Gospel Role Models | Philippians 2:19-30

Many of us are familiar with John Calvin, the great sixteenth century reformer of Geneva. But few know about one of his closest friends and allies, fellow reformer, Pierre Viret. Through Viret’s preaching, the Swiss town of Lausanne was won over to the gospel during the Reformation. Viret didn’t have an easy life though. He faced opposition from many of his countrymen. He was attacked by a Roman Catholic monk wielding a sword and left on the side of the road to die. Yet he survived. Then he was given a bowl of poisoned spinach soup, which also nearly killed him. He survived, but lived in constant pain for the rest of his life. He devoted his life to preaching the gospel to French-speaking Switzerland and southern France. Despite enduring incredible suffering and opposition, he was known as the “angel of the Reformation” or the smiling reformer, because of his graciousness, winsomeness and humility.

These days even the thought of making such sacrifices and enduring suffering for the sake of the gospel is not something that we tend towards. We’re much more inclined to pursue a comfortable life, ensure that we are financially secure and try our best to avoid suffering. This is epitomised through the prosperity gospel teaching that plagues much of our context. Yet if we look back at church history and indeed the Bible itself, we see that those people who have really made a difference for the Lord have denied themselves and lived incredibly sacrificial lives.

This morning we are back in Philippians and our text focuses on two men, Timothy and Epaphroditus. If you remember some weeks ago, in Philippians 1, we heard about Paul’s opponents – fellow brothers in Christ who had wrong motives. They were selfish, focussed on advancing their own self-interest, personal ambitions and sought to thwart Paul’s ministry. In great contrast to these guys, Paul draws our attention to two men whom he has discipled, true servants of Christ, whom he is going to send to minister to the Philippian church. What we’ll see in looking at both these men is that they are gospel role models. Both have sacrificed and suffered much for Christ. Ultimately, we’ll see that both these men point us to Christ himself, our true Suffering Servant.

Preacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola.

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