believers may be built up in the faith. We certainly need clear think ers in the Church of Jesus Christ who can begin to reverse the trends we see all around us. We need to come back to the hour of the spirit of hard work in the Church. Evangelicals have always led some of the greatest movements to abolish society's ills. We need to work as never before with re newed vigor. Evangelism has al ways been the one area of concern in which all of us must cooperate. How far we fall short in reaching men and women with the Gospel. May the Lord help us to follow the example of Epaphroditus as well as others in Scripture. Too often do people of the world, as well as Christians, find their "heroes" of life from among those who have no spiritual depth or meaning. The Apostle Paul shares with us a very practical ex ample of the life of Epaphroditus who came from Philippi to minister to his needs in prison. We would do well to study this man's life very closely (Philippians 2:25-30). Epaphroditus was a layman who became a fellow worker and fel low soldier of Paul's. He made it possible for the Apostle to do many things he would not otherwise have been able to achieve. This dedi cated man fought side-by-side, for the effort was more like a battle than the normal labor of a citizen during peaceful times (Ephesians 6:12). This requires aggressive for ward motion of all believers in Christ for we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Paul knew what he was talking about. Prior to the triumph of Rome, men fought mostly as individuals,
that genuinely united all branches of this greatly polarized society of that day. Into such circumstances came the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This instituted Christian brother hood. They knew that they had been under the curse of God be cause of sin. Now they were brought into a new relationship through the Saviour. All of the divisions of the Rom an world were potentially within the Church due to the backgrounds of those involved. Real Christians simply overlooked these d iffer ences and made sure there was nothing exclusive about their fel lowship. We would do well to em- mulate their practice, too! There must be a unity among those who profess to know Jesus Christ, al though from the world's point of view they could easily be divided due to various backgrounds. There are imitations of the broth erhood today. Communism is one of them. It seems to be a brother hood but it is not really founded on love or Christ. Racial exclusive ness, whether it is black or white, is another. Those who defend such positions throw up barriers instead of tearing them down (Ephesians 2:14). Epaphroditus also proved him self to be a fellow worker. He was a companion in labor. I am afraid that there is a sense in which many of our churches have almost stopped working as far as the real ministry of the Church is con cerned. Our chief business is to evangelize the world of our gen eration. Nobody else will do it but us. We need to reach those who are lost. We are also to teach and preach the Word of God so that
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