A long time ago, the only survivor of a shipwreck washed up on a small uninhabited island. He cried out to God to save him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none came. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a rough hut and put his few possessions in it. But then one day, after hunting for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. He couldn’t believe it! After everything that had already happened, he had lost all that he had left, and he was stung with grief. Early the next day however, he noticed a ship on the horizon that was clearly coming to the island! The ship arrived, and a crew came off the ship and rescued him! “How did you know I was here?” he asked the crew. They replied, “We were passing by, and we saw your smoke signal,” When his hut burned to the ground, devouring everything that he had left, he thought that all hope was lost. But in the end, his hut burning down became his salvation. Though he didn’t realize it in the moment, his hut burning down was actually a blessing in disguise.
Have you ever felt like this before? Have you ever felt like nothing was going your way, or like everything in your life was working against you, just to discover that God was working through those bad experiences and through those events to bring about something greater in your life? If you have, you will be able to relate really well with what Paul was experiencing when he wrote the letter to the church in Philippi. We started a new series on the letter to the Philippians, and we are still in the opening part of this letter. Last week Paul began by giving thanks to God for the believers in this church, and for their incredible faith, and he prayed for them, that they would continue to grow and to learn and mature in their faith. And now we have come to this place where Paul begins to reassure them that he is personally doing ok, because when Paul wrote this letter, he was in prison, or under house arrest. Paul understood what it felt like to be stuck. He wanted to be out preaching the good news and spreading the love of Jesus to the world! He had all these plans for where he was going to go, and what he was going to do, but he was being held back from doing it! He was given the highest calling on his life by Jesus, to go and disciple the nations for Jesus, but he was stuck in prison, literally handcuffed to a Roman guard. His frustration must have been so immense, because he wants to go and preach about Jesus, but all he can do is write these letters to people while he is stuck in a room somewhere. But what we will see from scripture today, is that although Paul was being held back physically from his ministry, God was using his captivity to spread the good news faster than he ever could have done on his own. Because the Gospel overcomes all adversity. It cannot be held back.
Today we are going to cover Philippians chapter 1 verses 12-18. “Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice.”
So Paul began the letter with a prayer of thankfulness for the Philippian church, and now he starts to let them know about his own personal situation. It was pretty clear from his prayer at the beginning that he is very close with many of the church members in Philippi, so it makes sense that he wants them to know that he is doing ok. By now they almost surely are aware that he is in prison, and as they ARE very close, they are probably pretty worried, both for Paul, and for what this will mean for the church. They may have been hearing rumors about how he was being treated in jail, they may have even sent messengers to find out how Paul is doing! We don’t really know. But we can tell from this first verse that they were concerned for his well-being. And what Paul tells them, is that its ok! Everything is actually working out for the best! He says, “Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else”. He is saying, its ok! Yes, he is in prison. But despite this obstruction to his ministry, and the potential dangers ahead, his imprisonment has resulted in a powerful witness for Christ, and a triumph of the gospel in the place that he is under arrest. Because of his arrest, the entire guard, and the rest of the household where he is being held, KNOW that he is there and in chains for Jesus. They know he is not a law breaker! They know that he does not deserve to be there! They know that he is suffering for the cause of the gospel, and it is changing lives, because everyone wants to know WHY he is there. Everyone wants to know what is so offensive and exciting about this Jesus, that they would lock Paul up for talking about him. Because he is locked up, people are coming to Jesus. The word progress, or the Greek word “Prokope”, means advancement, continuation, work, labor. Paul is saying that BECAUSE he is in prison, the good news is advancing and continuing. The work of the gospel is reaping benefits that it would NOT be if he were a free man. He is recognizing that God is working through his misfortune. No matter what happens to him personally, the gospel will continue to spread and grow.
But it isn’t just affecting the people in the prison! He says that, “most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.” Not only is the gospel advancing in this prison, but his imprisonment is causing the church at large to get excited and become bold, doing things they didn’t used to do! They used to be timid, but Paul is giving them an example to live by! They see that he is in prison for his faith, yes, but they see his ATTITUDE, his FORTITUDE, and the power of the gospel despite his imprisonment. If chains and bars can’t stop the gospel, then they have nothing to fear! And so people in the churches are becoming courageous. It isn’t as much Paul’s imprisonment that has them so courageous as much as his fortitude. He is potentially facing death, and his spirit is strong. He is still ministering to the churches through messengers and letters, he is still ministering to those around him in the prison, both the guards and the attendants. Nothing seems to be able to stop the gospel from spreading. And this is why the people in the churches are encouraged. They are seeing the raw power of the Holy Spirit unfolding before their eyes.
But it is not all sunshine and rainbows. Verses 15-18, “Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.” Not everyone was a fan of Paul’s work. To us looking back, we see Paul as he was, an apostle ordained by Jesus to carry out the mission given to ALL the apostles, to GO and make disciples of all nations. But back then, there were a LOT of people going around and preaching, and not all of them were apostles. They had competition. In fact, much of the content in the letters written by the apostles was to refute false or erroneous information being spread around by these teachers. Now, not ALL of them were false teachers, some of them were ok. But SOME were teaching doctrine that was fine, but with the wrong intentions. Out of jealousy, or competition with the apostles and other evangelists. And this is the type of preacher that Paul is referring too. See, since Paul was imprisoned, these people have been coming out of the woods, and using his imprisonment to their advantage. Who were these men? We don’t really know. We can take some guesses. There were clearly people who were jealous of the influence that Paul had in the first century. Again, we can safely assume they were not false teachers, because Paul says that their preaching, despite being out of envy and strife, was Christ centered, they were preaching the gospel. He refutes their motives, NOT their teaching. So they probably were not false teachers. Most likely, these were Christians who did not like Paul, and wanted him to remain in prison so that they could benefit from it. But he says that there are also people preaching out of love, with good intentions. These are the people who believe that Paul is an ambassador for Christ, that he is being wrongfully imprisoned, and they are just trying to help him out in spreading the good news in whatever way they can while he is locked up. They are picking up the mantle for him, to keep the progress going. So Paul is stuck in prison, and people are being saved because of it, people are preaching with good intentions to help him, but there are also people going around and preaching with bad intentions, trying to discredit Paul and boost their own position. I can’t even imagine how frustrating that would be for Paul, locked up in prison and helpless to stop it.
But Paul says, “What then?” And this is a very literal translation of the Greek, a “word-for-word” translation. A more appropriate, thought-for-thought translation would be, “But what does it matter?” And then he says, “Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice.” What does it matter whether people are preaching the gospel from good or bad intentions? With good or bad morals? As Paul is assessing the division in the Christian community at large, he is happy. Why? Because regardless of the reasons, Christ is being preached. The gospel is advancing, its moving. He made plans to do more mission work, and he ended up in prison instead. But God used his imprisonment to spread the gospel through the guards and staff. People are taking advantage of his imprisonment for personal gain. But the gospel is being spread even through them. However much Paul may hate their motivations, he does not condemn the content of their preaching, which is Jesus. He was still grieved by the division! He was grieved by their motives! But he is filled with joy because the Holy Spirit is working THROUGH the division and THROUGH the bad motives to spread the gospel, the good news about Jesus. Paul was locked up for preaching about Jesus, and his opponents took advantage of that fact to boost their own standing. But it wasn’t enough to stop the gospel, because the gospel overcomes all adversity.
So how does this apply to us today? What should you take away from all this?
First of all, the gospel is more powerful than our plans. And that is good news, because we like to think we are good planners; we really do. Paul was a good planner! He already was planning his next mission trip, he knew where the gospel needed to be preached next, and he was ready to go and preach it. He had also planned visits to churches he had already ministered to, to check in on them and continue the work he had started. Instead, he found himself in jail. That definitely threw a bit of a wrench into his plan! It’s hard to go on a mission trip when you are locked up. Paul had a plan for spreading the gospel, but his plans didn’t work out the way he thought they would. Thank goodness for him that the gospel was much more powerful than his plans. Paul’s plans were ruined because he was put into prison, but God uses his imprisonment to fuel the next stage of the evangelism fire in the first century church. Through his imprisonment, his guards and the prison staff were exposed to the gospel, and through his imprisonment, the church was given courage like never before to preach the good news about Jesus. God even used the people who were taking advantage of the situation for their own BENEFIT to spread the gospel! Through his imprisonment, the gospel spread much farther than Paul ever could have done on his own. Like Paul, we are good at planning. And like Paul, we often find that our plans don’t work out the way that we thought they would. But God often uses the inconveniences and the roadblocks in life to work HIS plan. So how might God use the inconveniences and the roadblocks in YOUR life to work HIS plan in the world around you? How might God work in the times when everything DOESN’T go according to your plan? Are you open and willing to allow him to work through you when everything you have worked for falls apart?
Second, the gospel is more powerful than our struggles. And that is good news, because we all have struggles in life, do we not? And Paul could definitely relate to this as well. I keep saying that Paul was in prison, and that is partially true. He wasn’t actually in a prison, but he was imprisoned. He was under house arrest. But house arrest did not look the same two thousand years ago as it does today, they didn’t have ankle bracelets to keep track of your location. What they would DO, is chain a roman guard to you, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. THEY were your ankle bracelet. Can you even imagine? Paul had no moment to himself, no privacy, during his entire time under house arrest. There was always someone chained to him, when he was eating, sleeping, using the washroom, writing letters, praying, ALL THE TIME. And if you are like me, and really enjoy having those moments to yourself to relax, think and reflect, then this sounds like torture. I would almost rather be locked in prison! To know that no moment is every truly your own. And WHILE being constantly watched, Paul knew that there were people out in the world trying to actively destroy his ministry. Paul definitely knew what it was like to have struggles in life. But through his house arrest, God began to work wonders. Because those guards who were chained to him night and day could see that he was no law breaker. They could see clearly that he was a peaceful man, and that he was being locked up for his faith. They would have been there whenever Paul had visitors come and whenever he received letters, which means they received a full dose of the gospel just from proximity. And because of this, many people were saved! The gospel advanced through the guards and the attendants just because Paul was there under house arrest. Because the gospel was more powerful than the struggles that Paul was facing. And it is more powerful than the struggles we face as well. Because we all face struggles in life! So how might God use our struggles to work his will? How might God work through our pain, our grief, and our anger, to advance the gospel in the world around us, and to share his good news with those in our vicinity?
Third, the gospel is more powerful than our failings. And that is good news. Because we all fail. We all have issues and struggled that keep us from being fully Christ-like. We are running a race, and the goal is being like Jesus, but we all fail every day. I know I sure do! The sad truth is that sometimes, we are ALL affected by poor motives, or jealousy, or anger or bitterness. It’s because we are human, and we feel emotions such as pride, and humiliation, and a longing to be recognized and loved. And when we don’t have our ego stroked, or we feel like we have been humiliated, or like we are not being recognized for our work or loved and accepted, we become jealous, angry, bitter, and start to act with poor motivations. Many, many people beginning to preach with these poor motives while Paul was in prison. They were jealousy, angry and bitter towards Paul, and they were using his imprisonment to their advantage. They knew that while he was sidelined, they could move to grow their own popularity base. But the gospel was more powerful than their failings. When Paul gives his reaction to this, we see that he was happy! He was just happy that they were preaching the gospel! Even through their selfishness
and their division, the gospel was advancing, because God will use whatever is there. They were taking advantage of a situation for their own benefit, but God uses their selfishness, jealousy and bitterness to spread the gospel even further THROUGH them. The gospel was more powerful than their failings, and it is more powerful than our failings as well. So my question for you is, how might God use YOUR imperfections and YOUR failings to complete his perfect work in the world around you?
In conclusion, if you remember anything from this sermon, it should be that the gospel is more powerful than all adversity. Nothing can stop it. Paul was thrown in prison for it, and it just made the church bolder and more courageous to preach the gospel. He was chained to a guard day and night, and so the gospel spread through the guards. People began to use his imprisonment to preach the gospel in an attempt to undermine Paul and gain their own following, but through their actions, the gospel spread even farther still. The gospel, the good news about Jesus, was too powerful to be held back or hindered by human hands. The gospel is more powerful than our plans, it is more powerful than our struggles in life, and it is more powerful than our failings and imperfections. And as we go about our lives, we should be mindful of that, and mindful of our calling to share the good news of Jesus to the world. We should be open to God’s ability to work through our plans, but also his ability to work through the times when human plans fail. We should be open to God’s ability to work through our grief, our struggles and our hurt. And we should be open to God’s ability to work through our imperfections and failings, to reach a broken and hurting world around us. Just as Paul saw that his personal circumstances were actually working for the greater good of the church. He was able to see God’s hand in his life, even as messed up as his circumstances were. And my hope and prayer for all of you, is that you would be open and ready for God to use you, as you are, wherever life takes you.
