Honoring Our Leaders

Philippians 2: 25-30

Philippians 2: 25a ‘Meanwhile, I thought I should send Epaphroditus back to you’.

Epaphroditus was a leader from the Church in Philippi that sent him to Rome with financial support for the Apostle Paul who was being held there in custody and awaiting trial

C.F Philippians 4: 18

The Apostle Paul had intended to send Timothy (who was with him in Rome) to the Philippians once his Court case was resolved and after that Paul also intended to visit them, but Paul’s Court case was delayed so Paul sent Epaphroditus back to the Church at Philippi taking a letter to them written by Paul – we know the letter as the Book of Philippians

C.F Philippians 2: 22-24

The key verse in this passage is

Philippians 2: 29 ‘Welcome him (Epaphroditus) in the Lord’s love and with great joy, and give him the honor that people like him deserve’

In Church life we are not very good at honoring our leaders – actually, we are better at doing the opposite, we are better at dishonoring our leaders by criticizing them and complaining about them

Here in this passage the Apostle Paul uses the example of Epaphroditus to remind us that we should honor our leaders for the following reasons:

1/ Epaphroditus was a true brother

Philippians 2: 25b ‘true brother’

True brothers love the Church and are prepared to lay down their lives for the ministry and the people of God

Epaphroditus name in the Greek vernacular means ‘loving’

Epaphroditus was loving by name and loving by nature

Paul said that Epaphroditus got sick in Rome and almost died (26b-27a) and that ‘he risked his life for the work of Christ, and he was at the point of death while doing for me what you couldn’t do from far away’ (30)

At this point we need to make a comment about Christians getting sick

Epaphroditus didn’t get sick because he sinned against God, He got sick because we all live in a sin damaged world – even though we are Christians our bodies are still vulnerable to weakness and failure

Like Epaphroditus we need to remember that God is sovereign, yes, sometimes He allows sickness into our lives but we need to trust in God’s mercy to heal us

Philippians 2: 27 ‘But God had mercy on him’

Leaders like this deserve our honor

2/ Epaphroditus was a co-worker

Philippians 2: 25c ‘co-worker’

A co-worker is a ministry partner, someone who comes along side of you to help you fulfill the call of God on your life

Epaphroditus helped Paul survive his imprisonment by taking financial support to him from his Church and then later carried back Paul’s letter to the Church at Philippi

Leaders like this deserve our honor

3/ Epaphroditus was a fellow soldier

Philippians 2: 25d ‘fellow soldier’

What do soldiers do?

They fight wars together against opposition

Earlier in his letter, Paul described the war we are fighting together against sin in this unbelieving world

C.F Philippians 1: 27b-30

‘standing together...fighting together for the faith...don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies...we are in this struggle together’

We are not fighting a war using the weapons of this world, NO, we are fighting with prayer, the Word of God and the Good News of salvation in the Jesus Christ alone

Leaders are fighting on the front line of the battle modelling ‘boldness for Christ’ and calling us all to engage in the ‘struggle together’

C.F Philippians 1: 20, 30

Leaders like this deserve our honor

4/ Epaphroditus was a messenger

Philippians 2: 25e ‘messenger’

Epaphroditus was a messenger for the Philippian Church by taking financial support to the Apostle Paul (Philippians 1: 7; 4: 18) and he was a messenger for Paul in carrying back Paul’s letter to the Philippian believers (25a, 28a)

The English word used here is ‘messenger’, but Paul used a Greek word ‘Apostolos’, or ‘apostle’

Epaphroditus, a messenger/an apostle, was sent by the Philippian Church with money for Paul’s support and was sent back by Paul to the Philippian Church with his letter to them

What quality do you need as a messenger/an apostle – trustworthiness!?

What would you think of Epaphroditus if he used the money that was entrusted to him and spent it on a holiday in the Greek Islands!?

And what would you think of Epaphroditus if he arrived back in Philippi from the Greek Islands without even seeing Paul, having spent all the Church’s money, no report about Paul and no letter!?

What would you say about Epaphroditus - “Epaphroditus is untrustworthy!”

Epaphroditus though was trustworthy, he loved his Church in Philippi more than his own wellbeing

Paul said about him

26b ‘he has been longing to see you, and he was very distressed that you heard he was ill’

The Philippian Church trusted Epaphroditus and Paul trusted him too and that’s the reason we have this great treasure before us today – the Book of Philippians

Leaders like this deserve our honor

Finally

Philippians 2: 29 ‘Welcome him (Epaphroditus) in the Lord’s love and with great joy, and give him the honor that people like him deserve’

1 Thessalonians 5: 12-13 ‘Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work. And live peacefully with each other.’