Hallelujah. All of this music is such a beautiful introduction to Philippians. And I had a hard time figuring out what passage to read beforehand. Just want to read the whole book, but we're going to read Philippians 1 and verses 8 through 11. For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. And this I pray. that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. Amen. Father God, we thank you. You thank you so much that having given us the Son, you have freely with Him given us all things. You have blessed us with blessing upon blessing, and it is our glory to continue to shine back as the moon reflects the sun, your glory to you. We do not deserve or want to receive the glory. We want everything to be reflected to you. And so even in our responses to the preaching of your word, may you receive the honor and the praise and the glory and the worship. And so we commit this time to you. Pray that you would anoint me and enable me to faithfully preach your word. In Jesus' name, amen. If you don't have an outline, you might want to get one because it will definitely help if you're following along on the first page as we go through this book. Just like Ephesians, Philippians is absolutely packed with gems, so many gems that the likelihood is I'm not going to preach on one of your favorite verses. I'm certainly not going to preach on all of my favorite verses. But I hope to give you enough that you have a really good feel of where this book is going. Believe it or not, Philippians is one of those books that commentators scratch their heads over. I mean, there's a lot in it that's easy, but they scratch their heads over the overall book. Now, last week I pointed out that where Ephesians is focusing upon the glorious church of Christ, this book focuses upon the glorious Christ of the church. In chapter 3, verse 10, Paul said that his life goal was that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death. Christ is the source of our peace and joy in every circumstance that we might face, and he wanted the church of Philippi to share in that same source of comfort and joy. Now, of course, Christ is not the only theme of this book. There's actually a lot of controversy on what ties the book together, and the reason for that is that there's a lot of controversy on the structure of the book. Go figure, right? I've said many times that structure often determines our exegesis. But before we even get into that, though, let me give you what I believe is the heart of the book in one sentence. You'll see it on both sides of the sheet, but it's in that sideways sentence beside the pictures there. By humbly centering our lives around Jesus, we can experience His supernatural joy and peace in all circumstances. So this book is not just about joy, though that word occurs 16 times. It's not just about joy that flows through Christ, even though his name occurs 60 times in 38 verses. Instead, it is joy and peace that flows from Christ in all circumstances, even the disappointing ones, if and only if we put off self-seeking and humbly center our lives around Jesus. So let me give you that theme sentence once again. By humbly centering our lives around Jesus, we can experience his supernatural joy and peace in all circumstances. I think that really does capture the book in one sentence. I mentioned that scholars have been all over the place on how the book is structured, and I have long held that the genius of most of the books of Scripture are not unlocked until you really understand the structure. But many commentators, including the over a hundred that I own have claimed that there is no unifying structure. Until recent years, they've not seen the unifying structure. Most attempted outlines that I have looked at from the past really have been arbitrary, and most scholars agree. R.C. Swift jokingly said, Among exegetes, Philippians has been sort of a Rubik's cube of the Pauline literature. Many times it has been twisted, turned, and rearranged as scholars attempted to make the best sense they could of it. They have sensed that the book has no central theme systematically developed in a logical argument throughout the epistle. And some have said that it is so fragmented that it must be two or three epistles by Paul that somebody has stitched together. And we believe wrong, absolutely wrong. It is a unified book. Back in 1985, Garland, in his book, analyzed all of the attempted structures of the book that had been developed to that date And he said, we're at a stalemate. There has been absolutely no forward progress in understanding what the structure was. Mounce is no slouch of a scholar, but he himself said in his commentary, well, he adopted what he calls a string of pearls theory. So he said, everybody agrees. This book is just fabulously full of pearls. wonderful, wonderful nuggets of truth from God. And what Paul's done is just strung together a whole bunch of pearls randomly with no order in it. He said this, since Philippians is an intensely personal letter, it resists all attempts to force it into a logical outline. But that was because no one had checked to see if there was a Hebraic structure to the book. In recent years, scholars such as Luther, Lee, Lund, Lightheart, and others have noticed a beautifully, and I would say a very, very obviously constructed chiasm in this book. And this has completely changed the landscape of studies on Philippians. It now all meshes together into a cohesive whole. Now, I admit that I have usually been a skeptic when people have claimed that a passage is framed in a chiasm, and especially if there's a problem and they think, OK, a chiasm solves this problem. I want to really see if this is a chiasm. I have tended to hold to the nine rigorous tests that Blomberg put together, without which he refuses to recognize anything as being chiasm. Scholars find chiasms everywhere. And you look at it and you say, I don't even see the parallel here. If you can't see it jumping out of the text, it's not a chiasm. It really needs to be obvious. Now just for review, for those of you who haven't been with us before, a chiasm is an A, B, C, D, C, B, A structure with the lettered parts of the book being parallel to each other in some way, and then the center of the book being the central theme that ties absolutely everything together. Most purported chiasms in individual passages don't pass those nine tests. This one does, that's in your outlines, and it has exactly the same breaking points that others have discovered. Let me give you a bird's eye view of what is happening. Scholars agree that there were at least four things that Paul was trying to accomplish by writing this book. First, Paul wanted to thank the Philippians for the very generous gift that they had sent to him out of their poverty. very grateful, and he wanted to bless them and thank them for that. Second, he wanted to respond to various questions and problems that had arisen within the church of Philippi. They had sent a letter through a servant by the name of Epaphroditus, and so he wanted to respond to these problems in the church, but he wanted to do it in a positive way. This was really a great church, and he didn't want to discourage them in any way. So he's trying to craft it in a way that will fit where they are at. Third, he wanted to diplomatically reintroduce them to Epaphroditus in light of the disappointment they might feel that he was the only person who was coming from Paul. He's just a servant. They were hoping instead for Timothy, a very distinguished leader. And so Epaphroditus would be a disappointing substitute. And then fourth, in all of this, he wanted to help the Philippians to experience the joy of putting on Christ's humility and his attitudes in the face of all of their disappointing providences. And I think most people see, you know, those four purposes in the book. But let's go over the chiastic outline and show how this is a very logically and tight-knit argument that Paul is developing. The two A sections both give greetings, both remind the recipients that they are saints who have been set apart to God by His grace. If you're a saint and you're set apart to God, you no longer belong to yourself. You belong to somebody else. And even Paul calls himself and the other apostles bondservants of the Lord Jesus Christ. Literally it means bondslaves. So he's modeling the humility of Christ. already in these eight sections. Humility is going to be a very prominent theme. But he also projects faith and hope in those two sections in the way in which he writes that. And one thing that's added in the last section to this peace, this faith, this hope is a mention that there's greetings from Caesar's household. It's like, whoa, where did that come from? He just drops that on them that even Caesar's household is crumbling to the gospel. Now that's all I'm going to say about those two A points. They are parallel, very, very parallel to each other. And there's a lot of beautiful things in them, but we won't have the time to get into it. The B sections both speak of joy during difficult circumstances. which is a good topic to have, because difficult circumstances tend to rob us of our joy. Both B sections remember with fondness the partnership or the fellowship, the koinonia, that the Philippians had with Paul in the gospel, and they express the deep gratitude that Paul had toward them. Both of those sections speak of the total, total sufficiency of Jesus in all of our needs. I couldn't fit all of the parallels that are in there in the outline. I tried to just have one line per unit. But when you start studying the two side by side, oh, the comparative studies between them, how they interpret each other is just fabulous. I'm just going to read some of the verses because each of these sections that are heading towards the middle are showing what it looks like to be more and more conformed to Christ. Paul will be setting up Christ as an example, Paul as an example, and in the middle he'll be setting up both Timothy and Epaphroditus as examples of Christ-like people. And actually, let me quickly mention something that Daniel Wallace, Moises Silva, and others have pointed out. They say that the people of the Church of Philippi were hoping for an amazing celebrity to come, an R.C. Sproul kind of guy, right, to come to their church. And instead, they're going to be getting back their servant that they have really taken for granted, Epaphroditus. So rather than putting Christ at the center of the book or any other famous person at the center, they Paul picks Epaphroditus, the humble, unknown, unsung, unassuming servant as the person that most looks like Jesus, whom Paul will describe in this book as being a bond slave of God. So he's very much like that. Epaphroditus will be set up by Paul as the person he wanted the whole church to look like. So if you're at all like Epaphroditus, Paul says, I'll be pleased with you because you're going to be looking very, very much like Jesus. It really is a brilliantly constructed book. And as we go through this, I think you'll see that. So keep this goal of the book toward the center in mind as I read some of these scriptures from the B sections. Chapter 1, beginning at verse 3. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart. In as much as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are all partakers with me of grace. For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. Who does Paul constantly think about, day and night, in verse 3? Not about himself. He is thinking of others. So he's an example of Christlikeness that might be foreign to some Christians. In what circumstances, in that paragraph that I just read, does Paul have joy? Just in the good circumstances? No. He is in prison, wearing chains, and possibly even facing imminent death, and yet he has great joy in the Lord. Though some bad things have been happening in Philippi, is Paul fearful that the sky is falling? No, he's no chicken little. He says instead about them, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. So verse by verse, Paul is encouraging the Philippians to follow his example of following Christ's example. He does much the same in the second B section. But in the second section he adds a couple other examples of Epaphroditus and Philippians who in very specific ways have exemplified these Christ-like graces. Each section is full of gems of promises of God's sufficiency and yet how they ought to use those gems to bless each other. So, okay, I just, I'm just wanting to give you the big picture here. I'm not going to get sidelined by all of the rabbit trails and all of the details, as tempting as that might be. The C sections tackle potentially anxiety inducing circumstances and show how we are all called to have right thinking and joy and peace when our lives are centered on Christ. What were some of the stressful situations that Paul mentions in chapter 1, verses 12 through 26? That's the first C section. There are a number of stressful situations that could have produced anxiety but did not. Well, he's in prison wearing chains, but if you look at verse 13, he flips that around and he says, my chains are in Christ. And through those chains, he has a captive audience. Okay. He's not the captive, the soldiers are. And because of the location, He says, hey, this was the Praetorian Guard. There's only two places in the empire where the Praetorian Guard actually existed. Why is that significant? Because the Praetorian Guard were the soldiers that had constant contact with the emperor's family. So here he is. having these people chained to Paul, and because they're chained to Paul, they're chained to the gospel that Paul's constantly overflowing with, and because they're chained to the gospel, eventually they become chained to Christ. Hallelujah. I mean, even that stressful situation is a situation that Paul is thankful for. Another stressful situation is that Satan has made fellow believers envy Paul, speak poorly of Paul, backbite Paul, and even lie about Paul. Why would they do that when Paul is suffering for the gospel? It's just so unnecessarily mean-spirited. But Paul takes it all in stride and he realizes, hey, Christ can use them too. In fact, he is using them to lead people to Christ. I want you to look at how a Christ-centered focus kept Paul from negative thoughts. Reading at verses 15 through 18. This is chapter one. Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife and some also from goodwill. The former preached Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains." Wow, that's mean-spirited. Verse 17, but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice. Now let's just put it into modern lingo. If you were a pastor, could you rejoice if another pastor in the town was constantly bad-mouthing you? And in his sermons, in his writing, he's bad-mouthing you, backbiting against you, and yet his church is growing like crazy. Paul was able to. Why? Because his life revolved around Jesus, not around his work. not around his reputation, not around his outward success. He wants Christ's kingdom to have success, and his humble attitudes kept him from bitterness and anger. He had instead peace and joy, and Paul wants them to have the same peace and joy. In verses 20 through 21, we've got another stressful situation. He faced the strong possibility of imminent death. Now there There's debate on where Paul is, is he in Caesarea, is he in Rome? Doesn't really matter in a sense. But the Jews, I believe, wanted Paul to be turned over to them. That would spell immediate death. But if he appealed to Caesar, and he's pretty, Nero's a pretty wicked man, that could mean death as well. But Paul does not seem to be troubled in the least. Verse 21 says, for to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. He's ready to die. Now, he does long to accomplish a whole lot more while he's here on earth, but he's quite ready to go to heaven. Either way is fine. He's not bothered. And he knows that the Philippians really want him to come again. So there is that tug upon his heart. But even verses 24 through 26 is thinking more about others than about himself. Let's begin reading at verse 23. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless, to remain in the flesh is more needful for you, and being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again. So point by point, Paul is exemplifying exactly the same things that he's going to call them to exemplify in chapter 4, verses 6 through 9. That's the second C section. Though more succinct, it's crystallizing all of the main issues in the first C section. So let me read that. Chapter 4, 6 through 9. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do and the God of peace will be with you. So he repeats that he's acting as a model for them, but he's asking them to carry out the same disciplines of mind and heart that enabled him to have joy in all of his circumstances. And he says in verse seven, hey, you can have that as well. Now, the two D sections also have several parallels. I've only listed five of them on the chart because, again, I couldn't fit them all on one line. But let me give you more. Both sections are a call to stand fast, to strive together, to have unity, to be of the same mind, to handle conflict better, to think about the other person's interests ahead of their own, and to fulfill Paul's joy. Those repetitions are not by accident. There's way too many to be by accident. Paul wants to make it clear that his example and his actions are patterns for them to be a godly example and take similar actions. So how do we handle tough circumstances with joy? Our theme sentence tells us, by humbly centering our lives around Jesus, we can experience his supernatural joy and peace in all circumstances. Now, too many Christians lack joy and peace, and they'll blame it on their bad circumstances. Hey, if things were better, I'd be joyful. But what they're in effect saying is that their circumstances dictate their attitudes, and that ought not to be the case. Paul does not want us to become controlled by our circumstances. He does not want our attitudes, our inner life to be controlled by other people where they make us bitter. Paul wanted even the potential disappointment of not being able to see him to be handled in a way that reflects well on the gospel. Take a look at chapter one, verse 27. Paul says, only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ so that whether I come and see you or am absent, in other words, I'm not guaranteeing that I'm coming to you, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. And in verse 28, he says, I want your testimony to be a good testimony that reflects well in the gospel as to how you handle your persecutors. Yeah, even how we handle persecution can reflect poorly on Christ or reflect well on him. So he says, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation and that from God. In chapter two, verses one through four, he says, if you have any of Christ in you, if you have any of the Holy Spirit in you, it should impact how you relate to each other. Okay, it's not theoretical. Verses three through four, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in loneliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out, not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. And even though he repeats exactly the same thoughts in the second D section, that's chapter four, verses one through four, he adds in a negative example of how not to do this. He names names. It's kind of an ouch moment because he names two women who have been fighting against each other in the church, and he tells the church, okay, I'm getting on their case, but I want to make sure you still respect those two women. I mean, it's a really interesting dynamic that goes on there. And then he says, I also want you to respect Clement. Now, we don't know how Clement was poorly treated by the church, but for some reason they had not been respecting him. And so the bottom line is that Paul doesn't give anyone any excuses for negative attitudes toward each other, no matter how stressful their situation. saying in verse four, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I will say rejoice. If we aren't rejoicing, we aren't fully living out the gospel or evidencing the fact that our lives revolve around Christ by the power of the Spirit. Now we are getting closer to the heart of the book, but there are two more sections enveloping the center, and those are the two E sections. And these two sections crystallize in a powerful way what it means to pour ourselves out and sacrifice to God and still find joy in the process as God exalts us, as He gives us satisfaction in His cause. And just to prove once again that there is a chiastic parallel, the first E section begins with Christ's good divine glory And the second section begins with Paul's bad human glory as a Pharisee of the Pharisees, a man who had really made it. The first E section has Jesus giving up his glory, making himself of no reputation. And the Greek word for no reputation is kanao, and literally means to pour oneself out. What Robert Strimple believes is a possible translation of Isaiah 53 verse 12, which states this, that the future Messiah, poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. In other words, he so humbled himself, he was willing to die a criminal's death. But this kenosis, this pouring out of his life to humble himself to cast off all privilege is also modeled by Paul in the second E section where Paul cast off his worldly glory and prestige and fame as the most successful Pharisee of the Pharisees and he counted all of that glory as dung so that he might win Christ. So he made himself of no reputation by following Christ. The first E section has Jesus as a model of suffering for Paul where Paul pours himself out as a drink offering. The second E section has Paul as a model of suffering for the saints of Philippi, so that they too will empty themselves. But the central point of both sections is humility. And how far did Jesus humble himself? Well, let's read the hymn to find out. This is chapter two, verses six through 11. It's probably an inspired hymn that was sung in the church. Chapter two, well, let's begin at verse five. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And then he makes an application. And the application he makes in verses 12 through 18 must have brought shame to the Philippians. and a renewed desire to be more humble and to be more committed to the cause of Christ. But he writes it in a way that woos them, okay, woos them to make that decision rather than forcing them to do so. So he's wanting to stir up a fire of desire in their hearts to be more Christ-like and to take on a passionate commitment to serve his cause. It's something that can only happen from the inside out. It cannot be forced from the outside. Now, this inspiring to the cause in some ways reminds me of how William Wallace inspired people to the cause in the movie Braveheart. He didn't force anybody to fight for him. He wasn't like the nobles. He inspired men to sacrificial devotion by his own sacrificial devotion to a cause. Now, it's true, he did Bring produce shame and Robert the Bruce for a while, but I see one of the themes of the movie is making Robert the Bruce Taking him transitioning him from merely a leader with a job to a leader with a cause and at one point in the movie He had compromised at his father's advice and had betrayed William Wallace. And seeing the look in William Wallace's face gave him enormous remorse. And in the famous dialogue with his father, he expresses a longing to fight for something that's worth fighting for. He's expressing the fact he wants his heart to be sold out to a cause, just like William Wallace's heart was. He admired William Wallace's leadership and he knew he didn't have it. Now his father just accused him of naive idealism, but let me read you that part of the dialogue. Robert's father says, I'm the one who's rotting. He had leprosy. But I think your face looks graver than mine. Son, we must have alliance with England to prevail here. You achieved that. You saved your family, increased your land. In time, you will have all the power in Scotland. Robert the Bruce said, lands, titles, men, power, nothing. Robert's father, nothing? Robert the Bruce, I have nothing. Men fight for me because if they do not, I throw them off my land and I starve their wives and children. Those men who bled the ground red at Falkirk fought for William Wallace. He fights for something I never had and I took it from him when I betrayed him. I saw it on his face on the battlefield and it's tearing me apart. Robert's father, all men betray, all lose heart. Robert the Bruce, I don't want to lose heart. I want to believe as he does. I will never be on the wrong side again. And it takes a while, but you see Robert the Bruce, by the end of the movie, being willing to die for a cause that is bigger than him. And it's only then that he's willing to risk his life. Well, I see the same powerful movement in the two E sections of the outline. Chapter 2. Verses 17 through 18, Paul says Christ had so captured his heart and imagination, he was quite willing to die. quite willing to be poured out as a drink offering like Christ was. He wanted his life to count, and the fact that his life did count brought him great joy. And in verse 18, he says he wants the Philippians to have that same joy. But in the second E section, Paul inspires the Philippians by pointing out, hey, you don't have to be perfect like Christ was in order to take on these Christ-like characteristics. In verse 10, Paul said that his passion in life was that I might know him and the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death. It's not about Paul. It says Christ can live those passions through us. Christ can give us those passions, those power. He lives through us. So if our life revolves around Christ, we have a cause that is worth suffering and dying for. And if I'm going to die, I want to die for a cause that is much greater than me. Now, I should point out that Paul doesn't brag. He doesn't act as if he is Christ. He realizes he isn't anywhere nearly as good as Christ is. But that doesn't stop him from striving. Chapter 3, verses 12 through 14. Not that I've already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching toward those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." And then he calls them to have exactly the same mind, to be passionate about Christ's kingdom, to be willing to lay down their lives for Christ's cause. So he is not calling them to do anything that he himself has not already done. The words of both E sections are written in a way they're designed to stir up our hearts, set them on fire. But then comes the heart of the book that has mystified so many commentators. It's almost anticlimactic in their minds. Not in mine, but it is in their minds. So with the growing intensity of the chiasm, they wonder, why did he put Timothy in Epaphroditus at the heart of this book? Now, maybe Timothy might be our hero figure, even though Paul later speaks of Timothy as being timid and probably having ulcers. He had stomach problems, and he was not very well respected by other people. But Epaphroditus, no, he's a nobody. For me, this is the genius of the book. Even Timothy is a model of Christ. Now, it's true, Timothy was at least well-known and a proven character, but then Paul's going to say, I'm not gonna send Timothy to you. Commentators point out, this is gonna be a disappointment, but Paul addresses their disappointment head-on as an indication, this attitude they have is an indication they are still not as Christ-like as they should be. So let me, first of all, tell you why Paul's not sending Timothy. Take a look at chapter 2, verses 20 through 22. He says, I still need him. I need Timothy. For I have no one like-minded who will sincerely care for your state, for all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. But you know his proven character that as a son with his father, he served with me in the gospel. Now, the disappointing news. to the Philippians is that Paul is going to keep Timothy around until he finds out what's going to happen to him. Now it's true in verse 19 he says, I hope to shortly send Timothy to you. And it's true that in verses 23 through 24 he says, I hope to get out of jail too. I hope to come see you myself. But he doesn't know for sure what's going to happen. And until he figures that out, he wants to keep Timothy around. So that leaves them with Epaphroditus at the heart of this epistle. He was merely a servant. And yet the point of this book is that Epaphroditus illustrates every principle that Jesus and Paul have sought to exemplify in the book of Philippians. In a very, very short article on this book, Peter Lightheart said this, by placing these two servants at the center, Paul inverts standard ancient hierarchies. Not even Jesus, with his heroic self-emptying at Calvary, Nor Paul, with his dramatic renunciation of all fleshly privilege, stands at the center. Sharing the mind of Christ doesn't have to take heroic form in martyrdom or ascetic self-denial. It can take the form of humble obedience and service, not a martyr's death, but sickness produced by overwork. By placing these two servants at the center of his letter, Paul adds a layer to the moral theology of the letter. Have the mind of Christ, who emptied himself. Follow the example of Paul, who renounced ancestral privileges. And at the peak, receive and imitate the humble service of Timothy and Epaphroditus." And I think he has nailed it with that comment. Moises Silva says much the same in his commentary. By putting Epaphroditus in the center of the book, Paul says Epaphroditus best exemplifies the self-sacrificing service of Christ. But then that commentator says he also kills five birds with one stone by doing this. And we can't get into all of the details of how he did it, but let me just explain. Well, I'll just read a paragraph from his commentary. Aware that the Philippians would be deeply disappointed to see Epaphroditus rather than Timothy return, Paul was faced with a serious challenge. How would he cushion this inevitable disappointment? Might Epaphroditus become the object of undeserved criticism? How could he convey his great joy for the church's continual participation in his apostolic ministry while at the same time rebuking them unambiguously for their grave lapse in sanctification? Would he be able to express his heartfelt thanks for their costly offering and yet discourage them from doing it again? And how would he report truthfully his own troubles without intensifying their spirit of discontent? How to help them in this great hour of need? And I think by constructing every concern in this book through the lens of this chiasm, Paul has perfectly answered every concern. So let's end the sermon by looking at this remarkable model of Jesus, I think a model that every one of us can relate to. You may consider yourself to be nothing compared to Christ. You are nothing. You might consider yourself to be nothing compared to the Apostle Paul, and that's probably true. And you might even consider yourself to be nothing compared to timid, weak Timothy. And yet it doesn't really matter at all. The book, the comfort of the book of Philippians is that when Jesus indwells us, he makes our lives count no matter how little we are, how humble we are, how unknown we are. We might just be a messenger boy who knows how to work hard like Epaphroditus. So beginning to read at chapter 2, verse 25. Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, my fellow worker and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need." What a fantastic introduction. So he considers Epaphroditus to be a brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, the one who ministers to his needs, and he contrasts that with them, they're just considering him to be a messenger boy. Okay? So he, Paul is clear, he encourages them to exalt the humble and see Christ in this man. Paul is in effect saying, here is a man that I value because he is so much like Jesus, the Christ who himself was a bond slave. Verse 26, since he was longing for you all, was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. Again, this is amazingly selfless. Here is Epaphroditus suffering on the point of death from his sickness, and he's not concerned about himself. He's concerned that they're going to be worried, and he doesn't want them to be concerned about him. He's thinking about their interests ahead of his own, even though he's on his deathbed. And along with his concern, he longs for them and shows love for them. Verse 27, for indeed he was sick almost unto death, but God had mercy on him and not only on him, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. What a poignant way of showing Paul's love for this man. So here was a man who had served Paul faithfully. And because of that service, he had almost died from sickness. Paul considered a great mercy that God had spared his life. He was not a nobody to Paul. He was a treasure to Paul because he's a treasure to Christ. So Paul is exalting the lowly just as Paul wants the Philippians to exalt each other because of Christ in them. Basically what he's saying, hey, if you see Christ in the other person, you're going to have a hard time having negative attitudes toward that person. You're going to want to serve them. You're going to want to love on that person because in doing so, you're going to honor and serve Christ. Verse 28, therefore, I sent him to you the more eagerly that when you see him again, you may rejoice and I may be less sorrowful. And again, fantastic way to speak of him. When they realize the whole story, they're going to value him greatly. Like Christ and Paul, he had poured out his life in sacrificial service and God had miraculously raised him up. Paul wants them to be just as eager to receive this servant as Paul was to send him. Paul wants them to be thrilled that God had raised him from his deathbed. So in effect, he's saying, hey, if you value me, value Epaphroditus. Verse 29, receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness and hold such men in esteem. When you receive a little child in Christ's name, Christ says you're receiving Christ. Okay, how you treat the brethren and the sister and, well, that's not a word. Brothers and sisters in this church is how you are treating Christ. How the Philippians treated Epaphroditus was how they were treating Christ. They may have looked down on this as being a lowly fellow. But Paul wanted them to see him as Jesus saw him. And this is the nature of Christ's upside-down kingdom. Christ is not about celebrities in the church. He's not about celebrities in the church. I think that's so important to understand. I think the modern church is way too preoccupied with superstar preachers and superstar celebrities. There is no celebrity at the center of this book. Now, if we had written Philippians, we probably would have been tempted to put Christ at the center or maybe some other celebrity at the center. And in the process, we wouldn't have been quite as effective because people would have a hard time relating to that celebrity. Oh, that's fine for them, but I'm a nobody. How in the world can I be doing what that celebrity is doing? So this is the genius of what Paul is doing. Now, Paul is clear that Epaphroditus was centered on Christ. So that's how Christ is the center of the book. But Christ is not obscured by the status of some celebrity or some hotshot. So here's the question. Are our lives wrapped around Christ like this man's was? Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness and hold such men in esteem. We should esteem such servants because Christ does. Verse 30, because for the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me. Now some say that the sickness was directly related, and it seems to be directly related to his work to Paul, so I'm saying, He worked too hard. He took risks for Christ. In some way, his sacrifices got him sick. So Paul says he exemplified Christ by not regarding his life in order to supply what was lacking in the Philippians gift. They had sacrificially given, but apparently it wasn't enough. So Epaphroditus worked really hard to make up the difference and help Paul. Paul didn't want to end this section, though, on a negative note. The first half of chapter 3 verse 1 is the end of this central section. And what a great end it is. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Now there are no chapter divisions, no verse divisions in the original, so they're not inspired. And most commentators say there is a major you know, subject break, right in the middle of that verse. And Paul keeps bringing up this subject of joy. He's shown throughout this book how to have joy and peace in the worst of all circumstances. So I'm gonna end the sermon by repeating once more the theme sentence of the book as a whole. It's a theme sentence that I hope each one of us can lay hold of as a theme for our own lives. By humbly centering our lives around Jesus, we can experience his supernatural joy and peace in all circumstances. May it be so, Lord Jesus. Amen. Father, thank you that you don't just call us to do the impossible, but you also equip us to do the impossible by your grace. And thank you, Father, that we can, by your Spirit, live above what the world would expect as being possible. We can have a supernatural love, supernatural humility, a supernatural joy, a supernatural peace that really can't be figured out just rationally since it comes super rationally from your Spirit. And so I pray, Father, that you would fill each one in this congregation with the supernatural graces that the book of Philippians talks about, that we might be a testimony, not to ourselves, but like Epaphroditus, constantly reflecting the glory back to you. Do bless this your people, in Jesus' name, amen.