Philippians 2:19-30
In Philippians, Paul has been explaining the importance of the gospel, and the importance of humility. While talking about these 2 things, Paul has already used 2 the examples of people, who are ‘modelling’ these points. Paul himself was our first example; He was a model of living for the gospel (Phil. 1:12-26, Phil. 2:16-18). And our second example was Jesus; He is our supreme example of humility in Phil. 2:5-11. But then we reach today’s section, and we have 2 more examples: a man named Timothy and one named Epaphroditus. And here’s the question…why do we need 2 more examples when we’ve already had 2 examples? One reason is because when it comes to seeing examples, the more the merrier. There’s a kind of proverbs that says “we learn more caught then taught” (aka, we learn more deeply through examples then just getting information). If that’s the case, then more examples helps us learn this more deeply. But here’s another reason…these 2 new guys were ORDINARY models of gospel commitment and humility. Think about it…if the only examples of gospel commitment and humility we had were Paul and Jesus…would we feel confident that change was possible for us? Because following Jesus and Paul is a high standard! We feel so unlike them! They’re are like spiritual superheroes! What about us normal people?! Well, Timothy and Epaphroditus were ordinary men, who loved Christ and loved others…and it’s by their ordinary obedience that their example becomes extraordinarily helpful and encouraging.