Monday Devotion - 10th August 2020
Scripture Reading: Philippians 2:25-30
25 I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, 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 honour 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.
We now come to look at Paul’s second personal example of humility. As we cast our eye over chapter two, we see that Paul starts by extolling the supreme humility of Jesus (5-11), then he shares his own experience (17-18) before moving onto his young protege in the faith; Timothy (19-24). Finally, he brings forth to the attention of the Philippians a man named Epaphroditus. Though, initially, to the detached reader, Epaphroditus is an unknown figure, he was well known and esteemed to the believers in Philippi.
Paul concludes this section, where he began by calling the Philippians to a life of humility (3-4), ends by commending the humility of one of their own.
In all likelihood, Epaphroditus was an original local convert and would have been apart of the church formation from the beginning. That meant he would have been a gentile. No Jewish upbringing or heritage. A total outsider, yet now a follower of Christ. We can not be certain, but it would even appear that he was a leader within the church.
Now what does the Apostle Paul have to say about this man?
Read verse 25 again. What a commendation by Paul. It is as if he runs out of ways to give praise to Epaphroditus. He is Paul’s brother, fellow worker, soldier and the Philippians personal messenger and minister. There is not another verse in the entire Bible that one individual receives so much praise. And naturally it begs the question, why? Why does this relatively peripheral figure receive such a glowing report from Paul?
For the Apostle, there are two essential aspects of the life of Epaphroditus that are worth emulating.
A Humility to be Concerned
The first aspect is his genuine concern (verse 26). Paul commended Timothy for the same attribute a few verses earlier. Epaphroditus was deeply concerned about his own people. His focus and thoughts were not on his own well-being but his fellow brothers and sisters that he loved dearly. And at this point it is crucial to have the context at the forefront of our minds.
Why was Epaphroditus even concerned for his fellow Philippians in the first place? Well his concern is rooted in their reciprocal concern for him. As we read on, Paul shares about Epaphroditus’ serious illness. He was even at the point of death until the Lord mercifully restored him.
As Paul writes, Epaphroditus was by his side in Rome. Epaphroditus had made the pain-staking journey from Philippi to Rome which would have been roughly about 800 miles one-way. The purpose of his journey was to bring gifts to Paul from the Philippian church (4:18). As he arrives in Rome he is stricken with illness. Word gets back to the Philippians, and they are distressed.
However, Epaphroditus is not so much concerned about his own health and well-being. He does not want them freighting about his health. But like any person with a heart for others, he is more worried about how they are keeping. Remember, this was a day and age without instant communication. It could have been months since Epaphroditus last heard of how his friends were keeping.
A Humility to Serve
The second aspect we are called to emulate of Epaphroditus’ life is his willingness to serve. The Christianity that Epaphroditus signed up to and lived out was not static, stagnant, pew-sitting, penny-giving Christianity that we see all too often in the Western world.
What we identify is active faith. A faith that is willing to take risks. Epaphroditus was not only willing to contribute to the gifts being assembled for Paul, he was willing to give himself. He was willing to embark upon a treacherous and arduous journey to encourage Paul. He was quite literally willing to risk his life.
Now please do not gloss over those words. Epaphroditus was exemplifying true Christ-centred humility. Humility that considers others more important to the extent that they are more important than our very lives. Epaphroditus is living up to the great example of our saviour we read about earlier in the chapter;
Philippians 2:8;
‘And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.’
This humble mindset is just so difficult for us to grasp and implement. Many of us live such comfortable and cushioned lives. Anything outside of our regular routine is viewed as a disruption to our prearranged lives.
However, comfort and security is never where we should be looking for true life and purpose.
Epaphroditus is a real human life and experience of what it looks like to serve Christ, even to the point of death. He shows us that real life and joy comes from living in the fashion and likeness of our saviour. The biblical reality painted on every page of Scripture is that true life and joy is found in sacrifice and humbling submitting your life to your saviour, Jesus Christ.