How to Treat Good (but Imperfect) People

If you're not getting along with another Christian, you can at least acknowledge this. That person is your brother, your sister. In fact, this will help you treat them well. Because if you look at that brother or sister you're not getting along with, think this thought. I have to spend eternity with that person. You mean I'm stuck with you forever?

Yeah, you are. And because of that, it should behoove you to try to get along a little bit better now before you get to eternity. We want you to know about. In 2023, we hope to take these through the Bible teachings to more of the large population cities in our country.

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Give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Okay, we're in Philippians Chapter 2 as we join Skip Heitzig for today's study. Well, in Philippians Chapter 2, we read about a guy named Epaphroditus. Now, that's an unusual name. In fact, Epaphroditus at first sounds like a disease. You know, appendicitis, diverticulitis.

I have a bad case of Epaphroditus, but Epaphroditus was not a disease. He was a dear friend of Paul the Apostle who was also a servant of Paul. We're introduced to him here in Philippians Chapter 2, but he's unknown to most of us, and that's because his name only shows up twice in the Bible, and both of them are found in the book of Philippians. But that brings up what I would consider an important point. Some of God's choicest servants go unnoticed. They serve behind the scenes. They're content to be active, but behind the scenes, their name isn't in lights.

It's not in the bulletin. You've never read their books or heard their music, but they are servants, and they are important nonetheless. And Epaphroditus falls in that category. We would call him a layman. That is, he had no official position in the church. He was not a deacon that we know, or at least he wasn't an elder.

He wasn't a pastor, but he was a friend and a servant to Paul the Apostle. So if you have a worship folder with you, you'll notice that I am calling this message, How to Treat Good but Imperfect People. How to Treat Good but Imperfect People. And what Paul is doing is giving a good example of a greater principle.

The good example is Epaphroditus. The greater principle is the principle of serving, loving, humility. He begins this thought at the beginning of chapter 2. He opens up the chapter by saying, If there is therefore any consolation in Christ, any comfort of His love, any fellowship of the Spirit, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, the same mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each consider others better than himself.

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests but also for the interests of others. That's the first four verses of the chapter. Now that's the principle. After giving the principle of humility, lowliness of mind, he then gives us examples. And the first example is the best example, Jesus Christ. So verse 5 begins, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. After that example, that is in the next several verses, he uses example number 2 of humility, and that is of his own sacrificial service.

He says down in verse 17, If I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and I rejoice. Now the readers who are getting this letter hear that principle being spoken of and read about the two examples that are used, Jesus and Paul, and some might be tempted to say, Well, great, you just gave me two examples I could never be like. Jesus is the Son of God. I know you told me to be Christlike. The problem is actually being Christlike. He's Jesus, I'm not. And even Paul the Apostle, good example, but unattainable. He's that great apostle who has done more for Christianity than probably anybody else.

So they may be thinking as they're getting this letter, Do you have anybody else that I can relate to? And perhaps Paul, knowing that they would think that way, after listing Jesus as an example and himself as an example, he gives two more. Timothy is the first one, we covered him last time, and Epaphroditus is the second. Verse 25 of Philippians 2 begins, Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need, since he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. For indeed he was sick almost unto death, but God had mercy on him, and not only on him, but on me also. Lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore, I sent him the more eagerly, that when you see him again, you may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful. Receive him, therefore, in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem, because for the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me. Now looking at this text, what I want to do with you is show you some principles of getting along with people, treating other people.

You'll find this, I think, helpful in treating people who are your neighbors, your colleagues, other Christians within the church, even members of your own family. Because one thing you know about every family, there's not just one temperament per family. There's one temperament per individual in that family. A few years ago, two counselors, John Trent and Gary Smalley, did some seminars that made its way into a book, where they talked about temperaments within a family, and they creatively linked the family temperament to the temperament of certain animals in the animal kingdom. So, for example, they talked about first the lion temperament. The lion temperament, they say, is the strong-hearted, determined, resilient individual. Decisive, opinionated, and usually loud. That's the lion temperament. Then there's the golden retriever. Caregiving, compassionate, caregiving, compassionate. This one doesn't make any demands. You can unload on the golden retriever.

He'll lie right down there and understand. Next is the otter. The fun-loving, kickback otter. Usually, this is the youngest in the family.

You know the otter. Oh, man, it doesn't make any difference. You know, my older brother, he'll handle it.

Just go and see him. I'm kicking back, baby. This is no big deal. Fourth is the hard-working beaver. Diligent, responsible, organizing. Beavers don't have one briefcase. They have two. And they're not the slim, thin little ones. They're the expandable ones that look like small luggage. They need dollies to carry them. They know exactly where they are going.

But you get a beaver and a lion combination and look out. Now, there are different temperaments within the body of Christ as well as within a family. And the principles you're going to see with me are principles in treating other people, imperfect people, and treating them well. Now, a few words about Epaphroditus. Epaphroditus was a convert of Paul the Apostles. Epaphroditus was a Gentile. That is, he was not a Jewish person. He was from the pagan world of Philippi.

His name gives it away. Epaphroditus, if you were to Google that name, don't even do that now, please. But if you were to Google that name, they probably would say things like charming or lovely or handsome. But that's a stretch from the original meaning because Epaphroditus means beloved of Aphrodite. Anybody know who Aphrodite is or remember the name? Ever heard of Aphrodite? The goddess of love, the Greek goddess of love and fertility. The Roman equivalent was Venus.

So Epaphroditus means somebody who belongs to or who is favored by the pagan goddess Aphrodite. So he had a pagan background and he was saved on one of Paul's missionary journeys in Philippi when he went to that city. Paul is in jail. As you know, he is in two-year prison incarceration in Rome, which means he's under house arrest.

He's changed to a Roman soldier. But people can come and go. So Epaphroditus in Philippi hears about what's happening with Paul and he volunteers to go to Rome and minister to Paul. Now with that in mind, we're going to look at these verses. And I'm going to give these principles in principle form and then we'll probe down into the text. First of all, when it comes to treating good but imperfect people, number one, acknowledge their strengths. Acknowledge their strengths. You will notice in verse 25 that Paul the apostle writes no less than five titles for his friend Epaphroditus.

Five strengths that he lists and it's kind of written like a crescendo, one on top of the other. So look at the first one. Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother. That's who he is, first of all, my brother. Now if you're not getting along with another Christian, you can at least acknowledge this. That person is your brother, your sister.

In fact, this will help you treat them well. Because if you look at that brother or sister you're not getting along with, think this thought. I have to spend eternity with that person.

You mean I'm stuck with you forever? Yeah, you are and because of that it should behoove you to try to get along a little bit better now before you get to eternity. Now this whole brother-sister thing was a new concept in the ancient world. In the ancient world, the Greeks thought they were better than everybody else. The Greeks divided the whole world into two classes, Greek and barbarian. If you're not a Greek, you're a barbarian. The Romans divided the world into Roman citizens and slaves or subjugated peoples. And if you weren't subjugated, you will be soon.

That was their mentality. So they were divided by class, they were divided ethnically by race, and so there were feelings of superiority and into that Greco-Roman culture comes the church, which treats people who are saved at the same level. Doesn't matter what your background is, doesn't matter how much money you make, doesn't matter if you're a king or a pauper, doesn't matter your ethnicity, you are a brother, you are a sister in Christ. And I believe this really is the answer to our polarized society.

Instead of saying, well, there's blacks and Hispanics and whites or Democrats and Republicans. Listen, if you're a Christian, you're my brother, you're my sister. We're in God's family. In fact, you will notice that sometimes you are closer to your spiritual family than even your physical family.

I know I found that to be true. When I first came to know the Lord, I thought my parents would be all excited that I'm born again. They weren't. I thought at least my brothers will think this is really cool.

They didn't. There was an alienation and Jesus even promised a man's enemies will be those from his own household. So God has provided a family for us to grow close to, to walk true life with. Remember the time when Jesus was teaching and his actual brothers and sisters and mom came to see him and Jesus looked around the room and said, who is my brother, my sister, my mother? For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven, the same is my brother, my sister, and my mother. So first thing he says is he, Epaphroditus, is my brother.

Look at the second title that he gives him, fellow worker. Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker. Okay, Epaphroditus went all the way from Rome, excuse me, from Philippi to Rome. That's 800 miles.

In ancient times that was six-week journey. He volunteered for the job. He volunteered to work for Paul the apostle.

Now I want you to turn to chapter four for just a moment and look at the only other verse that has Epaphroditus's name in it because we're trying to construct a profile of what this guy was like. Chapter four of Philippians, verse 14, nevertheless you have done well and that you shared in my distress. Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only, for even in Thessalonica you did send aid once and again from my necessities.

In other words, nobody else financially supported me on this mission except you guys. You've done it again and again. Verse 17, not that I seek the gift but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. Indeed I have all and abound. I am full having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice well pleasing to God.

You get the picture? He went on behalf of the Philippian church with money and supplies to help Paul while he was in that incarceration in Rome and to serve him personally and to serve alongside of him. He put his back to the work.

Epaphroditus wasn't like the guy who said, I like work, it fascinates me, I can watch it for hours. He actually said, Paul I'm here to serve, I'm here to work. Years ago growing up before I had my own wheels I used to hitchhike so you got a picture of a long-haired kid in California trying to find his way different places and I thought, thumbs are cool. You just stick it out and people will give you a ride. One day it dawned on me that we hitchhikers were in effect telling people this, you buy the car, you repair the car, you pay for the insurance, you put gas in it and I'll ride along for free.

That's my job, I get a free ride, you do all the work and if you get in an accident you're on your own and I'll probably sue you. And so what Paul wants the Philippians to know is Epaphroditus came as a worker. He's not a spiritual hitchhiker. He put his arm and his back to the work to serve alongside of him. So he calls him my brother and fellow worker. Third title he gives him, fellow soldier. Now when you hear the term soldier you ought to be thinking of a battle and that's because the Christian life is not a bed of roses. It is indeed a battle and when you're in a battle it's great to have a friend with you.

It's great to have people who will stand next to you especially for Paul because if you know anything about Paul's journeys in the book of Acts you know that wherever Paul went the guy got in trouble. He was opposed wherever he went. He was beaten up several times. He was stoned that he had rocks thrown at him. He wasn't stoned.

We're not in Colorado. We're an ancient world here. And he was thrown in jail quite a bit and I've often made the joke that whenever Paul went to a city his first question is where's the jail? I need to know where I'm going to spend the night tonight because he was always getting in trouble and that's because he preached boldly in the name of Jesus and people didn't like his message. He was intelligent.

He was gracious. He was articulate but he was bold and when he was bold and got himself in trouble it's great to have fellow soldiers who will say Paul I'm in this battle with you. I'll walk through this battle with you.

I'll stand with you. And so when Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 3 he writes endure suffering along with me as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Now there's an obvious point to be made and that is an effective Christian will be a target of the devil. If somebody says well you know I really don't think about the devil much.

He never bothers me. That's not a good sign because the Bible says all who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Paul was right up at the top of that list and Paul was grateful to have Timothy and Epaphroditus standing alongside of him in that battle. If you have somebody in your life who stands with you when things get rough when you're fighting a spiritual battle would you please acknowledge them and thank them.

Thank them for that. One of my favorite scenes in the movie the gladiator is when the Roman soldiers were in battle and they're shooting those fiery arrows out of the enemy and the enemy's shooting the fiery arrows back at the Roman soldiers but the Roman soldiers had a very unique practice of locking their shields together when the arrows are being lobbed at them so they would stand against the arrows and put their shields a little bit aimed at the sky where the arrows were falling lock their shields together so it formed a protective wall and then they would march forward singing songs. The songs were meant to encourage and bolster the courage of the fellow soldiers but they would advance singing locking shields together. That's a good picture of how we ought to fight our battles. There are some people who love to sing battle songs but not get into the battle. Sing the songs but then get into the battle and encourage one another as Epaphroditus did for Paul. Paul acknowledges that.

That's one of his strengths. My brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier. There's a fourth description, a fourth strength of Epaphroditus. Verse 25, but your messenger, your messenger means your ambassador, your delegate. The word apostilon, we get the word apostle from that. Somebody set out on a task.

So, Epaphroditus volunteered to be the guy set out by the Philippians to make a six-week, 800-mile journey to serve Paul, to be their messenger. There's something I'd like you to do. Next time a missionary comes to town and we have our missionaries from the field come back during the year.

They set up a kiosk often in the foyer. Sometimes we'll on a Wednesday night bring them up and pray for them and hear from them. Next time you see a missionary back home, would you mind going up to them and just give them a good word, word of encouragement? Thank them for going to the field on your behalf. You go, on my behalf?

Yes, on your behalf. You're not there. You didn't go.

I didn't go. So, they are sent out by us, from us, and they're out there in very difficult situations and it's always great when somebody acknowledges that they did that. You thank them for that. Wouldn't just hear God's word, but be transformed by it. And you can help make that possible by giving today to keep this program going strong. Here's how you can do that now.

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