16) Strength in Suffering Series
In society, we tend to minimize and ignore suffering as a way of staying tough. We have many quotes about laughing instead of crying, and while this is a normal response when enduring pain, we have grown hardened to showing weakness—which means we’ve not always learned to face the emotions of vulnerability honestly. It’s so much easier to act like the movie stars and burn with vengeance when we are hurt and mistreated rather than allowing that we are sometimes sorrowful, powerless creatures inflicted by sin and its consequences in this world. We have no power to stop sickness, diseases, or death. We not only try to play the “hero” and hide our hurt, we also hide our true regard for one another as something embarrassing or uncomfortable.
“Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation because for the work of Christ he came nigh unto death, hazarding his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.”
Philippians 2:29-30
When someone has been through a trial, the response we give to their situation can encourage or discourage them. Epaphroditus was worried that when the Philippian Christians heard that he’d been deathly ill that the news would upset them. He sets out to comfort them, and in doing so, Paul directs the church how to treat him. This instruction is something we can all learn from. When someone has suffered and they have come out of the trial, we need to do two things. First, we receive them back into our arms with gladness. This step is obvious. When someone we love has been undergoing trial, we share a sense of relief for them. Second, Paul instructs them to “hold” men like Epaphroditus “in reputation.” What does this mean?
To explain what Paul means, it helps to look closely at how Paul describes Epaphroditus and his position. At first, it sounds like Paul is getting onto the Philippian Christians when he writes that Epaphroditus was “supply[ing] that which was lacking in your service toward me.” But Paul wasn’t expecting the church at Philippi to up and move to Rome to see to Paul’s needs. They wanted to make sure his needs were supplied, so they sent a family member, a brother from their congregation whom they chose to be there for Paul. And that brother got very, very sick. Epaphroditus was made powerless while trying to do the job he was sent to do. Paul is telling his brothers and sisters not to take lightly what Epaphroditus went through. He risked his life to serve. Here is Paul in prison, awaiting trial before the emperor of the world at that time, and he is telling them, “What Epaphroditus went through was grave, and he should be regarded in light of what he’s suffered while trying to do what you sent him to do.”
Stepping back to the idea of the physical family, when one member is sent to care for, say, mom because she’s in bad health, and that member also gets sick, the siblings tend to think, “Well, they’re no help!” They tend to joke with remarks like, “We sent you there to care for Mom! What were you thinking, getting sick?” We blame the sufferer, whether we really mean it or not. When someone is powerless to change their suffering condition, this is a common response. We creatures of weakness like to think we have some power over bad circumstances that come upon us, like ailments in our bodies. We begin to wonder if the sufferer didn’t do something that made that illness happen.
This thought process happens in the Church, too, especially with missionaries. When a missionary is hampered in their work with a sickness, or a virus lockdown, their supporters can think, “Well, they’re not getting much accomplished! Why am I still sending money?” But this isn’t the way God thinks. Illness and trouble are going to happen to Christians who have tasks to fulfill, and Paul points out that one’s labor and one’s honor are no less because the work they meant to do was curtailed by an unseen situation.
I know of a deacon who, while replacing light bulbs high up in the gabled height of the church building’s auditorium, slipped and fell down the ladder. He landed on the heel of his foot, and the bones were completely shattered. The congregation was terribly upset for him, but they tended to joke about how he shouldn’t have been trying to do the work unattended. They questioned the safety of the ladder. In truth, regardless of whether the deacon was practicing all safety protocol or not, he was trying to serve the church. He was trying to make sure the lights worked in the building when the church assembled. That man suffered greatly in service. When accidents or illnesses occur, those who are working in faithful service are the last ones that should be called out or ridiculed for weakness or negligence. Paul reveals God’s expectation for Epaphroditus’ welcome. He is to be welcomed as a faithful sufferer, not as though he is to blame for not seeing to some task.
A theme is being repeating throughout this letter, and that is: God values the servant—who she is, not what she does. Further, as the case with Epaphroditus reveals, God is the one who decides what someone does for Him. Suffering in sickness and coming close to dying when trying to work for God is an honorable job, too. This, too, is faithfulness, even when things don’t go as planned.
Paul talks of things that need repeating in the next part of his letter.