Role models are an interesting thing in today’s world. The people that we look too as examples in our society, and that children look too as they grow up, are not always ones that we SHOULD be looking up too. Charles Barkley in 1993 said, “I’m not a role model… just because I dunk a basketball doesn’t mean I should raise your kids.” For the past 5 Sundays we have been studying Philippians, and we have covered a lot in the past 5 weeks. We have learned that no matter how long you have been a Christian, no matter where you are in your walk with Jesus, there is always room to grow, to go further and deeper, to be closer with Jesus, we have learned that the good news about Jesus overcomes all adversity, both in the first century church, and today for us as well. We learned that our conduct and our behavior matters as Christians, how we live as followers of Jesus preaches a message to the world, and whether that message is the gospel of Jesus, or something else, is up to us. We’ve what conduct worthy of the gospel looks like: Living humbly like Jesus, in unity of spirit and purpose as a church, doing everything without muttering or complaining, and allowing the Holy Spirit to complete his work in us as we submit in humility to God and his will and plan for his church, so that our light will shine in a world full of darkness, pain and hurt. And today, we are going to look at some examples of what this faithful service to God looks like in action, Role Models of Faithful Service, Timothy and Epaphroditus. We’ve landed this week in these personal remarks of Paul, and his plan to send these two men to Philippi. And what you will notice as we read through and learn about them, is that they were both exemplary examples of faithful service. While the role models of our society today are not really people that we should look up to as Christians, these two men are prime examples of what it means to live a life worthy of the gospel.
So let’s read this and finish out Chapter 2 this week, Philippians 2: 19-30: “If the Lord Jesus is willing, I hope to send Timothy to you soon for a visit. Then he can cheer me up by telling me how you are getting along. I have no one else like Timothy, who genuinely cares about your welfare. All the others care only for themselves and not for what matters to Jesus Christ. But you know how Timothy has proved himself. Like a son with his father, he has served with me in preaching the Good News. I hope to send him to you just as soon as I find out what is going to happen to me here. And I have confidence from the Lord that I myself will come to see you soon. Meanwhile, I thought I should send Epaphroditus back to you. He is a true brother, co-worker, and fellow soldier. And he was your messenger to help me in my need. I am sending him because he has been longing to see you, and he was very distressed that you heard he was ill. And he certainly was ill; in fact, he almost died. But God had mercy on him—and also on me, so that I would not have one sorrow after another. So I am all the more anxious to send him back to you, for I know you will be glad to see him, and then I will not be so worried about you. Welcome him in the Lord’s love and with great joy, and give him the honor that people like him deserve. For he risked his life for the work of Christ, and he was at the point of death while doing for me what you couldn’t do from far away”
So first of all, who are these men? Who are Timothy and Epaphroditus? Timothy was a friend, colleague, and travelling companion of the apostle Paul. He is first mentioned in Acts 16:1, “Paul went first to Derbe and then to Lystra, where there was a young disciple named Timothy. His mother was a Jewish believer, but his father was a Greek. Timothy was well thought of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium, so Paul wanted him to join them on their journey.” So Timothy had a Jewish heritage, through his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice, so he knew the Jewish scriptures well. He was very highly regarded in his home town of Lystra, and the neighboring town of Iconium, which was 29 km away. Most likely Timothy had become a Christian through the influence of his mother and the church elders in Lystra, who had probably been converted through Paul and Silas on their first missionary journey. So after Paul came back on his second missionary journey, Timothy went with Paul, and he became a nearly constant travelling companion of his. He is probably the best known of all of Paul’s coworkers. The book of Acts only mentions his name occasionally and doesn’t record all his movements like it does for Paul, but it is presumed that Timothy travelled with Paul from when he left Lystra in Acts 16, until Paul’s imprisonment at the end of his third missionary journey.
Occasionally, Paul would leave Timothy behind while he went ahead, so that Timothy could accomplish more work in those communities. Sometimes he would also send Timothy to do things he was not able to do himself depending on time and mission. We know that Timothy had most likely been sent to Thessalonica, Corinth, and we see here he was sent, or intended to be sent, to Philippi. After the work that he was assigned was complete, he would always rejoin Paul wherever he was. Paul also links Timothy’s name into the introduction of his letters to Corinth, Colossae, Thessalonica, and Philippi. This indicates that Timothy had either been in these places with Paul, or had been sent there to work at some point, because it indicates he was already known to these churches when Paul was writing. Essentially, Timothy was Paul’s disciple. Paul poured his life into Timothy, passing on all that he had personally experienced or learned about the gospel. He dedicated himself to learning under Paul, and as a result he grew deep in the faith, and gave his time and energy to Evangelism and teaching, and became a trusted and invaluable colleague of Paul’s. We see that in Philippians 2:20, when Paul says “I have no one else like Timothy”. We know that Timothy had been authorized to appoint elders and establish order in the church in Ephesus, and he also was authorized to supervise the other churches in Asia Minor. So we can tell from scripture that he was one of Paul’s closest and most trusted coworkers.
That is Timothy, but who is Epaphroditus? Unfortunately we don’t know as much about him, as the only references we have of him are in this passage we are studying today. We know that he was a delegate of the church in Philippi, and that at some point before this letter was written, he had been sent to Paul with a gift for him during his imprisonment. We know that Paul held him in high esteem, he calls him his “brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier”, and said that if he had died, it would have brought him “sorrow upon sorrow.” We know that when he arrived in Rome where Paul was being held, he devoted himself full time to the work of Jesus, both as an attendant of Paul, and as an assistant in his missionary work. We know that because of how hard he had worked for the gospel, he had become sick and had nearly died. We know that he recovered, and that Paul sent him back to the Philippian church, most likely with the letter to the Philippians. He may have functioned as a leader in the church at Philippi, as Paul refers to him as the churches “Apostolos”, which is translated as apostle or messenger. But this could have just been referring to the fact that he had brought a gift to Paul in Rome as a messenger. But beyond these things, we do not know much else about Epaphroditus.
Going back to our passage, let’s look at those first few verses: “If the Lord Jesus is willing, I hope to send Timothy to you soon for a visit. Then he can cheer me up by telling me how you are getting along. I have no one else like Timothy, who genuinely cares about your welfare. All the others care only for themselves and not for what matters to Jesus Christ.” So, one thing to remember as we come into this section, is that this comes right after those calls for unity and humility in the church. Timothy had been with Paul in Philippi when he was last there, so this is someone who they know. Sending Timothy on a mission to them after the appeals Paul had made for unity and humility in the church would have been a powerful follow-up to the letter he sent. But in addition, we know that Paul really cared deeply about the people in Philippi, he also wanted to know how they were doing! The fact that Paul wanted to have news of how they were sort of indicates that it had been some time since Epaphroditus had been sent to him, because he would have had news of them from him when he came.
“But you know how Timothy has proved himself. Like a son with his father, he has served with me in preaching the Good News. I hope to send him to you just as soon as I find out what is going to happen to me here. And I have confidence from the Lord that I myself will come to see you soon.” Paul had no one else with the same spirit as Timothy, no one else who he had poured himself into like him. He was Paul’s right-hand man, and a natural pick to send to deal with the situation in Philippi. This was personally important to Paul, and there was nobody else that he felt he could trust with a mission so important and so close to his heart. Timothy was being sent into a delicate situation, and it would call for tact, wisdom, and patience. Not only does Paul know that he is the man for the job, but the Philippians themselves know that Timothy is solid and trustworthy, he was tested and approved as an upright guy. Because of all this, Paul knows he is the guy, and he wants to send him as soon as he can, he just needs to wait and see how his trial in Rome will turn out first.
“Meanwhile, I thought I should send Epaphroditus back to you. He is a true brother, co-worker, and fellow soldier. And he was your messenger to help me in my need. I am sending him because he has been longing to see you, and he was very distressed that you heard he was ill. And he certainly was ill; in fact, he almost died. But God had mercy on him—and also on me, so that I would not have one sorrow after another.” So like I said before, this passage contains everything that we know about Epaphroditus. But what we know of him is very positive. Paul speaks in glowing terms about him, and his contributions to his ministry. It seems that when he was sent to Paul, that their intention was for him to stay with Paul as his companion and assistant indefinitely. However, these plans went a bit sideways after he became sick. Epaphroditus had been working so hard at the ministry of the gospel that he had fallen ill, and had almost died. If he had died, Paul would have lost a valued friend, one who he saw as a brother, and a worthy fellow-laborer. The church in Philippi would also have lost a valuable member and leader. But after he recovered, he wanted to go home, because his home church in Philippi had heard he was sick and was really worried about him. Paul seems to agree that this is the best decision, and so he sends him home, most likely with this letter.
“So I am all the more anxious to send him back to you, for I know you will be glad to see him, and then I will not be so worried about you. Welcome him in the Lord’s love and with great joy, and give him the honor that people like him deserve. For he risked his life for the work of Christ, and he was at the point of death while doing for me what you couldn’t do from far away.” The return of Epaphroditus was supposed to be met with joy and love. In other words, there should be no suspicion or criticism against him, Paul is accepting full responsibility for the decision that he return. Again, when he was originally sent, the plan was for him to stay with Paul indefinitely. So his unexpected return may have caused some disappointment in the church, some may have even concluded that his mission had failed. So Paul gave this glowing report of his work and appraisal of his worth, so that they would know how hard of a worker he was, that he almost died from all the work he had done, and that he should be honored for his faithful service. He risked his life for the work of the gospel and deserved to be honored for that.
So we have these two examples of what faithful service looks like, glowing examples of what it means to live a life worthy of the gospel. So what can we take away from these two biblical examples, these role models of faithful service to Jesus?
First, faithful service means learning diligently. And I have said this before, but we really see this in the example of Timothy. To serve faithfully, we need to live up to our part of the great commission in which we are the disciple, not just the part where we are the discipler. Timothy spent years shadowing Paul, learning everything that he knew, being taught both with words, and by Paul’s example. In all ways, Paul was his mentor, he learned under Paul like a son learned from their father. Paul himself had been mentored in the scriptures growing up, he learned under a famous Jewish scholar named Gamaliel. The most important part of Timothy’s faithful service, as he started his ministry, was to learn all that he could and be mentored into faithful service and ministry of his own, and he dedicated years to this work. Similarly, the disciples of Jesus spent three years following him around as he taught and did miracles. They learned from his example, by shadowing Jesus throughout his ministry. This was the cultural way of Judaism. When a student was called by a Rabbi to follow them and learn under them, there was a blessing they would give as they left: May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi. And the idea was that you would stay so close to the person you were learning from, that you would catch all the dust they would kick up as the walked. Likewise, we should all strive to find a mentor in our lives, someone who has had more life experience, who has gone deeper in scripture and who can give us godly wisdom. Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” We should be continually looking for opportunities that will allow us to learn and grow in our faith, so that we can be better servants of Jesus.
Second, faithful service means loving selflessly. Timothy was not chosen to go to Philippi just because he was a good student. He was not sent to minister to the church just because he had been there before either. He was chosen by Paul because he genuinely cared about their well-being. You can find anyone to beat on a bible and yell at people, telling them that they are messed up sinners, you do not need a specialist for that. You can find just about anybody to go somewhere, dump a message, and then leave. It likely would not even be hard to find someone who was familiar with the city, who would know how to get there and maybe even know some of the people in the church. But what IS hard to find, is someone who honestly, genuinely, wants what is best for people, because they love them. Timothy had the love of Jesus, he really and truly cared what happened to the Philippians. It’s funny how little we talk about love in the church, when it is one of the most important parts of our faith, everything is rooted in it. We always use 1 Corinthians 13 in marriage ceremonies, you know, the whole love is patient, love is kind thing. But it was not written for weddings, it was talking about our love for each other as the church. Here is the context of that passage: “If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” If we do not serve with love, then we might as well not serve. Like Timothy, we need to love others selflessly.
Third, faithful service means serving passionately Epaphroditus was an incredible example of serving Jesus with passion. He had been sent to Paul to deliver a gift, and to take care of Paul while he was in prison. But he worked so hard to help Paul, to spread the gospel and help build the church, that he became sick and almost died. He literally almost worked himself to death in service to Jesus. Sometimes we are kind of coerced into doing things in the church, or it feels that way. It feels like we are dragging our heels, until we grumpily agree to help do something, but only for a little while. Now, I am not saying that we should all work ourselves to the point of death, like Epaphroditus! And I understand that life can be busy sometimes, trust me, I understand that as well as the next person. I’m working two jobs while working on my degree full time this summer, so that I can graduate and get a third job. I definitely think it is important to take care of yourself, and know when to say yes, and when to say no. But sometimes it feels like serving in the church, or serving God, is always our last priority, and I can freely admit that I have been guilty of this in life too. But faithful service to Jesus means not just showing up, but serving passionately. Listen to this verse from Colossians 3:23-24: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Faithful service doesn’t just mean volunteering begrudgingly, it means serving with passion, with all your heart, because it really is Jesus who you are serving.
So as I conclude, I hope that you see these two men, these biblical role models, as inspiration and examples to look to and to follow in your own walk with Jesus. Everything that we have talked about over these past weeks, biblical conduct, unity and humility and love, being bright lights in a world of darkness, Timothy and Epaphroditus embodied that in their faithful service to Jesus. And my prayer for us as we leave here today, is that we would work hard to live up to the calling that Jesus has put on our lives, so much so that one day, the generations to come after us will look at us as examples of faithful, dedicated service to Jesus, as role models of lives lived in pursuit of Him.
