Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope all your holidays were filled with good times, great oldies, and lots of turkey. If you're a vegetarian or a non-birdian...I'm sorry for your loss. Just kidding.
So lately I've been really getting into Paul's letter to the Philippians. It has been a book in the Bible that God has really used to speak to me. If you get a chance, definitely read that book. I bet you could do it in one sitting.
Anyways there is a part in Philippians 2 when Paul really focuses in on this man Epaphroditus. Now the context of this letter is that Paul is in a Roman jail. In Roman jails you don't get cable TV, weights, time outside, or three square meals a day like you do here in American jails. In those days you would be living in this solitary cell in something similar to a sewer, which reeks of human waste. On top of that, the Roman government doesn't want to invest a single cent for providing food or medical care for you so the only people who can actually do that are your close friends and/or family members. You would definitely be in need. If you were in Paul's shoes, you didn't have any family members. But the Philippian church heard about their old pastor Paul's needs and decided to provide for him by sending him food and supplies through Epaphroditus, a humble servant and messenger.
Epaphroditus literally risked life and limb to bring Paul those supplies. On top of that, he got sick with the swine flu (haha not really) and almost died in the arms of Paul. Thankfully God spared him and healed him, but it was a pretty difficult time for both of them.
This is a REALLY long intro, but please bear with me. So the church heard about Epaphroditus' sickness and was absolutely devastated about him. I bet they were fasting and praying for some sort of a breakthrough for their friend and brother. Then somehow Epaphroditus heard that they know about his sickness and it caused him to be devastated too!
In the original Greek, Paul uses the same word to describe Paul's devastation that Matthew and Mark use to describe Jesus' devastation in the Garden of Gethsemane before his crucifixion. Jesus says so Himself to His beloved friends who fall asleep on Him as He's praying that He is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Jesus was a mess in the Garden and that same heavy feeling that Jesus felt, Epaphroditus also felt for his friends and family back home who were burdened for his burden.
And my question is this: WHY?!Why on earth did Epaphroditus feel that way? Shouldn't he have been thankful or relieved that these people back home were praying for him? I would have. It would have made me feel amazing knowing that my friends back home were praying for me in my trial. I know at times when I was going through trials, hearing that friends were praying for me brought me great comfort. But for some really strange reason Epaphroditus was absolutely distraught at this news.
WHY?!It's interesting because a lot of commentaries on Philippians don't answer that question. So I'll do my best to do so. Epaphroditus has an incredibly deep love for his brothers and sisters back home. Remember the most important commandments Jesus talked about? He said we should love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength and that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. Yes, loving our neighbors as ourselves. That's a
HUGE commandment that is very difficult to do. The word "love" that Jesus used wasn' t just that "friendship" kind of love, nor was it that "romantic" kind of love. It was unconditional, deep love. It was the love that God through Jesus Christ has for us.
In Philippians, Paul says Epaphroditus longs for all of them (2:26). The Greek word used for that longing is a deep word that Peter also uses later in 1 Peter to describe a baby's deep desire for milk (1 Peter 2:2). So Epaphroditus craved the company of his brothers and sisters back in Philippi like a hungry baby craves milk. I think Epaphroditus in this sense has successfully obeyed that commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. He longed for his brothers and sisters. He cried out to God for them a lot, I'm sure, during his journey and was doing it even more when he found out that they knew of his sickness.
I think of scenes in movies when the hero is about to do something crazy that may kill him, but right before he does it he tells his friend, "Don't tell my wife about this..." The hero lovingly cared about his wife's emotional stability. He didn't want his wife to be up late worrying about him.
That was Epaphroditus. He loved these people deeply. He didn't want them to be worried about him in his sickness because he knew there were more important things in stake than his health and well-being. The kingdom had to be advanced and he was willing to give up everything for it. Paul later in his letter told the church that they should respect him greatly for having that mindset because that is the mindset every believer should have. So Epaphroditus didn't want the church to worry.
Here's a challenging question:
is that you?I sincerely doubt it. I mean it's not me at all and I'm writing this! This is another one of those blog posts that is me preaching to myself. I just felt like it was appropriate for you to listen in. Here's something great though:
I'll give you one more scene, which is in John 15:15-19, and I'll use Greek again. This is
AMAZING! The scene is that Peter had just majorly screwed up. He told Jesus that he promised he would be there for Him even if it meant death and he broke that promise and denied ever knowing Him three times. Then Jesus Christ after He resurrected came to Peter and asked him three times, "Do you love me?" In response Peter said, "You know I love you Jesus."
Now in Greek there are four different words used to describe love. The love that Jesus asked Peter about the first two times is an unconditional love; that strong, committed, "I'll love you no matter what" kind of love. The word for love that Peter uses in his response is a friendship, lylab (love you like a brother) kind of love. It was the same word that Jesus used earlier in his life to describe the Pharisees and how they loved to pray to God out in public dramatically for attention (see Matt. 6:5). In other words, Peter wasn't ready for that kind of commitment.
And maybe that's you right now. This is what Jesus asked Peter the third time: "Do you just love me as a friend then?" He stooped down to Peter's level with his hardened heart and met him where he was at. A friendship love was all Peter had to offer and Jesus Christ accepted it. Jesus DID work in Peter a lot and gave him that kind of love and affection for Jesus as well, which is absolutely amazing. Peter left this world crucified upside down on a cross because he refused to be silent about the good news of Jesus Christ. He held onto Jesus Christ with everything he had because he DID unconditionally love his Lord and Savior, and it was through his Lord and Savior that he was able to have that love.
My friend,
GOD LOVES YOU! You're so incredibly messed up and it is all your fault but God out of the goodness of His heart is pursuing you. He is so desperate for your affection that He gave His only Son up for you so that you can be forgiven of all the bad things you've done. You need to humble yourself and ask for that though. Come to God as you are just like Peter did. Actually, to tell you the truth, God came to Peter, and I think God is coming to you right now asking, "[Insert your name here], do you love Me?"
What will you say? Even if it's not unconditional like God's love is, saying you love Him as a friend is a start. Give your life to Him. Come to Him as you are. Do it.
This is really long, but think about it. Happy Thanksgiving!
God bless,
Steve
I have to give major props to
BlueLetterBible.org for this entry. Check that website out. It's such a great study tool for the Bible and it's FREE! That's where I got all those Greek words and commentaries.
