The Honesty of Paul
Something we need to keep in mind as we’re working through the Book of Philippians is that this is a very personal letter. It’s personal in that the apostle Paul tells us a lot about himself over these four chapters — he tells us how he’s doing in his current situation; he tells about how he relates to others and others to him, (good and bad); he tells us about his ministry intentions, he tells us about his past, he tells us about his values and goals — Paul gets personal in this letter, and I don’t think we see that any better than we do in our passage today, Chapter 2, verses 25–30.
At one level, what Paul says in these verses has nothing to do with us — because he’s talking about details for his own day and about what he’s got going on. But then at another level — at the level of “This is Holy Scripture” — Paul is modeling something for us here. Paul is an example for us, and I’ve not been exactly sure on what to call it. I’ve gone back and forth on this …
I think you could call it “Christian realism” — meaning that Paul as a Christian is in touch with reality in this world. He’s constantly aware of Ultimate Reality — he knows Jesus is real — and he knows that as he navigates the hardships and setbacks of life in a broken world. You must have both! Paul is not just a realist, he’s a “Christian realist.” We could call his example that (but apparently that term is already taken and used for something else, so never mind).
Instead, what if we just called Paul’s example here, his honesty?
In these verses in Philippians 2 we see the honesty of the apostle Paul.
Here’s what I mean: there’s no doubt that Paul kept his eyes on heaven. We see that in this letter — we see that in all his letters. The hope of the gospel was right here for Paul. But although Paul kept his eyes on heaven, his head was not stuck in the clouds. He was honest.
And I want to show you that in these verses, because I think what we find here will help us as we navigate our own lives in this broken world. So let’s pray again and we’ll get started.
Father in heaven, by your grace, we trust this morning in your sovereign care for us and we rest in your great love for us in Christ. We remember now, that in this moment, we are here together beneath your smile, and that you are pleased to speak to us through your Word. By your Spirit, would you do that? Help us receive what you have for us, in Jesus’s name, amen.
Three ways we see the honesty of Paul:
1) Paul made practical ministry decisions.
We’re going to be talking a lot about Epaphroditus, and if you’ve never encountered Epaphroditus before… Don’t worry, you can’t catch it!
It’s a name. Epaphroditus was the name of man that we read about only in the Book of Philippians. We first read about him here in Chapter 2 and then also in Chapter 4, verse 18. Based upon what Paul says, we can put together a pretty good picture of who he was.
First, with a name like “Epaphroditus” he definitely had a Gentile background. The name Epaphroditus was connected to the Greek goddess Aphrodite — and we know Jewish parents didn’t give out that name! This guy was a pagan from a pagan family. He was ‘straight outta Philippi’ — but at some point this pagan man from a pagan background heard the gospel and believed and he became part of this local church.
And he wasn’t just part of this church, but this church had chosen him to be their messenger and minister to Paul’s need. We see that in verse 25. What exactly does that mean?
Remember that Paul is in prison in Rome, and back then, prisoners relied upon the support of friends outside of prison to make sure their needs were met. Paul needed his friends to send him money. That’s why in Chapter 4, verse 18, Paul confirms for this church that he received the gift they sent him through Epaphroditus.
So Epaphroditus, then, was the one this church had commissioned out to take Paul a gift of money. Which is a big deal. Epaphroditus was the representative of this church, sent from Philippi to Rome, with a stack of cash for Paul.
And by now — if we can put ourselves in the shoes of these first readers — by the time the church is reading this letter, Epaphroditus had been gone for months but now he’s back. Epaphroditus was most likely the one who brought this church the letter from Paul that they’re reading — and Paul wants to tell them why.
Paul wants to tell the church why Epaphroditus came back to Philippi and not someone else.
Notice the difference between what Paul says about Timothy and what he says about Epaphroditus. In verse 19 — y’all look back at verse 19 — Paul said that he hoped to send Timothy. See the word “hoped”?
Now look at verse 25. Paul says there he thought it was necessary to send Epaphroditus. Why did he consider it necessary?
Paul gives us four reasons in the passage, and I want to show them to you right away, and then I’ll tell you the story. Paul says, “I have sent Epaphroditus back…”
#1 — verse 26 — for he has been longing for you
#2 — verse 26 — he has been distressed because you heard that he was ill
Look at verse 28: “I am more eager to send him, therefore …
#3 — that you may rejoice at seeing him again
#4 — that I may be less anxious (less sorrow)
These are the four reasons. Here’s the story:
His Mission Situation
First, we need a little context for what Epaphroditus has done.
Today, if you were in the City of Philippi (in Greece), and you wanted to travel west, to Rome, you can get there by car within a day. You’d have to ferry across the Ionian Sea, which would slow you down some, but in theory, you could get there in 20 hours. By car. If you made that same trip by foot, you’re looking at 235 hours, according to Google Maps, and it would take you a couple of weeks. That’s today.
But if we were to go back a couple thousand years ago, to the year 60, traveling from Philippi to Rome — from where this church was to where Paul was in prison — it would have taken you a couple of months. So, from the time that Epaphroditus first left for Rome, to when the church could expect to hear anything back from him, it would have been at least four months. But if you add to that the fact that Epaphroditus got sick, verse 26, it would have been even longer.
It was most likely around six months since this church had heard from Epaphroditus. Some commentators suspect six to nine months.
Understandably Distressed
Time is relative. That’s not a super long time. But it probably feels like a long time when you’re waiting to hear from somebody and especially when they left with a bunch of cash! There would have been a moment when this church wondered: What happened to Epaphroditus?
And Epaphroditus knew that they wondered that. Because Paul tells us in verse 26 that Epaphroditus was distressed that the church heard he was ill. Now why?
Why would Epaphroditus have been distressed that the church heard he was sick?
I’m sure it’s because they cared for one another and he wanted this church to know he was okay, but also remember, there’s cash involved. Epaphroditus wanted the church to know that he got that money to Paul! He wanted them to know, not just that he survived, but that he did what they sent him to do! That’s at least one reason, in verse 26, that Epaphroditus had been longing to see his church family. This is not just generic homesickness. But he wanted his church to know that: he didn’t flake out; he didn’t take the money and run; and he didn’t die.
But he made it to Rome. He gave Paul the gift. He completed the mission. He wants his church to know that. And he knows they wanna know that. We’re talking about very basic, understandable desires. It makes sense.
Paul’s Common Sense
So when Paul is trying to figure out who is gonna get his letter and update back to the Philippians, do you see how these things factored in? Paul thought: Epaphroditus longs to go home; Epaphroditus is distressed because the church knows he was sick; this church would be really happy to see him; and man, I’d be less anxious if I sent Epaphroditus instead of Timothy (because I need Timothy to stay closer by for the meantime) — there are four reasons here why Paul considered it necessary to send back Epaphroditus, and one thing all the reasons have in common is that they’re practical.
It seems like Paul is just using good old common sense. He’s not over-spiritualizing things here — and this is for a man who had encountered the risen Lord Jesus in blinding light. Remember Paul had heard Jesus’s voice. He once had a prayer experience when he was caught up to the third heaven. There’s no doubt that Paul had his mind set on things above, not on things below — heaven was right here for Paul — and sometimes when it came to decision-making, practical things mattered. Paul made practical ministry decisions.
Now this does not give us license to go bonkers and be super-pragmatic to our spiritual detriment — Paul would never do that — but it does mean that in our Christian lives, and in our ministry together, we should take into account practical things. Paul did that and we should too. It’s being honest.
Here’s a second way we see the honesty of Paul …
2) Paul knew who truly deserved honor.
Skip down to verse 29. Paul concludes everything he says about Epaphroditus with two commands. Verse 29, talking about Epaphroditus, he says:
So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men …
Receive him and honor him.
But notice the second command about honor. Paul says to hold in honor such men — meaning, he’s not only talking about Epaphroditus here. He goes beyond Epaphroditus and he wants us to know something about honor in general. Paul wants us teach us something about the kind of person we honor in the church.
And I’ll go ahead and say it: the idea of showing honor to certain individuals in our church, it’s a little uncomfortable for us. That we would make distinctions by showing honor to some people over others — that feels Victorian and un-democratic. So I wanna try to bring some clarity here.
First, when it comes to the topic of honor — of humans showing honor to other humans — that’s a universal human reality.
You could go anywhere in the world you want, look at any human culture under the sun, and you’re gonna find that in every human society, honor exists. One way or another, humans will find a way to distinguish other humans as being more celebrated than others. Showing honor will happen.
And I’m not gonna get too deep into this, but I’ll just say that our society is very confused with this topic.
At one level, we don’t want there to be any distinctions. That’s why everybody gets a trophy; nobody gets their feelings hurt; everybody is the same. You are all equally good basketball players.
But then at another level, our society has created “The Celebrity.” As a society we make valuations and comparisons of other people for the shallowest of reasons. And we esteem our celebrities so highly in America that we actually let these people become a scorecard for how we view others. It’s nuts! Our society shows honor like crazy! And it’s a mess!
Clarifying the Confusion
And it’s such a mess that we might think: “There should be no showing honor in the church.” “In the church, every single person should be treated the exact same.” “There should be NO holding certain individuals in honor.”
We might think that, but remember, it’s not just human to show honor, and it’s biblical. Because Paul clearly says here in verse 28 to “honor such men.” And that word “honor” means it. It means to treat someone with high esteem, to show special attention to them. It means to give someone deep respect.
See, the issue is not that we show honor; it’s why we show honor. This topic all comes down to what we could call the honor-metric. What are the things we’re looking at to be the reason we show honor?
For example, say a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into our assembly, and then a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in. If you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there” — if you do that, the Bible says That is evil — James Chapter 2, 1–4. It’s evil because you’ve made distinctions among yourselves based on worldly reasons. The Bible calls that partiality and it has no place in the church. That’s of the world! Don’t bring that in here.
But showing honor is different, and it’s different because of the reason we show honor. Paul says in verse 30. He says to show honor to Epaphroditus and to those like him because — he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.
Do you see how that honor-metric is so different from the world’s? It’s so counter-cultural.
We honor those in the church, not because of their jewelry and jackets, but because of their sacrifice for the sake of the gospel. In the church, we treat as the highest those whom the world would call the lowest. We have a cross-shaped honor-metric.
The Cross-Shaped Honor-Metric
To bring this home, pretend for a minute that on a Sunday morning, Taylor Swift visited our church. That would be great! And you know we’d say to Taylor? We’d say: Welcome! You might be able to find a seat over there (that’s what our ushers say).
But, if Matthew and Kailie visited our church, whose last names I can’t tell you, and where they live, I can’t tell you — for security reasons — if they come here, we would try to find out days in advance, and we’d get here early and save a place for them to sit, and we’d throw a reception for them after the service so that you can greet them. We want to honor such people! — if we’re listening to Paul.
If we’re listening to Paul, we show the most honor to those who most resemble the example of Jesus in Philippians 2:5–8.
Honor Epaphroditus. Honor those like him — because he did not count comfort in the world a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant and being found as worthless in the eyes of the empire. He humbled himself by risking his life in the work of Christ. He was willing to die for the advance the gospel.
The apostle Paul cares nothing about worldly prestige. He burned that scorecard (we’re gonna see in Chapter 3). But he knew who truly deserved honor. That’s part of his honesty.
Okay, here’s the last point. Third way we see Paul’s honesty:
3) Paul understood that death is still terrible.
And I want to end on this point because of what our own church is going through in the loss of Kayla Rigney. I can’t help but see the providence of God here, in that the topic of death is in today’s passage after we just gathered yesterday to grieve in hope because of the death of Kayla.
Look back at verse 25.
Epaphroditus was not just a member of the church at Philippi who they commissioned out, but he had become dear to Paul. Paul calls him in verse 25, “my brother and fellow worker and fellow solider.” And notice that this is different from what Paul said about Timothy in verse 22. Paul said Timothy was like his son, but he calls Epaphroditus his brother.
Now I think this is important, because technically Timothy was Paul’s brother too — because all Christians, young and old, are sons and daughters of God and therefore fellow brothers and sisters.
But Paul doesn’t call Timothy his brother because he’s not being technical, he’s being personal. Personally, Timothy was like a son to Paul. Personally, Epaphroditus was like a brother. He was a colleague. He was Paul’s fellow comrade in arms.
And for Paul to say this about someone is a gushing commendation. The apostle Paul considered Epaphroditus to be a vital partner in his missionary work. And so already then, by verse 25, the church at Philippi would have read this, and it would have gotten their attention. Whatever they had been wondering at Epaphroditus, this would have set the record straight. Paul was vouching for him. Paul is saying Hey, Epaphroditus means a lot to me!
And then he keeps going. Look at verse 26 again:
“for he [Epaphroditus] has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. Indeed he was ill, near to death.”
Paul confirms that Yes, Epaphroditus was sick — and he was so sick that he almost died. Verse 27 — But God had mercy on him.
Does everybody see that in verse 27?
What was this mercy?
The mercy was that he did not die.
Paul says that God had mercy on Epaphroditus by keeping him from death — and that wasn’t just mercy on Epaphroditus, but Paul says it was also mercy on him, verse 27, “lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.” The death of Epaphroditus would have multiplied Paul’s sorrow.
So get this! Verse 27: Paul is saying that it’s a mercy not to die and that death causes sorrow.
But wait a minute Paul! Wait a minute! You just told us in Chapter 1, verse 21 that to die is gain! You said that it is far better to depart and to be with Christ!
In Chapter 1 it sounds to me like the mercy is dying.
But here in Chapter 2 the mercy is not dying!
Which is it, Paul? Which is it?
It’s both.
For the Christian, it is true that death is gain, because of where death takes you. Because to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8), and to be in the physical presence of Jesus is better than anything we can imagine.
For the Christian, death is never a tragedy in the technical sense because death is never the final ending, because “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).
This means that death has been so overpowered by Jesus that he has actually made death to be our chauffeur into his joy. Because of what Jesus did, death is now the vehicle that carries us into amazing grace bright shining as the sun … Amen!
That is now the ultimate result of death for Christians. That’s why Paul says what he does in Chapter 1. This is why we grieve in hope. There’s hope! Thanks be to God!
And church, there’s still grief.
We can rejoice for where death takes us, but death itself, death as death, it’s our worst enemy. Death is the last enemy to be finally destroyed, and until then, until Revelation 20:14, we should hate death. We should hate it. Nothing in this world hurts more than death. It causes sorrow, Paul says.
And we know this, if we’re being honest like Paul. You know this if you’ve suffered the death of people you love.
Because death is the separation of things that should be united. Death robs us. Death robs us of so much that could be — of so much that should have been — with the people we love in this world.
So yes, Jesus has defeated death — thank you, Jesus! — death is a defeated enemy! But it’s not yet a destroyed enemy, and it’s still an enemy. Paul understood that death is still terrible.
And that’s what brings us to the Table.
The Table
Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week — next Sunday is Easter.
Easter would not be Easter unless death were terrible.
That’s what makes the cross of Christ so wonderful, see. The wages of sin is death, and that’s precisely what Jesus set out to conquer. Jesus disarmed the worst that death could do to us by dying himself in our place. That’s why death does not have the final word. Jesus has won victory. And we’re gonna celebrate next Sunday! We have hope!
But it’s fitting to enter Holy Week grieving in hope. Jesus invites us to bring that heaviness to him.
