A Unique Servant

Transcript

GR 629
1/16/1983
A Unique Servant
Philippians 2:19-24
Gil Rugh

There is no question that in Christ we are positionally perfect. God has cleansed and forgiven us, perfected us in Christ, but as I live my life daily now that character of Christ that has been produced in me is to be characterize in me and all of my ways so that I am to be blameless, innocent, above reproach in verse 15. This is all to go on in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, a generation that is twisted morally and thus crooked in their walk apart from the way that God would have them live. We note the importance of that expression in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. God’s intention is not for us to withdraw from the world, but to manifest his character in the world, not to withdraw from unbelievers to isolate ourselves but to manifest God’s character to an unbelieving world.

We have two dangers that we battle against. One is to withdraw and shield ourselves, just huddle together with fellow believers so that we are not defiled by contact with unbelievers. That’s an unbiblical isolation. The other is that we become so involved with the world that we become like the world and God says I am to be in the midst of the world but I am to be blameless, innocent and above reproach in my life in the midst of the world. So I am living in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation but I am not be influenced, infected or affected by it among whom, the end of verse 15, you appear as lights in the world. That’s what we are doing.

We are in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation that in effect is in darkness, spiritual darkness. They do not know God. They do not know God’s truth as revealed in his word. So we shine as light those who make God known who reveal him. The way we live our lives presents his character to the world. And also in verse 16 we are to be holding fast the word of life. You know that word can mean hold forth or hold fast, both are true. That we are to be holding on to the word of God, holding fast to it because there is the pressure to push us off. The world is crooked and preserve. We live in the midst of that world and the pressure is unrelenting. So we must be holding fast to the word of God.

And as we hold fast to it, we are holding it forth in making it known to the world. So by our lives and what we do, in our words and what we say the character of Christ is being revealed in the world. Paul says his personal interest in this is that the Philippians are in effect his cause to glory in the day of Christ. That coming day when all of us as believers will stand in the presence of Christ to give an account of our lives on earth to be rewarded for faithfulness to him. It will be our lives as they were used in other’s lives that will be a cause to glory. Paul says I am concerned that you Philippians follow through as you should because that will be cause for me to glory, why? It’s all God’s work, yes, but God has chosen to use Paul in the Philippians’ lives.

And to see who the Philippians have grown and matured and then faithful to God will be a testimony to Paul’s faithfulness. The effectiveness of God’s work in Paul’s life is seen in the transformation of the Philippians’ lives. That’s so important because that means it is overwhelmingly significant how we relate to one another as believers, how you live your life as a child of God, how I live my life as a child of God. It’s going to make a difference when I stand in the presence of Christ. That’s why I can’t be indifferent to you. Say well, that’s between you and God I am not going to get involved. But wait a minute; you are my cause to glory in the day of Christ. So it’s between you and God and me, and the same goes for your attitude toward me. So it should produce a godly, healthy concern for one another that we be in effect living as God wants us to.

Paul presents himself in verse 17 and 18 and uses an analogy of an offering. He says even if I am being poured out as a drink offering and we noted that the drink offering was the capstone, the finishing touch to the main offering that would be offered when the Jew would bring the main sacrifice and accompanying with that there would be poured out the drink offering. In fact Paul says you what you are doing is the prime offering and it is a privilege for me just to be the finishing touch to your sacrifice offered to God and it is their faith the sacrifice and service of their faith that comes from their faith that is the essential sacrifice. We will see this later in Philippians as well. That our lives are a sacrifice offered to God, and that’s what Paul says about the Philippians.

Your service which comes from your faith in Christ is the sacrifice and I am accompanying that with my sacrifice of my own life. We ought to be rejoicing and having joy together. We are inseparably linked. So you share your joy with me and I will share my joy with you, together we exalt Jesus Christ. Verse 19 beings with but, but I hope. You remember back in verse 12 Paul had eluded to the fact that he was absent. So then my beloved just as you have always obeyed not in my presence only but now much more in my absence. So he has drawn their attention again to his absence that he can’t be with them. But verse 19 I hope to send Timothy to be with you. That would also be a contrast with verses 17 and 18 where the reality of the possibility is presented that Paul will be executed, his life will be poured out as a sacrifice but my plans are to send Timothy.

What he does in verses 19 to 24 is present Timothy to them in effect as Paul’s representative. So whether Timothy comes while Paul is in prison or Timothy comes and Paul has been executed, either way Timothy will receive a warm welcome and his ministry will be received properly by the Philippians. This kind of indication I think are important because they help us to realize that the people that Paul are writing to are believers just like us. You know there is the tendency among us as believers to respect persons and will listen to the one believer but we will listen to another. Paul realizes if he comes he is the apostle Paul and naturally the Philippians will be open to what he has to say but who is Timothy?

Now let’s see Timothy was a very important person in the Philippians’ lives but still the if you compare Timothy with Paul, well I don't mind listening to Paul and have him tell me what to do but I don’t think I am going to listen to Timothy. So it indicates here that the Philippians need the encouragement to appreciate Timothy and his life and ministry, and what he is contributing to the work of the gospel on the Philippians’ behalf. There is no man that is as close to the apostle Paul from what we can tell in the New Testament as the man Timothy. He has the privilege of having two letters written to him, First and Second Timothy; a person of whom Paul refers constantly in the most intimate and warm terms, a man younger than Paul, a man perhaps led to Christ by Paul. He is identified with Paul in the first verse of the letter to the Philippians; Paul and Timothy bondservants of Christ Jesus to all the saints. So he was with Paul as Paul wrote.

On at least three occasions Timothy had visited the Philippian church. So he had a ministry with them. This is important because the Philippians had first-hand experience and knowledge of Timothy in his life and service. Acts Chapter 16, Acts Chapter 19 and Acts Chapter 20, those three chapters it’s referred to the fact that Timothy visited Macedonia, Philippi. Paul wants to commend him now as his representative. Verse 19, but I hope in the Lord to send Timothy to you shortly so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. I hope in the Lord Jesus. That’s his anticipation. Even though he can’t be present he hopes to be able to send Timothy and important I hope in the Lord Jesus. One of those little expressions you ought to pay special attention to. Paul’s life and plans center in Christ.

Even as the great apostle he realizes that the focal point of his life is Jesus Christ. He lives in Christ and his plans are made light of the Lord’s plans for him. Paul does not have absolute control over those plans. So here is what I hope to do in the Lord. In other words if the Lord makes it possible, if the Lord doesn’t change things here is what I hope to do. This expression is used down in verse 24; I trust in the Lord that I myself shall be coming shortly. Again Paul hopes has confidence or trust means to be confident that I will be coming but it is in the Lord that conditions it. As much as possible these are my plans but I realize that God ultimately plans my life and what he has for me will determine really what I do.

Back in Chapter 1 he used the expression in verse 14 where he talked about most of the brethren trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment. That’s the focal point of their faith, their trusting in the Lord. Down in Chapter 3 verse 1, he tells them to rejoice in the Lord. So he talks about trusting in the Lord, having hope in the Lord, rejoicing in the Lord, this is the sphere in which we live and it is the controlling factor for our lives and our plans. Turn over to James Chapter 4 back toward the back of your New Testament after the Book of Hebrews. It is important because I think it reveals the attitude of Paul in how dependent upon the Lord he was and if you make your plans in the Lord then you are not disappointed and discouraged when those great hopes that you have are changed because I have made them in submissiveness to the what the Lord’s plan for me is.

James warns about making plans apart from a consideration of what God’s will is. Look down in James Chapter 4 verse 13, come now you who say today or tomorrow we shall go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say if the Lord wills we shall live and also do this or that. We have no control over certain factors in our life. I may be gone tomorrow. So I needed to be careful about making plans in the wrong sense and that does not mean I haven’t made plans for tomorrow. You not what James says nothing wrong with the plans but they ought to be plans conditioned by the will of the Lord bringing God’s plans into consideration. That’s all Paul is saying in Philippians Chapter 2, this is what I hope to do in the Lord. He is in control.

Come back to Philippians Chapter 2. Now this is a great sacrifice for the apostle Paul. He is imprisoned in Rome. You take that person who means the most to you, who is the closest to you and now you are going to send him on a long trip. That’s a great sacrifice. Paul could think no one needs the ministry of Timothy more than me. No one needs a person to be with me and share my heartaches more than I do, share this burdens but he is willing to send Timothy for this purpose so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. The also there indicates that he expects the Philippians will be encouraged by the ministry of Timothy, and Paul says I also and that I is emphatic, it gets the emphasis. I also may be encouraged. Interesting words, it means well sold. It does encourage the word sold with the word well on the front.

That I may have courage, be encouraged, be gladdened. I think that says something about the apostle Paul. He needed encouragement too. There were certain things that happened in believers’ lives that lifted him up. And he says when Timothy comes I will be encouraged. Now why would he be encouraged when Timothy went to the Philippians? Because of the report that Timothy will bear regarding the Philippians. So it’s a reminder of how the Philippians’ life is an encouragement to Paul. When Paul here from Timothy how the Philippians are doing, how they received him in his ministry, Paul says this is going to encourage me. I am going to be encouraged and just a reminder all of us as believers need encouragement. We are not intended to live as islands in isolation from one another, and even Paul needed encouragement and the Philippians would be an encouragement to him.

Unique person, that he could be so concerned about the Philippians that he makes the kind of sacrifices that he does. Now Paul begins now here to say some things about Timothy that are remarkable for why am I sending Timothy? I have no one else of kindred spirits who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. There is no one like Timothy. That’s a strong statement. I have no one else of kindred spirits and there is a play of words here. He said the word encouraged is the word sold with the word well on the front. Well, kindred spirits is the word sold with the word equal on the front.

So at the end of verse 19 you have that I may be well sold literally. And in verse 20 for I have no one else of equal soul. There is a little bit of play on the word because they are rare words. The only place used here on the New Testament. I want to be well sold encouraged and there is no one with a soul like Timothy. No one like Timothy in the way he thinks, in his heart and mind. And I think what Paul is saying here is that no one available for the trip who could have been sent was of the quality of Timothy. No one had the attitude in mindset regarding the ministry of the gospel that Timothy had and it puts strongly here that there is no one else like this, no one like Timothy. What he say about him, who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.

What makes Timothy unique is he is absorbed with the well being of the Philippians. Now it is amazing to me that Paul marks Timothy off as being unique in that sense and no one else will be genuinely concerned. That word to be concerned means to have anxiety, to have a concern and it is used in the good sense and a bad sense in the New Testament. There is a right kind of anxiety and there is a wrong kind of anxiety. There is a right kind of concern and a wrong kind of concern. Timothy has the right kind of godly anxiety and concern for the Philippians. It’s the same kind of concern that the apostle Paul himself had.

Turn to Second Corinthians Chapter 11, 11:28 Paul uses this word of his concern for the churches. Apart from such external things there is the daily pressure upon me of concern, of anxiety for all the churches. Now note what Paul says because I have the pressure on me of my concern and anxiety for the churches, a healthy, godly anxiety for believers. Timothy is manifesting this for the Philippians. Paul says no one is equal soul with Timothy, has the same kind of godly anxiety for you that he has. He marks him off as a special kind of person. Look in First Corinthians Chapter 12; we have a key in distinguishing between the right kind of anxiety and the wrong kind of anxiety. First Corinthians 12:25 talking about the body and the unity of the body, that there should be no divisions in the body but the member should have the same anxiety, care, concern those are our words, same word, for one another.

Note that there is a unity in the body, no divisions because we have anxiety or concern for one another. The kind of anxiety that is forbidden in the New Testament is personal anxiety for myself. That’s the wrong kind of concern. It is self-centered concern. It is right for me to be concerned about you. It is not right for me to be taken up for myself. Look in Matthews 6:25, we tend to get confused and twisted. I become indifferent to you and anxious for myself when I am to have it reversed. Not be thinking about myself but be concerned about you. Matthews 6:25. For this reason I say to you do not be anxious, same word that we have been talking about. Do not be anxious for your life as to what you shall eat or what you shall drink nor for your body as to what you shall put on; is the life not more than food and the body more than clothing in the examples given. You see what kind of anxiety is forbidden. The things that pertain to me personally. Paul say we are to have concern for one another but we are not to be anxious about ourselves.

Come back to Philippians, we are going to come to this in Philippians Chapter 4 verse 6 when Paul instructs the Philippians be anxious for nothing and he uses the same word that is used of Timothy in verse 20 of Chapter 2 Timothy is genuinely concerned, genuinely anxious for your welfare but I am not to be anxious about the things pertaining to myself, concern for others not for ourselves. Timothy manifests this character. It marks him off as special and unique even as a servant of Jesus Christ because note what he says in verse 21 of Philippians 2, for they all seek after their own interests not those of Christ, and that’s a strong statement and the all here means all without exception. Here is the rule all, which you ought to underline, seek after their own interest. This is the characteristic of mankind, the characteristic of the unbeliever especially but it infects even us as believers evidently affected those who might be available for the trip to Philippi. All seek after their own interest, not those of Christ.

Now you have to appreciate Paul is talking about sending Timothy from Rome to Philippi. You get out your Bible map and just look at where Rome is and where Philippi is. You don’t walk over there for lunch. That’s a long trip. It is a tiresome journey. It would have dangers. Paul in his trip to Rome suffered shipwreck and everything else. So you have to get the idea. He is not asking him to fill in for a Sunday school class for a week. He is asking him to make a sacrifice. To do that which is inconvenient which he might not humanly speaking prefer to do, make the wearisome time-consuming, costly trip to Philippi. That would mean Timothy; you have to set aside your personal interests. You are making this trip not because you think it will be profitable for you but because the Philippians need you. For those seeking after their own interests they would measure the trip and say look I have got business interests here, look I have got other concerns that it just doesn’t work into my schedule.

I get the feeling as I read this and reread it that there is a little bit of exasperation expressed that here is Paul giving his very life for the ministry of the gospel and you have those who are so taken up with selfish interests that they can’t give themselves to such a ministry. Paul says Timothy is unique. Everybody else has this absorption with their own interests and that’s what happens. So it easily happens. We become so involved with the things that pertain to us that there is no time for you see what gets left, the end of verse 21, not those of Christ Jesus. When I become taken up with myself what fails to get done is the ministry in service for Jesus Christ. When I am seeking my own interests then I am not seeking the interests of Jesus Christ. Paul says Timothy is a man who is willing to make sacrifices for the service of Jesus Christ.

Everyone else seeks their own interests. They don’t think first how will this affect the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They first think how will this inconvenience me, how will this affect me rather than how will this affect the impact of message of Christ on them; so easy to become twisted and distorted. Turn back to Matthews 6 again look at some passages that use this word seek, all seek their own interests. The context where we were just reading. Verse 31, similar to what we read in verse 25, do not be anxious then saying what shall we eat, what shall we drink, with what shall we clothe ourselves. The everyday necessities, the things that the world counts importance for all these things the gentiles eagerly seek. The word seek is the same word we have in Philippians Chapter 2 verse 21.

All seek their own interests. The gentiles eager seek these things referring to unbelievers. This is what the unbeliever gives the pursuit of his life to, the acquiring of things whether it is bank accounts or investments provision on this level food, drink, clothe. This is what the unbelievers give themselves to. Again there is a balance. I am responsible to work, to provide for my family and so on. But that’s not to be the goal and pursuit of my life. The goal and pursuit of my life is to exalt Jesus Christ by serving him faithfully and these other things are provided within that framework. Look over in First Corinthians Chapter 10. Just as I also please all men in all things. Note not seeking there is our word. Not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many that they may be saved.

Paul says that what I am seeking is not what benefits me but the salvation of the lost, their benefit and I think seeking benefits for myself but benefits for them. This controls what I do. That’s when I am seeking not my own interest but the benefit of the lost that they might hear the gospel and be saved. Look over in Chapter 13 of First Corinthians verse 5. I know where to say this is we are to be functioning in love and in verse 5 love does not act unbecomingly. It does not seek its own. Now that’s a characteristic of love that when I am functioning with the love of Christ being produced in my life by the Spirit of God I don’t seek my own interests. I don’t come to that well; there is nothing in this for me. What am I going to get out of this? Love doesn’t function that way. It doesn’t seek its own. Now Paul says all seek their own interests but love doesn’t do that. So when I am functioning in love that is not the characteristic of me.

Come back to Philippians Chapter 2 verse 21, all seek after their own interests and not the interest of Christ Jesus. As a great effect on how the ministry of Jesus Christ is carried out. We have great burden that we be functioning in that way. If we are not functioning that way the work of Jesus Christ will not get done. As I mentioned this sometimes it burdens me that I see needs in the bulletin. We have a need that I have read this week again. We are teacher for Sunday evening. I say God if we are seeking not our own interests but those of Christ Jesus how can that be there week after week after week no one cares for this kid. What a thing to say? No one interested that the word of God be ministered to them. They are here but there is no one to teach them.

I say boy I am glad I am not like old and not seeking my own interests. But are we seeking those of Christ Jesus? We seem like we would be falling over ourselves for getting the ministry done but so often we are sitting back and boy someone does it. That would be terribly inconvenient. Who wants to get out, go out all ready and teach the kids or work in the nursery or do these kinds of things? I can’t think of it that way because I am evaluating it in light of my own interests. I must evaluate it in light of what do they need, what is necessary for them for the ministry of the word of God and then I decide on that basis and you can expect it is going to be personally inconvenient. It wasn’t convenient for Timothy to make the trip to Philippi. It was necessary in the interest of Jesus Christ. It was inconvenient for Paul to be in prison in Rome. It was necessary in the interest of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And if you want to have an effective ministry for Jesus Christ you are going to find that you have an inconvenient life because it doesn’t fit what you would do for yourself so often, what is necessary for the interests of Christ Jesus. Back in Philippians Chapter 2, Paul says in verse 22 but you know of his proven worth. Great statement here. You know of Timothy’s proven worth. Paul isn’t sending someone who is untested and this word, proven word, we have seen it on other occasions. It means to put something to the test to approve it, both the test and the result of the test, to use the metals of coins, to test them for genuineness. So what in effect he is saying is Timothy has been tried and approved. He has been tested and approved. He has demonstrated his proven worth, his character.

Now I think that’s interesting. So you see what’s happened. Timothy has been through trials and testings that he may not have understood the purpose and the reason of but here you come now for a greater opportunity for ministry to serve the interest of Jesus Christ and Timothy is ready and useable because he has been approved. Timothy have wondered why the trials and testings back here for proven worth, for greater effectiveness of ministry down the road. Look back in Romans Chapter 5, this word is used again, same exact word in the same form in fact in Romans 5:4. Verse 3 not only this we exalt in our tribulations knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance but you know the difficulties and the trials that produces perseverance in our eyes. There is a mark of maturity and characteristic of immaturity.

We see it in children. What we do we say about them? In the younger ages when you are teaching them they have a short attention span. Well, one of the characteristics of an immature Christian is they have a very short attention span. They don’t have perseverance built up. They take responsibility and they are at it for a short time and then they are out of it. It’s no longer fun. Then they are into this and they are out of it. They are into this and they are out of it. That’s a mark of immaturity. Tribulation produces perseverance, the ability to bear under difficulties and perseverance proven character is our word. Proven character, having been tested. Your character is proven, approved that comes as a result of persevering under trials. Timothy had done that. He had been through trials and testing. He had persevered. The result was proven character, a provenness for ministry before God.

Look in Second Corinthians Chapter 2 verse 9. Paul says for this end also I wrote to you that I might put you to the test. There is our word again. The Corinthians were put to the test so that they might be approved. You know it takes the testing. You say how do you know this is of this quality. Here are the tests reading an article on a certain subject. They were saying that if you purchased this the tests and the results are included and the person who puts to the test signs his name. What is he saying, here is the object, it has been put to the test and approved. Paul says to the Corinthians I am putting you to the test so that you can be approved over in Chapter 9 of Second Corinthians verse 13. Paul says the same thing interesting in Second Corinthians Chapter 9, it has to do with money and the use of the Corinthians material things. That’s a test that will show them approved if they functioned properly.

Verse 13 because of the proof, there is our word, given by this ministry they will glory God. The provenness of this ministry, that you have come through this test and have responded as you should and are thus demonstrated to be approved and God gets the glory. Come back Philippians 2, when you are going through difficult times, praise the Lord. He is preparing you for greater ministry, greater effectiveness. Timothy would not have been nearly so usable to God or to Paul if he had not been through the fire, through the difficulties, through the trials. He had approved character because he went through them in a manner that honored and exalted Jesus Christ. So here comes a great opportunity for ministry. It’s too late to get approved. You have to be ready and Timothy is. You know and that word you know is the word for knowledge by experience. As I mentioned Acts Chapter 16 verses 1 to 3, Acts 19 verse 22, Acts 20 verses 3 to 5 all relate to Timothy being at Philippi. How Timothy lived before the Philippians, how he served with them, how he endured the persecutions there, all were part of his approved character.

You know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father. Tremendous character Timothy, the man that we know of as timid from Paul writes to him in his letters. Somewhat of a retiring character, has some health problems and yet here Paul speaks in the most glowing terms I sometimes wonder if we would look at Paul, we would look at Timothy, we would look at those around him, if they would be the ones we would pick for ministry. You know we look at certain physical qualities. Timothy health problems, a little bit timid. Paul had to exhort him to take hold and go but he speaks highly of him here. You know his proven worth; he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel. The furtherance of the gospel is the goal.

That’s what is all about. The furtherance of the gospel, that’s what everything he is talking about. That’s why you are not serving your own interests but those of Christ Jesus the furtherance of the gospel. Here is how Timothy demonstrated himself, his worthiness, his provenness, the furtherance of the gospel. That’s what Paul is talking about in Corinthians when we read about his attitude and not seeking his own interests but those of others that they who might experience God’s salvation. He served with me in the furtherance of the gospel. That word served, you ought to underline it. Because we think of the glory, wouldn’t it have been glorious to serve with the apostle Paul humanly speaking, no.

You don’t think of anything glorious about getting beaten in every other town of being shipwrecked several times, of being imprisoned several times, of being stoned, those are all things I can do without, wouldn’t it be glorious, no, it’s serving. He served with me, the word that can be mean to be a slave. That was Timothy’s attitude. That’s why he was useful. He had a servant attitude. Back to verse 21, all seek after their own interests. They are not serving, not in the true sense. They are being selfish. When you have the interest of Christ Jesus, Jesus Christ did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life for ransom. Timothy manifests that character with Paul. He served with me in the furtherance of the gospel and that will show whether you are approved having passed the test, how you served.

You see we are back to the basic and attitude that we have been talking in Chapter 2, humility, humbleness. Timothy was a servant with Paul. That’s where Paul could use him. He was uninterested in promoting himself. He was interested in serving in the furtherance of the gospel, whatever it took, however inconvenient. You note he said he served with me like a child his father. The closeness of Paul and Timothy. They served together. He served with me in the furtherance of the gospel but it’s like a father-son relationship. They are serving together but as a father and a son. Timothy looking to Paul as his leader, and there is the warmth and the closeness. Little bit of an aside but I think it is interesting Paul is fond of family metaphors. Father and son, parent and a child and numerous ones that I jotted down but I will not take time to turn to them. But you ought to take note of that maybe a good study for you.

I think there is a reason. These family metaphors denote the intimacy and closeness and it helps you realize why Paul did not give up on those he administered with like the Corinthians, like the Galatians he uses family metaphors because you don’t give up on your family. Do you ever think how much trouble kids are? Do you think how many times that you have to tell your kids to do something or not do something? How many spankings you have to give you the last year? But what you don’t give up on them. So what I have told them six times if I have told them once. That’s it get your bags and get out. Now if your kids are 30 that might not be a bad idea but if your kid is three you don’t do that, why? We don’t give up on them. They are kids. We are stuck with them. It’s not a good word. We are glad to have them but you can’t get rid of them. Why?

They are kids, that’s it. We were talking in the past week with someone who is anticipating a family and noting the fact well when the kids come you got them for a long time. They are there. I think the family metaphors are important because you know what we give up on each other too easily. I get exasperated and decided I am done with you but that doesn’t happen with my family. Well they are family. Sure they are a lot of trouble. Sure they are a lot of bother, a lot of work but they are family and there was a disagreement this morning but I don’t go home wondering whether we have a family anymore, why? They are family. Paul’s use of the family metaphor is important for us that we see one another as a family. So there are times I would just like to give up on you. Say pack your bags and go. You are family. You can’t do it. You have to work it through and work it out. Have to bring in the maturity. You have to do the same with me. You have to work on me. You have to bring me to maturity. You can’t just discard me. We are not things. We are family.

And Paul’s attitude toward Timothy, attitude towards the other believers as the family affected his way of working with them. He doesn’t give up. I wonder why he stuck with the Galatians. Why he didn’t bother with the Corinthians? They are family and if he doesn’t bring them to maturity what cause will he have the glory in the day of Christ. If I kick my kids out when they are three what will I have when they are 21? There is no option but to apply myself to work with them, to mature them. When we see ourselves it helps a lot because there are going to be conflicts, there is going to be difficulty. Well, we make up our minds we are family. So we just have to do what is ever necessary to bring one another to maturity in Christ. Paul says of Timothy, we serve like a father and a son.

It doesn’t mean there weren’t times when they were probably differences but it was like a father and a son. Timothy in verse 23, I hope to send him immediately, quickly as soon as I see how things go to me, great sacrifice you have for Paul. Father and son relationship and I am going to send him to you as soon as I see how things go with me. You see Paul’s concern for the Philippians. He is concerned that they will be worried about him, that they are really interested in him and he is going to send the best that he has, Timothy. He didn’t say well anybody could do this. I will just scratch a note I am fine, give it to somebody who really doesn’t matter. No, it’s got to be somebody who has the heart that I have and you will know how I am doing and I trust in the Lord. I am persuaded in the Lord literally. Again in the Lord is crucial. I am confident that this is the Lord’s will for me that I myself shall be coming shortly.

So I will send Timothy on ahead and I hope in the Lord to becoming shortly. Now with a reference like that you think that Timothy would even get a big hit wouldn’t you? There is no one like me folks, here I am. Paul himself said it when it comes to serve them and thus has opened the door for ministry among the Philippians. I wonder how are we characterized. I wonder if I had been there with Paul what would he have had to say about me. What would he have said about us? All that there is no one like soul like him.

Everyone else seeks their own interests, not the interest of Christ. Where would we fit? If you look at your life this past week, how was it lived? What interests dominate your thinking, dominate your life, determine the goals that you have that the interests of Jesus Christ among the many other things I do. Now the only things that are necessary but they are all controlled by this one consuming passion that my life serves the interest of Jesus Christ. I am his servant to exalt him and everything else that fits in accordance with that pattern. It doesn’t matter whether it is inconvenient, it doesn’t matter if it is wearisome, it doesn’t matter if it is a hardship. All that matter is that is this in the interest of my service for Jesus Christ. And as we serve him then he is exalted, our ministry together is profitable, our impact on the world is effective and Jesus Christ receives the glory.

Let’s pray together. Father, we thank you for a man like Timothy. Lord, we realize it is not a credit to him but it is a credit to the work of your grace in his life. Yet, father it is a credit to him that he was a man that was faithful to you, a man usable in your service. Father, a man that has stood approved. Father that’s the desire that we have for ourselves as a body of believers so easy for us to be turned in, to become selfish, to think of ourselves instead of one another. Father, our desire is that we might be a body that functions in love, not seeking our own interests but the interests of one another that we might be built to maturity in Christ. Father, help us to see one another as family members. Give us family love for one another. Family concern, Father a family endurance so we might see the importance of serving together in the furtherance of the gospel that your purposes be accomplished in this place, in this city and in other places as well. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.