Illus: A man that was in prison was asked, “What is the worst thing about prison?” He said, “The worst thing about prison is that you are here and everybody that you love and care for are out there!”
Paul knew exactly what this man was talking about. He was in prison and those that he loved and cared for were out there.
Paul loved the Philippian church very much and he wrote this letter because of his care for them. Another way he showed his love to this church was by sending young Timothy to them. That is what this passage of scripture is all about.
We see a number of interesting things in his desire to send Timothy to them:
I. PAUL’S COMPASSION
Look at verse 19, we read, “But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.”
Paul would love to be able to go and see how they were doing himself, but being in prison made that impossible. He does the next best thing, and sends his assistant Timothy to them.
Being a good pastor is a very difficult job. Sometimes something that is more difficult than being a pastor is to be the SECOND MAN!
• He not only has to follow the instructions of God’s Word that sometimes he does not understand
• He also has to follow the instructions of the Pastor that sometimes he does not understand
It takes a special man to serve in this capacity. Timothy was such a man. He had the same compassion for these Christians that Paul had.
Compassion is something hard to find these days. About the only time we truly see American compassion demonstrated is during a hurricane, tornado, flood or a catastrophe like “9-11”.
Illus: A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door! He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, "What was that all about and who are you? That's a new car, and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?" The young boy was apologetic. "Please, mister...please, I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do," He pleaded. "I threw the brick because no one else would stop..." With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. "It's my brother," he said. "He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up." Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, "Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me." Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out his fancy handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay. "Thank you and may God bless you," the grateful child told the stranger. Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home. It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message "Don't go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!" God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts. Sometimes when we don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at us.
We looked at PAUL’S COMPASSION. He would have loved to have been able to visit this church, but due to being in jail for the gospel’s sake, he could not.
We need to look at something else in this passage, and that is-
II. PAUL’S CHOICE
Since he could not go to them, he chose to send someone in his place. It had to be someone who loved the Lord and the Lord’s people the way he did. His choice was to send TIMOTHY!
Look at Philippian 2:20, we read, “For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.” Notice, Paul said Timothy was “Likeminded!”
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? It means that Paul loved and cared for these people and Timothy felt the same way.
You can take the best pastor on the face of this earth and put him in a church with people who are not LIKEMINDED with him, and you have a problem!
Again, I want to remind you that a good pastor can not do the job alone, he needs people to be “likeminded.”
One of the most important parts of a Bible-believing church is the Sunday School, where the Word of God is taught each week. But listen, the pastor can not teach all the Sunday school classes. He has to have people that are “likeminded,” people who have a burden to teach the Word of God. They have to be “likeminded”:
• During the week to visit their class members
• To invite new folks to attend their classes
• To prepare themselves to teach the Word of God
• To be on time
• To be there
When God sends first-time visitors to the church, the pastor will do everything he can do to make them feel welcome, but he needs people to be “LIKEMINDED” who will do the same.
It is a wonderful thing for a pastor to have folks who are “LIKEMINDED” that will join hands with him to do the work of God.
Paul said, in verse 20b, I want to send Timothy and I know he will, “…Care for your state.”
In other words, if something bothers you, it will bother him. He is not like the politicians who will say, “I feel your pain financially,” and then raise our taxes!
Notice, the emphasis Paul is making here, that he will CARE ABOUT YOU! Because people live such selfish lives, it is difficult to get people to care ABOUT OTHERS!
Illus: The local United Way office realized that it had never received a donation from one of the town's richest citizens, a very successful lawyer. A local volunteer was sent to solicit his donation. The volunteer approached the lawyer, commenting, "Our research shows that even though your annual income is over a million dollars, you have never helped support our organization. Wouldn't it make you feel good to give back to your community through The United Way?"
The lawyer paused for a moment, then sternly stated:
• "Did your research show that my mother is dying after a long, painful illness and has huge medical bills far beyond her ability to pay?" Surprised, the United Way volunteer mumbled, "Uh, no."
• "Well then, did your research show that my brother is a disabled veteran? That he is blind? That he is confined to a wheelchair and is unable to support his wife and six children?" The United Way representative tried to express sympathy, but the lawyer cut him off.
• "Did your research tell you that my sister's husband died in a dreadful traffic accident?" The lawyer's voice was loud and indignant. "Did it tell you that her husband's death left her penniless, with a mortgage and three small children who she can't afford to care for?"
The United Way representative felt embarrassed to have assumed that the man was selfish, and stammered apologetically, "I had no idea."
The lawyer sternly concluded, "And they are my family. My flesh and blood. If I don't give any money to any of them, why in the world should I give any to you?"
Paul, who cared a great deal about time, knew it would be a waste of time to send someone that was selfish and only cared for themselves.
Selfishness is a way of life for some folks:
• It never bothers some folks each week to come sit in a beautiful place of worship and allow someone else to pay the mortgage payments
• It never bothers some folks that each week the Sunday school department furnishes literature to teach their children the Word of God
• It never bothers some folks that each week dedicated Christians faithfully give the Lord’s tithes that belong to Him and their offerings to provide heat in the winter and cool air in the summer
• It never bothers some folks that the teacher has worked hard all week to prepare a good lesson, and they walk in late and disturb the whole class because they wanted a few minutes of extra sleep
Listen, God uses people who are unselfish, the devil uses people who are selfish. Paul was not going to send someone like that to this church. He looked and found the best among them, Timothy!
Look what he says about him in Philippians 2:21-22, we read, “For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel.”
Since Paul could not go, he sent a “likeminded” faithful man.
Notice, he says in verse 21, “For all seek their own”. THIS IS A BROAD INDICTMENT!!!
Was Paul saying that Timothy was the only man that cared for the things of the Lord Jesus? Selfishness must have been widespread in the early church, as it is today.
Illus: Ralph P. Martin asks: "Does this verse represent the apostle's bitter complaint that, when he sought a fellow-believer to go to Philippi, there was none forthcoming because they were 'wrapped up in their own affairs' and did 'not really care for the business of Jesus Christ?” [J.B. Philipps] “…it is such a rare thing to find a man like Timothy who is really anxious to promote the welfare of other people, and to give himself to a fatiguing journey and to the resolving of personal quarrels in the Philippian church. This would be a delicate issue to handle, calling for tact, wisdom and patience." (The Epistle of Paul to the Philippians. "Tyndale Bible Commentaries," ed. by RVG Tasker. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1959, p.l24f).
Illus: Lehman Strauss states: "This pathetic condition of self-seeking is the curse of Christendom in general and of the ministry in particular. Paul's words are a scathing indictment against the awful sin of selfishness. It must have been present in the early Church, for we remember his exhortation at the beginning of our chapter: ‘Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others'” [2:4].
Illus: "There are so few who devote their lives in selfless service. We are more concerned with our interests, our goods, our getting ahead, than we are with the needs of others. Genuine Christian love 'seeketh not her own' [1 Cor.13:5]. 'Let no man, then, set his own advantage as his objective, but rather the good of his neighbor' [1 Cor.l0:24, Phillips].
Paul was saying that among all the ministers that he knew, if he wanted to send someone that cared for them the way he cared for them, it would have to be Timothy who was LIKEMINDED!
Some of the best folks who walk on this earth are godly ministers who love the Lord and love the Lord’s people. But the ministry is not exempt from also having some really SELFISH INDIVIDUALS!
There are ministers today who are so full of themselves:
• They do not care if they destroy every church in the city, as long as they can build one for themselves
• They do not care if the Word of God is compromised, if it will fulfill their purpose
Paul knew such ministers of the gospel, but he said he was going to send Timothy because he was not one of these.
Look again at verse 22, we read, “But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel.”
Look at the word “Proof,” this is the word “Dogime” (Pronounced as “Doc-A-May”)which means tested. He had been tested many times, and each time he passed the test.
Paul would be shocked today to see how some churches operate. They will put people in important positions in the church that have never been tested!
Some have been tested many times and they failed the test each time, yet they still place them in key positions in the church.
Illus: These churches make us think of some of the public schools. They have students that can not read or write, and they keep promoting them. Because the school system has done this, we have people all over this nation with diplomas but they can not pass a test.
Listen, God’s Work is the most important business in the world. There is nothing that can compare to it’s importance, and only those who have PROVEN TO BE FAITHFUL and QUALIFIED should serve. This is exactly how Paul felt about it.
Illus: Paul felt like the Hallmark Card advertisement, which states, “CARE ENOUGH TO SEND THE VERY BEST!”
Look at what Paul said in Phillipians 2:23-24, we read, “Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly.”
Timothy was qualified to be sent because he did not seek his own. He had not fallen into the trap that so many had fallen into, he did not live for Himself.
Let me ask you something, have you done one unselfish thing today:
• When you were driving down the highway and someone wanted to enter the highway from a side road, did you slow down and let them or did you speed up?
• When you carried on a conversation today, did you allow others to talk or did you try and hog the conversation, talking only about yourself?
• When you got in line at the grocery store and you saw someone who had both hands full and about to drop something, did you care enough about that person to try and help them?
• When you fellows went to Lowe’s or Home Depot and you saw someone struggling to put a big piece of plywood in the truck, did you take time to help them or were you so selfish you did not have time?
Listen, there are a lot of selfish people around. Every day they are tested about caring for others and they flunk the test over and over again. These are not the kind of people that God can use.
Paul loved the Lord and the Lord’s people too much to send anyone that really did not love them the way he loved them!
Conclusion:
Even though Paul is in jail, look where his faith is. Look at what he says in verse 24, we read, “But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly.”
The scriptures do not tell us if he ever had a chance to visit with them.
We do know that when the Christians were persecuted under that evil ruler Nero, Paul being one of the main leaders was brought back and executed.
One thing we know from the Book of Philippians was that Paul loved these folks and he wanted to send someone who was “likeminded” to find how they were doing.
We have looked at:
I. PAUL’S COMPASSION
II. PAUL’S CHOICE
