Timothy and Epaphroditus: Examples of Faithful Service
Philippians 2:19-30
19I hope, then, in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I also may be glad when I learn your circumstances.20For I have no one else like-minded who will genuinely be concerned for you.21For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.22But you know his proven character, that he served with me in the gospel like a child with a father.23Therefore I hope to send this man as soon as I have considered my own situation.24And I am confident in the Lord that he himself also will come soon.25Yet I deemed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your apostle and minister to my need.26For he was longing for all of you and was distressed because you had heard that he was ill.27Indeed he was so ill that he nearly died, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow.28Therefore I sent him, in order that you might see him again and rejoice, and that I might be less sorrowful.29Receive him, then, in the Lord with all joy, and hold such persons in honor.30Because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life, in order that he might supply what was lacking in your service to me.