The Apostle Paul's Three Lessons While He Was In Prison

Despite his imprisonment and there being mixed motives in people’s preaching, Paul rejoices because he knows that the gospel advances. Again, Paul is single-minded about Christ being preached. Although some preach out of selfish ambition, if Christ is being preached, Paul trusts that God is at work in those listening and that the gospel is reaching people’s hearts.

Of course, this isn’t to say that it’s fine to preach Christ just to be in the spotlight, but Paul shifts the focus from the preacher to Jesus. If Jesus is being preached, we can rejoice and trust that ‘he who starts a good work will bring it to completion’ (Phil 1:6, NIV).

What would this single-minded focus on Christ being preached look like for us? One aspect might be our unity as a wider Church body, not stressing the differences between our churches (or within our church) but knowing that the greater goal is the preaching of Christ. No matter where or how the gospel is preached, it can advance and has power beyond our comprehension.

3. Adopting Paul’s mindset: to live is Christ and to die is gain

In the Western world, martyrdom is rare, so how can we read this today? We may not die for Christ, but we can certainly live for him. Paul ‘chose’ to stay alive and to keep witnessing to Christ because of his love for the people of Philippi. He desired that they grow in Christ and that Christ would be glorified through him. When we adopt the mindset of ‘to live is Christ and to die is gain’ we are adopting a selfless mindset where we are either glorifying God or leading others to glorify God. And in this, we too can rejoice with Paul knowing that the gospel advances.

Paul saw his decision as a win-win situation. What an inspirational attitude for us to emulate today!

Paul knew that if he were to keep living, it must be wholeheartedly for Christ and his people and to show Christ to others. He challenges us to do the same.