God’s Word for You
Philippians 2:28-30 Pastors
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Wednesday, March 25, 2026
28 Therefore I am eager to send him, so that when you see him again you can be glad and I can be relieved of anxiety. 29 Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him, 30 because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.
Why does Paul want to be “relieved of anxiety” (verse 28)? It can only be that he feared some attack on the character of Epaphroditus. If he did not personally insist on his friend going back, it’s possible that some of the Philippians might think that he had deserted Paul in his time of need.
Paul commends him for completing or “filling up” (ἀναπληρώσῃ) what was lacking in the Philippians’ care for Paul. He doesn’t mean anything harsh by saying this. They wanted to help him, but they were limited in what they could do by the sheer fact of 800 miles of sea between them. So Epaphroditus risked his life to help Paul, and Paul wanted to acknowledge everything that he had done.
Sending him back, Paul also wants to be sure that they will not discredit him, but give him the respect he deserves.
This is a good place to remember that Paul, Timothy, and Epaphroditus were ministers of the gospel, and the power and right of this office is to preach the gospel, administer the sacraments, forgive (or retain) sins, and to practice church discipline upon unrepentant sinners. The authority to preach is proved by Matthew 28:19 and Mark 16:15; the authority and power to administer the sacraments is proved by Matthew 28:19, 1 Corinthians 4:1 and Titus 1:7. As for forgiving or retaining sins, John 20:23 and Matthew 16:19. And as for discipline, 1 Corinthians 5:3-5. This comes to a man from God through the church and the divine call. Without a call from a church, a man should not do these things, but a call can be limited or temporary in its scope (that means that a qualified man with the church’s respect and blessing might be called to assist with distributing the sacrament in one church service, or generally for the time being, and so on).
Pastors should not create or establish any new ceremonies or rites without the decision of the congregation. This is also thoroughly laid out in our Lutheran Confessions, for example in the Augsburg Confession (XV, XX:9; and XXVIII:34-78).
Christians should obey their pastors. “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account” (Hebrews 13:17). And Jesus said to his apostles when he sent them out: “He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Luke 10:16). But if they teach anything contrary to the gospel, churches have a command from God that forbids obedience to such men: “Beware of false prophets” (Matthew 7:15), and “If any angel from heaven should preach any other gospel, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8). And still again: “We cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth” (2 Corinthians 13:8).
A preacher or minister of the church’s sins are these: False teaching, false use of the keys (forgiveness), and an evil life. The preacher who persists in false teaching after sufficient admonition is to be removed. Whoever leads an evil life cannot serve at all in the ministry of the Word any longer (even to merely assist), because he has lost his good name (Acts 6:3; 1 Timothy 3:7-8). And a preacher ceases to hold his office as soon as the congregation demands of him or takes away from him the power granted through their call (that is, they remove him from office).
Professor Hoenecke adds, “To name someone with no congregation a ‘preacher’ is a misuse. The pastorate is an office, not a social standing.” However, when a pastor retires from the ministry, it is often the case that his people or other Christians will still call him “Pastor” out of respect, and this falls under the proper application of the Fourth Commandment. “Since such men are (spiritual) fathers, they are entitled to honor, even above all others… Christians owe it to God to show ‘double honor’ (1 Timothy 5:17) to those who watch over their souls and to treat them well and make provision for them” (Large Catechism, Fourth Commandment I:160, 161).
Paul wants the Philippians to remember this, and helps us to remember to honor those who serve us with the Word of God, and guide us as shepherds of God’s flock for the sake of our souls and our eternal good.
Preach you the Word and plant it home
to those who like or like it not.
The word that shall endure and stand
when flowers and mortals are forgot.
We know how hard, O Lord, the task
your servant bade us undertake:
to preach your Word and never ask
what prideful profit it may make.
The sower sows his reckless love
scatters abroad the goodly seed,
intent alone that all may have
the wholesome loaves that all men need.
Though some be snatched and some be scorched
and some be choked and matted flat,
the sower sows; his heart cries out,
“Oh, what of that, and what of that?”
Preach you the Word and plant it home
and never faint; the Harvest-Lord
who gave the sower seed to sow
will watch and tend his planted Word.
Martin Franzmann (1907-1976)
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.