Okay, open your Bibles, if you
would, to Philippians chapter 2. We're going to continue right
where we left off last week, which was in verse 25, I believe,
of Philippians chapter 2, when Paul calls Epaphroditus, my brother
and companion and fellow soldier. and laborer in the gospel. So he uses four things to identify
Paul, or identify Epaphroditus for us to see in Paul. And what
it is, remember before in the first chapter, he talked about
having this mind that is in Christ, and we talked about unity, the
way we get unity is by humbleness, being humble with one another.
Humility leads to unity. And so Paul, he showed us Christ,
the ultimate picture of humility. Now he's showing us Epaphroditus, and he's bringing out these traits
in Epaphroditus. that he has simply because the
Lord saved him and changed him and made him a new creature in
Christ, right? He's born again. And these traits
that are in God's people, he's a brother. We're all brothers
and sisters in Christ, right? Fellow soldiers, or no, companion. We're companions going through
this world right now. We're companions together going
through this world of woe. We seek a better country. Right?
We're fellow laborers in the gospel, whether one teaches or
preaches or whether one supports the work. Right? And just being
here together, we're fellow laborers in the gospel. Isn't that wonderful?
And then we're fellow soldiers. We're soldiers of Christ. Isn't
that amazing? I always wanted to be in the
military, Charlie, but I couldn't because of my hips. I'm a soldier
for Christ now. All of us. Isn't that wonderful?
Now, Brother Tom, he was a soldier in the military, and he's a soldier
in Christ. Isn't that incredible? Jake,
same. Jake out in Colorado. He's a
current Air Force captain, but more importantly, he's a soldier
for Christ. Isn't that wonderful? Oh my. So let's read. Let's read, Lord
willing, we're gonna finish verse 25 today. Let's read verse 25
here, all the way to verse 30. So we'll read Philippians chapter
two, verses 25 to 30. Yet I suppose it necessary to
send to you Epaphroditus, now remember Epaphroditus is a pastor
at Philippi, my brother, look at that, my brother, and companion
in labor, and fellow soldier, but you're a messenger. And he that ministered to my
wants. For he longed after you all.
Remember, Paul was going to send Timothy? Now he's going to send Epaphroditus.
Look at this. For he longed after you all and
was full of heaviness because that ye had heard that he had
been sick. He was sent by the Philippian
church with a love offering. to help Paul with his needs.
They had found out Paul was in need. Does the Lord always provide
for us? Always, doesn't he? And those
needs are not just physical needs, but more importantly, spiritual
needs. But he does take care of his sheep all the time. All the time. And so the church
had heard that Paul had some needs, And so they sent him a
love offering. Similar to when we find out somebody
has need within the body or within another church, we help out,
right? So Epaphroditus was the one who
bought that to Paul. But Epaphroditus got to Rome
and then he became sick, near unto death. Near unto death. Oh my. Look at this. For he indeed was sick, nigh
unto death, nigh there in the Greek is neighbor. He was close
to death, beloved. Wasn't his time, but he was close
to death. But God had mercy on him, and
not only on him, not on him only, but on me also, lest I should
have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more
carefully that when you see him again ye may rejoice." They're
gonna rejoice when they see their pastor again, aren't they? Oh
my. And that I might be less sorrowful.
Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness and hold
such in reputation. Right? Because for the work of
Christ, he was nigh unto death. What's that tell us? That tells
us that he sold out for Christ. Whether I live or die, I'm gonna
preach Christ, right? Whether I live or die. Not regarding
his life to supply your lack of service toward me. So he even
endangered his life to get to Paul. with what the Philippians
had given him. And we saw he was close to death.
Oh, my. Now, Epaphroditus was a born-again,
blood-washed believer. He'd been born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. He'd been saved at Calvary's
cross by the Lord Jesus Christ, who shed his precious blood to
redeem his eternal soul, just like he'd done for all who are
believers. All true, born-again, blood-washed
saints have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, have had
all our sins forgiven. Isn't that wonderful? That's
a fact, isn't it? He blotted out the transgressions
that was against us, the handwriting that was against us, blotting
out, blotting them out. My oh my, paid for all our sins,
every one, past, present, and future. And we see here, Paul
uses four words to describe Epaphroditus. brother, companion, a fellow
soldier and messenger. And he also uses labor. The underlying Greek word again,
which I looked into last week and I brought forth, I'm gonna
bring it forth again. The underlying Greek word for brother literally
means from the same womb. This is bringing forth that we
are born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Epaphrodites and Paul
weren't brothers in the flesh. And how do we know that? Or how
do we know that this is speaking of the new birth? Well, because
the Greek word literally denotes a fellowship of life based on
the identity of origin. You must be born again. You must
be. Born again by the same spirit,
have the same savior, right? have the same Father. And this
is all according to the will and purpose of our God. And now,
remember in Galatians it says, because we're sons, we cry Abba
Father. And God has sent the Spirit of
his Son into our hearts, right? Because we're sons. Because we're
the chosen of God. That's sons and daughters too.
That's the believers in Christ. We were chosen by God in eternity. Christ redeemed us at Calvary's
cross. And because we're sons, God sends
his spirit into our hearts whereby we now cry, I have a father.
So Epaphroditus is being born again. He's a new creature in
Christ. He's a new creature in Christ. He's probably a Gentile. I believe
he's a Gentile. And here Paul is putting himself,
too, on a common level. When he says, you're my brother,
when I call you guys my brother and sisters, we're on a common
level. There's no hierarchy here, is there? We're all purchased by the blood
of Christ. There's no one brother or sister
better than the other one. Right? Where you're strong, Charlie,
I might be really weak. And where I'm strong, you might
be really weak, Brother Brian, or vice, you know, my dear sisters
the same way. Where you guys are strong, I
might be really weak, and vice versa. But we're all brothers
and sisters in Christ. We're all purchased by the same
blood. We're brethren. We have a common origin, don't
we? Now, we have a common origin in Adam, But more so, we have
a common origin being born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And
we saw in Wednesday night's short message, you must be born again. We must be born again. There's
a necessity, because we're dead in trespasses and sins. We have
to be saved. Oh my. So also, I love this. Again,
I'm gonna stress this again. Paul puts himself on the same
level as Epaphroditus. and Timothy. That's the great
apostle. Doesn't matter. We're brothers
and sisters in Christ. I love it. I love that. So, this is absolutely amazing. As one commentator said, we're
members of the same tribe. The born again, blood-washed
saints of God. Do you know we're fellow countrymen? We may be from all different
countries in this world, but you know that we're fellow countrymen?
Because we seek a better country. Isn't that wonderful? We seek
a better country. Heaven. Oh, my. And we're of the same nature.
We're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And we see ourselves
as family. It's family. We're family. This
local assembly, we're family. And we have brothers and sisters
throughout the world and in heaven. Oh my. But for us personally,
this assembly is where we assemble every Sunday. We have a family
reunion every weekend. Isn't that wonderful? And when
we start up on Wednesdays, we'll have a Wednesday night family
reunion too. It's wonderful, beloved. It's absolutely wonderful. Another Greek scholar brought
forth that this word came to designate a fellowship of love
equivalent to, or bringing with it, a community of life. Again, we're a community of believers,
but the bond that binds us is the blood of Christ. Isn't that
amazing? Scripture likens us to a building,
right? Fitly framed, each stone put
in place. And you know what the mortar
is? The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what binds us
together, beloved. Oh my, isn't it wonderful? It's
absolutely wonderful. Turn, if you would, to Matthew
25. were bought with the same blood,
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here in Matthew 25, our Lord
uses the same Greek word to describe his people as those, or when they minister to his
people. Remember this portion here where
they said, well, when did we do these things, Lord? It's the
end, and he's telling them, well, when you did it unto one of my
brethren, you did it unto me. Same Greek word as Paul uses
over in Philippians. Look at this, Matthew 25, starting
in verse 34. I love this. Then shall, notice
this, the King. Jesus Christ is the King. This
is Christ on his throne. The King, that's our Savior,
the King. He answers to no one, does he,
brother John? No one. He's the King of kings
and the Lord of lords. He's called the King. Then shall
the King say unto them, on thy right hand, that's God's people.
Remember, he separated the goats to the left and the sheep to
the right. And the only one who made us to differ is God. The
only one. Isn't that amazing? By nature,
by first birth, we are no different than those on the left. By the
new birth, we're new creatures in Christ, and only because Christ
redeemed us and saved us, and only because God the Father chose
us in eternity. We don't deserve it, we don't
merit it, we don't earn it. It all comes to us by God's grace. So he says this, then shall the
king say unto them on his right hand, come ye blessed with my
father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. Look at that, Charlie. Heaven is a prepared place for
a prepared people. And how long has it been prepared
for us? From the foundation of the world. When we were doing
our thing as teenagers, we had no idea we were the elect of
God. We had no clue. But God had prepared this for
us. Isn't that a wonderful system? God prepared that for our sister. He prepared for us to go to a
prepared place. Oh my. And then He prepared us
for that place. by being born again of the Holy
Spirit of God and redeemed, of course, before that, by the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't it wonderful? We are only
prepared for glory in Christ, in Christ alone. He's our wisdom. He's our sanctification. He's
our redemption. He's our justification. He's
everything. Oh my. All our needs, spiritual
needs, are found in Christ. All of them. All of them. So much so that he says, without
me you can do nothing. Oh my. Look at this. He says, For I was in hunger,
and you gave me meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me
drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. Naked, and you
clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me.
I was in prison, and you came unto me. Then shall the righteous
answer, see, this is what the Lord's people say. When did we
do those things, Lord? When saw we in hunger and fed
thee? for thirsty, and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in, or naked, and
clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or
in prison, and came unto thee? Now the king is going to answer,
isn't he? Look at this. And the king shall answer and
say unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, and so much as
ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, same
Greek word as Paul uses for Epaphroditus. Isn't that wonderful? As ye have done it to the least
of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Brother Brian,
what you and Sister Linda went through, That was done unto the Lord,
because they did it unto you. It's pretty amazing, isn't it?
Think of the things we've went through in our lives. People
have done things to us, but they've really done it unto the Lord. My, that's why we need to keep
short accounts with the brethren, too. Our brothers and sisters,
we need to keep short accounts. Oh my. Oh, and again, humility leads
to unity, right? Praise God for what we have.
My oh my. And we who are the born again
people of God also call each other brothers and sisters, right?
I had someone one time tell me. Don't you call me brother, and
don't you call me sister? A husband and a wife. That's
what the Armenians do. And I'm like, what? And I said, I've been calling my fellow brothers
and sisters brother and sister for, actually, since the Lord saved
me. Because I got a new family. And they just did not want me.
And I said, well, it's a Bible word. We see it here, right? It's a Bible. If Paul calls Epaphroditus
brother, and we know they called their sisters in Christ sister,
why shouldn't we? We're family. I was shocked. I had never heard
anyone ever ask that. Okay. Man, I love it when you guys
call me Brother Wayne, you know? Somebody asked me one time, should
I call you Pastor or Brother Wayne? I said, just call me Brother
Wayne. I like that. You want to call me Pastor, that's
up to you, too. But I love just Brother Wayne.
I do. That's what you call me all the
time, Charlie and Brian. You guys call me that. Hey, Brother,
how's it going? Oh, man, good, how you doing,
right? Oh, we're family, man. That's
what we are. That's what we are. It's wonderful. Oh, my. Do you know that this same Greek
word is used multiple times in the New Testament? Here's why. This same Greek word is translated
brethren, like we see our Lord use here, and also, like we see
Paul use, over in, he uses, what does he use in verse 20? He says,
my brother. It's the same Greek word, whether
it's brother or brethren. And then it's also brothers.
It's translated this way. 226 times in the New Testament
is brethren. I'd say that's used a lot, isn't
it? So they called each other brethren, which is brothers,
brethren just multiples, right? My oh my. It's like saying beloved
of God. You're taking in a bunch of people.
It's translated, again, 226 times brethren, 113 times brother,
and then seven times as brothers, plural. I think they called each other
brothers and sisters, didn't they, Charlie? I think that's
a pretty good biblical thing. You wonder if someone doesn't
want to be called brother or sister if they're even a brother
or sister, right? My, oh my. It's not a litmus
test though, okay? Don't take, don't take, don't
say, oh Wayne now said, if you don't call each other brother
and sister, you're not saved. I'm not saying that at all. I'm
not saying that at all. Oh, no, salvation's in Christ
alone. Let me just emphasize that. In
Christ alone, no matter what we call each other. Hopefully
we call each other nice things, all right? I love you guys. So we can clearly
see by the use of this word and the context of the word, even
the Lord using it, and Paul using it, and then it being, having
the same origin that we are family. We really are family. And like
family, sometimes you get along great with your brother, and
sometimes you might have a little squabble here and there, right?
But you always work it out, don't you? Always work it out. Oh my, it's wonderful. It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. God's people
want to reconcile. They don't wanna divide. They
don't want to. So we can clearly see then that
we're family, we're called the family of God, we're the beloved
of God. And we have the same Father, God the Father, Jehovah. We have the same Redeemer, same
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God. And we have
been born again by the same Spirit, which is the Holy Spirit of God.
My oh my. And we have the same faith too,
right? Our faith is centered on Christ. We believe, we agree with the
five solas, right? By grace alone, through faith
alone, through Christ alone, by the word of God alone, right?
We believe that, to the glory of God alone. We believe that,
we agree with that. Oh my. So we have the same Savior, and
our faith, our faith has one object, and that's Christ. That's Christ alone. How do we, when we get our eyes
off Christ, do you find this? When I get my eyes off Christ
and onto the world, or whatever circumstances going on in my
life, I get all shook up. But when I get my eyes on Christ,
oh my, Joy just floods my soul. Vicki and I were working on the
new Sunday School Room, and I put on this song, and they were just
singing, Arise, Arise. It's an old hymn. Arise, arise,
arise, my soul, arise. And man, my heart was just singing.
Just singing. And then I was sharing with Charlie
that near the end of it, when we were almost done, a song came
on, Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah. I love that song. And they do
it a little more, contemporary and But the word the words got
me and I was sharing it with Charlie about when you're crossing
the Jordan and and he's praying Lord Great Jehovah What was it
again? My my fears? My anxious fears. Oh, and he's saying I bid my
anxious fears. Goodbye Do you know we'll never
have another fear in heaven? We'll never be anxious in heaven Isn't that wonderful, beloved?
We won't struggle with unbelief in heaven. We'll see our Savior
face-to-face. The one who is the center of
our faith, we will see him face-to-face. We see through a glass darkly
now, don't we? But then, face-to-face. Oh my, isn't that wonderful? We get excited about that, can't
we? We can, oh yeah. We can. Let's go back to verse
25 again. We see not only does Paul call
Epaphroditus my brother in Christ, he also says he's a brother in
the ministry. Let's read that. Yet I suppose
it necessary to send to you, Epaphroditus, my brother and
companion in labor, my oh my, and fellow soldier, but your
messenger. and he that ministered to my
wants. So again, he bought a gift from the Philippians that ministered
to Paul's wants. We don't know what it is. It
was probably some financial aspect to it, but might've been other
things too. We don't know. And notice how sweetly Paul writes
about Epaphroditus. And remember, again, there's
no, Paul has bought himself down to the same level as Epaphroditus,
which we all should do, right? All of us as believers, we're
on the same level. I keep saying, there's no preacher
mound, is there? Don't vault the preacher up, man. We're just
sinners saved by grace. I know we love each other, but
please don't vault me up. Keep looking to Christ. Let's
look to Christ together, Brian. And we see, oh my, we got our
hearts to sing, right? When we look at Christ and we
sing together. My, oh my, what a Savior. What a Savior. And we see here that Paul's saying
he's a companion in labor. Now, in the labors of preaching
the Gospels, what's being brought forth here? The ministry is a
labor of love. It's a labor of love. I love
what I do. I get to brag on Christ all the
time. But there is labor, studying,
reading, right? There's labor that way, but it's
a joy for the preacher, it really is. I get to study my Bible all
the time, it's wonderful. I know I get distracted just
like everybody else. Trust me, I do. I get distracted
just like everybody else does. But what a wonderful, they call
it a labor here, but again, it's a labor of love. It's a labor. Ask someone who teaches Sunday
school. Sunday school for Linda is a labor of love. Kathy will
be teaching Gavin after little Rowan goes into Linda's class. I'm sure it'll be a labor of
love for Kathy. She's done it before. It'll be
a labor of love for her. Just like it's a labor of love
for me to preach and teach Sunday school and then to preach in
the main message. It's a labor of love. And we
love one another as believers. Oh my. The apostle, labors diligently
and faithfully, and so does Epaphroditus. Paul's commending him in Christ,
because we know without Christ we can do nothing. He's commending
him for the labor of love. And the apostle, we know, was
a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth. He was a laborer in Christ's
vineyard, Paul was. So was Epaphroditus. and one that labored more abundantly
than others. And he was not alone. We see
Paul was not alone. He had companions in his work.
He's identifying Epaphroditus and Timothy in this epistle.
Do you know that when I came here, Norm told me, he says,
you know, I'm sad that you're leaving the area, but I know
that the Lord is sending you to the part of the vineyard that
he wants you to be in. Isn't that wonderful? Because
him and I used to talk all the time. We still chat, but we used
to be able to actually drive and get together that way, or
very easy, because we were only five hours apart. And he says,
I miss that fellowship that way, but now we have FaceTime, right? We can text, we can call each
other. And when he comes here, we have
great joy. I'm going out there in May, and
it'll be great joy to see them all. It'll be wonderful. But
that's all part of, this is the part of the vineyard that the
Lord's planted me in. And I'm thankful, I get to be
with you all. What a joy, what a joy, what a blessing, my oh
my. And let's look, now let's look
at next what Paul brings forth about Epaphroditus in verse 25.
And I suppose it necessary to send to you, Epaphroditus, my
brother and companion in labor, and lie like this, fellow soldier,
fellow soldier. In the Greek, the word for fellow
soldier means a fellow soldier, a co-militant in the service
of Christ, a co-campaigner, an associate in Christian toil. We're co-campaigners, brother.
When the Romans would take the legions and say Julius Caesar
said, okay, when he said he wanted to go into Gaul and take over
Gaul, he called it a campaign. Brother Brian, we're co-companions.
Sisters, my dear sisters, we're co-companions. Isn't that wonderful? We're fellow soldiers in the
Lord's army. We march under his, whenever
I hear this, I automatically default back to the Roman days.
So if you hear me talking, I'm not thinking modern military,
I'm always thinking Roman military. And they used to have banners.
There we go! Wherever he leads, we follow,
don't we? Oh my. And you know who does
the battle? The king. We have a champion. We have a champion. Isn't that
wonderful? Oh my, beloved. Oh my. So we are co-campaigners
in the service of Christ. We're fellow soldiers. And this
is true of every born-again, blood-washed believer. Every
one of us are soldiers for Christ. It's wonderful. And what is the
campaign that we're involved in? The furtherance of the gospel,
right? Let that gospel fly, Brother
Charlie. Let it fly. My word will not
return unto me void, our King says. Isn't that wonderful? So all of us here have a part
in the work. You know what the most important
thing you can do for me is pray. You know that? That is the most important thing
you can do for me is pray. Not just for me either, pray
for one another. Oh my. It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. So
the life of every believer then is warfare. It's warfare. We're always engaged in a war
with sin, with Satan, and with the world. And we're called the
fight, the good fight of faith. And we do that by just standing
in Christ, don't we? Oh yeah. So it's beautiful. We're
to contend earnestly for the faith, against false brethren
and against those who would pollute the gospel of God's free grace
and salvation in Christ alone. We're to stand for the truth.
We're to stand for the truth, contend earnestly for the faith
once delivered to the saints. We're to stand up for the gospel
of salvation in and through Christ alone and by his perfect work,
with no mixture of man's works. Oh my. The only place that a sinner
can be saved and the only way a sinner can be saved is in and
through the Lord Jesus Christ plus nothing. And we say hallelujah,
don't we? Oh my. So we're to stand fast
in this warfare. Sometime I might do a study on
the armor of God. You know what the armor of God
is? It's Christ. The helmet of salvation, where's
our salvation? Christ. The breastplate of righteousness,
who's our righteousness? Christ. The gospel shed, the
feet shod with the gospel of peace, who's the gospel all about?
Christ. The sword of the spirit. Right? The Word of God. What's that
tell us about? Christ. It's wonderful, beloved. The
belt of truth. Who's the way of the truth and
the life? Christ. Ain't that wonderful? I don't
have to preach it now. I gave you all my points right there,
right? But isn't that just wonderful? Oh, that's wonderful. So God
provided for us our weapons of warfare, which are not carnal,
but spiritual. And they're in Christ. Mighty. They're mighty. Oh my. And who do we soldier on in? The captain of our salvation,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my. And through Christ Jesus
our Lord, we're more than conquerors, beloved. We're more than conquerors. God's preachers and people are
set for the defense of the gospel. And all we do is proclaim the
truth to a lost and dying world, don't we? That's what we do.
Salvation is in Christ alone. By his perfect sin atoning, work
alone, and through his precious blood alone. My, and then it
says, but you're a messenger, and that he ministered to my
wants. They sent Epaphroditus, and he ministered to Paul's wants
by the gift that he bought from the church. And then Paul's gonna
send them back again. Now Paul, he's helpful to Paul,
but Paul says, no, he'd be better for you. See the selflessness? It's more important for you than
for me, he says. My, my, what a savior. God changes people, doesn't he?
Remember, Paul was going around killing Christians. Now he's
sold out for Christ. Now, remember we saw earlier?
He wants to pour his life out. God's amazing, and his grace
is amazing. Isn't it? It's just absolutely
incredible.