from others. Epaphroditus was willing to be sent from Philippi to Rome to look after Paul’s needs, and even the fact that he got sick as a result – deathly ill, we should say – that didn’t alter his sweet spirit or make him regret that he had put himself at such risk.
And when it comes to Timothy, we are told that, while so many others “were seeking their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ,” Timothy was just the opposite. He was “genuinely concerned” about the welfare of the body of Christ, which, of course, is Christ’s church.
So, what distinguishes these two men from others? Everybody looks out for Number One. Everybody, including them, but here’s the thing. Their Number One was Jesus. They were living life cross-grain. They preferred Jesus Christ to themselves, and, therefore, they put the well-being of the church – the people of Jesus Christ – above their own.
We could ask what this tells us about them, but a better question, I think, is what this tells us about Jesus. What is it about Jesus that makes some people consider it a privilege to expend themselves for him, even to suffer hardship for him?
Let’s look for the answer to that question in the passage before us. Are there any hints here? Is there anything here that we can learn about Jesus? I think there is. In fact, I see three qualities of our Lord that tell us how he takes self-absorbed sinners like you and me and turns them into people like Timothy and Epaphroditus.
The first of these is found in verse 19, where Paul says, “I hope in the Lord Jesus.” Now, what he hopes for is to be able to send Timothy to the Philippians and to do it as soon as possible. If he can get Timothy to Philippi, he can extend his concern to the people there. That’s what he hopes for, but notice where his hope is placed. It’s not in Timothy, as worthy as Timothy is. He is like a son to Paul, and he has treated Paul like a father as they have “served…in the work of the gospel.” Paul can’t say too many good things about Timothy. But his hope isn’t in Timothy; it’s in Jesus.
And it is because Timothy is in Jesus and Jesus is in him that Timothy stands out as a person who gets our attention – and deserves it! The great thing about Timothy is: he seeks not his own interests – as so many others do – but rather he seeks the interests of Jesus Christ. Paul trusts Timothy because Timothy trusts Christ. And Timothy is trustworthy because his heart has been changed by the Lord.
Everybody puts their Number One first. There are no exceptions. It’s just that, universally, people regard themselves as Number One – until there is what Thomas Chalmers once called “the expulsive power of a new affection.” When our hearts are changed -- when the disordered desires of our hearts are expelled and replaced by love for Jesus – we are no longer our Number One. He is! Timothy’s heart had been changed. No doubt, at one time, his heart was set on himself and his own interest, but now his heart was set on Christ. And Christ was his Number One. And because we all look out for our Number One, Timothy was now looking out for Christ.
So, the first life-changing quality about Jesus is that he induces hope. Hope always has to do with a future that looks promising. As for Paul, he was in jail in Rome. He couldn’t just take the next boat to Macedonia and rejoin his beloved Philippians. He couldn’t do that. But he could do is send Timothy. And he put his hope in the Lord that he might be able to extend himself to them through his “son” in the faith.
If your hope is in Christ, you don’t have to make your own interests your main priority. You can have confidence that Christ will see to your needs, and that liberates you from worrying about what the future may bring. If all you can think about is how you’re going to get through another day or make it to the next paycheck or to get what you’ve got coming to you or to beat someone else to the punch, you’re not going to have enough mental space to consider anything or anyone else. You’ve got yourself on your hands.
But if you can leave yourself in the hands of Jesus – if your hope is in him – you can then be free to give yourself to something bigger than you are. You can live your life in joyful obedience, confident that you are taken care of by your loving Savior. The first life-changing, heart-transforming quality about Jesus, then, is: he induces hope.
The second is that he is worthy of our trust. Paul says in verse 24, “I trust in the Lord.” Now, again, the context of these words is Paul’s desire to make it to Philippi himself. He is sending Timothy, of course, and that puts his mind at ease somewhat. But what he really wants is to see his friends in Philippi personally, face-to-face. So he says, “I trust in the Lord that I also will come soon.” This lines up with what he said in chapter 1, where he wrote, “I am hard pressed between…two” possibilities: whether it is better that I die here in prison or whether it is better that I be released from jail to come to you. He goes on to say, “My desire is to part and be with Christ, for that is [better –] far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you” (1:22ff., emphasis added). From all this you can see – can’t you? – that Paul is placing his complete trust in Jesus for all that will unfold. And he does so because Christ is worthy of his trust.
There is one more life-changing quality of Christ that I see here in this passage. In verse 30, Paul mentions the “work of Christ.” It’s where he says that Epaphroditus “came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his [very] life.”
If the work of Christ is worth dying for – if it’s worth risking your life for – what does that tell you about Christ. It tells you that he is eminently more valuable than anything else in life – even life itself! To view him – not yourself – as your Number One is not only the right thing to do; it is the only right thing to do. He deserves not just a part of you but all of you. He deserves your mind. But not only that, he deserves your heart as well. He deserves your heart. But not only that, he deserves your will also. He deserves your will. But not only that, he deserves your body too. He deserves all of you there is.
Jesus Christ deserves to be your Number One.
