Lessons from Timothy - 11

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm happy to be moving back to the epistle of Paul to the Philippians after being away from it for several weeks.

You recall that Paul is under house arrest in Rome. And as he awaits his trial, he writes a number of epistles, we don't know how many altogether, but four that are included by the direction of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament Scriptures. We call these the prison epistles.

They are Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon. We are currently preaching our way through the book of Philippians. A broad statement about Chapter 1 tells us that it was written, among other things, to encourage the Philippian believers to persevere in the faith. There are always temptations to be turned aside to other things. And they, unlike ourselves, were facing serious persecution in their day from those who were enemies of the gospel.

I mean real physical persecution, physical harm, jail time, and other persecutions that would make it easy for someone to say, I think I'll make my life easier. I think I'll stop professing to be a Christian. And so Paul writes to them to encourage them on in the faith. In Chapter 2, Paul gives them and us several examples of faithful Christian service, starting with the perfect example. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. That wonderful passage about the incarnation of Christ that emphasizes his humility, his self-sacrifice, his selflessness on behalf of others.

And that's the perfect example of our service for the Lord. But beyond that, as we move toward the close of Chapter 2 and the portion we are coming to today, Paul gives two more examples, not perfect examples, but two more good examples to follow in the persons of Timothy and Epaphroditus. And in talking about them, Paul also reveals some things about himself. I think there's enough there about Paul that we could say he becomes yet another example of solid Christian commitment and service to the Lord that we can safely follow, though, again, no one can be followed as a perfect example except the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, may we come to Timothy. Paul has some things to say about Timothy, and in connection with what he says about Timothy, he has some things to say about some others. In regard to Timothy, he has some positive things to say.

In regard to others, he has some negative things to say. And we can learn from both of these sides of the coin of truth. We're going to divide this portion into three parts. Number one, Paul's concern for Philippi. Number two, Paul's selection of Timothy. And number three, Paul's personal commitment to the Philippian believers. Number one, Paul's concern for Philippi. It comes through all throughout the epistle, and it comes through very strongly in verses 19 and 20. But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state, for I have no one like-minded who will sincerely care for your state. Paul's concern for Philippi, that is for the church at Philippi. In some respects, we might call it a natural concern. Paul says, again, verse 19, I trust in the Lord to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also, that little word also I'm focusing on for the moment, because what that means is, I as well as you, I also. And what does he say?

I also may be encouraged when I know your state. So it's clear that what he's saying is that the sending of Timothy has a twofold purpose. In fact, as we move to the next verse, we'll see a threefold purpose.

But nevertheless, in that statement, a twofold purpose. Number one, Timothy is going to encourage the Philippians. But his report back to Paul, Paul is confident, is going to encourage him so that I also may be encouraged. And so Paul is expressing a concern, and we might call it a natural concern for these people, because we don't have to read very much in Paul's epistles before we realize this is a regularly stated concern in nearly every epistle. He's concerned for the people in the church at Corinth. He's concerned for the people in the churches of Galatia. He's concerned for the people in the church at Colossae. He's concerned for God's people all over the world. So we're not surprised that he's also concerned for those who are Christians in the city of Philippi. It just seems to be an outflow of Paul's love, of Paul's interest in other people and Paul's concern for the welfare of others, and especially for people that he knew personally as he did these.

For the church at Philippi had been established by the labors of the apostle Paul. And as he's writing to the church, he has particular individuals in mind. We read the general statements, and we don't know these people, but as Paul writes, he's thinking about this one and that one. He's thinking about the Philippian jailer. He's thinking about Lydia, the seller of purple.

He's thinking about the slave girl that was saved by the grace of God. He's thinking about others. These are real individuals that come to his mind. He knows them personally, and therefore he has a very personal concern in their welfare, a natural concern. But of course that spills over into a spiritual concern.

It's hard to divide these completely, one from the other. A spiritual concern that Paul had. We can trace this all the way back to his conversion on the Damascus Road. And along with that conversion, where God changed his heart, and instead of giving him a hatred for the people of God, which he had before, animosity, vehement opposition to the people of God, now suddenly all that has changed, and he has a love for the people of God that he didn't have before, but the same love that God puts in the hearts of all that he saves.

He gives his saved people a love for his other saved people. And so Paul has that as a result of his conversion on the Damascus Road. But beyond that, on the Damascus Road, he was also given his apostolic commission. I'm calling you, Paul, to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. A strange commission at that point in history when all the other apostles had been trained by Christ when he was upon the earth, and now Christ is back in heaven, it wouldn't seem possible to call another man an apostle of Christ and appoint him to that task. And indeed, that's exactly what Jesus does, speaking to him personally from heaven, showing himself in his glorified, risen physical body from heaven, showing that to the apostle Paul so that he too becomes a witness of the resurrection of Christ. And then training Paul personally over the next three years, the details of which we know very little, but there are just little mentions of this here and there that make it clear that Paul was trained by Christ.

He didn't get his doctrine from any man, not even the other apostles. He was trained by Christ. And this apostolic commission sent him forth with a burden for others and especially for those throughout the Gentile world because his apostolic commission was especially to be the apostle of the Gentiles. Peter's apostleship, which also had some ministry to Gentiles along the way, you can read about it in the book of Acts, but Peter's commission was primarily as an apostle to Jews, particularly of course those who came to faith in Christ, whereas Paul's was to Gentiles.

And so Philippi is what? A Gentile church in northern Greece. And so we see a spiritual concern that grows out of his conversion, the work of the Holy Spirit in his heart that grows out of his apostolic commission, that grows out of his special assignment to Gentiles, all of that involved here. And furthermore, Paul has a spiritual concern as a spiritual father, a special concern because of the relationship which Paul was given to these people in Philippi. Notice what he says to the Corinthian church, a similar relationship when he says in 1 Corinthians 3, 10, According to the grace of God, which has given to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another builds on it. And when you couple that with what he says in chapter 4 of 1 Corinthians in verse 15, For though you might have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. What does Paul say?

I have this special relationship with you as a wise master builder, we would say a church planter, who laid the foundation for the church. Others have contributed, others have added to the foundation, others have preached the gospel, others in Corinth have come to Christ through the ministry of other men besides Paul, but though there are many others who have contributed to this work and all share in the fruit of that labor, all share in the rewards that Christ will give to those who are faithful in that day, nevertheless I have a special relationship to you as the master builder, as your spiritual father who has begotten you, speaking really of the birthing of the church more than the individuals in the church. I have birthed this church into existence, I am the master builder who laid the foundation, I am the church planter, and therefore, these are wonderful facts and worthy of commendation, but what Paul is saying is this gives me special responsibility, I have a special burden for you, I have a special concern for you, I have a special responsibility for you that goes beyond what other people have. Paul's spiritual concern. But moving from Paul's concern for Philippi, we move secondly to Paul's selection of Timothy. Because of his concern for Philippi, he is very eager to send a messenger to them because he himself can't go at this time, he's under house arrest, but he sees a need for someone to come to them and so he selects Timothy for that job. And Paul's selection of Timothy is announced in verse 19, we read it a moment ago, he says, but I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state. Paul's choice for this important assignment is a man named Timothy. That choice, of course, as always, subject to God's will, I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy, I trust as the Lord Jesus allows, as the Lord Jesus approves, as the Lord Jesus sanctions my plans and what I believe are God-given desires, but I won't know until the Lord Jesus brings them to pass. And so it's another way of saying, if the Lord wills, I will send Timothy to you.

Paul's selection of Timothy is announced. But then we see, secondly, Paul's selection of Timothy explained in verse 20, why Timothy as opposed to someone else. For he says, verse 20, I have no one like-minded who will sincerely care for your state. I have pondered on that verse a lot over the last several weeks. The last time I preached from this text in Philippians goes back to the second Sunday in May, so here we are in the first Sunday of June and looking ahead from that last preaching assignment, I've been thinking about this passage all of that time and studying it off and on all of that time, even during my wonderful vacation away, and that those words in verse 20 are haunting words. They are perhaps in some ways some of the most sober words in all the New Testament. I'm sending Timothy, why?

Because there's nobody else who qualifies. There's nobody else who's like-minded, and when you couple that with the further explanation of verse 21, for all seek their own and not the things which are of Christ Jesus, your heart just tends to go thud. What's Paul saying? Well, he explains Timothy's selection, first of all, in positive terms in verse 20. He selects Timothy because he is like-minded to Paul. He is, my translation says like-minded, a more literal translation would be like-sold, S-O-U-L-E-D. He is like-sold of equal soul to mine, but that word soul is properly translated mind in many places, and I think this is one of those places where that is the most appropriate translation. In other words, Timothy thinks like I think. Timothy's burden is like my burden. Timothy's spiritual concerns are like my spiritual concerns. He is like-minded to me. I can't come, so I will send you the best that's available. I will send you someone else who is as close to me as possible, whose thoughts, whose motives, whose ministry is as much like mine as it's possible for another individual to be.

I'm selecting Timothy. He will sincerely care for your state, sincerely, without hypocrisy, without ulterior motives. He's going to minister to you simply out of love for Christ and concern for your well-being. That's the way he will come to you. That's why I'm sending Timothy.

That's the explanation. But when we come to verse 21, we see Paul's great disappointment declared. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. Paul's disappointment involves a scarcity of qualified men to send.

He's sending Timothy because he's highly qualified, but he's also sending Timothy because at the moment there's nobody else who is qualified. That's what's sad. I all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. That's a broad general statement. All seek their own.

Everybody seeks their own. But like so many of these all statements in the Bible, it needs to be qualified by the context. Keep that in mind. That applies to other areas of doctrine, which I won't go into now.

But keep that in mind. Here's another example of it. All seek their own. Are you talking about every individual in the world without exception? Well, no. All seek their own. Are you talking about all Christians in the world without exception? Well, no. That just doesn't work in the context. All seek their own.

What are you talking about? All the men who are in Rome, who are involved in ministry, who might possibly be considered for this assignment, all of them are not really qualified because they seek their own interests above Christ. Timothy's the only one whose mind is like mine. Timothy's the only one who is without any hypocrisy, without any selfish interest, without any self-serving motives. Timothy's the only one that I can send because everybody else that I could possibly send doesn't meet that qualification.

No one among those who are available to Paul at Rome at this time. That narrows this broad general statement that starts out as a big all. It narrows it down to probably just a handful. We don't know how many. But in that handful, as Paul looks over the people who could potentially be sent on this assignment, he says, nope, not that one, nope, not him, nope, not him, nope, not him, nope, not him. Timothy's the only one. Now this tells me that some of those that traveled with Paul on his missionary team must have been away on other assignments. Titus must not have been with Paul at this time because we know that Paul considered him trustworthy. Luke must not have been with Paul at this time because we know that Paul considered him trustworthy. We don't know who these men are because Paul doesn't name them.

I suspect maybe Demas was one of these. He does name him later as he actually defects completely from the path of following Christ. But at this time, these are men who are following Christ. They believe in Christ.

They're following Christ. They're involved in gospel ministry in some fashion in the city of Rome, but Paul can't entrust them on this very significant assignment because he can't trust them if they're sent to Philippi to care for the spiritual state, to care for your state the way Paul would and the way that Timothy will. In other words, these are men who we would assume are saved. We can't see their hearts. And these are men who are involved in ministry, and we can see that that's true, and are therefore able in the grace of God to carry out some useful work in the cause of Christ, in the church at Rome, in the gospel work that's going on there.

They can do some of those things, but there are some tasks that they're not qualified for because they're not totally committed to the Lord. And Paul will not send any self-serving men to Philippi if he knows it. He can't see every heart. He doesn't know every person. But as indications of what he's describing here reveal themselves in the words and actions of some of these men who are involved in ministry, Paul says, oh, what a disappointment that man shows that when push comes to shove, he's going to put his own interests ahead of Christ and others.

And that's disappointing, and I can't send somebody like that to Philippi. But Timothy is qualified, and his selection is confirmed in verse 22. But you know his, that is, Timothy's proven character, that as a son with his father, he served with me in the gospel. Timothy's selection is confirmed.

Timothy was observed by the members of the Philippian church. You know this. I'm not just simply telling it to you and saying, believe me. You know it. You observed him. He was there.

He worked with me in Philippi. You know that what I'm saying is true. You have personally attested to it yourself. He was observed by you. He was tested in ministry. He is a proven character, which comes from a Greek word which means to put to the test. He's been put to the test and found that he is qualified.

He met the test. He is an extension of Paul. He's like a son to me. It's almost like a father-son relationship between Paul and Timothy, which means in the case of Timothy that, number one, he had an assisting role. Paul was the father. He was the son. These are not two sons laboring side by side in an exactly equal basis, but it's a father-son relationship, an assisting role, but a strong bond, a father-son in the best sense of that relationship.

Not all father-son relationships are good, wonderful, wholesome, strong relationships, but when they are, it's a wonderful thing, and that's what Paul is describing here. How many times I've observed a man who has worked hard to establish a business, and then he gets to the place where he's too old, and he needs to turn it over to somebody else, and in many cases, the one he wants to turn it over to is to one or more of his sons. Sometimes that turns out to be good.

Sometimes that turns out to be bad, as we have all observed. But if the son really is like-minded with the father, that's a good thing. Another generation will carry on that business in the same spirit, the same commitment, the same quality work, the same commitment to customers and to integrity that his father had. When a son has a mind like his father and has been trained by his father and has worked with his father, that's probably the very best selection you can make for someone to carry on that business, and it's a similar thing that Paul is describing here with Timothy. There's a strong bond between us.

There's a common goal that we share. And though Timothy has an assisting role as a son to a father, it is nevertheless a significant role. Paul doesn't say, he served me in the Gospel, though there's a sense in which that's true. But if you look at the words carefully, you'll see he says, he served with me.

There's a partnership here. And so Timothy's selection is confirmed. And then in verse 23, interestingly, and this might seem like unimportant details, but they seemed important to me, Timothy's schedule is clarified in verse 23. Therefore, Paul says, I hope to send him at once. And back in verse 19, he says, I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly. I'm sending Timothy to you shortly.

I'm sending Timothy to you at once, translated in some Bibles immediately. What does that mean? Well, it means immediately after something else happens first. Again, context.

Context is king. Verse 23, therefore, I hope to send him at once as soon as I see how it goes with me. This clarifies and explains the word shortly, the word at once, the word immediately. Immediately after Paul's legal verdict is announced. After the trial has been concluded, Paul clearly expects to be acquitted. He knows he's not guilty, and he believes he's going to be acquitted. But he also knows it's possible he could be pronounced guilty. And if he is pronounced guilty, then the likely outcome of that will be his execution.

It will not be a just verdict, but it is a possible verdict, as we know. Trials don't always render the right verdict. Juries don't always get it right. Judges don't always get it right, sometimes because of their own corruption, sometimes just because they're not God. They don't know all the facts. They can't see hearts.

They don't know. They can only deal with the evidence that they have, and sometimes it's incomplete. So Paul isn't sure how the verdict will go, but he's pretty sure how it will go. He thinks he's going to be acquitted, but he's going to hold Timothy there until after the trial.

But as soon as that not guilty verdict comes down, Timothy's going to be immediately dispatched to Philippi. That's what shortly means in this case. Now, I only mention that, well, for two things, but it's important, I think, to notice these small details. But there are other places in the Bible where immediacy may not mean what would appear to be immediacy to us. And context will help. And in some cases, we have a hard time telling from the context. We see things in the Bible about the second coming of Christ being shortly to take place, quickly to come, immediately to come, and 2,000 years have gone by. What are we to make of that?

Something similar to this. Timothy's going to come quickly. He's going to come immediately, but not immediately immediately. He's going to come immediately after the acquittal. And we don't even know at this point, Paul doesn't know when the trial's going to take place. It could be weeks, it could be months. How long is it going to be before Timothy can be sent? We don't know, but when the time comes, he's out of here.

I'm sending him to you immediately. Well, let's see, what have we looked at? So far, Paul's concern for Philippi. Number two, Paul's selection of Timothy. Number three, Paul's personal commitment, verse 24. But I trust in the Lord that I myself shall also come shortly.

There it is again, shortly. Paul stated intentions. Paul plans to visit Philippi personally, and he will come shortly, just like Timothy will come shortly. But Timothy, who's not coming immediately immediately, he's coming pretty immediately, pretty shortly, is going to come more quickly than Paul's going to come. Paul's going to come shortly, but not until after Timothy has come, and probably even returned to Paul to give a report. But Paul will visit Philippi personally, and he will come as soon as possible.

That's really what shortly has to mean in this context. He will come as soon as possible, as soon as circumstances allow. Now, he can't come. He's under arrest. He can't travel.

When the verdict comes down, he will be free to travel, but evidently there are some things that he'll need to attend to that perhaps he couldn't attend to while he was under arrest, but they've got to be addressed before he's free to travel. We don't know what they are, but there's indication of such things here. But as soon as it's humanly possible, I'm going to come. That's Paul's intentions. But with that, we also see something of Paul's powerful indications, and what does he indicate? Well, by sending Timothy, he's making some statements. First of all, it's clear from his own statement of planned visit to Philippi in verse 24 that Timothy is not to be considered a replacement for Paul. Paul isn't saying, it's difficult for me to come right now, so I'm sending Timothy and you'll have to be satisfied with him.

That's the best that you can hope for. No, Timothy's not a replacement for Paul. He is the one who is suitable and most readily available for this assignment. And he's sent out of Paul's deep concern for them, and he can get there more quickly than Paul can. And he is coming because of Paul's willing sacrifice.

Clearly, Timothy was Paul's most valued partnership in gospel ministry. And if there's anybody that Paul would have wanted to be at his side as he finishes up all of these details following the trial, it would have been Timothy, but he's willing to make the sacrifice of sending Timothy to them for the greater good of their spiritual welfare. But Paul is personally committed to them too, and they need to know that.

This is his indication. He will come personally as soon as he can, and his personal visit will add to the message of sending Timothy to them at some sacrifice, of how valuable Paul considers them to be, that he's willing to do that. And his personal visit, when that happens, will even doubly certify the value that Paul puts upon the Philippian believers. This is a powerful message, a powerful indication of Paul's love and concern for them. But Paul is submitted to God in all of these things, as he was in an earlier statement. But here in verse 19, he said, I trust in the Lord to send Timothy to you. Here in verse 24, he says, I trust in the Lord that I myself shall also come shortly. In other words, if God wills, acquittal is expected, but execution is always a remote possibility.

The outcome is in God's hands, not mine. I'm not depending upon famous Roman justice, which was probably the best justice that the world had seen in a long time. Nor is he depending upon his own superior ability. Paul was very intelligent. He was shrewd. He could defend himself very wisely.

Paul was a good speaker, maybe not a great overflowing public orator, but he knew how to talk, particularly in small groups and one to one, and he was very persuasive. He had these gifts and abilities, but that's not what he's depending on to get him through this trial safely. What is he depending upon? God. It's in God's hands. The outcome is ultimately dependent upon God. God may use Roman justice. Paul is trusting he shall. God may use Paul's God-given abilities.

No doubt he will. But the outcome is in God's hands, and whatever it is, acquittal or execution, Paul is fully submitted to God's will, whatever that may be. And that's the key, isn't it? It's easy to say, I'm submitted to your will, God, if it pleases me. But that's not real submission, is it? I submit to the will of God when it's the same as my will. Well, that's not, there's no surrender involved in that, no submission involved in that. Are you surrendered to the will of God when it's not what you prefer? Are you surrendered to the will of God when you don't even know what it is, and you give him a blank check and say, before I even know, the issue's settled, whatever it is, I'm content. Not my will, but thine be done.

I surrender to thy will. That's what Paul is demonstrating here. What makes Timothy an effective servant of Christ? And in this passage, two things primarily. Number one, an unselfish devotion to Christ in others. Not my interests first, but Christ's interests first. And the welfare of others first, like Christ taught us. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these other things shall be added unto you. Why do we have so much trouble believing that? Why do we believe, I've got to take care of this, I've got to make this happen, I've got to take care of this matter, I can't trust God for that. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

And all these other things of life, whatever is needed, God promises to supply. Put him first. He promises to put him first.

Demonstrate your trust in him. And that's number one, what made Timothy a good servant of Christ. He had unselfish devotion to Christ in others.

And number two, a willingness to serve in a secondary position. How long was Timothy going to be an assistant instead of the main leader? Until God took Paul off the scene.

When would that be? Only God knows. How long was Timothy willing to do that? Until God deemed otherwise. Until God said, I'm taking Paul. Now Timothy, you've got to bear greater responsibility. That's the attitude. That's what made Timothy effective.

Now, in a few closing moments, let me try to make some specific applications of all of this. First of all, in regard to gospel ministers, oh boy. This text makes it clear that some gospel ministers are self-serving. In fact, in this particular context, nearly all of them were. The majority were. I don't know that I'd want to go so far as to say that's always the case. I don't know. Only God knows. But it's clear that some are, and it's not just one or two. Some are.

We've got to be aware of that. In fact, Paul had dealt with something similar in this epistle already, and I think these two things are probably linked. Back in chapter one, remember? When Paul talked about preachers of the gospel in verses 15 through 18, some indeed preached Christ even from envy and strife and some also from goodwill. The former preached Christ from selfish ambition.

That sounds like what he's talking about in chapter two, doesn't it? Not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains, but the latter, out of love, knowing that I am pointed for the defense of the gospel. And then this surprising statement, what then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense, we could say in hypocrisy, in self-interest, or in truth, Christ is preached. Or we might say, if Christ is truly preached, if the doctrine is not altered, if heresy is not proclaimed, but if Christ is truly preached, then in this I rejoice.

Yes, I will rejoice, even knowing that some of these men are not doing it out of pure motives. In this passage in chapter one, the issue seems to be that some of these preachers in Rome resented Paul's superior position. They had a certain measure of honor in Rome until Paul came.

The apostle hadn't been there before. And Paul shows up, and suddenly a lot of people are more enamored with Paul, more attracted to Paul, more interested in what Paul has to say, more interested in hearing Paul preach than in hearing them preach, and some of them didn't like that. And so their attitude seems to be, I'm going to preach all the harder to build up a following so that I get honor like Paul has. I'm going to outdo Paul. I'm going to work so hard that more people are listening to me than are listening to the apostle Paul. And Paul says, if Christ is truly being preached, I'm going to rejoice in that, even though God, who knows the heart, is not going to reward you for that.

But you see, God draws straight lines with crooked sticks. You say, really? Yes. How often? Always.

The issue is not when. The issue is how crooked is the stick? Sometimes maybe a little crooked, sometimes greatly crooked. But if God uses any human being, and He uses us all, He's always using crooked sticks, isn't He? And yet He always gets His work done perfectly, infallibly. In the final analysis, it's going to be faultless.

It's going to be beautiful beyond imagination. And He did it primarily with fallen sons and daughters of Adam, redeemed in most cases, though sometimes He even uses unredeemed people for these things. But God draws straight lines with crooked sticks. God gets His work done even when ministers of the gospel aren't what they ought to be.

But oh, how grievous it is when they're not what they ought to be. But it was Timothy's ungrudging acceptance of second place that made him valuable. Others in chapter 1 didn't seem to be willing to take second place to the apostle Paul. But Timothy had no problem with that.

That made him valuable. Remember what Jesus said in Luke chapter 16? He said, He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much, and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, material things, who will commit to your trust the true riches, and in addition to this, if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own? If you can't serve faithfully under the authority and auspices of somebody else, if you can't be an assistant, then you'll never be a good leader. Not all faithful assistants become leaders in the design of God. Not all of them even turn out to be great leaders because they don't always necessarily have the gifts. But one thing is for sure, anyone who is not a faithful assistant will never be a faithful leader.

Mark it down. That's what the Bible is telling us. If you want to be an effective servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, find the lowly place.

Isn't that what Christ taught us? Find the lowly place. Become the servant. Wash people's feet. Take the lowest position and let Christ promote you and advance you and elevate you as it pleases him.

And when it happens, don't let that captivate your heart either. Always a slave, a servant, that makes you effective. But isn't it interesting that though Paul knows this about these men, somehow they'd said enough, somehow they'd done enough that he was able to recognize this problem even though he couldn't see their hearts. But though he knows this about these men, that they're putting their own interests ahead of Christ, they appear to be serving Christ. They're involved in ministry.

They appear to be servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. But Paul knows that really their heart's motive is their own interest above Christ. But even though that's true, Paul does not fire them. Paul doesn't dismiss them.

He had the authority to do that. Paul doesn't even publicly denounce them. He doesn't name any names here.

We don't know who he's talking about. Now there are some offenses that rise to that level. Alexander the coppersmith hath done me much wrong. May the Lord reward him according to his deeds. That's coming down pretty hard.

Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. That's identifying someone who was a serious defector. But in this area where people are, from all measurable evidences, are serving the Lord, they're not doing it with unsound doctrine. They're not stealing along the way. They're not doing anything that's obviously of a disciplinary nature. The best thing to do, according to the example of Paul, is leave them alone.

Kind of like the tears among the wheat. Leave them alone. Let God deal with it.

If he wants to root them out, he'll bring something serious to pass so that they become an Alexander the coppersmith that has to be denounced. And if not, leave them alone. Leave them alone.

Leave them alone. God will use them. He'll draw straight lines with crooked sticks, and at the judgment seat of Christ, he'll sort it all out.

And I think I'll call that my last application. I'm reminded of the words of a familiar song. Search me, O God, and know my heart today. Try me, O Savior, and know my thoughts, I pray. See if there be some wicked way in me.

Cleanse me from every sin and set me free. You see, and I didn't have time to develop this, but it isn't just ministers that serve the Lord out of self-interest. It's whatever you want to call them, regular Christians, lay people, just as much, maybe more so. We better be examining our own hearts. We better be repenting of our sins. We better be asking God to show us our selfish desires. We better be committing them to the Lord and recommitting ourselves to the Lord, rededicating ourselves to the cause of Christ, surrendering again and again to his interest first, to seeking first the kingdom of God. All the way, all the way home until we get safely home to heaven, shall we pray. Father, help us. Oh, help us not to slide into selfishness, into self-interest instead of serving you with a whole heart. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.