Pauls commendation of Timothy and Epaphroditus

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Paul commends Timothy and Epaphroditus to the church at Phillipi.

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I understand and recognize that it is a challenge to just to look at a few passages of scripture each week and as is the case many times going back to those same passages that we looked at the week before and drawing out what the word is saying, making more, making more interpreting the word by the scripture by going back and continuing to look at that and I know that for people that are and have an issue with sometimes being having a short attention span,
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I'm one of those people, that that is a challenge, however it is a more necessary and needful for us to patiently and to continuously to look verse by verse through the text of what the scripture says so that we as God's people are dependent upon the word of God and not dependent upon the preacher from week to week having an ingenious idea or a thought that is catchy, that is nothing more than a fleeting fancy and something that will not last eternally.
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And so the very reason that we go verse by verse through passage of through the books of the
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Bible like we do and have done is because you as God's people deserve no less than the best, than the best is the word of God.
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And so I just want to encourage you as week to week I will always try to give a quick summary of where we had left off as I'm going to do today, but in Philippians chapter 2 we're going to read verses 17 through verse 30 and then
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I'm just going to try to preach to you and teach to you what the word of God says. Verse 17, the word of God says this, yes, the apostle
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Paul says yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith,
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I am glad and rejoice with you all. For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me.
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But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly that I also may be encouraged when
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I know your state. For I have no one like minded who will sincerely care for your state.
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For all seek their own and not the things which are of Christ Jesus. But you know his proven character that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel, therefore
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I hope to send him at once as soon as I see how it goes with me. But I trust in the
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Lord that I myself shall also come shortly, yet I considered it necessary to send to you
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Epaphroditus my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need, since he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick.
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For indeed he was sick almost unto death, but God had mercy on him and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
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Therefore I send him the more eagerly that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less sorrowful.
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Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness and hold such men in esteem because for the work of Christ he came close to death not regarding his life to supply what was lacking in your service toward me.
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And so remembering that this book of Philippians Paul wrote,
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I guess probably, historians, it's dated from around the year 60 to 61
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AD, Paul is writing to a group of people at Philippi who he has not only had great experiential or experiences in the gospel with, but people who he is personally involved with and whom he loves greatly.
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That is evidenced by what he says early on in his introduction to the people of Philippi.
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He's always praying for them, he's always thanking God for them, and it's always, always, always based and centered and stems from their relationship to one another in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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I think about historically speaking when Martin Luther was outed by the
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Roman Catholic Church for his stance on the sufficiency of Scripture.
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The Roman Catholic Church in their stance even to this day is still yet that the authority of Scripture is not in the
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Scripture alone, but is in the Scripture and the traditions of the
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Catholic Church. Now we know, hopefully you're aware, that one of the very reasons that the
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Protestant Reformation came about was because of the issue of the sufficiency of Scripture.
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So Martin Luther was put on trial, he was set before councils, and they told him to recant his stance on the sufficiency of Scripture, that the
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Scripture alone is sufficient to save a man. And that the Scripture alone for the
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Christian is our foundation, is our basis, is our everything, and is our all when it comes to the knowledge of God.
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And when it comes to knowing our relationship and our standing before a holy
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God. And so Martin Luther made this statement when asked to recant his stance on the sufficiency of Scripture, his stance on justification by faith alone.
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It was simply something like this, here I stand, I can do no other.
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And I can associate to a small degree with Martin Luther's stance there, and I believe it's something that all of us as Christians ought to consider and think about and to understand and to know that we can do nothing else but preach the
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Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul to the
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Roman Church in Romans chapter 1 and verse 16 said it like this,
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I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to the
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Jew first, and also to the Greek. So praise God, praise
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God for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We will see, if you'll go back and you'll read back a little bit in Philippians, just one chapter, you'll see that the
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Apostle Paul's main focus and the central theme of this epistle to the people at Philippi is simply
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Jesus Christ. It is the person of Christ, the work of Christ, his hope in life and in death is
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Jesus Christ. What is your hope today? If your hope is founded upon philosophies of men, you have a failing hope.
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If your hope and your trust in salvation is based upon any work that you do, it's going to be a failing hope.
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If you do not trust in anything other than the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross as the propitiation for the sins of mankind, and I'll speak specifically for my sin, he died for me, amen?
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I know that today. It was a specific atoning sacrifice.
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In anything less than the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is another
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Gospel. So, Paul's hope, he said in Philippians 1 .21,
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and we're going to get to the text, but I want to give this introduction leading back as summary. In Philippians 1 .21,
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the Apostle Paul made this statement, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
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His hope was Jesus Christ. You'll find today that in the religious world, and I'll say in the religious world, and I'll even go so far as this, that in the church world, and I say that in quotes a little bit sarcastically, that there are keywords and there are terms that are used.
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Friends, it would do us good if we would just understand, learn, and know the doctrines that are laid out in the
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Scriptures and stick to these doctrinal terms. We'll be far better for it as the church of Jesus Christ.
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The Gospel is the keyword Paul uses here. The Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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It is repeated over and over and over. Charles Spurgeon said this concerning the
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Gospel, when we preach Christ crucified, we have no reason to stammer or stutter or hesitate or apologize.
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There is nothing in the Gospel of which we have any cause to be ashamed.
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Some may say, well, there's nothing new in the Gospel and how true that statement is.
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There is nothing new in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It has been the same from everlasting to everlasting.
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The Lord said in the Old Testament, I am the Lord and I change not.
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So why should the body of Christ seek anything other than the old truth of the
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Gospel of Jesus Christ? Spurgeon also said this, let this be to you the mark of true
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Gospel preaching where Christ is everything. And the creature is nothing where it is salvation, all of grace through the work of the
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Holy Spirit applying to the soul, the precious blood of Jesus.
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Oh, friends today, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the central theme of this epistle to the
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Philippian church. And so as as we set in here to verse 17, remembering the
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Apostle Paul does not know the future. He has been called of God to be an apostle.
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He had seen the resurrected Christ. He has been personally commissioned to be the apostle to the church, to preach the
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Gospel in this time for the purpose of the inspired word being penned for us.
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And so he don't, and yet he's not able to foresee into the future. All he knows that right now is where he's at, likely he's rotting from a
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Roman prison cell. He's rotting, having probably been beaten, having been tortured for the
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Gospel's sake. And yet remember from the past three, four, three, four months in now, four months into this year, the past four months in this first chapter through the second chapter to where we are now, his hope has remained consistent.
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His hope has remained steadfast because his hope and his happiness was not based upon the circumstances of his life, but upon the finished work of Jesus Christ.
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And so here in verse 17, he, after having encouraged them to, to live out their faith in the previous verses, he says this, yes.
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And if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith,
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I am glad and rejoice with you all. In layman's terms, it's as if he were saying,
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I don't know if this is it or not. I don't know if I'm going to get out of this mess or not.
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He said, but I'll tell you one thing, if I am being poured out as an offering on the sacrifice,
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I know I'm being poured out on the sacrifice. And the scripture is clear here.
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He says on the sacrifice of the service, on the service of your faith.
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And I am glad and rejoice with you all because they had the common faith.
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There is only one faith. There is one Lord and one baptism, one
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God and one father of all the apostles said and one father of all who is in you all and through you all the faith he was resting in this.
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And so he makes this great statement and he says in verse 18, for the same reason, you also be glad and rejoice with me.
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Here's a man in the shape that he's in, riding from the prison house, hoping in Jesus Christ to encourage the saints of God in Philippi.
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And he says, look, I'm rejoicing because I'm hearing that the gospel of Jesus Christ is going forth, that you're standing fast.
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He said, I've already encouraged you to hold forth the word of life. I'm rejoicing.
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And so they get encouragement from the man in the prison house. How encouraging is that?
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He said, I want you to rejoice with me. And then in verse 19, he says, but I trust in the
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Lord Jesus. He keeps going back to this. He keeps going back to this.
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I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you. Where did his hope lie?
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In Jesus Christ. And then here, remember, it's Paul and Timothy writing this letter.
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Paul and Timothy are writing this letter to the church of Philippi. And so he says,
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I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, excuse me, that I also may be encouraged when
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I know your state. He said, I'm going to send Timothy, Lord willing, to you shortly so that when he gets to you all, he'll be able to bring back word to me.
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Point of reference, when you're reading the text of the scripture, understand that though you may read it in five minutes or an hour, it did not transpire in five minutes or an hour.
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It is a process that went on sometimes for months at a time, weeks, months, years at a time.
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When we read these letters, they didn't have FedEx. Everybody know that?
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It wasn't as easy as it is today. They didn't have Facebook Live and could say, post it and see this.
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There had to be these messengers that went back and forth carrying these messages to the church.
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Something else that is very, very important as we begin to look here at verse 20, that the churches,
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Philippi, the churches scattered abroad as Peter wrote to, Colossae, Ephesus, Galatia, these churches were receiving what we have as the inspired word of God through the apostles that God ordained to have his word breathed out through and carried to these churches.
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So in understanding this, it wasn't just anybody could show up and give a message because they had the same problem that the church world has today.
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Many false apostles who were coming to bring different messages than the inspired teaching of the
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Holy Spirit. And so when the church will see, and I'm just giving you a bit of context before we read out of the scripture here, what it says here so that you're aware why it's so important.
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And so the church had to be aware of who these messages were being carried back and forth through.
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They had to be approved. They had to be recognized. They had to be trusted.
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You need to be able to trust who brings you the word of God. You need to or else it doesn't do you any good.
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I'm not calling for blind trust in me. Right. I'm saying I want you to trust when
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I preach the word to you, but I want you more than that to test what's preached to you by the scripture.
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So when having tested it by the scripture, you know the next time
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I can trust what he says or not. Amen. And so the apostle
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Paul begins to. And remember, this is this is a I'm going to call it a sappy emotional letter.
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I'm a sappy emotional person, but it is. It is a sappy emotional letter.
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It's communicating his love for the people at Philippi and listen to what he says in verse 19.
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I trust to send Timothy to you shortly so that I may also be encouraged and know your state.
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In verse 20, listen to the commendation that he gives concerning Timothy, for he said, for I have no one like minded.
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What did Paul do earlier in Philippians? He encouraged everybody to be like minded of the same mind around one thing.
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That is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Paul says concerning Timothy, I have no one that is so like minded as myself.
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What a statement he says, I have no one like minded who will sincerely care for your state.
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What was their state? It was a state of persecution. It was a state of upheaval.
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It was a state of trouble. And yet through it all, it was a state where they were unified around the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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He said, I have no one like minded who will sincerely care for your state for all. Verse 21, for all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus.
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Wow, what a statement, what a statement concerning Timothy here, all seek their own, not the things which are of Jesus Christ.
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Do you know how hard it is? And how hard and how forward, and here's where when you're here for Sunday school, you'll hear that we're praying for the folks at Eden Chapel.
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We're praying for Aaron Case down the road because he is a godly man.
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He is in the word. He is in the scriptures. He knows what he's talking about.
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Very, very focused on the word of God. How hard it is for the man of God at churches, this, that one or any other church to set aside the focus that we want to put on ourselves and to rightly lay it down and focus it upon Jesus Christ.
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Because guess what, as pastors, as elders of the church, there is a great responsibility placed on us.
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Sir, without a doubt, he is a man who does not seek himself, but the things of Christ.
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When he stands to preach the word of God unto us, he is seeking the things of Jesus Christ.
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Many times that will seem like anger. Many times it will seem like arrogance.
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Many times it will seem like false humility. But in truth, it is what is necessary and right for the man of God to do.
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And so the apostle Paul, in describing Timothy, is saying, Timothy, I don't know anybody that is so like minded as me.
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And again, we're not bringing ourselves into this picture. The context of what's being said is
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Paul speaking of Timothy. And he says this, Timothy in verse 22, you know his proven character.
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How that he served with me in the gospel. Very quickly, if you would turn back to the book of Acts chapter 16.
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And I know it's a memory jog and you may or may not remember it, but earlier this year when we began into the book of Philippians, we spoke to you about the connection, the experiences that the people of Philippi and Paul shared.
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And we went back to the book of Acts to read you those things so that you can have an idea of just how they were connected in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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But we didn't go back and read to you the first four verses, actually first five verses of chapter 16.
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And this is how Timothy is so connected to them, because Timothy was there back through the writing of the book of Acts for these things that the church went through at Philippi.
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He was there with them, sharing in the gospel of Jesus Christ. But listen to what the book of Acts says.
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Scripture interpreting Scripture, Scripture giving the context of itself. Verse one,
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Then he came to Derbe and Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple was there named
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Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed. But his father was
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Greek or Gentile. He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium.
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Paul wanted to have him go on with him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the
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Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
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And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem.
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So the churches were strengthened in faith and increased in number daily. You want to talk about a connection that Timothy had with Paul and how
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Paul says, you know, his proven character. Timothy did not go with Paul as a newborn child.
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Timothy's mother was a Jewish woman. His father was a Greek and unbelieving
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Gentile. And so as it is in the case with many families, there are one part of the family who is lost and one who is saved.
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And he was taught the scriptures. He was taught the scriptures by his mother. And again, his mother being
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Jewish, he had some connection to the Jewish people. And so when they went on these missionary journeys, it was important that when they went to the
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Jewish regions, it was important to Paul that Timothy be able and be able and have a connection with the
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Jewish people of his time. And so as an adult, however old he was,
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I don't know. I do not pretend to know that. But we can infer from the text of scripture, he was not a baby.
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He was not a newborn. The Bible says in Acts 16 that Paul took him and circumcised him for that reason so that the connection, the link might be made between him and the
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Jews so that the Jews would have no reason to disbelieve what was being spoken.
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And so Timothy, as an adult, submits to being circumcised by Paul. So this is where Timothy or where Paul is saying, you know, his proven character, you know how devoted he is to the gospel, that as a son with his father, he served with me in the gospel.
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Therefore, verse 23, therefore, I hope to send him at once as soon as I see how it goes with me.
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There's that that longing again. I hope to send him to you. I just got to find out how it's going to go with me.
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Am I going to go home or am I going to get out of this place? Am I going to see you after a while or am
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I going to see you after a while? And so he said here in verse 24 again, but I trust in the
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Lord that I also myself will come shortly. Verse 25, yet I considered it necessary to send to you
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Epaphroditus, the introduction of another of Paul's fellow labors, the introduction of another of Paul's companions in the gospel.
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And Epaphroditus was the messenger to the church at Philippi that at this current time was carrying back and forth messages from the church to the apostle
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Paul in prison and so on and so forth. So Paul said, I considered it necessary to send to you
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Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need since he was longing for you all.
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You see this constant desiring to be together and evidence of salvation listed in the first in the first, second and third epistle of John is like is this that the brethren in Christ, the brothers and sisters in Christ, those who have been saved by grace will desire to be with one another.
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And so he said he longs for you all and he was distressed because you heard that he was sick.
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He was already feeling bad, but it made him feel bad because he didn't want you to feel bad.
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Did everybody get that? That's deep, but that's the truth. That's what it says there.
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And the Bible says, for indeed, Paul said he was sick almost unto death, but God had mercy on him and not only upon on him, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
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Sorrow upon sorrow means one heartache upon another heartache upon another heartache.
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It's not just that that phrase there is not just meaning just just the two sorrows.
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It's sorrow stacked upon sorrow. And Paul was so connected and Paul so loved them because of the grace of God that he said, look, if Epaphroditus had died, it would have broke your heart, speaking to the
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Philippians. And Paul was saying, if it would have broke your hearts, not only would my heart have been broken because Epaphroditus had gone and was with us no more, but my heart would have been broken because your heart was so broken and it would have been a continual heaping of sorrow upon sorrow.
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Therefore, verse 28, I send him the more eagerly that when you see him again, you may rejoice and be less sorrowful.
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It is natural to be sorrowful in hard times. Amen. Stupid grins won't help you.
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It doesn't change what is. Amen. You can put on a happy face, but if you're sad, you're sad.
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That's just how it is. But Paul said here, he said, I was so eager to send him to you so that you may rejoice and I may be less sorrowful in my condition, in my state here from the prison house, so that having heard of your rejoicing,
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I would be less sorrowful than what I am over everything that's happening and taking place.
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And he said, verse 29, receive him, therefore, in the
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Lord. This is the apostle Paul's commendation of Epaphroditus. He's saying, look, when he gets there, receive him.
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That word receive right there, it doesn't just mean give him the nod.
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You see him come in the door, don't give him that, but receive him, run to him, love him, let him know the love of Christ, receive him with gladness and hold such men in esteem because for the work of Christ, there that is again the theme, the focus, because for the work of Christ, he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me.
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What a commendation. And so that is where we're stopping this morning.
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That is where we're going to leave off. Lord willing, we'll pick up chapter three, verse one next week.
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But through this passage of scripture, through this section of scripture, we see more of the love of Christ that is being demonstrated by the apostle
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Paul through preserved in through the Holy Spirit for us through the scriptures here.
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So it is so very important that we take this to heart, that we look at this, that when when when it comes and this is just in closing the application,
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I would say, of the scripture. Remember that a biblically based, a doctrinally based message will do a number of things.
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It will convict us of truth and error. Right. And that conviction by the
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Holy Spirit compels us to do the right thing. And so the conviction is that the the example of church leadership ought to be something like this, that the apostle
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Paul commended to the church at Philippi. And so when you're speaking to someone, you're talking to someone and they start talking about the church or their church or or this is going on or that's going on.
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And how do I know that what how the church should be operating, how the church should be functioning?
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You always, always, always go to the word of God because the word of God is clear.
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And in most cases, and I'm going to and I say that carefully, in most cases, the word of God will will interpret itself, will explain itself elsewhere within the word, if not immediately in the passage of scripture that you're looking at.
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However, there are times and things, not this, but there are things that none of us will ever know that God speaks because he is sovereign and Lord of all.
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He does not need to let us in on. We are not called to be privy to everything that God knows, because if we did, we would be
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God or we would just explode one of the two, likely just explode because us being
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God will never happen. That's right. So it's important to keep that in mind.
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So so so church life, church leadership, look to the scriptures, look to the scriptures to find the model, the example, the principles for that in our lives.
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So so what a beautiful statement that Paul has has given to the church.
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And we'll see in the weeks to come as we continue on through Philippians, we'll see the apostle doing no less than what he has done up to where we're at right here at the beginning of chapter three, no less than exalting the name of the
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Lord Jesus Christ, his gospel, his salvation.
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He is Lord Heavenly Father, God, I thank you. And I praise you for this day.
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I thank you and praise you for this time that you have given us. Thank you and praise you for your precious and your holy word today.