Sermon Tone Analysis

Opening

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Lesson Introduction

There is a church in New Mexico that has only one door that leads into the main auditorium.

Over that door the sign reads “Servant’s Entrance.”

There isn’t any way in or out of that church except through the servant’s entrance!

That’s not a bad reminder of the fact that every believer is called to serve our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.

Unlike most sports teams, the Lord’s team does not have any bench warmers.

Every Christian is given a first-string spot on the team, with a vital role to fulfill.

A non-serving Christian is a contradiction in terms.

There isn’t any way in or out of that church except through the servant’s entrance!

That’s not a bad reminder of the fact that every believer is called to serve our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.

Unlike most sports teams, the Lord’s team does not have any bench warmers.

Every Christian is given a first-string spot on the team, with a vital role to fulfill.

A non-serving Christian is a contradiction in terms.

Paul has already talked to us about humility and our example of Jesus Christ, and now he seems to talk about some mundane matters about sending Timothy and Epaphroditus to the Philippian church, and about his hope of coming personally if he is released from prison.

After the doctrinal high water mark of this letter, where Paul speaks of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ who left the glory of heaven to take on the form of a servant and to become obedient to death on the cross for our sakes (2:5-11), Paul turns to some seemingly mundane matters about sending Timothy and Epaphroditus to the Philippian church, and about his hope of coming personally if he is released from prison.

This is one of those sections of Scripture that, at first glance, you may wonder why God took up the pages of the Bible with the travel schedules of these three men.

But as we examine it, I hope you will see that the Holy Spirit uses it in a marvelous way to illustrate for us the truths that Paul has been presenting in this entire chapter.

These choice men whom Paul commends to the Philippian church, Timothy and Epaphroditus, are two men worth imitating as we seek to serve our Lord.

Along with Paul himself, they have much to teach us about Christian servanthood.

They show us that ...

Proposition: If we cultivate a servant’s heart and endure a servant’s hardships, we will receive a servant’s honor.

1.

We must cultivate a servant’s heart.

Our Savior did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many ().

Every Christian is the blood-bought servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Being a servant of Christ is not an option if you want to be more dedicated; it is the calling of every believer.

But, because we all are selfish by nature, we must cultivate the heart of a servant as we grow in Christ.

Paul, Timothy and Epaphroditus illustrate men who had servant’s hearts, as seen in two dimensions:

A. A SERVANT’S HEART IS CENTERED ON THE THINGS OF JESUS CHRIST.

The Apostle Paul was a man whose focus and trust was on the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is Paul’s way of saying, “If it be the Lord’s will.”

Paul was submitting every choice to the will of God.

Paul was submitting every choice to the will of God.

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When he mentions how Epaphroditus got well from his illness, he doesn’t say, “Thank goodness he got better!” but rather, “God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but also on me.”

When he instructs the church to welcome Epaphroditus, he tells them to “receive him in the Lord with all joy.”

Clearly, the Lord was the focal point of Paul’s life and ministry.

Timothy’s focus was also on the Lord.

Paul states that, unlike many others, Timothy was not seeking after his own interests instead of those of Jesus Christ (2:21).

Timothy served with Paul in the furtherance of the gospel (2:22).

Christ and the gospel were at the center of Timothy’s life.

Timothy’s focus was also on the Lord.

Paul states that, unlike many others, Timothy was not seeking after his own interests instead of those of Jesus Christ

(2:21).

Timothy served with Paul in the furtherance of the gospel (2:22).

Christ and the gospel were at the center of Timothy’s life.

Timothy served with Paul in the furtherance of the gospel (2:22).

Christ and the gospel were at the center of Timothy’s life.

Epaphroditus also was a faithful servant whose focus was on the things of Christ.

He had pushed himself almost to the point of death to bring the gift to Paul from the Philippian church.

Maybe he grew ill on the six-week journey and pushed himself almost beyond his limits in an effort to get to the apostle’s side.

Or, perhaps after arriving he contracted some illness, but he kept pushing himself in his service to Paul in the cause of the gospel.

His longing and concern for the church back in Philippi also reveal his servant’s heart for the things of Christ.

Paul calls Epaphroditus a “minister to my need” and states that he had completed by his presence what the Philippians could not do in their absence in service to Paul (2:25, 30).

The word translated “minister” and “service” comes from a Greek word from which we get our word “liturgy.”

In secular Greek, the word was used of a man who, out of love for his city and the gods, would finance a great drama or outfit a battleship.

It has the flavor of sacred service, or worship.

Every servant of Jesus Christ does what he does, whether giving or helping or speaking, as an offering to the Lord Jesus.

A servant’s heart is centered on the Lord Jesus Christ and His work.

Three attitudes mark servants who are focused on the Lord Jesus Christ:

(1) They are willing to be sent anywhere.

It wouldn’t have been easy for Timothy to leave the side of his beloved father in the faith in order to go to Philippi, but he was willing to go if that was God’s will.

It hadn’t been easy for Epaphroditus to leave the comforts of home and journey to Rome, but he had done it.

Now, it also would be difficult for him to leave Paul and return home, but he was willing to go where the Lord wanted him.

Have you told the Lord, “I’m willing to go anywhere You want me to go”?

I remember as a teenager being hesitant to do that, because I was afraid He might say, “Go to Africa as a missionary,” and I didn’t want to do that!

But then I reasoned, “God is a loving Father who knows what is best for me.

If it’s best for me to serve Him in Africa, I’d be stupid to stay in the United States.”

So I surrendered to Him on that matter.

Then, after seminary, an opportunity came up to pastor a church in northeastern Indiana.

I can think of few places in this country I’d rather not be more than northeastern Indiana!

But Marla and I knelt down and reaffirmed our submission to His will.

The packet of material from that church never arrived in the mail, and the Lord soon opened up the church in the mountains of Southern California, where I served for 15 years.

(2) They are willing to serve anyone.

Timothy served Paul, but he was willing to go and serve the Philippian church.

Epaphroditus served the Philippian church, but he was willing to go and serve Paul.

He reminds me of Philip, who was being used by God to reach great multitudes in Samaria, but who was willing to go to a deserted road where the Lord used him to reach the Ethiopian eunuch (, ).

A servant of Christ isn’t out to make a name for himself by speaking to large crowds only.

He’s available to his Lord to serve anyone the Lord directs him to serve.

(3) They are willing to sacrifice anything.

Timothy had given up his own interests to become a servant of Christ.

Epaphroditus almost lost his life in his service for the Lord.

To the Ephesian elders, Paul said of his own ministry,

Have you told the Lord, “I’ll give up everything--my desires, my ambitions, my comforts, my time, my money--to serve You”?

I have emphasized this point at length, that a servant’s heart is centered on the things of Jesus Christ, because if you have any other motive or reason for Christian service, you will eventually burn out or bomb out.

You’ll get angry and be hurt because of the way people treat you; you’ll be frustrated and grow weary of the hardships you have to endure; you’ll quit in disgust or disappointment--if you’re serving for any reason other than love for the Lord Jesus who gave Himself for your sins.

A servant’s heart must be constantly captivated with Christ.

B. A SERVANT’S HEART PUTS OTHERS AHEAD OF HIMSELF FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST.

The Apostle Paul was in prison facing possible execution.

Timothy was his right hand man, a faithful man who had served with Paul as a child serving his father (2:22).

It would have been understandable if Paul, thinking of his circumstances, had said, “I can’t spare Timothy at this time.

He must stay here with me.”

But, instead, he was willing to send Timothy for the sake of the Philippian church.

The Philippians had been willing to serve Paul by giving monetarily and by sending Epaphroditus, who himself had been willing to serve to the brink of death on Paul’s behalf.

Of Timothy, Paul says, “I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.

For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus” (2:20, 21).

These are hard words to understand, because you would think that out of all the faithful Christians in Rome (Paul wrote about five years prior to this, where he greets many faithful believers in Rome), he could have found some who were not living for themselves!

And, what about Luke, Titus, Aristarchus, Trophimus, and Epaphroditus?

Paul must have meant that of those available to him at that time as messengers, Timothy was the only one he knew of who would genuinely seek after the interests of others instead of their own.

There are at least three ways you can tell if you’re putting others ahead of yourself: