Timothy Philippians, 2:19-24
Philippians 2:19-24 · Vern Peterman · Aug 3, 2003
Philippians (2003), No. 27
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262257483868

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Sure, glad you could join us here this morning. Anyway, we realize the number you had to battle the T-Rex in order to get here, and that's fine. And then when you got here, we know that sometimes the parking is a little informal. And so we appreciate your patience with us as we get those things worked out.

Now, the one thing I want to be cautious, as we're studying the book of Philippians, chapter two here, There are some very interesting people around you. Please don't let that distract you. OK? And so we will want you to focus on the passage as we study here and keep your attention on Philippians chapter 2. I mean it! By the way, we're going to study in English. OK. All right. In Philippians chapter 2, Paul is continuing on with his theme, and remember he started at the end of chapter 1 and around 127 to begin to tell them, because they had this issue of divisiveness and division going on. And he actually approaches it very gently and positively, but he has told them that you as believers ought to be considering the interests of others ahead of your own.

And So what does he do? He gives them four examples. He begins by giving a very pointed example of the very person of Christ, as one who considers the interests of others ahead of his own. And then he gives his own life, and here he goes to our third example, the life of Timothy. The example of Timothy is what he lays out for us in this passage here. And as he's doing so, he lays out, he doesn't just say, hey, I got this guy Timothy, isn't he a good example? And he'll see you in a while. Instead, what he does is he goes and lays out things about Timothy and what Timothy is doing that make it very clear, that make it very clear that what is happening here, Timothy is most certainly an example, an unparalleled example among those who are among Paul there, who was considering the interests of others ahead of his own. And this he was seeing as an important aspect of resolving the divisiveness and division that was beginning to take place there at the Philippian church.

Here is the city of Lystra, or the site of it. It's a Roman colony. It was founded 6 BC, very close to the time of the birth of Christ. So it was a young city by ancient standards. It wasn't like a number of them that had been around for centuries or even more. It was a young city, it was established as a Roman colony.

Now one of the things that that did was, here's Timothy, he is of a Greek father, he is of Jewish mother, and he is living in a Roman colony. So he's got exposure to the three main elements of the culture there, Jewish, Greek, and Roman. right there in the place where he's situated. Very much like Paul. Paul being a Roman citizen, Paul being Jewish, and living in a Greek-speaking city. So there was a lot that corresponded with Paul there.

Remember how Timothy became a believer? The church was first established there in Lystra, where Timothy started off. And Timothy wasn't even mentioned in those initial passages there in Acts 14. And what Paul did, he and Barnabas went and they established these churches and then they did a loop, came back around through the same path. See, they went through the same churches and they appointed elders at the churches after they had first established them. So Timothy, although his name isn't mentioned, no doubt was a part of that initial movement in the church.

Then we find in Paul's second journey, that's where Timothy is brought up in Acts chapter 16. Timothy is brought up, and here they are, and what do they do? They go through many of those same cities again. So here's actually a third visit to Lystra, where Timothy is located. It's here where Paul says, you know, hey, I would do well to have somebody to accompany me, and Timothy comes well-recommended.

To get an idea of the time frame here, here's Paul, he's made his first missionary journey. We see this on this end. Here's roughly around the year 45, Acts 13 and 14. This is the establishment of the church there in Lystra. Likely Timothy is involved there at the establishment.

Then we find shortly thereafter in his return trip, and here is where Paul picks up Timothy, and Timothy goes along with Paul. And then we find the church at Philippi founded there in that same chapter, Acts 16. And then what we notice here is from the time of what is Timothy's likely establishment in the church until the time of this letter writing is some approximately 15 years. So Paul and Timothy had had 15 years together, side by side as Timothy assisting Paul.

So when Paul is writing about Timothy, he's not writing about somebody he barely knows. He's not writing about somebody that he has some acquaintance with. He's writing about somebody who has spent time with him. We have multiple records of time. As a matter of fact, we mentioned before, when we looked at Timothy, every single New Testament book that Paul wrote, Timothy is either listed as one of the authors in the book, listed in the book, or in a couple cases, he is not mentioned in the book, but we know he had involvement with the church, Galatians and Ephesians. So what you see is, here is Timothy, he is extensively involved. in Paul's ministry, and as Paul writes about him, he writes with great understanding of this young man. I say young man because by this time he's somewhere approaching 40. Okay. Something else to take a look at as we go through this passage. I'll return to it, but just this idea.

Here is the network of Roman roads from actually around the first part of the New Testament era. And the Romans eventually ended up building up 54,000 miles of Roman roads, two times around the globe. But to go from Rome over to Philippi was a trip around here, 40 days travel. 40 days on foot. Now, if I called you and said, hey, I need you to pick up something at the market, you'd say, fine, you drive over there and get it. If I say, hey, I need you to take a little trip for me. By the way, you're going to be on foot for 40 days.

To give us some point of reference, here we are, we're just starting August. This would get you, if I said, okay, now start walking to Philippi, middle of September, you'd get there. This is a walk. It's a long walk. If you're into walking, this is a good one. Here we get into the passage, and like a number of the passages we looked at, this one breaks naturally into three parts. And so we see verse 19 is the first part there.

But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition, part one. Verses 20 through 22 is the middle part. Genuinely be concerned for your welfare, for they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ. But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father. And then in the third part, verse 23, therefore I hope to send him immediately as soon as I see how things go with me. And verse 24, and I trust in the Lord that I myself also will be coming shortly.

Now as we begin to look at this passage, there's additional patterns. that falls out. Let's take a look at those. First he's going to tell in the first part, send Timothy, and Paul is to hear. That's the first message. Second message there is Timothy's character contrasted with others. And then, what are you going to see? Send Timothy again, and now Paul is to come too. But look, there's further parallels and contrasts in this one.

You notice in the first part of verse 19, he's going to send Timothy. What do you see in the first part of verse 23? I'm going to send him immediately. In the last part of verse 19, what do you see? Paul's talking about his response. In the last part of 23 and 24, Paul talks about, I'm going to come too. Do you see that?

Now, further parallel, in the middle section there, 20 through 22, verse 20 is about Timothy's character. Verse 21 is about the character of others. Verse 22 is again about Timothy's character. Multiple levels of pattern and reflection between the parts of this passage.

Real interesting. One of the things to take a look at here, this is not a unique statement on Paul's part. Paul was often assigning, sending, or sending for Timothy. Now, wouldn't it have been neat if they could just get on the cell phone? But it was not that easy. It's just like, hey, let's visit the folks over at Philippi and dial up. But in case you haven't gotten a picture here, this is a long trip. He sent him on lots of long trips solo. And by the way, traveling in those days, even if you're on a Roman road, could be dangerous. So this was not without risk. Timothy is really going for a jaunt.

Here we see the first instance, Acts 19.22, and it continues on from there. He writes in more than one place. to the church at Corinth in the first Corinthians there about the travels. We're reading about it now in Philippians chapter 2. Thessalonians, and that's this major city just to the west of Philippi, is another one. And Timothy says, I sent you to Ephesus. Why? To deal with the false teachers.

And there were others that Paul sent as well, sent Titus and Tychicus and different ones like that in some of the other New Testament books. And they would send them frequently on these Roman roads that had been built around the New Testament time. And we even have a signpost in Greek and in Latin from the time, along the very road that goes through the middle of Philippi.

Okay, so as we look at this Philippians 2, 19 through 24 passage, notice there's a pattern that jumps out. I mean, this passage has multiple patterns. But here's one that jumps out. He says, I hope in the Lord Jesus, and then he comes with the second repetition of a similar idea, I trust in the Lord, that I myself also will be coming shortly. So what we see here is 2.19 and 2.24, I trust in the Lord Jesus, and by the way, I catch something here, this one here does not have Jesus in the second part.

Scratch that out. Okay. But nonetheless, what you see in the first part, he uses that word el piso, okay? That's not an L-shaped pizza, okay? It's, I hope, or the King James Version has trust. And the idea is he's expressing an aspiration, okay? The next one here, I trust, piso, it means to have confidence. It's not the same word as believing, okay, in the New Testament. A different word. It means to have confidence.

Nonetheless, we see that showing up. One of the things to bring forth here, these aren't statements of position, and they are not Paul prophesying. He already is telling, and we see in other parts of this passage, he's already telling them, he says, I don't know how it's going to turn out. Furthermore, he even says in this one, I can't send Timothy until I find out how it turns out.

So he doesn't know, but he says, I hope in the Lord Jesus, What they are is a statement of, Paul is holding every hope and aspiration and confidence subject to the will of the Lord. He says, God's will is fine with me. That's what he's stating here. These are statements of, I have a hope, I have an aspiration, I have something I would like to do, but these I will hold subject to the Lord's will. look and hold these independent of recognizing God's sovereignty.

The next thing that he says here is another kind of a pattern. He says, to send Timothy to you shortly, he stated that, and now in verse 23, to send him immediately, but he puts a condition in it, as soon as I see how things go with me. You get the picture here as we're reading this.

Paul's intent is to send Timothy to Philippi very soon. And we find that Paul himself would like to go too. He'd like to follow soon after Timothy's visit. And by the way, he did that more than once where he'd send somebody ahead and then follow with his own. He wrote that to the Church of Corinth where he would send someone and then come himself right afterwards. And here's Paul sending Timothy But he says, it's going to wait until the outcome of my legal proceedings here. He says, I want to send him right away, but not until the outcome of the legal proceedings. At least one reason is he'd like Timothy to be able to tell him what happened.

How did this go? After all, it's evident from Chapter 1, they're worried about it. They're concerned. How is this turning out? You've got this legal proceedings, you've been in military confinement here, in basically prison arrangements. for months and months and months and months, how's it going? How's it happening? And so, one reason for holding off is just so that they can find out. It also shows that Paul doesn't know.

Now, a key word jumps out at us here, encouraged. It has in the King James to be comforted. It's a compound word. Ipsucheo, literally, good sold. Now, real interesting, he's used this suceo, or sukas, word previously with us here. This is the only place this word is used in the entire New Testament. It's a unique place here. Paul is using it here, I think, for a specific reason, and the reason is this.

He has already used this word sukas, or derived words, several times, either before or shortly to use it afterwards. And so what he's doing, he's making a focus between the use of this word sukos and another word that we've touched on before, phreno, the mind. And he's focusing here, he says, the Lord's dealing with our minds. And he's bringing back that thread from one verse to the next, from the prior passage. He is addressing, in part, the point that he's trying to make with the church at Philippi, to be single-souled. one sold among them."

Now the next thing that comes out, he makes this point, and he's basically saying Timothy is unique, for I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. Nobody. Now that's a pretty bold, powerful statement, isn't it? But think of this for a minute. This word kindred spirit, or in the King James, like-minded, I have nobody else who is like this. Iso means the same or equal. Nobody else who is equal-souled or like-souled.

In Philippians 1.27, Paul had urged the saints in Philippi to be one-souled. Remember that? Strive together to be one-souled. One. How about that? One whole church body, one-souled. And let me ask this, is there any reason why that urging should not apply here at Holly Hills? Is there any reason? No, there isn't one. The urging and admonition is the same to us. Now, it goes on.

In 2.2 here is that they be together sold. Okay? Boy, he's making a point here, isn't he? One sold, together sold, and now, 2.20, Paul offers Timothy as the best example of one who is the same sold. and Paul wants to hear that that's happening because he wants to be good sold. He keeps making this point back to them. There's another word that jumps out. Genuinely. King James uses the word naturally there. Genesios.

This word is based on a word meaning legitimately born. Legitimately born. The genuine article of innate character. The real thing. That's the idea he's trying to get across here. Legitimate. He is the real thing. The genuine article. He's a real guy. 1 Timothy 2 begins with Paul writing to Timothy, my true genesis, child in the faith. How about that? The one who is the genuine article. The real thing. Legitimately born. The exact same word.

In Philippians 2, 19-24, now we get into the last part of verse 20. It says, Who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare? For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. Remember when, and what I want to do is to kind of take us back a little bit. He says in 2, 3-4, Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mine, regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others."

So now what's he talking about? Timothy will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. Here's the message, see? The example. Because I've told you to be looking out for the interests of others. What's Timothy going to do? Be looking out for the interests of others. Perfect example. And then he says, for they all seek their own interests, not those of Christ. Now, he doesn't say who they is, okay?

But apparently, because he's made this statement that Timothy is so unique, apparently Timothy is the one guy who's willing to say, want me to make a 40-day trip across a dangerous road by myself? Sure! And want me to walk 40 days back after I'm done? Sure! Okay? Yeah.

Timothy's unique. See, look at this route. He's basically going to have to go around this body of water in order to make this trip. And he's volunteering for a long venture. To give you an idea, just the travel time, okay? Just the travel time, if you were to say, start now and get back and make it continuous, you would be into the end of October. before Timothy would get back, if you were to say, start now. That is a long trip on foot, by yourself, most likely, and on dangerous roads.

Okay. He says, you know of his proven worth, so he's not just saying, trust me. He says, you know of it, okay? Personally, you know. This word, gnosko, you know by experience, okay? You personally have experience with this fellow Timothy. The believers at Philippi had spent time with this Timothy fellow. He was not just an acquaintance. Paul didn't have to introduce him or explain who he was, why, because they knew of his character. There are several references in Acts that indicate very clearly that he had spent time there in Philippi.

And there may be others as well, others we don't have record of. This verb is present active indicative, so he didn't say, you will know, he says, you'll continue to know right now. Proven words. Documé, or the proof in the King James Version. This is closely related to the word documós that we saw previously in Philippians 1.10. Remember that? That was a while back. The idea is that Timothy had been tested. They would use this word docuMOS for various products.

We put this product to the test and it works. Something was supposed to hold water and they put water in it and they found it holds the water, it passed the test. It was also used of exams like in school. Dr. Luke likely went to medical school in Philippi and in order to graduate from the medical school, he had to take a number of exams And when he was done with those exams and successfully passed, documas, apply, okay?

The next thing that comes out here in verse 22, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father. Here is where the translations have a difficulty getting the idea across real clearly, and so let me make a particular point here as we get to that. The first thing is this word that jumps out, duleo, this word served.

This word doesn't just mean to serve, it's the verb that is the service of a completely owned slave. You could be a servant and just be a hired servant, or you could serve people and it could be something voluntary, but he uses the word that's used of a hired, excuse me, an owned slave. The definition of a slave functionally was one who was entirely subject to the will of another.

How about that? And what you see there over in the lower right corner is actually a slave tag. Basically it says, if you find this slave, I'll give you money if you turn him in. This slave was apparently made to wear this tag. Recall when we studied this here, that Paul and Timothy were signing themselves at the very start of this letter as the doulos, the bondservants, the wholly-owned slaves of Jesus Christ. Now, a child serving his father. Let's take a look at this. Timothy here would be sent as a direct representative of. He would fully represent Paul. Why?

He was same-souled as Paul. He had been approved by testing. One of the other things to note, it was real common in those times to have a disciple and a discipler, and that was typically called a father-son relationship. So Paul was carrying on that cultural tradition as he used that. There is something to clarify here, and that's because Paul uses some unusual construction. Let's take a look at that. It says, he has served with me, and it goes this way.

Paul does compare his relationship with Timothy, his father and son. And he writes of Timothy here, of serving with him. You see the distinction there? They are both bondservants of Christ. He says, we have a father-son relationship, but he serves as a servant, as a holy enslaved with me. We both do it. It's consistent with what he wrote in Philippians 1. Since they both served Christ, Timothy is serving as that bondservant with Paul, alongside him. Now, the last thing we see here, Philippians 2, 19-24, and we see out of that whole passage, you see, I see. That little part jumped out. Well, you look at that and you say, well, okay, we know what I see means. What's so significant about that? Why would you bring that up?

I'll tell you. You've got a key word here, I see, or I shall see, in the King James. It's apedo, and it's a compound word from the Greek apo and edo. It means away from, look. Now this is very interesting. Here's why. This word carries the idea of Paul having had his attention intensively focused on the needs of the saints in Philippi, but that he would have to look away from that, from that focus that he was principally zeroed in on, toward his legal proceedings to determine the right kind to send Timothy. Now, you get the point. He's saying my main focus is you.

I am going to have to look away from that in order to see how my legal proceedings are going to send Timothy. He himself, in the word that he chose, was telling them that his primary concern was them. He was more interested in their interests and concerns than his own. He would have to look away from his primary concern, them, in order to look at the things that he was looking at with his own legal proceedings, because he was so fixed on their needs and their interests and the concerns about them.

So let's take a look at Philippians 2, 19-24. Here he says, But I personally hope, holding that hope subject to the will of the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy to you soon, among the reasons being that I also may be cheered and encouraged when I learn of your condition since the last report. Obviously, he's got some information, but he wants an update. And considering how long it takes to travel and come back, months could go by. So he wants an update. What's going on?

For I have not here in Rome even one person who is so like-minded as Timothy, willing to take a long trip like that on foot, at risk to himself, who will truly be far more concerned for your welfare than his own, so as to make the 40-day trip on foot each way, and looking past all traveling risks as well. Here's Timothy, willing to do that. Verse 21, for all the others except for Timothy seek after their own personal interests rather than the ultimate spiritual concerns of others in view of who Christ Jesus is and our eternal position in Him. This matters, not because I say it matters, but because of who we are in Christ. Okay? Verse 22, but you know by personal experience Timothy's tested and examined character.

Remember? He'd been through a whole bunch Paul had spent 15 years probably with him and had plenty of experience. The people in Philippi had had plenty of experience. It says that as a devoted child would his father, he served as a holy owned bond servant, making his will entirely subject to Christ, right alongside me for the past 12 years.

Therefore I hope, which hope is subject to the will of the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy to you immediately upon my turning my attention from being focused upon you, so as to see how things go with my legal proceedings. And being optimistic about my circumstances, I have confidence, subject to the will of the Lord, that I also will be coming to visit you shortly as well, following Timothy's visit to you." Paul wants to come as well.

Now, if you think about this for a minute, If Timothy's efforts here were simply out of the flesh, no matter how good they looked, I don't think Paul would offer Timothy as an example. Do you? I don't think that Paul would say, hey look, this guy puts out the best effort in the flesh that you could imagine. Okay? I don't think that's what he's encouraging.

I think it's very clear that what he is encouraging here, Timothy has a character that is proven, and what it has proven is Timothy has exhibited dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Timothy's an example. He gave the example of Christ first, remember? Timothy is an example as well, because you see the very life of Christ coming through Timothy. That's why Timothy's an example. That's why Timothy's an example.

He is in no way encouraging people to say, okay, here's Timothy's example. Give your best effort in the flesh to go out and copy it, because it's pretty good. Okay? That's not what he's saying. He's saying, we've already given the example of Christ, here is Timothy, another example of Christ. That's his point. He's pointing for us, as well, as we see this example. This great and marvelous life of Christ through the person of Timothy. Let's pray.

Lord, as we look at this passage, we see this fellow Timothy, and we know from other passages that as a As a person, he was timid. His own personality was inclined to be timid. He may have even, in his own person, have been easily confused. And yet, Lord, as we see this, it's very clear that Timothy depended upon you.

He had learned well, not just in his head, but in his very life, to have Christ be his life. And Lord, we thank you for that example. We thank you for Paul's laying out these truths so succinctly and so marvelously here before us. We just thank you and give you praise in the name of Jesus our Lord. Amen.