For this series in Philippians, I am going to limit each post to one verse, and hopefully produce a short, succinct read for my friends who follow.

The letter takes a turn for us transitioning from the humility of Christ and his apostle, to describing two additional followers of Christ that impact the lives of the Philippians.

Timothy and Epaphroditus are two men who will minister to the Philippians. Timothy, Paul’s very own disciple would be offered to the Philippians in service to their needs, and Epaphroditus would return to them, after having travelled to the apostle in order to provide a gift to him from his beloved church. But let us not get head of ourselves, for we are set to get a glimpse of how Paul considered his young Timothy in this letter to his friends. Our first verse in this description starts with hope, and of course includes cheer, a close relative to the ever present joy we find in the book.

2:19   I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you.

Since we will be spending a few verses looking at Timothy, a quick reminder of the caliber of man this young believer was may be in order.

Paul described this young man as a fellow co-worker, his beloved and faithful child, his brother, a servant of Christ Jesus, and his true child in the faith. I can not think of another character that Paul refers to as much as Timothy in his writings. This short portion we enter into may be Paul’s deepest expression and estimation of Timothy’s value to him in his ministry.

How did Paul express his trust in this young man? He often sent Timothy ahead, to churches that he couldn’t get to, or that caused him immediate concerns. Paul placed tremendous faith in Timothy’s ability to represent him, even in the midst of a very troubled and rebellious church as the Corinthians.

Consider that many scholars think of Timothy meeting Paul around 50 AD, during his second missionary trip, and that Timothy was 16 when he first met Paul. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians in 54 AD, which would make Timothy a young man of 20, having been under Pauls influence for roughly 4 years. Imagine sending a relatively young convert into the moral confusion of the Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 4:17

That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.

Timothy also was sent to a very young church, experiencing some troubling teaching, in order to establish the Thessalonians, to encourage them in the faith and to relieve the apostle of his concerns over the fledgling church

1 Thessalonians 3:1,2,6

Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone,
and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith,
But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you–

Timothy was a man that voluntarily entered into circumcision to be an example of self sacrifice for the sake of others.

Acts 16:3

Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

I met a man once who experienced this “pain” later in life, and he informed me that it caused him great discomfort. Very great discomfort!

We have seen that Timothy was a man of character, willing to enter into difficult situations, endure pain for the sake of ministry, and to represent Paul faithfully in his ministry to churches he had planted. Philippians 2:19 speaks of Paul sending Timothy to the Philippians to be encouraged. For his own encouragement.

But notice that Paul assumes that this church is moving forward in thier faith, that they will naturally be an encouragement to Paul, not only in thier support of him, as he has recieved a gift from them by Epaphroditus visit, but that thier general condition will be encouraging to him.

And to send Timothy to the Philippians, at least in part for his own encouragement, speaks of the apostles humanity, of his admission of weakness in his ministry. “Strong” leaders would not admit to the need for encourement, for that may show weakness. This is not Paul’s stance, for he freely admits his weakness through many of his letters.

He admits his weakness, his need of encouragement in front of those he is leading. Such a strange, upside down way of looking at leadership. Maybe I have witnessed too much of another kind of leadership in the church. Yes – maybe that is the problem.

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