Sermon Notes - Philippians 2:19-30 - Rising Sun Baptist Church - July 26, 2026

1.        Open your Bibles to Philippians 2:19.

2.        So far in this letter to the Philippians, we have seen Paul layout some ways Christ followers are to live, such as.

a.        We are to be thankful for what God has done in our lives

b.       We are to pray for each other.

c.        Asking God to work in each of our lives.

d.       We are to trust that God will work in all of us.

3.        Paul then challenged those who believe to share the Gospel.

a.        To love others to the best of our ability.

b.       Part of that is to share the Gospel with them.

c.        And to know that God can and will use us even when we are dealing with stuff.

4.        Paul has talked about how we are to serve others.

a.        Sacrificing for them.

b.       To build them up.

5.        As Citizens of Heaven, we are to live our lives worthy of the Gospel of Christ.

a.        Working together in unity.

b.       Putting the interest of others before our own.

c.        Loving each other and embracing our differences.

d.       Remembering not to grumble when things do not go as we would like.

e.        And that we should not argue with each other.

6.        The list is long.

a.        And if we flip through Scripture and jot down how we are to live our lives…

b.       We cannot do it.

c.        But we are not meant to do it on our own.

d.       And we will not be perfect at it.

e.        Thankfully our God is at work in us.

f.          He who has begun the good work in us will see it to completion.

7.        We are going to faulter.

a.        We are going to dig in our heels when we should be thinking of others.

b.       Things are going to get the better of us..

8.        Knowing that, Paul has given us a couple of examples.

a.        Timothy and Epaphroditus.

b.       We read about Timothy in Paul’s letters.

c.        Epaphroditus we only read about in this letter.

d.       These are not examples of guys who walked on water.

e.        But they lived serving others.

f.          They are flawed like the rest of us.

g.        But if they can get parts of it right, so can all of us.

9.        Philippians 2:19

a.        In this verse we get a glimpse of Paul living out some of the things he has been writing about.

b.       Paul is putting the needs of others first.

c.        Remember, he is in jail.

d.       Timothy is one of his closest friends.

e.        Yet, he is planning on sending Timothy to visit the Philippian church.

f.          When Paul could use him where he is at, he is willing to send him.

10.   Paul is also trusting in God and His will or guidance.

a.        It is his hope in Jesus that he be able to send Timothy.

b.       He is not talking about the hope of his salvation that is in Jesus.

c.        He is saying that if it is God’s will, he will send him.

d.       Trusting in God’s leading.

e.        Paul does not know what the future holds.

f.          He does not know if he is going to be around much longer.

g.        But God knows.

11.   There is a lot of uncertainty in our lives.

a.        But God is the only one who knows what the future holds.

b.       God is the only one who would have known if Timothy would be able to make a round trip to Philippi and return to share the news with Paul.

c.        And God is the only one who knows if we are going to remain here and be fruitful or begin our eternity with Jesus.

d.       Trust in God.

e.        Say, “May the Lord’s will be done’ and then let Him guide.

12.   Philippians 2:20

a.        Paul cares about the Philippian church.

b.       He wants to see them grow.

c.        His desire is for them to be faithful to our God.

d.       And Timothy who is like minded.

e.        Would have the same desire to see the Philippian church grow closer to God.

f.          He is like Paul and will humble himself.

g.        Putting the people of the church before his own wants and desires.

h.        Demonstrating the humility that Paul has been talking about.

13.   If I had to guess, I would say that Timothy would prefer to stay with Paul.

a.        They don’t know how much time Paul has.

b.       And it would hurt Timothy to be away from Paul when judgement came.

c.        But as soon as they are led by God, Timothy will travel.

d.       He will put others first.

e.        A tough one for us to do consistently.

f.          But that is part of living our lives worthy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

14.   Philippians 2:21

a.        Timothy is all in and cares about the Philippian church.

b.       This verse tells us that Paul and the church know of others who have not bought in.

c.        Similar to those who were emboldened to share the Gospel as Paul shared it while imprisoned.

d.       Then there were those who shared it to knock Paul down a notch.

e.        In hope that they would get something out of it.

15.   In this situation, motives matter.

a.        If we are honoring God.

b.       Following His lead.

c.        We should set aside our interest and put others first.

d.       Loving them.

e.        Doing the will of our God.

16.   Philippians 2:22

a.        Timothy was with Paul when they were last in Philippi.

b.       They witnessed Timothy’s character firsthand.

17.   And once again, we see Paul demonstrate the behavior that he is trying to help them see in Timothy.

a.        Paul talks about how they served together.

b.       Even with Paul being the spiritual father of Timothy.

c.        He is saying they partnered together.

d.       It was not Timothy serving under Paul.

e.        They worked together to share the Gospel.

18.   Titles do not matter.

a.        Who was saved first is not important.

b.       We are all called by God to do His will.

c.        We are each given different gifts, different skills, and different callings.

19.   It is not chance or a mistake that we are here.

a.        God has brought each of us here to RSBC for a reason.

b.       We are to work together to share the Gospel.

c.        To reach the lost.

d.       To make disciples.

e.        To love our communities.

f.          We do all of this as a church family.

g.        With the gifts and skills we have been given.

20.   Philippians 2:23-24

a.        Proverbs 16:9

b.       Our lives are in God’s hands.

c.        We need to trust in Him and His will.

21.   Philippians 2:25

a.        Now we get to our second example.

b.       We don’t know a lot about him other than what we read in this letter.

c.        It is believed he is the one who carried news and financial support from the Philippians to Paul.

d.       And he is the one who carried this letter back to the church.

22.   We may not read about him in many places.

a.        But we see here that Paul thinks highly of him.

b.       Re-read vs. 25.

c.        He is a Christ follower.

d.       He worked side by side with Paul.

e.        He fought to share the Gospel.

f.          And he is faithfully carrying messages between Paul and the church.

g.        A brother who is willing to serve in many ways.

23.   We don’t always get to choose what we are called to do.

a.        Sometimes it may be sharing the Gospel with others.

b.       Other times it is doing the dirty jobs that no one wants.

c.        But that is part of being willing to let God use us to serve others.

d.       To do everything without grumbling.

24.   Philippians 2:26-27

a.        This man was so sick he almost died.

b.       Yet, he was more concerned about the church than he was his health.

c.        He was demonstrating what it means to love others as you love yourself.

25.   When I think about our Freedom, Faith, and Community event.

a.        We all had things going on in our lives.

b.       Personal medical issues.

c.        Family medical issues.

d.       Work.

e.        Family things.

f.          Yet, many served the best we could.

g.        We looked past our challenges.

h.        We served this church family and our community.

i.          We pulled together and served others.

j.          We loved them as we would ourselves.

k.        It is great to see God at work through you.

26.   Philippians 2:28

a.        Epaphroditus was sent with a mission.

b.       To some it may seem like he failed.

c.        He got sick and was not able to do what he was supposed to do.

d.       Paul is once again demonstrating some of the behaviors that he was pointing out in others.

e.        Paul was putting others first.

f.          Sending Epaphroditus home.

g.        To ease the church’s concern.

h.        So that they and Epaphroditus could be filled with Joy.

27.   Philippians 2:29-30

a.        Paul is reinforcing that Epaphroditus did what he was supposed to do.

b.       He worked side by side with Paul to share the Gospel.

c.        He should not be thought less of because he got sick and his mission got cut short.

d.       Instead welcome him back as one who fulfilled his mission.

e.        He did what God wanted him to do, and it almost cost him his life.

f.          Reading between the lines a little, I would say he loved God with all that he has and loved others to the best of his ability.

28.   Paul gives us two examples and a third by living it himself.

a.        They are people who put others first.

b.       They demonstrated some of the ways that we are to live our lives worthy of the Gospel of Christ.

c.        Showing how we can trust in God to complete the good work that He has started in us.

d.       They could not do it without God working in them.

e.        And neither can we.

f.          We need the Holy Spirit working in us.

g.        We need each other.

h.        God brought us together to minister to each other and others.

29.   Over the last 3 months it is obvious to me that we have a great church family here.

a.        Filled with people willing to serve others.

b.       To live their faith.

c.        If you would like to become a member of RSBC, I would love to talk with you.

d.       If you are ready to follow our Jesus in water baptism, let’s talk so we can get it scheduled.

30.   Thoughts for the road:

a.        Is there a situation in your life where you need to seek the Lord’s will, setting aside your own?

b.       Is there somewhere you need to step out in faith to serve others? Here at the church or elsewhere.

c.        How can you live your life worthy of the Gospel of Christ in hopes of pointing others to Jesus?

31.   Now all this starts with Jesus.

a.        Jesus is God.

b.       It is His message, the Gospel that we are to live worthy of.

c.        If you don’t know Jesus, please hear me.

d.       Jesus came to earth.

e.        Led a perfect sinless life.

f.          Something we are not capable of.

g.        He then climbed on to the cross.

h.        And paid for the price of our sin.

i.          Redeeming those who repent of their sins and surrender their lives to Him.

j.          But it did not stop there.

k.        Jesus rose from the dead, defeating death.

l.          And is alive and well sitting at the right hand of God.

m.     If you give your life to Jesus, you get to spend forever with Him.

n.        But you have to make that choice on this side of eternity.

o.        We don’t know how much time we have.

p.       So please don’t delay.

q.       Choose Jesus and spend forever with Him.

r.          If you are ready to do just that, please come forward during our final song.