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Introduction
Read Text of
Philippians 2:19-20.
When studying a passage of scripture such as we
have before us today, one that seemingly has no direct didactic teaching
in it, some special care needs to be taken. The
last twelve verses of Philippians 2 are personal comments from the apostle Paul to the
believers at Philippi. In general he tells them about arrangements he is
making to send Timothy and Epaphroditus to them. In the process he
commends both of them very highly.
The pastor-teacher comes to such a
text with the question, What would God have me teach, if anything, from
this text? I think the primary question to ask is, Why is this included
in the scriptures? What might God have wanted to impress on the
generations of Christians who would hear, read and meditate on this
passage?
Here’s my take. First it is the Word of God, and I have no
choice but to believe that “all scripture is inspired of God and
profitable.” Secondly, a prayerful read and re-read of the passage
brings out rather strongly something that is validated in scripture
elsewhere. Thirdly, it is timely for me to look into this topic, and I
think important to the church as well.
Let’s take a few minutes
together to consider the character of the two servant leaders about whom
Paul writes, men whom he commends so highly, and let’s extract for our
edification what their character has to say about the subject of
Christian leadership. Along the way, let’s open our hearts to the Holy
Spirit, asking Him to inspire each of us with something fresh.
Relational Presence
Leadership in the church of Jesus Christ is
personal, it is warm, it is relational and it is marked by genuinely
friend-like relationship. Consider the relationship between Paul and
Timothy, for example. They had spent a lot of time together, ever since
young Tim first met the apostle and began hanging around him, helping
him, asking him questions and doing whatever he could to help him in his
ministry. Soon, with the leave of his mother and grand- mother who
obviously trusted Paul, Timothy left with Paul on his ministry travels
to be his helper, his disciple and his protégé. They traveled together,
ministered side by side and were even locked up in jail cells together.
They became close friends in the process, apparently, as Paul could
share this tender, deeply meaningful phrase about Timothy: I have no one
else like him. Paul entrusted to Timothy responsibilities like going to
Corinth to help settle some problems in that church, accompanying him on
his second missionary journey, and eventually entrusting to Timothy the
pastoral position at Ephesus, one of the pivotal churches Paul
established. But no other compliment could befall Timothy that would
capture how Paul felt about him more than
1 Tim. 1:2 – Timothy, my true
son in the faith.
What Timothy learned from Paul, among other things,
was that to minister to others, you have to truly invest yourself—to
invest yourself in their lives. Timothy watched Paul develop his
relationship with the Philippian believers, and was right at his elbow
when Paul wrote this very letter, including deeply personal exchanges
like the words in
chapter one: I thank my God for all of you…I always
pray with joy when I pray for you…It is right for me to feel this way
about you, because I have you in my heart…I long for all of you with the
affection of Christ Jesus.
And Timothy picked up on that apostolic
example of relational ministry. Look at what Paul says of him in
verses 29-30: I have no one else like him,
who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for
his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy has proved himself, because as a son
with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. Yes,
Timothy had learned to minister to people, not as a professional cleric,
but in deeply personal terms, as a friend—just like his mentor, Paul.
What of Epaphroditus, the man with the strong Latin name, the strong
Roman contingent in the apostolic team? He became known as the
“Messenger of the Church”—the one whom Paul and others trusted with
messages and even money sent overland hundreds of miles. A hard worker
and a loyal servant, Epaphroditus was more than a servant—he was Paul’s
friend. Look again at the magnanimous description of this guy by Paul in
verse 25: my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier. He confesses
that if Pap had died from his recent serious illness, it would have
brought on Paul “sorrow upon sorrow.”
Would you notice a little
detail that could so easily slip by? In
verse 29 Paul asks the
Philippians to “welcome” Epaphroditus when he returns to them, and to do
so with great joy. Sometimes those who serve faithfully are taken for
granted, and we always just assume they’re going to do a good job, and
we forget to be thankful or to remind them how glad we are for their
part in the church. Paul says, Hey guys, do something special for Pap—he
almost died, because he was sick; and he was so sick because he’s worked
hard for the Kingdom. Let him know how much you mean to him, will ya’?
Bake a cake, give him a gift certificate to Outback Steakhouse, welcome
him with open arms!
One more detail—and this has to do with the
familiarity issue between the church family and a leader who serves his
church as a friend. When a pastor or other spiritual leader, like an
elder, commits himself to building real relationships, it sometimes
backfires on him. Having become a friend and humble servant among
others, and not an uppity, exalted, detached leader who never mixes it
up with the regular folks, people can tend to forget or minimize his
spiritual authority. When he teaches and exhorts the others in the body,
there can be a tendency of familiarity, and the people find themselves
thinking, Oh, that’s just good old Pap doing his thing.
There is a
tendency in this era of mega-churches, marketing as evangelism, and
bigger is better-ism to believe that a trade-off is okay. People will
trade off the privilege of knowing their pastor (and having their pastor
know them personally) for the benefit of bigger and better programs,
large crowds, entertainment and the comfortable irresponsibility of
being just a face in the crowd at church—somebody who’s not missed when
he is not there, somebody who can stay detached, uninvolved and
non-relational.
But as you read the New Testament and the very strong
and direct language of being members of the body of Christ and members
of one another, of being in genuine, growing relationships with others,
including the sometimes difficult challenge of being truthful and loving
with each other, then the idea of belonging to a church where you are
more of a number than a name, a cold cipher than a real live saint,
another member instead of a beloved brother or sister in Christ, just
won’t cut it. And it does begin with leadership. I’m suggesting that
leaders must run the risk of being real, regular Christians, who choose
to lead people Jesus-style—not by lording over them, but by serving
them. And in doing so, they will run the risk of not being respected
like the big boys.
Timothy and Epaphroditus have learned from Paul
that asserting yourself as the big shot, insisting that people treat you
as something special because you’re the leader, is the wrong approach.
They’ve learned that in any competition between being showy and
self-important to impress others about your leadership and the quiet
servant-hearted leadership rising out of genuine love and relationship,
servanthood wins, hands down. Tim and Pap were relational
servant-leaders and not pompous glory-grabbers. As a result the people
needed to be reminded to not take such prized servant-leaders for
granted. So Paul writes to remind the saints in
verse 29: Honor men like
him.
Enduring Service
What other characteristic did Tim and Pap
manifest? They were enduring disciples. You get the definite impression
that these two men were in it for the long haul. Too many Christians
will not qualify as enduring disciples. Paul wrote of Demas in
2 Timothy 4 as a man who because he loved this world, has deserted me. Of another
man, Alexander, he writes did me a great deal of harm. In fact there is
quite of list of disciples who did not stay with Paul, but these two men
were faithful. They had served with Paul a long time, and they were
there to carry on Paul’s work when he was gone, either in prison or on
missionary journeys. Timothy: as a son with his father, he served with
me.
Far too often people quit serving, leave behind opportunities to
help because such actions are inconvenient or expensive, uncomfortable
or require effort. Ministry always costs.
Verse 25 tells us plainly
that the Philippian church had sent Epaphroditus to help take care of
[Paul’s] needs, and that he had risked his life to make up for the help
you could not give me (vs.
30). The word for risking his life is akin to
PARABOLANI. It’s actually the word for a gambler. (Guild in Alexandria)
The distance between Philippi and Paul’s Roman prison cell was 800
miles—at best a seven-week journey, one fraught with danger. That’s the
kind of trip these men were willing to make as kingdom servants. These
men were gamblers for God, willing to do whatever it took.
In A.D.
252 a deadly plague broke out in Carthage; thousands died. The heathen
threw out the bodies of their dead and fled in terror lest they would be
infected. Cyprian was the Christian bishop in Carthage. He gathered his
congregation together and urged them to bury the dead and to nurse the
sick in that plague-stricken city as a matter of service to Christ. They
did it, and by so doing they saved the city, at the risk of their lives,
from destruction and desolation.
You simply cannot qualify as a
Christian servant while you are focused on your own interests. Paul said
of Timothy, [he] takes a genuine interest in [the people’s] welfare. And Epaphroditus’ primary concern was not his own potentially fatal illness,
but he was worried about the believers back home worrying about him!
That’s what all of chapter two has been about, considering the needs of
others as more important than your own. Being a Christian friend is
often, no—usually inconvenient. But let me ask you, follower of Christ,
what better thing do you have to do with the rest of your life?
- Of
course it’s not easy to give up an evening in front of the boob tube to
attend a prayer meeting! If it was easy, everyone would do it!
- No, it’s not a comfortable decision to spend three or four hours a week
working with teens or teaching children, but no one ever said that we
were called to comfort!
- Does leading a Life Group and
taking part of the responsibility part of the spiritual development of
8-10 other believers feel daunting? Sure it does! But if God is
glorified in your sacrificial service, you will be blessed by being a
blessing to others.
- Of course it’s challenging to give your
hard earned money to the church, to missions, to benevolent needs when
we have so many other obligations; but, as Corrie ten Boom said, He
didn’t call us because it was easy, He called us because it was right,
and whose money did you say it was?
Sometimes just loving others is
difficult. Sometimes it takes courage. If you need to confront someone
about sin in their life it takes a unique kind of courage—a willingness
to risk that precious relationship by confronting them in love, because
you know what’s best for them. And there’s a certain trepidation and
hesitation because you recognize your own walk is not all it should be,
either. But, praying in humility for God’s mercy and grace, both for
yourself and the other person, and talking with them in deeply caring
terms, you step out to do what’s right. That is enduring discipleship.
Success in the Christian life is not perfection—we none of us attain
that. Success is staying the course, in spite of the difficulty. Neither
is success in the Christian life being acknowledged or rewarded with
honor by people. That wise sage Erma Bombeck once warned: "Don't confuse
fame with success. Madonna is one, and Helen Keller is the other." Jesus
defined success in the Christian life as becoming like little children,
as being voluntarily last instead of first, as serving instead of being
served, as giving your life for your friends.
Collaborative
Blessing
Now imagine a bunch of Timothy’s and Epaphroditus’ together
in a church, and just think of what could happen. These servant leaders,
through loving those they serve, serving those they love, and modeling
such characteristics of Christian leadership, will slowly influence the
church toward virtuous behavior and mutual love. They will gradually
earn the love and respect of everyone else in the church, and that
church will follow their example. . .
Thomas Brook once said,
“Example is the most powerful rhetoric.” I bring this encouragement to
all of us this morning – not just challenging you to applaud and love
and respect the Tims and Paps among you, but to emulate their loving
service. That is what God desires would happen through leadership. When
leaders truly love and lead through serving and model the Christian
life, people will learn to trust them and let them lead. When leadership
asserts itself and imposes its authority over others, people will
eventually resist, resent, and even rebel.
Church leadership is not
so much IN CHARGE OF as they are IN SERVICE TO the church. Their job is
to
- love the people,
- serve the people,
- know the people
in personal terms,
- lead the people of the church, through prayer
and the Word,
- model the faith life.
Heaven is going to be
wonderful. But to live life and serve the Lord and each other on this
sin-scorched planet alongside a few brothers and sisters who take the
Lord’s calling serious . . . Does that sound wonderful to you? Will you
be the kind of genuine, involved, courageous leader that will serve
others and will model it so well that they are drawn into similar lives
of discipleship?
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