1. "If you're only willing to serve Christ in ways that advance yourself, is it really Christ you're serving? So much essential work that advances the gospel is slow and obscure, tedious and tiring. It's hidden from sight, and it's frankly hard. One crucial test of whether you're serving God and the gospel is whether you serve in ways that do nothing to serve you."

2. "Selflessness can't be a mere behavior or even habit. It has to flow from a mind and heart that are tuned to Christ's own mind and heart. In order to qualify as Christian, selflessness has to emerge from a heart transformed by Christ's selfless sacrifice for you."

3. "Character equals pressure plus time plus endurance in effort toward Christlikeness. You cannot microwave character. There is no fast pass that lets you cut to the front of the line. There is no Easy Pass Express HOV lane to avoid that little traffic snare and get you on the fast lane to character."

4. "If you aspire to serve as a missionary or to some other type of full-time Christian service, then submit to the slow, seemingly inefficient process of proving your character. If you want to do great things for Christ, do the great thing of cultivating Christ-like character."

5. "In this life, the only certain thing about the plans you form is that they will not all happen. God is the grand chess master and we're all pawns at best. The grand master is the one who decides which pawns to move, whether they go out one space or two, and which one of those little pawns just stays put."

6. "What do you have that you did not receive? Who gave you the money? Who loaned you the time? Who has given his own son for you and promised to give you all things with him? You can't outgive God and you can never give something that God hasn't already first given you."

7. "To love other believers with this kind of godly, Christ-centered affection is to make both their joys and their sorrows your own. It's to treat their triumphs and hardships as if they happened to you. That's why it's such a risk. Love anyone like this and you invite sorrow upon sorrow. But the love of Christ compels us to love each other like he's loved us."

8. "The world honors those who seek their own glory. The church must honor those who seek not their glory but Christ's. We should continually remember those who forget themselves. We should celebrate those who celebrate Christ."

9. "Consider the massively high standards of living we're used to here in America. Clean water, modern medicine, air conditioning, cheap, easy travel, relative safety and security. These comforts can so easily become straitjackets. They can easily become blankets that smother missionary ambition under a weight of ease."

10. "If someone were by some forbidden magical act to erase eternity, your life should no longer make sense. The equation should no longer balance because your eternal joy in Jesus and others' eternal joy in Jesus should be the only quantities that can balance the sacrifices you are making for him here and now."

Observation Questions

1. In Philippians 2:20-21, what contrast does Paul draw between Timothy and the others when explaining why he is sending Timothy to the Philippians?

2. According to Philippians 2:22, how does Paul describe Timothy's relationship to him and the nature of Timothy's service?

3. What phrases in Philippians 2:23-24 reveal Paul's attitude toward his own plans and their dependence on God's will?

4. In Philippians 2:25, what five titles or descriptions does Paul use to identify Epaphroditus and his role?

5. According to Philippians 2:26-28, what was the chain of concern that led Paul to send Epaphroditus back to the Philippians?

6. What does Philippians 2:30 say Epaphroditus risked, and for what purpose did he risk it?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why is it significant that Paul connects Timothy's genuine concern for the Philippians' welfare (v. 20) with seeking "the interests of Jesus Christ" rather than one's own interests (v. 21)? What does this reveal about what Christ's interests actually are?

2. How does Paul's description of Timothy's "proven worth" (v. 22) relate to the broader teaching in Philippians 2:5-11 about the mind of Christ and the pattern of humble service?

3. What is the theological significance of Paul using the phrase "to the point of death" for Epaphroditus in verse 30, given that the same phrase appears in verse 8 describing Christ's obedience?

4. Why does Paul instruct the Philippians to "honor such men" (v. 29) who embody the characteristics of Timothy and Epaphroditus? How does this kind of honoring differ from worldly honor?

5. How do the examples of Timothy and Epaphroditus demonstrate that the mission of making disciples requires embodying the same self-sacrificial mindset that Christ displayed in His incarnation and death?

Application Questions

1. Paul says that many "seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ" (v. 21). What are some specific ways you might be tempted to serve in the church or in ministry only when it advances your reputation, comfort, or recognition? What would it look like this week to serve in a way that benefits no one but Christ and others?

2. Timothy's character was "proven" through time, pressure, and faithful endurance (v. 22). What current difficulty or slow process in your life might God be using to develop Christ-like character in you, and how can you respond with greater intentionality toward growth?

3. Paul held his plans loosely, saying "I hope in the Lord" and "I trust in the Lord" (vv. 19, 23-24). What specific plan or expectation in your life do you need to submit more fully to God's sovereignty this week, and what would that submission look like practically?

4. The Philippians showed generosity not only by giving money but by sending Epaphroditus to follow through on their gift (vv. 25, 30). In what tangible way could you move beyond good intentions to complete an act of generosity or service you have been putting off?

5. Epaphroditus risked his life for the work of Christ (v. 30). What comfort, security, or convenience might be holding you back from taking a step of faith for the gospel—whether in sharing your faith, serving sacrificially, or considering how God might use you in missions? What is one concrete step you can take toward greater courage?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Philippians 2:1-11 — This passage provides the immediate context for Paul's examples, showing how Christ's self-emptying and humble obedience to death is the pattern that Timothy and Epaphroditus embody.

2. Matthew 28:18-20 — Jesus' Great Commission defines the mission that all Christians are called to fulfill, which the sermon identifies as the overarching purpose that Timothy and Epaphroditus serve.

3. Romans 5:1-5 — Paul explains how suffering produces endurance, character, and hope, directly supporting the sermon's teaching on how proven character is developed through pressure and time.

4. 1 Corinthians 16:13-18 — Paul commends Stephanus, Fortunatus, and Achaicus for their service in a way parallel to his commendation of Epaphroditus, illustrating how churches should honor faithful servants.

5. 2 Timothy 2:1-7 — Paul exhorts Timothy to endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus, reinforcing the themes of courage, sacrifice, and single-minded devotion to the mission.

Sermon Main Topics

I. A Hiking Trip Illustrates the Need for Proper Equipping for Any Mission

II. The Passage Provides a Mission Update That Models the Mind of Christ (Philippians 2:19-30)

III. Selflessness: Seeking the Interests of Christ Rather Than Your Own

IV. Character: Proven Worth Through Testing and Endurance

V. Submission: Holding Plans Loosely Under God's Sovereignty

VI. Generosity: Providing for Gospel Workers and Following Through

VII. Affection: Loving Fellow Believers with Christ-Centered Care

VIII. Celebration: Honoring Those Who Embody the Mind of Christ

IX. Courage: Risking Everything for the Cause of Christ

X. A Call to Embody the Mind of Christ for His Mission

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Detailed Sermon Outline

What does it take to accomplish the mission? That depends on what the mission is. Early in October of 2006, I took three friends on a camping trip in Sequoia National Park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in eastern California. I say I took because I was the ringleader of this operation. We drove up from Los Angeles, camped for one night in the park, and early the next morning we set out on a day hike.

This day hike was to take us to the top of Alta Peak, seven miles up, seven miles back. And over the course of the seven miles up, there was an elevation gain of 4,000 feet, topping out at 11,000 feet. The weather was warm and clear, We were wearing shorts and t-shirts. As the trail climbed, the views grew more and more stunning. You'd see these gaping canyons, beautiful forests, huge vistas across dozens of miles to distant mountain ranges standing up 12,000 feet like rows of massive teeth.

On the way up, I fielded many questions from my friends about what exactly the point of this hike was. About what exactly we were hoping to accomplish.

And that was before the summit ascent, where we had to gain a lot more elevation in a lot shorter time in much thinner air. By the time you get to 9, 10, 11,000 feet, the air is a lot thinner. It's harder to breathe if you're just standing still, much less walking straight up a bare granite incline. And by that point, there's no shade because you're above the tree line. But we eventually made it to the top.

The views were stunning. There's these distant lakes that look icy blue. You can see dozens, maybe even almost a hundred miles. So we're enjoying the view for a little while.

But then it started to snow. We weren't exactly dressed for snow, and since it started snowing, we decided that a bare granite dome was not exactly the safest place to be. So we started the return trip. Thankfully, gravity was on our side all the way down, but the weather wasn't. As soon as we dropped a little elevation, the snow turned into rain.

And we just got soaked the whole time, all seven miles back. We hadn't been planning for bad weather, so when we got back to the campsite, our tents were soaked, our clothes were soaked, our gear was soaked. All we could do was chuck it all in my van, drive down the side of the mountain, all the way back to LA that night, four hours through the driving rain. How equipped were we for that hiking mission? Let's see.

Willpower, strong. Attitude, mixed. Gear, very poor.

Planning, almost none.

Leadership, Subbar. Does your life have a mission? Do you have some overriding, overarching purpose that you're trying to accomplish? If so, how equipped are you for that mission? If you're not a believer in Jesus, what would you say is your main goal in life?

What's your defining purpose? What will it take for you to accomplish that purpose? And what will happen if you do?

This morning we return to Paul's letter to the Philippians and we'll consider chapter 2 verses 19 to 30. The whole letter to the Philippians is something of a dispatch from Paul on mission. Even though he's in prison, the mission is advancing. And the Philippians were partners with Paul in this mission. They supported him financially and in many other ways.

Our passage is a sort of newsy update about who's going where, when and why. But these verses offer us far more than a logistical briefing. These verses not only remind us what our fundamental mission as Christians is, they also show us what we need to be. In order to accomplish that mission. The passage is on page 981 of the Pew Bibles.

Please follow along as I read. If you don't have a Bible, you can easily read at home. Feel free to take that one home, keep it, and read it.

Philippians 2:19-30, page 981.

I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. I hope, therefore, to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me.

And I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.

I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed, because you heard that he was ill. Indeed, he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. So receive him in the Lord with all joy and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.

Somewhat unusually, we're going to spend a few minutes Considering the passage as a whole, before I walk us through it step by step, there's a lot of comings and goings so we're gonna kind of take our measure of what's happening and why before we dig into the details. So there are two main news updates in this passage, one in each paragraph. In the first paragraph, Paul says he hopes to send Timothy soon. In the second paragraph, Paul says he has sent sent Epaphroditus now. Since the second paragraph comes first in time, we'll start there.

Epaphroditus, we meet him in verse 25. He's a Gentile believer from Philippi. Verse 25 tells us that the Philippians appointed him as their messenger to Paul. Epaphroditus is the one who physically delivered their financial support to Paul. In the ancient world, you couldn't just Venmo someone.

If you wanted to get money a significant distance, you had to appoint a trustworthy messenger to physically carry it with them wherever it needed to go. So Epaphroditus came to Rome to serve Paul on the Philippian's behalf. But at some point, likely on the trip from Philippi to Rome, Epaphroditus fell seriously ill. But he persevered in his service to Paul on the Philippian's behalf. And at time of writing, he's with Paul in Rome.

But by time of reading, that is, when the Philippians will first read this letter from Paul out loud in their assembly, Epaphroditus is now back with them. Paul sent Epaphroditus back because since he had fallen ill, the Philippians grew concerned for him. And then Epaphroditus grew concerned for the Philippians. So Paul thought it best for them to be reunited. Look again at verse 28.

We could more literally translate the Greek in this verse as having Paul saying, I have sent him the more eagerly. It's just a simple past tense verb, I have sent him and many translations render it that way. Paul is telling the Philippians that he has sent Epaphroditus. Why would he say that? Well, because it's almost certainly the case that Epaphroditus carried this letter from Paul to the Philippians.

He brought money from the Philippians to Paul. And on his way back, Paul sends him with this letter. Paul uses the past tense here because it's past from the standpoint of their reading. He's explaining why he decided what he did. Why is Apollos back with you guys now?

Well, let me tell you. He's explaining why their missionary messenger is back with them so soon. It wasn't any failure on Apollos' part. Instead, It was Paul's loving response to God's mysterious providence. Now back to the first paragraph.

Paul says in verse 19, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I too may be cheered by news of you. He wants to send Timothy so that Timothy can gain firsthand knowledge of how the Philippians are doing spiritually and so that he can share that knowledge with Paul. That's one reason why Paul spends the next few verses commending Timothy to them before he repeats in verses 23 and 24, I hope, therefore, to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me. And I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also. Most likely, Paul still wanted Timothy by his side because the outcome of his trial remained uncertain.

Paul was optimistic that he's going to be released, but it hasn't happened yet. So when Paul says, hope in verse 19 and trust in verse 23, those are not statements of absolute confidence or conviction. Instead, Paul's recognizing God's sovereignty. His phrase in the Lord is like saying, Lord willing. Paul's plans are subject to God's plans.

But why does Paul put his travel update here, right in the middle of the letter? Why does he drop into news mode just after the glorious hymn to Christ in verses 6 to 11 and his exhortations about how to live out the whole Christian life in verses 12 to 18? Why this update right now? Because, Timothy and Epaphroditus are both compelling models of everything Paul has been teaching. He's proclaimed the basis for how we should live is what Christ has done for us and humbling himself and being exalted.

He gives us exhortations about how to live differently from the world and advance the gospel in our life together. And then he gives these two wonderful examples. So he uses the kind of necessary news update to offer the Philippians models of believers that they should imitate of how they can put these things into practice. Both Timothy Timothy and Epaphroditus embody the mind of Christ that Paul tells the Philippians to pursue in verse 5. Both Timothy and Epaphroditus sacrifice themselves to serve others.

They humble themselves to bring the gospel to others. They put others' needs before their own desires and, as we'll see, even before their own lives.

What does it tell us that Paul uses these two missionaries as models for all Christians. It tells us that all Christians are called to advance Christ's mission of making disciples of all nations. Missionaries are especially apt models for all Christians because the whole Christian life is a missionary existence, whether you ever leave home or not. So in giving us this mission update, Paul is subtly telling us what it takes to fulfill the mission. What is the mission?

It's making disciples of all nations as Jesus commands us in Matthew 28:19. And as we saw in our last sermon on Philippians in verse 16, Paul exhorts every believer to share the good news of Jesus with others. So that's the mission. What are the means? Here's Paul's point in this passage in one sentence: To fulfill the mission of Christ, you must embody the mind of Christ.

To fulfill the mission of Christ, you must embody the mind of Christ. As we walk through the passage now in detail, we'll consider seven characteristics of the mind of Christ, which we must embody in order to fulfill his mission. We'll get these seven characteristics from kind of a composite character sketch from Paul's own priorities and example, and Timothy and Epaphroditus, how they lived these things out, and what Paul exhorts the Philippians to do. Don't worry, there are seven points, but some of them will be very brief. Point one, selflessness.

Selflessness. Looking at verses 19 to 21, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon. So that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare, for they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. Why is Paul sending Timothy and not somebody else?

He tells us in verse 20, For I have no one like him. What said Timothy apart? Is that he'll be genuinely concerned for your welfare. What are other people caring about instead? They all seek their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.

Paul seems to be using a bit of hyperbole here. When he says they all seek their own interests, he doesn't mean literally every other Christian in Rome. Instead, this probably connects back with chapter 1 verses 15 and 17 where Paul says that some people are preaching Christ out of envy and rivalry and selfish ambition. Those kinds of preachers want to capitalize on Paul's imprisonment and they want to get their own stock to shoot up while Paul is stuck. Paul's in prison.

Don't listen to that loser. Come hear my preaching instead. Such self-seeking preachers would not be interested in a long, arduous journey far away from the capital city whose sole purpose is to find out how one little local church is doing. That is all Paul is sending Timothy to do. We do not learn in Philippians that he is filling stadiums by his preaching.

He is just going to hear how the Philippians are and report back to Paul. So Timothy, unlike these other preachers, Timothy was happy to serve in ways that were unglamorous. He was happy to serve the Lord Jesus in ways that added nothing to his follower count.

If you're only willing to serve Christ in ways that advance yourself, is it really Christ you're serving? So much essential work that advances the gospel is slow and obscure, tedious and tiring. It's hidden from sight, and it's frankly hard. One crucial test of whether you're serving God and the gospel is whether you serve in ways that do nothing to serve you. As Calvin said, if you would serve God, forget yourself.

Brothers and sisters, as a local church, we try to embody this selflessness in how we serve the missionary workers we support. So one of our most frequent short-term mission trips is to provide a week of childcare so that a number of supported workers can attend a yearly conference for fellowship and strategizing together. Now, teaching children all day is not the most glamorous way you could spend a week off work. It is not the flashiest ministry you could think about doing, but it's what our workers ask for. So it's what we provide.

Paul, for his part, wanted to know how the Philippians were doing. He's locked up in prison and at the front of his mind is the spiritual condition of this beloved congregation several hundred miles away.

He says nothing about how many they are; he's concerned with how they are. He's concerned with whether they're enduring or faltering, united or divided, boldly evangelizing or shrinking back in fear. And finding out this kind of thing, these types of spiritual updates, it's exactly what we try to do in our evening services every single week. As Mark mentioned, we have a particularly international geographic mix of a cast of characters we'll hear from tonight. But every single Sunday night, we try to hear at least something of how some of our own members are doing spiritually and what ministry they're getting up to.

And we try to hear from pastors we've sent out, workers we support, we want to know how they're doing. And even more importantly than hearing, we want to pray for them. We're trying to embody this type of specific, granular, personal concern for each other's welfare, and the welfare of other pastors, missionaries and churches, both near and far. So tonight, come back and hear an update as Mark said in particular from a long-term supporter worker of our church who will also be preaching the evening devotional. Concern for other spiritual welfare is a litmus test of a living faith.

All true believers care about how other believers are doing spiritually. You might think that kind of selfless interest is blindingly obvious but Paul found it to be vanishingly rare. If you're not a believer in Jesus, can you think of any ways in which people harm others and ultimately themselves by failing to put others' interests before their own? Do you see selfishness as just a sort of basic engine for good and a kind of necessity of life? Or is it a liability?

Can it create deeper problems that simply focusing on self in a different way isn't going to fix? Paul says in verse 21, the fundamental problem with these other preachers that he can't use for this mission is that they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. So we need to ask two questions about the interests of Jesus Christ.

First is what are they? Second is how did Jesus himself seek them? What are the interests of Christ? It's our eternal salvation. It's our eternal joy in him.

It's our being conformed to his image and then delighting in him everlastingly. That's Christ's fundamental interest. It's what he wants for me, it's what he wants for you, it's what he wants for everybody. How did Jesus seek those interests? He emptied himself.

He humbled himself. He did nothing that would advance himself but instead sacrificed himself, gave himself completely. We all had fully alienated ourselves from God, our creator, our ruler, our judge, by rebelling against him, turning away from him, and living for our own glory instead of his. We didn't deserve anything from God except judgment, condemnation, eternal punishment. But God overflowed in mercy and sending his son to reach down to us, stoop down to us, lower himself to the lowest possible extent in order to lift us up.

That's how Jesus sought our interest. He sought our interest by paying the penalty for our sins. He sought our interest by being crushed for our iniquities, pierced for our transgressions. And as a reward, God raised him from the dead and exalted him in power and glory at his right hand. So now he calls everyone everywhere to repent of sins, to trust in him and be saved, to rely wholly only on him as your only hope to be right with God and to have everlasting joy in him.

That is the interest of Christ for you and that's how he sought it. That interest and how he sought it is the fundamental paradigm for the whole Christian life. It's what we should most seek for others and it's how we should seek it. Selflessness can't be a mere behavior or even habit. It has to flow from a mind and heart that are to Christ's own mind and heart.

In order to qualify as Christian, selflessness has to emerge from a heart transformed by Christ's selfless sacrifice for you.

Point two, character. A second characteristic of this mind of Christ is character. Look at verse 22.

But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. Paul's point here is that Timothy has proven himself. He's proven himself faithful, he's proven himself humble, he's proven himself hardworking and loyal. When Paul says he served as a son with his father, he's referring to Timothy's submission, his dedication, his following Paul's leadership. But not only that, he says he served with me in the gospel.

Paul and Timothy were also partners, co-workers, laboring side by side. Paul had seen Timothy in action and he was totally satisfied with what he had seen. If you look at verse 22 when Paul says, Timothy served with me, the root word is the same as when Paul says in verse 7 that Christ took on the form of a servant. Salvation spreads the same way it was secured through service. Timothy's gospel service took the same shape as Christ's gospel achievement.

The word that's translated here as proven worth shows up several times in the New Testament, and it refers either to a test or to the results of that test. Here it refers to the result. Timothy has been tested and he's passed. Elsewhere, like in Romans 5:4, Paul uses this same word There he says, Endurance produces character, and character produces hope. Character intrinsically has the sense of being tested and passing.

Character is the stable tested disposition of mind, heart, and will that enables one to love and choose and persevere in what is good. Here's an equation for what produces character. Character equals pressure plus time plus endurance in effort toward Christlikeness. I'll say that again. Character equals pressure plus time plus endurance in effort toward Christlikeness.

You cannot microwave character. There is no fast pass that lets you cut to the front of the line. There is no Easy Pass Express HOV lane to avoid that little traffic snare and get you on the fast lane to character. Character comes in part through suffering through the long lines and traffic jams of life. If you aspire to serve as a missionary or to some other type of full-time Christian service, then submit to the slow, seemingly inefficient process of proving your character.

We as a church pray and work to raise up missionaries, and part of that prayerful labor is testing aspiring missionaries' character and gifts. We don't want to appoint people based on charismatic personality or captivating promises of immediate, amazing results. Instead, we're looking for proven character and demonstrated faithfulness. So if you want to do great things for Christ, do the great thing of cultivating Christ-like character. Cultivating Christ-like character is a community project with a missionary payoff.

You never know how God might use someone you're investing in. William Carey was an English pastor in the late 18th century. We'll hear more about him a little later. Another pastor, John Ryland, Jr. Baptized him when he came to faith. And Ryland, in his diary that day, just said, Today baptized a journeyman shoemaker.

That was it. Carey would go on to basically become the first international missionary sent by British Protestants. He'd go on to translate the whole Bible but in several languages, he would go on to be the founding figure of missions in India. All Ryland knew when he baptized him? Journeyman shoemaker.

You never know how your investment in someone else might pay off far away and a long time from now in ways you can't even imagine. Your slow, patient work of helping another church member cultivate Christ-like character could bear fruit in the conversion of people on another continent decades from now.

Submission. Submission. Look again at verses 23 to 24. I hope, therefore, to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me. And I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.

I hope, I trust. Paul was no stranger to having God change his plans. When Paul wrote Romans that were studying on Wednesday nights, it was about five or seven years prior to this. Paul was located in Corinth. He planned to head back to Jerusalem to bring a gift he was collecting for the believers there, then go back out and stop off in Rome to meet the believers there on his way further west to Spain.

He wanted to push the frontier of the gospel out west. But then when he returned to Jerusalem as step one of that journey, he was arrested. He was kept in custody for quite a while and transferred to Caesarea. Still under arrest, and then he was transferred to Rome. But of course, being arrested and in Rome is not quite the same thing as passing through on your way to Spain.

Paul knew the difference between his plans and God's plans. One is an idea, the other is reality. Paul submitted himself completely to God's plans. In this life, the only certain thing about the plans you form is that they will not all happen. Paul's plans previously did not include prison.

So what has God done to you lately? That was not part of your plan. What lessons do you think God might be trying to teach you by canceling your plans? What lessons might be hard for you to learn in any other way than by not seeing your plans come to fruition?

God is the grand chess master and we're all pawns at best. The grand master is the one who decides which pawns to move, whether they go out one space or two, and which one of those little pawns just stays put. He's in charge. He's in control. We can never see the whole board, so he calls us to submit to his wisdom.

What plans do you need to hold more lightly? What can you do to submit your will to God's when his plans cross yours. If you want to advance the mission of Christ, you have to constantly submit to its supreme commander.

Point four, generosity. Generosity. We see this generosity in verses 25 and 30.

Look first at verse 25. I've thought it necessary to send you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need. When the Roman Empire imprisoned someone, they provided a guard to keep you confined. And that was it.

Food and all other necessities were up to whatever supporters the prisoner could get: family, friends, others who were willing to go through the hardship and expense and take the risk of being identified publicly with an enemy of the state. So Paul, when he says my need, he's talking about all his most basic needs starting with food. And in one sense, the whole epistle to the Philippians is a thank you note for the Philippians' financial gift that supported Paul in his imprisonment. That's the occasion for this letter and that's one of its main, though not only, motivations. People need to eat.

Providing for missionaries' basic needs is a core aspect of partnering in the gospel. We shouldn't scorn physical needs as somehow undignified. Paul, by calling Epaphroditus a minister, Paul calls this gift a ministry. Providing generously for full-time gospel workers allows them to give their full time to advancing the gospel. But the Philippians' generosity was seen not only in sending their money but in sending Epaphroditus to be the one to bring it.

Paul values Epaphroditus highly. He calls him his fellow worker and fellow soldier, meaning Epaphroditus has suffered in order to advance the gospel just like Paul. Epaphroditus didn't just carry money, he carried the gospel everywhere he went just like Paul did.

It is always costly to send and it is even more costly to send your best. But the gospel only advances through a culture of generosity. To send out beloved brothers and sisters so they can advance the gospel elsewhere is painful but it's also a privilege. Generosity costs you something. That's the point.

Money you could have spent on something else, time you could have spent in other ways, effort spent pouring into a discipling relationship whose payoff may be that other people in other places benefit from your investment. How can you give and give and give some more when it feels like you have nothing left to give? Only by constantly relying on the God who always gives first and who always infinitely outgives you. It's just like Jamie let us in prayer earlier. That is an endlessly renewable spring of generosity.

As Jesus said when he sent out his disciples during his earthly ministry, freely you have received, freely give. What do you have that you did not receive? Who gave you the money? Who loaned you the time? Who has given his own son for you and promised to give you all things with him?

You can't outgive God and you can never give something that God hasn't already first given you. As Paul confesses in Romans 11:35, Or who has given a gift to him? That he might be repaid. The whole of our lives is a gift and the Christian life is a double gift, redemption on top of creation. We always give as those who are first and most fundamentally receivers.

If you don't feel like being generous, consider all that you have as something you've received from the generosity of another. Everything you possess is evidence of God's generosity. And all that you possess, you possess in trust as a steward. It's all from God. He'll evaluate how you've used all of it and he's told you how to use all of it.

Be generous for his glory and the advance of the gospel for others' eternal good.

Now, look at verse 30, another aspect of this generosity where Paul again commends Epaphroditus, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me. That phrase complete what was lacking doesn't charge the Philippians with any fault. It doesn't mean they'd done anything wrong. It's simply an economic idiom. And it refers to what you do with money that has been designated for a certain purpose but it hasn't yet been dispersed or delivered.

It's just about crossing the gap from pledge to delivery. That's what that idiom means. So the Philippians had determined to support Paul but the support didn't arrive until Epaphroditus actually brought it. Several years ago, a friend of mine dedicated the published version of his PhD thesis to his dad. In these words, to Dad who taught me to finish the job.

For some reason, that exhortation, that encouragement, that honoring of his dad has just stuck with me for years who taught me to finish the job. My own kids can attest that finish the job is one of my most frequent exhortations to them. Sometimes in frustration or exasperation, Not always with the gentle encouragement I would want to model, but it's an exhortation we need to hear. Finish the job. That is exactly what Epaphroditus did for the Philippians.

He provided the follow through for their act of generosity. It's strikingly like what Paul says at the end of 1 Corinthians 16:17-18: I rejoice at the coming of Stephanus and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people. Generosity is like swinging a golf club or a baseball bat. You need follow-through.

Epaphroditus provided the follow-through for the Philippian's generosity. Prayed that we as a church would follow through in comprehensively caring for all those we support and Consider how you personally might be able to be used by God to help bridge the gap between pledge and delivery. Point five, affection. To fulfill the mission of Christ, you must embody the mind of Christ. And another crucial characteristic of the mind of Christ is affection.

And this affection is abundantly displayed in verses 26 to 28.

Again, why did Paul send Epaphroditus back to them? For he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. Indeed, he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again and that I may be less anxious.

I think it was in the school year prior to this one, a false alarm set off the fire warning system in our kids' school. And so Rose and Lucy had to file out of their classes and go outside and wait with everybody. Rose told Lucy afterward that she was worried about her. And Lucy told Rose she was glad she didn't tell her that because, and I quote, then I would have worried about you worrying about me. That is exactly what's going on in this passage.

It's Epaphras worrying about the Philippians worrying about him. There's affection all around and it creates an emotional burden that you just can't shirk off at will. Epaphras had been sick, really sick, right next door to death. The Philippians heard and it weighed on their hearts and knowing that was weighing on their heart weighed on Epaphras' heart And so Paul, note Paul's role in this, Paul sacrificed the service Epaphroditus could have kept on offering him in Rome in order to reunite Epaphroditus with the Philippians and in order that they would all be relieved. And in the end, that would mean one less care for Paul.

So here we find deep binding and tangling affection all around. The Philippians for Epaphroditus, Epaphroditus for the Philippians, and Paul for both. Paul tells us in verse 27 that by healing Epaphroditus, God had mercy on him and not only on him but on me also. Paul was no stoic. His heart was made of flesh, not stone.

To die is gain for the believer, true, but it's still loss for everyone left behind.

Here, Paul, Epaphroditus, and the Philippians all embody what Paul says of himself in chapter 1 verse 8, For God is my witness how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. To love other believers with this kind of godly, Christ-centered affection is to make both their joys and their sorrows your own. It's to treat their triumphs and hardships as if they happened to you. That's why it's such a risk. Love anyone like this and you invite sorrow upon sorrow.

But the love of Christ compels us to love each other like he's loved us. And besides, refusing to invest your heart in others has its own perils. C.S. Lewis warned about that when he wrote, There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable.

Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully around with hobbies and little luxuries. Avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.

But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken. It will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. In order to work together to advance the gospel, we as a local church need to continually tend, guard, and renew our affection for each other.

What diminishes affection for fellow church members?

Skipping church and not seeing them?

Envy, judging other believers for having a differently calibrated conscience, what Stokes affection? Praying regularly for other believers, face-to-face fellowship, corporate worship, encouragement, and I mean encouragement both ways. If someone encourages you, you naturally feel warmer toward them. But try this. Go out of your way to encourage another believer and see what that does to your own heart toward them.

To fulfill Christ's mission together, we need to love each other with Christ's own affection. That affection should warm our hearts, guide our tongues, strengthen our hands, and brighten our faces. And I even mean that last one literally. Speaking of book dedications, I dedicated my book, the Path to Being a Pastor, to our beloved former pastor, Isaac Adams. And I did it, of course, with a Spurgeon quote.

Here's a fuller version of that dedication.

I love a minister whose face invites me to make him my friend. A man upon whose doorstep you read, Salve, welcome. When a man has a large, loving heart, men go to him as ships to a haven and feel at peace when they have anchored under the lee of his friendship.

Such a man is hearty and private. As well as in public. His blood is not cold and fishy, but he is warm as your own fireside. No pride and selfishness chill you when you approach him. He has his doors all open to receive you.

And you're at home with him at once. Such men I would persuade you to be, every one of you. Such men and women, I would persuade you to be. Every one of you.

Point six, briefly. Celebration.

Celebration. Look at verse 29.

So receive him in the Lord with all joy and honor such men. Paul exhorts the Philippians to joyfully welcome Epaphroditus and not only Epaphroditus but all who embody the mind of Christ for the sake of the mission of Christ. Note what Paul's not saying. He's not saying you should never honor any human being because that intrinsically takes away from the honor of God.

He's not saying, Don't encourage someone because that will only puff them up with pride. Instead, he's telling you to honor the right people for the right reasons. Paul says, Honor such men, meaning, Identify this class of people and give all that kind of people the joyful recognition they deserve. The world honors those who seek their own glory. The church must honor those who seek not their glory but Christ's.

We should continually remember those who forget themselves.

We should celebrate those who celebrate Christ. What are good ways to do that? That would be a great conversation for you to have over lunch. But we move on to point seven, courage.

Courage. Looking at verse 30, why should the Philippians receive Epaphroditus with joyful celebration?

Verse 30 begins with for, it tells us the reason. For he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.

We should celebrate Epaphroditus because he risked his life.

He demonstrated costly courage for the cause of Christ. A few years ago, I was talking with one of our Church of Supported Workers, the one who will be preaching tonight. We were talking about sending and supporting missionaries. And he said to me, I wonder how often prudence is simply cover for fear.

Was it prudent for William Carey to go to India? Was it prudent for Adoniram Judson to go to Burma? 200 years ago, to leave England or America for a place like that, the way you got there was by taking a three-month-long sea voyage. If you left, you expected never to return.

How prudent is that? In the Great Commission, we all have a role to play. Praying, giving, sending, going. Not all of us will go, but some of us must.

That going, always involves risk, up to and including risk of your life. Have you ever considered uprooting your life for the global progress of the gospel? If not, why not?

There's no way to fulfill Christ's mission without courage, because there's no way to fulfill Christ's mission without risk. The salvation of the nations is worth risking everything for.

Consider the massively high standards of living we're used to here in America. Clean water, modern medicine, air conditioning, cheap, easy travel, relative safety and security, These comforts can so easily become straitjackets. They can easily become blankets that smother missionary ambition under a weight of ease.

There's nothing inherently wrong with comfort and security. Comfort and security are relatively good things, but they're also good things to throw away.

So that others can come to know the Lord Jesus Christ.

Parents in the congregation, what do you dream for your kids?

Do you dream that they'll get good degrees and good jobs? Grow up to have a nice family in a nice house?

Or do you dream that every single one of them will grow up to be a missionary.

What can you do to grow in courage for the cause of Christ?

One of my favorite recommendations here is simply to hang out with missionaries. When our supportive workers cycle through, get time with them. They have a wonderful way of shaking up your sense of what is normal and what is possible.

See your life through their eyes. Take a look around. See what opportunities might open up. See what hurdles or hindrances you might discover. Hanging out with missionaries can help you see how easy it is for comfort and security to become not goods but idols.

If someone were by some forbidden magical act to erase eternity, your life should no longer make sense. The equation should no longer balance because your eternal joy in Jesus and others' eternal joy in Jesus should be the only quantities that can balance the sacrifices you are making for him here and now.

There's one more detail in verse 30 that we should notice.

It's that Epaphroditus nearly died. The Greek is that he literally drew near to the point of death. I love that phrase, linger for a minute, the point of death. Where have we heard that before? Ah, verse 8, Jesus became obedient to the point of death.

Only two times in the New Testament that exact phrasing is used. Epaphroditus was willing to give everything for the sake of Christ because Christ gave everything for him.

Samuel Pierce was a Baptist pastor in Birmingham, England, in the 1790s. He was one of the founders of what became the Baptist Missionary Society. That society sent William Carey and John Thomas to India and it became the fountainhead of Western Christianity's modern missions movement. Pierce passionately advocated for this missionary work in India. He was a full-time pastor but he spent about a quarter of his time traveling all throughout England to raise money and support and get others involved in this missionary cause.

He wrote a constant stream of letters to encourage Carey in his work. He edited a periodical that distributed updates from the missionaries to the churches that supported them so that people could know how to pray and support them. And he desperately desired to go to India himself to join Kerry and Thomas in this work. He started studying Bengali by himself in hopeful preparation for that. And he applied to the mission society that he helped found asking them to send him to India to join the work.

The trustees of the Society met, deliberated, prayed, and ultimately rejected his request.

It wasn't because they thought he was unqualified. Instead, they told him he was too valuable to the missionary cause right where he was. By all the support he was stirring up for it.

That if he gave himself wholly to the cause, the cause as a whole would suffer.

Pierce reflected on their decision. I shall ever love my dear brethren the more for the tenderness with which they treated me, and the solemn prayer they repeatedly put up to God for me. He said that he was enabled cheerfully to reply the will of the Lord be done. But what about Pierce's frustrated ambitions? What about his desire to go himself?

He wrote to Carey in India in 1797, Yes, would my Lord bid me so, I should with transport obey the summons. And take a joyful farewell of the land that bare me, though it were forever. But I must confess that the path of duty appears to me clearer than before to be at home, at least for the present. I am somewhat necessary to the mission itself, and shall be as long as money is wanted, and our number of active friends does not increase. I wish, however, to be thankful if our dear Lord will but employ me as a foot in the body.

I consider myself as united to the hands and eyes and mouth and heart and all, and when the body rejoices, I have my share of gladness.

With the other members. This was a man who had the mind of Christ. And because he had the mind of Christ, he was a tremendous force for fulfilling the mission of Christ right there at home.

What about you?

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for sending your Son to selflessly seek our good. We pray that you would conform our hearts and minds to his so that our whole lives would advance your mission. We pray, Father, that you would use us to bring glory to you by how we live and by what we say, especially in telling others about this great salvation. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.