You are on the Alex Trebec Stage, battling for your next win in the game show “Jeopardy.” The category is “I-C-S” in quotation marks, and the answer is “The study of work efficiency.” Your opponents hesitate for a split second, and you click in. You quickly answer: “What is ergonomics (er-ga-nom-iks)?” You’ve just won yourself $2,000. You won because you know that the Greek word commonly translated “work” in the Bible is “ergon.” That is the word found in verse 30 – Epaphraditus “for the WORK of Christ… was nigh unto death.”
As I was rereading our text, asking the Lord for a message for this evening, the Holy Spirit showed me twenty ways in which the people of this paragraph interconnect with one another. We have here: Paul, Timothy, Epaphroditus, the church in Philippi and the Lord. How many different ways are these five related to each other? I don’t know if the answer is 5 to the 5th power, but it is a lot. Paul was blessed by the Philippians through Epaphroditus, and he wanted to bless them through Timothy. Epaphroditus and Timothy helped Paul, because they both put the Lord first in their lives. Paul tells his Macedonian friends how both his heart and that of Epaphroditus were intertwined with theirs. And of course, the Lord was in the middle of everything.
Summarizing this in my mind, I saw jumble of interconnecting lines going between each of these five entities. I also decided that it might be hard to separate all of this in order to make any practical application. So I began to think that my prediction from last week was true, and we’d move on to chapter 3 tonight. But reading it once again, my heart got hung up on the last verse: “for the WORK of Christ” – “for the ERGON of Christ.”
What IS the work of Christ?
Keep in mind that what is done for Christ is also automatically done for “God.” Christ the Son of God cannot be separated from God the Father. If something is done for God deliberately apart from Christ, then it is worthless. So what might be said about “the work of God,” can also be said to be “the work of Christ.”
In John 6:28 a group of Jews asked the Lord, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” His reply was: “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” In essence, if you want to do something that will please and glorify God, then trust and obey the Lord Jesus. Christ said, “He that hath see me hath seen the Father.” “This is the will of him that sent me (God), that every one which seeth the Son… believeth on him….” verse 40. Verse 45 – “Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.” I think it is quite likely Epaphroditus was acting as one of Christ’s evangelists; one of Paul’s assistants.
That definition agrees with the commission which was given to Paul and Barnabas when they were sent out. Acts 13:2 – “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the WORK whereunto I have called them.” Is evangelism the work which Paul tells the Corinthians about Timothy? I Corinthians 16:10 – “Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear; for he WORKETH the WORK of the Lord, as I also do.” Is this the work to what Paul refers in Ephesians 4? God has given us apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers… “For the perfecting of the saints, for the WORK of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ”? Isn’t the “work of Christ,” religious work; evangelistic work? I believe it is.
And yet, that doesn’t really sound like the rest of verse 30. “For the WORK of Christ (Epaphroditus) was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.” In verse 25, among other descriptive terms, Paul said that Epaphroditus “ministered to my wants.” Besides being “a companion in labour, and a fellowsoldier,” it sounds like this man was acting as a servant.
This leads to another definition of the work of Christ. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 25:31 – “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when (did we do these things)? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
It is safe to say that evangelism is not the one and only work for Christ. Anything which is done for the Lord’s glory is the work of Christ. Even those things which are done simply to be a blessing to others, may be considered the work of Christ if they are offered for the Lord’s glory. You ladies who have come over to clean house for Judy were doing one form of service for Christ. The food which you have prepared and given to the Oldfields, and to each other from time to time, has been work for the Lord. As much as she is often criticized, Martha was doing the work of Christ in serving Christ. Christ Jesus said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Mark 9:41 – “For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.”
From the comments made about Epaphroditus, I think it is safe to say the work of Christ is relatively wide. It may be a gift of money; it may be some sort of service. And I’m sure that we could even add such spiritual things as Bible teaching and effectual fervent prayer. Epaphroditus had been busy in the work of Christ, even though we can’t be sure exactly what it was.
But then, what is the RESULT of the work of Christ?
Obviously, if the work of God is believe on Him whom He has sent, then we should be able to say that one of the results of doing the work of Christ will be seen in other peoples’ faith in the Saviour. A cup of cold water which results in a thirsty soul coming to He who is “the water of life” is a work for Christ. An invitation, or a tract given to another may be a work which brings a soul to Christ. The four men who carried their crippled friend to the roof of the house in which Jesus was teaching, apparently resulted in the salvation of that poor man. These things are “the work of Christ.”
A few moments ago, we read from Matthew 25. The first verse was – “When the Son of man shall come in his GLORY, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his GLORY.” The glorified Son of man, the Son of God, sitting on the throne of his glory, will judge all His creatures. And according to God’s Word, even the little things which have been done in Christ’s name, will add to Jesus’ glory and will be judge accordingly. So what are the results of the work of Christ? God’s glory is the primary result of the work of Christ. And many times – so is the sinners’ faith in Christ.
Moving on, what is the BECAUSE of the work of Christ?
Without knowing the details, let’s say that Epaphroditus was nigh unto death because he was trying to bring others to faith in God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Epaphroditus may have been willingly endangered himself for the gospel’s sake. For example, Paul may have been contacted by someone in a leper colony, and because he was confined to his own hired house, he asked Epaphroditus to go and give that person the gospel. That wouldn’t have endangered his life too much, because leprosy is not highly contagious. But he might also have followed a lead, on Paul’s behalf, going into a tuberculosis ward. Or he might have gone to witness to some dying of typhus or COVID. In spending an hour with that man, and leading him to Christ, Epaphroditus could have contracted that new believer’s deadly disease. “For the work of Christ he was nigh unto death.” Or perhaps he may have tried to give a prisoner the gospel, and the man’s guards took exception and severely beat him, almost killing him. For some reason or other, for weeks his life hung in the Lord’s balances.
Why did the Lord permit His Macedonian servant to come so close to death? We don’t have the answer, and perhaps it is not even ours to ask the question. You and I, and Epaphroditus, are the property of our Master. The potter has formed us for His service, and it may be to His glory to smash us or lay us on a shelf somewhere to make room for a different vessel. We should be good with that, even as we see that Paul was satisfied with his current condition. And why didn’t God grant Paul the ability to instantly heal this servant of the Lord?
I would hope that Epaphroditus risked his earthly life without fear, because he possessed eternal life. Perhaps at the time, he thought God would protect him better than any surgical mask or immunization shot. Perhaps he came to Paul every morning, asking for another risky task to fill for the glory of the Saviour. He might have even asked for the most dangerous assignments. Ah, but then the unthinkable happened: he DID catch that deadly disease or he DID sustain that attack.
What was the “because” that he was nigh unto death? Essentially, it was because it was God’s will for the good man. This was a special case for a special servant. But then too, even the choicest of God’s servants, the Pauls, the Peters, and the Stephens, will all face death eventually. In fact we are all “nigh unto death,” even though it may be years away. Death may be come for any of many reasons – some benign and some actually caused by sin. But as for me and my house, there is probably no better reason for being “nigh unto death,” than for the work of Christ.
Epaphroditus might not have been married. Having few ties, whereas others couldn’t do it, he took this assignment to come to Rome. But he certainly had a mother and father. And if they were still living, when they heard that he had been sick, they worried and prayed for his deliverance. But if he had died, there could have been no greater comfort to Epaphroditus’ loved ones than to know that he died “for the work of Christ.”