Philippians 2:10-30

10As a result, when people hear Jesus' name, they must worship him. Everyone will have to go down on their knees in front of him. That includes everything that is in heaven, everything on the earth and everything under the earth.

11Everyone will have to agree that Jesus Christ is Lord. When they say that aloud, they will show that God the Father is very great.

12So, my friends, you must continue to obey God. When I was with you, you always obeyed. Now that I am not with you, that is even more important. God has saved you. You must always live in a way which shows that is true. Respect God and obey him. Remember that he is great and powerful.

13It is God himself who is working in you. Now you want to obey him, and he makes you strong to do that. When you obey him, that makes him very happy.

14Whatever you are doing, do not complain. And do not argue.

15Then you will not be guilty of anything that is wrong. You will be clean inside yourselves. You will be living in a completely good way, as God's children should. In this world, you are living among bad people who have turned away from what is good. But you must bring light into this dark place, like stars that shine in the night.

16Tell people the true message that can give them life with God. Then I will know that my work among you had good results. Because of that, I will be very happy on the day when Christ returns.

17You believe in Christ, and you are his servants. That is like you are offering yourselves as a sacrifice to God. Perhaps I will soon have to die. Then my blood would be like drink that I am pouring on your sacrifice, to please God. So, if I have to die now, I will be happy. And we should all be happy together.

18Yes, it is right that you should be happy, and I will also be happy with you.

19I want to send Timothy to come to you soon. I hope that the Lord Jesus will let me do that. Then, when Timothy returns to me, he can tell me news about you. And that will make me happy.

20Timothy really loves you, as I do. There is nobody else here with me like him.

21Everyone else thinks only about themselves. They have no interest in the things that are important to Jesus Christ.

22But you know what Timothy is like. He has worked with me like a son works to help his father. Together we have taught people God's good news.

23That is why I hope to send him to you soon. But first, I want to know what will happen to me here.

24The Lordhas helped me to hope that I will soon come to you myself.

25Whatever happens, I think I must send Epaphroditus to come back to you. He is our true Christian brother. He has worked with me to serve God together. We have worked hard, like soldiers. When I needed help, you sent him to me. He has helped me on your behalf.

26Now he wants very much to see all of you again. He became very sad, because you heard the message that he was ill.

27Certainly, he was very ill, and he almost died. But God was kind to him. And God was kind to me too. If Epaphroditus had died, I would have become even more sad.

28So I want even more to send him back to you. Then you can be really happy, and I will not feel sad any more.

29Receive Epaphroditus well when he comes, and be happy. Like you, he belongs to the Lord's people. You should respect people like him and be kind to them.

30He nearly died because he was working to serve Christ. He came to help me, because you could not help me yourselves. He was even ready to die so that he could do that on your behalf.