Learn more about what it means to be a Christian

Hall of Fame football coach George Allen used to tell his players that, "Every play is the ball game." Allen wanted to emphasize to his players that an entire game was the sum of all of the individual plays, and the effort that they gave on any given play influenced the outcome of the contest. Therefore, they needed to develop habits that helped them to fully concentrate on every second of action, because their effort would weave its way into the overall story of the game.

Human character is that way. Simple actions weave themselves into the fabric of who we are, and when repeated often enough they become habits that form the basis of character. Every moment of every day builds itself into a life, and the person we are at the end of life is influenced by the tiny responses that we make every moment.

In the second chapter of Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he has spoken about service by giving Jesus as the example of divine service. He then suggests to the Philippian Christians that their own attitude and character has a direct influence upon their effectiveness as servants in God’s Kingdom. At the end of the chapter Paul presents two men, with whom the church is familiar, as examples of the kind of character that service requires. Join me as I read what Paul has to say about these two men.

Timothy and Epaphroditus provide living examples of Paul’s instruction to "let this mind be in you, as it was also in Christ Jesus." The character of Jesus had been built into the lives of these two men, and they demonstrate for us the essential elements of the kind of character that we need in order to be true servants of Christ.

Timothy and Epaphroditus are models of Christian service because they take their servanthood seriously. Since Paul is restrained in prison, he will have to send Timothy in his place to encourage the church. He assures the Philippians that Timothy can represent Paul as if he was there himself. Timothy is "genuinely concerned," Paul says, about the welfare of the Philippians and they already know of Timothy’s "proven worth." Paul demonstrates his confidence in Timothy because he knows how seriously Timothy will take this task.

But when he shows up, he still won’t be Paul, will he? No, he will be Timothy. Not the Timothy who joined up with Paul in Lystra years before. He is the Timothy who has grown up by following the example of Christ that he has seen in Paul, with his own set of gifts, his own personality, living and teaching the truth of the gospel as best he understands it at the moment. Timothy is motivated, dependable, and has made the interests of Christ the focus of his life.

"I have no one else of kindred spirit," Paul says. Everyone else looks after his or her own interests, and not the interests of Christ. Isn’t that the age-old human struggle, to sacrifice our interests for the interests of Christ? Isn’t that what Jesus meant when He said that we have to take up our cross daily to follow Him, that we must nail our own interests to the cross every day and submit ourselves to a greater cause?

Timothy understands this and it is no wonder that Paul places such complete confidence in him. What about you? Are you motivated by the sobering reality that it is Jesus Christ who invites us into a greater cause, a grand adventure that serves the Kingdom of God? Have you experienced the freedom of sacrificing your own interests for the interests of Christ?

The title character in the comic strip Broom Hilda is an unattractive yet somehow lovable witch. Her friend Irwin, the troll, has all the innocence that somehow makes him attractive, for a troll at least. One day Broom Hilda asks, Irwin, "What would be the best way to make the world better?"

Irwin thinks for a moment and replies, "Start with yourself! Give up your bad habits and evil pleasures. Then when you're good, when you're perfect, you'll stand as a shining example to others!"

Broom Hilda swiftly responds, "What's the second best way?"

Perhaps one of our issues is that we are always looking for a second-best way to serve the Kingdom; a way that does not include being a peacemaker, or loving our enemies, or offering forgiveness, or laying down bitterness, or touching the outcast, or walking in faith, or giving up my own stubborn interests for the interests of Christ. There is no second-best way. There is only Jesus’ way, and Paul has already described for us what that way looks like.

Epaphroditus, on the other hand, is one of the Philippians’ native sons whom they had sent to Paul with a message of encouragement and to minister to Paul’s needs. He fulfilled his task with distinction as a "brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier." Despite a serious illness, he gave himself up to the point of death in order to represent the love and care of the Philippian people for Paul.

Paul does not say that Epaphroditus whined, grumbled, complained, became bitter or discouraged, or that he grew cynical or indifferent. Instead, Paul says that Epaphroditus risked his life, threw it down like a gambler would throw down a bet, in order to complete his appointed service. Epaphroditus’ glass was never half-empty, but it was never half-full either. But because he had invested himself in the greater cause of the gospel his cup was always running over with the grace and power of Christ. Once again we see the example of Christ embodied in the obedience and the character of Epaphroditus. "Have this attitude in yourselves," Paul had said, "as it was also in Christ Jesus."

In his book The Finger of God, Mark Rutland writes about a parishioner who complained about Rutland’s "constant harping on the theme of drawing nigh unto God." She confessed that, "I don't want to get close to God. I just want to get over in a corner and sneak into heaven quietly. I don't want to be a saint. I just don't want to go to hell."

"I cannot believe what I'm hearing!" the Pastor exclaimed.

"I can explain it easily," she said calmly. "When I started the ninth grade I set my heart on finishing high school with straight C's. And I did. You see, if you fail you have to repeat, and I wanted out. But if you start making A's people begin to expect things of you. It's exactly like that with God. If you're too bad you'll go to hell, and I don't want that. But if you're too good, he'll send you to India, and I don't want that either."

Talk about a half-empty glass! Rutland’s parishioner displays a C-class Christianity, a discount warehouse form of faith that seeks the maximum blessing for a minimum effort. That kind of attitude is sucking the spiritual life out of American churches. Thank God that Jesus wasn’t infected with it.

I want to ask you something, does someone with a C-class attitude inspire you? Do you want to follow somebody who wants to do the least that they can in order to get the minimum amount of benefit that they need?

We consistently hope for and expect for people to let Christ have influence upon them, to turn to Christ for salvation, and to submit to Him as Lord. But we cannot ever expect anyone to take Christian faith more seriously than we are willing to take it. How does Jesus Christ influence the tiny events that compose each day of our lives? How much influence does He have over the people that we have become, and are yet becoming?

We make dozens of tiny choices every day that build habits that, in turn, develop our character. The character of a servant reflects the humble attitude of Jesus Christ. What would need to change in your life in order to reflect that kind of character?

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