Servants In Action | Pastor Cody Harlow August 24th, 2025- Philippians 2:19-30

All surpassing gift of rightuousness. [Music] Knowing you, Jesus, knowing you, there is no greater thing. You're my all. You're the best. You're my joy, my righteousness, and I love you, Lord. [Music] Oh, to know the power of your ris life and to know you in your sufferings. [Music] to become like you in your death, my

Lord. So with you to live and never die. Knowing you, Jesus, knowing you, there is no greater thing. You're my all. You're the best. You're my joy, my righteousness. And I love you, Lord. [Music] Knowing you, Jesus, [Music] knowing you, there is no greater thing. You're my all. You're the best. You're my joy, my righteousness. And I love you, Lord. [Music] And I love you, Lord. [Music] Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Early in the morning, our song shall rise to thee. [Music] Holy, holy, merciful and mighty God in three persons. Blessed Trinity, holy, [Music] all the saints adore thee. Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea. Cherub him and saraphim falling

Down before thee. Rich word and [Music] ever more shall be. Holy, holy, holy. Though the darkness hide thee, though the eye of sinful men, thy glory may not see. Only thou art holy. [Music] There is none beside thee, perfect in power in love and purity, holy, Lord God Almighty. Mighty. All thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, merciful and mighty God in three persons blessed. [Music] >> Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, Lord, we thank you for this morning and this chance to be gathered with your saints. Lord, we thank you for this opportunity to hear from your word. And we pray for Pastor Cody today as he delivers that word, Lord, that you would give him clarity of speech that you would help him to just convey the words that you want us to hear, Lord. And that we would have open hearts to hear from you in Jesus name. Amen. Well, if you have your Bible, and I hope that you do, please turn with me to Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians chapter 2 and we are going to be in verses 19 through the end of chapter 2 today. We'll be about halfway through our study in the book of Philippians. Very timely timely study for so many of us. Over the last two weeks, we've seen Paul build a powerful picture of what life in Christ's church ought to look like. In verses 1- 11 he showed us that the Gospel it Gospel unity flows out of it proceeds from Gospel humility and so Paul he gives us Christ himself as the ultimate model of laying aside our own rights for the good of others and then in verse 12 through 18 last week we saw that Paul he reminded us that our humility must shape our obedience that as God works in us, we work it out together in a holy reverence, that we put away grumbling, and that we shine as lights in a dark world. Here in our passage today, he's going to point us to two real men, Timothy and Apapraditis. And these men embody these truths in everyday life. And they are living testimonies of what it looks like to have the mind of Christ and to live in obedience to him. Let's all stand together in honor of God's word. As we read Philippians chapter 2 verses 19 through30, God's word, it says this. I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, but not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father, he has served with me in the Gospel. I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also. I have thought it necessary to send to you Apaproditis, my brother and fellow worker and fellow

Min and fellow soldier and your messenger and minister to my need. For he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. Indeed, he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, not only on him, but also on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. So receive him in the Lord with all joy and honor such men. For he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord, we just are so thankful just for this day that you've given to us and thank you for the privilege of the gift of another week where we can come to your word and we can we can feast upon it. God, help us Lord to enjoy it, to savor it, to really think through it. God, help us to rightly apply it to our lives. And Lord, as we deal with this different passage of this emphasis on these two men Timothy and Apapraditis, Lord, help us to not get lost in their stories, but to look to Jesus Christ, the one who is the ultimate example in our lives. Father, I do thank you for the many blessings that we have in this church. And one of the things that we have is so many of our people and God we lift up to you Steve Warren and Denny Johnson. We lift up to you Dale Mitchell. Lord, what a shock it was to see him walking around here this morning. But we thank you for it. Father, there's Clim Felley, Lord, who's just still going through it. And of course Jayen and Gwen and her foot. Lord, there's just a lot of a lot of aches and pains and Larry, he's going to have knee replacement soon. And God, there's just so many

Different people that we know and that we love. And folks who for many years now have been suffering with different ailments, God. And Lord, we look forward to that day when we don't have a laundry list of ailments, Lord. But there won't be any more sorrow or hurt or pain or bodies that are in the process of decaying, God. We look forward to your return and we do pray for you to come quickly. We pray, Father, that your word would speak to our hearts this morning. We lift up our souls to you. Renew them, refresh them, God. Speak on into our hearts and let your light shine on us that we might be truly called sons and daughters of God as we leave from here this morning. We love you and we just thank you for your grace in Jesus name. Amen. Well, there are some people out there that are just naturally like harbers for our soul. You know, you know, a harbor, it has a function as you go out into the ocean. The ocean's rough. Living on the east coast for so many years. You know, you got to see when a storm was coming by and just the waves that would come and crash onto Virginia Beach and, you know, it was dangerous rip tides and things like that. And, you'd see ships going up and down the coast, making deliveries and different things like that. And if a ship is out there, it's totally exposed to the elements. You guys ever seen those really scary videos of oil tankers going across the north the North Atlantic and you just think, man, those guys do not get paid enough? Like, are we not at the point where we can just radio control those things? Like, I mean, and so, some people are like harbors though where if you go into a harbor like the Chesapeake Bay or something like that or an actual harbor, you know what it does is it cuts off all the currents of the ocean.

What it does is it makes it peaceful. It makes it to where it's not on the rough rough ocean. And you know, there's people that God brings into the church and into our lives and even into church history that are a lot like those harbors. And anyone ever heard of the lady Florence Nightingale? Florence Nightingale. Some people might be like, I just am familiar with that. It's like a name I should know, but I don't. And Florence Nightingale, she was a nurse back in the mid 1800s and she came from a very wealthy family and she told her family I want to be a nurse. Now back in that time being a nurse was only a step above being a prostitute. Okay. The reason being is that a lot of those women that couldn't not find any customers anymore went and they provided care by basically getting drunk being argumentative and contentious with patients and as a result the mortality rate at a lot of hospitals was roughly at about 40%. Okay, so pretty bad. A lot like Mercy down in Lebanon. So I'm joking. I'm joking. I'm sure that there's good people there. But anyways, under her what happened is that, she brought a Christian perspective into her care. She said, "Ladies, you're not going to be drinking on the job. You're going to provide care. We're going to read the Bible." She was known as the nurse with a lantern, and she would go in and she would check on her patients at night, which never happened before her. She, "Do you need anything? Is there anything I can do?" She also incorporated handwashing just that's nice to do. Said we are going to be clean. We are going to be a clean people. And as a result, the hospital that she was in went from 40% mortality rate to 2% mortality rate. That's absolutely amazing. And then they started getting a hey, have you heard

About this nurse that's radically changing everything? We need to set up a school for her at the College of London. And what did she do? She started teaching everyone all about Christian care and being a safe place for people in the darkest moments of their lives while simultaneously sharing the Gospel and cutting edge science as well. And it was through her faithful ministry that she was able to train others. And it's the same with the church. You know, God, he gives us people that meet us in certain times. They are almost sanctified by grace in a very special way. So they are safe harbors or even nurses to weary souls. And in our text today, Paul, he's highlighting two men, Timothy and Apaproditis. These men are not apostles. They're not the most famous men in all of Scripture, but they embody everything that Paul has been teaching in this chapter. In verses 1- 11, like I said, we learned about Christ's humility that he was, even though he was in the form of God, he emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant, which led to his death and his glorification. In verses 2 through 12, we see that our call to obedience and working out our salvation and shining as lights in a dark world through our peaceful attitudes. And now today, Paul, he uses these examples of humility and obedience. Let's take a look here at Timothy first. Timothy, he was a young disciple from Lystra. Lystra was a city. This is where he and Paul met up. And Timothy said, "I'm going to go with you, Paul." And so they left. And you know where their first stop was? Philippi. That's the first place that they go to on their journey. And so Timothy has a deep relationship with these people. Paul, he calls Timothy his true son in the faith. For over a decade, at the point of this writing, Timothy has been traveling with Paul for 10 over 10 years. It's more likely 11 to 13 years. He's been through

With Paul through all sorts of different things through persecution and church planting and pastoral work and showing character and genuine concern concern for the churches. But what are the things that Paul writes about Timothy? If we look here, he says that he is Oh, sorry, I went the wrong direction. He refreshed others. Paul, he says, "I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you so that I too may be cheered by news of you." In other words, he expects Timothy to go and cheer up others to spread the joy of Christ in the message of this letter while also him receiving a positive report. That word cheered literally means to be well sold. It's is it was found on gravestones during this time in a way to alleviate anxiety. It's almost like saying that my loved one's soul is at peace. And so it helps with sorrow and loss. And it's the only time this word appears in the New Testament. And so what Paul is expecting is that when Timothy returns to the Philippians, he's going to share this letter and this news and that they are going to adjust their life, that they're going to grow in you unity and humility and peace and that when he comes back, it's going to alleviate his anxiety. It's going to bring peace. And it is this harmony, this obedience to Paul's teaching that's going to bring an end to Paul's suffering. And so Paul instead of holding on to Timothy as a capable servant, as someone who has walked with him through thick and through thin for the last 10 years, he sends Timothy while he's sh suffering in chains because he loves the church at Philippi more than he loves himself. You see, Christians, they ought to be a blessing to others, whether it's through our interactions and through our discussions or our service. We see in Timothy a man that refreshes others through his service. And it's not just Timothy either. Paul, he knew other men

Like this, like Phileiman. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Now, there are refreshers and there are drainers in our lives. We call them in the pastoral realm, we call people that are drainers egr people. Okay? Extra grace required. It's just it's just what it is. Right? Now, when there are some people that they're like a phone charger, right? You're down you're down and you're kind of like, I need to charge my battery. Those are people that you can hang around and you can plug in and they recharge your battery. Some people, they got too many apps going on in the background. That's just what happens. But let me ask you, are you one of those people that are a blessing in Christ where someone can send you and say, "This person's going to be a blessing to you." Timothy, he refreshed Paul with good news. But ultimately, his example points us to Jesus. Jesus himself, he said, "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Timothy's presence gave Paul peace during this season. But Christ's presence gives his people peace for eternity. Secondly, we learn that he genuinely cared about the church. Paul, he says, "For I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare." That word like him means same sold. Once again, we're we're seeing this same verbiage being used throughout the book of Philippians, this sameness. And Timothy is united with Paul in his heart. There is no one better suited for this task than Timothy. And this teaches us that faithful Christians are genuinely concerned for others as well. Yet so many times we get our blinders on. And you know, we've got, you know, work that we've got to do. We got ministries that we got to serve in. We got families that we have to invest in. You know, we do family disciplehip for a lot of us. We've got volunteer work that we're doing outside of the church. We got all these different things that are vying for our time. And yet the purpose of doing those things is not the ministries of themselves. It's the people that make that we make the impact in. Amen. We're not just called to just simply serve for the sake of serving. We're called to serve for the sake of the Gospel of Christ. And what Timothy is saying or what Paul is saying here is that there is no one better suited for the task than Timothy. The this man is going to be genuinely concerned for you. Why? Because he knows you. Because he loves you. Because he was there with you at the beginning. And he's walk through you through all of the different messes that I've walked with through you as well. And this is and Timothy's task is to make certain that the church is united and that the people that are causing the division are handled as we'll see later on in chapter three or four. But this is genu genuine and true concern. He's not concerned for himself. He's not concerned for his desires. Timothy, he wants what is best for the church of Philippi. And what is best is pursuing the Lord Jesus Christ. Spurgeon, he said this. He said, "We do not serve the church of God if we are serving ourselves. Our Lord's glory must be first, the midst, and the last of our motives." That's why we sang that song earlier. Knowing you, Jesus, knowing you, there's no greater thing. You're my all. You're the best. You're my joy, my righteousness. That's why we sing that song because it's true of the Christian and Timothy's care for the Philippians. It reflects Paul's own pastoral heart. But deeper than this, it reflects Christ's heart for his people. You know that Christ has such a deep and loving and abundant affection for you.

Jesus is the good shepherd. He's the one who lays down his life for his sheep. And Timothy's concern is that they would point them back to Christ in his glory. And the greater concern being for him being lifted up in Philippi. Thirdly, we see that he rejected self-interest. Paul, he says they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. Now, is this every single person? No. Okay. He's not slamming the faithfulness of men like Apaproditis who almost died for the Gospel. Okay? He doesn't have spiritual amnesia when he gets to Apaproditis and go, "Oh, yeah. Forgot about him or John Mark or Luke or Peter or anyone like that." No, he's simply saying that there's no one better suited for this pastoral task than Timothy. He's calling back to what he says in Philippians chapter 2:4. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also the interests of others. We have to remember that Paul is saying that the path of Christ is the way that we are ought to walk. We're to be humble. We are to be meek. We are to be a servant. And when we are not those things, it means that we have self-interest as the motivator and we're leading on our own desires and our own wisdom and our own understanding. You see, the world lives for self, doesn't it? You know, if you're scrolling through Facebook or Instagram or you watch everything, I mean, there's so many books and podcasts and social media influencers that are all into this what is it? Counseling therapy culture. Therapy culture is a thing now, you know, and pretty much it basically is this belief of the Gospel of self is that your happiness is the ultimate goal. Yes, queen, slay king, all those type of things, right? In other words, pursuing peace in your own heart and life is your sovereign goal. It is your prize. If you can obtain

Peace and joy and happiness by any means, then you should do that. If there is someone that is sucking peace out of your life, then you should cut them off. Doesn't matter if they're a parent, doesn't matter if they're a child, doesn't matter what whatever it is. And sure, there's probably some extenduating circumstances for some of that. Okay? But the whole thing rises out of individualism that self fulfillment is the ultimate fulfillment. And I know people like this, right? If there was something that they needed from my wife and I, then you know, immediately they're on the phone, they're calling, they're texting, hey, how are you guys doing? Immediately the ask comes and immediately if there's well sure but you know I need you to meet me halfway or something like that immediately it becomes no thanks because it costs them something it messes with their peace and so they move on. Roman culture also prized this it provides self-honor and ambition and boasting and advancement but the Christian way is found here. Greater love has no one than this. And someone laid down his life for his friends. The Christian life, Christian love says love hurts sometimes. It costs you something, but for the sake of Christ, many times it's worth it. It's worth the cost. Here's what Paul writes in other places. We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up. Thomas Boston he said the great end of a Christian's life is not to advance himself but to advance Christ in the world. So which path are you walking? Are you walking the path of self-interest and self- advancement? Are you walking the path of Christ? Because you can't have it both ways.

Fourthly, Timothy, he proved his value. Paul, he says, "But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father, he served me with the Gospel." That phrase proven worth literally can be understood as battle tested. Okay? Men like Julius Caesar use this kind of language to describe soldiers that he could trust. In other words, Timothy, he doesn't just have the character, he has the proven resilience to endure as well. Timothy's worth was proven to Paul after over a decade of knowing and serving alongside each other. As I said before in Acts 16, their first stop on the way after Lystra was Philippi. And so Timothy, you know what happened after that was that the Thessalonians, they started getting up and they started doing really heinous acts of persecution against Paul and others. And Timothy endured through that. He ministered alongside Paul with all the mess that was going on at the church in Corenth. He served with Paul for Ephesus in Ephesus for three years. For three years he served and much more that we have no clue about. Timothy traveled, he suffered, he shared the Gospel, he administered, he taught, he ministered and he prayed. And what we learned is that faithful ministry over years has the good effect of building trust. It takes time to build trust in ministry. Doesn't matter what the successes that you've had or the matters that you see in faithfulness or anything like that. Oh well, yes, that does matter. Sorry. It doesn't matter the successes. What matters is faithfulness, long-term faithfulness. You see, ministry fulfillment is proven not simply because of enduring some hard times, but it's a proven long-term commitment to Jesus Christ. That's what it is. It's this kind of relationship that defines Paul's affection for Timothy, calling him a son. He learned the trade of sharing the Gospel and being a minister

Of the Gospel, just as a father would teach a son. And fifthly, we learn is that he trusted God's plan. Here, Paul, he picks us, he picks up his thought from verse 19 that Paul, he is sending Timothy just as soon as he figures out what's going to happen to him. Is he going to die? Is he going to be in prison for a while? Is he going to continue being in this limbo area? We He didn't know. And neither did Timothy. But they could trust their unknown futures to a known God. God. He knows what will happen and is working all things out in amazing ways for his people. Verse 24, it says, "I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come." We can have confidence in God's plan. You see, Paul, he didn't know exactly how it's all going to work out. He had feelings. He had instincts, but he ultimately didn't know how it was all going to shake out. He just simply had confidence in God. That God is the one who is writing the story. That God is the one who is in charge and that he's the king over all things. And this is Timothy's example. And Timothy, according to church history, he lived this out until his death. According to church history, Timothy, he was a one of the first bishops and elders at the church in Ephesus. And during a parade where they were celebrating pagan deities, he went out, he preached the Gospel, and they beat him to death with clubs. And that's how Timothy dies. A faithful faithful minister of the Gospel. Let's take a look at this guy, Apaproditis. All right. Anybody ever heard a sermon on Apapraditis before? I All right, maybe one. I never had before. So, this was not a new character to me, but definitely not someone like Moses or Abraham that you're familiar with. Apaproditis literally means his name is devoted or belonging to

Aphrodite. Okay. So he comes from a very pagan background. That's one of the things that we do know about him. Paul he doesn't bring up his past but what he does is he uses several descriptors to kind of show us what kind of person Apaproditis is. Look at what he says. He calls him my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, your me messenger messenger and minister to my need. And by calling Apaproditis his brother, what Paul does is he shows this beautiful truth into the adoption of God's family. For many of my brothers that are here in the congregation, that's why I call you brother, right? Is because not just, you know, hey brother, like Hulk Hogan like brother, what are you, you know, it's not like that. It's because it's I'm communicating an actual spiritual truth to you that you and I we are we are like bloodlooded in that we are redeemed by Christ that we are family. And that's what Paul is doing here. Paul, he's showing this truth of adoption into the family of God. That Apaproditis, he's he's not just a supporter or this fringe guy. He is a primary minister. He's a beloved brother who is unified with Paul in Christ. When Paul calls him this worker, this fellow worker, it points to the truth that the Gospel is not advanced primarily through super apostles. Like, you know, we might look at Paul as like the gold standard for ministry. All right? That's not the primary way that God continues working in a church. Okay? You know what he uses is he uses regular people. He uses Chucks, he uses Bees, he uses Steves, he uses all these different people to do the work of the ministry because that's his plan. Andapaphroditis is one of them. And I thank the Lord for the so many people that work in our church and serve in our church. It makes our church better and it helps our

Church to shine. And if you're not serving, then I challenge you to serve and to be a part of the work of the ministry. So there you go. There's also this title of a fellow soldier. Being a soldier is marked by warfare. It's marked by hardship and sacrifice. And Apaproditis, he had risked his life to minister to Paul. And because of that, Paul's affection grows for him by leaps and bounds. This guy almost died to meet my needs. I mean, what a gift that is. And Paul, he was entrusted by his church or Apaproditis was entrusted by his church to deliver this gift and to encourage Paul. We don't know what the gift is. Likely it was a financial gift of some kind, but we don't know. Okay. But by Apaproditis's service, he became an example of how God uses different people and their skills as messengers to bless others. And Paul, he calls Apaproditis a minister. That word it's where we get our word liturgy from. And so think of it as in like devotions and priestlike service. It's it means meeting needs with selflessness and compassion. His attitude was to lay down his life so that Paul would experience the love of the congregation back in Philippi. That's what he's saying here. And so Paul, he calls Apapraditis a brother, a worker, a soldier, a messenger, and a minister. And each of these roles ultimately point to us not to Apapraditis, but to Jesus. He Jesus is the elder brother who laid down his life to save us. The brother the laborer who came to do his father's work, the captain of our salvation, the one who sent who was sent from the father with the word of the Gospel to bring life to us. He's the true high priest who ministers on our behalf. But let's notice a couple of things here is oh yeah his titles. But notice his distress.

Apaproditis was distressed. It's the same word used to describe Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. Here's what it says in Matthew 26. And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. He began to be sorrowful and troubled. There's that same Greek word there, troubled. What did that troubling look like? It looked like pouring out his soul in prayer before God where he was so burdened by these things. He began sweating great drops of tears. It almost implies a mania and despair because the Philippians had heard that he was sick. That's the kind of care that Apaproditis had for his church in Philippi. And we learn that it's that kind of genuine love that moves his heart. His love was so great not for his life and not for his reputation but for his brothers and sisters in Christ. It's about his church in Philippi. It was about laying his life down for the sake of Christ. And that is Christlike concern. So we learn this application is that his anxiety wasn't for himself. It was for his brothers and sisters. And that is Christlike concern. Here's what just there's many examples of Jesus being very concerned for people, but this is just one of them. Jesus, he drew near to the city of Jerusalem and he saw the city and he wept over it. The same city that's about to crucify him. The same city that is rejecting the Savior, saying, "Would that you, even you had known on this day the things that make for peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and him you in on every side and tear you down to the ground. You and your children within you and they will not leave one stone upon another in you because you did not know the time of your visitation. See, it was that love and that compassion

For those same people that would ultimately crucify him that he wept over them with tears. It means to weep bitterly. It's not just a one little tear going down, but it's sorrow upon sorrow upon sorrow, brokenness for the state of people. We also learn about Apaproditis's recovery. Paul, he says that he was indeed ill, near to death. That can be translated as sick to death. But God had mercy on him. You see, as his body was fighting this sickness, he continued on walking, sailing, and his body was declining and failing him. His body was wasting away day by day until finally the Lord allowed Apaproditis to live. And for Apaproditis, his physical risk was a very real and tremendous risk. He didn't know how it would all work out for him. Paul, he called it risking his life, which is a gambling term in the Greek. Okay? It means a calculated risk. Can I make it another week without medical attention? I think I can. I might be able to. It means that the sickness was directly tied to the task that the church had given to him at Philippi. We don't know what it is. But this begs the question for us as to why does God still allow for people to get sick? Why does he allow for Christians to still get sick even if they're being faithful in ministry, even if they are doing really well in loving the Lord and serving the Lord? Why does he do that? Well, it's because even though our souls have been redeemed, even though we are born again, our bodies, they remain subject to the effect of sin until your resurrection. Okay? Our bodies will remain in this state. Okay? We're we're just going to decline. That's just how it's going to be. Illness is going to come. Weakness is going to come. Death, it reminds us, is sin's reality.

It's there. It keeps us humble. It keeps us grateful for Christ's redemption. And it stirs up within us a longing for heaven. A longing for that place where we will abide with Christ where sickness will be no more. And every recovery from sickness is a small, very, very small preview and glimpse into resurrection when God raises our frail bodies into incorruption and glory. If you've ever went to bed sick with the flu and you woke up feeling amazing the next morning, like, "Wow, I can take on the world now." That's a mercy from Christ. And so, here we learn that every recovery and healing is a mercy. It's not a right. It's a gift from God for his glory. Now Paul, he did not send Epaphroditis away immediately, but he would. And he instructed the church to receive him and to honor him, to receive him for a job well done and to honor him because he proved himself to be a faithful minister of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so yes, be like Timothy, be like Apapraditis, but only because you belong to Jesus. You see, they can't see save you and following their example cannot save you. Only Christ can save you. And without him, you know what happens is that we're naturally drains. We're not refreshers. We are self-absorbed and self-interested and self-seekers. We're not servants apart from Christ. But in Christ, God, he makes us harbors, safe harbors for people. He makes us good Christian nurses that provide care. You see Jesus, he lived the life that we could not. He died the death that we deserved and he rose again to make us his own. And that is the Gospel. And that is the transforming power that he offers to us. And so what does this mean? What does this mean for us? You see in Philippians 2, Paul, he painted a portrait of life in Christ's church. Taught us that Gospel unity flows from Gospel humility.

That Christ himself is that ultimate picture. And then we learned that this humility leads to Gospel-shaped obedience in verses 12- 18. But now Paul, he brings it home with these living examples of Timothy and Apaproditis. These are flesh and blood pictures of what it looks like to live it out. Paul, he shows us the heart of a person, of what it means to be a refresher, to genuinely care, to reject self-interest. And he proves his faithfulness, and he trusts God's plan. Apaproditis shows us the heart of the one who takes up the costly work of the Gospel. A brother, a worker, a soldier, a messenger and minister, even risking his life for sacrificial service. And here's the point is that Christlike humility and obedience are not abstract virtues. They take shape in ordinary Christians lives, not just the exceptional God. He calls each of us to be safe harbors. He calls us to be refreshers who care more about the good of others than they do themselves, who endure hardship for Christ, and who trust God with their very lives. The Puritan Thomas Boston, he said it simply. He said that religion that is not seen in the life is not true religion. And so what about you? What about you? The good news is that God is not looking for another Timothy or Apaproditis to save the church. The good news is that Jesus Christ has already come and has saved his church. That he lived, he died, he rose again, and by his spirit, he makes us into the kind of people that refresh and serve and risk and endure. And he calls sinners. He redeems sinners. And then he shapes them into these Christian nurses to provide care and love. And without him, we're all self-seeking. We all drain but with him we become vessels containing springs of the living water of Jesus Christ. Head, heart, hand, head. God, he wants you to know

That Jesus is the safe harbor for your soul. He is faithful. He is selfless. And he is lifegiving. He's the one who's faithful. And he gives us exactly what we need when we need it. Heart God. He wants you to believe that you can entrust yourself to Christ because he alone is faithful and sufficient because his sufficiency and faithfulness never fails. You know that you can trust him with your whole self. If you've never trusted Jesus Christ with your whole self, today is that day that you would repent of your sins and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can do that by telling him say, "Lord, I love you and I need you right now." And you can talk to me about it after service and we can make sure that you know that you are walking with the Lord in hand. God, he wants you to abide in Christ so that you might minister to the needs of others. See, we are all called to be unified in this. That our vision would be to be humble, to be sacrificial in our service, to not be self-interested, but to seek the glory of Jesus Christ alone. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you for this day that you've given to us. We thank you for your mercy and your kindness. I pray, Father, that you would continue to work in our hearts and in our minds. Lord, this sermon today, it's I just pray that you would use it in our minds that you would convict us, Lord, and that would go to our hearts and that would change us, that would change the way that we live, and the way that we interact, Lord. Lord, if I'm a drain on people, Father, please change that in my life. If I'm self-interested, Lord, I pray that would no longer be the case. And I pray that for each person that's under my care, Lord, for every member that's here and every every Christian that's here. Father, I pray that you would help us to

Be more like Jesus who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasp, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant. And father, I pray that's what we would be. Father, we want to be servants and we want to rely fully upon your grace. So help us Lord to walk in that abundant life that you offer to us. We love you Lord. Help us to be faithful to your word in Jesus name. Amen. Let's all stand and let's worship together. Marvelous grace of our loveing Lord. Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt. Yonder on Calvary's mountain outpour. There the blood of the lamb was spilled. Grace grace God's grace, grace that will pardon and bless within. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sins. Marvelous infinite batchless grace freely bestowed on all who believe you that are longing to see his face. Fill you this moment. His grace receive grace. Grace, God's grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sins. And Lord, we do thank you for that grace that's available to us freely in Christ. I pray that you would help us to walk in that not for the sake of our own freedom or to be really really strict rule followers, but simply because we're your children, God. And help us to walk in that abundant freedom and liberty. Help us to be servants. We just want your glory, God, to be the highest thing on our priority list. So help us Lord. In the meantime we pray that you would come quickly and just pray that you would find us faithful in the meantime in Jesus name. Amen.

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