WHAT GODLY SERVICE LOOKS LIKE
Philippians 2:19-30
Have you ever watched as children interact with other children who are different than they are?
A Critter County children’s story: Looks at Beautiful the Bunny. When she was still a baby learning to hop, she fell into a deep hole. She was hurt badly and will always have to walk on crutches. [Some might say Beautiful is strange because she wears glasses, walks on crutches, and has lost a leg. Some children make fun of her. But God says she is beautiful.]
Why do we sense the need to help children appreciate others who look or act different than they do, when WE have trouble ourselves accepting adults who look or act differently than we do?
Do we care enough about other people to find out what's on their minds?
What's troubling them? Do we really care about others?
Getting Beyond "How are you?"
Thesis: We need to learn to demonstrate love to one another. Two keys:
1) Ask questions
2) Listen carefully to how people answer.
Do we listen to what others are saying to us?
Do we really want to know when friends are hurting?
Jesus was skilled at demonstrating love to others.
He knew how to ask questions and how to listen to people’s response.
He was a real friend.
We show we are His friends by treating one another as He treats us
—by showing love to one another.
We don't spend much time listening to one another.
Our modern lifestyle: people drive alone to work, then drive home alone. We flick the automatic garage door opener so we never get out of the car or speak to a neighbor, we go into the house, sit down to the paper, turn on our Cable television or DVDs, hoping no one will bother us!
People feel isolated.
We have affluence, but we don't have each other any more!
We don't really get to know one another.
Philippians 2: 19-30, Paul is writing to an “ideal” church–a generous, missionary-minded church, that was faithful to the Word, that suffered for their faith, and that demonstrated it’s concern for other people like Paul.
Even so, two problems are revealed:
They are DISCOURAGED
They are DIVIDED
They need ENCOURAGEMENT and UNITY.
Throughout Paul's letter, he continually reminds us of the importance of demonstrating love to each other.
FIVE EXHORTATIONS TO UNITY 1:27-2:18
Five imperatives reveal the conduct Paul wants to see in God’s people:
Paul urges us . . .
To pull together.
To live in humility.
To consider others more important than ourselves.
To work in unity.
To resolve the conflicts we’re facing.
To avoid complaining and arguing.
REPORT CONCERNING THEIR MINISTERS 2:19-30
Paul sends a report on three leaders who have ministered in their midst
They know them well
They are examples of care and concern for others.
They are examples of self-sacrifice for others—Imitate them!
These leaders are an example of the attitude Paul wants to see in us.
They are people who know how to demonstrate love for others!
"Respect them and imitate their example!"
Imitate them!
What characteristics do these three demonstrate?
● TIMOTHY 2:19-23
Paul wants to send him because of his example of self-sacrifice and genuine love.
1. He can be trusted to give an objective evaluation of how they’re doing. 19
He loves them too much to tear them down with unjust, negative criticism
He loves them too much to cover up problems with false flattery.
Paul can count on Timothy to bring word of how they’re really doing.
2. He genuinely cares about them 20
He is unique in that concern for them.
3. He seeks the good of others. 20-21
He models what it looks like to look out for the interests of others (2:4)
He models what it looks like to seek Christ’s interests rather than his own.
4. He is a proven servant. 22-23
He isn’t trying to get ahead. He won’t undermine the leader.
● PAUL 2:24-25
He wants to visit them.
He hopes he’ll soon be free to visit them personally.
He isn’t trying to avoid the personal pain and the problems there.
He isn’t trying to escape the suffering.
He’s willing to sacrifice personal benefits
because he cares about them.
He’s willing to give up the personal benefit of keeping Epaphroditus there with him.
They sent him to meet Paul’s needs.
Paul would like to keep him, but he believes they need him worse than he does.
He’s willing to sacrifice his desires for their welfare.
● EPAPHRODITUS 2:25-30 Another example to imitate
1. Paul sees him as a faithful brother, co-worker, and fellow soldier. 25a
2. They trusted him to represent them in serving Paul and meeting his needs. 25b
He didn’t just look out for his own interests.
He would look out for Paul’s welfare! They could trust him!
3. While there ill, he was more concerned about them than about himself, even though he nearly died. 2:26-27a
4. Paul would consider it a great personal loss to lose him. 2:27b
5. He would be a source of encouragement for them. 2:28
Knowing Epaphroditus is there to encourage them would bring relief to Paul also.
6. His presence should cause them to focus on the positive. 2:29
It should provoke joy and celebration.
It should give them an opportunity to honor him appropriately.
7. He’s willing to sacrifice his own life for God's people and plan. 2:30
These leaders model attitudes Paul is urging the Philippians to pursue!
What should WE learn from the example of these three leaders?
[As we look at example of these leaders, and their impact on the church, we learn...]
HOW SHOULD WE IMITATE THESE LEADERS?
Two major ways we should imitate them . . .
* Demonstrate love to people we already know and accept.
A little girl came home after being with a friend and said to her mother, "Janie was very sad, Mommy, because her kitty died. But I helped her feel better."
When asked what she had done, she replied, "I cried with her."
When troubles come your soul to try, => You love a friend who just stands by;
Perhaps there's nothing he can do, The thing is strictly up to you;
For there are troubles all your own, And paths the soul must tread alone,
Bad times when love can't smooth the road, Nor friendship lift the heavy load.
But just to feel you have a friend, Who will stand by until the end,
Whose sympathy through all endures, Whose warm handclasp is always yours,
It helps somehow to pull you through, Though there's nothing he can do.
And so with fervent heart we cry: 'God bless the friend who just stands by.'
Patrick Morley writes: "Few today have close friends. . . Adult friendships are the most difficult to start and to maintain. Many develop a certain level of fellowship with others they work with, but what they often don't realize is that when it comes down to real relationships, they have a "friendship deficit."
"Most could recruit six pallbearers, but hardly anyone has a friend he can call at 2 a.m."
We desire the approval of others but the fear of rejection often keeps us from initiating a deeper relationship. Vulnerability is the price of friendship.
The rewards of friendship include having someone who will (1) help you through the rough spots, (2) keep you on track by giving you honest feedback, and (3) serve as a sounding board when you need someone to listen or to feel the pain with you. Friendship requires a big investment of time and trust.
Kathy Scott shared her discouragement in a letter to a friend (husband lost job; finances a disaster) . Then she felt guilty for burdening her friend. Weeks later she received a reply stating how much the "down" letter had meant. The friend had been in the hospital, had huge problems, and just to know someone else was hurting gave her something to hang on to..
* Demonstrate love to people we don’t normally know or accept.
–to people outside our normal circles of friendship and “acceptability –to people who are different from us.
One of the most difficult things to accomplish is to bring two cultures together
Have you noticed what happens when you walk up to people talking to each other in a language you don't understand?
We assume they are talking about us. The feelings aren't positive, are they?
Norm Wright in his marriage counseling material suggests that anytime two people marry, two different cultures are coming together.
That’s helpful because when we stand around visiting on Sunday, we need to realize many different cultures come together here.
Do we take the time to find out about the other person's culture as we visit?
Or are we just planning our next sentence, expecting that other people will pay more attention to us than we’re paying to them?
Love requires that we listen to others, before fighting to be heard.
It says: "I'm going to listen to you—try to understand where you're coming from.
I'm going to keep listening until I'm sure I've understood."
"While I may not always agree with your opinion, I will value you, and your opinion, and I will give you the freedom to disagree with mine."
We do that because God loved us first.
He accepted us, while we were still in rebellion against Him.
If we’re going to imitate His kind of love,
we can't expect others to look and to act like us before we accept them.
We’ll accept one another, even when we don't agree on issues, and when we don't look and act alike.
Love requires that we learn to distinguish, as Jesus did, between hating sin and caring for the sinner.
All people are sinners.
It's just that the sin of some is more obvious than that of others.
All sin is equally offensive to God.
All sinners are equally loved by God.
We shouldn’t reject people just because they’re sinners.
Yet the issues of sin in all our lives have to be dealt with.
Can we hate divorce,
and still love those going through the pain of divorce?
Can we hate abortion,
and love those who have made that choice and who now live with the painful consequences?
Can we hate the sin of homosexuality,
while still loving those who struggle with the temptation?
Can we love those who suffer the pain of AIDS,
without focusing on the stigma?
It isn't until we learn to love one another, “with a pure heart, fervently” that we find out why some people act as they do.
We don’t have any idea how many here are passing through painful experiences?
We’re usually too busy worrying about our pain, thinking no one else has it so bad,
to understand and appreciate the pain others go through.
Do we realize how many victims of abuse are sitting here this morning?
Optimistically we might hope it’s no more than one out of every ten that have endured sexual abuse! Not to mention other kinds!
And how many have had to live with alcohol or drug addictions in their family?
Or physical abuse (spouse or child)?
Or satanic ritual abuse?
How about unemployment?
Physical illness?
Parental concerns either toward their children, or their parents, or both?
My point is not that we should go hunting for these people and see how much gossip we can dig up!
A lot of pain is experienced each week by people in this body.
Most of us can spend the morning, act friendly, and go home
without being aware of one person going through hard times!
If that happens often, we are not having real dialogue.
Not that many people live a pain-free existence! Do we care?
If we spent more time trying to minister to one another,
we might learn about one another's pain and help one another.
Do we care enough to make the effort?
Or do we just want to come to church, get a warm fuzzy feeling,
and go back home to our own self-centered world?
Ministering to one another means we attempt to put ourselves in the other person's place,
while at the same time we learn we can never really do that.
So we allow people to express what life is like in their situation.
We allow people to have a different perspective on issues than we do.
We even allow people to disagree with us sometimes!
It takes a lot of effort to allow people to explain what they’re feeling
and to identify with them in that feeling.
How do WE minister to one another when faced with . . . ?
Someone who has lost a loved one?
Someone who has just found out they have a terminal illness?
Someone whose parents are becoming weak or dying?
Someone whose kids are messed up on drugs, or just making poor choices?
Someone who is going through the pain of a divorce?
A battered wife? An abused child?
An out-of-work breadwinner? A family in a financial crisis?
A marriage that is falling apart at the seams?
A friend who has been betrayed by a trusted friend?
A moral failure or sin someone can't get on top of?
These are real issues people here are struggling with this morning!
Have we learned how to minister to other people who are facing such circumstances?
Or will we let these people walk out carrying their pain alone,
just like they were when they walked in?
Timothy, Paul, Epaphroditus, . . .
These men stand out because they cared about others.
They were willing to pay a personal price to minister to others around them.
Are we following their example?
Do we care enough to make the effort?
Do we care about people around us?
Can they tell how much we care?
Will WE ever be accused of being Christ’s disciples because of our love for one another?