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["In the Hall of the Mountain King"] ["In the Hall of the Mountain King"] ["In the Hall of the Mountain King"] ["In the Hall of the Mountain King"] ["In the Hall of the Mountain King"] Amen. Good singing. We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time. Let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Holy Father and Lord, we do come to you this morning asking that you bless the offering. Lord, we pray that you bless the gift and the giver. We pray that you meet with us as we open up your word as we study the Bible together. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Turn your Bibles to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. If you do not have a Bible, raise your hand or an usher will bring you one. Philippians chapter 2. We will read the entire chapter as our custom. Philippians chapter 2. Just keep your hands up. An usher will bring you a Bible. Philippians chapter 2, the Bible reads, If there be, therefore, any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 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, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. Yea, and if I be offered upon sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me. But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. For I have no man like-minded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the Father, he hath served with me in the gospel. Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly. Yet I suppose it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labor, and fellow soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants. For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick, nigh unto death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore, the more carefully, that when ye see him again, he may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such in reputation, because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me. Let's pray. Let's pray. Father God, thank you for this day and for allowing us to gather together. Please bless Pastor in the message. Let it bring glory to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen. Amen. All right, we're there in Philippians chapter number 2. Philippians chapter number 2. And of course, on Sunday mornings we've been going through a series entitled Rejoice, and it is a verse-by-verse study through the book of Philippians. Philippians, a little echoey, if you can help me with that. Philippians chapter 2. I hope you don't mind. I might be talking to the guys about the mic. We're trying to get all the mics dialed in, and I appreciate their help. Unfortunately, the best time to get the mics dialed in is while I'm preaching, because it's hard to reenact a room with 200 people in it and preaching and all that when we're not here. So hopefully you can excuse us with that. Philippians chapter 2. And we've been going through this book and really dissecting phrase upon phrase, verse upon verse, and we find ourselves in verse number 19 where we left off last week. And if you remember, as we've been studying through the book of Philippians, I've been telling you that it's a book about joy. All throughout the book, the apostle Paul references the word joy and rejoice. Rejoice is found all throughout this book, and it's a book about Jesus. It's a book about the joy that can be found in Jesus. And in the passage that is set before us, we're going to finish up chapter 2 this morning. In this passage of Scripture, the apostle Paul talks to us about two guys, but not just two guys, two followers, or what we might call two subordinates, two individuals that are under his authority and under his control. I want you to notice there in verse 19, he says, But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send to Mothius shortly unto you. And I want you to notice the context as he ends the second chapter is about the fact that he's going to send these guys. He talks about the fact that he says there in verse 19, I trust in the Lord Jesus to send to Mothius shortly unto you that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state. For I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state, but all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ. But ye know the proof of him that as a son with the Father, he hath served with me in the gospel. Notice verse 23, Him, the word him there is referring to Timotheus or Timothy, him therefore I hope to send presently as soon as I shall see how it will go with me. And I want you to notice that he refers to Timothy here, and he talks about the fact that he hopes to send Timothy to Philippi. He tells us in verse 19 that I trust in the Lord to send to Mothius, and in verse 23 he says, him therefore I hope to send presently. So the apostle Paul is hoping that he can send Timothy to Philippi, verse 24, but I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly. Then in verse 25 we learn about the second follower, the second servant, the second subordinate of the apostle Paul. Here in verse 25 he says, yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus. Now Epaphroditus is a name that is maybe not as well known, in fact it's only found in our Bible two times, and both are in the book of Philippians. Later on in the book of Philippians, the apostle Paul acknowledges the fact that Epaphroditus brought from the church at Philippi to Rome a present, a love offering for the apostle Paul, and here now the apostle Paul is referring to the fact that he wants to send Epaphroditus back. Now I want you to notice, to compare and contrast these two individuals, Timothy and Epaphroditus. In verse 23 Paul says, him therefore I hope to send presently. He said, I want to send Timothy to you, I hope to send Timothy to you. In verse 25 he says, yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus. One he hopes to send, the other he needs to send. One he wants to send, the other one he finds it necessary to send to you. And what we have before us in this passage is two illustrations of two followers, two workers, two servants, two subordinates to the apostle Paul. The word subordinate means a person under the authority or the control of another. And what we see in Timothy is we see an example of how to be a great follower, and what we see in Epaphroditus is how to treat your followers. One highlights for us the follower and his responsibilities and his actions and attitudes towards the leader. The other one highlights for us the leader's attitude and his actions and his thoughts towards the follower. So I'd like to begin this morning by looking at this idea of Timothy or Timotheus. And if you're taking notes, and I would encourage you to jot down some things, of course on the back of the course of the week there's a place for you to write some things down. I'd like you to notice, let's talk about, first of all, how to be a great follower. How to be a great follower. It got a little echoey again. It was good just a second ago, and it got a little echoey. Thank you very much. How to be a great follower. There's some lessons that we learned from Timothy here, and when it comes to being a follower I want to just encourage you that this is something that we can all apply to our lives. In different areas of lives we all find ourselves sometimes as leaders and sometimes as followers. If you are a kid here this morning, maybe you're a son or you're a daughter, this is a good sermon for you. You should write these things down because you are a subordinate to your parents. You are to be a follower of your parents. Maybe you're a wife here this morning, and this is a good message for you and some things to jot down. Why? Because the Bible says that you are to be subject unto your husband. Your husband is to be the spiritual leader of the home, and you are to be his subordinate and follow him and be submissive towards him. Maybe you're here this morning and you're an employee, and you go to work somewhere, and you've got a boss or a supervisor or a manager or a CEO or someone, a business owner, someone you answer to. Well, this is a good sermon for you because you are a subordinate in that area. You are accountable under the authority of somebody. And what the apostle Paul gives us here, he gives us four thoughts, and really they come down to four words, four words that should describe you if you are to be a great follower, if you're going to be a great employee. These are four words that should describe you. If you're going to be a great wife, these are four words that should describe you. If you're going to be a great church member. In church, you are a follower, right? The apostle Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. And in church, you are to follow and place yourself under the authority of the pastor. And of course, we're not talking about lording over God's heritage, but spiritually the Bible says that the pastor is to rule within the church. And within the ministry of the church, you're supposed to follow the lead of the pastor. So these are lessons to be a good church member. And of course, if you're a worker, if you're an employee, and I hope every young man will take notes this morning to these words. And obviously, we can all use these in all of our lives. But every man that goes to work and every young man that's learning how to be a good worker, these are four words that ought to describe you and characterize you when we talk about this idea how to be a great follower. Remember, this was the one that Paul hoped to send. You say, what does it mean to be a great follower? I want you to write down four words and I'll give them to you and we'll walk through this passage. The first word is the word confidence. Confidence. If you are going to be a great follower, a great subordinate, a great employee, a great child, a son, a daughter, a wife, a worker, a church member, the first word that ought to describe you and one word that the apostle Paul might use to describe Timothy is confidence. You should be someone in whom you can have or your authority or your leader should have confidence in. Notice verse 19. Notice what the apostle Paul says. He says, but I trust. You see that word trust there? The word trust means confidence. It means that I am confident, Timothy would say. I am confident in Timothy's ability, he says, but I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you. Now, what you'll notice is as you study the life of Timothy and one day we may do a whole series on the life of Timothy. And of course, we'll go through the books of first and second Timothy. But as you study the life of Timothy, you'll notice that Timothy was the apostle Paul's right hand man in many ways. In fact, Timothy was the guy that the apostle Paul could trust with certain tasks and certain missions. Notice here in Philippians 2 19 he says, I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus. Here we're being told because the letter that Paul's writing is going to go to the church at Philippi. And Paul says, I trust Timothy to send that letter. I trust Timothy to go to you and take care of that. You're there in Philippians chapter 2. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 4. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 if you would. You go backwards, you've got the book of Philippians, Ephesians, Galatians, 2 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter number 4. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and look at verse 17. 1 Corinthians 4 17. This is a theme with Timothy. In Philippians we see, but I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 17. Notice what the Bible says, for this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus. Notice here in the letter of 1 Corinthians, a letter written to the church at Corinth. The apostle Paul tells us that for this cause, the things he's talking about, he says, have I sent unto you Timotheus. So we see that Paul sent Timothy to the church at Philippi. But then we see that Paul also sent Timothy to the church at Corinth. He says, for this cause I send unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my way which be in Christ as I teach everywhere in every church. Do me a favor, put your finger or a bulletin or something there in 1 Corinthians 4. We're going to come right back to it and go with me to the book of 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. You're there in 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians chapter number 3. 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. It's a little echoey if you could help me with that. 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. Look at verse 1. 1 Thessalonians 3, 1. Wherefore, when we could no longer forbear, 1 Thessalonians 3, 1, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone. Here the Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Thessalonica and he's explaining to them what he's done. He thought it was good to be left at Athens alone, verse 2. Notice, And sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith. I want you to notice that the Apostle Paul says to the church at Philippi, he says, I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus. Then he says to the Corinthian church, for this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus. Then he says to the church in Thessalonica, and sent Timotheus our brother and minister unto you. He said, what can we gather from this? Here's what we can gather. Paul trusted that he could send Timothy to take care of certain things and certain tasks. He trusted whenever something needed to be done, when Paul couldn't go but he needed something to be taken care of, Timothy was his right hand man. He said, I'll send him to Philippi, he'll take care of it. I'll send him to Corinth, he'll take care of it. I'll send him to Thessalonica, he'll take care of it. See, Paul could send Timothy, why? Because Timothy was a man of confidence. Timothy was someone that could be relied upon, someone that could be trusted, someone that Paul could put his confidence in. And if you're going to be a great follower, if you're going to be a great subordinate, if you're going to be a great employee, you ought to decide that this is the word that should characterize you, confidence. That your leaders and those that have authority over you can put their confidence. See, Paul could send Timothy, why? Because Paul could trust Timothy. You're there in 1 Thessalonians 3, go to 1 Timothy chapter 6. You've got 1 and 2 Thessalonians, then you've got 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 20, notice what the apostle Paul says about Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 20, he says, O Timothy, notice what he says to Timothy. This is now a letter that, not that Paul is sending Timothy to send to another church, this is a letter Paul is writing to Timothy, this young man of confidence. He says in 1 Timothy 6.20, O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust. Notice how the apostle Paul trusted Timothy. He had confidence in Timothy. Look, you ought to decide that you're going to be a young man. You say, pastor, I'd like to be used at Verity Baptist Church and I'd like to be used in the ministry. And if you'd like to be used, we'd like to use you in certain ministries and certain areas. But here's one thing you need to understand. If we're going to use you around here, we've got to be able to trust you. We've got to be able to have some confidence in you. Your pastor ought to be able to send you somewhere and not be worried the entire time of what you're going to do. The apostle Paul said, I could send Timothy to Philippi. I could send Timothy to Corinth. I could send Timothy to Thessalonica. I could send Timothy to take care of things. Why? Because he was a man of confidence. Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 4, if you would. 1 Corinthians chapter 4. Continue to keep your place there in 1 Corinthians 4 because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it. But I want you to notice verse 2. 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 2. Notice what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4, too. He says, Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. How do you establish confidence? You be faithful. To be a great follower, you should be someone that the leader can trust. Someone that they have confidence in and that the fact that they're going to do what they're supposed to do. Someone that they don't have to be supervising and checking in on and checking up on all the time. And again, this is not just in reference to employees. This is in all relationships. You say, you know, I'm a wife and I stay home and my job is to be a homekeeper and praise the Lord for that. But do you know what the Bible says in Proverbs 31? You don't have to turn there. I'll just read this for you. Proverbs 31, which is the proverb of the virtuous woman, the climax chapter, the main chapter in reference to the role of a wife who's a homemaker. Here's what the Bible says in Proverbs 31, who can find a virtuous woman for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband does safely trust in her so that he shall have no need of spoil. See, when it comes to being a follower, the word that should characterize us is trust, is confidence. Let me talk to you teenagers. When you start being a young man or a young lady, I tell our sons when you get into those teen years, you're not a man, but you're not a child. You're just kind of something in between. We call it a teenager. That word's not found in the Bible. I like the term you're a young man. You're not a man, but you're not a kid. You're a young man. And teenagers, often what they desire is freedom, is liberty, is the ability to be able to do things that they weren't able to do when they were children. And I think that as kids get older, we should give them more liberty and in a proper relationship they should get a little more freedom and the ability to do more things. Let me just help some of you young people out. That freedom comes with responsibility. You say, my parents treat me like a child. Maybe it's because you act like a child. If you want more freedom, allow them to have confidence in you when they can trust you, when they can have confidence in you, when they can believe that they could send you there or send you to take care of that or to do this or to do that. And you're not going to just go do your own thing, but you're going to take care of business. Hey, with confidence comes freedom. The word that ought to characterize you is confidence. As leaders, I try to read a lot of leadership material, of course from the Word of God, but just secular books and business books as well. One thing that we're constantly being taught as leaders is that we are to delegate but not abdicate. We are to give opportunities and responsibilities to others, but we should not just give something to someone and just let it go. Abdicate or abdication means to just forget about it and let them deal with it. What we're supposed to do is we're supposed to constantly be following up. The phrase that's often used is, as leaders, we are to inspect what we expect. And by the way, those of you that have teenagers, I would encourage you, make sure you're not parenting by abdication. Make sure you are inspecting what you are expecting. When I first became, one of my first jobs where I was given a position of leadership and I became a supervisor, I remember we would have the employees do certain things and they wouldn't get it done and the boss would get upset with me. And I'd say, I was a young man, I'd say, well, I told them to do it and they didn't do it. And he said, yeah, but it was your job to follow up. And I learned a lesson in leadership that as a leader, my job is to inspect what I expect, to follow up. But let me give you just some thoughts for those of you that are in the positions, maybe not of leadership, but of followship. The way that you build confidence with your leader is that when he inspects, he's pleasantly surprised. When they follow up, they find you doing what you're supposed to be doing, how you're supposed to be doing it, when you're supposed to be doing it. You say, how can I build confidence in my leader? Here's how you build confidence. When they give you a task and then they follow up, they check in on you, they make sure it's getting done, they're happy that it's getting done well. The word that ought to characterize you, the word that characterized Timothy was this word confidence. But let me give you a second word. Not only should the word confidence characterize you as a follower, also there's another word that should characterize you and it is compatible. Your leader ought to be able to describe you as someone in whom they have confidence and your leader ought to be able to describe you as someone who is compatible. What do you mean by that? Compatible. Well, notice verse 20, Philippians chapter 2 and verse 20. He says, for I have, remember the apostle Paul, the apostle Paul said, I want to send, I hope to send Timotheus unto you. And then he tells us why he wants to send Timotheus. He says, I trust. He says, I have confidence in Timotheus. I need to send him to you. He's here with me now, but I need to send him to you. You say, Paul, why do you have to send your right hand man? Here's why. Verse 20, for I have no man like minded who will naturally care for your state. See, Paul said, not only is Timothy someone in whom I have confidence, but Timothy is somebody who is compatible with me. He said, he's like minded. He said, he thinks like I think. He does what I want him to do. Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 4, 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and look at verse number 17. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 17. 1 Corinthians 4, 17. I appreciate your patience with us and allowing us to use you as guinea pigs. 1 Corinthians chapter 4. What's that? The pulpit mic? You're turning this one off? Okay, 1 Corinthians chapter 4. Look at verse 17. 1 Corinthians 4, 17. The Bible says this, for this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord. I want you to notice what Paul says about Timothy here in verse 17. He says, who shall bring you? Remember, this is Paul sending Timothy to Corinth. He said, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ? Notice Paul said, the reason that I'm sending Timotheus unto you is because he's going to remind you, he's going to bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ as I teach everywhere in every church. See, Timotheus or Timothy was not only someone that was described by the word confidence, he was somebody that was described by the word compatible. Paul said he was like-minded. Paul says when I send him to you, he's going to put you in remembrance of my ways. And the apostle Paul is the leader and he says he's going to remind you of the ways that I want to do things, the way that I want to get it done. And again, remember that Paul is the leader, Timothy is the follower. Paul is in charge. Timothy is the subordinate and the application for us or the idea is this, to be a great follower you should be someone who gets on board with the leader. Someone, you say, you know, I want to be a great employee at work. Okay, well do it the way the boss wants you to do it. Start thinking like the boss thinks. Become an expert at what the boss would want and do what the boss wants. And here's what men often want to do. They want to show up to a job and immediately they want to say, oh, you're doing it the wrong way. Well, that's how the boss says, yeah, yeah, but there's a better way. See, I used to work at this other job. And you're going to get fired. You're going to be let go. You say, what are leaders looking for? They're looking for somebody who's compatible, someone who they can have confidence. See, they can trust you when they can trust that you're not going to push your own agenda, that you're not just going to try to do whatever you want to do. Your job as a follower is to try to think like the leader does, to try to do what the leader wants, to try to do and not push your own way and your own agenda. Look, your job, you say, I'm a kid and I keep upsetting my parents and they don't like how I do this and they don't like how I do that. Well, why don't you figure out how they want you to do it? And then do it. You say, oh, well, you know, they should just, you know, accept it the way I want and accept it. Yeah, but here's the thing. Your husband isn't. Your boss isn't. You know what they're going to want? They're going to want you to do it the way they want you to do it. And in situations when we find ourselves as the follower, we ought to submit to the authority of others and say, I'm going to be compatible. At Verity Baptist Church, the Lord allows me the blessing to be the pastor. So the way that the churches ran around here, the way that we hold our church services, the things that all the ministries do and the way they run and the way we do it is done really, honestly, the way that I want it done. Now, we obviously try to follow the Word of God, but the Bible doesn't tell us how to run an ushers ministry. The Bible doesn't tell us how to run a hospitality ministry. And when it comes to the actual nuts and bolts thoughts, you know, we do things the way here, the way the pastor wants them done. But, you know, sometimes I go preach other places and I go to other churches and I'm the guest speaker there and maybe things are going on there and people ask me, you know, should we do this or should we do that? And I say, whatever the pastor says. Sometimes I think to myself, I wouldn't do it that way. You know, I'm not having a bad attitude. I'm saying if it was our church, we wouldn't do it that way. We wouldn't start at that time. We wouldn't do that. But you know what? I'm not in charge here. I'm a subordinate in this role. So in this role, I'm going to be compatible to what the pastor wants. You do what the pastor tells you to do. Wife, you do what your husband tells you to do. And by the way, when you're giving advice to other wives, you tell other wives, do what your husband says. You kids, do what your parents tell you to do. You employees, don't try to go in there and I'm going to reinvent. And look, if you can develop a relationship of confidence with your employer and you can say, hey, you know, I don't know if you're interested, but I had this idea. I'm not saying you couldn't bring situations up or whatever, but to just walk into a church or walk into an employee situation and say, you guys are doing this all right. Let me tell you how you got to do it. You're not a good follower. The words that ought to characterize a subordinate are the words confidence. Your leader should be confident that when he gives you a task, you're going to be compatible. Paul says, I have no man. He says, I have to send Timothy because I have no man like-minded. He says, I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state. He says, if there was somebody in Philippi who I had confidence that they would do it the way I want it done, I would use them. But because I have no man like-minded, I have to send the guy I trust. What are the words that should characterize a follower? I said, number one, confidence. I said, number two, compatible. I want you to notice the third word. It is the word considerate. As a follower, you ought to be someone who your leader can have confidence in. As a follower, you ought to be someone who your leader sees as compatible with himself. They should trust you. You should be like-minded. I want you to notice thirdly this morning, you ought to be considerate. Look at verse 21. Paul says, for all seek their own. Now when he says, for all seek their own, he says, the reason that I don't have a man like-minded is because all the people are seeking their own. They're all doing whatever they want to do. They're thinking and worried only about themselves. He says, for all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ. He says, everybody's just doing what everybody wants to do. Everybody's just looking out for themselves. But Paul says Timothy, Timothy was the opposite of this. The reason I could send Timothy is because Timothy was compatible and Timothy was considerate. And Timothy was someone he could have confidence in. This is a theme that the Apostle Paul has been using throughout the book of Philippians, especially in chapter two. If you go back to verse number three, you'll remember the famous words in Philippians two and verse three. He says, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. The word esteem means to yield to the other party, to give to the way of the other party. You say why? Here's why, verse four. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. What does a great follower do? They're not looking out for their own agenda, their own best interests, but they're considerate. They're not just seeking their own, they are assuming other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. In Romans chapter 12, you have to turn there, I'll just read this for you, verse 10. Paul said this, be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love and honor, preferring one another. We ought to be preferring, yielding to the other party, yielding to the importance of others, taking care of other people, not just looking out for ourselves. To be a great follower you should ask yourself, what would the leader want? What would actually help the leader? What would actually be a blessing to the leader? Throughout the Bible we have examples of this, I won't have you turn to them, but we have examples of, for example, when David with his mighty man, if you remember he was yearning to drink from the well of Jerusalem, and the mighty man in the Bible tells us they went and they broke through the enemy line in order to bring a cup of water from the wells of Jerusalem for David, their leader. You say, what is that? That's being considerate. There's not just biblical examples of that, there's modern day examples of that. There's a story during World War II, there was a group of men called Ike's boys. These were the men who guarded General Dwight D. Eisenhower during the war, and one of them told a story about how they stocked a pond with fish from a nearby creek after overhearing Eisenhower's wish to go fishing. And the idea is this, that if you're going to be a great follower, not only are you going to learn to think the way the leader thinks, but you're going to be considerate of what the leader wants. The reason that Paul had so much confidence in Timothy is because Paul knew that when Timothy went, he went as an ambassador of Paul. Things would get done the way that Paul wanted them done. Timothy would not ask, what do I want to do? He would ask, what would Paul want done? And how would Paul want it done? Let me give you a fourth word, to be a great follower. You got to be described by the word confidence, compatible, considerate. But you ought to be described by this word as well, committed. Look at verse 22, Philippians 2 and verse 22. Notice what the apostle Paul tells us about Timothy. He says, but ye know the proof of him. The proof, that term is this idea that he's been tried and tested. We've tested him and he's passed the test. He says, but ye know the proof of him. What's the proof? Here it is, that as a son with the father, he had served with me in the gospel. Paul said, Timothy has been like a son with a father to me. All throughout the New Testament, the apostle Paul refers to Timothy as his son in the faith. And to Timothy, my own son in the faith, he refers to him as his son. And of course he wasn't physically his son, but the relationship they had, Paul would say that it was as a son with the father. What's the idea? Is that Timothy was committed to Paul. Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 4, look at verse 17. 1 Corinthians 4.17. Notice what Paul says about Timothy here, 1 Corinthians 4.17. He says, for this cause have I sent unto you to Mothias, notice what he says, who is my beloved son. And then he says this, and faithful. See, Timothy was committed to Paul. Timothy was a great follower, why? Because Timothy could be described as committed. He was committed to the apostle Paul. Another way we could put it is this way, he was loyal. To be a great follower you should be loyal. Loyalty is needed to build trust and confidence. You will never be someone who the leader can have confidence in while the leader is questioning your loyalty. And loyalty cannot be earned while you're not being considerate, but seeking your own loyalty cannot be earned while you're not being compatible but running your own agenda. See, all of these things they all go together. You say, how can I build confidence by being committed? How can I be committed by being considerate? How can I be considerate by being compatible? These are the rules, these are the descriptions of a great leader, of a great follower. See, your boss ought to know that you're committed. Now obviously, just because you take employment somewhere doesn't mean that you've given your life to that individual. But while you're there, while you're there, you ought to be committed to your boss. Not hurting your boss, not hurting his business. Sometimes you meet employees, and while they're working for someone, while they're taking a paycheck from someone, they're talking bad about that employer. And it's like, good night. These people are giving you money for your service while you're talking bad about them. That's not loyalty. And if it's that bad, do we understand, find another job, all those things. But the point is this. When we find ourselves in positions of followship, we ought to be committed people. Here's an illustration from the Civil War. There's a story that says that General Robert E. Lee sent word to General Stonewall Jackson that he would like to see him the next time he was in the area. As soon as Jackson got the message, he rode eight miles on horseback through a heavy snowstorm to see General Lee. When he got there, the story goes that General Lee said to General Jackson, Stonewall, I did not send for you. I just said, next time you are in the area, I would like to see you. General Jackson responded to General Lee, I know that. But you said you wish to see me, and your slightest wish is a command to me. And I'm sure General Lee could say of General Jackson the same thing that Paul could say of Timotheus, he is my beloved son and faithful. He has been to me as a son with a father. See, if you want to succeed in your position of follower, if you want to succeed as a subordinate, if you want to succeed as a child of parents or as a wife of a husband, as an employee at a job, or as a church member in a church, these are the words that should characterize you, and these are the words that characterize Timothy. Confidence, compatible, considerate, committed. So we see this lesson on how to be a great follower from Timothy. Remember, Timothy was the one that Paul had hoped to send. But then we get into verse 23 and he says, Therefore, him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon, Philippians 2.23, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me, but I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly. And then in verse 25 we shift gears a little bit and the attention goes from Timothy to Epaphroditus. He's been telling us all the reasons why he hoped to send Timothy. Why did he hope to send Timothy? Because he had confidence in Timothy, he trusted in him, because Timothy was compatible, he was like-minded, because Timothy was considerate. He said all seek their own, but not Timothy, because he was committed. He said Timothy was as a son with a father. Then the Apostle Paul kind of shifts gears here and he begins to talk to us about another follower, another subordinate, another church member, another employer, another person under his authority, a man by the name of Epaphroditus. Now Timothy he says, I hope to send. Epaphroditus he says, I need to send. In verse 25 he says, yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus. And when Paul begins to talk about Epaphroditus, we shift gears from the follower's relationship to the leader to the leader's relationship to the follower. We saw what a follower should be like towards his leader. Confidence, compatible, considerate, committed. Now I'd like you to notice how a leader should treat his follower. What's the first thing that we see the Apostle Paul doing here with this young man Epaphroditus? And I'd like you to write this down. First of all we see when it comes to how we treat our followers, the first thing we see with the Apostle Paul here is that he accepts his shortcomings. Now why don't you notice that there's some misfortunes that came about in the life of Epaphroditus. Notice the misfortunes of Epaphroditus. Paul says in verse 25, yet I supposed it necessary to send unto you Epaphroditus my brother and companion and labor and fellow soldier, but your messenger and he that ministered to my wants. Notice we're going to come back to those verses here in a little bit. But notice verse 26 he says, for. The word for means because. Paul is telling us here's why I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus. Here's why it was needful for me to send Epaphroditus to you. He says for he longed after you all and was full of heaviness. See the Apostle Paul said Epaphroditus is homesick. Epaphroditus is discouraged. Epaphroditus is depressed. He said I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus. You say why Paul? Here's why. Because he longed after you all and was full of heaviness. Now why was Epaphroditus longing after his home church, the church at Philippi? Why was he full of heaviness? Here's why. Because that ye had heard that he had been sick. See when Epaphroditus came to Rome from Philippi to bring the offering. Along the way we suppose based off what's being said here that he got sick. He either got sick along the way or once he got to Rome he got sick in Rome. But if you notice verse 26 the last part he says because that ye had heard that he had been sick. And then Paul says for indeed he was sick nigh unto death. But God had mercy on him and not on him only but on me also lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. See Epaphroditus had gotten sick. Now here's what you need to understand. Normally if somebody gets sick the idea maybe is not necessarily you need to go do this huge journey from Rome to Philippi and go back home. That's not something that you would normally do if somebody got sick. If somebody got sick and now they're starting to feel better you would just send a letter with a trusted individual like Timothy saying, hey you guys heard that Epaphroditus got sick but let me tell you he's feeling better now. But Paul says that's not enough. I need to send him to you because he not only got sick and recovered for indeed he was sick nigh unto death Paul says. But when he got sick then he heard that you had heard that he had been sick and because of that now he longed after you all and was full of heaviness. See here's what's happening. Epaphroditus got sick but that's not why Paul is sending him home. Epaphroditus is being sent home because when Epaphroditus found out that his home church found out that he was sick even though he was physically sick and had physically recovered now he was emotionally homesick. He longed after you all and he was discouraged. He was full of heaviness. Here's what's interesting if you are interested in the characters of scripture and studying out the scriptures. I love studying. I love character studies in the scripture because as you study these characters in the Bible it becomes very clear that this book was not written by man. This book was written by God. Because what we see in the book of Philippians is the Apostle Paul expressing the misfortunes of this young man Epaphroditus. But what we also see is the maturity of the Apostle Paul. Go with me if you went to the book of Acts, Acts chapter 15. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Acts chapter 15. See if you remember the book of Philippi is written from Rome. Remember the Apostle Paul is in house arrest. He's under Roman authority. He's bound in Rome. This is towards the end of the life of the Apostle Paul. When he's in Rome he spends a couple of years under house arrest and then he dies but by the time he's in Rome he's an older man. He's already been in ministry for a long time. What's really interesting is that early on in the life and ministry of the Apostle Paul he had this exact same situation. He had a situation where a young man got homesick and Paul treated the situation completely different. Notice Acts 15. I want you to notice it. Look at verse 36. Acts 15, 36. And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas. This is after his first missionary journey. He's pretty new in this thing. He's gone up to Jerusalem and they had a red hot preaching conference up there and did a council and he came back down and the Bible says and some days after Paul said unto Barnabas let us go again. He wants to go on another missionary journey and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do. And Barnabas determined to take with them John whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought it not good to take him. Barnabas wants to take his nephew by the way, a man by the name of Mark, John Mark, on this missionary journey but Paul says no. Verse 38. But Paul thought it not good to take him with them. You say why? Here's why. Because they took him on the first missionary journey and he got homesick and quit on them. Notice. Who departed from them from Pamphylia and went not with them to the work. Paul said that guy quit on us. That guy was a quitter. That guy, remember? He started missing his mama. He needed to go back home. Paul was a little bit of a type A personality. He said he went not with them to the work. But Paul thought it not good to take him with them who departed from them from Pamphylia and went not with them to the work. I want you to notice where this happened. If you flip back to Acts 13 and verse 13. In Acts 13 and verse 13, we see Paul's first missionary journey, Acts 13, 13. Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga and Pamphylia and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. John quit. John Mark quit the ministry. John Mark quit on Paul. And when we fast forward to Acts 15, Paul says let's go again. Barnabas says let's give John Mark another chance. And Paul says no. That wimp. That weasel. That weakling. He quit on us. He didn't help us. He didn't go to the work with us. Notice how this conversation ends between Paul and Barnabas. Acts 15, look at verse 39. Acts 15, 39. And the contention was so sharp between them. What are they arguing about? They're arguing about whether or not they should bring this young man, John Mark, who quit on them because he got homesick. And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from the other. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed into Cyprus and Paul chose Silas and departed being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. By the way, you said before we beat up on Paul a little bit, and I'm going to beat up on him here in a little bit, but I want you to notice that it was Paul who chose Silas and departed and it was Paul who was being recommended by the brethren. And by the way, the rest of the book of Acts details for us the adventures of Paul and Silas, not the adventures of Barnabas and Mark. So you say, was Paul wrong? As far as I can tell, I don't think he was wrong because he was the one that received the recommendation from the brethren. He was the one that was given the authority to do this mission strip and he seems to have been the one who received the recommendation from the Holy Ghost because the Holy Ghost highlights for us the adventures of the Apostle Paul for the rest of the book of Acts and we don't hear from Barnabas and Mark through the book of Acts. You say, well, then that means that Barnabas was wrong. Well, no, that's your judgmental problem. Because I don't think Paul was wrong necessarily, although there were some things he could have done better, but I don't think Barnabas was wrong either. You say, why? Go to 2 Timothy. You find the T-books, they're all clustered together, 1 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, Titus. You say, why wasn't Barnabas wrong? Well, here's why Barnabas wasn't wrong, because Barnabas was doing what was his spiritual gift. Remember, he was called the son of consolation. Barnabas was, and I don't want to get into too many details on this, but Barnabas was the guy who reached out and gave chances to people that had failed. If you remember, it was Barnabas who brought the new convert Saul or Paul to the church when nobody wanted anything to do with him because he had persecuted the church and then he got saved and people said, yeah, right. It was Barnabas who brought Saul. See, it was Barnabas who gave Saul his chance. And now Barnabas wants to give Mark another chance. You say, well, how did that work out? Well, eventually the Apostle Paul came around to it because in 2 Timothy chapter 4, if you remember, 2 Timothy is the last book that the Apostle Paul writes. In this book, he talks to us about the fact that he's now ready to be offered in the time of his departures at hand. And here's what the Apostle Paul says about this young man, John Mark, who quitted on him early in his ministry. He says in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 11, he says, only Luke is with me. Then he says this, and take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. You say Mark failed when he was a young man. Yeah, he did. But you know what? It looks like Barnabas helped him and he got it right. And towards the end of the Apostle Paul's life, Paul says, hey, you bring that Mark, he's profitable for me for the ministry. Early in the ministry of Paul, Paul says, that wimp, that weasel, that mama's boy, I don't want him coming with us. Later in his ministry, he says, bring Mark, he's profitable. And by the way, if you needed a little more proof that Mark did get things right and was highly used of God, he did write a book you may be familiar with, The Gospel According to Mark. So I think he was okay. But what we see in the book of Philippians is a very mature Paul dealing with the misfortunes of a young man, Epaphroditus. See, when Paul sends Epaphroditus back, you guys can turn this down just a hair if you wouldn't mind. When Paul sends Epaphroditus back home, he sends him back home for the same reasons he got mad at Mark years and years earlier, for being homesick. Notice Philippians 2.25, yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus. Notice verse 26, for he longed after you all and was full of heaviness because that he had heard that he had been sick. Why don't you notice that when the Apostle Paul writes years later about Epaphroditus, he's a more mature man and he accepts the shortcomings of Epaphroditus. He doesn't write back to Philippi saying, I'm sending Epaphroditus back because he's a mama's boy. He couldn't cut it with the big dogs. He's a wimp. He's a weasel. He's crying every day. He's longing after you. He doesn't say that. He says, I'm going to send him back because he longed after you and was full of heaviness because that he heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death, but God had mercy on him and not on him only, but also on me also lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Why don't you notice we see a very graceful Paul. When it comes to leadership, when it comes to leadership, I believe our followers should be committed. I believe our followers should be considerate. I believe our followers should be compatible. I believe our followers should be someone we can have confidence in. This was someone that characterized Timothy, but unfortunately this was not someone that characterized Epaphroditus. And don't get me wrong, Epaphroditus was a good guy. I'm not beating up on him, but Epaphroditus wasn't very committed. He wanted to go home. And Epaphroditus did not instill a lot of confidence in Paul. Paul didn't have a lot of confidence in Epaphroditus because why? Because he was longing after them, because he was full of heaviness. But I want you to notice that Paul, instead of beating up on him, instead of making fun of him, instead of being mean to him like he was years earlier to a young man named Mark, now a mature Paul understands that sometimes leaders need to accept the shortcomings of our followers. You say, my wife should be committed and considerate and compatible and she should have confidence and I don't have that right now. I don't trust that when I go to work, I leave, she's in her pajamas, I come home, she's still in her pajamas. Nothing's been cleaned, nothing's been done. Well, you get her to church tonight and we'll talk about that, but let me tell you something. Whether she's doing what she's supposed to be doing or not, as a leader, our job is to accept their shortcomings. My kids are stupid, they're not doing it. All kids are stupid. Scientifically proven, teenagers have part sections of their brains that have not yet developed. But you know what your job is? To accept their shortcomings. Sometimes followers are going to disappoint you. Sometimes followers are going to let you down. I'm sure Epaphroditus was sent to Paul because Paul needed Epaphroditus' help. But when Epaphroditus got there, a shortcoming became very apparent, the fact that he was missing home. Paul didn't beat up on him. He accepted it. He said, Timothy, I hope to send. Epaphroditus, I need to send. It was necessary for me to send. So how should leaders treat their followers? How should they treat their subordinates? How should they treat the people under their authority? Well, number one, we see that we should accept their shortcomings. See, sometimes we want to get things out of our followers and sometimes it just becomes abundantly clear that this is all we're going to get. We're trying to squeeze something out of them that they don't have to give. Sometimes we just have to accept it. Paul accepted Epaphroditus' shortcoming. But I want you to notice, not only did Paul accept his shortcoming, I want you to notice secondly, and you can jot this down, Paul appreciated his service. Notice verse 25 again. He says, yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus. He said, I'm not hoping to send him. I don't want to send him. I'm sending Timothy because he's committed and he's considerate and he's compatible and I have confidence in him. But I have to send Epaphroditus. I supposed it necessary to send Epaphroditus. And he's going to tell them in verse 26 and verse 27 why he has to send him. But before he says that, he does appreciate some things about Epaphroditus. He says, my brother. You know that in church you say, I don't like this prison in church. I don't like that prison in church. You know that you can at least appreciate that they're your brother and sister in Christ? My brother, he says Epaphroditus, it didn't work out. He didn't make it past his 90 day review point. But I'll tell you this, I appreciate the fact that he's my brother and companion in labor. He did work. It didn't work out, but he did work. And fellow soldier. But I want you to notice what Paul says. He says, he was my brother, he was a companion, he was a fellow soldier, but here's why it didn't work. He says, but your messenger. See the problem with Epaphroditus was that he wasn't committed to Paul. He was committed to Philippi. Paul says Epaphroditus, Timothy is my messenger. Epaphroditus is your messenger. But while he was here, he says, and he that ministered to my wants. See here's the truth. Even when people let you down, you can always find something to appreciate about them. Even when people do you wrong, even when people drop the ball, even when you're just trying to get him or get her to fit a certain mold. Why can't you be more like me? Why can't you be like minded? Why can't you be compatible? Why can't you think the way that I think? Why can't you be committed? Even all those things are true. They should try to do those. But when they can't do those, you can still appreciate their service. See Paul understood that leaders should accept the shortcomings of their followers and Paul understood that leaders should appreciate the service of their followers. I want to give you a third one. We'll finish up. Paul understood that leaders should acknowledge the sacrifice of their followers. Notice verse 28. I sent him therefore the more carefully. He said this time we were careful about it. Paul said, you know, when Epaphroditus was coming, Mr. Type A personality was probably like, when are you going to get here? What time are you? You need to be here at this time. You need to get this done. And maybe that led to Paul to Epaphroditus getting sick. He says, this time I sent him therefore the more carefully. I let him take his time. That when ye see him again, ye may rejoice and that I may be the less sorrowful. Paul said, it was hurting me the fact that it was hurting him that he hadn't seen you. And I'm sending him back that ye may rejoice and that I may be less sorrowful. Then he says this, receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness. Notice Paul's not trying to hurt Epaphroditus' reputation. He's not sending him back saying, you're fired Epaphroditus. I'm tired of your whining. You remind me of a young guy named John Mark. No, he says, notice verse 29, receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness and hold such in reputation. You say, what does that mean? Here's what Paul's saying. You ought to be proud of Epaphroditus. Hold him in such reputation. He says, be proud of him. Receive him. Rejoice with him and be glad. It didn't work out here for him. But that doesn't mean that it won't work out somewhere else for him. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness and hold such in reputation. You say, why? Here's why. Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death. See, Paul acknowledged the fact that Epaphroditus had sacrificed. He had brought the offering from Philippi to him in Rome and he had gone sick as a result and he had almost died. So even though those events turned into this big discouragement and longing after his family and longing after his home church, and even though there were some shortcomings there, Paul could appreciate and acknowledge the sacrifice of Epaphroditus. Because for your work, excuse me, verse 30, because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death. Not regarding his life to supply your lack of service toward me. See, here's the truth. And sometimes we leaders need to be reminded of this. We leaders are fortunate when people choose to follow us and buy into our vision. Sometimes people ask, you know, how can you get your wife to follow you? I say, she has to be right with God and choose to follow you. You know the secret to being a great leader is having some great followers. How can you build a church that's going to accomplish great things for God? Are you some sort of great pastoral leader? We're just fortunate to have some really smart people around us. Some servants of God that come along. See, we as leaders are fortunate to have followers. Now I'm not taking away from leadership. Obviously your wife's not submitting, your children are rebelling, then you as a leader you need to take charge. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. You need to be a servant leader. You need to serve for their benefit. I'm not taking anything away from leadership, but I also don't want to take anything away from followers. Often times when you see this great relationship of a follower and a leader, you have a great leader, but you also have great followers. We as leaders are fortunate to have people to buy into our vision. Before you go down on your wife too much or get upset with your wife too much, realize that she gave you the greatest commitment when she said, I do. She bought into your vision. And for some of you it wasn't much of a vision. We leaders are fortunate to have followers buy into our vision. So we should appreciate and acknowledge their personal investment in our vision. Because they said, every staff person at Verity Baptist Church said, I'm going to get on board with what pastor's trying to do. Every church member of Verity Baptist Church hopefully has said, I'm going to get on board with what pastor's trying to do. Every wife hopefully has made the decision, I'm going to get on board with what my husband's trying to do. Every teenager here and every young person ought to make the decision, while I'm under the authority of my mother and father, I'm going to get on board with their agenda. I'm going to be committed and compatible and compassionate and considerate and build confidence with them. Every employee ought to go to work and say, I'm going to buy into the vision. I've taken this job and I'm going to buy into the vision of this company. I'm going to buy into what they're trying to do and I'm going to be loyal and I'm going to work hard for them. But you know, we as leaders ought to acknowledge their sacrifice. So how should followers treat their leaders? We learned from Timothy, the one that Paul hoped to send. You ought to be characterized by these words, confidence, compatible, considerate, committed. And how should leaders treat their followers? Well, sometimes we need to just accept their shortcomings. We need to appreciate their service and we need to acknowledge their sacrifice. Because Epaphroditus didn't work out with Paul. But like Paul had learned with Mark, that doesn't mean that God's done with him. And that doesn't mean that he couldn't work out somewhere else. That's why I had to not board a prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for this passage. Thank you for the apostle Paul who writes this letter and highlights for us that he's matured a little bit. That he's changed a little bit. And I don't think Paul was wrong. I think it was right for him. He couldn't be slowed down with Mark. But maybe the way he went about it was wrong. And Lord, I pray that you would help us. When we find ourselves in positions of followship, help us to be the right follower. And when we find ourselves in positions of leadership, help us to be the right leaders. And in both areas, help us always to be people who esteem others better than ourselves. In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen. Alright, we're going to have Brother Matt come up and lead us in a final song. I just want to give you some last announcements. First of all, don't forget that this week begins our Red Hot Preaching Conference, July 15th through the 18th. So just know that, remember that there is no mid-week Wednesday evening service. There's no Wednesday evening service. This Wednesday, church starts at 6 p.m. Please hear me, 6 p.m. Normally our evening service on Wednesday starts at 7, but we're starting at 6 p.m. So don't forget about that. Thursday, 6 p.m. We have a schedule we're putting out on our Facebook, Instagram. We have it on our website. So just don't forget about that. No Wednesday evening service. Thursday at 6 p.m. We have church Thursday evening. Friday morning, Friday evening, Saturday morning, and all day Sunday. I'd encourage you to be here. It's going to be a great time. And don't forget about that. If you've signed up to help us with different areas, make sure you don't forget about that as well. And help us out. Thank you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.