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When Life Tumbles In
Philippians 1:12-18
What do you think are the most pressing challenges facing the local
church today…not just ours, but The Church in general? In a recent survey of over 1300
ministry leaders from Europe, North America
and elsewhere, ten top issues emerged:
10. Abortion
9. Homosexuality
8. Relevance
7. Marriage
6. Apathy
5. Doctrine/Worldview
4. Evangelism/Missions
3. Leadership
2. Discipleship
1. Prayer
In the Spring 2005 issue of Leadership
Journal, a columnist pointed out that every church has a culture, or
ethos, that is not always clearly stated but is firmly felt. She writes
that the ethos at her first church was, “Don’t rock the
boat.” Other common ones include:
Saved by grace but living
under the law.
Visitors are welcome to
come back, if they really want to.
As we continue in our
Philippians series today, it strikes me that this letter explicitly
addresses at least five of these top ten issues….issues that should
more properly make up the ethos and culture of a church. Two weeks ago, in our second study from
Philippians we looked at prayer, the number one need of the church today.
We learned that when we pray we should boldly ask for:
·
Abounding Love
·
Growing
Knowledge and Insight
·
Increasing
Discernment
Three weeks ago, in our first study we described the process of
discipleship, the number two issue on this list, pointing out that
Christians are under construction and that we will be completed on the
day of Christ. This morning, we’re going to focus on another top
need: evangelism…..which also fits our theme for the year –
“Tell the truth about Jesus.”
Now by way of background, remember that Paul is writing this letter
from a prison in Rome.
So this morning while we will
identify four truths about evangelism for our text we will also discover
how God works in the midst of adversity.
I. Adversity Opens New
Doors for the Gospel.
The believers in Philippi are eager
to hear how Paul is doing. Perhaps they even skimmed quickly through the
first section of this letter just to get to the part about his personal
news. It’s striking to me that Paul does not focus on his problems;
instead, he holds up God’s purposes. Look at verse 12: “Now
I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really
served to advance the gospel.” What he really wants them to
know is not his personal news but how the gospel is spreading; he
doesn’t want to talk about how he’s doing but rather how the
gospel is doing.
Paul is really good at understating his difficulties. Instead of
listing all his woes, as most of us are apt to do, he simply summarizes
all that he has been through with this phrase: “that what has
happened to me.” The
Philippians were well aware of his trials so Paul didn’t need to
enumerate them, but we may need a refresher course. Here’s a
Reader’s Digest version of the final chapters of the Book of Acts,
beginning in chapter 21 when he went to Jerusalem
to make an offering in the Temple.
Unfounded rumors spread that he had brought a Gentile into the sacred
precincts. That led to a mob scene where Paul was severely beaten and
would have been murdered if the authorities had not stepped in and
arrested him. Eventually he was sent to Caesarea
to stand trial as a Roman citizen. There he was held without bail for two
years. (He narrowly avoided being murdered by a group of 40 cutthroats
who vowed not to eat or drink until they killed him.) Meanwhile he gave
his testimony to Felix, the Roman governor, who listened attentively and
then kept Paul in confinement, hoping for a bribe. Still later he
testified in chains before King Agrippa. Eventually he was put on a boat
with other prisoners and sent to Rome.
But the boat never made it―foundering and eventually sinking during
a violent storm on the Mediterranean Sea.
Paul and other survivors were washed up on the shores of Malta
where a serpent came out of the fire and bit him. Finally he was brought
in chains to Rome
where he was kept under house arrest for two years, awaiting trial before
Caesar. Meanwhile his opponents spread rumors about him, attempting to
destroy his reputation and ruin his ministry.
As Paul thinks about all that has happened to him, he quickly concludes
that everything “…has really served to advance the
gospel.” The word “advance” is a
military term that means “to strike forward” and was used to
refer to an army of wood cutters that went ahead of the regular army to
cut a road through a forest. These pioneers paved the way. In a similar
sense, our problems can prepare the way for God’s purposes to be
accomplished. We don’t usually think this way. For many of us, we
see our trials and difficulties as impediments. Not so with Paul. His
imprisonment, and everything else that has happened to him, is actually
an avenue for the gospel to be presented in previously impenetrable
areas.
If you read through the New Testament, you’ll find that Paul was
passionate about preaching the gospel in Rome. Romans 1:15 says it this
way: “That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to
you who are at Rome.”
But Paul’s plans were not God’s plans – he
eventually got to Rome,
but not in the way he had planned.
Friend, nothing ever just “happens” without a reason. God
wants us to see everything in light of his purposes by looking at life
through the glasses of the gospel. We could call this the fortune of
misfortune. However, biblically this
is really the doctrine of God’s providence. God orders all things,
the good and the bad, for our ultimate good and for His untarnished
glory.
II. The sharing of the gospel should
always be our goal (13). Our
ultimate purpose is to give out the gospel to those around us, no matter
what situation we are in. Paul judged everything by Kingdom Priorities
and found his purpose at the other end of his chain: “As a
result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to
everyone else that I am in chains for Christ.”
The “palace guard” was made up of elite,
hand-chosen highly-trained soldiers. Since they changed guards every six
hours, Paul would be able to share with a different soldier four times a
day, 28 times a week, and reach almost 3000 of these guys in two years.
Imagine yourself as one of those soldiers as you watched Paul pray
“without ceasing,” meet with people, write letters, and speak
to you about Christ. That’s why Paul could say that it had “become
clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in
chains for Christ.”
And, according to Philippians 4:22, a number of these men got
saved. After a short time, it became very clear that Paul wasn’t
chained to the guards; they were chained to him.
III. Adversity Encourages
Bold Witness.
“Because of my chains, most of the brothers in
the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously
and fearlessly” (v. 14).
Courage is contagious. In this case Paul’s courage in chains spread
to the believers who watched him witness to the Roman soldiers. Even
though Paul was in jail on a trumped-up charge, his incarceration
produced a harvest of bold evangelism across the city of Rome.
How did Paul encourage his fellow believers while he was in prison? I can
think of at least four answers:
a) He faced his difficulty with joy.
b) He used every opportunity to speak up for Christ.
c) He demonstrated a complete lack of fear.
d) He refused to complain or blame others.
Too often we say, “I’m waiting for better
circumstances.” God says, “Go ahead and speak up. I
don’t need good circumstances in order to do my work.” Hard
times often give us fantastic opportunities to share the gospel with
others.
IV. The Message of Christ
is all the Matters.
“It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but
others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put
here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of
selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble
for me while I am in chains” (v. 15-17).
No matter how you read them, these verses sound strange to our ears. Paul
is speaking about two groups of genuine believers in Rome. One group loves him and preaches
the gospel from good motives. The other group evidently is jealous of his
leadership and took advantage of his imprisonment to divide the body of
Christ.
However, we have already seen how Paul could look at his problems as part
of God’s purpose for him to share the gospel and encourage other
believers. In this final point, we
see that Paul was even able to look past someone’s motives, as long
as the message of Christ was getting out. Look with me at verses 15-18:
“It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry,
but others out of goodwill.” Some believers were jealous of
Paul and unbelievably were in competition with him. Even Pilate knew that
envy was one of the motives of the religious leaders when they wanted
Jesus killed: “For he knew it was out of envy that they had
handed Jesus over to him” (Matthew 27:18). Paul
continues: “The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put
here for the defense of the gospel.” Other believers were
motivated by love and knew that Paul was proclaiming the good news.
“The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not
sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in
chains.” This phrase “selfish ambition” was
used of those who work for hire.
I love Paul’s summary in verse 18: “But what
does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from
false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I
rejoice.” Paul’s joy is tied to the gospel being
preached, not what team is doing it.
Paul’s only concern is the gospel of Christ. As
long as people preach Christ, it doesn’t matter what they say about
him. Perhaps you’ve heard it said that “the main thing is to
keep the main thing the main thing.” Good point. For Paul, the
“main thing” is the gospel. He refused to be diverted by
lesser issues such as how certain people felt about him being in jail. On one level, it was an irritation; on
another level, it didn’t matter at all.
The Hidden Purposes of God
Adversity comes to all of us sooner or later.
We’re not given a choice about most of the things that happen to
us. Everyone is in one of three situations with regard to hard times.
Either you’re in one right now, or you’re just coming out of
a hard time, or you’re about to go through hard times and just
don’t know it yet. Such is life this side of heaven.
Since adversity comes to all of us sooner or later, the only choice we
have is regarding our attitude. It
appears that Paul refused to be mastered by his circumstances, no matter
how difficult or personally frustrating they might be. He resolved to see
the hand of God at work in every situation.
Lessons from Guilford of Maine
I don’t know how many of you have had the
opportunity to walk through the huge weaving machines of Guilford of
Maine. I loved to watch the huge weaving
machines at work. As you stand you can see the huge spools of
yard—dozens of them, often of variety of colors—spinning
rapidly as the yarn goes into the machine. From the back side everything
seems to be a meaningless jumble of colors and noise. Nothing makes much
sense. There doesn’t seem to be the slightest pattern at
work—just a mass of colored threads making their way at high speed
into the mechanical weaver. When you walked to the front of the machine,
an entirely different sight greeted you. There you could see the carpet
or fabric slowly emerging—row by row, all the colors perfectly in
place, arranged in order as if by magic. But it wasn’t magic at
all. Someone had programmed the machine to take that tangle of threads
and turn it into a pattern of exquisite beauty.
In this life we stand as it were at the back of the machine looking at
the multicolored threads of circumstance. Some are the dark colors of
sadness and confusion, others the bright tones of happiness and success.
On this side there seems to be no pattern—only colors and noise.
Now and again God gives us a peek at the finished product and we are
aware that something beautiful is being produced in us by the Master
Designer. But in this life we never see the big picture. That will all
change when we finally get to heaven. Then we will see that everything
that happened to us had a purpose—even those things that seemed to
bring us nothing but pain and heartache. Those dark tones that seem so
pointless will in that day be a vital part of a pattern so beautiful that
if we were to see it now, it would take our breath away.
Let us therefore be patient and let the Master Designer complete his work
in us. When we cannot see the big picture, we can still trust that our
Heavenly Father knows exactly what he is doing. And while we wait, let us
take every open door the Lord gives us to share Christ with those around
us. As we seek first the Kingdom
of God, we will
discover that through the good times and the bad, in days of pleasure and
days of pain, through our laughter and through our tears, God is at work
in us.
Paul’s attitude is refreshing, isn’t it? We need to keep
the main thing the main thing, and the main thing is the message of the
cross. Let it be said that these four truths make up the ethos of FBC:
1.
God’s purposes are often accomplished through our problems.
2.
The sharing of the gospel should always be our goal.
3.
Take courage from the examples of other Christians.
4. The message of Christ is all that
matters.
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Baptist Sermon page.
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