Scripture: Philippians 2:19-30
Listen Link: Listen link: www.lcepc.org then look for “sermons” tab.
Earlier this week I read this amazing story of devotion to the ministry. Spending the night alone in a canoe on the ocean would be daunting for just one night. But would you do that for five months, even though you can’t swim? One pastor did — for the sake of the Gospel. As reported by Mission Network News, Pastor Vedasto “Veds” Subiaga felt a burden for people on a group of small, isolated islands in the Philippines to know Jesus. He set out for the islands in a canoe. But when he got there, the villagers wouldn’t let him stay on the island overnight. He could visit during the day, but at night he had to sleep in his little canoe.
Rather than go home, Pastor Veds lived on his boat offshore for five long months and built relationships. Bill Passons with AMG International says, “The interesting fact about that is the fact that he can’t swim, which is a crazy thing! I recently visited this island and we took a 40-minute boat ride in a motorized boat. So, you can imagine how long it took him to get there…and then staying every day on the boat [with] storms and whatever may come up, but he knew God had called him there.”
Eventually, Pastor Veds got to know one of the village leaders there. The leader was impressed by Pastor Veds’s heart for the people and became curious about the God he served. “He realized that he needed to know Christ as his personal Savior,” Passons says. “[After] the village leader accepted Christ, they were able to start a small church there and the village was very welcoming to Pastor Veds.”
Today, there is a thriving Christian community on several islands in the region because of Pastor Veds’s faithfulness to the Gospel. “It’s just a great example of when God calls you to do something, it may be difficult. It doesn’t mean that you’re going to have instant results. And we’re not really guaranteed any results. But if God has called you to do it, then you should be faithful.”
That story is a good intro to what I saw in today’s text. I haven’t heard any sermons based on today’s text. There are no songs in the hymn book that allude to this passage. Maybe that’s because this just seems like a bit of housekeeping, or church business, in which Paul is introducing Timothy and giving thanks for Epaphroditus. But I did notice something very important for us in Paul’s introduction. Here it is again, “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.”
Church business: I’m going to send Timothy. But what kind of a man is Timothy? What I saw in today’s text is a picture of three men totally devoted to the work of the gospel. Paul called Timothy dedicated and hard-working, concerned about other people more than his own comfort. He’s devoted to the work and becomes an example to all of us. Pastor Veds makes me think that he is lot like Timothy was. But Timothy is not the only hard-working dedicated servant in this passage. There is also Paul himself and there is also Epaphroditus.
Here were three men so committed to the cause of Christ that they each risked life and limb and did not hold back even in the face of the threat of death. They gave their all for Christ. And we should too.
Paul is the author of thirteen of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament. He wrote them to instruct and encourage the churches he had planted during the course of three missionary journeys over about twenty years. Paul suffered much during his journeys. By his own account, in 2 Cor. 11: “I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.” That’s a high price to pay for the privilege of preaching the gospel! And yet he carried on, devoted to the work.
So, when he commends Timothy, it is no small thing. Again, he says of Timothy, “I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.” Let me tell you a couple of other things about Timothy. In Acts 16, apparently when he was called into the ministry, he put up with being circumcised, not because it was required for his salvation, but because it would make it easier for him to minister to the Jews.
In Acts 17-20, Timothy did a lot of traveling too, not on his own, but as Paul’s helper, and obedient to Paul’s instructions and plans. In 1 Corinthians, Timothy is sent to them and Paul called him, “my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord.” And they were instructed, “When Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is carrying on the work of the Lord, just as I am.”
In the Book of 1 Timothy we find that Paul entrusted him with a difficult assignment. “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies.” Command? It is not an easy thing to order people to give up the ideas and teachings they cherish. Also, Paul encouraged and strengthened Timothy saying, “Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, holding on to faith and a good conscience.” Fight the battle? Yes! Keeping the faith and spreading the gospel is not an easy task or a casual affair. In Hebrews 13:23, it says, “I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released.” Thus, we learn that Timothy must have also been imprisoned for a while, because of his labor of love for the gospel, his devotion to the work.
Augustine extols Timothy’s zeal and lack of concern for his own comfort in immediately forsaking his country, his house, and his parents, to follow the apostle, to share in his poverty and sufferings. And he did this even though he could have made an excuse because of his poor health. We know from Scripture that Timothy may have been subject to ill health or "frequent ailments", and Paul encouraged him to "use a little wine for [his] your stomach's sake".
Legend has it, according to the apocryphal book the “Acts of Timothy” that in the year 97 AD, the now 80-year-old bishop tried to halt a procession in honor of the goddess Diana by preaching the gospel. The angry pagans beat him, dragged him through the streets, and stoned him to death. Through it all he remained devoted to the work of the gospel.
Finally, let’s take a look at Epaphroditus. Epaphroditus was the delegate of the Christian community at Philippi, sent with their gift to Paul during Paul’s first imprisonment at Rome or at Ephesus. Paul, in 2:25, calls him " my brother, co-worker and fellow soldier," Those three words are arranged in an ascending scale: “brother” speaks of common sympathy, co-worker speaks of their shared labor for the Lord in the same task, and fellow soldier means they stood side by side through danger and toil and suffering."
The rest of verse 25 says, “who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs.” The word for messenger there is a Greek word that derives from civic use, indicating “public servant,” often one with financial resources to fulfill his functions, so Epaphroditus may have been, not only an official of the Philippian church, but a person of wealth, able to supplement that community's gift to Paul. It could be said he spared no expense. It also means he was probably living comfortably and chose a harsher life because it was worth it to serve God.
But he became ill. Paul was sending him back to Philippi, probably carrying this letter, because he has gotten better enough to travel, and he wants the Philippian church to know that Epaphroditus was distressed because they heard he was ill. They would be concerned about him, so the best way to show he had recovered was for him to show up at home. Can you imagine the reception he must have enjoyed? You know, he couldn’t call ahead to tell them he was on his way. So, it must have been a big, happy surprise. Epaphroditus was a servant of God who was faithfully devoted to the work, Paul says of him, “He was ill, and almost died… for the work of Christ. He risked his life to make up for the help you yourselves could not give me.”
These three servants, Paul, Timothy and Epaphroditus, are examples of what the Bible means for Christians who want to be, and even ought to be, devoted to the work of the gospel. It is a very high bar! And many good Christians have aspired to its heights. Indeed, there are many missionaries down through the ages, up to and including our own Andrew Brunson, who have suffered much because they answered the call.
Andrews has been interviewed recently on several Christian radio shows and I heard him say that being in prison was hard. Some Christian biographies had given him the impression that now that he was a persecuted prisoner, God would be with him in a special way and he would feel that presence and the peace that passes understanding and a special strength to endure. Well, he acknowledges now that God was with him. But also, that he did not feel it for much of his time in prison. It was hard, painful, scary, lonely, and quite depressing much of the time.
What does all this have to do with us? We should all be devoted to the work. And here is where it gets interesting. The American Church is very comfortable. The American church is heavily influenced by the consumer mentality. Church attendees are looking for music they like, the atmosphere and building they like, the fellowship they like, and the preaching they like. On that last one, it’s usually the kind of preaching that makes them laugh and feel like they’re doing ok as Christians.
I’m not pointing any fingers and claiming that anyone in this room actually is too comfortable for the good of the Kingdom. But I do believe we are all steeped in this consumer culture like the proverbial frog in the pot and we have to be aware of and resist this most pervasive temptation. And I would not dare to claim that I am personally unaffected by the desire to be comfortable and complacent. I am also challenged by the high standard exemplified in Paul and company.
Nobody likes to be challenged. But do you know there’s a verse, at 2 Timothy 2:3 that says, “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” What kind of an invitation is that!? Who in your world would respond to that kind of invitation with any enthusiasm like, “Suffering, eh? Sounds good! Let’s go!”
We’re all used to the invitation that goes, “Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life, won’t you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved?” We like that one. But if you accept that one and become a born-again believer then, the one from Paul to Timothy is right in line with Jesus’ words. In Matthew 16:24, “Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” That is the same as “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” How many of us take that seriously? And what would it look like for us to do that here in our town?
It sounds so extreme. So, let’s start small. Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Make ministry your priority attitude. You are probably already kind-hearted and willing to go out of your way for someone who needs help. Try to be more open to the opportunities God may send you. Think of every chance encounter as a divine appointment. God has set you up to serve him. I know. You’re already busy. Have you ever heard that if you really want to get something done you have to ask a busy person? God understands that. He knows who’s available and willing. So, just be willing. Be available. Just show up for stuff. But don’t get overburdened or out of balance. Take care of yourself. Trust God. Stay in prayer to receive orders.
Be prepared to step out of your comfort zone. If God calls you, move. It’s like Peter getting out of the boat to walk on water. Talk about leaving your comfort zone! But, he did it because he knew it was God calling him to step out. Develop that kind of faith listening. And be ready to act. Be more adventurous and bold, not just for fun stuff, but to do things that might look hard or costly. God will provide. God’s will, done God’s way, will always have God’s provision. By the way, these principles work for individuals to be more responsive to God’s call to service. They also work for us as a congregation, a local expression of the Body of Christ, called to minister to our community in Jesus’ name.
Always look for a chance to mention Jesus or the gospel. Colossians 4:6 says, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Ask God to help you with that. Take discipleship seriously. See yourself as on a growth path. In Church, you’re not just in fellowship. You’re in a school that will help you become more like Christ. If you intend to follow Jesus, hang out with other followers, especially more mature ones.
Living this way will prepare you to be ready if God ever lays a really big task on your heart, such stepping up to be an elder here, or stepping out to be a missionary elsewhere, or maybe even sleeping in a boat for five months to prove to the people on shore that you really do care about them. Because the most costly and death defying thing you can ever do is to love others with the otherish love of Jesus Christ, because He loves you that much. You are supposed to be the worker in the harvest field. Be devoted to the work of spreading the gospel.
Listen Link: Listen link: www.lcepc.org then look for “sermons” tab.
Earlier this week I read this amazing story of devotion to the ministry. Spending the night alone in a canoe on the ocean would be daunting for just one night. But would you do that for five months, even though you can’t swim? One pastor did — for the sake of the Gospel. As reported by Mission Network News, Pastor Vedasto “Veds” Subiaga felt a burden for people on a group of small, isolated islands in the Philippines to know Jesus. He set out for the islands in a canoe. But when he got there, the villagers wouldn’t let him stay on the island overnight. He could visit during the day, but at night he had to sleep in his little canoe.
Rather than go home, Pastor Veds lived on his boat offshore for five long months and built relationships. Bill Passons with AMG International says, “The interesting fact about that is the fact that he can’t swim, which is a crazy thing! I recently visited this island and we took a 40-minute boat ride in a motorized boat. So, you can imagine how long it took him to get there…and then staying every day on the boat [with] storms and whatever may come up, but he knew God had called him there.”
Eventually, Pastor Veds got to know one of the village leaders there. The leader was impressed by Pastor Veds’s heart for the people and became curious about the God he served. “He realized that he needed to know Christ as his personal Savior,” Passons says. “[After] the village leader accepted Christ, they were able to start a small church there and the village was very welcoming to Pastor Veds.”
Today, there is a thriving Christian community on several islands in the region because of Pastor Veds’s faithfulness to the Gospel. “It’s just a great example of when God calls you to do something, it may be difficult. It doesn’t mean that you’re going to have instant results. And we’re not really guaranteed any results. But if God has called you to do it, then you should be faithful.”
That story is a good intro to what I saw in today’s text. I haven’t heard any sermons based on today’s text. There are no songs in the hymn book that allude to this passage. Maybe that’s because this just seems like a bit of housekeeping, or church business, in which Paul is introducing Timothy and giving thanks for Epaphroditus. But I did notice something very important for us in Paul’s introduction. Here it is again, “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.”
Church business: I’m going to send Timothy. But what kind of a man is Timothy? What I saw in today’s text is a picture of three men totally devoted to the work of the gospel. Paul called Timothy dedicated and hard-working, concerned about other people more than his own comfort. He’s devoted to the work and becomes an example to all of us. Pastor Veds makes me think that he is lot like Timothy was. But Timothy is not the only hard-working dedicated servant in this passage. There is also Paul himself and there is also Epaphroditus.
Here were three men so committed to the cause of Christ that they each risked life and limb and did not hold back even in the face of the threat of death. They gave their all for Christ. And we should too.
Paul is the author of thirteen of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament. He wrote them to instruct and encourage the churches he had planted during the course of three missionary journeys over about twenty years. Paul suffered much during his journeys. By his own account, in 2 Cor. 11: “I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.” That’s a high price to pay for the privilege of preaching the gospel! And yet he carried on, devoted to the work.
So, when he commends Timothy, it is no small thing. Again, he says of Timothy, “I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.” Let me tell you a couple of other things about Timothy. In Acts 16, apparently when he was called into the ministry, he put up with being circumcised, not because it was required for his salvation, but because it would make it easier for him to minister to the Jews.
In Acts 17-20, Timothy did a lot of traveling too, not on his own, but as Paul’s helper, and obedient to Paul’s instructions and plans. In 1 Corinthians, Timothy is sent to them and Paul called him, “my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord.” And they were instructed, “When Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is carrying on the work of the Lord, just as I am.”
In the Book of 1 Timothy we find that Paul entrusted him with a difficult assignment. “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies.” Command? It is not an easy thing to order people to give up the ideas and teachings they cherish. Also, Paul encouraged and strengthened Timothy saying, “Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, holding on to faith and a good conscience.” Fight the battle? Yes! Keeping the faith and spreading the gospel is not an easy task or a casual affair. In Hebrews 13:23, it says, “I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released.” Thus, we learn that Timothy must have also been imprisoned for a while, because of his labor of love for the gospel, his devotion to the work.
Augustine extols Timothy’s zeal and lack of concern for his own comfort in immediately forsaking his country, his house, and his parents, to follow the apostle, to share in his poverty and sufferings. And he did this even though he could have made an excuse because of his poor health. We know from Scripture that Timothy may have been subject to ill health or "frequent ailments", and Paul encouraged him to "use a little wine for [his] your stomach's sake".
Legend has it, according to the apocryphal book the “Acts of Timothy” that in the year 97 AD, the now 80-year-old bishop tried to halt a procession in honor of the goddess Diana by preaching the gospel. The angry pagans beat him, dragged him through the streets, and stoned him to death. Through it all he remained devoted to the work of the gospel.
Finally, let’s take a look at Epaphroditus. Epaphroditus was the delegate of the Christian community at Philippi, sent with their gift to Paul during Paul’s first imprisonment at Rome or at Ephesus. Paul, in 2:25, calls him " my brother, co-worker and fellow soldier," Those three words are arranged in an ascending scale: “brother” speaks of common sympathy, co-worker speaks of their shared labor for the Lord in the same task, and fellow soldier means they stood side by side through danger and toil and suffering."
The rest of verse 25 says, “who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs.” The word for messenger there is a Greek word that derives from civic use, indicating “public servant,” often one with financial resources to fulfill his functions, so Epaphroditus may have been, not only an official of the Philippian church, but a person of wealth, able to supplement that community's gift to Paul. It could be said he spared no expense. It also means he was probably living comfortably and chose a harsher life because it was worth it to serve God.
But he became ill. Paul was sending him back to Philippi, probably carrying this letter, because he has gotten better enough to travel, and he wants the Philippian church to know that Epaphroditus was distressed because they heard he was ill. They would be concerned about him, so the best way to show he had recovered was for him to show up at home. Can you imagine the reception he must have enjoyed? You know, he couldn’t call ahead to tell them he was on his way. So, it must have been a big, happy surprise. Epaphroditus was a servant of God who was faithfully devoted to the work, Paul says of him, “He was ill, and almost died… for the work of Christ. He risked his life to make up for the help you yourselves could not give me.”
These three servants, Paul, Timothy and Epaphroditus, are examples of what the Bible means for Christians who want to be, and even ought to be, devoted to the work of the gospel. It is a very high bar! And many good Christians have aspired to its heights. Indeed, there are many missionaries down through the ages, up to and including our own Andrew Brunson, who have suffered much because they answered the call.
Andrews has been interviewed recently on several Christian radio shows and I heard him say that being in prison was hard. Some Christian biographies had given him the impression that now that he was a persecuted prisoner, God would be with him in a special way and he would feel that presence and the peace that passes understanding and a special strength to endure. Well, he acknowledges now that God was with him. But also, that he did not feel it for much of his time in prison. It was hard, painful, scary, lonely, and quite depressing much of the time.
What does all this have to do with us? We should all be devoted to the work. And here is where it gets interesting. The American Church is very comfortable. The American church is heavily influenced by the consumer mentality. Church attendees are looking for music they like, the atmosphere and building they like, the fellowship they like, and the preaching they like. On that last one, it’s usually the kind of preaching that makes them laugh and feel like they’re doing ok as Christians.
I’m not pointing any fingers and claiming that anyone in this room actually is too comfortable for the good of the Kingdom. But I do believe we are all steeped in this consumer culture like the proverbial frog in the pot and we have to be aware of and resist this most pervasive temptation. And I would not dare to claim that I am personally unaffected by the desire to be comfortable and complacent. I am also challenged by the high standard exemplified in Paul and company.
Nobody likes to be challenged. But do you know there’s a verse, at 2 Timothy 2:3 that says, “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” What kind of an invitation is that!? Who in your world would respond to that kind of invitation with any enthusiasm like, “Suffering, eh? Sounds good! Let’s go!”
We’re all used to the invitation that goes, “Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life, won’t you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved?” We like that one. But if you accept that one and become a born-again believer then, the one from Paul to Timothy is right in line with Jesus’ words. In Matthew 16:24, “Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” That is the same as “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” How many of us take that seriously? And what would it look like for us to do that here in our town?
It sounds so extreme. So, let’s start small. Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Make ministry your priority attitude. You are probably already kind-hearted and willing to go out of your way for someone who needs help. Try to be more open to the opportunities God may send you. Think of every chance encounter as a divine appointment. God has set you up to serve him. I know. You’re already busy. Have you ever heard that if you really want to get something done you have to ask a busy person? God understands that. He knows who’s available and willing. So, just be willing. Be available. Just show up for stuff. But don’t get overburdened or out of balance. Take care of yourself. Trust God. Stay in prayer to receive orders.
Be prepared to step out of your comfort zone. If God calls you, move. It’s like Peter getting out of the boat to walk on water. Talk about leaving your comfort zone! But, he did it because he knew it was God calling him to step out. Develop that kind of faith listening. And be ready to act. Be more adventurous and bold, not just for fun stuff, but to do things that might look hard or costly. God will provide. God’s will, done God’s way, will always have God’s provision. By the way, these principles work for individuals to be more responsive to God’s call to service. They also work for us as a congregation, a local expression of the Body of Christ, called to minister to our community in Jesus’ name.
Always look for a chance to mention Jesus or the gospel. Colossians 4:6 says, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Ask God to help you with that. Take discipleship seriously. See yourself as on a growth path. In Church, you’re not just in fellowship. You’re in a school that will help you become more like Christ. If you intend to follow Jesus, hang out with other followers, especially more mature ones.
Living this way will prepare you to be ready if God ever lays a really big task on your heart, such stepping up to be an elder here, or stepping out to be a missionary elsewhere, or maybe even sleeping in a boat for five months to prove to the people on shore that you really do care about them. Because the most costly and death defying thing you can ever do is to love others with the otherish love of Jesus Christ, because He loves you that much. You are supposed to be the worker in the harvest field. Be devoted to the work of spreading the gospel.
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