The Epistle of Paul to the Philippians , Chapter 2 . So does belonging to Christ help you in any way ? Does His love comfort you at all ? Do you share anything in common because of the Holy Spirit ? Has Christ ever been gentle and loving toward you ? If any of these things has happened to you , then agree with one another . Have the same love .
Be one in spirit and in the way you think and act . By doing this , you will make my joy complete . Don't do anything only to get ahead . Don't do it because you are proud . Instead , be humble . Value others more than yourselves . None of you should look out just for your own good . Each of you should also look out for the good of others .
As you deal with one another , you should think and act as Jesus did . In his very nature , he was God . Jesus was equal with God . But Jesus didn't take advantage of that fact . Instead , he made himself nothing . He did this by taking on the nature of a servant . He was made just like human beings . He appeared as a man .
He was humble and obeyed God completely . He did this even though it led to his death . Even worse , he died on a cross . So God lifted him up to the highest place . God gave him the name that is above every name . When the name of Jesus is spoken , everyone will kneel down to worship him . My dear friends , you have always obeyed God .
You obeyed while I was with you and you have obeyed even more while I am not with you . So continue to work out your own salvation . Do it with fear and trembling . God is working in you . He wants your plans and your acts to fulfill His good purpose . Do everything without complaining or arguing . Then you will be pure and without blame .
You will be children of God without fault among sinful and evil people . Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky . You will shine as you hold on tight to the word of life . Then I will be able to boast about you on the day Christ returns .
I can be happy that I didn't run or work for nothing , but my life might even be poured out like a drink offering on your sacrifices . I'm talking about the way you serve because you believe . Even so , I am glad . I am joyful with all of you , so you too should be glad and joyful with me .
I hope to send Timothy to you soon , if the Lord Jesus allows it . Then I will be encouraged when I receive news about you . I have no one else like Timothy . He will truly care about how you are doing . All the others are looking out for their own interests . They are not looking out for the interest of Jesus Christ .
But you know that Timothy has proved himself . He has served with me like a son with his father , in spreading the good news . So I hope to send him as soon as I see how things go with me and I'm sure I myself will come soon , if the Lord allows it . But I think it's necessary to send Epaphroditus back to you . He is my brother in the Lord .
He is a worker and a soldier of Christ together with me . He is also your messenger . You sent him to take care of my needs . He longs for all of you . He is troubled because you heard he was sick . He was very sick , in fact he almost died . But God had mercy on him . He also had mercy on me . God spared me sadness after sadness . Mercy on me .
God spared me sadness after sadness . So I want even more to send him to you . Then when you see him again , you will be glad and I won't worry so much . So then , welcome him as a brother in the Lord with great joy . Honor people like him . He almost died for the work of Christ .
He put his life in danger to make up for the help you yourselves couldn't give me .