Our Fathers' Trade

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS

OUR FATHERS’ TRADE

Phil 2:19-24

19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. 20 I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. 21 For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. 23 I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. 24 And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon.

NIV

It would certainly appear on the surface this is simply a personal note regarding the character of Timothy so that when he does arrive at the church in Philippi, they will accept him as they would accept Paul. However, what we see is that if we are looking out for our own interests, we are not looking out for the interests of Jesus Christ. In essence, that is what Paul is saying, and in a sort of roundabout way telling the Philippians that is how they should be behaving toward each other. If a person is a believer in Jesus Christ then they should be looking out for the interest of Jesus, which is looking out for the interests of others, rather than of self. So how does that look today? How do we relate to this style of Christianity? How do we relate to this relationship as a son to his father which Paul speaks about? It seems there are two different relationships that would actually melt into one, or the one would cause the other. Because we have this Father to son relationship with God, we would have to determine just how Paul was defining his father/son relationship with Timothy. In those days, it was most common for a son to work in the same trade as his father. The son would grow up learning his father’s skills and as he matured and the father aged, the son would inherit the business and then look after his father. The family would remain intact and as the son married he would simply build onto his father’s house. The father would always remain the patriarch until his death, then the firstborn son would take his place. We may not be the firstborn of God, but we are co-heirs with the firstborn, Jesus. So we are sons of God and as such we learn our Fathers' trade, which would be looking out for the interests of the whole family, putting them ahead of our own interests, as Jesus did on that cross. He put the interests of his Father before his own. He asked his Father if there was any other way. In the flesh Jesus did not want to have to endure the pain which was before him, nevertheless, he determined to do his Father's will, putting his Father’s interests before his own. Jesus gave Paul the example that he used as an illustration to the Philippians in explaining his relationship with Timothy, as well as the customary human example of father and son. Being our Father’s sons we learn his trade, we learn the example Jesus set before us, and so we must learn how to set our own agenda aside for others. The Vulcan saying, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” express this idea rather concisely.  This may be one of the more difficult lessons to learn, to incorporate into our being. It is so easy to be concerned about our own interests, especially when it comes to our time and/or money. They need to be about furthering the gospel, the needs of our Father. Just indiscriminately giving of the either or both without the gospel at the core may not mean much. Paul makes sure the Philippians know Timothy proved himself working like a son with a father in the gospel. The core of all our energy should be about the work of the gospel. Our relationships should be centered on the gospel. So we are still learning how to do this. Will we ever get it right? Hopefully, with the help of the Spirit, we will learn our Fathers’ trade.