"What has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel" Philippians 1;12-18. WBC 8 Jan 2006pm. Covenant service
Feel you’ve had a tough week? A man was working on his motorcycle on the patio, his wife nearby in the kitchen. While racing the engine, the motorcycle accidentally slipped into gear. The man, still holding onto the handlebars, was dragged along as it burst through the glass patio doors. His wife, hearing the crash, ran in the room to find her husband cut and bleeding, the motorcycle, and the shattered patio door. She called for an ambulance and, because the house sat on a fairly large hill, went down
the several flights of stairs to meet the paramedics and escort them to her husband. While the attendants were loading her husband, the wife managed to right the motorcycle and push it outside. She also quickly blotted up the spilled gasoline with some paper towels and tossed them into the toilet. After being treated and released, the man returned home, looked at the shattered patio door and the damage done to his motorcycle. He went into the bathroom and consoled himself with a cigarette while attending to his business. About to stand, he flipped the butt between his legs. The wife, who was in the kitchen, heard a loud explosion and her husband screaming. Finding him lying on the bathroom floor with his trousers blown away and burns on his buttocks, legs and groin, she once again phoned for an ambulance. The same paramedic crew was dispatched. As the paramedics carried the man down the stairs to the ambulance they asked the wife how he had come to burn himself. She told them. They started laughing so hard, one slipped. The stretcher fell, dumping the husband out. He fell down the remaining stairs, breaking his arm.
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The story is told of a king in Africa who had a close friend
with whom he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at
every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or
negative) and remarking, "This is good!"
One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting
expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the
king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in
preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his
friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off.
Examining the situation, the friend remarked as usual,
"This is good!"
To which the king replied, "No, this is not good!"
and proceeded to send his friend to jail.
About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he
should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and
took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some
wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake.
As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the
king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate
anyone who was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent
him on his way.
As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken
his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend.
He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend.
"You were right," he said, "it was good that my thumb was blown
off." And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just
happened. "And so, I am very sorry for sending you to jail for
so long. It was bad for me to do this."
"No," his friend replied, "This is good!"
"What do you mean, ’This is good’?
How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?"
"If I had not been in jail, I would have been with you."
Contributed by: SermonCentral PRO
…………..
Tonight, with fear and trembling, we are going to commit to a new perspective
- it’s perspective that will serve the gospel
o bring the kingdom
o release God to do more than we can ask or imagine
- it’s a perspective that will bring purpose to and from every life event you go through
- … but it’s not an easy perspective. One that comes cheaply or lightly
It’s one we learn from Paul. This incredible man
PERSPECTIVE
He says this. "what has happened to me has served the gospel"
Well- what had happened to him? (that he seemed so happy about?)
- he was in prison. Probably chained to a guard 24x7.
o Most likely in Rome towards the end of his life (Acts 28) or perhaps earlier in one of the Roman city’s with a palace
- pretty isolated. In 2;19-25 he describes that it is really only Timothy and (recently, since the Philippian church had sent him) Epaphroditus who have cared for him
- in fact- other Christians were creating a hard time for him, trying to stir up trouble to keep him in prison!
But God was at work.
- in one sense that’s nothing amazing- as He’s always at work
- what was so amazing was Paul’s perspective where he could SEE it
o as he needn’t have. And most don’t
o would have been so easy (IS so easy!) to go ’God’s forgotten me, I don’t deserve this, nobody loves me- and as for Christians! Bah! They make it worse!"
" and miss a miracle in progress
Paul believed what he wrote earlier in Roms 8:28
- "all things work together for good for those that love Christ"
- and he was able to see it happening
o and his attitude was one of the reasons it was
o (so often the case, eh!? True: you set out to prove ’God isn’t with me!’ and you will- but what’s the point of that, eh? As a Christian!)
And he was able to look beyond himself to see how his circumstances were building the kingdom
- the guard (those near him) and ’everyone else’s’ life was being touched
Why?
because of WHY he suffered. He didn’t deserve it. Could have got out of it (by recanting)
- wasn’t imprisoned because he was a political or civil wrong-doer
" and people were watching him!
- ’imprisonment’ is different, nowadays- but people watch, none the less… and take note
o you’re young and in love- but you don’t sleep with each other for the single reason that Christ says so. And they watch. And it costs you. It hurts even. And it’s not that the sex is better when you get married (as there is no promise of that) but that your life is stable, you’re not being used and then dumped. Long term stability & blessing. And they note it
o the imprisonment is being passed over for promotion at work, because you’re honest. Being sneered at at school because you don’t swear, lie or push it with alcohol or drugs
" but they are watching. It’s a witness
It’s WHY he suffered- but also HOW he suffered
- he bore it ’in Christ’. With Christ’s attitude to suffering
- it’s Abigail Witchall- the Christian girl paralysed by the knife attack in April. She and her mother says of her attacker who then committed suicide ’his death is the real tragedy in this story’
- It’s Gee walker, mother of the murdered Liverpool teenager Anthony Walker who says her heart is broken but that she must forgive
Oh Lord- give us strength to do the same. The whole world is watching
- it’s Perry, my friend, who we call ’diehard’, and his lack of bitterness and how he and Heather cope
- ask them ’how they cope’ and they’ll tell you!
Of course, Christians don’t have a monopoly on coping
- but they do on coping with purpose. That God is at work in ways that we can see…. Beyond ’ourselves’… and in ways we cannot see or understand, often
- H & p say people who are not Christians have been very good- but they stop with ’oh, so you’re going to get better, then!’ they can’t look beyond the visible, and this life
ENCOURAGEMENT
Of course- it’s not just Paul and unbelievers who are being touched here
He says ’because of my chains other Christians have been emboldened’
- THEY are encouraged (and this encourages him, too)
Hmmm. That’s new (to us!). So often we don’t take encouragement from other’s sufferings
- we lose faith because of them
But have you read the testimonies of ’the heavenly man’ and Joseph Tong and Richard Wurmbrand and Corrie Ten Boom
- such an encouragement
If you will have that attitude in your ’imprisonment’ it can touch the life of others, as well. It can be used. It can be made to work for the good of others… their encouragement
- if you will let it
That’s a choice.
PRIORITIES
You see- here’s the thing that really matters. The priority: The gospel. People finding the good news of Jesus. For themselves.
Do you remember how a while ago, regarding guidance, I mentioned how
- God has a plan for a city, nation, His kingdom
o We then fit into that. Ask ’how do I fit into that’?
o It’s His kingdom, rule, plan, gospel that matters first
- Hence, in discerning our calling it is best we SEE where God is at work and then look for a call into that, see if God gifts us- rather than ’I have a call, gift, now, and Lord you need to fit my environment and your kingdom around me’
- (so you ask- where is God at work at WBC. How can I fit into that)
Well- it’s the gospel, kingdom that matters to Paul- and he… and his comfort…. Are secondary to it
"The important thing is that Christ is preached"
He says this of those who are preaching with false motives, trying to take territory while Paul is ’offline’ or trying to stir up trouble so he stays in prison
- can you believe there were people like that?
o Joke: I’ve only once, I think, deliberately preached to cause trouble: obvious thief entered our church, low-slung bag, just looking for stuff to sling in it. I told Michael ’go and practice your preaching at him!’. Went in a flash!
- Maybe there still are? Maybe we must be careful of our motives
o Maybe there are Christians who just like/create ’friction’ (trouble, v17)?
o Maybe ’liberals’ stir up stuff so evangelicals are disdained
o Vice- versa
Paul says- what matters is that the gospel is preached. People need to hear about Jesus
- (and maybe my own opinions, comfort or reputation are less important than whether people get hell or heaven?)
o aaah! Perhaps that’s no surprise
So- what a challenge, tonight!
- to change our perspective to see how God is… can… use our pains and problems
o to believe that God is at work in ways far greater than we might be able to see, yet (or ever)
- to take encouragement from how others make it through. To give encouragement, too, from our experiences
- to give priority to the gospel. People discovering Jesus. There really is nothing more important. This lifetime is a glimpse compared to eternity
o so: see where God is at work with the gospel and get in on that.
