Christ Church Leavenworth
Philippians 2:19-30
October 18, 2026
…
OT READING: 2 Kings 5:1-19
NT READING: 2 Timothy 1:1-14
"Making a Name for Yourself"
READING OF THE TEXT
Our text this morning is Philippians 2:19-30, these are the words of God
I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.
I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.
The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of our God stands forever.
PRAYER
Our Father and our God, we come before You this morning through Jesus Christ, our Lord, and in the Holy Spirit. Thank You for Your Word. Help us to hold it in high and reverent esteem, persuaded that by it we live and not live by bread alone. Fill us now with Your Spirit that we might hear Your Word for what it is and apply it like our lives depend upon it. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
INTRODUCTION
There are two ways a man can make a name for himself. One way is to become who you already are and the other is to become someone else. Let me provide an example of each. My children bear my last name: they are, therefore, Van Voorsts. But there is more to being a Van Voorst than simply having that be your last name. Van Voorsts have a particular flavor. There are things we do, songs we sing, foods we eat, movies we watch, etc… My sons and daughters are Van Voorsts in name by default, but being a Van Voorst in spirit is a decision they have to make. If they continue in what they have been taught, they will make a name for themselves by establishing themselves as Van Voorsts and making it their own, but If they depart from what they have been taught, they will make a name for themselves by redefining what it means to be a Van Voorst and making it into something else.
So, making a name for yourself can be an act of faith or it can be an act of breaking faith, it all depends on what you are embracing or what you are abandoning. Consider it from another angle. Take the people of Crete, for example. They were, by nature, according to Titus 1:12, liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. Now, if you were born into that, you could live up to it and be a Cretan or you could make a name for yourself by breaking away from it. In other words, you could be a pleasant surprise or an unpleasant stereotype. Making a name for yourself can be faithful or faithless, it depends on the name you have and what you do with it.
So, if you are born into a Christian family, you can make a name for yourself by walking in a manner worthy of your baptism, thus becoming what you are, a Christian; or you can be a Christian in name only and make a name for yourself by forsaking the God of your father and mother. Making a name for yourself is inescapable. It isn’t IF you will do it, it is WHICH way you will do it.
So, children of Christ Church, you were born into Christian homes. God has called you to obey your parents in the Lord, and this is right. One way to do that is to carry on what they are teaching you and never depart from it. So, make that decision right now. Remember who you are, Christian, and wear that name well. You have no idea how blessed you are, but someday you will. Do not take this for granted, take it with gratitude, and then get to work. Some of your parents were not as fortunate as you are. They are giving you a better life than they had. Some of them were born into some hot messes and others were born into big ol’ batches of lukewarm yuck. But they made a name for themselves by breaking away from that. Do not look a grace horse in the mouth. Honor God, honor your parents.
Some of your parents were born into Christian homes and going to the grandparents means going to visit Christians. Do not neglect the privilege you have been born into. Do not squander it. 3 John 4 says this, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” Kids, do you want to get your parents a present? Walk in the truth. And do it in such a tangible, obvious way that anyone can see that you are a child of God. Our church, like most, is made up of both those who made a name for themselves by carrying on the Christian tradition of their parents and those who broke free from the pagan ways of their parents. We will see examples of both in our text this morning. Before we do that, however, let’s first consider the context of our passage by briefly reviewing Php 2:1-18.
SUMMARY OF THE CONTEXT
:1-2 begin with the example of Jesus. He made a name for Himself by becoming who He was born to be. He was given the name “Jesus,” before He was born because He was “to save His people from their sins.” And He wore His name well. As a result, the Father established His Name as high and exalted above all others. Jesus did not prove He was His own man by walking His own path, no, He proved Himself worthy of the Name He was given by walking in the good works prepared for Him beforehand. He made a name for Himself by being who He was born to be. He owned His name and as a result His Name was established by God.
:3-11 then go on to encourage us to do the same. We should be of the same mind, have the same love, and walk in the same way that Jesus did in the days of His flesh. When we do, our joy is complete and when we don’t, we are miserable.
If Christ, who was God incarnate, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, how much less should we? If “He humbled himself to the point of death,” how much more should we? God opposes the proud, and He gives grace to the humble and Christ is a perfect example. He was humiliated in broad daylight, but “God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that to Him every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God.”
:12-18 go on to apply this in more detail. Making a name for yourself means establishing who you are and what you do when no one else is watching. The child who only obeys when he is being supervised is not a true child. He might love his parents enough to honor the standard in their presence, but he does not love their standard in his heart. Those who love the standard keep it within even when it’s not being enforced from without. So much so, that they will even keep it when the enforcement is working in the opposite direction. A Christian obeys Christ even if the law forbids it and he disobeys the law when it commands him to disobey Christ. If you love the Lord, you will kneel before Him even when someone else commands you to rise in defiance; and you will stand before lawless men even when they demand that you bow before them. Obedience is only as good as the one it obeys. It is not a virtue by default. Parents of obedient kids, beware. Make sure that one of your rules for them is that they do not simply obey whatever rules they come in contact with. If they pinch the incense or wear the mask simply because someone told them to, they will not inherit the earth because that is not meekness, it is weakness. Instead, raise them to be Daniels, Meshachs, Shadrachs, and Abednegos who know how to obey God by defying tyrants. Obedience is only as good as what and who it obeys.
We have to work out what God has worked in and every covenant child must work out the name they’ve inherited. Those who go with the grain of God will not grumble or complain about their lots in life. They will instead carry their crosses and conduct themselves like Christians. This will differentiate them so much from the world around them that they will look like stars in the night sky by comparison. So, Christian, live up to your legacy. Shine brightly. Don’t tell me you’re a star, stand up and stand out against the backdrop of this evil generation. Be a sharp contrast.
Don’t tell me you’re an apple tree, make some apples. Live up to your name. As the Lord said,“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit... A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Mt 7:18-20, 12:33) Hebrews warns us in a similar fashion in 6:7-12, when it says, “Land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for His name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”
You cannot cosplay Christianity. You must be earnest. Place your faith in Him and you will have full assurance and your family and friends will be assured that you are the real deal. So, Christian, be who you are, and look to those who labor for your souls. Paul labored for the Philippians. He poured himself out for them in the hopes that they would get the message and pour themselves out for others. Pr 11:25 reminds us, “The one who waters will himself be watered.” So, are you feeling dry? Do not sit around waiting to be watered, pour yourself out and living waters will well up within you. Our text today provides several examples of this.
SUMMARY OF THE TIMOTHY TEXT
The first is Timothy. :19 “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you.” So, Paul is in prison, but Timothy is with him. Paul is bound to the wall by chains and Timothy is bound to Paul by love. As such, he is a comfort and help to Paul. In all likelihood, Paul needs Timothy far more than the Philippians do, yet he is hoping to send him to them soon. He wants to encourage them and in turn he wants to be encouraged by news of them. He has confidence in the Philippians. He fully expects Timothy to find them doing well and he is excited to hear about what they have been up to. Be like the Philippians in this regard. Be dependable. Be reliable. Be consistently Christlike.
Paul did not merely want to be comforted, he wanted to comfort others, and so, he is willing to give up one of the best things he has in order to share it to the ones he loves. He needs Timothy more than the Philippians do, but he loves the Philippians more than he loves himself. And Timothy, his disciple, did not fall far from the tree as we see in the next verse.
:20-21 “For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.” Being interested in others is the interest of Christ. He did not carry the cross to get Himself to Heaven. He suffered for the sake of others. Self interest is the native language of the human soul and being interested in others is a foreign language. Selfishness is natural, selflessness is supernatural. Looking to the interests of others requires you to be in this world, but not of it. If you are not in the world, you will not even notice others – all of your “religion” will take place in high and lofty thoughts about God, but it won’t make a lick of difference down here. You will be too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good. But if you are of the world, you will only notice others when you see that they are not paying enough attention to you. The Christian, on the other hand, is here for others – he is in the world, but not of it. That begins by seeing others and goes on to see their needs, but it ends with making their needs your concern and doing something about it.
:22 “But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.” Children, for better or worse, often take after their fathers. Mal 4:6 makes it clear that fathers and sons doing this in a godly way is a sign that things are headed in the right direction. It is a sign that we are healing. Now, for some this analogy makes sense in theory, but it does not resonate with your reality. You may agree that this is the way things ought to be, but you know, firsthand, that fathers do not always uphold their end of the bargain. If that is you, take a cue from Timothy. Paul was not his biological father, but he was a father figure. God is a Father to the fatherless and He often provides father figures where biological fathers have failed. We do not know much about Timothy’s father except that he was a Greek and did not allow his son to be circumcised. We also know that he was raised and influenced more by his mother and her side of the family than by his father and his Greek heritage. In other words, Timothy may have had a Greek last name, but he made a name for himself. He did not follow in the footsteps of his father, he put his feet on the narrow path of God.
:23-24 “I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.” As we’ve mentioned before, being imprisoned was a precarious situation, not merely because you were awaiting a trial, but because while you waited, you needed outside help to stay warm and fed. This is why Paul’s letters often include requests for things like letters and cloaks. Prison cells were not climate controlled back then and there wasn’t a TV to watch. As such, Paul knew he would need Timothy a little bit longer if there was to be any hope of him surviving. Yet he wanted to send whatever help he could as soon as he could. And that is why he is sending Epaphroditus back now, which is what our text goes on to address next.
SUMMARY OF THE EPAPHRODITUS TEXT
:25-26 “I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill.” Consider the titles Paul here applies to Epaphroditus: my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, your messenger, and my minister. Paul was an apostle called by Christ Himself, but he was a brother to all Christians. He may have been an older brother, but he had the same Father. The same is true of us. We are brothers and sisters. Some are older brothers and some are little sisters, but we all have a Father in Heaven who makes us family. The same is true of the work we do. Paul had work God assigned him to do, but God has given us work as well. As important as Paul’s work was, he called Epaphroditus a fellow worker. We may have different roles and responsibilities, but we all work for the same Lord. This also applies to the battle we are engaged in. Paul fought the darkness of his day by destroying their arguments and taking thoughts captive to Christ. But he considered Epaphroditus a fellow soldier. They may have had different ranks and varying levels of combat experience, but they were enlisted in the same army. And the same is true of us. We are Paul’s brothers and sisters in Christ, we are his fellow workers in doing what God has called us to do, and we are his fellow soldiers as we fight the good fight and wage peace wherever we encounter the world. Look around the room. Do you see brothers, workers, soldiers? I do. Now, “consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.” (Heb 13:7). Brothers are born for adversity and soldiers are tested in battle.
Suffering well in your station solidifies your reputation. It makes you a messenger and a minister to others. Epaphroditus carried good news with him wherever he went and he ministered to whoever was in front of him. That is how you love your neighbors as yourself and avoid the death spiral of self-interest. Look to God, look around, get to work, and leave the results to God. John Adams said it this way, “We cannot insure success, but we can deserve it.” Waging war with honor does not guarantee you will win, but it does guarantee you will deserve it if you do. How you fight matters. Winning is NOT everything. There are ways to “win” which nullify the victory. So, rest in obedience, not in results. If you do, you will be a brother, a worker, a soldier, a messenger, or a minister even if you suffer for it. Watching someone suffer is a peculiar hardship, but watching them suffer well is a peculiar blessing. Suffering well is a rare accomplishment. Suffering people are often selfish. I know this is a hard truth to hear, but bear with me. Suffering tends to turn one’s gaze within and it often draws one’s attention inward. It makes it hard to see others. So, if you are suffering today or if you end up suffering tomorrow, do not give in to the temptation to indulge your self-interest. Do not let your suffering define you and do not let it blind you to the needs of others.
Consider the example of Epaphroditus. He did not allow his suffering to make him selfish. He fell ill, but his chief concern was not for himself. He was concerned for those who were concerned about him. He was worried about those who were worrying about him. Husbands and fathers, you understand this. If you get hurt in front of your wife or children, what do you do? Do you play it up to gain more sympathy? No. You play the man and play it down. Why? You don’t want your people to be worried about you. Wives and mothers, if you get sick, what do you do? Moan and groan and carry on so that your kids think you are dying? No. You get up and act like you’re ok. You don’t want your people to worry about you. It is your responsibility to worry about them and so you do whatever you can to ease their worries by not adding to them. The same kind of thing is happening here. Epaphroditus was able to suffer well because he was not the center of his thoughts. He cared about other people, not just when it was convenient or when he had the time, but when it was inconvenient and cost him something. Simply put, suffering well is a sign of a saint. So, how well do you suffer? Do you tempt others to put you out of your misery or do you inspire them to beg for your mercy? Epaphroditus loved others and as a result he was beloved as we see next.
:27 “Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.” Epaphroditus suffered well. We do not know how bad it was, but we know it was bad enough for Paul to think it was the end. And that is saying something considering Paul knew a little something about near death experiences. If the guy who has been beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, starved, and left for dead on multiple occasions says it looks bad… then it must have looked pretty bad. But God had mercy on both Epaphroditus and Paul by sparing Epaphroditus’ life and sparing Paul sorrow upon sorrow. He didn’t want to lose his friend and he didn’t want to have to write to the Philippians to regretfully inform them that their faithful friend had died far from home.
:28-30 “I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.” We are invited to join Paul in honoring those who serve well among us. Do not take them for granted; take them with gratitude. Honorable men are not a given and where honorable men are not honored, you will find less and less of them. Not because men need to be honored in order to act honorably, but because where honor is not honored, you will not produce the kind of people who can replace honorable men when they pass away. Romans 13:7 says it this way, “Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” Honor and respect are not mercenary. They cannot, by definition, be done for the recognition. And so the duty to recognize, honor, and respect the honorable and respectable falls on us. We owe them that.
To borrow from Tolkien, “Men are better than gates.” The Philippians had sent money to Paul, which was great, but they sent more than that - they sent a man. Money does not make someone less lonely or bind up their wounds. Money can buy the bandages, but only hands can apply them. Money needs to be incarnate before it can do any tangible good. What good is a cold gold coin when you are freezing in a prison cell? And what good is a piece of paper with numbers on it when you are starving? A hundred dollar bill tastes the same as a one and neither will fill your belly. Money can buy bread and blankets, but you still need someone to deliver them for you if you are stuck in prison. Furthermore, the faces on the money make poor friends and the carvings on the coins cannot converse with you. Men are better than money and a good friend is better than a go fund me. That said, the money the Philippians sent really was a service to Paul, but sending Epaphroditus “completed their service.” They did not just send the means, they sent a man to administer them. That is ministry, literally ad + minister.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
We began our time today by discussing the idea of making a name for yourself. Let’s end our time by taking a closer look at the names of these two servants. The name Timothy means “honor God.” Timothy, as we mentioned, was raised in a Christian environment with a mother and grandmother who read the Bible to him. We saw this in our NT reading where Paul said, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.” (2 Tim 1:5) Timothy’s mother’s family were faithful and brought him up in the faith. We see this again in 2 Tim 3:14-15 where Paul wrote, “Continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” Timothy’s mom did not name him “honor God” with her fingers crossed. She named him that and then she raised him accordingly. She brought him up to live up to his name. She did not merely assume he would “catch” her faith by osmosis, she taught him from the Scriptures. In other words, she gave him a Christian education. Timothy then made that name for himself by owning who he already was. He honored God and stayed true to his name. He was not Timothy in name only, he honored God in word and deed.
Epaphroditus, on the other hand, did not grow up in a Christian home. His name means, “devoted to Aphrodite.” So, his parents had something else in mind entirely. Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of “love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation,” so perhaps his parents saw him as a product of their love and wanted to say, “Thank you,” to Aphrodite for answering their prayers or perhaps they dedicated him to her to earn some future favor from her for themselves. We don’t know. But we do know that he grew up and made a name for himself by devoting his life to Christ. He was now “devoted to Aphrodite” in name only. God calls all kinds of people to Christ. Those born outside of the covenant are not prohibited from entering. Anyone can come in, if they come in the name of Christ. We saw this in our OT reading. Naaman was born outside of the covenant, but he died in it. As expected, that made life more interesting for him, as we saw, as he had to work out what it looked like to live a brand new way among old bad habits. But God takes us from where we are, not from where we should have been and He does not leave us where He met us, it is always onward and upward into Christ.
So, if you grew up in a Christian home, like Timothy, you must grow up into it, and if you grew up in a lukewarm or outright pagan place, like Epaphroditus, you must grow out of it. Parents, do not presume upon the Lord by getting lazy in your childrearing; and children, do not presume upon your parents’ faith without having any of your own. There is no cruise control Christianity. Make your calling and election sure. 2 Peter 1:10-11 “Brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Timothy and Epaphroditus both made names for themselves and both ended up being a great help to the apostle Paul. Some of you are going to have boring testimonies, like Timothy, and praise God for that, and some of you, may already have more interesting testimonies, like Epaphroditus, and thank God for that as well. You don’t have to have seen some stuff to be a Christian and having seen some stuff does not disqualify you from being a Christian. So, whatever you have seen and whatever you have done, turn a profit on it by turning it all to Christ. As Martin Luther once observed, "Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying.” So, make a name for yourself by believing in Christ. If you were born into a believing home, make a name for yourself by wearing it well; and if you were born into an unbelieving home, make a name for yourself by saying, ”Goodbye!” to the old you. If you are baptized, walk in a manner worthy of the name you wear on your head. Improve upon your baptism. If you are not baptized, consider this is your invitation. Repent and be baptized.
Come, and welcome to Jesus Christ.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, give us the Spirit of wisdom in the knowledge of Christ. Open the eyes of our hearts and enlighten us that we may know what is the hope to which You have called us and appreciate the riches of Your glorious inheritance in the saints. Do this according to the working of Your great might that You worked in Christ when You raised Him from the dead and seated Him at Your right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. We ask all of this in Jesus’ Name and we now offer up the words of the prayer He taught us to pray singing…
