Go Ahead and Bet It All
On Sundays, we’re in the middle of a series from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. We’re looking at a few different moments where Paul tells us things we “need to know” to have a faith that can survive and thrive in the midst of a challenging world. Unfortunately, however, we don’t have time to look at every last verse (or else the series would be VERY long!), so we have to skip over a few things. I want to highlight one thing we’re not going to get to on a Sunday.
In the end of chapter two, Paul commends Timothy to them – who is like a son to Paul in his work for the Gospel, and then, a man named Epaphroditus. Epaphroditus was a beloved “brother and co-worker and fellow soldier” (2:25) with Paul – but he was also deeply involved in the Philippian church community. So much so that Paul called him their “messenger” – which the Greek is really their ‘apostle’! He was very highly thought of!
The Philippian church wanted to support Paul financially while he was in prison so that he could eat, have clothes, be supplied, and so on, so they sent Epaphroditus to Paul with their financial gift to give to him. As it turns out, on the trip, he had fallen “so ill that he nearly died” (2:27). But, because of God’s mercy, he persevered through the illness – even at the possibility of succumbing to his illness – in order to get their financial contribution to Paul.
Such faithfulness, even at great expense to himself!
When Paul writes Philippians, he knows that they are worried about Epaphroditus – and can’t believe he’s alive seeing how close to death he was – and Paul is worried about their worry (Paul was VERY emotionally attached to the Philippians!). So he is thrilled to be able to send Epaphroditus back to Philippi to deliver and read the letter to them, and they can see in person that he is healthy and recovered.
All’s well that ends well.
But then Paul says something interesting. He instructs the Philippians to,
Welcome him then in the Lord with all joy, and honor such people, because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for those services that you could not give me. (2:29-30)
Welcome him, and honor people like him: people who risk their lives for the work of Christ.
There’s a clever – and kind of funny – play on words here, however. According to Ben Witheringon’s Philippians commentary, Epaphroditus’s name means “favorite of Aphrodite” – who among other things, was the goddess of gambling. (Who knew gambling had a god/goddess!?!?) The word that Paul uses that gets translated as “risk” is the same word for “staked” or “gambled”. So what Paul is saying here, according to Witherington, is “that Epaphroditus rolled the dice, risking his very life” in the work of Christ.
He bet it all for the work of Christ.
It makes me wonder: do I ‘bet it all’ on the work of Christ – or do I hedge my bets by putting my faith into other things? Have I pushed all of my chips into the center of the table of Jesus’s mission – or am I holding back and waiting for better odds?
After all, from our perspective, the “odds” don’t look very good. In fact, the “odds” are downright terrible…a guaranteed loss, because the “odds” look like the way of the cross: if anyone wants to come after me, they must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me (Matthew 16:24).
There are better bets that dying on a cross!
But Paul says that we should honor (and imitate) people like him – and like Timothy – who is the only other one he can really trust because everyone else is “seeking their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ” (2:21). Remember the threat of self-centeredness from a few Sundays ago? Here it strikes again. And so the question again:
do I bet it all for the work of Christ – or – do I hold back out of my own self-interest?
When it comes to Jesus’ mission – let’s be risky gamblers. Reckless, in fact. Let’s take away every hedge, push all of our chips to the center, and bet it all on the work of Christ.
It might be bad odds, and we might lose it all – but when we lose it all, it’s a guaranteed win. And the payout is huge. And really, what do we have to lose? Because after all,