Philippians: Part 5 - Living A Life of Influence
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
Well, good morning. It is my privilege to be with you. My name is Phil Stevens. I'm a friend of your pastor, and so he every now and then lets me come in and chat a little bit. So it's good to be with you. We are actually going to be going back. I know we took about four weeks off on a relationship series, and we started out in Philippians back in early February, I believe, or sometime in February. So I want to do a quick review of what we did in Philippians, up to the point where I am at this time. I think we have that on slide form up here so we can see that real quick. So first of all, week one, Philippians 1, 1 through 11, we talked about partnership. And partnership with each other is one of God's gifts to experience a joy that endures. Then we went on to the next part of Philippians chapter one and we talked about attitude, that we can choose to have a right attitude regardless of our circumstances. And then we moved on and we went into Philippians chapter two, we talked about imitation, We are to imitate Jesus for our entire life. And then week four, just before we took the break, we talked about being a beacon, be like a beacon, pointing the way to Jesus and a relationship that can be found with Him. And then we had the four-week hiatus, if you please, and then we come to where we're at this morning, and we're going to take a look at influence. What does it mean to be an influence to people for the gospel?
And we're going to be in Philippians chapter 2, verses 19 through 30. So we're kind of wrapping up chapter two. And we're going to start there and kind of take a look and see what God has for us in this area. Now, back in 1969, and now as soon as I say that here's what I know looking at here, some of you have no idea about 1969, okay? But it existed, okay? Some of you may not even been here yet or you were so young you don't recall 1969. Well, in 1969, there was a movie out called Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. And it was with Robert Redford and Paul Newman. Now, somebody was saying, who? Yeah, well, they were movie stars, OK? So anyway, this movie was actually based on a real story about two outlaws called Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, interesting enough. And what happened is they were train robbers, and they had a train robbery that went wrong, and so they fled to South America. And that's where this story is all about what happened in South America. But, of course, they wanted them to be caught, so there was a special posse, or a group of people put together to chase them, to kind of capture them. And throughout the movie, one of the themes of that movie, or theme lines, was this. They would be trying to get away from this posse who was chasing them, and every now and then they would stop and they would look back and they would... the big, the kind of common theme line through this was this. Who are those guys? They weren't sure who they were. They'd be going this, do this, and all of a sudden they look, and they look down in this valley, and there they are, and they go, "Who are those guys?" They never could figure that out. So this morning, however, we're going to talk about who are those guys? Because in Philippians chapter 2, we are introduced to a couple of guys that are great examples to us. And we have a sense that there is one guy named Timothy, who we're going to look at. Paul introduces to us. And then the other one is Aphrodite.
Now, all of us in our professions, I believe this, or in school, whatever it might be, you get out, you go to school, you prepare for a certain profession, and then you get out into the workforce and you encounter some things, and you might find yourself saying, "How come they didn't tell me about this when I was in school?" Because they try their best. They just can't. And I gotta tell you, my background and my preparation as a pastor and being in ministry was, they never told us how to pronounce people's names. I wish they did, because you know, in the Bible, they go off the rails when it comes to names. Whatever happened, just, you know, like Timothy's a great name, but this other guy, you know, Aphro-phroditis, that's a whole, what is up with that? But anyway, that's just my own angst I wanted to share with you as we get into this. Well, first of all, before we find out some examples Timothy and Aphrodite said to us. Let's talk a little bit about them. Who were these guys? Real quick, Timothy was actually very well connected with Apostle Paul. We know in Scripture, back in Acts chapter 16 verses 1 and 4, that Paul went to this city of Lystra and there he encountered this young man whose name was Timothy. And he was very intrigued by this young man because he had a great reputation with those folks there, and as he started to talk to him, they had this common bond. And so he decided to invite Timothy to join him in his ministry, and he did, and they spent a lot of time together. We also know that Timothy really became a mentee, if you please, of Paul. Paul was his mentor. It says in 1st Timothy chapter 1 verse 2, he says, "I am writing to Timothy my true son in the faith." In fact, the whole two books, 1st Timothy and 2nd Timothy, are actually primarily letters from Paul to his mentee Timothy, who was leading a church in this area and he was instructing him about how to lead well. So they're very well connected. Now the other gentleman here, which we'll call "Epa," just because I don't want to try to pronounce that whole name, he only knew Paul by reputation. And so frankly what we know about him is that in Philippians chapter 4 verse 18, which you'll look at later, he was sent by the church in Philippi to bring gifts and some things to Paul to minister to him. And so when And when this young man showed up where Paul was in prison, they had never met before. He knew Paul by reputation. But yet he will find out, forged a unique relationship with Paul. In fact, it was Ephedra who actually took the letter that Paul has written that we now call the book of Philippians. And he took that letter with him back to the church in Philippi. So he was sent by the church in Philippi to take some gifts and represent that church to Paul, and then Paul, in turn, after a season, sent him back to the church in Philippi with this letter that we now have, again, as a book of Philippians.
Now, I'm gonna make a couple assumptions this morning. Actually, three assumptions. The first assumption is this. I think, I think, all of us here, we want to be people of influence. and what to influence other people. That's an assumption I'm making. A second assumption is this. We want to be people who others enjoy being around. No one likes to be around grumpy people. Well, maybe you do, I don't know. But for the most part, there are certain kinds of people that we just want to be around. We're kind of just attracted to them. And so I'm gonna make the assumption that we wanna be the kind of people others enjoy being around. And thirdly, I want to make this assumption. We want to influence people for the gospel. So those are three assumptions as we look at what I'm going to be sharing this morning, that we're gonna base it on those three assumptions. That we want to be people of influence, we want to be people who others enjoy being around, and we also want to influence people for the gospel. And so as we dig into this, let's talk about influence a little bit.
We said we want to influence people for the gospel. Well basically, if you want a formal definition of influence, here it is. To have an effect on the condition or development of something or someone. In other words, influence is you have an effect on something. You have an effect on someone. And influence basically has kind of two sides to it. We can influence others, but then at the same token sometimes others influence us. We understand that. And so as we look at this, we're going to see that Paul just as he's writing to the Philippi Church, he is talking about Timothy and Aphrodite, and he is describing a little bit about them. And in that, I believe that we can pull out some principles of of what it means to be people of influence. And so we're just going to kind of walk through Philippians chapter 2 verses 19 through 30 and we're going to just make some some observations. And the first thing is this, the first trait or characteristic, if we want to be people of influence is this, be genuinely concerned for others. In verse 19 through 21 we read this, "If the Lord Jesus is willing," Paul says, "I hope to send Timothy to you soon for a visit. Then he can cheer me up by telling me how you are getting along. I have no one else like Timothy," who, ready for this, "who genuinely cares about your welfare. All the others will care only for themselves and not for what matters to Jesus Christ." So influence then we need to genuinely care for others. Now there are times that we care for others and sometimes it's out of obligation, sometimes it's out of duty, or sometimes it's just completely out of necessity. But even under those circumstances we can still have a genuine concern for people. Now here's the reality. Not all of us are bent or more, I guess, drawn towards concern, towards mercy. And just about, I am not. Well we don't have that, this would be a personal testimony. I am not naturally drawn to being concerned for people. And sometimes I find myself just thinking, "Man, that's a terrible situation, I'm glad it's not me. But yet over the years, because I have, I think I might have shared when I shared with you last time, I just retired last July of 48 years in some form of pastoral ministry over the last 48 years. And early on in my ministry, I had, not only did I not have genuine concern, I had no concern for people sometimes. That was just my natural bent. But just because we are quote-unquote, "bent a certain way" or we have a certain propensity in our personality doesn't mean we're right and doesn't mean we shouldn't change. And so over the years God has been very gracious to me and helped me be drawn more to genuinely being concerned about other people. And it's still not an overly quick natural type thing. But yet you can do that and people know. People know if you're generally concerned for them. And when you care for others out of a genuine heart concern, you appreciate the situation to influence them because they know you care for them and ultimately you want the best for them.
The second thing is this, if we want to be people of influence, we have to be a person of integrity. It says in verse 22, "But you know how Timothy has proved himself. Like a son with his father he has served with me in preaching the good news." Integrity is proven over time. Integrity is when what we say and what we do match up. That we're in them for the most part in our life we are consistent in who we are and what we do. Integrity is simply being where we said we would be and doing what we said we would do. Integrity is simply being dependable. Paul tells us in, excuse me, James tells us in James chapter 5 verse 12, "But most of all my brothers and sisters, never take an oath by heaven or earth or anything else, just say a simple yes or no, so that you will not sin and be condemned. See that's integrity. Your yes is a yes, your no is a no. And sometimes we forget that but when people know they can depend on us, when people know that we are individuals of integrity, that if we say that we'll do something, we'll do it. Yet we're also honest that there's something we're unable to do, we'll tell them we're unable to do it. Then that builds us an opportunity to influence them because they know we can what? Be dependent on. Where we understand what we believe and we understand who we are and we want to live that way and it doesn't mean that we're perfect but we're consistent in our lives. We have to recognize that and see that.
The third thing is if we want to be people of influence we need to be trustworthy. Verse 23 and 24, "I hope to send him to you just as soon as I find out what is going to happen to me here and I have confidence from the Lord that I myself will come to see you soon. Why does that talk about being trustworthy? Because Paul knew that if he sent Timothy to this church of Philippi, actually a church that Paul himself started back in the day, you can read about that in the book of Acts, where he started this church himself in Philippi, and he can send Timothy, who is not the part of that started in that church, but yet he could send Timothy, who would represent him well. There is something to be said for people who are able to represent another individual well. And we can be trustworthy. We're worthy of trust. Here's what we really know deep down. We know this. Trust is a very difficult thing to attain. Sometimes it's simple to lose. And once it's lost, it takes a long time, if ever, to restore that sense of trust. And maybe you've had that in a relationship, that you were hurt badly in a relationship with somebody and they violated the trust that you had in them. And if you think about it, how long might it have took, if ever, were you able to restore that that trustworthy relationship with them. But when we know we can be trusted, when people know we can be trusted. Then we have influence in their life.
The fourth thing we see here, I believe, is that we need to be relational. Verse 25, "Meanwhile I thought I should send Epaphroditus back to you." Again, remember I told you the Philippi church sent him to Paul. "He is a true brother, co-worker, and fellow soldier, and he was your messenger to help me in my need. Why do I see that as relational observation? It's because of this. As I mentioned, Ephrodite did not know who Paul was. He knew him by reputation, never met him to my knowledge. Scripture doesn't indicate any way that he had. So he went there for the first time and he meets this giant of leadership in the early church. And as As Paul describes him as a brother, co-worker, fellow soldier, I'm thinking something happened in that time they got there. They built up this relationship with each other that I have to believe, and maybe I'm making some underlying jumping to conclusions on this, but they had to have times of just conversation of sharing with each other and sharing their hearts and their vision and their plans and what's going on. And as a result of that, all of a sudden this gentleman that Paul had not known until he came to him was able to embrace him as a brother, a co-worker, a fellow soldier. And then he's letting the church know when Ephraimus brings that letter back, that he had done his job well in representing the church. John Maxwell, who's a writer and a speaker, says there are friends, There is family, and then there are friends that become family. We understand that. There's relationships. We have friends, and we have family. And sometimes those friends that we have, they just become a part of our family. And as we build relationships with other people at different levels, we are going to be able to have influence in their lives through the relationship that we have built with them.
Next, if we wanna be people of influence, we need to be committed. Verse 26 and 27, "I am sending him "because he has been longing to see you," and I'm sending him back to you with this letter, "and he was very distressed that you heard he was ill. "And he certainly was ill, in fact, he almost died, "but God had mercy on him and also on me "so I would not have some sorrow after, "one sorrow after another." You see, it was his commitment to Paul. It was his commitment to bring this gift from the Philippian church. It was his commitment to them that he held, even in illness, even in distress, he still was gonna maintain his commitment to be there to represent the church of Philippi to Paul. You know, there are some things that we may be interested in but we're not committed to. And there's a difference. I had a friend who contacted me and he was going to, the church that he attends, they were gonna offer a Hebrew class. So he calls me on the phone, he says, "Hey, Phil, I'm gonna take this Hebrew class. "Would you like to join me?" And I said, "Well, that sounds interesting, "but no, thank you." Absolutely not am I gonna do that. You gotta be kidding me. They're not even real letters, at least what I'm aware of. And so there was something maybe I was interested in, but not really overly committed to. I'm interested in camping. Camping in concept sounds interesting, but I hate camping. In fact, last time I can remember I went camping, it was with Kevin and Cheryl Snyder, a long time ago. And they're experts at camping. And we went, had a good time, hate camping. They can attest to you that I would get up earlier than anybody else. We weren't where we were camping, was not too far from a town. I drive into the town, have coffee and read. Well, they were all sleeping. They come back when they were all getting up and that sound like a good idea to me. So anyway, we have that. We have things we think are interesting to us. We have things that seem like a good idea, but they're not. We all have those. But yet what we're talking about here is being committed to something. Committed no matter what. Committed because you said that you would do something. Committed because even though you are not maybe most enthusiastic on a certain day for certain things that you've committed to, you still do it because you're committed. And when you are committed, you can influence people because you're speaking out of that commitment.
Now, this next one is very important. It's be respected by those who know you best. If you want to be a person of influence, you have to be respected by those who know you best. It says in verse 28 and 29, "So I am all the more anxious to send Him back to you, for I know you will be glad to see Him, and that I will not be worried about you. Welcome Him in the Lord's love with great joy, and give Him the honor that people like Him deserve." You see, the people who knew him best, Aphrodite was the Philippian church. And Paul knew when he went is that he is coming back to you. And they were going to be enthusiastic and excited to see him. You know, we can impact people from a distance, but we can only influence people up close. And if the people who know you best don't respect you or don't see who you are really in your life, then it's going to be hard to influence other people. And since I started off with a blast from the past for some, I'm going to go back a little bit. There was a song out called "Cats in the Cradle." And it was a song roughly, exactly, about a little boy who wanted time with his dad, but his dad was too busy doing other things to other people-- his job, his career, his profession. He was just zooming on through his life. And it tells at the end of the song, of course, again, if you've heard it, if not, go ahead on YouTube. I'm sure you can find it at the very end of his life. In essence, he did influence his son because his son became just like him. And his son did not have time for his father because his father didn't have time for him. So no matter what his dad did, it made no difference because he had not neglected his family. He neglected the people who knew him best. And we best influence people as we are known and we're respected by those who know us best.
The last one is be authentic. Verse 30, for he risked his life for the work of Christ and he was at the point of death, while doing for me what you couldn't do from far away. He risked his life for the work of Christ. He did not merely have a good faith or talk a good faith, he lived a good faith. He was willing to risk his life for the work of Jesus. He was authentic in every way. Authenticity is something that, In our world today, people long to truly see. I read someplace, and it's one of those things, I either read it, I heard it, or I made it up. I'm gonna give it to you anyway. That the new leadership is authenticity. The more authentic you are with people, the more authentic you are, warts and all, with people. in essence, the more influence you have with them. Because if you're willing to share your life with people, as a fellow sojourner in the gospel with Jesus Christ, that influences other people. It was probably two weeks ago, maybe a bit longer ago, where on Facebook I saw this post about a gentleman named Keith Drury, who was a mentor of mine, really more influential in my life back in my early years, in my 20s, the 80s, long time ago. And he had passed away. Suddenly, 78 years old. And I got to tell you this. Some of you who are younger think, wow, that guy lived a good life. You get to be my age, you're thinking, dude, that's young. What's all going on? And so we found out he just had a stroke. Just boom, unexpected. For the most part, healthy and all that stuff. And I remember reading that post and I thought, oh my gosh. And I began to think about Keith Drury's influence in my life. And again, it was back when I was in my early 20s, I was early in ministry and this guy named Keith Drury who was in a leadership position in the Wesleyan church or the Wesleyan movement which Spring Valley is a part of. And he had a heart for the next generation. And so he gathered, I think there might have been about 30 or 40 of us. And he just reached out to us, and we were from all over the country. And most of us, frankly, were youth pastors. That in itself was a scary thing, okay? And he decided to gather us together, and he just decided to call us that we were in his cadre. And basically he said, "I'm going to pour into you, young men and women." And he used to tell us way back in the day, he used to say, "There's going to come a day where all of you are going to have some kind of a leadership position in the Wesleyan movement." And we would look at each other and think, "Who'd want to be a part of something we were in charge of?" Because we were young, we were brash, we were youth pastors, We were idiots in a lot of cases. And he just kept telling us that and then he kept pouring into us, and there's still things that he has said they learned. And you know what? He was right. Most of the individuals who are in that cadre back in the day, some of us like myself are already retired after all that. But we have led in certain areas of influence in the Wesleyan Movement, local church, wider district level, denominational level, whatever it might be. We had that. And I can remember all the accolades again pouring in, people talking about Keith and reminding each other about Keith. And frankly, over the last several years, probably the last 15 or so years, his influence primarily in my life, it still was there, was secondary through his writing. Before he relocated to Florida where he retired to, he lived in the Indianapolis area. When I was in the area, I'd go by and to visit with him and talk with him and just chat with him about things I was going through and struggling with and wondering about. And he always was very mindful and willing to take time for me. But there was a phrase he used to use. In fact, he used to sign off in all of his correspondence. I don't mean email. They didn't have it back then. Letters, notes, whatever it might be. But he had the same phrase he used to end up and you simply say this, keep on keeping on. Keep on keeping on. And I got to tell you, over the years when I got discouraged and disgruntled and disrupted, disruption in my life and different things going a certain way, I remember Keith saying, keep on keeping on. Because the influence they had in my life.
Every single one of you here has the ability and the opportunity to influence other people. Through some of the things that we just talked about this morning, about what it means to be a person of influence. You already are influencing people. It may be at your school, it may be in the workplace, it may be in your family, but you're influencing people. You're influencing people to make better choices. You're influencing people to have deeper meaning. You're influencing people toward a relationship with Jesus Christ. And here's the interesting thing, you don't know the influence you'll have in other people's lives that you don't know because the people you have influence now. As you influence people now, they will influence people. I can guarantee you there are people who I've had the opportunity and privilege to influence in their life and it's because of people like Keith Drury and they don't know Keith Drury, but it's the influence he had in my life, the influence the people I had and other people's life and I like to think that they'll influence other people who will have no idea who I am, who will influence them and it's the same for you. You can influence people in their lives right now and then you have no idea that ripple effect that influence is going to have throughout about generation after generation after generation. Be people of influence.
But before I wrap up, I have to ask this question. Do you know Jesus? We talk about influencing people for the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. Do you know Jesus? And if you don't, this is the opportunity you have to recognize that you do not have a relationship with Jesus and you're short of the grace of God. And you grab a hold of that grace by simply telling, God, I need you. I'm a sinner. Forgive me. Come into my life. Transform my life. From this point on, I will walk with you. And if you haven't done that, I want to give you the opportunity right now to do that. We're not going to bow our heads. We're not going to close our eyes. We all kind of talk and think out loud, and our minds are wandering here and there. I'm sure some of you have wondered and since we've been talking up here. She's okay, I probably have to. But just take a moment right now, in your own way, in your own words, simply let God know. If you don't know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you know that you know. You may be religious, you may have some idea of religion, you may have some idea of Bible, but you don't really know Jesus as your Savior. Maybe you're like a friend of mine named Dan who was raised in the Catholic Church, disengaged. And I was, through a certain ministry, he came to know Jesus Christ as personal savior, and I had the privilege to disciple him. And as I was discipling him, his understanding of spiritual stuff and God was pretty incredible for a brand new person of faith, at least as far as relationship with Jesus. And I said to him, I said, "Dan, "how do you know all this stuff?" I hope I don't forget what he said to me. He said to me, "Oh, Phil, I always knew there was a God, "and I knew all this stuff about God. "I just didn't know I could know him personally. "That was a game changer for me." And maybe that's you. Maybe you know all these things about God, and you believe these things about God, but you've never walked into that personal relationship with him. That's what I'm asking you to consider this morning before we wrap up. Simply, do you genuinely, deeply know Jesus? And if not, just gonna pause for a short moment and give you the opportunity right where you are to ask Christ to come into your life, in your own way, in your own words, and receive him into your life.
Father, I just thank you and praise you for this morning. First of all, I want to thank you that we can be influencers for you, that we can see the example of Timothy and Aphrodite of what it means to be just influencers. We're normal people, nothing super supendous about us, we can just influence people in our lives. And Father, I do pray for anyone here who asked Christ to come unto their life for the very first time. They came to that point of decision this morning. Lord, I ask first of all that you would affirm that with your spirit. You would affirm that they are in your household now. That they are family and they've been forgiven. And Father, you would just give them that confirmation, affirmation through your spirit that you provide for us. We do give you honor and we give you praise and we ask you in Jesus' name, amen. And the last thing I'll say for Pastor Chris comes up here is if you prayed to Jesus and asked Christ to come into your life, tell somebody. Tell somebody. Tell 'em.