Lesson 2111

(Lesson 2111)(09-16-17)  Philippians 2:19-30
    “But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel. Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly. Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants. For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation: Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.”

   In today’s quote, Paul told the Philippians that he would soon Timothy to minister to them. In the latter part of the quote, he also promised to send Epaphroditus.
    When comparing Timothy to most men, Paul said, “For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.”, in today’s quote, he verified that the early churches, even while Paul and the other apostles were near to keep them on the right path and within the gospel, had many of the same problems that are prevalent in the majority of today’s churches. It appears that even Paul had to send assurances that the men he sent to the churches were true men of God who were there to promote the pure gospel of Jesus Christ and not simply out to promote their own interests, as so many obviously do today.~