I am reminded of a retired Pastor I know from Brisbane. It is a little over 10 years now since I first meet him and while I was not aware of it at the time he was and is battling cancer. And the thing that amazes me about him is that, despite his circumstances, despite the constant pain that he is in. Despite all these difficulties and despite his declining health. Despite all this, he proclaims Christ to his doctors and to his nurses, he declares the good news to the other people in the cancer ward. Wherever he goes, despite how difficult his situation is he finds an opportunity to preach Christ, if you listen to him if you ask him how he is doing he always answer joyously with the opportunities he had to preach Christ. He makes sure Christ is Preached; Christ is proclaimed.
And as we consider our passage this morning there is little doubt that the Philippian Church must have expressed great concern upon learning of the Paul’s imprisonment in Rome there would have been those who began to panic and say what a serious blow this is to the cause of the Gospel. Others would have remarked our greatest preacher and apologist has now been shut away, he is unable to travel, he’s unable to teach, the message of the Gospel is going to go into decline.
Of course, what we discover is that actually the opposite was true. And the attitude of the Servant of God in this case the Apostle Paul is radically different from that kind of perspective. He is not only a joyful servant as we find him in the opening verses of the chapter but we also discover that he is an optimistic prisoner.
And he expresses the concern of his heart very quickly “I want you to know he says that since you are concerned for me as you must inevitably be, please don’t be unduly alarmed. In other words he is not preoccupied with his own predicament.”
His preoccupation, if any is the well-being of the church. And it is imperative that they understand that his imprisonment far from hindering the work of the Gospel was actually serving to advance it. That there is no decline in Paul’s activities you don’t find him writing and saying “well I’m on a bit of a Hiatus here for a while but, just hold the fort and when I finally get out, we will get back to the business of the good news.”
He doesn’t say that because, as I mentioned his focus is on the unfolding purpose of God rather than his own predicament. [sweep arms wide]
And we discover that every circumstance of life, every occasion that confronts the Apostle whether he is in Chains as a prisoner or whether he is free to move around he is always looking to see God at work. And the secret lies in his understanding of what is taking place. And this is expressed in verse 16, just 4 words “I am put here…”
It wasn’t that somehow the circumstances had overwhelmed him that everything had begun to spin hopelessly out of control. It may have looked like that from the outside like everything was about to fall apart. But no, says Paul I understand that “I am put here…”
In other words, underpinning all that he writes is an unshakable confidence in the Providence of God that all of the events of Life are under His Sovereign control.
And here he is explaining in his own personal life and circumstance the truth that he wrote to the church in Rome, Romans 8 verse 31 “if God is for us, who can be against us?”
And again, from a human perspective it would appear that everybody was against Paul. That’s why he was in prison that’s why he was in difficulty. But in actual fact he sees in these circumstances the outworking of God’s plan.
In fact, being a prisoner was simply another opportunity for the proclamation of the Gospel.
And that’s why he says, “what has happened here has actually served to advance the gospel.” The word that he uses is a word that would be used to express the ability for something to move forward, overcoming any kind of obstacle.
The other day I saw a car overtaking other cars as they pulled to the side. And it found itself face to face with a fire engine coming in the other direction. And I had to smile to myself because I like others, I had seen it, but this fellow thought he was so clever sneaking past everyone else until he screeched to a stop in front of this fire engine. Now of course the driver of the fire engine could have easily driven over this little car if he had been so inclined such was the difference in size and weight of the vehicles. There was no chance of the tiny little car hindering the advance of the fire engine both by the comparative size and as I drew closer the look in the fireman’s eye, there was no question that he was moving down the road and nothing would stop his progress.
And that is what the word here means. What were the apparent stumbling blocks for Paul have immediately been turned into Stepping Stones. In the same way that God’s unfolding purpose throughout history has been fashioned in that way by those who love him.
But here’s the issue you see Roman soldiers were unlikely to go to Paul’s Evangelistic talks.
These hard men were not about to go and spend time in the evening listening to Paul, they would be going down to the pub they’d be going out with their buddies, they’d be doing whatever the equivalent of kicking the footy is. Whatever they would be doing they wouldn’t be about to seek out Paul.
So, God said that’s fine but I’m going to evangelise the soldiers.
I’m going to do it a different way since they’re not coming to the meetings I’m going to send the Evangelist to them.
God has done that frequently in history, hasn’t he?
In fact, I don’t know of a nation where persecution hasn’t come at some point in history. And yet it is quite possible that God has a plan for turning this nation the right way up and he may be planning to do it in a really different way…
From the inside out, rather than the outside in.
See the good news was about to break into the very household of the Roman Emperor and the way in which it was going to come to pass was a result of what God had chosen to do with the life of his servant. Now if you look at verse 13 you will notice that he says that the result of Paul’s circumstances the whole palace guard have been affected. And it has also had an impact on the believers in Rome who have been encouraged to speak the word of God more boldly.
And you have this wonderful picture of Paul being chained up to various prisoners. And the guards would have relieved each other they would have done their shift, Paul would have had a captive audience, they would have noticed his patience, they would have noted his kindness, they would have seen his courage, they would have discovered his Joy.
When people came to visit him they would have heard the conversation they couldn’t avoid it, they would have watched as Paul said well why don’t we just pray together before you leave, thanks for coming to see me and they would have heard him pray “Oh God I thank you that you put me in here and I thank you that my brother in the faith came to see me, and I thank you for the guy that’s chained to me, and Lord I thank you that he got to hear everything we’ve said and I thank you that the guy who relieved him on the day shift yesterday that he got to hear it too, thank you God that you are in control and I praise you.”
Some of us today, as hard as it may be to hear, need to recognise that God is in control of our circumstances.
And the news was spreading through Paul and may spread through us in some of the strangest ways, because God’s logic is very different from our own. We tend to assume that the circumstances have to be right if we’re going to be effective Christians but God is not waiting for the circumstances to be right, he is committed to producing really effective Christians even when the circumstances seem wrong. That is why we shouldn’t spend so much time worrying or trying to change our circumstances, get on with the Gospel.
God says get on with the gospel, the circumstances are not the deal the Gospel is the deal.
In jail in shackles, out of jail in freedom, stuck in doctors’ appointments, or healthy, whatever it is advance the gospel, preach Christ, seize the opportunity you have.
And what a wonderful thing it must have been for these believers in Rome, verse 14 as their confidence grew as the news of Paul began to spread throughout the city. And as the talk in the bazaars would turn to the fact that one of the soldiers who had been working as a guard for a while was speaking to somebody in one of the local brew houses and he was saying “you know we have got one weird guy in there at the moment” And then there is this different Christian and he’s sitting over in a corner and he is overhearing this and the guy finds, rising within him renewed confidence but the implication is not that if Paul can do that in jail maybe you can do this in freedom. Instead, you see this Christian is thinking if God is able to provide for Paul in that circumstance, then surely, he is able to provide for me in this circumstance. I need to be a little bolder in the things of the faith.
It wasn’t some form of bravado that they were declaring it was a confidence in the Lord himself.
So, it is advancing he says, the gospel is advancing. I’m here, from a human perspective my circumstances are not that great. But God is using it both so that the guards can hear the gospel and also to stimulate the Believers in Rome to be about the business of sharing their faith.
Then he says, this is Paul, he says however I recognise that while I have a concern for you and while they have a growing confidence as a result of what’s been taking place. I sense there is also a conflict in the motives of people who are preaching the gospel. One group is preaching out of good will they’re motivated by love and the other group is motivated by rivalry. And in certain cases, by jealousy and selfish ambition.
Paul is transparent here he doesn’t hide the truth; he says some people are downright bad in their motives in the way the gospel is being preached. Others have my best interest at heart but there are others seeking to stir up trouble for me. Look at verse 17
“They would like to take my chains as it were and rub them round my wrists to make them chafe me.”
Jealousy and self-centeredness the desire for position and influence rear their ugly heads when the gospel is being preached.
Don’t think for a moment that that isn’t true. One of the most significant things any of us face in being entrusted with the Gospel is the potential for dreadful self-crippling pride. Where we cannot rejoice in the advance of the Gospel in another’s Ministry because we personalise it. And then often out of envy for someone else’s success, we do the right things and we proclaim the truth and we sing the right songs but God who searches and knows our hearts, recognises that our motives are all wrong.
Well then what is Paul to do If some are preaching from a wrong motivation? Should he allow that to keep him awake at night, should he allow the poorness of their approach to affect his confidence in Christ, and his commitment to see the gospel advance?
No.
The wrong motives of bad men must never be allowed to become the determining element in our attitude. Because if you dwell on it, it will cripple you, and you will become grumpy, constantly questioning the motives of those around you, constantly refuting what they’re doing and in that respect the enemy is winning. Because now the one who desires to see the gospel proclaimed has given up on proclaiming the gospel and instead focuses on telling everyone why the gospel is not “truly” being proclaimed by those who have these impure motives.
And you might ask “Does Paul not care about the Gospel that is proclaimed?”
No, look very carefully.
He’s talking about the motivation. He’s saying some people’s motives are bad but they’re still preaching Christ. It’s not that they’re preaching a false Christ. He refutes that immediately, you only have to look at the book of Galatians, Paul won’t stand a false gospel. So, he’s not saying it doesn’t matter whether the gospel is preached well or poorly. He’s passionate about that, what he’s saying is that the gospel is advancing even for the most impure motives.
Paul says he doesn’t care if their reasons are wrong, as long as they preach Christ. God will take care of the motives of their hearts.
Paul’s concern was for the Lord’s glory, not for his own stature. Look at the question Verse 18 “What then?” or “What does it matter?”
What does it really matter? Do you ever say that to one another, what does it matter? Is this stuff we’re getting really irritated about, how much of it really matters? What does it matter?
Well, you know I don’t think his motives are right… What does it matter?
We’re not in charge of his motives.
So, as we close let me wrap this up with a few observations.
There’s a lesson here about motives. It is possible to be doing something that is in itself good but our reasons for doing it are wrong. The Lord is interested not only in what we’re doing but also in why we’re doing it. If I want to teach the bible in order that people might understand what a wonderful ability I have, then I might as well pack up and go home.
Secondly, it has something to say to us about confidence in witnessing. The brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. I do hope that today you are encouraged to proclaim the gospel boldly and fearlessly.
And finally, the passage has something to teach us about accepting God’s purpose.
Accepting the fact that God order’s all the events of our lives. You see this is what kept Paul going. And indeed, the only way to genuine humility and any realistic sanity is in recognising that all of our circumstances even the most difficult are under the hand and care of God.