Transcript

The apostle Paul found himself in the same type situation that I find myself in today. He had problems concerning the church staff. He needed more staff. He needed more faithful co-workers with him. But also he applauded the godly and good men that he had around him to help him. That’s where I am today. God has given us such a wonderful church staff, good and godly men and women. But also we find ourselves very short of staff. Churches much smaller, smaller than us have already divided up staff into particular areas and we have men carrying all those hats right now, and, and need more staff.

Let’s look at it together. Look at Philippians chapter 2, beginning in verse 19. Now if you are visiting with us today, we just go straight through books of the Bible, verse by verse, learning what God has there for us. That is the way God wrote the Bible through men, and that is the best way to understand what he wants us to hear. And today we come to a section where the apostle Paul is talking about his full-time ministerial staff. So today I am going to talk about the church staff. I’ve entitled the message, “A Good Church Staff.”

A Good Church Staff, beginning in verse 19, read along with me. Philippians 2, verse 19. “But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. But you know of his proven worth that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father. Therefore I hope to send him immediately, as soon as I see how things go with me; and I trust in the Lord that I myself also shall be coming shortly. But I thought it necessary to send you to Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need; because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly in order that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned about you. Therefore receive him in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard; because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me.”

A good church staff. First of all, I want to talk about the calling of the church staff. That is the phrase we use today when we add more ministerial staff members to our church. We call it calling a man to our church. Now, now there may be other ways, but the apostle Paul reveals two ways that God puts men on the staff. Two ways. First of all, there are those that you find. And that is the way it was with Timothy. He mentions Timothy first up in verse 19, Timothy is a co-worker, part of the apostle Paul’s ministerial staff team. But over in the book of Acts the Bible shows us that Paul found Timothy during one of his missionary journeys and he learned about this boy and he worked with this fellow, he learned about his family background, and eventually he called Timothy to come on and work full-time with him in the gospel ministry. And there are those that we go out and pray and look for and search and visit and talk with and we go find them. And it is wonderful when, when you find a man like that.

That is the way we called brother Pat Merchant, our minister of music. We were without a minister of music, and I began to ask around and talk around and finally someone said to me, listen, I know what kind of church you have, I know you want a music program that is praise and worship centered, not performance centered. I know you want a music ministry that is an overflow of the soul winning and disciplining and Bible preaching ministry, not one that tries to be the tail that wags the dog. I know a man you need to talk to and he told me about Brother Pat Merchant. Well, I, like I told the earlier congregation, I’d never heard of a Pat Merchant before. I, I am like the fellows in the book of Acts, when the early apostles went to these fellows who had believed they said, have you received the holy spirit. And they said, we hadn’t even heard that there was a holy spirit. Well, that was the way I was, I hadn’t even heard that there was a Pat Merchant. I didn’t know him, he didn’t know me, but we got in contact, began to talk, and God kind of jelled our hearts together, his philosophy and vision of church and work was a lot like mine, so I was preaching a revival down in Demopolis Alabama. Now folks, you don’t pass through Demopolis Alabama, you just go there. If you are not going there, you will never get there. It is just there. You have to go 90 miles from there to reach anything hardly. But I was preaching a revival down there in the middle of the woods, and I had asked brother Pat would you come up from Jackson Alabama and met me there, it is about a half way drive for both of us, and you can do the special music and the worship service, and then we’ll talk afterwards and see if God wants us to go further. So brother Pat came in there, had his guitar you know, and, and he came up and he did the special music in the service and went and sat down, and I am sitting there thinking, well, that wasn’t much. Boy, that, that just wasn’t too impressive at all. As a matter of fact, all I am thinking about is Jesus. Then I thought for a moment, that is what I am looking for. That’s what I want, I want a guy when he gets down, you are not thrilled about his performance, you are thinking about Jesus. That’s what I wanted. And from that point on I was just pretty certain God wanted brother Pat here, and hadn’t he been a blessing to us. And God’s just so blessed. There are some that you just go out and hunt for them and God leads you to them.

But the other way, and the majority of our staff is this way, now, they find you. There are those that you go find, like Paul found Timothy and I found brother Pat, but some of them, just find you, they just pop up and there they are. And you just happen to need them. I was thinking about Martha Griffin, and the ladies who do the play school ministry on Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning here for our children. How God uses that ministry. Those folks, those ladies just came up out of our church. We didn’t have to go out and hunt and find, God just raised them up. Thought about Barbara Jobe who does our nursery work, and oversees that. I remember when I talked to Barbara, I said, man, we’ve got to have somebody to help us back there, Barbara it is not worth the money and it is not worth the hassle. I mean, we’ve got about 150 children that will be back there, and every one of them is unique and special. I got two unique and special children. So do you, well, I don’t know how many you’ve got but they are unique and special. I said, man, you’ve got to put up with junk, fussing, fuming, you know, just old stuff, you know. But I said, listen, we need, and God just raised her up and she has done a great job for these years. The nursery has doubled, her salary hasn’t doubled, but the work has doubled. She is just faithful, God just raised her up. Brother Scott Hutchins who is coming on this year as our part-time singles director, he was just here and helping us with our building and grounds work, but he has got a heart for God and a heart for ministry, and now he is handling that and doing a great job for us. Brother Bill Meckes, who is a surgeon, part-time, full-time ministerial staff member. And God just raised him up, of course we can bring him on and not pay him anything, that is the good thing about him being on our staff. So God just, he was just there, we needed somebody in this preaching teaching role, he is there to do that for us and help lead our adult Sunday school division. I thought about Selena Newton who is our director of childhood ministries, we’ve so desperately needed somebody to oversee our children. We are talking hundreds, do you know, I believe I am accurate Selena, you told me that now every week we have 200 adults working with children in this church every week. Two hundred adults. Boy, you’ve got to have somebody to coordinate that and oversee that. And I didn’t have to go out looking. Selena had just come home from the mission field, when we happened to have that need. And I looked out there and she had been, we had been supporting her on the mission field, and she was sitting out there, and I thought, well, there is our children’s director, God just raised her up.

Brother Vance, boy, hadn’t Vance been a blessing to us. God just led him here, right when we needed him, he is out of our church, and you know, I like to call staff members who are out of our church. Because they are not fully of monkey ideas. I mean you raised them, you’ve trained them, you know what they are, they know what you are, they know your vision, you don’t have to spend three or four years trying to straighten out their thinking on things. And boy, brother Vance has come in, been exactly what we needed to help build the pulpit, oversee the greatest youth ministry in northwest Alabama, probably north Alabama. And God is so working. Brother Tim Martin. When I first became your pastor, there was me and one part-time youth director, and about 30 percent of the people that didn’t like me. I mean, son, it was an unusual situation. And I thought, boy, I’ve got to have some help. And there was brother Tim, he was our director of our Sunday school at that time, he came on staff and did everything. Brother Tim is one of these guys who can do a little bit of everything. Now there are some things that brother Pat can’t do and brother Fred can’t do, and that I can’t do, but brother Tim can do a little bit of everything. He is a radio and television and production manager and engineer for the Anchored in Truth radio broadcast we do every day of the week at 9:30, right after Charles Stanley on WBTG, 106.3. He does, he oversees that and you can’t imagine the work involved in that. Man, when I preach it goes right to a dat machine, Tim takes it from dat and puts is on reel to reel, there are editors out there editing all the junk out of my sermons and getting them down to about a 27 minutes format, they give that edited manuscript to Tim, Tim plugs in the reel to reel, splices it all together, gets it all set up to exactly about 27 minutes, then he’s got to put the intro music, the exit music, the intro and the intro and the exit, I mean, it is a lot of work, he just chunks those things out, many hours a week, doing that. Plus he does our missions, plus he oversees finance, I mean, guy is wearing a lot of hats that he shouldn’t have to wear. And boy, it is just a blessing, Tim was just there, ready to go to work. He can preach a little bit, and teach a little bit, he can do a little bit of everything.

Well, we needed somebody like that at that time. And God brought brother Fred back to us, brother Fred Boone is out of our church. Brother Fred always had a heart for disciplining and soul winning and I knew he was the kind of man I wanted to do our education. He’s come in and boy, if there is a man on planet earth that is better at building a soul winning disciplining Sunday school, I don’t know about him. Brother Fred knows what he is doing. It is a tremendous right arm to me. And all of these guys, it is just incredible. It is just incredible. They are like Epaphroditus. That’s what happened here. If you will look down at verse 25 of Philippians 2, he said, “But I thought it necessary to send you Epaphroditus.” Now the interesting thing is this. If Epaphroditus was sent from the church at Philippi to Paul who is in Rome, the Roman prison. And while he was there, Paul said man, I, I, old Epaphroditus, he’s got a heart for God, I just think I’ll put him on my staff. So he started working for Paul in his ministry. And, and, and Paul has the situation where a guy was just flung in his lap, God sent him, God raised him up. Well, that is the way most of our staff is, God just raised them up, they were right there for us. You see, it is hard to find a good man. But it is wonderful when a good man finds you. And God has just so taken care of us.

And I just want to say one quick word about our staff wives. Without question and without a doubt, the wives of the staff members here are the finest, USDA, grade A, number one, almost perfect. Folks, do you know that most, I don’t know if most, I just know in our area a lot of the pastors of larger churches, their wives also have full time secular careers. Of course, that is okay, I am not saying that is sin. But I am just saying none of our wives do and they pour their lives into this church. You look at the staff wives here, if our staff wives quit today the work they are doing, I’d have to hire at least three people to do the work they are doing. Without question, that is not exaggerating, without question. And I tell the finance committee, I say, listen fellows, when you think about setting the salaries of these men on staff, you realize you are getting two for one with every one of them, and that is getting unusual today. But you know why a lot of staff wives have to work at those other churches?, Because the church thinks there is one cardinal sin, that is paying the staff too much. That is right. They try to keep them poor enough and the wives usually have to work just for them to live on the medium level that the rest of the church is on. You don’t do that and I praise God for that. But I want to tell you, you are getting a bonus with these staff wives. As a matter of fact, the staff could probably leave, if the wives stayed you would probably be in pretty good shape. I am telling you, God uses these ladies. They work, cover bases, I am just telling you, you don’t know, God has taken care of us. But that is something about calling a staff. Some of you, you pray and go out and search and find, some of them God just raises up, and boy he takes care of you.

Well, secondly, Paul says something here about the character of a good staff. There are some characteristics about here about Timothy and Epaphroditus, Paul’s staff members that we want to look at and need to be there if a staff member is a good staff member. Number one, the first one is availability. Availability. Look at verse 19. “But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly.” Notice Paul did not send that Timothy and I are going to get together and pray about this, and bring it before the church and pray about it and vote on it. No, he just said, Timothy, as one of my staff members, there is a need at the church at Philippi, I am locked up in prison, I am sending my staff member to take care of it. You know what that shows me?, Old Timothy was available. He was just God’s servant and said, I am available, and Paul as you’re God’s apostle, as you see there is a need, you point me in the direction, I am available. I am a servant of God. And Epaphroditus, the same way. Down there in verse 25 when he says, “I thought it necessary to send you Epaphroditus.” Now notice he didn’t say, now Epaphroditus and I got together and talked about it and discussed it and voted on it, no. He just, Epaphroditus is committed to the work and he is available to go. Now folks, you’ve got to be available if you are a good staff member. You, have to have the spirit of availability. Every one of our staff carries loads and burdens that is not in their job description. It just needs to be done, and they are available to do that, they have that spirit. And this is cause for rejoicing. Not that Timothy and Epaphroditus were given the order to go, but that when the need was there they were available and willing to go. And do what needed to be done. Did you know that availability is rarer than ability?, Availability is rarer than ability.

There are those that would say, oh brother Jeff, if boy, if you could just get that guy on the church staff, man, he’s got ability. That doesn’t matter much to me, is he available for God?, The available guy may say, I have this talent, this skill, whatever, but wherever I am needed in the kingdom, I’ll do it. Availability. During his famous valley campaign, general Stonewall Jackson needed to get his army and his artillery across the river. He called his engineers together and said, fellows listen, you’ve got to work quick. I’ve got to get my men and my artillery across this river. And so the engineers went to work. Later that afternoon he called aside his wagon master, just a guy who had no special skill, just an organizer sort of fellow, called the wagon master. He said, listen, we’ve got to get across that river, I don’t know what to do, but we’ve got to get across that river. During the night the wagon master gathered up fence posts, large rocks, anything he could get together and by daybreak the next morning, he reported back to General Stonewall Jackson, everything sir, artillery, horses and men are already across the river. Stonewall Jackson said, great, well, what are the engineers doing?, He said, they are still in their tent, planning and debating on how to build the bridge. You see, so very often, in key work, availability is rarer than ability. Are you available to do what it takes to get the job done. A good staff member, Timothy was, Epaphroditus was, and I am so glad that here at this church God has surrounded me with a lot of Timothys and Epaphrodituses. They are available for God’s work, to do what it takes. In other words, they are not carrying union cards and say, now listen preacher, here is what I do and here is what I don’t do. Naw, I am sorry you leave that union card at work, that don’t work in the kingdom. You come available to do what God wants you to do.

Well, that is the way these folks function. Secondly, not only availability, but sincerity. Notice it here, sincerity. Look at verse 20 and 21, about Timothy. What a sincere and genuine concern he had. Verse 20 Paul says, “for I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.” What a testimony of Timothy. Look at verse 21. “For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.” Wow, he said, man, Timothy, this guy is absolutely top notch, he has a heart for God, there is a genuine, genuineness for God, his motivations are pure, I don’t have to worry about this guy, I can send him off and not get knots in my stomach wondering if he is going to be faithful and sincere in his work. I want to tell you, a good staff member has to have sincerity about his work for the Lord, genuine and pure in motive.

Well, Epaphroditus also. Notice his sincerity notice verse 26 of chapter 2. “Because he, (this is Epaphroditus) was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick.” Notice verse 30. “He came close to death for the work of Christ rising his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me.” I mean men that are selfless, sincere in their motives, a good staff member needs sincerity. Oh, but selfishness is always a problem. And you know in selfishness always has been a problem. It doesn’t matter where you go, what age you are in, until these old fleshly bodies are glorified at the rapture, selfishness is going to be something we all battle against. William Lincoln of London said this. Rest assured that if you put Christ in the second place and your own things first, you will hear of it at the judgement seat.

While visiting Franklin Delanor Roosevelt in the White House, a good friend of his asked him this question. He said, president Roosevelt, why do you keep that frail sickly man, Harry Hopkins constantly at your side?, I mean, Harry Hopkins is a sick and frail man, there is not much to him. Why is he always by your side? President Roosevelt pointed to the front doors of the oval office, he said, do you see those doors. Every day hundreds of people incessantly come to those doors wanting something from me. All Harry Hopkins wants to do is serve me. And so it is advantageous to keep him close by my side. You know what he is saying? This man is sincere and genuine in serving me and his country. He is worth having close around, not matter what his talents or abilities look like on the outside. And so it is with a good staff member. Paul points out, availability, and sincerity.

But notice thirdly he points out submission. Look at it there in verse 22, the last part of verse 22. Talking about the apostle Paul. I’ll just read the whole verse. “But you know of his proven worth that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel (notice) like a child serving his father.” How does a child serve his father?, That’s the way Timothy served the apostle Paul. How does he do that. He does that submitting to the authority of his father. With reverential respect and fear, not a fear of pain or suffering or, or refusal or insecurity, but a reverential fear and awe of his father. He said, that is the way Timothy works in submission to his God given authority. Folks, listen, all of us God has designed for all of us to function under a line of authority. None of you are to be functioning outside of authority. Friend, if there is one clear cut problem in America today it is that there is no respect for authority. NO respect for authority. The Bible says very clearly in Ephesians 6:1, that children should respect the authority of their parents. We ought to get back to the day where children don’t announce to mom and dad, and tell mom and dad they ask permission from mom and dad. But not only that, the Bible teaches clearly in Ephesians 5:22 that wives should respect the authority of their husbands. And I want to throw in something here. Ladies when you take a job outside of your home, I am not saying that is sin, I am not saying you are back slidden, but you throw yourself in a precarious situation. God has designed for you to submit to the authority of your husband. When you take a job outside your home, you submit to the authority of your employer. And you put, listen, God has not designed any woman to be able to be under one man’s authority all day long at work, and then shift gears and be under another one at home. That is why there is a lot of confusion in the home today. You’ve done, you’ve got a diversity, you’ve a dualism in your life. I am not saying it is sin, I am not saying you are back slidden, I am saying, you need to be aware of the biblical principles involved. Wives submit to your husbands.

Often my secretary Judy will say, brother Jeff, what do you think should I do this or can I do that, and I say, Judy you need to go home and ask your husband. Because there are some areas I have no business giving her guidance over, that is from her husband. Now, she is a godly lady, and there has never been anything of any questionable question but I just want to keep that principle clear in our offices. And ladies your husband is your biblical authority. But not only that, what about the men brother Jeff. The Bible teachers very clearly in Colossians 3:22 and other places, employees should respect the authority of their employer. The Bible even says those who don’t do you right. You are to submit to their authority. Submit to them as if working under the Lord. The Bible says, church members, submit to the authority of your church leaders, makes that very clear in Hebrews 10:13. Folks, all of us are under some line of authority. And Paul knew you cannot have a good ministerial staff member if he has got a problem in submitting to authority.

Now, real quick, I am preaching a little side sermon here on authority, I’ll get to it one day, real quick. God put you under authority for at least three reasons. First of all, to guide you. You want to know what God’s will is, you go to your biblical authorities. If you are a child, go to your parents. Say, mom and dad, I want to know what you feel about this, I sense God is leading this way, but the Bible tells me if you are not for it, God is not for it. Also, wives, you have decisions to make, you clear it through your husband. Go to your authority. Men, we have men in our church that makes substantial business decisions, but they do not make it until they come pray with me first. Listen, that is not to say I am a businessman, I don’t know anything about it. Don’t want to know anything about it, but all they are saying is pastor, do you see any way this would hurt God, violate God, hurt his reputation, or be unwise, because the Bible says I am under your authority and I want that guidance. But I tell you what, God is blessing those men too. Not because Jeff Noblit is wise, but because they are obeying the biblical principle. Listen, God wants all of us to get guidance and you are not going to be guided properly if you are not submitting to the authority God has placed over you. Listen, girls, you are double-dog ignorant, if you date a boy, plan on marrying a boy, that you don’t have your father’s permission and blessing to do so. You are saying, I want to be a dummy. No, I want to be a double dummy. When you marry a boy without your daddy’s blessing, say wait a minute, my daddy is not walking with God. It doesn’t matter. You go tell him, say daddy, God has given you the authority to guide me to the right marriage partner, if this one is not right, it is your responsibility before God to stop me. And I am trusting you to do it. Listen, God gives a father insights into the motives of a boy that he does not give the daughter the ability to discern. Are you listening? Fathers, don’t you dare tell your daughters, now listen, that is your decision. It is your decision. Don’t you give that, you carry that burden daddies. Well, I am not godly enough to carry it. You get on that bedroom and get on your needs and you get with God until you do have a freedom to give advice. You know what we’ve done, we’ve told daddies today, put all the burden on the church, put all the burden on the kids, it is their own life, make their own decisions. No my friend, it is your decision at the judgement seat of Christ you will answer for the decision and the guidance you did or did not give your children. Amen walls. Let’s get back to what the book teaches.

Well, brother Jeff, that is not the way it is done today. Today they are getting pregnant before they are married, today they are dropping out of school, today they are on drugs, today they are alcoholic, today they are not making it. Why aren’t they making it?, We’ve gotten away from the book. We’ve gotten away from God’s way. God wants to guide you through your authorities. Well, not only that, he wants to protect you through your authorities. There is protection for you when you go to your God given authority and say now listen, I am trusting you to show me. You see, there are dangerous temptations and things out there that God wants to prevent you from having to face, but he has given you a way to know, and that is by clearing it through your God given authority, whether you are a child, a wife, a husband, wherever. Go to your God given authority. Clear it and check it out. Not only guide and protect, but also develop character. Develop character. Listen, you are a diamond in the rough. And God uses the people he has placed in authority over you to chisel off the rough edges, so you will be a more perfectly designed, beautifully faceted gem to reflect the character of Jesus out of your life to the people around you. But when you reject authority, you reject God’s character building program for you. Now, if God can’t get it done through the authority he has given you, he will get it done through another way. For example, the boy says now listen, my daddy is too strict. My daddy is too mean. My daddy has too many rules, I tell you what I’ll do, I’m getting out from under my daddy’s authority, I am going to join the Marines. And unfortunately today, when children rebel, there is godless social programs out there to hold them up so that they don’t hit the bottom and really get right with God. Enough about that. But Timothy and Epaphroditus were men who understood the principle of submission to their authority, and that makes a good staff member. We don’t need staff members that have got their own agenda and got their own plan. I’ve heard of guys, pastors call me all, I don’t have these problems. Pastors call me and say, uh, man my staff member came to me and told me that God told them to do one thing, but I am leading the church another way. What’s wrong. I said, your staff member is in total, complete rebellion. God doesn’t guide a staff member to do anything that doesn’t come from the pastor’s heart. We can’t have 17 staff members going on their own agenda out there. That would be total chaos. Football team can’t function that way, can it? A business can’t function that way, you’ve got to have a leader and people carrying out the vision. Well, Paul had that with Timothy and Epaphroditus.

Well, I’ve spent too much time, but that was a side sermon that I believe we all needed. Availability is one of the character traits, sincerity, submission, and lastly, seasoned, he ought to be a seasoned person. Now I do not mean he is fully mature, but he has been down the track far enough to gain some maturity and some experience that is really needed. Now you’ve got to be careful. Timothy was seasoned, but Timothy was still a young man. Paul had to tell Timothy on occasion, don’t let them look down on your youthfulness. You are mature in a lot of ways, you are able to lead even though you are not chronologically as old as some others. By the way, I know some 16 to 18 years old that have got a lot more wisdom than a lot of 50 year olds. Because they know this book and they are trying to obey it. Well, that is what he means. He is seasoned with the things of God. Look at verse 22. HE points this out in the life of Timothy. “But you know of his proven worth.” He says, church at Philippi, Timothy is coming to you to serve you, minister to you, and you know he is a seasoned proven man of God. And our staff ought to be that way. Now depending on their calling and role, they can have different levels of maturity. Some guys we bring on because we want to train them all the way through. But there ought to be something in their life that is obvious that God is using them, and they’ve got some experience, they’ve got some time under their belt.

I read this story about a missionary in India. And this lady was teaching pagan Hindu ladies the Bible. Half way through the Bible study, one of the ladies jumped up and left. A few minutes later she came back in and when she came back in to the Bible study, she was more excited than before. At the end of the Bible study, the missionary lady asked the lost Hindu lady, said, why did you leave half way through the Bible study. She said, well, I got so excited about this Jesus that you were talking about. And about the difference he makes in your life. I went out and asked your coach driver if you really lived that way. He said, you did. Now I want to hear some more. That is the point. They must have walked with the Lord in such a way there is no major flaw in their life that would hurt their ministry for Christ. Has to be some seasoning behind them already.

Well, we’ve seen the calling of a good staff. Some of them you just go after and God lets you find them. Some of them God let’s them find you, God just raises them up. We’ve talked about the character. He has to have availability, sincerity, submission, and be seasoned. And then lastly the consideration of a good staff. How do we consider them, how do we view them, how do we treat them, that is what I mean by the word consideration. There are many things in the Bible, but in this text we see two. First of all we are to hold them as equals. Look at verse 25 there. “But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow workers and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my needs.” Now, look at the, look at the parallel truths here. On the one hand Epaphroditus is completely under the authority of Paul his spiritual leader, but on the other hand Paul says, I want you to know though, he is my brother, he is my fellow worker, he is my fellow soldier. Paul says, though he has a different role in the kingdom, he is equally important in the kingdom. He is my fellow brother, my fellow worker, my fellow soldier. I want you to know this staff, they have a different role and responsibility than I do as the senior pastor, but I want to tell you, they are equally important in the kingdom of God. They are not less of an importance because they have a different role. They are my fellow brothers and sisters. My fellow workers, and my fellow soldiers. And folks, they are equally important to you in the kingdom of God. And there are some of you out here this morning that need this word, you think, well, I don’t have the gift that brother Pat does. I don’t have the gift that brother Vance does, or brother Fred or brother Jeff, I, I am not as important. Listen, the Bible says your role and responsibility in the body may be different, but you are equally important. Don’t let satan tell you that, you are essential to the work of God. God doesn’t make no flops, he doesn’t make any mistakes. You are here because you are suppose to be here and you are equally important. And what a picture he shows us of that. First of all I am sending Epaphroditus, he is under my leadership, but I want you to know that he is my equal in that he is my brother, my fellow worker, and my fellow solider. We don’t have time, but jot down this reference. 1 Corinthians 12:14-17. 1 Corinthians 12:14-17, will show you how in the body of Christ, that is the local church, there are people with different gifts, roles, and responsibilities, different levels of authority, we are all equally important in the work of God. Different in responsibility, equal in value and importance.

So first of all he says, we hold them as equals, secondly he says we hold them in high esteem. Look at verses 29 and 30. We hold them in high esteem. “Therefore receive (Epaphroditus) in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard.” High regard. In other words, because of the office that he fills and the responsibility that he holds, you are to hold him in high regard. There ought to be an honor, a respect and esteem for the men and women of God that serve you and lead you in your church. Hebrews 10:13 talks about submitting to your church leaders and obeying them. Another text you may want to jot down, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13, also talks about honoring and respecting and esteeming those who are over you. As God has called these men and women, the Bible tells us, we are to honor them and hold the of esteem.

Now, let me show you one of the particular reasons, while there are many other reasons why, but one of the reasons why we ought to hold them in esteem. Look at verse 30. “Because he (Epaphroditus) came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life” notice this, “to complete what was deficient in your service to me.” Paul is saying this. Paul is saying, church at Philippi, you had a responsibility to meet my needs and do certain things for me as your spiritual leader. Either you did not, or were unable to do all that you rightfully should have done for me. But Epaphroditus, who is now one of my staff members, made up what you lacked. And that is one of the reasons why a church ought to hold their staff, a church ought to hold their staff in high esteem. Very, very often, they are called upon to suck it up and do some work that in all honesty the church members should have done themselves. Outside of their areas and fields of responsibility, very often. Now even in a good church like this one, that’s known for the laity doing the work of the ministry, you are known for, for fulfilling your role, you are known for being, being probably the most, highest percentage of lay folks busy for God that I know of anywhere, but folks, even as good as you are, there are still areas that some folks should have done and I have to assign it to staff members, and they have to compete what is deficient in your service. That is just a part of it. And Paul gives here that is one reason we ought to hold the staff in high esteem.

Now, in conclusion let me mention two staff members no pastor and no church wants around. Number one would be Demas, Demas. 2 Timothy 4:10 says, Demas having loved this present world has deserted me. Demas was a fellow worker with Paul, but Paul says Demas loved the things of the world. He can’t be counted on, and he has deserted me. Then there is another type of fellow nobody wants on staff. 3 John verse 9 tells us about Diotrephes. The Bible says Diotrephes loves to be first. He wants all the attention, he wants his ministry, his program to be number one, loves to be first. I want to tell you, woe to the pastor and woe to the church that has a Demas for a staff worker, who loves this world and is negligent to the work of God he is called to do. And woe to the pastor and woe to the church who has a Diotrephes who wants to be first. But you know what the honest conclusion of the matter is. Every single one of us has something of a Demas and Diotrephes spirit within us. Every one of us. Every one of us has a little bit of that thing that says live for the world, not for God. Every one of us has at least a little bit of that spirit that says I want to be first and number one. You are not going to get rid of it until you get your glorified body, but the holy spirit of God can give you the ability to keep it from being in the throne. You can keep it submitted to the selfless spirit of honoring Jesus in your life. As Pendleton the great systematic theologian said, sins of the heart, the Demas and Diotrephes, sins of the heart must be dragged forth from their lurking places and slain before the Lord. May we all this morning, afresh and anew, drag forth Demas and Diotrephes from the lurking places in our heart and slay them before the Lord. And that is something of what God’s word says about a good staff. Let’s all stand together in prayer.