Role Models for Faithful Christian Living

Who are some of your role models?

Think about it.

Who are some of your role models?

Now, obviously, children and teenagers,

they need good role models to show them what it means to be

what? A loving husband,

a loving wife.

A loving father or mother.

In this church, young people, teenagers, children,

they need to see and have good role models for what it means to be a

faithful and active Christian church member.

Outside, in this community,

our children, young people, they need to have good,

healthy role models to show them what it looks like to make a

positive contribution to the community.

But don't we as adults,

don't we need role models to help us prepare for the next stage of our

life?

That's before us.

At various stages, as adults, we need good role models.

You know, some of you may be in your 30s.

You may need to look for some good role models that show you,

I can survive the teenage years and keep my sanity.

Right?

Because sometimes you wonder.

Some of you may be in your 40s, maybe 50s.

You need some good, healthy role models to show you how to be the good in-law

or the helpful grandparent.

You know, I have seen good role models in this church for how to be concerned about

and take care of aging parents and a spouse that is going through declining health.

We need role models for how to be good old people.

I'm serious.

Ellen Brown back there, she is a great role model for how to be an old person.

She's old as the hills, but she's happy.

She's positive.

And if, I wouldn't be surprised she didn't stand up and give it back to me.

That's the kind of old person I want to be when I'm 110 like her.

Now, role models, I'm trying to, I'm serious now.

Role models are important throughout our lives if you just think about it this way.

And role models are important for us as Christians.

That's why Paul, we're going to be in Philippians chapter 2 beginning in verse 19.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Paul seems to interrupt his flow of thought about how to live a faithful Christian life

by pointing out some things about Timothy and Epaphroditus.

But what we're going to say this morning is it's not an interruption.

Paul is being intentional in pointing out two role models for all Christians

when it comes to living a faithful Christian life.

Now, Pastor Kent Hughes in his commentary on Philippians,

he clearly shows this is Paul's intention.

What we're going to read this morning is not an interruption.

It's not a change of subject.

It's a flow.

Hughes says this,

The Apostle Paul's brief references to Timothy and then Epaphroditus

here in Philippians are not casual,

but rather are meant to capture our attention

and top off Paul's train of thought

that began in chapter 1 verse 27,

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Now in verses 19 through 30,

Paul gives flesh and blood examples of the selfless conduct

to which he is calling the Philippian church.

Here are men who live lives worthy of the gospel.

Let's read about them.

We're in Philippians chapter 2 beginning in verse 19.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

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 also on me,

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 and 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.

Paul is explaining his plan.

As soon as I can, I'm gonna send Timothy to you.

But now I'm gonna send Epaphroditus.

Now what I want us to see is,

this is a lot more than him explaining travel plans.

He's holding these men up as role models

for every Christian who wants to live

a faithful Christian life.

I wanna emphasize, they are role models

for every Christian who desires

to live a faithful Christian life.

Let's look at some of the qualities

that they model for us.

First, faithful Christians genuinely care

about other people.

Timothy showed a genuine interest

in these Philippian Christians.

It says, for I have no one like him

who will be genuinely concerned

for your welfare.

Timothy was genuinely concerned

about what was going on in these people's lives

because he knew them.

He had been with Paul.

It's recorded in Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

He had been with Paul when the church was started.

I mean, Timothy was there from the get-go.

He saw some of these people come to faith in Jesus.

He saw how they were growing.

He knew some of them by name.

He had a personal interest in them

and what was going on.

Well, Paul planned to send him back

and help them deal with some of the problems

we've been looking at.

The main thing, their lack of unity.

It's a good church.

They're not about to just implode and fall apart,

but there are some problems.

We've already looked at some.

We'll see more later.

But Paul had confidence in Timothy's ability to do that

because he cared about them.

You see, Paul is Timothy's mentor.

He's trained him well.

Timothy knows exactly what to do

to take care of the problem,

but more importantly,

Timothy knows how to work with people.

He knows how to deal with people in a positive way

to help them see the need

and want to cooperate with him.

When it comes to dealing with issues

that involve people in every realm of life,

it's not enough just to know what to do.

We need to know how to relate to people.

As the old saying goes,

people don't care how much you know

until they know how much you care.

And that applies to just about every kind of relationship

in this world.

You want to have a more healthy home?

Love one another.

Work on, develop,

develop having good, healthy relationships.

You know, sometimes at home,

you got to deal with some touchy situations.

Sometimes husbands and wives.

You got to talk about some things

that's going to make at least one of you uncomfortable.

And with those teenagers I was mentioning a while ago,

there's a lot of issues.

Children too.

But you know, it makes a difference

when Lisa points out some

one or two flaws from time to time

because I know that she really cares about me.

She's trying to help me, for example,

not make a fool of myself

and some of the things I might do in preaching.

So I listen to her.

You know, kids, teenagers,

most every one of you,

if not every one of you,

you have parents and grandparents

and people in your lives

who truly love you and care about you.

And when they correct you,

they point out some things.

It's not to make your life miserable.

It's to help you, believe it or not.

And so if we'll work on in our home,

our relationships,

having healthy relationships,

let people know that you live with,

that you really do love them.

It will help when it comes time

to say some hard things.

That applies across the board.

That applies here at church.

It applies to work.

Some of you who are young adults,

you know, just sort of getting started well

in your business,

in your profession,

out in the world.

You may think it's all about what you know

or who you know,

all about the nuts and bolts.

And certainly competence is a necessity.

But the way you treat people

will go a long way

in determining how successful you are.

You may be a genius at what you do,

but if you mistreat people,

if you act like a fool,

if you try to just run over people,

bulldoze people,

you're gonna fail.

And it may be that some people in this room,

maybe the lights come on.

It seems that everywhere you go in life,

you have trouble.

You have trouble getting along with people.

And to this point,

you may think to yourself,

it's those people.

It's him.

It's her.

If it happens over and over and over again,

it's you.

Relationships matter.

Relationships matter everywhere.

And Paul, the apostle,

who had real authority

and could tell them what to do,

because he was speaking the word of God,

he thought it was very important

to send Timothy for this reason.

He loved those people.

He took a genuine interest in those people,

which meant he would deal with them

in the most positive,

get the job done way possible.

One thing that prevents us

from being genuinely concerned about others

is that we're too genuinely concerned

about just us.

That's why Paul gave this command back

in chapter two, verses three and four.

Look at it.

He told this to the whole church.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit,

but in humility,

count others more significant than yourselves.

That each of you look not only to his own interests,

but also to the interests of others.

Paul doesn't say,

don't care,

don't take care of your own affairs.

No, we have responsibility.

It's part of our Christian responsibility

to be good managers of our lives,

our homes, everything.

We've got to look out for our own interests

as part of our Christian stewardship.

But not just our own interests.

Look at it.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests,

but also to the interests of others.

But here in verses 20 and 21,

I want you to see that Paul is saying something

that at least to me is very surprising.

Look at this.

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.

Who is they all?

Who's Paul referring to?

Well, let's recall something we've learned

in a previous study

as we've been going through Philippians.

Paul is writing from Rome

where he is a prisoner awaiting trial before Caesar,

but he's under house arrest.

He's allowed to live in his own rented home,

and people are free to come and go

for him to teach,

for them to bring him food and other necessities.

You can read about that

at the very end of the book of Acts,

at the end of Acts chapter 28.

Acts 28 · chapter mention

Paul also wrote letters

to the church at Ephesus and Colossae,

Ephesians and Colossians,

and the letter to the man Philemon

while he was imprisoned here in Rome.

Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon.

They're the four prison letters of Paul

that he wrote from Rome.

So, when Paul says,

he has no one like Timothy,

because they all seek their own interests,

he can only be referring to two groups of people.

First, he's talking about the leaders for sure,

and most likely other members of the church at Rome.

He's under house arrest.

People can come and go.

They do.

Who will be taking care of Paul in Rome?

The church at Rome.

Obviously.

Who else could it be?

Well, it may be he's referring to some of his associates.

He named some of them at the end of his letter to Philemon.

Look at this.

At the very end, Philemon is just one chapter,

so there's only verses.

He says,

Epaphras, that's not Epaphroditus.

Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus,

sends greetings to you,

and so do Mark, the writer of the gospel,

Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke,

another writer of the gospel,

my fellow workers.

Now, Paul is in prison in Rome under house arrest

for two years or more,

it says in the book of Acts.

These individuals,

and there would be more,

they would have come and gone.

It says Aristarchus, or Epaphras,

is my fellow prisoner,

but most of them had the freedom to come and go.

We can automatically eliminate Mark and Luke

as being selfish,

so selfish he couldn't send them to Philippi,

because they were faithful to the end of Paul's life,

according to Paul's last letter.

Look at this.

It's in 2 Timothy 4.

Luke alone is with me.

Get Mark and bring him with you,

for he is very useful to me for ministry.

2 Timothy is his last letter.

He's in prison another time.

He's in a real dungeon-type prison this time.

He's awaiting execution.

He knows the end's here.

This is where he said,

I fought a good fight,

I finished the course,

I've kept the faith.

He knows he's gonna die.

And there with him at the very end is Luke,

and he wants Mark to come,

because he's useful to me.

But there's one of those guys,

that's listed at the end of Philemon,

who might have been one of the selfish ones

that Paul didn't have any confidence in.

His name was Demas.

He eventually quit on Paul.

Look at this.

Again, at the end of 2 Timothy.

For Demas, in love with this present world,

has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.

Paul's at the end of his life.

He's needing friends.

He's wanting friends.

Luke's there with him.

He wants Mark to come.

And one of the guys that he trusted,

that he invested in,

that he thought was his friend, Demas,

he took off.

Deserted him.

Paul knew what it was like

to have somebody turn their,

to have someone just turn their back on him,

to betray him, to desert him.

Here's the point we need to understand.

Paul had no one to send to the Philippian church

except Timothy and Epaphroditus,

as we'll see in a moment,

because he knew that no one else cared about that church

enough to go and help them the right way.

And the only people Paul can be talking about

are Christians in the church at Rome

and some of his own personal assistants.

Now think about that.

Doesn't that really just show us

how hard it is

for most Christians,

most of us,

to overcome our self-centered ways?

It's just so ingrained in us.

I'm going to take care of me,

mine, mine.

It's just contrary to human nature

to take a genuine interest

in other people's welfare

and actually,

with compassion,

do something to help them.

How can we overcome such selfishness,

you and me?

Well, Paul tells us the first step,

it's in verse 21, look at this.

For they all seek their own interests,

not those of Jesus Christ.

Timothy was the self-giving person that he was

because he was more concerned about

pleasing the Lord

than pleasing himself.

As Timothy thought about,

you know,

why he was on earth,

what his purpose was,

he really wanted to know and do God's will

before

just doing his own will.

That's the key for us as well.

We will never take a genuine interest

in other people

until we first have a genuine interest

in our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the book of 1 John,

the fourth chapter,

John

makes several statements

to try to help us understand

that if we really love God,

we'll love God's people.

I want you to look at an example

in 1 John chapter 4,

1 John 4:7

verses 7 and 8.

I said John 1 on the screen is 4, okay.

Beloved,

let us love one another,

for love is from God.

And whoever loves has been born of God

and knows God.

Anyone who does not love

does not know God

because God is love.

John's helping us see that

a love for God,

a love for our Lord

is a prerequisite

for developing the kind of love

that will really help us

take an interest in

other people.

So let's think about it.

If you are,

let's just be,

and let's be honest,

you'll be honest with you.

If you're just basically

a selfish person,

and some people are,

you know it's not good,

but you're just basically

a selfish person.

If you know that,

and the truth is,

you don't have a whole lot

of concern

for the well-being

of other people.

And you're even less interested

in going out of your way

to serve other people.

If that's you,

selfish,

just not all that concerned about,

don't even notice people that much.

And you're really not going to go

too far out of your way

to help anyone.

Your greatest problems

in your personal relationship

with God

because if you really

had the relationship

with Him

where you loved Him,

you'd love other people.

That's what John is saying.

So if that describes you,

talk to God about it

if it bothers you.

If you know

there is sin in your life

that you need to confess

about that selfishness,

confess it.

Change your mind.

Draw close to the Lord

and renew your commitment

to Him

to follow,

to obey Him.

It might be that you need

to just ask God

to help you to

help you to see people more.

I don't mean

actually literally see them,

but the people in your home

that you live with,

people that you work with,

people you go to school with,

to notice

when something's not quite right.

You can see it in their face.

You can hear it in the tone

of their voice.

They're acting a little bit odd.

Notice,

care enough to inquire

what's going on.

Is there a problem?

And listen.

And if you can help them,

do it.

Even if it means

interrupting your plans,

inconveniencing yourself,

and as you think about this,

always the first place

to begin is in your home.

Learn to see

in your family members

needs.

Take an interest in them.

Forget yourself

and focus on

how can I meet

my spouse,

my child,

my parents'

need.

Faithful Christians

genuinely care

about other people.

Also,

faithful Christians

display proven character.

Faithful Christians

display consistent character.

Growing,

developing 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.

The emphasis here

is on how

Timothy

proved his worth

to Paul

over time

by the way

that he worked

with him

like a child

with his father.

Now,

as parents,

and for some

of us in here,

we've got to think

a long ways back,

but as parents,

with children

living at home,

sometimes we ask them

to help us

do some things.

Maybe to help us

work in the yard,

clean the house,

look after

a little brother

or sister.

If you're a child,

you tell them

to do that,

you ask them

to do that,

they fuss,

they gripe,

they complain

the whole time.

You get no joy

out of it,

do you?

You don't want to,

you don't only want

to work with them

like that,

you don't want

to be around them.

And boys and girls

and teenagers,

you may not

understand that,

but when you act

like a jerk,

your parents really

don't want

to be around you.

That's a fact.

Some of them

are too nice

to tell you that,

but I'm telling you

that,

that's how they feel.

It's true.

And if that's

how they are,

you certainly

are not proud

of them

for acting

that way.

In fact,

you'd be ashamed

for somebody

to come by

and see,

know how,

that they're

that selfish,

they're that lazy,

or they're

that disrespectful.

But if you

ask your child

to help you

with something,

and they work,

they're pleasant,

they got a good

attitude,

you get a lot

of joy out

of just being

around them.

And you're

proud of them.

You're proud

to say that

your son or daughter

helps you

this way,

and it just

means more

than you'll,

boys and girls,

teenagers,

it means more

than you'll ever

know.

Paul was

a proud

spiritual father

because of the

way Timothy

worked with him

and demonstrated

a real

Christ-like

attitude

as he went

about his work.

Now,

if we're all

honest,

we've got to admit

we've got a long

way to go

to develop

true Christ-like

character.

No Christian,

no Christian

in this world

arrives

at fully

mature

Christ-like

character

as long

as they're

alive.

We're all

in some

state of

process.

But you

know,

don't worry

about that.

Christ-like

character

is a

lifelong

process

for every

single

Christian

in this

world,

including

Timothy.

Timothy's

character

development,

it began

young.

Here's the

good thing,

it began

young.

Paul tells

us,

again in

2 Timothy,

first part

of the

first chapter,

that Timothy

had a

Christian

mother and

grandmother

who influenced

him.

Timothy

had a good

start to

life.

He grew

up in a

Christian

home.

Now,

it doesn't

say anything

about a

father or

grandfather,

but his

mother was

a Christian,

his grandmother

was a Christian,

and they had

great influence

on him.

They got him

started off

right.

Let's just

pause here

and say,

every Christian

parent and

grandparent in

this room,

we need to

take note of

how Timothy

got to where

he was by

having such

a good start

in life.

The most

important thing

we can do

for our

children or

grandchildren is

to teach and

model for

them what it

means to live a

faithful Christian

life.

Now,

I know as

parents and

grandparents,

there's a lot

of things we

need and want

to teach our

children,

and that's

true.

But there's

nothing more

important for

us as parents

and grandparents

to teach and

then to back

it up by the

way that we

live, how to

live as a

faithful Christian

in this world.

You know,

Timothy was like

us in that he

didn't always live

up to what he

knew.

Isn't that true

for you?

Do you live up

to all you know

to live as a

Christian?

Don't look at

me like, you

know, you

don't know.

You know.

You know a

whole lot more

than you're

living right now.

You and me,

everybody does.

And Timothy,

he didn't, he

wasn't always the

model guy.

He had to be

encouraged.

He had to be

prodded at times

by Paul.

We learned from

Paul's letters

that Timothy

needed to be

challenged,

encouraged,

because he had

a tendency to

be shy,

hesitant,

afraid even.

Look at this.

Here's a good

example of how

Timothy didn't live

up to everything

he knew to do

and he had to be

prodded.

Look at this.

For this reason,

I remind you to

fan and to flame

the gift of God

which is in you

through the laying

on of my hands.

If the flame was

always burning

brightly, he

wouldn't have been

told that.

For God gave

us a spirit

not of fear

but of power

and love

and control.

Sometimes he

didn't have that

so he needed

to hear that.

Therefore, do not

be ashamed of

the testimony

about our Lord

nor of me as

prisoner.

What did he do?

How had he

acted?

How had he

sort of cowed

down somewhere?

But share in

suffering for the

gospel by the

power of God.

Timothy was in

some ways

unique, but in

most ways he

was just like

us.

He had the

unique privilege

of learning

from the

apostle Paul.

What a

privilege.

But he was

like us in

that he had

to be involved

in the personal

spiritual disciplines

that God uses

to develop

Christlike character

in every Christian.

He had to pray.

He had to spend

time with God

in prayer.

He had to read

the scriptures

that he had

and listen to Paul

as he taught

what we call

the New Testament.

He had to worship.

He had to be

involved in

ministry.

He needed

fellowship with

other Christians.

If you're serious

about wanting

to grow,

to develop

true Christlike

character,

then cooperate

with God

as he works

in you,

giving you

the desired

ability to do

that.

Spend time

with him

every day

in prayer.

Talk to him.

Read his

word.

Listen to him.

Get involved

in the life

of our church.

Be involved

in worshiping

God and

participate.

Prepare

before you

come.

Put your

heart into

it.

Get to

know people.

Develop

relationships.

Experience

Christian

fellowship.

Get involved

in some kind

of ministry.

Use what

God's given

you to serve

other people.

Faithful

Christian

living or

faithful

Christians

display

growing,

overall

consistent,

proven character.

faithful

Christians

are willing

to

sacrificially

serve

in

ministry.

Epaphroditus,

he was

involved in

active service

to the Lord

and to Paul.

Look what it

says in verse

25.

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.

He was a

messenger from the

Philippian church.

I mean,

he was from

Philippi.

He was saved,

grew up as a

Christian in that

church,

and they sent

him to Rome

with a gift of

money to meet

Paul's needs.

It talks about it

in chapter 4,

verse 18,

and then to stay

there and help

Paul in whatever

he needed help

doing.

Well,

he served

sacrificially almost

to the point of

death in doing

that.

Look at this,

verse 30.

For he nearly

died for the

work of Christ.

Somewhere along

the way,

he became sick.

He almost died.

But the way

Paul describes

this,

he didn't use

his sickness

as severe as

it was.

He didn't use

it as an

excuse to

quit.

Once he got

well,

he was back

at it.

And Paul was

going to send

him home and

carry this letter

to the Philippians

with him.

Paul also

holds Epaphroditus

Epaphroditus as

a model of a

faithful Christian

who deserves to

be honored.

Look at this.

So receive him

and the Lord

with all joy

and honor such

men.

If we were

looking to send

someone from our

church on a

mission trip

to deliver money

and supplies to

a certain

missionary somewhere

in South America,

say,

and we want you

to take the

stuff and we

want you to

stay there for

a week to 10

days because

these missionaries

we're sending you

to, they've got

a project that

they really need

your help and

it's going to

really take,

you know, you've

got to put your

whole heart, soul,

mind, energy into

it.

They really need

your help.

We've got a

missions development

council to try to

coordinate all this

kind of stuff.

If we got that

request and they're

in their meeting

and they're thinking

who could we send

would your name

come up?

Some of you,

your name would

come up because

you're a faithful

Christian and they

would automatically

think of you.

But if your name

wouldn't come up,

do you want it to?

I know some people

say, nope, I don't.

But for those of you

who would say,

I want it to.

What would you

have to change?

What needs to

happen in your

life for you to

start being the

faithful Christian

that would cause

people to think

you'd be the one

to represent our

church and serve

like that?

I want to close

by changing the

subject now.

What will be said

in your obituary

about the way you

lived as a

Christian?

When we die,

somebody,

probably somebody

in your family,

at least they're

going to help,

but when you die,

an obituary is

going to be

written.

Now, I want you

to understand

something.

It's none of my

business what kind

of obituary you

have.

If you've got the

money and it costs

over $5 per column

line in Greenville

News, if you want to

spend $10,000, but

two pages about your

entire life as an

obituary, good for

you.

I think your

family is dumb as

dirt to do

something like that,

but good for you.

But of all the

things they're going

to say about you,

here's my point.

What are they going

to say about how

you lived as a

Christian in this

world?

Here's how I and

the other members

of my family 100%

agreed.

here's how I

described my

mother's Christian

life in her

obituary.

I cut and pasted

it.

Dot was a member

of La France First

Baptist Church where

she had served as a

Sunday school teacher

and assistant

treasurer for many

years.

She demonstrated a

true servant's

spirit as she always

put others before

herself and tirelessly

sought to meet the

needs of her family

and others in the

community.

Dot had a special

gift of lovingly

and patiently

caring for several

members, several

family members over

the years who

suffered from

Alzheimer's.

People in her

church, people

around that

community, everybody

in my family, 100%

of the people who

knew her would read

that and would agree

to every word.

Everybody who knew

her knew she was a

sinful person like

everybody else.

She had her flaws,

don't misunderstand.

But she lived a

faithful Christian life.

And this is just how

we described it in her

obituary.

How do you want to be

described in your

obituary in terms of

the kind of Christian

life you lived?

Well, since you're

alive right now,

regardless of what's

happened in the past,

you can, from this

day forward, you can

finish well and have

a description of being

a faithful Christian put

in your obituary.

I want to encourage you

right now.

Do you think about how

you have and are

living as a Christian?

Ask God to either help

you continue to be

faithful or get more

serious about living a

faithful life.

Christian life.

Or if necessary, call

upon Jesus to save you

and ask him to help you

to start living a

Christian life.

But bottom line,

faithful Christian

living does involve

showing genuine concern

for other people,

demonstrating consistent

Christian character over

time, and serving the

Lord and other people in

in self-giving sacrificial

ministry.

Let's pray together.

Father, show us now how

we should respond so that

we can leave here knowing

that by your grace, we're

on the path of living as

faithful Christians.

Let's just, in an attitude

of prayer, listen to the

Lord and respond to him.