Changes: Philippians 2:19-30

Philippians 2:19-30 (NIV)
¹⁹ I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. ²⁰ I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. ²¹ For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. ²² But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. ²³ I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. ²⁴ And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon.

²⁵ But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. ²⁶ For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. ²⁷ Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow. ²⁸ Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety. ²⁹ Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him, ³⁰ because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me.

As we continue through the book of Philippians we come to the above section.  It is personal correspondence from Paul to the Church in Philipi.  I thought about just skipping this passage in our series but the more I thought about it the more I thought it is relevant to what we do.   Paul extols Timothy and writes about the illness of Epaphroditus.  Paul’s ministry was always seemingly in transition.  Whether from one city to another or whether he was changing who he was traveling with there was seemingly constant change. 

Change is something we are always dealing with in CH.  Whether it is for happy reasons (people supported gaining independence to a point of transitioning to less supports, staff going on maternity leave, staff moving to a contract that suits them better) or for sad reasons (someone dies, someone has health needs that stop them from being supported/working in our environment) change is hard.  It is also necessary.  Life goes on.  Things change.  I think about how difficult it would have been for Paul to leave the churches he established.  You can really pick up on how emotional some of his letters are and how much he longs to see people again.  Yet, Paul was willing to make the difficult changes because he knew it was best for God’s Kingdom. 

The lesson that I draw out of the above passage is how important it is to encourage each other.  Change is going to come and it will likely be difficult.  For Paul, whether the change occurred as a result of sickness or moving or imprisonment, he always encouraged people through it.  He sent words of comfort. 

Is there someone you know who could use some encouragement as they face a difficult change or situation?

Mark Wallace