Introduction: Understanding Paul’s circumstances
What if I told you that Billy Graham, while traveling overseas for one of his Crusades, had been arrested by a Middle Eastern government hostile to Christianity and was now in prison awaiting trial for converting Muslims, a crime punishable by death. Even though I’ve never met Dr. Graham, I would be very upset and worried about him, as I expect many of you would be, also. I’d want to know how he was doing: was he OK physically? How was he handling it emotionally?
Thankfully, no such fate has befallen Dr. Graham. But maybe thinking about such an awful possibility can help us understand something of what the Philippians felt about Paul. They wanted to know how their friend and former pastor was doing under just these circumstances.
How would you be doing, if you had been a prisoner for almost four years? And what if you had committed no crime, but had just faithfully used your gifts to serve God?
In our passage this morning, we get to hear Paul’s view of his circumstances, and we’ll see why he sees himself in a win-win situation.
What are Paul’s circumstances?
Paul describes himself as “in chains” in Rome
But while he is a prisoner, he is not in prison. Acts 28 tells us that Paul was able to rent and live in his own home. But he was chained to a Roman soldier 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These soldiers were members of Caesar’s own palace guard – the cream of the crop.
He is awaiting a trial that could cost him his life
The Roman Empire had conquered most of the known world. Rome’s rule extended not only to a vast expanse of territory, but also over a vast number of people from countless ethnic groups. Most of these groups had their own religion. In an effort to bring some unity, Rome only allowed certain religions to be practiced. The practice of a religion not sanctioned by Rome could result in a death sentence.
Judaism had been accepted by Rome as a legitimate religion. Christianity began as an outgrowth of Judaism and was considered just a faction within the Jewish religion. As long as that association held, Christians had some degree of protection, at least from Rome.
But as Paul and others continued to reach farther outside of Israel with the good news of the gospel, and as more Gentiles became believers, the question arose: was Christianity just a Jewish sect? Or was it a new religion entirely? Was it a religion which Rome could tolerate or not? This was the crux of the reason that Paul was going on trial. A trial that could well end in his death.
(Earlier I said that Paul saw himself in a win-win situation. How could these circumstances possibly be positive? It’s one thing to try to have a good attitude in the midst of bad times – but Paul says he is joyful not just in the midst of, but BECAUSE of this terrible state of affairs. How can that possibly be?
Paul tells the Philippians that what has happened to him has actually helped the progress of the gospel. I suspect that what the church in Philippi wanted to hear was whether or not Paul had enough to eat and was well treated by the soldiers. But Paul is going to let Epaphroditus tell them that kind of stuff. Epaphroditus was sent by the Philippians to bring Paul their monetary gift and was the one who carried this letter back to Philippi.
The Philippians thought that being under “house arrest,” chained to a Roman guard all day would hinder his ministry. Seems reasonable, doesn’t it? Instead, it’s expanded it!
Paul is so excited about how God has used this imprisonment for the advance of the gospel, that he is practically bursting with excitement.
The results of his circumstances are achieving his ultimate goal
First of all, he is evangelizing the guards!
Can you imagine being chained to the Apostle Paul for four hours at a time? Paul may be the captive, but he also has a captive audience!
And, although he couldn’t go out, he could have visitors. Many came to hear his teaching, and when they did, guess who else heard it? The guy on the other end of the chain! And since they guarded him for four hour shifts, he went through a lot of soldiers in the two years he was in Rome.
And every one of those soldiers knew he wasn’t just a regular prisoner. He was no criminal. They all knew he was there because of his faith in Christ. And since these were not just regular soldiers, but members of the palace guard – and since the grapevine has always been about as fast as the Internet – everybody in the palace knew about Paul. And everybody in the palace also knew about this Jesus guy he was always talking about.
Think about it: How else would Paul – or anyone – have gotten such an opportunity? Paul’s preaching was infiltrating the very heart of power within the pagan Roman Empire! Talk about advancing the gospel!
(And that’s not the only good that was coming out of it.This was the time when Nero’s persecution of Christians was beginning to heat up.)
Many of Christians were afraid to be open about their faith.
But when they saw what Paul was going through, it made them more bold in sharing Christ.
Isn’t it funny how adversity does that? Many of us, whose only experience with persecution has been raised eyebrows or dirty looks have a hard time sharing our faith.
But here the Christians in Rome see Paul chained to a Roman soldier, awaiting a trial for his life, and somehow it gives them the courage to share the gospel with their friends and their neighbors.
Paul sees the gospel being advanced because of his circumstances – and he’s thrilled. But just in case the Philippians think that everything is just peachy for Paul and that’s why he’s so cheery, he gives them what Paul Harvey would call "the rest of the story.”
Some of these folks who are proclaiming the gospel are doing it from the purest of motives – out of love for Paul, and a genuine sense of carrying on his ministry.
But not everyone’s motives are so pure.
There were factions and divisions among the churches in Rome. Hard to imagine, isn’t it? Christians never fight, do they?
There were Christians who couldn’t stand Paul.
There were believers, Christian leaders who were so busy building up their own little empires that they saw Paul as competition.
These folks thought that if they were more outspoken in sharing the gospel, they could make things worse for Paul.
They were preaching the truth about Jesus, but they were mean-spirited. They were preaching Christ out of spite, as absurd as that sounds.
And how does Paul respond to such behavior on the part of those who are his brothers and sisters in the faith? From those who should be offering their love and support?
Is he hurt? Is he angry? Does he condemn them? No.
Paul couldn’t care less what their motives are.
In fact, he’s thrilled about what’s happening. Why?
Because Jesus is being preached.
And if people are hearing about Jesus, he really doesn’t care how it effects him, or what their attitudes are toward him.
He rejoices in the preaching of his enemies.
I think it is important to note that, in other letters, Paul was very harsh with those who preached “another gospel.”
Paul never tolerated those who distorted -- or diluted -- the truth of the gospel.
But that is not at issue here.
As long as people are preaching the truth – regardless of their motives;
regardless of their attitude toward him -- Paul is happy.
This says something very important about Paul – and I think it teaches us an important lesson.
Paul was a humble man, in the biblical sense of the word
He has no need to “win” a contest – to have more followers than some other Christian leader
He’s not trying to build a mega-church; he’s not trying to make a name for himself.
Someone said, “It’s amazing what can be accomplished if you don’t care who gets the credit.”
Paul wasn’t interested in getting glory for himself. He just wants Jesus to get glory.
He just wants people to know Christ, whether or not they come to his church or support his ministry.
I know that there are folks in this church who would like to see growth in numbers.
That’s OK. So would I.
But our focus and our goal must be like Paul’s: that what is most important is spreading the gospel -- whether it is our church or someone else’s that gets the growth.
That can be tough.
When Paul addresses the factions at the church in Corinth, who allied themselves with different teachers, he says,
1 Cor. 3:6 “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.
The growth of a church comes straight from the hand of God.
Growing churches don’t grow because they want to be bigger;
Growing churches grow because they are committed to fulfilling God’s purposes for them and for their communities.
Growing churches grow because they want people to know Christ, not because they want to have a bigger church, or because they want to protect their history and traditions (though there’s nothing wrong with history and traditions).
But I believe that God will want to send folks to churches which seek to fulfill His purposes; whose desire is above all else, to see the progress of the gospel.
Seeing the gospel advance; seeing people coming to know Christ, was the ultimate goal of Paul’s life
He proves it because when Christ is preached -- even with evil motives, Paul is happy about it – he rejoices!
He believes he is in a win-win situation, because the gospel is being made known to more people.
(Paul moves from the positive results of his imprisonment to contemplating the possible results of his upcoming trial. Some people, in reading these next few verses have wondered if Paul had a death wish. Here he is talking about how much better it would be to die. And though we may be looking forward to heaven, few of us are in a big hurry to get there!
But if we look at this passage through the eyes of someone on trial for his life, it takes on a different meaning. Of course he’s thinking about death! Of course he is wondering what various outcomes of this trial will mean to him. And so he reflects on what his future might hold)
The possible results of his trial
There are two possibilities for Paul: life or death – either he’d be released or he’d be killed.
Now we might think that there would be a definite advantage to one of those options… especially the getting released alive one.
But listen to how Paul’s driving passion for Christ and for the gospel transforms his thinking about this.
In the GNB, verse 19 says he is sure he will be set free.
It’s a translation of a phrase which quite literally says, “this [situation] will result in my salvation.”
This verse is a tough one to translate. It’s hard to figure out what Paul is getting at – because he always uses this word for salvation to refer to eternal salvation.
I don’t believe that Paul is saying in this verse that expects to be set free from prison, although he does say that later.
Paul sees salvation as a process, not as a one-time walk-down-the-aisle event.
(This is something we’ll see throughout this study of Philippians)
And while salvation is a free gift from God, it is also something we have a chance to participate in.
We don’t earn our salvation, but there is a sense in which we can participate in the process of salvation.
I think Paul is saying that, by their prayers and God’s Spirit, this experience – regardless of the outcome – is an aspect of Paul’s participation in the process of his salvation.
[This may be a different way of thinking about things, so don’t worry if that seems a bit hard to grasp at this point. This is a theme that runs throughout Philippians, so maybe by the time we finish it’ll all make sense.]
Paul goes on in verse 20, to say:
20My deep desire and hope is that I shall never fail in my duty [or, more literally, that I shall not be ashamed], but that at all times, and especially right now, I shall be full of courage, so that with my whole being I shall bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die.
Paul is saying, “I just want to give Christ glory.
All I want out of my life is for people to know and worship the Lord Jesus Christ.
If the best way to do that is to be a martyr, that’s fine – because then I will actually stand in the presence of the Lord I love and long to see.
But if the best way to do it is to live and keep on preaching, that’s fine, too.
But throughout this whole trial, I want to be faithful and I want people to hear the truth of the gospel”
And then comes one of this book’s “greatest hits,” one of the most powerful verses in all of Scripture: “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
It’s a win-win situation for me! If I die, I’m with Jesus, whom I love more than life itself! I’m in heaven! No more prisons; no more beatings; no more tears; no more death. Eternal, abundant life with Jesus. It’s no wonder Paul sees death as being the better option.
Paul is caught between his two greatest desires: to know Christ and to make Him known
If he dies, he can know Christ in a way he never has
But if he lives, he can continue to advance the gospel
Paul doesn’t have a “death wish” – he just wants to know Christ and make Him known and he doesn’t care what price he has to pay for that to happen.
He just loves Jesus – and he is longing to see Him face to face.
So, Paul is convinced that he will be released for the sake of the Philippians, and no doubt, for the sake of others to whom he will minister.
The Result of Paul’s Release
Paul tells the Philippians the purpose of his release is that he might “add to your progress and joy in the faith.” [v 25]
The word for “progress” is only used 3 times in the whole NT: two of those times are in this passage.
It’s used in verse 12, where we started, to refer to the progress the gospel has made through Paul’s imprisonment
There, it is an “external” progress, that is, the message of Christ is being heard by more people – and people from different cultural and social groups than have ever heard it before.
In that context, “the progress of the gospel” refers to evangelism.
But here in verse 25, Paul tells the Philippians that he is going to return to them, that he might add to their progress in the faith
Here, it’s used more in an inward sense,
not that more people would know Christ, but that people would know Christ more.
That Christians would grow in their knowledge of God,
that they would grow in their ability to trust Him and obey Him,
that they would grow in their love for God and for one another.
And tied into that is “their joy in the faith.”
Joy is not just an optional add-on to the Christian faith.
It’s not like going to the car dealer and saying, “Well, yeah, I would have liked power door locks, but it’s too expensive, don’t bother.”
Joy is more like the oil in the engine. It is an essential element of the Christian faith.
There aren’t too many things that Paul would link together with “progress in the faith.”
The fact that he includes joy in this phrase is evidence to me of the way Paul thinks about joy – and the way he thinks about the Christian faith.
As we work our way through the book of Philippians, we will hear lots more about joy. And I pray that we will all learn to view our circumstances with that kind of joy – the kind that makes us look at our lives as win-win situations.
