Two Men Who Look Like Christ

I had just written to you of the mind that was in Christ Jesus, who emptied himself and became a servant unto death. Now I do not leave that as a lofty picture to admire from below. I hand you two men who wear it. "I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon" (Philippians 2:19), and of him I say what I could say of few: "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" (Philippians 2:20-21). There it is, the plain division of the human heart — his own interests, or those of Jesus Christ. Timothy, whom I have watched serve "as a son with a father" (Philippians 2:22), has spent himself on you and not on himself. That is the mind of Christ come down into a real man with a real name.

And Epaphroditus — "my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need" (Philippians 2:25). You sent him to me, and he nearly did not return to you. "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" (Philippians 2:27). Do not miss that I say it that way. I am an apostle in chains, and still I confess I was spared a grief I did not want to bear. The gospel does not make me a stone. It gives me brothers whose living and dying can gladden or wound me, and it teaches me to receive their recovery as the mercy of God and not mere fortune.

Notice what troubled Epaphroditus most on his sickbed: not his own body, but that "you had heard that he was ill" (Philippians 2:26). He was distressed for your distress. This is what it looks like when a man forgets himself in the way of Christ — even his suffering turns outward. So I tell you, "receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ" (Philippians 2:29-30).

Here is the heart of it for you today. You want to see the mind of Christ made flesh — look for the Timothys and the Epaphrodituses near you, and honor them, for they are more precious than you know. But more than that: be one. In your home, your labor, your gathering, there is a daily fork in the road — your own interests, or those of Jesus Christ. Choose him in the small, unwatched things, spend yourself for someone's welfare today, and you will find you are not merely imitating a great example. You are being conformed to the One who first emptied himself for you.

Grace and peace to you.