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.

2:29   So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men,

In our last post on this wonderful letter between an apostle and his church, we found him giving to the church their apostle back, for Epaphroditus was a sent one from the church to provide funds and service to Paul. Now Paul was sending him back, and in this verse he reiterates the response they are to have and express when they receive him back from the expedition they sent him on.

Rejoice. The predominant response Paul is concerned about in Epaphroditus reception back into the church is that of joy. This is the second time he has mentioned it in regard to Epaphroditus in as many verses. Yes – Rejoice!

Yet Paul adds one more response he is expecting, and that is to honor this servant. He has not simply travelled to Paul, provided the funds from the church and travelled home. He has experienced a sickness, a near death sickness, that most likely was the result of this trip.

This is another picture of the Lord Jesus, who ventured to this condemned world with the intent of experiencing suffering and death, and to return to the Father. Epaphroditus, in his mission to provide for Paul, mirrored Jesus at least in the experience of facing death.

I assume that as he ventured to Paul in Rome, he did not expect to face death. Jesus did.

He knew what was in store for Him prior to his leaving the glories of heaven, and He came anyway. He was not delivered from death, as we find out of Epaphroditus in our next verse, but he entered death, to come out of the grave three days later. Although Epaphroditus provides a picture of the Lord in his experience on earth, it is only a picture, and does not express the depth of experience the Lord travelled through for us.

In all of this, Paul has one more response the Philippians were to express to the returning soldier for Christ, and that is to honor him. They are to hold Epaphroditus, and men like him, in high regard, to prize them as good soldiers of Christ, and to relate to them as precious men of faith. We shall find that the reason for this honor in our next verse, in that Epaphroditus was on the edge of the grave due to his service for Christ.

The point is the church was not to carry any sort of feeling of failure in regard to Epaphroditus, but that they were to honor him. He was a servant who suffered in the midst of his mission, completing his task for the church and impacting the apostles life with his humilty and commitment to Christ.

This is a man who is to be honored by the Philippians. A man who is a reflection of the Lord Himself, and to this day, should be considered a soldier who faithfully served His Master.

May we also be a faithful servant to our King.

---

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com