God preserved the pattern for us in our roots: Godly men spend themselves for the body, recognizing the heart of God.

Learning From, and Living Out, God's Examples of Godly Men

Philippians 2.19-30

(Children's Sheet for Sermon Interaction is at bottom. Notes are throughout sermon)


Please turn to Philippians 2:19-30. As you are turning there, I want to bring us into the sermon this morning by pointing out that as we grow up, we all learn from people who influence our lives. They influence the way we think. They influence the way we act. Our parents are the primary ones. In the Bible, God commands parents to raise up children in the way they should go. God designed it this way. Parents should train their children. They should demonstrate certain actions to their children. Parents should guide their children into life on their own. There are also various teachers. They instill certain things in us as we grow. We have coaches. We learn from experts in trades and skills. We learn from friends. In our age, talk show hosts teach us things. Recently, I saw a video clip of the talk show hostess, Oprah Winfrey, teaching that everyone needs to realize that they are Christ. She denies the Biblical God, and according to her doctrine, she says that doctrine does not matter. The video said that 2 million people joined in fellowship with her anti-Christ church last month. She's a teacher. Movie stars are teachers. They teach lessons in their movies. The people who write the plots, direct the movies, and produce them, teach lessons that they want to convey in the movie. Musicians teach. Songs are little sermonettes with a melody behind them. Every song's message is teaching you something. Scientists teach us, business people teach us, and politicians teach us. They all influence our learning in some way. Some of the people we learn from are people we want to emulate. We say,

I wish I could be like him.

If only I could be like her.

Some of those kinds of people are like heroes to us. We want to learn from our heroes. The main point is that we learn from people in general. They might be heroes. They might not be. We even learn from people who aren't around anymore. The structure of our society was already laid down for you when you were conceived and born. Languages already existed. Beliefs, customs, and systems were already in place. So, in a sense, dead people are still teaching us. Their books survive, but they are not here anymore. Even the secular world recognizes this. Albert Einstein said that all he knew was really a combination of thoughts of men that came before him. This reminds me of something that a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps said. His name is Elie Wiesel. He said,

To learn means to accept the postulate that life did not begin at my birth. Others have been here before me, and I walk in their footsteps. The books I have read were composed by generations of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, teachers and disciples. I am the sum total of their experiences, their quests. And so are you.--Elie Wiesel

We all learn from people who have been here before us. We learn from their examples. As God's true children in Christ, the Bible we read is a compilation of inspired writings that were composed by generations of fathers, sons, teachers and disciples in the great family of God that stretches back through history. God preserved the examples of godly men and women of our past so that you and I would learn from them. What secular minds recognize as a fact, we recognize as God's sovereign provision. In the body of Christ, our Christian relatives have been here before us, and we walk in their footsteps. This morning, we are going to learn from, some of those saints in our Philippian's passage. Please read it with me now,

"But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. 20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. 22 But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father. 23 Therefore I hope to send him immediately, as soon as I see how things go with me; 24 and I trust in the Lord that I myself also will be coming shortly. 25 But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need; 26 because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. 27 For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned about you. 29 Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard; 30 because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me. Philippians 2:19-30

Please prepare your heart with me to learn from God's word. The theme of the sermon is:

Learning From, and Living Out, God's Examples of Godly Men

[prayer]

 

1@ For the children: The example that we are learning from is the example of godly men.

Coming into this portion, Paul has said that while he is in prison, he shares his joy with the Philippians and wants them to rejoice and share their joy with him. It is directly after saying this, that Paul says,

"But ..."

He wants the Philippians to rejoice with him, but there is more that Paul hopes to do, so Paul says he's rejoicing,

"But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition." Philippians 2:19

Paul is joyful in Christ. But the body of Christ is important to Paul, like it is supposed to be for you and me. We should be interested, caring, and concerned for each person in our church. We should be concerned about the state of the church everywhere. This is why I preach and lament about the state of the church in our generation. It is because I care. I care about all of us here. I do this as a pastor, but it is something God wants you to do too. Paul wants to be encouraged when he learns of the state of his brothers and sisters in Philippi. Lately God has been teaching me to rejoice in all I am going through. It is not natural for me to do. It comes from God, and comes from being obedient to the word of God, where Paul says to rejoice with him. We know that God wants us to rejoice in the midst of all our circumstances, even when life seems like a wreck. But the joy is in Christ. The joy comes from the Holy Spirit. We don't have it without Him. The joy comes from my knowledge that He loves me unconditionally based upon His word. Joy comes from knowing I'm saved. But there is also encouragement that comes when you see victorious living being manifested in the body;

"Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, [Paul says] I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the good news;" Philippians 1:27

Even though Paul is joyful about the salvation of the Philippians, he wants to send Timothy to find out about the the health of the body. Now, let's think about this. Paul knows that there was opposition to the body from the outside. Paul knows that there was disharmony in the body on the inside. There were divisive opinion issues. Everyone has an opinion or a theory, or advice, or prejudice. There was pride, and hurt feelings. Our church experiences these things too, so we know what Paul is talking about. Judaizers were also trying to undermine the gospel of grace with a false gospel. Knowing all of this, Paul sends Timothy to reinforce Paul's influence upon the Philippian's lives. This influence helps assure that they are walking,

"in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ" Philippians 1:27

Think about this a moment. This is the same thing God does with you and me. Paul used Timothy. God by His Spirit, takes these same Scriptures and applies influence upon us that helps assure that we are walking according to His will. Timothy's job is to observe; listen, exhort with the word, and get a report together. He's caring for the other members of the body of Christ in ministry. In other words, God uses you and me, (and the whole body together) to hold it accountable, teach it, sharpen it, nurture it, and build it up. If you are not building up the body, then you are tearing it down. There is no in between. The body of Christ is designed to be made up of all the members in togetherness, and love, in unity.

By sending Timothy, Paul is implementing the principle of accountability ability. It is through accountability for your actions that you are enabled by the body, to grow in unity and love to be more like Christ in the body. You and I have the instructions from God's word. We have the Holy Spirit, but God thinks we need something else, (which is the ability we get by being accountable). So a huge question for us to contemplate is:

Am I being accountable to the body for my actions in respect to walking in a manner worthy of the gospel?

The Philippians are facing this same question in a strong way. When Timothy gets there, he is going to teach. Then Timothy is going to go back and give Paul the details of how the body is doing. Timothy becomes Paul's ears and eyes. Now think about this. God wants you and I to be His Timothy's in respect to the body. Look around you. When God uses you in your obedience, what He is doing is putting flesh and blood to His will as eyes and ears through the Holy Spirit's work in the body of Christ, where the body of Christ acts like the body of Christ in respect to itself. Folks, this is important, because the body is not a side issue in God's plan for mankind. The church, representing Christ, is the issue of His love, sacrifice, and indwelling, and the sooner you and I embrace this, the sooner we will live more like the New Testament Scriptures keep telling us to live.

The main point than I am touching on here, is that accountability is what God desires. If you are not accountable, then you are segmented--you are a lone ranger, and what that means is that you are being unbiblical. In 1 Peter 5:2, Peter says that Elders are placed among us as overseers so that we will be accountable. In 1 Corinthians 14:32, we learn that the spirits of prophets are subject to other prophets. God wants accountability ability. In Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2:13 we see that God gives governing authorities to hold us accountable. In Ephesians 5:21, all of us in the body are exhorted to submit to one another in the body. God is the one who says the body must be accountable to itself. The Scriptures do no condone maverick Christians. Such people hold themselves up to be superior minded decision makers. They are judgmental. In their unbiblical separation from harmonious body life, they will not allow God to use His word, and other members of the body, to correct their sin of segmentation according to the same word of God. Sadly, they end up teaching their malcontent and divisiveness to other members like an infectious disease. Such people are not godly examples, but the irony is that they will claim that they are.

Paul wants to be encouraged, and he wants to implement accountability to foster unity, harmony, grace, and godliness, so he sends a godly man to the Philippian Christians. Instead of following the example of the loose canon for Christ, all of us here need to follow the example of Timothy. Timothy demonstrates the submissive, authentic, caring, and uniting, nurturer of the church of Christ. Paul says of Timothy;

"20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus." Philippians 2:20-21

Timothy has the body of Christ in mind. This is a brand mark of a truly godly man. Paul says of Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:11,

"But as for you, [Timothy] O man of God, ..." 1 Timothy 6:11

This is what we want to be--men and women of God. A godly man has the church, as the called out and gathered body, in mind as being as important as God thinks it is. Timothy's interest went beyond his own self. It went beyond his own salvation. His interests were body oriented. Timothy thought outside of the box of Timothy. You and I need to be thinking outside the box of ourselves too. This is God's will. Timothy shows us love in action. He focused upon God's special creature that God is keenly interested in--the body. I think we all know that self orientation is rampant in our day. For many American Christians of our time and culture, salvation is all about their self. For many, salvation is a personal life boat, that is supposed to be a luxury yacht. They only see salvation as a cruise into glory. Christianity is to be a pampered passenger. They complain and bark orders at the Captain and His crew. But salvation is not a life boat. Salvation is a living body, and you are created into it. Salvation is where we are created in Christ Jesus to be in the body of Christ as His church. Others are more important than our own selves because we recognize the truth. Timothy was discipled by God's apostle in these things.

Timothy is genuinely walking in God's will, and so he is genuinely concerned for the welfare of the church-people. The sad part of this is that Paul had no one else with him in Rome who shared in this spirit of genuine care. We don't want to be like all those selfish, detached, Christians. We want to emulate God's heart as expressed in Paul and Timothy.

What is the heart that we should emulate?

You should have the heart for the body as the body, from the body to the body.

Paul has the heart;

"... I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you; because I do not seek what is yours, but you; ... I will most gladly spend and be expended for your lives. ..." 2 Corinthians 12:14-15

God is happy with the heart that reflects His own. It is His heart for the body. Paul had it. Timothy had it. God wants you and me to be people in our generation who gladly give, and give, and give of ourselves for one another's lives.

Do you seek the other members of the body?

Let's be honest with ourselves.

Is it possible that we have become spiritually imbalanced?

Do we reflect Christ in the godly men of the first generation?

Christ has always had body life on the forefront of His heart. It permeated the first church. We need a fresh spiritual revival. And I mean we need personal revival. We need to reclaim (in our day) being ready to come to one another, seeking one another. We need to reclaim most gladly being spent for one another's lives. This is the joy that God is teaching me lately. Let's all experience it together. Reach out in love to the people in this church. Do a heart-check.

Can you honestly say that you are like minded with Paul in the sense that you are willing to gladly spend and be spent for the body?

Do we really care about the average, common, regular everyday people who make up the body of Christ?

Are you selective?

Do you hold a grudge?

Did he or she quit becoming your brother or sister because you are mad at them and they don't act the way you want them to act?

Aren't you glad Jesus forgives you?

They are all around us, because they are every single one of us.

The world judges people's value and worth differently than you and I are supposed to. But we can stumble into the same snare. We can become more concerned about our own selves, and our own reputations, and our own time, and our own money--our own opinion, our own judgmentalism, or on our own yacht into heaven, that we are not relating to the full heart of God. Don't let your heart beat like the world's. Paul and Timothy were like-minded in that they really cared about the state of the body of Christ as God's special creation. The point is that the people in the body matter, and they matter enough for you to die for them if need be. Paul and Timothy are our godly examples in this. In 3:17, Paul plainly says to follow his own example. In 1 Corinthians, Paul says,

"1 Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ," 1 Corinthians 11:1

Paul is God's divine appointment to represent our roots. The life sustaining part is Christ. His example is what we are to imitate. Paul said,

"You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, . ... 7 so that you became an example to all the believers ..." 1 Thessalonians 1:6-7

God wants us to be imitators of both the apostles, and of Christ. God did not build the church with any other pattern. But God has always wanted the body to be the eternal fabric to reproduce the pattern throughout the generations. And then there is you. You are in the body. You are a thread in the eternal fabric. So now your job is to be an example of godliness to those around you based upon the apostles and the Lord. This is your ministry call. Others will imitate you as you also imitate Paul, Timothy, and especially Christ. This is true body-life that God has meant to exist through the generations.

Paul also says Timothy was sincere in this care. When you have true concern for other members of the body, then you are manifesting Christian love. Remember, Paul says, "I seek you." Insincere concern is the counterfeit. One way that you can know that you are not manifesting sincere concern in respect to God's love is in gossip. It is fueling little fires with others as you talk. Then your fire, (which has the appearance of concern) destroys people in the body. It destroys their efforts. It destroys their character. It plants seeds of suspicion. Little Gossip fires are manifestations of insincere concern in respect to Christian love. Gossip tears people down. Sometimes there is even insincerity in doing things for other people. It is when someone only has concern when they can get something in return. It is conditional love. It is not seeking the person. It is not seeking to spend and be spent for the person. Insincere care is when you do something only because you have to. Insincere care is really care about yourself. We don't want to be those people who seek after their own personal interests rather than what Christ is interested in. We want to be like Timothy, the godly man. Paul says,

"22 But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the good news like a child serving his father. 23 Therefore I hope to send him immediately, as soon as I see how things go with me; 24 and I trust in the Lord that I myself also will be coming shortly." Philippians 2:22-23

2@ Timothy served with Paul like a boy or girl should serve his or her daddy.

Paul knows he is going to be let go from prison. God has revealed it to him. It is just a matter of time. In the meantime, the father sends the obedient child. He reminds the Philippians about Timothy. Timothy's life, (as recorded all throughout the Bible) is an example of selflessness, submissiveness, faithfulness, love, accountability, and focus concerning the heart of Christ. Timothy served Paul like Paul was his spiritual father in the spread of the good news. I think this is an important point for us to learn from in respect to the theme of this sermon. You and I should look to the apostle Paul like our own spiritual father, in a sense, in the faith, that God raised up. Think like this: Think like Timothy is our big brother. God puts these men in our lives through His word. God says, look at your family picture. Both of these men have God's glory in mind. The family trait that you should have, is that you have God's glory in mind in whatever work you do. Paul reminded Timothy to,

"do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." 2 Timothy 4:5

Timothy is to be consumed with the good news. Paul directed Timothy to be an ordainer of pastors in the body, 1 Timothy 4:2. Paul urged Timothy to preach the Scriptures to the body, 2 Timothy 4:2. Timothy was proving himself to be an example of a godly man. Remember the sermon last week? God says to prove yourself to be child of light shining in your wicked generation. Your proof is simply your reflection of what God is interested in.

Actions speak loudly don't they?

When unsaved people see you, they want to see consistency. They want to see real consuming passion for Christ. What people are looking for is whether we are acting like a Christian at work, at play, and at rest. This is what your spouse wants to see. You should be quoting Scripture to your spouse: but do it to build up your spouse; or your children. Kids, you should be doing this for your parents. You should be praying regularly with your family. Do things for one another, in love. When we live the gospel out of our lives, then we are acting like our roots.

Where is your proven worth?

People should see Christ Who is in you. Let's learn from our roots where Timothy proved himself as a godly man. But Timothy was not the only godly man that Paul sent to Philippi. Paul says,

"25 But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need;" Philippians 2:25

Later in 4:18, Epaphroditus is identified as coming to Paul from Philippi with a gift of money for Paul's needs. There are three important things we can learn from this godly man. First, we notice that Paul refers to Epaphroditus as my brother. Paul is making the family comment that we are able to make about every Christian. I strongly urge you to start doing this if you don't do this already. Start getting in the habit of calling the members of the body your brothers, or sisters. This is the language of our roots. Paul knows that he is joined to Epaphroditus as the body. The connection is spiritual. Paul is demonstrating how personal our communion in the spiritual family of the body of Christ really is. Now think about this with me for a moment. The whole world is connected as brothers and sisters in the first Adam. He is the fleshly father. Paul preached that God,

"26 ... made from one blood every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, ..." Acts 17:26

The one blood of Adam connects everyone in sin. We were conceived and born in sin, and we have learned the ways of sin from our sinful forefather. We recognize what I started out this sermon wit, but let me reword it this way:

Adam has been there before us, and we walk in his footsteps. The world exists in the sum total of the experiences of the body of Adam, and his sinful quest.

In the curse of sin, humanity continues the curse of the body of Adam to live in selfishness, and strife. It's the sin of the world. But, when God does His work of regeneration, we become one spirit with Him. It is the Holy Matrimony that Paul speaks of when He says,

"... the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him." 1 Corinthians 6:17

The problem is that we look at ourselves, and we still see certain remnants of the one blood that connects us to the old family tree. But then we look to Christ and we see the One blood of atonement that saved us and gives us newness of life in Christ as members of His body. In salvation you are safe and secure. You are truly counted dead to sin, and dead to the old Adam. God adopts you into His great family in His Son. All Christians are part of God's family. This is why we should call each other by that special name--brother or sister. So, the first thing that godly Epaphroditus demonstrates is our tight family connection as the body of Christ. Paul also describes Epaphroditus as his fellow worker.

3@ We are God's workers who live our lives for Jesus.

You and I need to be fellow workers. Like Timothy, the man Epaphroditus had the higher call in mind. Part of his daily existence was to work as a co-laborer with Paul. We are so privileged to do this exact same thing. Think about this for a moment, because this is the eternal body of Christ connection that we all have to our roots. Every time we quote a scripture that Paul wrote, we are being fellow workers with Paul in Christ. Paul worked by the power of the Spirit to reveal God's will in writing. As you utilize the same Scriptures, you are co-laboring in Paul's work. Then Paul calls Epaphroditus a;

"... fellow soldier."

4@ We are army men--serving Jesus by fighting against evil.

Christ is our leader. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Paul is an apostolic general doing battle for the Lord from prison. Epaphroditus, Timothy, Luke, the Philippians, and all Christians who are focused upon serving Christ, are soldiers. You are a soldier. Paul uses this language often. It is language that has to do with fighting apostasy, sin, and the domain of darkness. Paul said,

"3 Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier." 2 Timothy 2:3-4

This is what we want to be like--a good soldier. The fact that there are good soldiers of Christ Jesus, means that there are bad soldiers too. The bad soldiers of our day are Christians who act so much like the world that people can't tell that they are Christians. The bad soldiers teach selfish Christianity. Good soldiering (on the other hand) is not easy. Suffering hardship occurs when you live basic Christianity. Good soldiering is difficult. You can only do it in the Spirit through the word. But it is you and I who must do it to be good soldiers. We must be willing to have personal self-sacrifice. We must recognize the beauty of the body and fight alongside our brothers and sisters as a team; not divided. You don't get tangled up in something that distracts you from who you are in the body. This is why it is so important not to fellowship with the world. When you fellowship with the world, you are acting like they are your brothers and sisters. So what happens is that we quit thinking that we are in a battle. We begin accepting the world that we were delivered from. We become bad soldiers. Epaphroditus and Timothy are outside prison. They are doing battle as fellow soldiers of the gospel army. This describes godly men, and God has given them to us as examples in His word. With all of these examples given to us, and with the rest of God's word, you have all the tools you need to be the best soldier for Christ that you can be. So, let's do it. Let's minister to each other's needs. Epaphroditus ministered to Paul's need. Epaphroditus not only gave his time and effort to relay messages back and forth across hundreds of miles by foot between Paul and the Philippians, but he also brought gifts to Paul from Philippi, as we see in 4:16-19. Let's be doers like Epaphroditus. He was a doer. He considered his Christianity as much more than resting on a yacht. If anything, Paul, Timothy, and Epaphroditus demonstrate to us that we should be the workers on the yacht.

We notice something else about Epaphroditus. He got sick while practicing body life, in fighting in the battle as a soldier, working for Christ, and ministering to Paul's needs. He came close to death for the work of Christ. Paul says,

"25 But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, ... 26 because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. 27 For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned about you." Philippians 2:25-28

Epaphroditus was sick and had almost died, but God healed him. I want us to notice something in particular that Paul says concerning the healing of Epaphroditus. Paul says that God had mercy.

5) This is number 5 for the children--God has mercy.

This is important because in our contemporary culture, (where the church is drifting from its roots) there is a false teaching being spread that God should heal every Christian who is sick. If you don't get healed, the false teaching goes on to assert that the reason is because you lack faith, or you have some unconfessed sin, or you are not aware that God will heal you, and so in your ignorance of this doctrine, you stay sick. But, this demonstrates that the modern teaching of the false doctrines of healing, are wrong. Clearly, healing was not something that godly Paul, or godly Epaphroditus thought must happen. Paul the apostle had enough faith for Epaphroditus to be healed, if faith were all it takes. What Paul is plainly telling the Philippians is that the healing of Epaphroditus was something that God decided to do based solely upon His mercy. As God's apostle, who walked full of faith, Paul saw people get miraculously healed all the time. But, Paul calls this a mercy healing. It is not an expected healing that must come because we want it too. Paul says the healing came because,

1) God had mercy on Epaphroditus.

2) God had mercy on Paul so that he would not have sorrow upon sorrow.

And finally

3) God healed Epaphroditus so that the Philippians will rejoice and Paul will be less concerned about them.

Not one of these has anything to do with quantity of faith, confessing sin, or some supposed guaranteed healing. God had mercy. This was a unique, sovereign, decision by God, based on mercy that God thought was proper to administer. But, I want to go deeper with this point for a moment. Think of the godly man, Paul. Paul had a bad affliction. He called it a thorn in his flesh. He entreated the Lord three times to take it away. Paul kept track of his prayer requests. But, then what does Paul say that God's answer is? He says that God had grace on Paul. It is where mercy means something else. The grace is that God is going to keep that thorn in Paul's flesh. We read,

"And He [God] has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness' ..."

This is the mercy of God, or more accurately--the grace of God. What is Paul's reaction? We read on,

Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." 2 Corinthians 12:9

This is grace and mercy as God defines it in each instance.

Paul says that because of God's healing, he sent Epaphroditus back to the Philippians. Then, finally Paul says,

"29 Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard; 30 because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me." Philippians 2:29-30

We need to seriously look to the example of Epaphroditus. Anyone like him should be held in high regard. Years ago I heard a missionary preach a sermon, and somewhere in the middle of the sermon, he said,

"There are no heroes in God's Kingdom--only obedient Christians."

Immediately when I heard that, I thought to myself,

Okay, that sounds right--there are only people being used by God in obedience;

In fact, a lot of people said "amen," when he said it:

"There are no heroes in God's Kingdom--only obedient Christians."

Since then, I have had a chance to rethink what the man was saying. I still think that there is a way to look at the statement as true, but I also think we can dig deeper. What I mean is that God is telling us to hold certain Christians in high regard. Whether we want to argue with Paul's statement or not, it is high regard--it is honor that is not meant for other Christians. Paul clearly says,

"hold men like him in high regard."

It's not a suggestion. This is a command from the Lord. In fact, Paul directs us over and over again to do this. He says,

"... we request of you, brothers, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, 13 and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work," 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13.

It is a request from the godly men of the Bible that we are learning from. It is not a suggestion. Paul repeats this kind of thing to Timothy,

"17 The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, 'You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing,' and "The laborer is worthy of his wages." 1 Timothy 5:17-18

High regard, high esteem, and double honor are all things that show pronounced appreciation. This is what God has wanted from the body in the beginning. It is what he wants now. Learning from, and living out, God's examples of Godly men is not hard. It is easy to do if we will submit to God by submitting to His word in our lives, and we do it as those who look to others as being more important than ourselves. It is not your opinion. It is not philosophy. It is God's word. Basically, what you and I learn from Epaphroditus, is abandonment of our comfort zones to be about the work of Christ. Let's call it,

The Epaphroditus Principle:

Abandoning your comfort zones to be about the work of Christ.

Epaphroditus risked his life for Christ. He got sick and almost died. The point is that you and I can also risk our lives for Christ. It may not be your physical life. It could be your reputation. It might be your job that you risk because you refuse to do something you know is wrong. It might be your cash overflow that you risk because you see a ministry need, and you give to take care of it. It is always a risk when we sacrifice our comfort zones for the battle zone of serving the Lord. God truly wants us to take risks for the sake of Christ, and the bottom line is that we are not going to do it if we don't move to the heartbeat of the cause of our King. We must trust in Him. We may end up sick to the point of death like Epaphroditus. Or, we may end up in prison, like Paul. What matters is the cause of Christ. Paul said that all those things happened to Epaphroditus because of the work of Christ.

I urge all of us to be following the example of these godly men. Do the work of Christ. Following the example of Timothy means being like-minded with Paul and Jesus in willing to spend your self for other's lives. It means to look at all Christians as valuable possessions of God. Following the example of Timothy means to go beyond merely seeking your own interests. It means to seek the interests of Jesus. It means to prove your Christian character. This is what God wants you and I to do. And then Epaphroditus. His example was being a fellow worker in the cause of Christ. We want to be fellow workers too. You don't want to be known by God and others as someone who sits on the sidelines each day concerning the upward call in Christianity. The example of Epaphroditus that we want is to be a warrior in God's kingdom. It means being loyal. It means you are going to have to have self-sacrifice. You are going to have to have united team work with the body. The example of Epaphroditus was that he risked his life for the gospel. He abandoned his comfort zones for the work of Christ in the battle zone. Let's do this together as brothers and sisters. We are God's people. God is looking for you to be the Paul's, Timothy's, and the Epaphroditus' in your day. God wants all of us to be life-giving roots for the next generation of the body. We need to be the Christians who have God's full heart beat as our own heart beat. We can not (we must not) rely on someone else to do it. Let's all do this, this week and every single day.

1) Theme: God wants us to learn from the example of _________ men.
CHOOSE:  nice, godly, great

2) Timothy served with Paul like a boy or girl should _____ his or her daddy.
CHOOSE:  see, know, serve

3) We are God's WO__ KERS who live our lives for Jesus.

4) We are God's ___________-men who serve Jesus by fighting against evil.
CHOOSE:  big, little, army

5) God has ___________.
CHOOSE:  mess, mail, mercy