Work for Christ - Philippians 2:25-30 (Mar 3) Myles Holmes

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

The spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

You can open up your Bibles to Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

We got some people in our church that love trivia.

Shout out to Joel and Megan Dugard, who are this week's trivia champions at some random restaurant.

I'm not sure where, but they are champions, so I thought I'd shout them out.

I thought we'd do some trivia ourselves.

I'm horrible at trivia, and I remember from two Christmases ago our church hates trivia, so we're gonna make this as easy as possible.

I'm gonna put up uh a picture and I wanna ask you if you know who this man is.

Okay, who is that?

It's not Dave Locke.

It's not Dave Locke, that is Uncle Sam.

Uncle Sam has become a symbol of American patriotism.

And the story, I don't know, I looked this up this week, you know, I've seen this picture before, I didn't know where it came from, but the story comes from the War of 1812.

As the soldiers were receiving rations, the boxes said uh US.

And so kind of this inside joke came to life of, well, this must be from Uncle Sam.

And then Uncle Sam, throughout time and history, took on flesh and became this man, and it became a symbol of calling Americans to service.

This character was someone who called Americans to to work.

There's freedom to be fought for, and Uncle Sam needs you.

He's commissioned you.

Now, whatever your feelings are about Uncle Sam this morning, I cannot help to think that what Christ did when he came to this earth 2,000 years ago was very similar.

Christ came with a call not only to salvation, but he came with a commission to service.

And in fact, as you read through the gospels, you just cannot get around this reality that Christ was continually calling people to a work that was to be done.

He was coming to establish his kingdom, and he was calling his followers, he was saying, follow me, but he was uh holding at an arm's length those who were unwilling to take their share of work.

You remember Jesus' call time and time again for the disciples to do this horrific work of carrying their cross.

And as you come to know Christ, you cannot separate this call that he gives to all to be saved from this commission that he gives to those saved people to take up the work of his kingdom.

Now, when it comes to Christ's commission, as a church in the 21st century, I just want you to know we have a lot of things working against us.

In fact, this kind of language is actually, it's sad to say, but hasn't it kind of become rare in our day and age?

So that so often what we kind of do is we we elevate this easy believism, this all you gotta do is put your faith in Jesus Christ, and we don't tell people about the cost of discipleship until maybe a few years down the road, and we're calling people to faith that is without works.

It's without hard work, and I think in so many ways there we have this heart to, you know, kind of protect the gospel.

We know that salvation's not by works, and so there are many who just have become totally afraid of that work word.

And yet I just can't help but think of James, who says that faith without works is dead, and of Paul, who says in Ephesians 2 that we were saved to walk in works that were set out for us before the foundation of the world.

And so, of course, works cannot save, but we also need to uphold this reality that Jesus is in calling us to be his disciples, is calling us to work.

Now, a second problem we have to face as we consider this challenge Christ gives to his disciples to work is just this general laziness that we're experiencing in the 21st century.

Isn't it interesting?

We have more time-saving technology than ever before.

Is that not true?

Like you can order McDonald's.

I mean, this is great.

Glory to God.

You can order McDonald's faster than ever in the history of mankind.

You don't even have to get out of your car.

If your windows are tinted enough, you don't have to face the shame of the extra large fries and extra large diet soda.

Technology has made things easier and easier, but isn't it true that we are busier and busier?

We're accomplishing less, it feels like, than we ever have before.

And that's especially true when it comes to Christ's kingdom.

And if those aren't problems enough, as it comes to Christ's commission to work, the biggest problem of all is that you and I are often distracted.

This I believe, I so believe this is how Satan loves to work in North America.

He works through weapons of mass distraction.

So that our life is filled with that they're not bad things in and of themselves, but they become the main thing so that we're distracted from what truly is the main thing, the work that Christ is calling us to in his kingdom.

Well, God wants to help us this morning.

He wants to help us by holding up the life of a unique man.

And I don't know if you and I have ever met a man like this.

This man's name's Epaphroditus.

Paul writes of him in Philippians chapter 2, verses 25 to 30.

Philippians 2:25–30

And so let's read that together right now.

Paul writes this to the Philippian church from jail in Rome.

He says, 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.

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, not only on him, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.

I am more than 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.

Here we have a biography of the life of this man named Epaphroditus, and he was unique.

And as Paul looks for examples to show us what it means when he says in chapter 1, verse 27 that we are to live a life worthy of the gospel, we're to walk in a manner worthy of the citizenship with which we've received by Jesus Christ.

After showing us Timothy, he cannot help but to spend time showing us Epaphroditus.

Epaphroditus is an exemplary worker.

He has taken Christ's call to discipleship, and he has been commissioned to his service.

And as he was commissioned to Christ's service, his life sort of displayed this particular glory as he committed himself to the work that Christ had called him to.

He was a worker.

And so this morning, through the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit church, do you believe the Holy Spirit is here and has a word for you?

Man, I just I just experience it so often that someone comes up to me after the service and says, I don't know if you were reading my mail, I don't know if you like were preaching that sermon only for me, but the Holy Spirit has been speaking, and I just want you to know that's not me.

I'm not smart enough to do that for a hundred people in this room.

It is the Holy Spirit who wants to speak to you.

And through the Spirit, Christ is calling us to a work.

There's work to be done.

There is work to be done.

And we need to respond.

And if we're going to respond rightly, we need to pray.

So would you would you pray with me right now?

Father, we bow in your presence.

And God, we Lord, we confess how often the call that Christ has given has been too hard for us, Lord.

And it is a hard call.

We think of the many that Christ in his life had called to and commissioned to service for him who turned, who were turned away.

And Lord, we think of the many distractions that are in our life, Lord, the many good things that we have to partake of that may get in the way of what Christ is calling us to do, the work he's calling us to do.

And Lord, we know that there is many things against us, but there is much to be done for your glory.

Lord, you are calling us and commissioning us to your service this morning.

And so I pray, Lord, that our answer would be like Isaiah.

Lord, when you called him to go with a message of hope for the nations, his response was this: here I am, Lord, send me.

And so, Lord, may this place, even in this moment, would you, by the power of your Holy Spirit, work in our will so that our desire is to say this, Lord, here I am.

Send me, use me.

I want to be a worker for Christ.

I want to work for you, Lord.

Not for my salvation, because you've already given that, but because of all that you have done.

Because I want to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel.

So help us, we pray, Lord, help us.

I pray this all in the name of your son.

Amen.

Amen.

Christ is calling us to a work.

And here's how we know we'll we're responding.

The first thing I want you to see in this text is this that I'll work to become a necessity to gospel mission.

I'll work to become a necessity to gospel mission.

Look at how Paul begins in verse 25.

He says, I thought it necessary, I thought it necessary to send you Epaphroditus.

In Philippians 4.18, we learn more about this man named Epaphroditus.

He had been sent by the Philippian church.

He was a member of the Philippian church, and he had been sent by the church to bring gifts for Paul.

The church loved the apostle Paul and wanted to care for him, and so they sent this man hundreds and hundreds of miles, all the baked goods they could possibly load him up with, all the gifts that they could give to Paul to care for him practically in prison.

And Epaphroditus had come to Paul, and Paul declares here that very practically Epaphroditus had ministered to his need.

You see that in verse 25 at the end there, that Epaphroditus was your messenger, but very practically he was a minister to my need.

What Paul's pointing out here is that Jesus has been caring for him in prison, and Epaphroditus has been the arms and legs and hands and feet of Jesus to Paul in prison.

I mean, it's interesting.

You can really flesh this out throughout Philippians.

In Philippians chapter 1, verse 19, Paul says this for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance.

Philippians 1:19

Paul is in prison and he says, Listen, I'm okay.

I know that Jesus is going to help me.

And my question is this how how like what does Jesus' practical help to Paul look like?

Don't you want that in your life?

Don't you want to be able to say to your neighbor to turn to them and say, hey, listen, very practically, Jesus Christ is helping me.

He is delivering me.

I want that.

And so what is that going to look like for Paul?

Well, notice that the spirit of Jesus Christ looked like a man named Ephroditus for Paul.

Ephroditus was obsessed with the work that was not his own.

He was obsessed with the work of Christ.

And so you see this in verse 30, and we'll come back to this, but it says, For he nearly died for the work of Christ.

And here Paul calls Epaphroditus in verse 25, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier.

Ephroditus was a worker.

He had taken up the work of Christ so that his identity was completely rooted in this commission that Christ had given to him.

Christ had called Epaphroditus, like he is calling you and I this morning, and he had said to Epaphroditus, there is a work to be done.

Ephroditus listened.

And by doing so, he made himself absolutely necessary to the life of Paul, so that Paul says that he was a minister to my need.

Epaphroditus was necessary to Paul, but also that now he is being sent back so that he could be necessary to the Philippians' need.

Look at this language that Paul addresses Epaphroditus with.

He says, My brother, this language of intimate affection and connection, fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need.

This is so important that we understand.

It would be through the practical things that Epaphroditus would do for him, and the gifts that Epaphroditus would bring to him, so that at the end Paul would say, I have more than enough.

This is what he says in Ephesians, or sorry, Philippians 4.

And so we look at this and we come to this realization.

I hope you know this, loved one, that Jesus cares for you.

Jesus loves you, and he desires that you experience this practical care.

Like he wants you to be able to say with Paul that I know through the help of Jesus Christ I'm going to make it.

You believe that this morning?

You believe Jesus practically from heaven where he now reigns, he wants to help you.

Not in some sort of like fairy tale way, but like practically help you in your life.

Jesus longs for you, he cares for you, and so he created something to do that, to care for you, and that something is called the church.

The church is to be filled with aphroditus-like servants who have taken up this commission by Christ to be the hands and feet of Jesus, helping those who are in need.

How does this practically work?

Let me give you an example, and maybe I can use my small group as an example.

This past week, as a small group, really as a church as well, we had some really exciting news.

Many of you know Aaron and Crystal Klagerman.

Aaron was recently saved, and both of them recently became members at the church.

Well, Crystal has been pregnant, and on Wednesday morning they had their baby.

Here's a picture coming up on the screen.

Little Elise Ruth Grace, very beautiful baby.

Some of the women in the church right now are saying this is the best sermon you've ever preached.

Miles.

Just show more baby pictures.

The men are saying, that is a baby.

That's a that's a baby.

I've also learned that you can't share baby pictures without stats.

Like there are some people they'll rush the stage to tell me the weight, tell me the weight.

So the weight's six pounds, four ounces, and the height, I'm not sure, but it's somewhere between eight inches and eight feet.

I do know that for sure.

Well, Jesus loves Aaron, and Jesus loves Crystal, and he wants to meet their practical needs in this time as they, you know, walk through life with this first child of theirs.

And so what he has done is he has commissioned a small group around them, and this group is filled with people who have made this commitment saying, I'm going to care for them.

And so, as much as we could, as you know, they walked through labor, we tried to walk beside them and encourage them spiritually and you know, practically.

I took Aaron aside, I gave him all my best tips of how to be a husband who supports his wife in the labor room.

I took him out to the football field, I was throwing him just shotgun shots saying, listen, the baby might come out like this.

You gotta be ready to catch it.

Some of you guys are like, I don't know if Miles knows how pregnancy works.

I did miss one, so I'm still not 100% sure of the three that I had if I know how it works.

But we tried to care for them in every way possible as we as they were preparing themselves for this moment.

And on Wednesday night when our small group met, we spent a good amount of time, many of us in the group, just lifting them up to the Lord, interceding on their behalf, asking God to work in their midst.

And maybe I can just give it to the church as something that you can pray for.

The the baby has been um having challenges just with, you know, pretty regular for babies, but with jaundice.

And so they've been in and out of the hospital, and there's there's some concern there.

And we just ask that you would continue to pray.

But our small group is is praying for them, and we're gonna be seeing how we can serve them in these coming months as we bring them food and continually touch base and talk about parenting in a way that honors God and doing it the way that God called us to.

Like we just want to walk alongside them and so practically serve their needs in this season so that they can look back and say, Jesus cared for me by be connecting me to people that would be ambassadors for him and servants for him to care for my practical needs in this season.

And I praise God that I look all around this church and I just see so in so many places, and especially in small groups, the practical needs of people being met.

And this is honoring to Jesus.

This is how Jesus would have it, that in the name of Jesus Christ, you come as a representative of him to say, I am here to help.

Now, this is what Epaphroditus has done for Paul, and so now that Epaphroditus has fulfilled his ministry, Paul says, It's it's necessary for me to send him back.

And the reason why we find in verse 26 is because Ephroditus now has ministry to do back in the Philippian church.

He has to go back.

Look what he says, for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because he heard that, that because you heard that he was ill.

And so the Philippians, they needed Epaphroditus back.

Like they were like, our fellowship is not complete without the ministry of Ephroditus.

And here is what you and I are learning: that to walk in a manner that is worthy of the gospel is to make our presence more and more necessary to the life of the church, to the mission that God has given us.

We make ourselves a critical piece of the army, Epaphroditus is called a fellow soldier, that God is building to reach Newmarket and the surrounding region.

Now, how do we make ourselves necessary?

Well, one way we do it is with the attitude in which we serve informal ministry.

And so, really practically, this is why we try to touch base with everyone in our church and say, hey, what is what is one way that you could serve our church formally?

Because we want you to give you the opportunity to be a necessary component in the life of this church, so that we look at our various many teams and we say, we could not do what we do without them.

You know, we look at the worship team and we could not do what we do without the electric guitar players and the singers, and we look at our welcome team, and we could not welcome people the way that we do without them greeting.

They're doing a work, a formal work in the kids' ministry, teaching kids the gospel that we could not do apart from them committing, hearing Christ's call, and saying, I will make myself a necessary piece in the life and ministry of this church.

And so we formally serve, but it doesn't stop there because once we get into these ministries, what we then need to do is say this: How can I make myself a necessary piece of contributing to the health of this ministry?

Like you don't just get to come in and complain about the way that things are, you get to come in and see that you know none of our ministries are perfect.

I don't know if that's a news flash for anyone.

But you get to come in and make it better.

And God has given you gifts that, you know, our team might not have.

And you get to make yourself a necessary piece of this team.

That's one way we can become necessary in the work that Christ has given us, but another way is by investing relationally other people.

And so you commit yourself to a people, you help them practically like Epaphroditus helped Paul, and all of a sudden, as you do that, and these people they see that you have just this Christ-like love and longing and affection for them, they you become necessary to their lives.

Church, let me ask you, is there anybody, are you walking closely enough with anybody so that you can say, I need these people?

Like, I don't know what life would be like without these people.

That is the type of fellowship that God is calling for you to be proactive and plugging yourself into.

And I just need you to know, I I look at our elders, the elders of this church, and I just say, I like I could not do anything apart from them regularly lifting me up and encouraging me and speaking the truth and love to me.

I need them, I need their constant presence in my life.

I cannot do this alone, and neither can you.

And so you need to plug yourself into a group of people that you put your arms around and they take the weight off of ministry for you, and you're able to serve alongside them.

You make other people necessary to work your work and you make yourself necessary to their work.

And so the question for us this morning is this is there, is there anybody, you know, if you were to just kind of fall off the face of the earth?

I don't know what that means.

Is that like a flat earth thing?

Fall off the face of the earth, I don't know how that works, but it's a saying, and I said it.

So here we are.

If you were just to disappear and no longer be present, would anybody's life be affected by the lack of your presence?

Have you made yourself necessary to other believers' progress and joy?

And Paul, time and time again through Philippians, is just hammering us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Make yourself necessary like Epaphroditus.

You have a work to do.

Other people need you.

You say, but I'm a mess.

I don't know anything.

I'm immature.

That's great.

God will be glorified through you.

That is what He wants.

He wants servants who the world looks at and it's like, I don't think that person should be doing the ministry they're doing.

And God says, watch this.

He is working through servants like this.

The last way you make yourself, I mean, many ways you can make yourself necessary to the kingdom, but maybe the last that we'll mention here is you make yourself necessary to kingdom expansion.

You know what I love?

You are connected to people in your life that no one else in this church is connected to.

You have a unique set of friends, neighbors, coworkers, families who many of them do not know Christ, and you can reach them in a way that nobody else in this church can.

God has given them to you.

And one of the ways that you make yourself necessary is by realizing that you may be the only connection that that person has to Christ.

And God has given you that relationship for the purpose of you proclaiming Christ.

That is why we've given you these invites.

This is an instrument for you.

This is a way for you to reach the lost, to see lost people saved in your life, to say, I mean, it's so simple.

Hey, would you come out to the Easter service?

It's at 10 a.m.

at ANOVA.

What's the worst that can happen?

You know, it's it's about the person saying, I don't think I'm gonna do that.

I climb, I kindly decline.

You make yourself an instrument, you make yourself necessary in reaching this group of people that God has given to you.

This is the work that we do to become necessary in Christ's mission.

But the second thing I want you to see in this text is this that when we hear and respond to Christ's call to work, then I'll work to become an instrument in God's hands.

I'll work to become an instrument in God's hands.

Now notice Paul finds Epaphroditus to be an exemplary worker.

And then in verse 26, he he kind of tells us why he's it's necessary to send him back to the Philippian church.

Look at what it says there in verse 26, with your eyes on God's word here as you follow along.

It says, For he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill.

Now, this is not the first time in Philippians that we have read about longing.

You'll remember that in Philippians 1, Paul talked about his longing for the church, that he longs for the church, he said, with the very affection of Jesus Christ.

He loves the church.

And here we find Epaphroditus does too.

Epaphroditus longs for his local church in Philippi with the same affection that Paul does.

It is the affection that is filled with the love of Jesus Christ.

In fact, one of the things that Paul is doing throughout these verses, and we'll point this out a number of times this morning, but Paul is making it clear that Ephroditus is loving the church out of an understanding of what Christ has done for him.

Just as Paul longs for the church with the affection of Jesus, here he points our attention to Ephroditus having that same longing, a longing with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And if you look down here to the bottom, you'll notice that in verse 27, Paul says, indeed he was ill, near to death.

And what Paul is doing there is he's drawing connections to what Jesus had done for Epaphroditus.

You remember in verse 8 of chapter 2, look at what Paul said.

He said, And being found in human form, Jesus, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.

Here, Epaphroditus is saying, I'm willing to even give my life for these people, and he's doing it in a way that shows that he understands Jesus has done that for him.

This is what it means to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel.

Epaphroditus is modeling this for you and I.

It means that what you and I do is we regularly take pit stops at the gas station of the gospel, and we fill ourselves up with gospel grace.

We fill ourselves up with the fuel and motivation of the recognition of what Jesus Christ has done for us so that we can serve others out of that motivation.

This is so important that we understand this.

This is walking in a manner worthy of the gospel.

We look to Christ for everything that we need so that we can then serve other people and need nothing from them in return because we already have everything they could possibly give us in Christ.

You see, the driving force of working for Christ is not that you might receive anything from any other person, it is because Jesus Christ has already given you everything you need.

And we see this in Epaphroditus' life.

I mean, verse 26, I don't know if any of us read that and totally comprehend what's happening, because it really makes absolutely no sense.

We've never seen this before.

Look at what it says in verse 26.

Let me read this to you again.

For he has been longing for you all because he has been distressed, because you heard that he was ill.

That is backwards, isn't it?

Isn't that backwards?

But but but Epaphroditus, he's so filled with the gospel and all that Christ has given to him that he's not concerned for himself.

He already has the compassion and the care he needs from Jesus Christ, so that he can just make himself an instrument in God's hands to be used in God's service in the Philippian church.

Even though he's ill to the point of death, his concern is the Philippian church.

Well, how does this work practically in our life?

Like, like how do you and I fill ourselves up at the gas station of gospel grace so that we can serve out of that fuel?

Well, let me talk to maybe husbands for a minute.

And I can apply this for husbands, and you, by the power of the Holy Spirit, can apply this to any area in your life.

Husbands, you are freed to love your wife without expectation of anything in return from them.

If you are abiding in Christ, if you are understanding what you know, Jesus told us the father said to the elder brother, that I have already given everything to you that you need, if you understand that and you believe it by faith, then one of the things you can do is you can actually love your wife and not have to use them to get anything in return.

You don't need their physical affection, you don't need their words of a sympathy, of sympathy, you don't need their gifts, you don't need their service to you.

You love and you say, I don't need anything from you because I am filled up by all that Christ has lavished on me in himself.

You cannot receive from your wife or any other person for that matter anything that Christ has not already lavished on you.

If you're abiding in Christ, your tank is full.

This is what Jesus said in John chapter 7 said, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

John 7 · chapter mention

Whoever believes in me, as the scriptures have said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Where does the power come from to serve other people?

It comes from abiding in Christ.

And when you abide in Christ, you can do good works and not grow weary.

And so notice the example we have in Epaphroditus.

This example is calling us to become a conduit, like Epaphroditus, a conduit to Christ's compassion.

We see this again, verse 26 is so countercultural.

Epaphroditus was not worried about himself.

He was worried about the church hearing that he was ill to the point of death and the church being concerned for him.

I don't know that I've ever had that level of compassion.

I'm a I am a youngest child of you know three brothers, and anytime I'm sick, I just I gotta let everybody know.

And if I had been ill to the point of death this week, this would have been like a 15-minute illustration in this sermon this morning.

I would have been telling you guys about it.

You definitely would have heard every single detail, not so with apaphroditis.

Listen, this is so countercultural.

How do you and I, how do we respond when we suffer?

Don't we often just we want other people to notice?

Like we don't want to have to say it, but other people better notice that I'm having a really hard time right now.

Other people better be calling me, other people better be checking in on me.

It's all about me.

Me, me, me.

I'll just cough a little louder so that they know I'm, you know, I'm really sick.

And I'll just, you know, slip in a little statement about how busy my schedule really is so that they know I'm, you know, I'm really serving you by being with you right now because I'm just so busy it's hard to even get a minute with me.

You know, I reflect, I've I've never had someone in my office complaining about the fact that people are paying too much attention to them.

And here we have a paphroditus.

The gospel had done such a work in him that his concern, even when he was ill to the point of death, was that he would care for the church.

You see what the gospel, what the gospel is doing in us right now, right now, if the Holy Spirit's working in you, it is transforming you to to look at yourself not as a consumer of what people have to offer you, but as a contributor to people's health.

Do you understand that?

The gospel is transforming you from a consumer to a contributor.

The gospel is saying you don't need anything from people, and so you are freed up then to serve them.

You're freed up like Epaphroditus to be driven by this desire to be used as an instrument in God's hands for the help of other people because you know you're in God's hands.

You know that you're cared for by Him.

This is why the Apostle John says, We love because he first loved us.

You know, that's the only source of love that you can really have, is when you're so filled with Christ's love for you that you can love without expecting anything in return.

I want you to notice here the emotions of love.

Notice that Epaphroditus says here in verse 26 that he was distressed.

Notice that Paul says in verse 28, sorry, 27 at the end, at the end there that he was sending Ephroditus, and then Epaphroditus had been miraculously delivered, lest Paul have sorrow upon sorrow.

Notice at the end of verse 28 that Paul says that he is sending Epaphroditus that he may be less anxious.

Distress, sorrow, anxiety.

Here we discover that when our identity is rooted in Christ, the things that distress us and cause us to be anxious have, well, they have a redemptive element to them, don't they?

In fact, stress, distress was, it's a gift to you.

There are things you're supposed to be stressed out about in life.

My wife really wants me to preach this message to myself, as this past week our barbecue was on fire and the drip tray had a bunch of fat in it, and it was on fire, a flaming ball, and she says, I think there's a problem there.

And I said, No, no, no, don't worry, honey, it's fine.

It's fine, okay?

It would be good to be stressed about that.

When Adam and Eve were in the garden, it they were supposed to be distressed when a snake came up to them and started talking to them.

There should have been a level of like this holy anxiety of like, I want to listen to the Lord's command and I'm anxious that I might not do it.

The problem is that stress and anxiety reveal the kingdom that we want established.

And I could spend a whole sermon here, and I'm sure someday that we will, but we will.

But is it not true that the things that cause us stress and anxiety are often not things concerning the advancement of God's kingdom, they are things concerning the advancement of our own kingdom.

We want our kids to behave a certain way.

We want our work to go a certain way.

And we could apply this a thousand different ways, but I think it's sufficient to say this that the things that you are anxious about, the things that cause you stress, are like highway road signs that show you where the affections of your heart really are.

And one of the ways that you know that God is working is in you is that he causes you, like Paul, to start to have this holy anxiety for the progress of other people.

And he causes you, like Epaphroditis, to have this holy distress.

Like, I just want these people to be cared for.

And in me right now, there's just this sense, I don't know if the Spirit's doing this in you, but as I just study this text, there is a sense of like, man, I have wasted my life in so many ways being stressed and anxious about the things that just do not matter.

And God, I want you to do this work.

I just, I confess that to you, God.

I repent, and I know that there's, I know that you wipe the slate clean, and God, I just want to be an instrument in your hands.

Use me for your purposes.

Make me just so desirous to be used by you that that's what causes me stress, that there might be someone that I could help that I could serve that I'm not.

Make me like Epaphroditus.

I want you to see how Ephroditus' life had been used by God to be a testimony of mercy.

Look at what Paul says here in verse 27.

He says, indeed, he was ill, near to death.

But look at these two words, church, encircle these two words, but God had mercy on him.

But God had mercy on him, and not only on him also, but on me.

It was God's mercy.

Near death, but God.

The focus is entirely on God's work.

Paul could have, uh you know, I wonder if Paul could have recounted the countless prayers that the Philippian church was praying for Epaphroditus.

Many sleepless nights, many prayer prayers at the worship and prayer meeting, lifted up for Epaphroditus on this journey.

God, just protect him, protect him, keep him safe.

Paul could have recounted that, but instead he just says this, but God.

You know, Paul could have recounted the miraculous way in which Epaphroditus was delivered.

Like he was he was almost on the brink of death.

He was in his deathbed and he was given new life.

But what does Paul say, but God?

I mean, I want to know some details.

Like, how did Paul get or how did Epaphroditus get revived to life?

Like, did he just spring out of bed, open up both his eyes, put his arms in the air, start shouting hallelujahs and praise to God?

Nothing about Epaphroditus.

It's all about God.

All the praise, all the glory given to God.

And so it will be with your life and with my life.

When we put ourselves in the hands of God and become his instruments, there will be all this human work that we do, but at the end of the day, if we have the maturity and the crystal clear vision given by the Holy Spirit, we will look back and say, But God.

This is why I'm so sick.

I'm so sick of these TV preachers that make their ministry all about them and don't talk anything about Jesus Christ.

They're so willing to talk about their planes, they're so willing to call talk about their supposed miracles, but they are so unwilling to give the glory to God.

And my heart rejoices in the preachers who preach and hope that you will forget their name because you are so consumed with the glory of their God.

But God.

You know, recently I found my testimony from when I was baptized at 11 years old.

It was this little laminated sheet of paper.

I got a type A organized mom, and that was definitely her, not me, but we the laminated piece of paper, and it recounted the work that God had done in my testimony.

And I read that, I was honestly a little embarrassed by it.

I was one, I was a little embarrassed that the church let me say the things that I said as an 11-year-old.

Like, how come nobody stopped me and you know said, Hey, maybe you shouldn't say this?

But as I read through it, I just, you know, I realized it said nothing about God.

Not one time in my testimony as an 11-year-old did I did I mention the work that God had done.

Did I attribute any praise to God?

I just talked about myself.

And you know, I think God smiled on that moment.

What you do on a child who just doesn't know what they're talking about.

And he smiled on my conversion and the work that he had done in saving me.

But he knew that over these next 20 years, I'm gonna show him who did the work.

I'm gonna show him who did the work of saving his soul.

I'm gonna show him who healed him of his sin.

So that now I just I just look back on that moment and I say, it was all God.

Like I had no hand in doing the things that God had done to lead up to that moment where I would just have, having not heard of Jesus Christ ever, hear of him and believe in him.

And you know, God's doing that work in our church.

In so many places, as I look around our church, I just see so many ways that I look at the work that God is doing and I say, but God, it has got to be God.

I look at the people who have been saved.

And what can I point to apart from God doing this work of drawing them into salvation?

I look at the many in our church who are wrestling with areas of obedience in their life, whether it's in marriage or in baptism or in other areas that God is calling them to be obedient.

And they're responding in faith, saying, God, I will listen to your word even when I don't know how it makes sense.

And I and I look at that and I say, What is it?

Like, what can cause a person to do that?

Nothing but God.

I look at the worship and prayer that we had just a week and a half ago, and 27 people filled this room, and you would have thought it was 200 people based on how loud they were singing, based on how they were lifting up intercessions to the Lord, asking him to work in our lives to give us growth.

And I say, What can cause a group of people to be filled with that kind of passion?

Nothing but God.

Men, I'm going to look tonight, right?

You're gonna be there tonight?

I'm going to look as men show up to the church office hungry for God's word, saying, I know I need help.

I need to be disciplined in order that I can be the man God is calling me to be.

And so I'm showing up for this fellowship because I need it.

And in that moment, I will look to God and say, it wasn't anything I did, it wasn't the organization of the announcements, it was God.

He's got to do the work.

Don't you want to make your life like this experiment where you put yourself in the hands of God and you say, God, use me as your instrument, and you see what God will do.

Like, church, I just, I just need you to know I am so sick of asking the question myself and hearing people ask this question: what's the minimum I have to give?

How little can I give to God in order to kind of, you know, calm my conscience and feel good about my life?

And God is saying, give your whole self to me and watch what I do.

Watch what I do when you submit your life into my hands, and I use you as an instrument for my purposes and for my glory.

Which leads to our last point.

I want you to see this that Christ is calling us, and when we respond, we'll work to become a risk taker in Christ's service.

I don't know if Paul could be more eager to send Ephroditis here.

Look what he says in verse 28 I am 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.

Paul is, he just he loves Ephroditus.

He's so excited to send him to this church.

And the question is why?

And we get the answer in verse 30.

For.

For why is Epaphroditus an exemplary man?

Why are we to honor men like Epaphroditus?

For he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.

Ephroditus was valued by Paul because of what he risked.

His life.

First thing I want you to notice is that Paul, again, is making it clear that Epaphroditus is just doing this out of a recognition of what Christ has done for him.

In verse 8, Christ is obedient to the point of death.

In verse 30, it is Epaphroditus who risks his life near the point of death for Christ.

And so this is teaching, you and I, we serve out of this reality that we could never give but like 1% and not even that of what Christ has given to us.

You will never outwork Jesus.

You'll never outwork the work that Jesus has done for you personally.

You cannot pray more than Jesus has prayed and interceded on your behalf.

You cannot give to others, even like 1%, give all your money, give all your time, give all your talents to somebody, and you You will still not even be at like 1% of what Jesus has given to you.

There's nothing you could sacrifice in your life to reach the amount that Christ has sacrificed for you.

And so we live our life out of this abundance of thankfulness for what Christ has already done for us.

And maybe you're here and you're looking at your life and you're looking at other people's life and you're saying, I just don't desire it the way they desire it.

I don't desire to walk the Christian life the way they desire to walk it.

I don't just it's just it's just not in me.

Like I can fabricate it for seasons of my life, but it's just not in me.

I don't know why I don't look like the other Christians I'm around and have the desires that they have.

Maybe God in this moment, in his love and compassion and mercy, is standing before you and saying, It's because you don't know what I've done for you.

It's because you don't know the good news.

It's because you don't believe that the good news really is good.

Because if you did, then you would serve like out of this abundance of Christ has done so much for me.

Maybe you can't walk in a manner worthy of the gospel because you just don't know the gospel.

You see, the gospel, it grips us and it makes us ask this question: how much do we value what Christ has done for us?

And we know how much we value something by according to how much we are willing to risk for it.

Isn't that true?

Haven't you at times been just so encouraged by the love that parents have for their children?

They're willing to give it all for the progress and safety of their children.

The love of a mother and what she's willing to sacrifice for a child is so beautiful.

And now Christ is looking at us and he's calling us to a life of risk-taking service and asking us this question: How much do you value me?

This is why Jesus told the parable of the man who found a treasure of great value and price in the field.

And what did he do?

He sold everything to attain that treasure.

And the Holy Spirit is here pressing this question deep into your heart.

How much do you value Jesus?

It will be shown by what you're willing to risk for his service.

Paphroditus was willing to risk his life.

And there have been more than a few in our church who have had to ask that question, who have been on death's door and have had to say, Am I willing to put my literal life into God's hands and say, God, if you take my life, I will trust you that it is for your glory?

Like Paul, who said, whether by life or death, my desire is that I would honor Jesus Christ.

These people have been on the death's door and they've asked, Am I gonna do that?

And the answer for them has been yes.

And the question for you today is this Is your life, is your life something that you have been you have put into the hands of Jesus, saying, It is yours, whatever you ask of me.

So that even if Christ, your commander, were to come to you and ask for your life, for the advancement of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you, whether it's by some cancer, whether maybe it's by some life-risking mission that you take, what would your response be?

Listen, church, I am so sick, I'm so sick of this surface Christianity that just says, I'm just gonna show up on a Sunday morning, I'm just gonna sing some worship songs, maybe I'll read the Bible once or twice a week, but other than that, my life is gonna look no different.

Where are the risk takers?

Where are the apaphrodites today?

Where are the ones who will say, Lord, my life is yours?

I don't care how you commission me to do it, I will give you my life.

Once our life is in Jesus' hands, all these other things that are that are so much less valuable than our life become so much more easier to do.

We become so willing to take risks in Christ's service.

I think of the risks that so many take in Christ's service to give up nights of their week where they, you know, that it's that time where they could be resting and they give up their night, whether it's to deliver a meal or to invite people into the fellowship of their home, that they might care for them and speak truth and love in their life.

I think the risk that so many take to sacrificially give of their time, knowing that they can spend their time so many other ways, knowing that they're gonna have to take away from time, even at work, to care for their family the way that they need to care for, to serve their church the way that they need to serve it.

And yet they take that time away from church because they say they say, I'm willing to risk the promotion.

It is nothing, it is nothing in light of what Jesus has done for me.

I think of the people who are so willing to risk themselves financially in order to give to the work that Jesus is doing, saying, I'll risk a life of driving that nicer car, of having that better home so that I can give to Christ's kingdom.

I think of the risk that many single people take in facing singleness, waiting for a man or a woman to come who fits God's description of who we ought to marry in the Lord and are willing to risk that for the Lord.

I think of our small group leaders who just continually they invest themselves in other people and they've been stabbed in the back so many times, so many people they've given so much to, they've never gotten anything in return.

And every time I say, Hey, we're sending some new people your way, they say, Send me more, send me more.

I am willing to risk my personal relationship to pour into these people.

I love these people.

I think of my mother-in-law.

I told her when she came I'd never talk about her in a sermon, but here we are, breaking that promise.

And how when she was working full-time, and the only believer in her home, she dragged her kids out to church every week.

It would have been so easy to take the Sunday morning off.

She dragged them out to church, at times kicking and screaming, saying, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be I'm gonna show these kids the Lord.

I'm gonna risk myself for his service.

And we look through countless examples in church history, and many of you know Jim Elliott.

He was a missionary who thought it was not much to risk his life to bring the gospel to unreached parts of the world, and he was quickly killed at a young age because of it.

But his wife would carry on the work and share his testimony, and God would work so miraculously through Elizabeth Elliot.

But early in his life, Jim Elliott prayed these words, and this is gonna come up on the screen because I wanted to make it our prayer this morning.

Lord, make my way prosperous.

Not that I achieve high station, but that my life may be an exhibit to the value of knowing God.

And it did show the value of God.

Jamelia did not consider life something to be held on to, so he gave it in service to Christ as work.

Just as Christ did not count equality with God something to be grasped, so he gave himself to Jamelia.

And so our question this morning is this if the testimony of all that you regularly risk for Christ was all that those around you had to know of the value of Christ, if that was all that showed them the value of Christ is what you are willing to risk, how valuable would Christ be?

How valuable would Christ be?

What worth would he show?

Church Christ is calling.

There's a work to be done.

And the question is, what's your response?

To pray with me?

Father, we hear your call.

Lord, you are commissioning us to a to a work.

And you are calling us to a response right now, Lord, to like Isaiah said, to say, here I am, Lord, send me.

To be like Epaphroditus who was willing to risk his life in order to meet the needs of Paul.

So many times he could have quit.

So many times he could have said, This is absurd, this is asking too much, but he did not.

He was willing to risk his life to get to Paul and to serve him, to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ.

And we look, Lord, we look around today and we say, God, make us like that.

Make us those people.

Our world needs it.

Lord, our world needs it.

And so would you, by a powerful and magnificent work, make us to be men like Epaphroditus, God.

Lord, we pray this in the name of your Son.

Amen.