Three Role Models to Imitate – Philippians 2:14-30
2 (14) Do all things without grumbling and arguing, (15) so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without blemish, in the midst of a perverse and depraved generation, among whom you shine like stars in the universe, (16) firmly holding the word of life—and so be a source of glory for me on the day of Christ, showing that I did not run in vain and I did not labor in vain. (17) But if I am poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and offering of your faith, I rejoice—and I rejoice with you all. (18) Likewise, you, too, rejoice, and rejoice with me.
(19) I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I, too, may be encouraged when I learn about your state of affairs. (20) I have no one else with a heart like him; he will have a genuine concern for your welfare. (21) All the others seek their own interests, not the interests of Jesus Christ. (22) But you know his proven worth, that he served with me for the gospel as a son serves his father. (23) Therefore I hope to send him as soon as I know the outcome of my present situation. (24) And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will also come soon.
(25) But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow-worker and fellow-soldier, who is also your messenger and the one whom you sent to minister to my needs. (26) I am sending him back since he yearned for all of you and was distressed because you heard that he was sick. (27) Indeed, he was sick at the point of death; but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I should not bear sorrow upon sorrow. (28) Therefore, I have sent him with great urgency, so that, upon seeing him again, you may rejoice and I also may have less sorrow. (29) So then, receive him in the Lord with all joy, and hold such men in high esteem, (30) because for the sake of the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life in order to supply what was lacking in your ministry to me.
Now proceed to the next section of this study, entitled, Exploring the Passage.
