Andy was just an ordinary guy in an ordinary high school. He wasn't overly popular. He didn't possess extraordinary athletic abilities. He was just a solid student who made good grades. He mostly kept to himself. He didn't stand out as someone you or I would take particular notice of. But one day as I was sitting in drafting class I noticed that Andy was carrying a rather old, beat up book. It kind of looked like a Bible but I wasn't sure. Taking a step closer I noticed its well-worn cover read, Holy Bible. "That's odd!" I thought. "I wonder why he carries his Bible with him?"
Some time later I was walking down the hall after class. A heated exchange broke out between two underclassmen. Fists began flying. Swearing filled the halls. Sailors began blushing. Students instantly swarmed around the two, egging them on, cheering, and laughing. I was right there on the sidelines joining in like everyone else. I was a follower. But suddenly a third student burst on to the scene. It was Andy! Dropping his book bag he pinned the two guys who'd been fighting to the locker by their collars, one in each hand, saying "Break it up! Get to class, now!"
Throughout my high school years I paid a lot of attention to Andy. He embodied a lot of qualities that I wanted in my life. He brought his Christianity to school with him. He was proud of his faith. He didn't care what people thought about him. He did what was right. He was a leader. He lived a godly life. He set a good example. He was a role model and he was someone to look up to. Someone worth imitating.
This morning I want you to think of someone who is a role model to you. What person comes to mind? What qualities do you admire about her? What is it about her life that makes you say, "I want to be like her." This week as I studied Philippians 2:19-30 I began thinking about the value of role models.
Role models prick our consciences.
All of us carry around within us a rough sketch of what doing good looks like. Very few of us even come close to living out that sketch in everyday life. We are full of godly intentions but we struggle to act on those intentions. But along comes a godly role model who, just for a moment, embodies our good intentions. He fleshes out that sketch we've been doodling on in our thoughts. His godliness pricks our conscience. His actions nudge us out of complacency and move us deeper into obedience.
Role models show us possibilities.
For the longest time no one thought it was humanly possible to run the mile in less than four minutes. People tried but failed over and over again. Then in 1954 Roger Bannister shattered the four-minute mile record. He showed that it was humanly possible to run the mile in less than four minutes. Overnight, he became a role model to dozens of runners who began believing that they too could break the four-minute mile barrier. Role models show us what is possible. Their actions cast a vision that gets embedded deep within our minds and stir our hearts to attain deeper obedience.
Role models encourage our souls.
If you are living by Christian principles you know how difficult it can be to be a minority amidst an indifferent cultural majority. When I was in high school I didn't dare whisper the name of Christ unless I was pressed! I was taking enough abuse already. I didn't want any new trouble. And when Andy would whip out his Bible at the end of class to read it, or when he would stand for his faith and morality despite the snickers of our pagan classmates, or when he would look some of our vilest classmates in the eye and boldly invite them to church, it brought me tremendous joy and encouragement. I often thought to myself, "What's my problem? What am I worried about?"
Role models can be dangerous.
A word of warning is in order. If we're not cautious our role models today can become our excuses for moral failure tomorrow! In my home church there was a man who influenced me greatly for Christ. He was a police officer. He would take me out for a ride in his squad car during Bible school and show me how he witnessed for Jesus Christ on his job. But sometime later things changed. Rumors spread about his adultery. Tension mounted between him and his wife. They divorced and he fell away from the Lord.
We should remember what the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1 (NIV). "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ." I believe that he was offering a disclaimer. Paul was saying, "I am human. Follow me only as I follow Christ. If at some point I begin to sin, stop following me!" But I also believe that Paul was making a statement about the value of role models! Even though we have Jesus Christ as our supreme example, we still have a great need for human role models who will put a face on godliness. We need a living breathing human being to remind us that the Christian life is meant to be lived out, and can be lived out by ordinary people like you and me.
So in Philippians 2 Paul commends Timothy and a man named Epaphroditus for setting a good example for all believers. We need to remember the context of Philippians 2 just briefly. In Philippians 2:3-4 (NIV) Paul commands the Philippians, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."
In Philippians 2:5-8 (NIV) Paul commands the Philippians to imitate Christ saying, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!"
And in Philippians 2:19-30 Paul is saying, "Look at Timothy. Look at Epaphroditus. They are setting an example of how ordinary people can live just like Jesus Christ right where it counts, right where they live!"
Paul commends Timothy to the Philippians.
In Philippians 2:19-24 (NIV) Paul says, "I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon."
Timothy was an outstanding role model to the Philippians for two reasons. First, Paul says, "I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare." Do you realize that the people in Jesus' day had the same problems we have today? The people in the church at Philippi were busier than ever. They were wrapped up in their careers. They were wrapped up with their family affairs. They were so over-committed in their lives that they didn't have time for each other. There was very little ministry taking place in the church at Philippi because they were too busy looking after their own personal and family interests to take notice of what their spiritual family, their brothers and sisters in Christ, needed!
Timothy stood in stark contrast to the indifferent majority at Philippi. Timothy took a genuine interest in others. He looked not to his own interests, but to the interests of others within the church. He had the attitude of Jesus Christ. He had ministry on the brain. He preoccupied himself in other people's needs. He wasn't so over-committed and over-exercised and self-absorbed that he could not find time to do the work of the church!
People in the Church today need to follow Timothy's example.
Today the Church desperately needs Christians who will follow Timothy's example. Friends, we are way too busy and we are distracted from the important things in life. Let's face it. 95% of our time is spent looking after our own interests. At the end of the day after taking care of our own interests, there is very little time left to look after the interests of others. We are not making time to love and serve one another as we should. We know very little about the needs of people sitting right next to us in the pew. At times we're afraid to even ask because it might cut into the time we want to protect to look after the interests of our immediate family or ourselves. We are expending ever decreasing amounts of time and energy meeting the needs of people outside of our immediate families.
We often come to church more interested in looking after our own interests and having our needs met first. We are less interested in looking after the welfare of others. Because of this, vital ministries of the church are being neglected. People are walking away from the Church not being ministered to, never to return again!
The Church today has the same set of problems as the Church of yester-year. We need people who will value "we" over "me." We need people who will intentionally make time to do the work of the Church. We need people who will model to their children what it means to take a genuine interest in the welfare of others, even strangers, and not just in self. We need people who instead of coming into this place and sitting down, will come into this sanctuary to greet a new face, to build a new relationship, to discover a new need, and to look after "we" instead of "me."
We need people who will turn off the television, who will log off the internet, who will say "no" to excessive overtime, and who will begin saying "no" to the all-consuming frenzied pace of after-school and weekend activities. We need people who will say "no" to the things of this world so as to make time to say "yes" to the things that are of eternal consequence.
Is this not the very thing Jesus called us to? Is this not the example of Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ crucified the "me" to put the interests of the "we" first. He did not look after his own interests but to our interests. Timothy has the attitude and the very mind of Christ. He is our example.
Like Timothy, we must make Jesus' interests the primary thrust of our lives.
Timothy had a second outstanding virtue. In Philippians 2:21 (NIV) Paul says, "For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. "It isn't enough just to put others first. There is a higher calling still. We must make the interests of Jesus Christ the primary thrust of our lives. The interests of Jesus Christ are not some secondary calling on our life. In Philippians 1:21 (NIV) Paul says, "For to me, to live is Christ...."
I believe what is missing in our lives is a sense of being a part of a greater cause other than our own self-interests. This is why life is so empty for many of us. Timothy was willing to sacrifice his self-interests because he believed in something greater than himself. He believed fully in the cause of Jesus Christ. Paul was willing to sit in prison and bake in the heat simply because he knew that doing so would serve to advance the gospel.
At times we become so absorbed in our own interests that we barely open our eyes to the work God wants to do in us and through us. One of God's primary interests today is generating new life. It is making fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. It is making disciples. It is advancing the gospel. It is penetrating each and every one of our spheres of influence with the love of Christ.
Timothy's example pricks our consciences and makes us ask, "Am I so absorbed in my self-interests and family-interests that I do not look out after the interests of others or even the interests of Jesus Christ himself?" Timothy's example shows us the possibilities. Just think of what God is waiting to do through each of us the moment we shift our focus away from our own interests! Timothy's example encourages us. God can work mightily through us. He can use ordinary people just like us. Serving others and serving Christ is humanly possible!
Paul commends Epaphroditus to the Philippians.
In Philippians 2:25-30 (NIV) Paul says, "But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety. Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him, because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me."
Epaphroditus is every bit the example of Timothy. Timothy had the loyalty of a son to a father. Epaphroditus had the loyalty of a brother. Timothy served with Paul in the work of the gospel. Epaphroditus made himself a fellow worker in the gospel. In fact, he even made himself a fellow soldier willing to die for a cause greater than himself-- defending the faith alongside Paul.
What is most noteworthy about Epaphroditus is that he was willing to go when no one else was willing to go. The Philippians were full of good intentions. They wanted to help Paul in his suffering and imprisonment. They wrote the check. They gave money. They even gave with great generosity, but none of them were willing to set aside their own interests so as to be personally inconvenienced in order to go and minister to Paul.
The Philippians were willing to write the check, but they weren't willing to deliver it. In contrast, Epaphroditus risked life and limb on the treacherous, robber-laden roads from Philippi to Rome. Epaphroditus set aside his pursuits, his career, his ambitions, his work, and his close family ties, literally everything, to be of service to God in the gospel. Unfortunately, Epaphroditus became ill and almost paid the ultimate sacrifice, which was his very life. But God had mercy on him and saved him.
Today our prayer should be that God will raise up some Timothys and Epaphrodituses within this church. Our consciences need to be pricked by these men who put the interests of others and especially the interests of Jesus Christ before their own interests. Our passion needs to be focused on the exciting possibilities God has for our service as we begin putting other people's interests and Christ's before our own. Our hearts need to be encouraged by the example that these two ordinary men set for us.
We can do this. We can become brothers and sons in the work of the Lord. We can become fellow workers and fellow soldiers. We can put everything on the line for that which is of ultimate eternal consequence-- the cause of Jesus Christ.
Today we need flesh and blood examples of Jesus Christ, who made himself nothing, who poured himself out, who became a servant, who became a slave, who became obedient unto death, even death on a cross, all for the sake of looking after our ultimate need, which is a relationship with our Father in heaven.
Prayer.
Father God, this morning prick our consciences, show us the possibilities, and encourage our hearts by the example of these great men. Father, prime our hearts with a passion to look not after our own interests, but to the interests of others, and especially to the interests of Jesus Christ, the one who paid the ultimate price for our eternal welfare. In Christ we pray. Amen.