PAUL’S "SON"
PHILIPPIANS 2:19-24
04/19/95
A reporter in San Bernardino California arranged for a man to lie in a gutter on a busy street. Hundreds of people passed by, but not one showed any sympathy.
A few years back you may recall an article in the newspaper that told how thirty-eight people watched a man stalk a young lady and finally attack her- not one of those people even so much as called the police.
A couple of teenagers in Detroit discovered a woman in a telephone booth who had suffered a heart attack. They carried her to a nearby house and rang the bell, asking for help. The only reply they received was, "Get off my porch- and take her with you".
A Kentucky doctor was driving down the highway to visit a patient when he saw an accident. He stopped and gave aid to the injured and then made his visit, he was later sued by one of the drivers that he had helped.
All these are true stories. Each one makes us ask if it is possible to be a "good Samaritan" in today’s society? Must we all harden our hearts in order to protect ourselves and our loved ones. Maybe we think that "sacrifice and service" are ancient virtues that do not fit well into our culture.
It may be worth noting the genuine concern for others was not all that popular in Paul’s day either. Times really have not changed all that much from his day to ours. While we may consider ourselves a little more modern, people act pretty much the same today as they did in his time. As we will see from our passage this morning, the Christians in Rome were not concerned with the problems that the Christians in Philippi were having.
Before we get to far ahead of ourselves lets turn to our passage for today. We took a few weeks off from our study of Philippians, but today we will return to that book. Our passage begins on page 1018 of your pew Bibles. We will be looking at chapter 2 verses 19-24 which read;
"But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state. For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel. Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it goes with me. But I trust in the Lord that I myself shall also come shortly."
In this verse Paul speaks of a young man by the name of Timothy. And it is this young man that I would like to talk about this morning. Because Timothy was different. Unlike many of the Christians in Rome he cared very dearly about what happened to the people at Philippi. Timothy was not one just to sit back an let someone else do all work.
We have noted in earlier sermons how Paul in this letter to the Philippians give Jesus as an example to follow. He also gives himself as an example to follow as well. Some may thing that they will never be like Jesus or even Paul so they don’t even try. But here Paul gives us an example of an "ordinary" saint, Timothy.
While we may say that we will never be like Jesus, or never be like Paul, lets us begin to try to be as Timothy was.
Let us note some things about Timothy, that Paul and the Philippian people would know, but we would not know from this passage. In other words Who is he? Who is the Timothy?
As we look at Timothy we will notice that he as many admirable traits. He is mentioned some 24 times in the New Testament. In fact two of the books of the New Testament bear his name, while he did not write them they were letters which Paul wrote him.
The first thing I want to note about Timothy is that he came from a Christian home. Timothy apparently had been brought up in the faith. In his second letter to Timothy Paul writes to him; 2 Timothy 3:15 "and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."
Scripture also reveals that not only was Timothy mother a believer but so was his grandmother. These woman had apparently taught Timothy from the Word of God. From the Scripture Timothy knew the commands of God he learned those things which would bring him into salvation.
So we can see that as Timothy was raised in a Godly home, he carried that over into adulthood. We see the importance of raising our own children in a godly fashion, teaching them not only from the Bible, but making sure that they know the Bible. As it will be something that they will carry for a lifetime.
Timothy also had a good reputation. He was known as a godly man. We read of him in Acts 16:2; "He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium." People knew him to be a man of God. He lived a life consistence with the Word of God. He not only claimed to be a Christian but he acted like one.
This reputation also came from the fact that Timothy was faithful in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul when writing to the Corinthians states,
1 Corinthians 4:17 "For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church."
When it came to serving the Lord Timothy was very faithful. He was always there to help Paul out in his work for the Lord. Always faithfully serving God, not just when every thing was going good, but in bad times as well. His faithful ness for serving God, gave to him his reputation among the people.
He was also something each one of us needs to be, and that is a minister of God. Now minister basically means servant, and Timothy was a servant of God.
1 Thessalonians 3:2 "Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith,"
Many of us think that I am to be the only minister of this church. But that is just not so. Each person who is part of this fellowship needs to be a minister of the church. Like Timothy we each need to be a minister of God, serving God.
The final thing I want to point out concerning who Timothy was is that he was submissive to the will of God. I you go through the New Testament looking up passage that mention Timothy, you can help noticing that he is either coming or going. He is always active for the Lord. Always on the move, doing what he is told for the glory of God.
Many of us our in the habit of waiting. We always seem to waiting from something to happen before we do something for the Lord. Well I just waiting for this to happen then I will serve the Lord. I waiting for that to then I will serve the Lord. We spent more time waiting then we do serving. But Timothy is always on the move, always willing to serve and be used by God.
So that is who Timothy is. He comes from a home were the Bible is known and read, which carries on into adulthood. By his faithfulness in the Lord he has a good reputation, not only talking the life of a Christian but living it as well. He is a minister of the Gospel, and always willing to take action for the Lord.
So now that we know who Timothy is let us get back to our passage in Philippians. Let us turn our attention to the plans Paul has for Timothy. Now as we talk about the plans that Paul’s has for Timothy let us keep in mind that Paul is at this point in prison in Rome. He is uncertain as to his fate. Whether he will be executed or set free.
So with this mind we see that Paul’s plan for Timothy is to sent him to Philippi. Paul writes;
Philippians 2:19 " But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state."
Here we see the reason that Paul has for sending someone to Philippi The reason for sending someone to Philippi is so that Paul may be comforted and encouraged by news of these people.
The beauty in this is that Paul is not concerned with his own circumstance but with the People of Philippi. Paul is not thinking that he will be encouraged by what happened to him, but by what is going on in the lives of these people. These people that he loves very much. It is their condition not his that will encourage and bring him comfort. He is not thinking that he will be encouraged by word of his release, though I am sure he would have liked that, but his main concern is with the Philippian people.
What we see here is Paul’s totally unselfish attitude. It is an attitude that we seldom see in our own lives. Paul is in prison facing possible death, and his concern is with these people. He places other before himself.
So Paul is planning on sending someone to Philippi to bring to himself encouragement when
he hears how they are doing.
Now Paul also reveals in our passage for today his reasons for sending Timothy in particular. While he wishes to sent someone to them he has good reason for sending them Timothy.
First there was no one else who was as Paul states "likeminded".
Philippians 2:20 "For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state."
Timothy had the same mind as Paul. In others they were both concerned about the same things when it came to the Philippian people and the things of God. If Paul could not go to the Philippian people the next best thing was to sent Timothy. Timothy shared with Paul the love and concern for these people.
Timothy had sincere concern for the state of this Church. It you go back to Acts and the founding of the Church at Philippi you will see that Timothy was there at it’s founding. This church was in fact his first missionary field. Just has Paul had a special place in his heart for the saints at Philippi so did Timothy.
So the two of them. Paul and Timothy shared a special bond with the Philippians. And Paul knows that Timothy cares about this church just as much as he does, so he while he cannot go to them he sends Timothy to them.
It is also worth noting that this letter is stated as being from both Paul and Timothy in chapter one verse one.
Another reason that Paul sends Timothy is that Timothy has a devotion to Christ that surpasses all the other saints in Rome. Paul writes in the next verse; Philippians 2:21 "For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus."
Paul contrasts Timothy with the others in Rome who have put their own interest before those of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there were certainly numerous Christians in Rome. In fact if you look at the end of the book of Romans Paul lists Twenty-six of them by name. But for one reason or another not one of them, except for Timothy was available to go to the Philippian people. Now these were good Christian people. Paul speaks of them as labouring in the Lord, as serving God, but for one reason or another they did not want to be bothered with going to Philippi.
I think this kind of reflects that situation in a lot of Christian Churches today. We have people who are good Christian people who simply will not place Christ’s interest above their own. I can just hear the excuses they gave to Paul as he asked them to go to Philippi.
"Well I just don’t have the time", "I just don’t feel that the Lord is leading me in that direction", "Well I just to old for the kind of traveling". And while they may have thought their excuses were acceptable, Paul simply states that their problem was that "they seek their own not the things which are Christ Jesus".
Yet that is the very core of being a Christian. Seeking Christ and his interest and not our own. Having a personal relationship with Christ means making Him Lord, it means putting Him in charge of our lives. Seeking his interests.
And what are His interests; People being brought into the kingdom of God, souls being saved, The gospel being preached, people being encouraged and ministered to. Needs being meant in real way. These are the things of Christ.
We need to be like Timothy an seek the things which are of Christ Jesus. We can either live in Philippians 1:21 which states; "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
Or we can live in Philippians 2:21 "For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus." We cannot have it both ways either we are living for Christ or ourselves.
The final reason why Paul chooses to send Timothy to Philippi is that Timothy had proved his service and value in similar errands.
Philippians 2:22 "But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel."
We again see the reputation of Timothy come into play. The Philippian people knew that Timothy was a godly man. They knew that his teaching was Paul’s teaching and the Paul’s teaching was of the Lord.
And Timothy had proven this with a humility. "As a son with his father he served with me in the gospel". Just as a son would learn a trade from his father, Timothy had learned the gospel for his "father" Paul. Not trying to over throw Paul’s authority but learning from it.
Now what does our reputation show others. What are we knows as. If Paul were writing about us what would he say about our character. The thing about our reputation is that what we think it is often times very different them what it actually is.
So in conclusion there are some very valid and valuable lessons that we can learn from this young man by the name of Timothy. I have summed them up into two things.
First of all being a Christian is not a spectator sport. We need to be active in our faith. We need to be creative in our service to Lord. We noted how active Timothy was in being a minister of the Gospel. And because he was active he was known as being faithful, he was obedient to the will of God.
The second thing is that as I stated earlier either we are living in Phil 1:21, "for me to live is Christ" or Phil 2:21 "For all seek their own and not the things of Christ". You need to ask yourself which one am I living in. We need to be obedient to the Command of Christ to take up our cross and follow Him. And realize that there is no middle ground.
I call on each one of you to be an active Christian, to seek the things that are of Christ Jesus!
SHALL WE PRAY
