_TIMOTHY AND EPAPHRODITUS._
The outpouring of his thoughts, his feelings, and his desires towards
the Philippians has so far spent itself. Now he turns to mention the
steps he is taking, in response to their communication, to express
practically his love and his care for their welfare. Yet we must carry
along with us what has just been said of the Christian service and
sacrifice, and of the tie between the Apostle and his converts; for
these thoughts are still in the Apostle's mind, and they gleam through
the passage which now comes before us.
Paul had been contemplating the possibility of dying soon in his
Master's cause: no doubt it was an alternative often present to his
mind; and we see with what a glow of high association it rose before
him. Still he, like ourselves, had to await his Master's will, had
meanwhile to carry on the business of his life, and indeed (ch. i. 25)
was aware that the prolongation of his life might very likely be a
course of things more in the line of God's purpose, and more serviceable
to the Churches at Philippi and elsewhere. So, while he has expressed
the mood in which both they and he are to face the event of his
martyrdom, when it comes, he does not hesitate to express the
expectation that he may be set free and may see them again. Meanwhile he
has made up his mind ere long to send Timothy. Timothy will bring them
news of Paul, and will represent the Apostle among them as only a very
near and confidential friend could do; at the same time he will bring
back to Paul an account of things at Philippi, no doubt after doing all
that with God's help he could to instruct, correct, and edify the Church
during his stay. In this way a sustaining and gladdening experience for
the Philippian Christians would be provided; and, at the same time, Paul
too (I _also_, ver. 19) would be gladdened by receiving from so
trustworthy a deputy a report upon men and things at Philippi. In
connection with this declaration of his intention, the Apostle reveals
some of the reflections which had occupied his mind; and these suggest
several lessons.
1. Notice the spirit of self-sacrifice on Paul's part. Timothy was the
one thoroughly trusted and congenial friend within his reach. To a man
who was a prisoner, and on whom the burden of many anxieties fell, it
was no small ease to have one such friend beside him. Our blessed Lord
Himself craved for loving human fellowship in His time of sorrow; and so
must Paul do also. Yet all must give way to the comfort and well-being
of the Churches. As soon as Paul can descry how it is to go with him,
so that plans may be adjusted to the likelihoods of the situation,
Timothy is to go on his errand to Philippi.
2. Notice the importance which may justly attach to human
instrumentalities. One is not as good as another. Some are far more fit
for use than others are. The Apostle thought earnestly on the point who
was fittest to go, and he was glad he had a man like Timothy to send. It
is true that the supreme source of success in gospel work is God
Himself; and sometimes He gives unexpected success to unlikely
instruments. But yet, as a rule, much depends on men being adapted to
their work. When God prepares fresh blessing for His Church, He commonly
raises up men fitted for the service to be rendered. Therefore we do
well to pray earnestly for men eminently qualified to do the Lord's
work.
3. Timothy's special fitness for this mission was that he had a heart to
care for them, especially to care for their true and highest interests.
So far, he resembled Paul himself. He had the true pastoral heart. He
had caught the lessons of Paul's own life. That was the main thing. No
doubt he had intellectual gifts, but his dispositions gave him the right
use of gifts. The loving heart, and the watchfulness and thoughtfulness
which that inspires, do more to create pastoral wisdom than any
intellectual superiority. Timothy had a share of the "mind" of Christ
(ver. 5), and that made him meet to be a wise inspector and adviser for
the Philippians, as well as a trustworthy reporter concerning their
state and prospects.
4. What is most fitted to impress us, is the difficulty which Paul
experienced in finding a suitable messenger, and the manner in which he
describes his difficulty. He was conscious in himself of a
self-forgetting love and care for the Churches, which was part, and a
great part, of his Christian character. He was ready (1 Cor. x. 33) to
please all men in all things, not seeking his own profit, but the profit
of many, that they might be saved. He looked out for men among his
friends whose hearts might answer to him here, but he did not find them.
He had no man likeminded. One indeed was found, but no more. As he
looked round, a sense of disappointment settled on him.
One asks of whom this statement is made--that he finds none
likeminded--that all seek their own? Probably not of Epaphroditus, for
Epaphroditus goes at any rate, and the question is about some one in
addition, to be, as it were, Paul's representative and commissioner. Nor
are we entitled to say that it applies to Tychicus, Aristarchus, Marcus,
and Jesus, mentioned in Colossians iv. For these men might not be with
the Apostle at the precise moment of his writing to the Philippians; and
the character given to them in the Epistle to the Colossians seems to
set them clear of the inculpation in this passage: unless we suppose
that, even in the case of some of them, a failure had emerged near the
time when the Epistle was written, which vexed the Apostle, and forced
him to judge them unprepared at present for the service. It will be
safest, however, not to assume that these men were with him, or that
they are here in view.
Still, the sad comment of the Apostle must apply to men of some standing
and some capacity,--men of Christian profession, men who might naturally
be thought of in connection with such a task. As he surveyed them, he
was obliged to note the deplorable defect, which perhaps had not struck
himself so forcibly until he began to weigh the men against the mission
he was planning for them. Then he saw how they came short; and also, how
this same blight prevailed generally among the Christians around him.
Men were not "likeminded"; no man was "likeminded." _All_ seek their
own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. Is not this a sad saying?
What might one expect at the outset of a noble cause, the cause of
Christ's truth and Church? What might one count upon in the circle that
stood nearest to the Apostle Paul? Yet this is the account of it,--All
seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.
Is it any wonder that the Apostle pleads earnestly with Christians to
cherish the mind of "not looking each of you to his own things" (ver.
4); that he presses the great example of the Saviour Himself; that he
celebrates elsewhere (1 Cor. xiii.) the beauty of that love which
seeketh not its own and beareth all things? For we see how the meaner
spirit beset him and hemmed him in, even in the circle of his Christian
friends.
What does his description mean? It does not mean that the men in
question broke the ordinary Christian rules. It does not mean that any
Church could have disciplined them for provable sins. Nay, it does not
mean that they were destitute of fear of God and love to Christ. But
yet, to the Apostle's eye, they were too visibly swayed by the eagerness
about their own things; so swayed, that their ordinary course was
governed and determined by it. It might be love of ease, it might be
covetousness, it might be pride, it might be party opinion, it might be
family interests, it might even be concentration on their own religious
comfort:--however it might be, to this it came in the end, All seek
their own. Some of them might be quite unsound, deceivers or deceived;
especially, for instance, if Demas (2 Tim. iv. 10) was one of them. But
even those of whom the Apostle might be persuaded better things, and
things that accompany salvation, were so far gone in this disease of
seeking their own, that the Apostle could have no confidence in sending
them, as otherwise he would have done, on a mission in which the mind
and care of Christ were to be expressed to Christ's Church. He could not
rely on a "genuine care."
You mistake if you suppose this faulty state implied, in all these
cases, a deliberate, conscious preference of their own things above the
things of Jesus Christ. The men might really discern a supreme beauty
and worth in the things of Christ; they might honestly judge that
Christ had a supreme claim on their loyalty; and they might have a
purpose to adhere to Christ and Christ's cause at great cost, if the
cost must finally be borne. And yet meanwhile, in their common life, the
other principle manifested itself far too victoriously. The place which
their own things held--the degree in which their life was influenced by
the bearing of things on themselves, was _far_ from occupying that
subordinate place which Christ has assigned to it. The things of Jesus
Christ did not rise in their minds above other interests, but were
jostled, and crowded, and thrust aside by a thousand things that were
their own.
You may not cherish any avowed purpose to seek your own; you may have
learned to love Christ for the best reasons; you may have the root of
the matter in you; you may have made some sacrifices that express a
sense of Christ's supreme claims: and yet you may be a poor style of
Christian, an inconsistent Christian, a careless, unwatchful Christian.
Especially you may habitually fail to make a generous estimate of the
place to be given to the things of Jesus Christ. You may not be reckoned
so defective either in general judgment or in your own esteem, because
you may come up very well to what is usually expected. And yet you may
be allowing any Christianity you have to be largely stifled and
repressed by foreign and alien influences, by a crowd of occupations and
recreations that steal heart and life away. You may be taking no proper
pains, no loving pains, to be a Christian, in Christ's sense of what
that should be. Though only at the beginning of the conflict, you may be
living as if there was scarcely a conflict to be fought. And so in
practice, in the history of your hours, you may be seeking your own
things to an extent that is even disgraceful to Christian religion. You
may allow your course of thought and action to be dictated by that which
is of self, by gain, self-indulgence, or frivolity, to a degree that
would even be appalling if your eyes were opened to discern it. We all
know that in religious exercises formality may usurp a large place, even
in the case of men who have received power for reality. Just so in the
Christian course, and under the Christian name and calling, what is
"your own" may be suffered to encroach most lamentably on the higher
principle; so that an Apostle looking at you must say, "They all seek
their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's." You are not faithful
enough to apply Christ's standard to your heart and ways, nor diligent
enough to seek His Spirit. Perhaps if you were strongly tempted to deny
Christ, or to fall into some great scandalous sin, you would awaken to
the danger and cling to your Saviour for your life. But as things go
commonly, you _let_ them go. And the consequence is, you are largely
losing your lives. What should be your contribution to the good cause,
and so should be your own gladness and honour, never comes to pass. Some
of you have thoughts in your own minds upon this point, why you do not
seem to find any doorways into Christian usefulness. You do wish to see
Christ's cause prosper. Yet somehow it never seems to come to your hands
to do anything effectually or fruitfully for the cause. What can the
reason be? Alas, in the case of how many the reason is just what it was
in the case of Paul's friends: you are so largely seeking your own
things, not the things that are Jesus Christ's, that you are not fit to
be sent on any mission. If the Apostle could say this to the Christians
of his day, how great must be the danger still!
Now if we look at it as part of the experience of Paul the Apostle, to
find this temper so prevailing around him, we learn another lesson. We
know Paul's character, his enthusiasm, the magnanimous faith and love
with which he counted all to be loss in comparison of Christ. And yet,
we see what he found among the Christians around him. This has been so
in every age. The unreasonableness, faintheartedness, and faithlessness
of men, the unchristlikeness of Christians, have been matter of
experience. If our hearts were enlarged to plan and endeavour more
generously for Christ's cause, we should feel this a great trial. All
large-hearted Christians have to encounter it. Let it be remembered that
it is not peculiar to any age. The Apostle had full experience of it.
"Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.... Alexander
the coppersmith did me much evil.... At my first answer no man stood
with me, but all men forsook me" (2 Tim. iv. 10-16). Let us be assured,
that if Christ's work is to be done, we must be prepared not only for
the opposition of the world, but for the coldness and the disapprobation
of many in the Church--of some whom we cordially believe to be, after
all, heirs of the kingdom.
Timothy is to go to Philippi, and is to bring to Paul a full report.
But, at the same time, the Apostle finds it necessary to send
Epaphroditus, not, apparently, with a view to his returning to Rome
again, but to resume his residence at Philippi. It seems, on all
accounts, reasonable to believe that Epaphroditus belonged to the
Philippian Church, and was in office there. In this case he is to be
distinguished from Epaphras (Col. iv. 12), with whom some would identify
him, for no doubt Epaphras belonged to Colossæ. Epaphroditus had come to
Rome, bearing with him the gifts which assured Paul of the loving
remembrance in which he was held at Philippi, and of the abiding desire
to minister to him which was cherished there. His own Christian zeal led
Epaphroditus to undertake the duty, and he had borne himself in it as
became a warm-hearted and public-spirited Christian. He had been Paul's
brother and fellow-workman and fellow-soldier. But, meanwhile, the
Apostle was aware how valuable his presence might be felt to be at
Philippi. And Epaphroditus himself had conceived a longing to see the
old friends, and to resume the old activities in the Philippian Church.
For he had been sick, very sick, almost dead. Amid the weakness and
inactivity of convalescence, his thoughts had been much at Philippi,
imagining how the brethren there might be moved at the tidings of his
state, and yearning, perhaps, for the faces and the voices which he knew
so well. Paul was accustomed to restrain and sacrifice his own feelings;
but that did not make him inattentive to the feelings of other people.
Trying as his position at Rome was, he would not keep Epaphroditus in
these circumstances. He had had great comfort in his company, and would
be glad to retain it. But he would be more glad to think of the joy at
Philippi when Epaphroditus should return. So he gives back Epaphroditus.
As he does so he admonishes his friends to value adequately what they
are receiving. Paul was sending to them a true-hearted and large-hearted
Christian; one who allowed nothing--neither difficulties nor risks--to
stand in the way of Christian service and Christian sympathy. Let such
men be had in reputation. It is a lawful and right thing to make a high
estimate of Christian character where it eminently appears, and to
honour such persons very highly in love. If _they_ are not honoured and
prized, it is too likely that others will be whom it is not so fit and
so wholesome to admire. And the ground of admiration in the case of
Epaphroditus sets once more before us the theme of the whole chapter:
Epaphroditus was to be had in reputation because he had approved himself
to be one seeking not his own, one willing to lay down his life for the
brethren.
_NO CONFIDENCE IN THE FLESH._
"Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same
things to you, to me indeed is not irksome, but for you it is safe.
Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the
concision: for we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit
of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the
flesh: though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh: if
any other man thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more:
circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of
Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; as
touching zeal, persecuting the Church; as touching the
righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. Howbeit what
things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ. Yea
verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord."--PHIL. iii. 1-8 (R.V.).