PHILIPPIANS 2:21-22

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.

Verse 21 Who is “everyone”? Is Paul berating his fellow workers for not really caring about the Lord’s work? Was there a rift in the team, like the “paroxysm” between Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15:39 (the word used is actually paroxusmos)? That seems unlikely in view of the friendly, casual way in which he includes them in his closing greetings (4:21). So there are two other possibilities:

(a) Perhaps Paul is speaking about some other people whom he doesn’t specify. That’s the argument of the IVP New Testament Commentary, of John Wesley , and also of Matthew Henry:

Did Paul say this in haste, as David said, All men are liars? Ps. cvxi.11 Was there so general a corruption among ministers so early that there was not one among them who cared for the state of their people? We must not understand it so: he means the generality; all, that is, either the most, or all in comparison of Timothy.

And certainly Paul seems to have enjoyed the loyalty and liking of his co-workers. He even mended his fences with Mark.

(b) Perhaps the criticism isn’t as severe as it seems at first sight. To be concerned with your own “things” (same vague phrase as in v. 4) isn’t necessarily to be totally self-centred and dead to all Christian concern. In 1 Corinthians 7:33-34 Paul had already commented that married people were concerned about “the things of the world” in a way that unmarried people were free from. That didn’t make them necessarily less spiritual – just less available.

If so, this is a warning to us that our lives can become so clogged with things we “have to do” that we lose our flexibility for God’s purposes. Our lives can start to run in grooves and we may imperceptibly miss out on the best alternatives God has for us. Because often, when he opens up a new direction for us, it’s the least convenient – and least sensible – idea in the world. (How many missionary stories have we heard which began: “The last place I thought God would ever send me was India, but…”)

The Bible is full of people who accepted “God’s second best”. Indeed the whole nation of Israel went that way, by demanding a king of their own. It didn’t mean God abandoned them – and Samuel said, “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you” (1 Samuel 12:23) – but it did mean that their history was very different and much more complicated.

Verse 22 Paul commends Timothy by appealing to his track record. He’s saying much the same about Timothy as he does about the Philippians in 1:5 and 4:3; previous faithful service for the gospel has got to be respected – it provides evidence that we’re serious about our commitment, and prepared to submit our interests to those of the Lord. In Timothy’s case, he has acted as a son to Paul; and this clearly fulfilled an important emotional need for the often lonely older man (1 Tim 1:1, 18; 2 Tim 1:2). It’s often the case that serving God brings more than one positive result.

Track record counts. It’s easy to assess other Christians by the brilliance of their thinking, or the warmth of their friendship, or the novelty of their ideas, or the closeness of their doctrinal views to ours. We have to be careful that we don’t warm to the wrong things. It’s not difficult to get excited about the latest Christian superhero whose name is flavour-of-the-month in all the magazines, and on all the big event platforms. It can be less instinctive to remember and honour the commitment of people who have worked away quietly in the cause of the gospel for decades in unfashionable places. But if they are the people whom God will honour when we reach heaven, we ought to be trying to share his perspective here.