PHILIPPIANS | The Mind of Christ on Display | Philippians 2:19-30

We have the joy and privilege to consider the Word of God this morning. We are making our way through the Book of Philippians, and we come to the last part of Chapter 2.

We'll be looking at Philippians chapter 2, verses 19 through 30.

Philippians 2:19–30

I would encourage you to turn with me, copy the scriptures. If you didn't bring your Bible, you can find this passage on page 981 there in the church Bible in front of you. 981 of the church Bible. Before we read it, let's go again to the Lord in prayer, asking for the Lord's blessing.

Let's pray.

Our heavenly Father, we thank you that you are not silent, but that you speak, Lord. We know the heavens are declaring your glory, but Lord, as we come to your word in this special revelation, we might know how our sins might be forgiven, how our sins can be washed away. How our sins can be cast as far as the east is from the west. And Lord, it all happens through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord, I pray that Jesus again would increase and that we would decrease. Lord, I pray that by faith you would open up our spiritual eyes to see and behold Him, that the things of this world would grow strangely dim to us as we set our gaze more and more upon our Savior. Lord, unstop our deaf ears to hear of Him crucified for sinners like us. Soften our hardened hearts to receive Him by faith, to put pride and selfishness to death by the power of Your Spirit, and to humbly rest upon You, Lord. I pray that You will be merciful to Your people, and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

People, God here, hear God's word for us this morning, from Philippians chapter 2, beginning in verse 19.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

[19] I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. [20] For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. [21] For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. [22] But you know Timothy's[d] proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. [23] I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, [24] and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.

[25] I send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, [26] for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. [27] 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.

[28] I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. [29] So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men,[30] for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.

He who has ears, let him hear the word of God. Please be seated. I'm not sure if anyone remembers. There was a show, certainly on in the 90s, maybe on in the 80s. It was called Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, hosted by Robin Leach.

Does anyone remember that? Okay, good. So this will make some sense to some. But if you if you haven't seen it, if you you don't know what I'm talking about, it was a reality series that put on display luxury homes, yachts, and daily lives of wealthy entertainers, athletes, and business leaders.

It was hard to watch the show and not say, "I want what they have. Now, in our passage, Paul is directing us to people that we should seek, in some ways, to say, "I want what they have, but not those who are looking out for their own interests alone.

But we should want what they have when they look at the interests of others and caring for others' needs-not those desiring ultimate comforts and indulgences, but risking their lives in Christ's service, not to honor people based on house, career, or wealth.

But honor those who are Christ-like in their character.

Who are people that you know and think I want to love Jesus the way they love Jesus? Who are people that you know that you might say I want to pray like they pray? I want to face suffering like they face suffering. We all need people like that in our lives because we're all still growing up. We still need role models. We are all maturing. The good work that Christ has begun in you, as we noted, is not yet finished, but it will one day be completed.

The goal of maturing and growing up in the Lord is to grow in that family resemblance, to grow more and more, to sound like Jesus, to look like Jesus, to act like our older brother. This is what Paul has been talking about really throughout this entire chapter. He says, "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, Paul gave us the supreme and ultimate picture of what the mind of Christ looks like-the eternal Son of God, who humbled Himself, who took on the form of a servant. He became obedient, even obedient to death, even death on a cross, and we should look at Jesus by faith and say,"I want that. I want Jesus, and I want to look more like that. I want to look more like my Lord, Father. Please grow me up to be more like my older brother. But sometimes we can feel overwhelmed and crushed. If Jesus is our standard, how will I ever obtain? Dennis Johnson, a professor of mine, he likened it to being a terribly out of shape man lying on a couch who's watching an Olympic runner cross the finish line on the television, and he watches that athlete break the tape and says,"You know what? I'm going to be like that. I'm going to start training, and I'm going to be ready for the next Olympics. And everyone who knows you knows you won't be near anywhere ready for the next Olympics, it would be a wonder if you could walk a mile, let alone run a mile in an athletic event. The more honestly we know ourselves, the more enormous the distance between us and and Christ appears at times. His obedience compared to my obedience, his patience to my patience, his courage to mine. Well, could it be helpful to see what the mind of Christ looks like, not simply in our Lord and Savior, who we are being more and more conformed to the image, but to have examples of ordinary people, who ordinary people who still struggle with sin and still have weakness could it could it be helpful to have examples of what Christlikeness looks like in ordinary people and I think this is one of the blessings that we have in the church not just instructions to follow but you also have examples all around you, various examples of what living for Christ looks like, about what Christ likeness, Christ-mindedness looks like around you. We see people who are are selflessly giving of themself, who are compassionate, who are holy, and that is what Paul does for us in this passage. Not only tell us about the mind, or tell us about Christ and the mind of Christ, but but giving us now a few examples in the church of actual people whom God has worked faith in, and we see them working out their faith. Paul is going to give us three people, three examples. He's going to give himself as an example. He's going to give Timothy as an example, and he's going to get Epaphroditus as our the third example too. This passage too is one of those passages that we can easily just kind of pass over. Like this is just Paul's travel logs about who's going to go where and going to do what.

It's really not that important.

It's really not that significant in the Bible. Not sure why it's even there, but I want to show you too how what Paul does here is tying us exactly back to Jesus Christ, tying us exactly back to everything he had just said in chapter two to have the mind of Christ, and here are just a few examples of how Christ is working in His people.

The first person Paul puts before us is himself.

In chapter three, Paul will say,"Join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example." You have in us. Paul will also say to the church in Corinth, "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. Now, in our text, Paul says in verse 19, "I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon. And then, if you look there in verse 24, it says, "I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also, and here we have this small phrase that Paul uses multiple times in the Lord, and again it might be easy to overlook or pass by, but this is actually telling us something very important about Paul and his thinking, that Paul has desires, Paul has goals. Paul has aspirations. If we know anything about Paul, he's a go-getter. He's not someone who's just sitting around. He he's making plans about who's going to go where and what he wants to do. He wants to send Timothy. He hopes that his trial will go favorably. He hopes to be released. He wants to return to Philippi, and we see all of these plans that Paul is making.

We see his hopes, but we also want to note here that Paul knows that his plans, his hopes, and his life do not belong to himself. He hopes in the Lord.

He trusts in the Lord. This is Paul saying, "Not my will, but yours be done. Here's Lord, what I desire, but I'm going to submit to you, Lord. This is what I want, but ultimately, Jesus, you are Lord. Jesus, you are Lord over my time in prison.

You are Lord over whether I will travel again. You are Lord of whether I live or die. Paul is most likely will be released at some point, but then he'll be recaptured later by Nero and and then die. But there's no record of Paul ever getting back to Philippi, and so there we have an example of a good desire, but yet the Lord doesn't accomplish it or fulfill Paul's desire.

Paul humbly submits himself to the one that every tongue will confess as Lord, and that is God working in Paul, and Paul is working it out and humbly submitting his plans to the Lord. This is Christ likeness on display. Jesus submitted himself to the will of the Father. That took him to death, even death on the cross. As Paul just said that, Jesus said, "I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. You know, and James also warns us about planning our lives as though we were the sovereign one. Today or tomorrow, I will go into such and such a town, and spend a year there, and trade, and make a profit. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. If not in our actual words, certainly in our spirit, we must submit and desire God's will to be done.

Paul wants to go back to serve, and again, that's a good and noble desire, but so was wanting to take the gospel to Asia.

Remember that Paul wanted to to take the gospel to Asia, but we're told in Acts that the Spirit of Christ stops him, and then sends him where to Philippi. Here, God had other plans. What do you want your life to be about? What do you want people to remember about you at your funeral-that you lived a long, safe, and comfortable life, or that you poured yourself out like a drink offering for Christ and His people. The mind of Christ says,"Lord, what you give me and however long you give me, use me for your glory, whatever that means, whatever that looks like.

Use me to magnify yourself, to magnify Jesus. Now, Paul turns our attention to Timothy, someone else who has the mind of Christ on display in seeking the interests of Christ. Paul desires to send Timothy to them and says, "I have no one like him.

Paul says, "I'm going to send you guys a pastor." And there's no one like this guy. What comes to mind about the type of pastor Paul would be sending if Paul was here and he says, "I'm going to send you guys a pastor, and there is no one like him, right?

Think about what do you envision that pastor to be like? You you think you know he's probably going to have extraordinary preaching abilities. He he's probably going to have that magnetic personality that everyone is just kind of drawn to, and whatever he does, that's what people want to do. He's probably really smart. He's someone that walks into the room, and everyone knows that's the leader, that's the guy. Paul says none of that. None of that is what Paul says. In fact, what he what we know about Timothy, we have reason to believe that he Timothy is someone who struggled with fear and timidity. Paul tells us in Corinthians, when Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you. That is, take it easy on the guy. Don't give him any reason to show up there at the church and be afraid of you.

Paul will also write a letter to Timothy and tell Timothy God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and of self-control. And I think he's encouraging Timothy because Timothy was prone to be afraid, to be anxious, and Paul's trying to comfort him. Don't you don't need to be afraid, and Paul says in verse 20, "I have no one like him, because he will genuinely care for your welfare. He will be genuinely concerned about your welfare. Timothy has the mind of Christ, and the mind of Christ cares for the people of Christ. Timothy will care for their well-being. He will seek to comfort them in their suffering, and he will call them to repentance and faith in the divisions that the churches is having. He will love them well.

Paul gives us the contrast, and it's a scathing accusation there in verse 21. For they all seek their own interest, not those of Jesus Christ. And if you look at verse four, let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others. And then here Paul says they all seek their own interest. This is a disease in

selfish ambition, vain conceit, looking out for yourself alone. And we've looked at that in past sermons. This is not just congregation members who are are struggling with this sin. This is the ministers who are struggling with it. Paul has already told us back in chapter one that some people were preaching Christ from envy and rivalry. They were preaching the right Christ, but from the wrong motives. Paul's in prison. You know what that means? My ministry can grow. People will finally recognize my gifts and my abilities because Paul's out of the picture. My name will be great. My name. They were seeking their own interests, not the interests of Christ Jesus.

But who is seeking the interests of Christ and therefore your interests, or Timothy, the interests of Christ are bound, as I said, up with the welfare of Christ's people. Or to say it another way, the things of Christ are the people of Christ.

To not care for the people of Christ is to not care for the things of Christ. Malachi reminded us that we are God's treasured possession. We can't rightly say I love Jesus. I just don't care much for the church.

Jesus loves His church. He purchased His church with His precious blood. The church is the body, and Christ is its head. When Paul was persecuting Christians, Jesus came and told Saul at that time. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting them?

No, he says, why are you persecuting me? Because we cannot separate Christ from His people. They are united to him.

Nothing and all of creation can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus, as Paul writes there in Romans. And that's a challenge for us, because I think for many of us it's easy to say, "I love Jesus, and. Praise the Lord. Jesus is great. Jesus is grand. Jesus is perfect, but it's much harder to say.

I love that person a few pews away, whose personality really rubs me the wrong way, who seems very needy all the time? It's hard to love the person who you feel like you have poured out for and done a lot, and they've never even said thank you. It is here, often in the church, where having the mind of Christ is tested, Timothy is going to a church where there are interpersonal tensions, but their welfare matters to him.

Timothy, he struggled with fear, but he goes and he serves anyway. He goes, he loves anyway, and it is all the grace of God in Timothy to look to Jesus and therefore not simply serve his own interests, but also the interests of others.

When we think about this church, when you think about people in this church, what do you think about we need, or they need?

When you think about this church, what do we need? Maybe some of the things that come to mind immediately are more bathrooms, right? And or maybe a youth ministry. Wouldn't that be nice? And those things can be nice and they can be helpful.

But what we really need as a church is more Jesus. We need more Christ likeness. We need the mind of Christ. We need more of Jesus. Make us more like our Lord. One of the surest ways too to rob yourself of joy is to turn inward. Is anyone here lacking joy? Probably most of us are. To constantly examine your my needs, my comforts, my recognition, my disappointments, my preferences. Selfish living is a miserable way to live, but there is joy in obedience, and there is joy in serving and considering others, that is part of the the fruit of the spirit, which produces joy in serving and giving and pouring yourself out for others. Paul says, "My spiritual son in the faith is proven; he will point you to Christ, and therefore he will care for your interests. And then third, we have Epaphroditus. The next example Paul gives us here is this man Apaphroditus, and what does it look like to have the mind of Christ and care for the interests of others, even when

Have the I have thought it necessary to send you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need. Paul gives us five different descriptions here about Epaphroditus, my brother. He belongs to the family, you know. And Epaphroditus was most likely raised in a pagan family. His parents named him after the false god Aphrodite, but God's grace has given him a new identity as now being a son of God, a brother of Paul. He's been adopted, and he shares the same blood of Christ, atoning and washing away his sin, my fellow worker, working for the kingdom, he's not simply observing; he is serving my fellow soldier. I love this description because if you ask any member of the military, there's a bond of service between members who have been through something together, you can put people from completely different backgrounds into the same unit, different parts of the country who have different families, different upbringings, different personalities, different interests. But when they have stood together in danger, when one man has depended upon the man beside him, when they've been exhausted together, when they've been afraid together, when they have suffered together, it creates a bond. And there are things a fellow soldier understands that no one else can quite understand. And Paul looks at Epaphroditus and says, "He is my fellow soldier. We forget many things, and one of the things we forget is that we are in a battle. Paul has already used military language back in chapter one, standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving side by side. For the faith of the gospel, that is, we are called to fight together, not against flesh and blood, but against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil.

There is a real gospel that we are to defend. There is real temptation that we need to fight. There is real suffering that we must endure.

There are brothers and sisters who are here today who are weary and tired and wounded, and we must come around each other as a band of brothers to suffer side by side together, to pray side by side together, to serve side by side together to fight side by side together, and Paul says Epaphroditus has stood with me and supported me when I needed help. I was in prison alone, and who came to visit me?

Epaphroditus did. He was your messenger and minister to my needs? Says Paul. The whole Philippian church couldn't just all get up and leave and travel to Rome, but they sent one of their own to be a representative. The Philippian church they also collected an offering to bring to Paul, and Epaphroditus was entrusted to carry that gift to Paul, because one thing to keep in mind here is during Paul's day, prisoners were not supplied with everything they need. Tax dollars did not feed or take care of prisoners. Unless family or friends brought you food and provisions, you would not eat and you would die because Rome did not care if you died in prison. They are not going to pay to make sure you are taken care of. If you die, great. So it had to be the responsibility of people in your life if you're in prison to make sure you get what you need. And this poor church in Philippi, they take a collection and they give what they have for Paul to make sure that he's taken care of. Your messenger and minister to my need. The Philippians know this need, and and because they love Christ, they love Paul. And when Epaphroditus arrived carrying that generous provision, it was as though the whole church somehow showed up in Paul's cell. This is what Christian love does. It doesn't merely say I care, but it gets legs to go and to give, to visit, to call, to cook, and to serve.

Epaphroditus goes, and it nearly kills him. He nearly dies. Look at verse 27. Indeed, he was ill near to death, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me. We might look at Paul's situation in Epaphroditus.

situation a little different.

You know, we think about you know Paul he's preaching boldly the gospel and now he is suffering for it. But you know, Epaphroditus he just he just gets really sick, right? I mean, he wasn't like standing on the streets and preaching Christ. He just gets really sick while traveling. But you notice Paul doesn't describe it like that at all. Paul says he nearly died for the work of Christ. And what was the work of Christ that that Epaphroditus was doing? Visiting a brother in need, giving to a brother in need, serving a brother in need. Epaphroditus was carrying the love of Jesus Christ from Philippi to Jesus's servant in Rome, and it costs him. Remember, this is before the days of vaccines and antibiotics. We aren't told what he had, but we're told it nearly killed him. And here God puts this name of this ordinary Christian in this passage of Scripture because he risks death for the service of Christ. And this is a reflection of Jesus again in Epaphroditus. This is the work of Jesus in Epaphroditus. Jesus died that we might live, didn't He? He came and He served and He spilled His blood that you and I might live.

And for now, for you who do live by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, God is calling us to die to self, that others might live, and we are reflecting then the mind of Christ. Our service in no way saves or atones, but we are reflecting the love of Christ by sharing Christ and by serving one another. Notice something else here about.

Paphroditis. He's sick nearly to death, and what is he worried about? He's worried about the

For he's been longing for you all, and has been distressed. Why? Because of you. Because you heard that he was ill. Do you see how other centered this whole section here is? Epaphroditus nearly dies.

The Philippians hear about it and they become distressed.

Epaphroditus becomes distressed because they're distressed about him, and then Paul becomes distressed about Epaphroditus, who is distressed, because the Philippian church is distressed.

Do you see the way they care for each other? You don't do that for people you don't really care about, but you see the love and affection and unity and oneness here that is just pouring out.

They care for one another. Paul says, "So receive him in the Lord with joy and honor such men. The world has its heroes.

We have celebrities, athletes, influencers, billionaires.

Millions of people know their name and are celebrated here in this world. But the church we have a different definition of what it means to be great-to honor people who are pouring themselves out for the service of others, honor those who have quiet, costly, Christ-like faithfulness. We know people like that, don't we? We all have people in our life at one point who have shared the gospel with us, who have loved us to tell us about Jesus, who have served us, who have made meals for us, who have helped us with our homes and with our children, who have prayed with us, people who have given and served quietly, who have poured out their life into yours, and most of these people, the world will never know their names, but God knows their names. They are written in His book, and that is what matters.

You know the question that we begin with: What do you want to be like when you grow up? Who do you want to be like? We need examples to follow. We need people to show us what Christ's likeness looks like when Monday morning comes around, when Sunday's over, and what does the week look like? And Paul gives

himself, Timothy and Epaphroditus, and each one of these men reflects Christ.

Paul says, "My plans belong to Christ. Timothy says, "My interests belong to Christ.

Epaphroditus says, "My life belongs to Christ. But there's a temptation, though, in this text, is to simply walk away and say, "I need to try harder to be like those guys, but that is not what the text is calling us to.

You know, it reminds me there was a song that I used to love to sing when I was younger, and maybe you know it. It was called"Dare to Be a Daniel, and whenever there was a time of him singing the church, my name being Daniel and being young, if any with anyone, any any favorite songs out here, can dare to be a Daniel because I would love for people to say dare to be like Daniel. Isn't that wonderful? Dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose firm. Dare to make it known, but Daniel, Paul, Epaphroditus, Timothy, are all meant for us to look through, or even to reflect off of, and to look to our Lord Jesus Christ, who has died for all of our sins, who has washed us, and by the power of His Spirit is renewing us. Don't stop looking at these men, but look through them to Christ.

These men were not fully grown, fully sanctified. You know, a sign of maturity is realizing you aren't yet fully mature, and you have a long way to go. And so do these men here at this time. Now they are glorified now, but here in our text, they are still fallen men, and we can't look to them. We need to look to Jesus. Look through Paul and see Jesus. Paul submits his plans to Christ, but Jesus humbled himself by taking on the form of a servant and dying, dying on the cross for our sins.

Who said, "Not my will, Lord, but yours be done. Look through Timothy and see Jesus. Timothy, who genuinely cared for the welfare of others, but Jesus saw us and our very sin and misery.

Why we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. Look through Epaphroditus and see Jesus.

Epaphroditus nearly died for the work of Christ, but Jesus dies not merely as an example, not merely to inspire us, but He died to save us, to bear our guilt, to take our shame, our judgment. He shed his blood, and he rose from the dead, and he has saved us.

And now the Christ who has saved us is working in us to look more and more like him, not at work in us, so other people can say how remarkable those people are at that church. No, but working in us for the glory of God the Father, not to us, not to us, O Lord, but to you, to your name, be all the glory. Let's pray.

Our heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us Jesus, Lord.

We thank you that He came and humbled Himself, and He gave His life. How He submitted to Your will, how He served our interests-not simply looking and striving for the crown, but humbling himself even to death.

Lord, I thank you that he does die to redeem us, to save us.

And Lord, those of us now by faith in Christ, Lord, let us die to self and live more and more to Christ. Make the mind of Christ more and more ours by the power of Your Spirit, Lord. Fill us with Your mercy and grace, and it's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.