Scripture: Philippians 2:14-30.

Yesterday, many of us watched football. Some of us watched only one game, but some of us watched many games. As we cheered our favorite teams, we could see talented players making key plays to help their teams win the games.

Many of us here in Tuscaloosa watched the Alabama Crimson Tide. (Some of us also watched the Auburn Tigers, but we won’t mention them here.) If I were to ask you to name the Crimson Tide quarterback, most of you could say, “John Parker Wilson.” If I were to ask you to name our major freshman receiver, many of you would say, “Julio Jones.” If I were to ask you to name our major kickoff and punt returner, most of you could say, “Javier Arenas.”

How many of you can tell me the name of the person who blocked for Arenas? Can you tell me the name of the person who snaps the football to our punter, P.J. Fitzgerald? Or what about the people who play on our offensive line with Andre Smith and who blocked for our running backs? We focus so much on the famous players that we often forget the other players on the team. Any decent football star will tell you that it takes 11 men to make a play work as it is designed.

It has often been this way in history. In this service, we have several honored guests from Japan who are staying with us today. When we look in Japanese history, we see many great events. Most Japanese will remember the kamikaze storm that destroyed the Mongol fleets of 1274 and 1281. However, many Japanese soldiers died fighting the Mongols that managed to land on Japanese soil. Few people know their names, but had these soldiers  not fought for their country, Japan would have found herself under Mongol domination.

In our nation, we remember the great heroes of our wars. We remember General George Washington of the Revolutionary War; Generals Dwight Eisenhower, George Patton and Douglas MacArthur of World War II. These generals led our nation to victory in these wars. Yet, any of these generals would tell us today that no plan they composed would have worked without the tremendous work sacrifices of countless soldiers.

The Church also claims great leaders. One of them, St. Paul, wrote many letters to the churches he founded across Greece and Asia Minor. The leaders of the Church would always tell us that the work of numerous Christians has helped them do the work to which they were called. In today’s passage from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, St. Paul mentions 2 such Christians. St. Timothy and St. Epaphroditus had helped St. Paul tremendously in Rome. Now, St. Paul was sending them back to Philippi to help the Christians there. While few people in the Church today remember these workers (even fewer of us can pronounce Epaphroditus’ name!), St. Paul thought they were important enough to send to Philippi to help the believers there.

Today, God continues to call all of us to help tell the world of Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins and of His victory over death. As we examine this passage, we will see what the qualities it takes for all of us to play our role in telling people the good news of Jesus Christ: Our wrongs have been made right, and our victory over death is assured through His death and resurrection for us.

Every civilization has believed in sacrificing to the gods, but few understand why we feel we must do so. Christianity teaches that every human who does wrong against someone else also offends God, the Creator of the universe and all within it. This wrong is called “sin.” The Christian Old Testament tells us about the sacrifices people made to pay for their sins. In last week’s sermon, we read how Jesus Christ humbled Himself to die for the wrongs humanity has done to one another and against God. We also read that Jesus rose from the dead to defeat death, the worst penalty for the wrongs we do.

Today, we read about St. Paul’s desire for the Philippians to help others learn of Jesus’ sacrifice for us.

First, St. Paul told the Philippians to “do all things without grumbling or questioning.” The Philippians knew the right things to do: They knew they were to love others, they were to help others, and they were to put others’ interests before their own. The Philippians knew they were as to love others as Jesus had loved them. Jesus had loved them enough to die for them; they must love others more than life itself.

The Philippian church had leaders who explained these teachings using the Bible, the Christian holy book. The Bible of St. Paul’s time included only what we call the Old Testament, but today we also have the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament. St. Paul called on the Philippians to obey both the teachings they read in the Bible and the teachings they received from their leaders. They were to obey these teachings willingly and joyfully, not hesitantly or grudgingly. They were not to question their leaders when their leaders told them how to love others, even those they really did not like.

If the Philippians obeyed willingly what they learned from the Bible and their teachers, they would prove themselves “blameless and innocent” before unbelievers in their city. They would prove themselves to be “children of God without blemish” to the unbelievers. Christians today must live to a higher standard; we must love each other more than those in the world love each other. Many people in the world today think only of themselves and do only what they want. St. Paul refers to these people as “a crooked and twisted generation” and said that the obedience of the Philippians would help them “shine as lights in the world.” Jesus had said in St. Matthew’s Gospel, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). In a world where everyone wants to do whatever he wishes and tries to put himself before others, Christians must shine as examples of love and obedience.

St. Paul wanted the Philippian church to “hold fast to the word of life.” The word of life is that Jesus has died for our sins and rose again from the grave for our victory over death. If the Philippians held to the word of life, he would, in the last day, “be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.” St. Paul wanted the Philippians to live so that he would know they followed his teachings of love for God and others.

To help the Philippians live this way, St. Paul would send St. Timothy and Epaphroditus to teach them. St. Timothy was St. Paul’s greatest helper. St. Timothy was the son of a Greek father and Jewish mother. St. Paul had met him in the city of Lystra on his second missionary journey in the Roman Empire. St. Timothy had accompanied St. Paul since this meeting and become St. Paul’s assistant. When St. Paul sent St. Timothy to a church, the people knew they were to receive him as if he were St. Paul himself. As St. Paul wrote, “I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.”

However, we must remember that St. Paul wrote this letter while under arrest in Rome. St. Paul still awaited his appeal before the Caesar Nero. Although he was quite confident he would be freed, St. Paul also wrote to the Philippians that he would send St. Timothy “just as soon as I see how it will go with me.” St. Timothy would both represent St. Paul and also tell the Philippians the results of his appeal to Nero.

Until he could send St. Timothy, St. Paul would send St. Epaphroditus back to the Philippian church. The Philippians had sent St. Paul a gift to Rome, a difficult journey that took weeks to accomplish in their time. St. Epaphroditus had taken the gift to Rome and then stayed to help St. Paul teach the Roman Christians who visited him. However, St. Epaphroditus had fallen ill in Rome; word of his illness had found its way to Philippi. Now that St. Epaphroditus had recovered enough to return to Philippi with St. Paul’s letter, St. Paul could tell the Philippians the truth about his illness: “he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.” While the Philippians themselves could not help St. Paul, St. Epaphroditus had represented them well in Rome.

If you travel to many churches today, you will find someone who knows of St. Paul. St. Paul is still considered the Church’s greatest missionary; he wrote over half the Christian New Testament, and his interpretation of Jesus’ teachings continues to guide the Church today. St. Paul’s work spread Christianity beyond its Jewish roots, so much so that today, non-Jewish Christians greatly outnumber Jewish Christians. The Church now has believers in every nation, especially in America and Japan. St. Paul certainly qualifies as a great leader in the Church.

However, in this passage, St. Paul upheld St. Timothy and St. Epaphroditus as great examples of Christians. Neither of these men wrote a book in our Bible. Neither of these men left a major impression on history. Still, St. Paul said that his work depended heavily on them. Church history tells us that St. Timothy later served as bishop in Ephesus; St. Epaphroditus, as bishop of Philippi.

What about today? Does the Church still need those we call the “unsung heroes,” those few of us will hear about or remember? Absolutely.

First, we must remember that all of us have done wrong against someone, and therefore we have done wrong against God. We cannot make things right with God ourselves. Fortunately, God Himself, Jesus Christ the Son of God, became human and died for us. Even more, Jesus rose again from the dead so we do not have to fear death. Jesus humbled Himself to do this for us and gave us the ultimate example of humility.

We must also follow the examples of humility, service and obedience from others in the Church.  Today, we can find a great example of service and humility in the Church from Japan. Kagawa Toyohiko was born in 1888 in Kobe, Japan. His parents died when he was still a child, and Christian missionaries took him into their homes. Kagawa learned to read the Bible and became a Christian.

To Kagawa, becoming a Christian meant more than going to church and reading the Bible. Kagawa knew that Jesus loved the poor and felt that he must love the poor as well. Therefore, Kagawa fought for the rights of the poor, even to the point of living with them on the streets. Kagawa read that Jesus had taught, “Blessed are the peacemakers;” he tried to make peace with the Chinese in World War II. Kagawa campaigned for peace between the United States and Japan before war began between our nations. After the war, Kagawa worked for women to receive the right to vote. For his work among the poor and his attempts at peace, Kagawa was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 3 times.

Yet, Kagawa could say that his work relied on the sacrifices of numerous Japanese Christians whose names we will never know. We will never know the names of the “hidden Christians” who kept the Christian faith alive in Japan during the Tokugawa Shogunate and who practiced Christianity in secret, without Bibles or priests, for over 250 years. These and other Christians contributed to his work. Today, Christians continue to serve others in Japan and around the world.

We must follow this example of humility. We must love others as God loves them. We must serve others as Jesus has served us. Although none of us may influence others as St. Paul has done, it is still very important that we serve others in our lives. Other look to us to see Jesus’ example of humility. When people see us living as lights in a darkened world, they will come to the light themselves and find true life in Jesus Christ.