• Be like Christ

  • 1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,
  • 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
  • 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves;
  • 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
  • 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
  • 6 who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
  • 7 but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men.
  • 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.
  • 9 For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
  • 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
  • 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
  • 12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
  • 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to desire and to work for His good pleasure.
  • 14 Do all things without complaining or arguments;
  • 15 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,
  • 16 holding firmly the word of life, so that on the day of Christ I can take pride because I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.
  • 17 But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.
  • 18 You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.

  • Timothy and Epaphroditus

  • 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.
  • 20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.
  • 21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.
  • 22 But you know of his proven character, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father.
  • 23 Therefore I hope to send him immediately, as soon as I see how things go with me;
  • 24 and I trust in the Lord that I myself will also be coming shortly.
  • 25 But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need,
  • 26 because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick.
  • 27 For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow.
  • 28 Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly, so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned about you.
  • 29 Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and hold people like him in high regard,
  • 30 because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to compensate for your absence in your service to me.