Introduction
Imagine this. You’ve become a missionary. You’ve gone to a foreign country that hasn’t heard the Gospel.
You try not to be a foreigner, you try and fit in with them. You take on their customs and habits. You wear their clothes, eat their food, learn their language. You love them, you serve them, you do everything you can to make it easy for them to listen to you, easy for them to hear the message you’re bringing.
But the only response of these people is to chuck you in jail.
So there you are, you’ve been thrown into jail, just for telling people about Jesus.
But then things get worse. You hear that some of your missionary partners who are still free are paying out in you. They say “Ah, that guy wasn’t much of a missionary. He couldn’t preach or lead Bible studies or anything. Besides, God must be punishing him for something. God wouldn’t let his real missionaries get locked up in jail. Look at us - we’re still free! God must be really pleased with us!”
And then you hear something that really chills you. The authorities might pass the death sentence on you. You don’t know whether you’ll get out of jail alive.
How would you feel? Discouraged? Angry? Afraid?
How would you feel about God? Would you feel like saying to God “What’s the matter with you? I’m trying to tell people the gospel, why did you let me get into this state? Is this how you treat people who try and serve you?”
1. Imprisonment
A. Paul is in prison
Paul is in prison. The only reason he’s in prison is because he was telling people about Jesus. How did he respond to his imprisonment? Is he discouraged? Angry? Afraid?
Verse 12:
“Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the Gospel”.
Hang on, what’s this? He’s not afraid or angry or anything. In fact, he sounds quite happy. He says his imprisonment has actually been good for the gospel. The message of Jesus has reached even more people. How can that be?
B. It has become clear that he is in chains for Christ
Verse 13:
It has “become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. ”
Oh, okay. Getting chucked in jail hasn’t really shut Paul down. The only thing Paul’s interested in is spreading the gospel. Even in prison, he’s continued to do just that. He’s just got a different audience - the prison guards!
Can you see what he’s done? There’s Paul sitting in his cell. He stuck there, can’t do anything, go anywhere, speak to anyone. But there’s a Roman guard on duty, standing outside Paul’s cell. So Paul rocks up to the bars of his cell and starts chatting with the guard, “Hi, how’s it going? Looks like we’re stuck with each other for some time. Wanna hear a really interesting story? There once was this man Jesus...” and off he goes, telling the palace guard about Jesus’ death and resurrection.
But hang on Paul, what about your rights? What about a fair trial? Don’t you miss your freedom? Don’t you miss the comforts of home? Don’t you wish you could hang out with your friends and have a good time with them?
Well, no he doesn’t. He’s not interested in his rights, he’s not interested in freedom or comfort or anything. All he wants to do all the time is preach the gospel.
You see, for Paul, the Gospel is all that matters. Getting chucked in jail has given him another opening to tell people about Jesus. And that’s all that matters - all that matters is the gospel.
C. The brothers have preached more courageously and fearlessly
But that’s not the only way Paul’s imprisonment has been good for the gospel. He says in verse 14:
“Because of my chains, most of the brothers have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.”
So the other christians filled the gap left by Paul. Paul’s not around to tell people about Jesus, so it looks like they have to. And Paul’s really happy about that.
Notice Paul doesn’t think he has to do the work himself. There’s not even a hint of resentment that other people get to talk about Jesus while he’s locked up.
He’s not interested in his own church, he’s not interested in himself being famous, he’s not interested in building his own kingdom. All he’s interested in is building Jesus’ church, Jesus being famous, Jesus’ kingdom.
Paul can’t spread the gospel because he’s in jail - so what, everyone else is doing it anyway. The gospel is all that matters.
But Paul’s troubles don’t end with prison.
2. Opposition from so-called brothers
A. Some stirring up trouble for Paul and advancing themselves
Some so-called friends were using Paul’s imprisonment to trash Paul’s reputation and advance their own. He says in verse 15 that “some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry”. In verse 17 he says that these people “preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains”.
What do you make of that? They’re trashing Paul, they’re full of themselves.
They’re supposed to be his friends, they’re supposed to stand by him. But instead they’re stabbing you him the back - and they’re doing it when Paul was in jail, so he can’t defend himself! Talk about kicking a man when he’s down! This is really wicked and selfish, isn’t it? You know the old saying - with friends like this, who needs enemies?
B. Paul’s response: Christ is preached, and in that he rejoices
So how does Paul respond? Does he get angry? Does he get bitter?
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”.
Oh come one, this guy’s gotta be nuts. He’s not angry or anything - in fact he’s happy! Paul, where’s your self-respect, where’s your dignity? Can’t you see these guys have it in for you? Don’t you care about your reputation? Don’t you want to defend yourself against this false gossip?
Well, no, he doesn’t actually. Christians are telling people about Jesus. It doesn’t matter that Paul’s reputation gets dragged through the mud - Paul doesn’t care. The only thing that matters is the gospel. Christians are telling people about Jesus, and that makes Paul happy. His dignity, his reputation - none of that matters. The gospel is all that matters.
But Paul’s troubles don’t even end there.
3. Possibility of execution
A. It’s possible that he will be executed
It’s a real possibility that Paul’s imprisonment will end in death. The death sentence hasn’t been passed, but it’s possible.
Now this has got to be the most frightening of all Paul’s problems, hey. Anything else he could get over. So he’s in prison - well, maybe he’ll be let free eventually. People are rubbishing him - well, he can tell people the truth sometime. But death - well, there’s no reversing that, is there.
So how does he respond to the possibility of dying?
B. Response - that Christ would be exalted in his body
Verse 20 says:
I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
So Paul’s not even worried about death. In fact, he’s more worried about letting Jesus down. Did you notice that? He says he hopes he won’t be ashamed of Jesus. When it comes to the crunch, even when facing death, he wants to stand by Jesus, he doesn’t want to let Jesus down. Whatever happens, whether in life or death, he wants Jesus to be honoured.
You know what this means? It means Paul would rather die than let Jesus down.
Life or death don’t matter, the gospel is all that matters.
4. The Gospel is all that matters
So we see that Paul doesn’t care about his own comfort. He doesn’t care about his rights, he’s not interested in to freedom and independence. He doesn’t care about his reputation, he doesn’t care about defending himself against false gossip, he doesn’t even care about death.
The gospel is all that matters. All he’s interested in is people hearing the message of Jesus. The gospel is all that matters.
A. To live is Christ and to die is gain
This sounds unreal, doesn’t it. How does he do it? How can he be so committed? How can he be so single minded? How come things that seem so important to us can be so trivial to him?
The answer is in verse 21:
“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain”.
His life, his death, his whole existence, is defined by the Christ who died for him. And living for Jesus has to do with spreading his Gospel as far and wide as he can.
His comfort doesn’t matter - the gospel is all that matters. His reputation doesn’t matter - the gospel is all that matters. Life or death doesn’t matter - the gospel is all that matters.
B. Oh that the gospel would be all that mattered to us
Oh that we would have the conviction that Paul had! Oh that we had that close identity with Christ that Paul had! Oh that we were so focused, so confident, so single minded in our commitment that the gospel is all that matters.
What a difference it would make to us. What a difference it would make to our families and churches and schools and universities and places of work, if we were convinced that the gospel was all that matters.
How often we get distracted by minor things, that don’t matter. How often we get distracted by popularity, or success, or girlfriends or boyfriends or money or power or good grades in class - these things that just don’t matter.
Oh that the gospel would be all that matters. Oh that the gospel would be our food, our drink, our ambition, our purpose, our love, our joy, our all. Oh that the gospel would so dominate our thinking that everything else would fade into nothingness before it. Oh that for us to live would be Christ, and to die would be gain.
5. The personal challenge
A. How I was challenged
Look, I don’t want you to think that I’ve got it all together myself. I want to tell you the difference it would make to me if the gospel was all that mattered to me.
When I was preparing this talk, this passage gave me a kick in the pants in regards to my attitude to my work friends. You know I’m not a full-time minister dude – I work in a secular job. I have a great work team, my boss is a really nice guy, my colleagues are good to work with, we all help each other, it’s a great place to work.
In fact, it’s so good that it’s easier for me to just me to not tell people the gospel and just enjoy their friendship. Because telling them the gospel put the friendship at risk - they could think I’m some religious nut and stop taking me seriously.
But believe me, I am never going to be in a better situation to tell friends the gospel than I am now. They all know I’m a Christian, they respect the fact that I’m involved in church, they all like me, they all respect the work that I do. I’m never going to have a better chance to tell people the message of Jesus.
The real problem is that I value their friendship more than I want to tell them the gospel. I So I just have to stop being a chicken and get on with it.
B. The difference it makes to us - timetable exercise
What difference would it make to us if the gospel was all that mattered?
We’re not all Billy Graham. We can’t all have huge rallies in stadiums and preach to thousands of people. But we can tell the Gospel to our school friends. We can tell the gospel to our neighbours. We can tell the gospel to the people we play footy with, or go to the movies with or go shopping with or whatever.
Let’s think about this: in the relationships that we already have, in the circumstances that we already are in, is the Gospel all that matters?
In fact, we’re going to do a little exercise. There’s going to be some timetables handed around. What I want you to do is this:
First, write out your weekly schedule - church, school, uni, work, go shopping, hang out with friends, play sport, whatever.
Then identify the relationships you already have. Who are the people you hang around with, and you know well? There’s your parents, your school friends, uni friends, work friends, church friends, whatever.
Then think about what you can do to tell those people the gospel. If they’re Christians, I want you to write down what you can do to encourage them to stay faithful to Jesus. If they’re not christians, I want you to write down what you can do to tell them about Jesus.
Let’s make the Gospel matter to us. And let’s make the gospel matter to our friends and relatives.
