That’s What Friends Are (Part 1 of 2)

When he wrote to the church at Philippi. The apostle Paul described the humble service of two men, Timothy and the pepper died us today on Truth for Life Alistair Begg challenges us to follow the example of these two faithful disciples as he continues.

Our study called jars of Clay were in Philippians chapter 2 beginning at verse 19. Lord granted us a renewed spirit of self forgetfulness, and as we turn to the Bible together made a spirit be our teacher. Help us to learn because we were thinking help us to receive your truth because our hearts were hungry for.

Help us to be ready to run into the pathway of obedience because we Herod your voice and we knew unmistakably that we must respond to this and we look to you in Christ name on brief background for any for whom this sad little lecture is totally unknown. The context is role. It's around A.D. 60 and the apostle Paul is on house arrest. He had been arrested in Jerusalem.

He was moved to Caesarea Philippi and from Caesarea.

He was transferred to Rome where he is now in house arrest.

He is awaiting a trial, he doesn't know what will happen as a result of the trial whether he will live or die. He has a sneaking suspicion that he is going to live and be able to return to the Philippian church at least one more time while he is enrolled in these dear believers in Philippi sent to them. This individual Aphrodite us. He had gone to Rome to let Paul know what was going on in Philippi and also to take a gift from the Philippian church to Paul for which he thanks them later on he was receiving up Aphrodite was at a very crucial point in his life as you would understand not knowing what the future held from him, and it may be that the church in Philippi thought that if they send up Aphrodite's to Paul that Paul would be good enough to send Timothy back to them because they are where as we see from the letter a number of pastoral issues which were in need of apostolic treatment and in the absence of Paul, Timothy, was his foremost apostolic delegate, and so it may well be that the anticipation was that in parting with up Aphrodite's.

They may have been able to trade him for Timothy. Now Paul is concerned to keep Timothy within he once Timothy he doesn't know what his life holds with her will be short or long and while he recognizes that the needs and Philippi are significant needs, he deems that it is the wisest course of action to return up Aphrodite's to them for multiple reasons and to keep Timothy with him.

He will then he determines convey as much pastoral concern and encouragement as can be provided in the scope of a brief letter and that brief letter is the letter that we know as Philippians and he sends it off at the hand of this individual. Aphrodite's and it is full of encouragement. It is full of joy.

It is full of exhortation and one of the prevailing problems in the church was apparently an increasing sense of disunity, cliquish and nice groups beginning to polarize from one another. Perhaps when they gathered for worship.

They had begun always to sit in the same seat and always to sit with the same group and it was nothing more than that, but it began to create the impression that this little group was a group and they were a group within the larger group and their significance was attached to this smaller die mention rather than the benefits of being part of the whole. And so in the beginning of his second chapter he has encourage them on the basis of their union with Christ, to make sure that they're not doing things out of selfishness or conceit, but rather that they are displaying an attitude of humility had a mention humility. He then provides for them. The supreme example of humility in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and in verses 5 to 11. He describes the amazing humility of he who was the Lord of creation, the Lord of glory, making that great scoop not only to our time space Show not only to be incarnated as a man, but to die a very ignominious death of that of a Roman crucifixion, and then he says, in light of that in verse 12.

I want to encourage you readers to work out your own salvation with fear and with Trembley and if anyone in any doubt as to what that involved.

He then began to tell them in verse 14 and following. He says I want you to be doing things without grumbling and complaining. Don't be like the child asked to unload the dishwasher, who moans and groans and complains and made such a jolly nuisance of themselves that the parent eventually despairing says get out of the kitchen.

It's much easier for me to handle this by myself.

That is, of course, what happens in church families.

When you have individuals who want to be involved, but part of their involvement very God as a gateway to complaining and or criticizing, and the bitterness so you cannot get what you want.

Namely their participation without getting what you don't want. Namely their aggravation and the temptation on the part of leadership is to say, get out of here and let me get on with this myself churches. They are not do that.

Rather, we must pay attention to the Bible and do by the spirits enabling what we are called to do, do it without complaining and without arguing.

You are becoming. He's as blameless and pure. You are shining like stars in the universe.

You are holding out the word of life and you are learning to rejoice and to be glad with me if you think about it. Imagine that you are writing this letter and you had gone through all of this year given his word of exhortation you use the illustration of the Lord Jesus, you, and encourage those who were reading the letter to think about their own salvation in their walk with Christ you would give them some practical implications of what that would mean don't you think that you would almost inevitably go now to somebody who incarnated the very things that you desire to see happening in the church. If there was anybody to whom you could turn and say why don't you just be like X why don't you be like why it would be a perfect time. And hey, that's exactly what Paul does. He says now let me mention to you two characters two individuals who, as I think about these essential characteristics of Christian living are the very embodiment of when we talk about friendship within the body of Christ. These are the characteristics that we would like to see for these characteristics ultimately point us to the one who is the best friend of all.

Namely, the Lord Jesus Christ himself the best of friends to us will always be friends who imitate Christ. You will never have a better friend then a friend who points you to Christ by their life by their commitment by their service by their example, there will never be a better friend and you and I can never be a better friend than when we are being that kind to those who are around us now as I have reviewed these verses in the course of preparation I decided that I would try and summarize the characteristics of these two individuals under three words in the words of these. First of all, that we would note that these men are men of availability.

Secondly, that they are men who are marked by sensitivity and thirdly that they are individuals whose life's ring with reliability and I won't take too long on each one.

First of all, then man of availability every so often Christmas throws up a toy that everybody wants the greatest epidemic that I have known world was in relationship to those ugly dolls with the pieces of ladies closed tight over there ugly faces and eyes scurried there with my wife and in the middle of the night around Randall Mall hiding behind buildings waiting for trailers to arrive and then fighting large women off Isaiah some of the men are going yeah right it's right fighting large women authors you can fight any man all yeah I know that's okay that's fine this I'm just being honest and thank you for letting thought. But those ugly things were at one of the one of the in an earlier generation.

I don't know if I'm sure we got it from you, but we had the action man pandemic for a while in Britain and these little action man figures were everywhere. I like them. I can remember them too well, except that they would zoom around action man action man action man was here.

Why do I mention it simply because these two individuals are action men.

They are what you are supposed to be in the church, not a lump on a log, not a courtroom in a few not a name on a list not a number on a chart but an action man or an action woman and our action is directly related to our availability and the key to the availability of these individuals is found on every occasion that you see the verb to send you find it in verse 19 verse 23 verse 25 verse 28.

Who do you send available people you don't want to have to wait around to cajole somebody into action. You want action men you want to be able to turn around and say, would you please go would you take this. Would you do that and these characters Timothy in a Pepperdine disc are men of availability available to whom available first of all to the Lord available to the Lord.

Notice the phrase there in the opening phrase in verse 19. I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to meet. I hope in the Lord Jesus was impossible for them to hope out of the Lord Jesus is this sort of padding like in a bad English paper is it's a cliché.

Is this just some religious phraseology know it is a description of what it means to be a Christian because a Christian is someone who is in the Lord Jesus someone who formerly was not in Christ all they may have been into religion and they may have been in church buildings, but they were not in Christ Jesus. And then the day dawns and dons for Saul of Tarsus when they realize that they had offended against Christ that they were sinners and that Jesus was a great Savior and laying hold of his great and precious promises they were transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light and was in that they simply plugged into information and was in that they responded to manipulation but in laws that God brought about a great transformation that's convection something that God does what he does is he places a man or a woman in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if a man or woman is in Christ process to the Corinthians. The old is gone, the new has come. So when Paul hopes he hopes in the Lord Jesus when he laughs. He lives in the Lord Jesus when he serves. He serves in the Lord Jesus. And when he boasts he posts in the Lord Jesus because his availability. As with her colleagues that he mentions is an availability that is first to the Lord himself as good this morning. Do you belong to the Lord Jesus is your name written down as it where on his list for there is a book into which he enters the names of those who are his own and fun and interestingly Paul when he writes concerning marriage and the possibilities of remarriage in first Corinthians 7 make some interesting little statement that is germane to what I'm saying but in a totally different context, and in turn to it but I'm quoting from first Corinthians 7 verse 39. A woman is bound to her husband as long as she live as he lives.

Marriage is forever, but if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes. Then he adds a caveat, but he must be long, to the Lord. Interesting little phrase he must be long till what is it mean to belong to the Lord and means to be a Christian it means to have been received by his grace into his family is that you. If so, then you will understand that you have been placed into the Lord Jesus means that my availability is first to the Lord that my concern is for the interests of Jesus, not for the interests of myself that my concern is the work of the Lord Jesus, rather than other passages of work availability to the Lord. Secondly, availability to the Lord's servant we see ministry does not take place in a vacuum. How could Paul of exercise the ministry that he did from the Roman jail if no one had come to see him if no one had brought him a message if there had never been the encouragement of the gift if it had never been the companionship of a Pepperdine doesn't Timothy. In other words, God did not minister to Paul simply directly and peculiarly. There is no question of course that had Paul lived in total isolation. The presence of the risen Christ by his spirit would have been with him there, but God determined that Paul's life would be enriched and the lives of those who minister to him by the fact that into place in companionship with one another and available thirdly to the Lord's people to the Lord's people. These individuals were available as servants of the church. What did they do well they did all kinds of things but essentially here. They carried messages verse 19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon that I also may be cheered when I received news about you to understand if they had done this Pocono written about them in this letter.

Indeed, the letter would never go back to Philippi because of Pepperdine's if you never got on his motorbike is where I'm going over there in the first place.

The rope would never been able to go back with the letter that Paul wrote don't overlook the tremendous impact of apparently inconsequential actions. Indeed, loved ones do not fall foul of the idea that the most significant pieces of our bodies are the bits that are visible. That's what Paul says does Nick. He says you know the things we can see are the things we tend to pay more attention to fiddling with our fingernails and our toenails and walking around with our noses in our eyebrows and everything else because these are the bits that stick out but he says don't you realize that it is the unseen things in the body that are the most significant these non-volitional functions which are going on cerebral leak keeping us together fluid in the islets renal function. All of that stuff and the same is true in Parkside church and when the records are opened and when the book certainly bear and when around the throne of heaven.

God looks upon the company and he apportions rewards the dispatch writers. The bearers of news like those of whom to whom Solomon refers in Proverbs, he says like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land cold water to a weary soul good news from a distant land to know the impact you can have in the week by determining to pick up your phone. Maybe just three times and making a random phone call to somebody to tell them X, Y or Z that is encouraging.

I don't mean one of those 45 minute telephone calls it works through every problem in humanity.

I just mean I just called to say I love you. I just called to say how much I care right that kind of call. Do you know other people's lives are hanging by a thread waiting for those calls.

You know what I said move around. I'm not trying to be funny here.

I want you to sit in the company of other people, so you can find out who these people are good. You may have to call him this week and they may want to call you so that our fellowship would be like this fellows in Philippi that we would be available to Christ, that we would be available to the servants of Christ and that we would be available to the totality of God's people. It is impossible to share God without serving one another. It is is impossible to do that to say I'm available to God and not available to the needs of the fellowship as it is to say I love God, one John four and hit my brother, it is impossible to sit and say here I am holy available to you. It will be my great privilege to serve you, Lord, but why did we have to have this yellow slip in here about the children like to be available without being available. I like to be a servant without really serving the doesn't work that availability can ask you a question this morning and I asked myself and continue to ask myself the same question. Have you ever or how long has it been since in the quietness of your own department of life whether it is you driving your car, whatever represents isolation to your backyard under a tree. Your car you drive, whatever might be have you recently got along with God and reaffirm this essential commitment to sit on Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to know that I am totally available to you. I don't know what that means. I don't know what you'll do with that. I don't know if anything will immediately change but I just want to tell you now that I am totally available to you. I want to be sold out for you. I want I want to be the kind of guy I want to be the kind of girl that makes the leadership of church joyful, rather than burden. I want to be available to them when they are looking for service done dear was you understand the impact of 2000 people taking that seriously jeopardize what it will mean imagine a church like that work.

Everyone is willing to take up the task in front of them and serve God. However, he leads. What a beautiful picture of the family of God.

Your listing to Truth for Life challenging message from Alastair big from a series called jars of Clay and as Alister described Timothy in a Pepperdine dress and their willingness to serve. I found myself thinking about another group of people who have said yes to serving sacrificially thinking about listers like you who have donated to support this ministry. When you give to Truth for Life. You're really giving to your fellow listers you're helping to make these daily messages available to them without cost.

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You know it's called ask real-world questions real word answers. The book addresses 52 questions about faith, about God, about contemporary issues that all of us are facing the author's apologist David Robertson is collected these questions from teenagers from all around the world and they cover quite a spam from deep theological questions about the mind of God. Philosophical questions about the purpose of life and practical questions about how science and faith fit together. The book ask is a great go to book to help you answer questions from older children, you'll find help as you face oppositional questions about your faith in the workplace or in your neighborhood. Request your copy of ask when you donate today@truthforlife.org/donate.

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If you'd rather mail your donation along with your request for the book right to truthfully at PO Box 39, 8000, Cleveland, OH 44139 Bob Lapine tomorrow. Alister continues her study of Timothy under Pepperdine. This is a practical example they left for us sure to join us next time Bible teaching of Alastair big is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living