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Introduction
If someone came to you and said they want to spend a year following your every move because they want to model their entire life after yours, how would you respond?
Let’s say you agree to it. What sort of things would you change knowing that this person would see and imitate everything you do?
Or imagine you discover that someone has been imitating you, using your life as an example of how to live in the way of Jesus. They have built their life around the sort of things you say and do. Your attitudes, character, and decisions shape their every decision.
What do you say to that person? What sort of corrections would you make knowing that not everything you have said and done aligns with the way of Jesus?
The truth is, it is quite likely that someone has been imitating you. The question isn’t whether or not your life will be an example for others. The question is, what sort of example do you want your life to be for them?
It is also likely that for much of your life you have shaped some sort of standard for how to live based on the life of one or more people that you know and admire.
Notice that my question is not about imitation of belief. We often do not know or maybe even care what someone believes when we start to imitate them. Most of what we learn about faith comes through imitation of behaviour. We imitate people before we can articulate our faith and what exactly we or others believe.
This is how we develop right from infancy. Studies in brain development have shown that the connections in our brains that are used often grow stronger, while the ones that are ignored eventually fade away.
Scientists call this “synaptic pruning.” It’s the brain’s way of saying, “Use it, or lose it.” For example, a baby born in Paris has the capacity to hear and recognize sounds from every language in the world — English, Russian, Chinese, you name it.
But as that baby grows and hears only French, her brain begins to tune itself to the sounds of the French language. The connections that respond to French get stronger, while the ones that aren’t used slowly disappear. By the end of her first year, that child’s brain has become “fine-tuned” to the one she’s constantly surrounded by.
We become shaped by what and who we are constantly exposed to. The people we spend time with, the voices we listen to, the examples we follow, these become a sort of tuning device that tells us, for better or worse, whether or not our behaviour is in tune.
And it’s not so much the behaviour that we imitate, it’s the character and attitude behind the behaviour. I’ll say more about this later, but remember that important distinction.
So, if someone were to tune their life to yours, imitating your words, your habits, your character, your values, and your attitude, what kind of person would they become?
Regardless of your age, you are still being shaped by what you surround yourself with. The development of the brain doesn’t ever stop. More importantly, the development of our attitude and character continues throughout our entire lives. When we are younger, there are often dramatic shifts. As we get older, the changes are more subtle and less noticeable in the short term.
One of the central features of the Christian faith is the practice of discipleship. Jesus had disciples and told them to take on disciples. This is how the church has expanded over the centuries. As Christians, we are meant to always stand between those who are good examples, and those who are in need of good examples.
So, the question for us today is, how will we live in that place? How will we choose who will form us and how we will form others? If we take Paul as an example, and look closely at how he was discipled and how he discipled others, we will be given a good model for how to be effective and faithful followers of Jesus.
Paul was constantly surrounded by companions, including some long-term coworkers in his mission. In the New Testament, approximately one hundred people are named as associates with Paul.
If we narrow the list to those with a particular ministry designation or role, we have a group of about thirty-six, who are referred to with nine different designations.
The most commonly used designations include “coworker” (Rom 16:3, 9, 21; 1 Cor 3:9; 2 Cor 1:24; 8:23; Phil 2:25; 4:3; Col 4:11; 1 Thess 3:2; Phlm 1, 24), “servant,” which Paul also uses of himself (Rom 16:1; 1 Cor 3:5; 2 Cor 3:6; 6:4; Eph 3:7; 6:21; Phil 1:1; Col 1:7, 23, 25; 4:7; 1 Tim 3:8, 12; 4:6), “brothers,” a designation for believers generally but also used of coworkers (1 Cor 16:19–20; Gal 1:2; Eph 6:23–24; Phil 1:14; 4:21–22; Col 1:2; 4:15), and “apostle” (Rom 16:7; 1 Cor 4:6–9; 9:5–6; 15:7; Gal 1:19).
A significant number of women are in the list, most of whom participated directly in carrying out the apostle’s mission by proclamation of the gospel.
In Philippians, in addition to Timothy and Epaphroditus, Paul mentions Euodia and Syntyche, who he said were “women who participated in gospel work at my side” (4:2–3); Clement and the rest of Paul’s fellow workers (v. 3); and finally “the brothers and sisters who are with me” (v. 21).
Many of Paul’s coworkers served in teaching and preaching, either as local ministers or fellow travellers with Paul on his mission trips. Others played significant roles in the production of his letters, whether as co-senders or secretaries.
He also employed coworkers as delegates of newly planted churches (Col 1:7; 4:12–13; Phlm 13) or as those who cared for churches in his forced absence.1
In Philippians 2:19-30, Paul speaks highly of Timothy and Epaphroditus, highlighting their exemplary character and service to Christ and the church. Their commitment and selflessness serve as a model for all believers.
This is what 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 will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their 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.
But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, co-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.
So then, welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor people like him, because he almost died for the work of Christ. He risked his life to make up for the help you yourselves could not give me.
Paul took Timothy on as a disciple. He showed Timothy how to live in the way of Jesus, how to think about and like Jesus. And now he is saying to the Philippians, Timothy has proved himself as a disciple worth imitating.
We don’t know quite as much about Epaphroditus. But, he is someone Paul has confidence in as his representative for the Philippians.
So, let’s look more closely at what Paul says about these two men and how it connects to us today.
Worthy Concern
It seems that at the heart of this section of his letter, Paul is showing that to tune our lives to Jesus involves being concerned about the welfare of others.
Timothy’s genuine concern is twofold: verse 20 says that Timothy will show genuine concern for the welfare of the church in Philippi, and; he is more concerned about the interests of Jesus than his own interests.
In other words, when Timothy arrives in Philippi, he will be a worthy representative of Paul because of his lack of concern for himself. He will be more concerned about how the believers are doing and how he can connect their needs with the gospel.
This description of Timothy is a subtle but important lesson for what the church should expect of its leaders.
As your pastor, my concern is not for how this church can be shaped by my own ideas or priorities. Rather, my concern is focused on what God is doing here, what is truly needed, and how Jesus wants to provide for and lead you. My role is to listen and watch carefully as God works among you, call attention to what he is doing, and show you how to hear his voice and see his activity in your own unique way.
This requires patient observation, listening, and prayerful equipping that uniquely shapes the church in the image of Christ.
In verses 25-26, Paul writes that the church sent Epaphroditus to take care of Paul’s needs and that Epaphroditus longs for the Christians in Philippi. It seems that he wants to be back with them to relieve their concerns about his health.
His sacrifice of leaving home to tend to Paul shows us that he is more concerned about the wellbeing of others than about his own wellbeing. His desire is that others are taken care of.
Timothy and Epaphroditus are characterized by worthy concern in two different ways. Timothy is a leader who is learning how to connect the needs of a local church with the mission of Jesus. Epaphroditus is a leader who shares the love of Jesus through helping and caring for others in their distress.
Both are worthy of imitating because their concern is oriented outward. They do not live for the sake of their own agenda or desires, but for the wellbeing of others.
Please don’t miss this very subtle but important distinction, which I mentioned earlier. What is worth imitating in these men is not their behaviour but it is the character and attitude that drove the behaviour.
When our character and attitude is in tune with Jesus, our behaviour takes on the right shape. Our lives become tuned properly.
Worthy Risk
Another feature of this passage is that both Timothy and Epaphroditus took worthy risks for the sake of others.
These risks were related to the fact that everywhere Paul went with the gospel message, he seemed to face opposition, imprisonment, persecution, and constant danger.
Timothy chose to join Paul on this journey starting in Lystra, which is in modern day central Turkey. At the very start of this journey, Timothy took a personal risk because he was the son of a Greek man and a Jewish woman.
There is much to say about why this works against Timothy, but I’ll only say that it wasn’t a good pedigree and would have caused trouble for him, especially among Jewish people.
In order to minimize the potential harm that may come to him, Paul had him circumcised. At the very least, then, when they would inevitably face opposition at the Jewish synagogues, no one could accuse Timothy of being an uncircumcised Greek.
Timothy could have decided to stay home and continue the discipleship process he began when Paul first visited Lystra on his previous journey. He probably would have made a fine local pastor there.
But, as we see throughout Paul’s various letters and in this passage, Timothy became like a son to Paul. He eventually took on pastoral roles, most notably in Ephesus. We are fortunate to have preserved for us two letters that Paul wrote to Timothy.
In his second letter, after reminding Timothy about the persecution that Paul has endured, we read about his concern that Timothy not give up on his commitment to what Paul has taught him, no matter how much people reject his message.
Paul was confident that Timothy would face many more risks because Paul himself had experienced them. This is the role of a discipler, to not only teach the ways of Jesus, but to prepare people for the hardship that comes with following Jesus.
And Paul says of Timothy, in Philippians 2:22, “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.”
The risk taken by Epaphroditus was of a different nature. It involved his personal health. He left his home in Philippi to bring help from the church there to Paul.
In Philippians 2:30, Paul wrote that Epaphroditus “almost died for the work of Christ. He risked his life to make up for the help you yourselves could not give me.”
The word translated as “risked” means gambled. It could be stated this way: ‘having gambled with his life.’
If Paul was in prison in Rome, which is the most likely scenario, this journey would have included a tremendous amount of risk. Rome is at about 1,300 km away from Philippi if someone were to take the shortest land and sea route.
Depending on weather and ship schedules, it would have taken a minimum of 4–6 weeks if everything went smoothly, but more likely 2-3 months, just to get to Paul.
According to Paul’s letter to the Philippians, Epaphroditus carried financial aid and gifts from the church for Paul, and likely letters or messages of encouragement.
But he wasn’t just a messenger. He was also expected to stay with Paul for a time, caring for his needs, since Roman prisoners depended on friends for food and money. If no one would have helped Paul, he probably would have died in prison from starvation.
Paul mentions that Epaphroditus became seriously ill, that he “almost died” (Phil. 2:27). Possible causes may have been Exposure during travel (cold, exhaustion, storms), unsanitary conditions, the stress of long-distance travel and caring for Paul in a prison environment.
Medical care was limited, and an illness on such a journey could easily become life-threatening.
Paul describes Epaphroditus as “my brother, co-worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs.” What is just a brief mention in Philippians represents an arduous, costly mission with great risk to himself.
These risks were not just mere bravery. They are risks that model what Paul said earlier about having the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who “made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant.”
Service to others is central to the way of Jesus. Not everyone needs to take on the same sort of risks as Paul or those who joined him.
But, perhaps God is asking you to take a risk of your own. If that risk is for the purpose of serving others and the only reason you are avoiding it is out of fear, then I urge you to put your trust in the same God that Paul, Timothy, and Epaphroditus trusted.
Worthy Examples
By examining the lives of Timothy and Epaphroditus, we are encouraged to embody selfless service and genuine concern for others. But more than seeing them as worthy examples, the benefit of this passage is to show us the way of discipleship for followers of Jesus.
The model is simple. Paul was a disciple and took on his own disciples. His disciples then took on disciples of their own.
You might be familiar with pyramid schemes in which the person at the top recruits a few people and then each of those people recruit a few more and so one.
Well, Christianity was the first pyramid scheme. And it can go sideways just as easily as the financial pyramid schemes when what is being modelled does not reflect the humble way of Jesus.
What this looked like in the early church is not a clear-cut formula but more of a loose pattern. Paul was discipled for about 14 years by various people including Ananias and Barnabas, and also by Jesus himself by divine revelation.
Galatians 1:11–12 “I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.”
After this lengthy time of discipleship, Paul began to take on disciples of his own. They joined him in his work, as I described earlier, either by going on journeys with him or as he stayed in various cities and taught new believers there.
Then, after anywhere from weeks to months or even years of discipleship, he would leave them to continue the work, often writing to them later or visiting them again if possible. The process of discipleship revolves around the fact that we need people worth imitating.
Jesus was the first worthy example. He spent about three years showing a few others how to be worthy examples. Then he left them to continue his work of proclaiming the gospel and showing people the way of God’s kingdom.
What does it take to become worthy examples? Consider what made Jesus worthy. This takes us once again back to Philippians 2:6–11.
Jesus, “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
Therefore… because he made himself nothing… because he took on the nature of a servant… because he humbled himsef…
God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Worthiness is not skill. It is not talent. It is not being above others or having power. It is not measuring up to others.
Worthiness is defined by humble service driven by a character and attitude that desires good for others, including and especially those with whom we disagree or who oppose us.
- George H. Guthrie, Philippians, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2023), 208–209. ↩︎