Pelion Baptist Church

Philippians 1:27-30, ESV:

“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.”

Introduction

Have you ever hear people make the statement that they do not like to go to church because of the way “Christians” act? Or they say something like “They are the biggest bunch of hypocrites. If that is the way Christians behave, I don’t want anything to do with it.” Or maybe they even say something a little more specific by way of a situation they personally encountered, either with a group or an individual, that put a bad taste in the mouth. Something that turned them off from wanting anything to do with church.

Now, I could make an argument about how absurd that is, not from the standpoint that it is not true — that is that there are many times (unfortunately) that so-called “Christians” do act in a way that is not worthy of the gospel. The argument I could make is this: why on earth would you let something as great and so filled with hope and eternally good promises for you, blessings that will never end, keep you from them because of anything, no matter how hypocritical it is!? That is like saying that you are going to go to the grocery store because they had a bad bunch of bananas, or because the cashiers can’t get their act together. You still have to eat. You don’t stop going to the grocery store for something like that. Why? Because the need and results of going are more important and greater for your personal (temporary) well-being than staying at home starving!

So in that sense, that argument doesn’t hold-up. But people still make that excuse about not wanting to go to church or not wanting to be a Christian because of the way Christians behave. And because that is a reason some give — valid or not — it needs to be addressed. It must be.

What we never want to do, either as a church, or as an individual member of a church, is act in a way that is a turn-off for others. So that is what I am going to focus on this morning: Acting like a Christian.

By the way, you know what that term means? The term “Christian?” It actually means little Christ. It was sometimes used as a derogatory term for believers in the early centuries. But despite that, the people wore that term like a badge of honor. Many delighted to be called a Christian — not because of pride or status, rather because they knew the joy awaiting them forever was infinitely greater compared to the temporary and mild inconveniences of life. But there were also some in the church during that time who needed to be reminded of the way they acted. And Paul addresses them in this last section of chapter one in Philippians.

Examining our Life

Now because you and I are to keep our lives pure and as James says “keeping ourselves unstained by the world” (James 1:27), we have to ask ourselves questions of examination. In other words, we need to take the Word of God, see what it says, take it to heart, and square our lives up by it. And for those areas of our lives that seem to be under the control of the Holy Spirit — which there should be those — we need only beware of our ability to fall in those areas and maintain our righteousness. But for those things that are not in-line with God and his righteousness, we must repent and ask the Lord to make us more like Jesus, our example. It is really that simple. Nothing complicated here! But it requires humility. Nothing complicated, just humility!

When it says in verse 27, “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ,…” it means that you really need to stop and take stock of your life. That very first word “only” means that “of all the things I could tell you, this is essential. Listen-up. Pay attention. This is critical.” He is calling them — and us — to ask ourselves “Am I doing anything, saying anything, engaging in anything, acting in anyway, that would bring reproach to the cause of Christ? Is there anything that I am doing that would bring shame to His name? Is there any reason that I am giving non-Christians to say ‘Well if he or she is acting like that, I really don’t see how they are any different than I am?’”

When you act in a manner unworthy of the gospel — the good news that says Christ has come and shed His precious blood and died to make you different, not the same, but different — you are saying to those watching “This is what God is like. I am a Christian, a little Christ. Don’t you want to be like me?” And there answer shamefully is “No! I don’t.” For all of those outside of Christ, as they watch us, they are witnessing by our manner of life everyday, what Jesus is like, what God is like. That’s what we’re telling them.

So we must, first of all, examine our lives and ask the Lord to take away those things that will hinder the gospel and bring reproach to His name. That is how we let our “manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.” Now some translations use the words “conduct yourselves” and by that word “conduct,” Paul is picturing here acting as a citizen of a “polis,” meaning a city. We get our word “political” from it and so Paul is saying, live in a way, conduct yourselves in a way as if you are citizens of a free political state. And what Paul has in mind, and I think this because he uses this type of imagery elsewhere, is living as a citizen of Heaven. When others look at you and watch you, live in such a way that the love and the mercy and the goodness and the patience and the high-quality of the governing rules of that city are seen in your life. So pay attention to your lives. Examine your conduct.

And Paul says (verse 27), “so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel…” Paul is saying that no matter whether he gets to visit them personally and see first-hand the manner of life, or whether (for whatever reason) he can’t make it to see them, but only hear about them through a messenger, he will know they are living lives worthy of gospel.

One spirit, One mind

And he zeroes in on one idea that is crucial for all generations of Christians. By this phrase, he is telling us what the church ought to look like to an outside world (and a little bit later, he tells us why it is important that they see a unified and fighting church). He is saying that when they look at us (and he is speaking in the context of a body of believers here), this is what they must see: “…that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel…”

That word “spirit” (pneuma) in this context is not referring to the Holy Spirit. It is not saying that we need to be firm in the Holy Spirit — though that is true and we ought to be. It is saying that as we fight, as we battle, as we engage in war with the enemy, we do so together in one unified spirit. We don’t have a person doing their own thing over there, or this particular group of families over here doing their own thing or seeing things in their own way, or looking out for their own interests, instead of for the interest of the whole church. None of that! We are standing firm. But not only standing firm, but doing so with one spirit, one purpose, under one captain — Jesus — as He leads the troops into battle. When Paul says in the next part of the verse “with one mind,” I think Paul is more or less repeating himself for emphasis. There is to be such a unity of spirit and purpose about you that it is as if you have one mind. One mind!

You know why you have conflict in a church? Because you have at least two people concerned about their own interests. There isn’t a unified spirit. And this has been a problem throughout the history of the church. That is why there is always a need for a call to unity. It was even a passion for Jesus. He says in John 13 “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” If we are not unified and of one mind, namely having the mind of Christ in us, and having love, one for another, how are others supposed to know that we truly are disciples or followers of Jesus?

Standing and Striving

Now look back at this verse again, because there is something we are to be doing as we have one spirit and one mind. What is it? It says in verse 27 “striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.” Paul is using two analogies in this verse to help us understand what our sole-purpose is. One is a military analogy and the other is an athletic analogy. So Now link this up with what he said earlier in the verse about “standing firm” and you will begin to see what Paul is encouraging them to do. ”Standing firm” (steko) is a term used of a soldier that under no circumstances will budge from his post. No matter what onslaught of temptation or evil may come against him, he stands firm. He doesn’t move! The church is full of soldiers that have been given orders to maintain their posts at all costs as they fight against a single enemy side by side.

And what are we fighting against? Let me tell you what the devil’s overall strategy is to prevent the church from being unified and standing firm and running alongside each other with a single objective. What he does is magnifies a problem or problems in your life to the point that you are so focused on it and you begin to think that is where the fight is. I am not saying those things are not important, but they must not become so big in our mind(s) and so focused in our own interests that we not lose sight of where the real battle is. I see that happening often. When you are off fighting your fight and your own personal monster and another person is fighting a different battle in a different place, how is the real battle going to be won? How are we to fight “the good fight of the faith” which is won by fighting together with one mind and one purpose? Besides, Paul said in Ephesians, our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against the onslaught of demons and devils and temptation. And the way — the only way — to win that battle is to keep your post and fight together. It is to run the race together striving for the common goal. It is to strive for the faith of the gospel.

What is the faith? What does that mean? We are in a conflict to preserve and protect the faith from those who attack and destroy. We are in a conflict to proclaim and preach the faith to those who reject it. Don’t lose your perspective, folks. You have a two-fold striving. We are a team, we are athletes together and our common goal is to preserve the Word against hostility and to proclaim the Word to the very hostile people who attack it. Tough battle. Don’t lose your perspective. So many churches spend all their time fussing and fuming about piddly internal stuff that doesn’t even matter when they need to be lost in the preservation of and proclamation of the Word of God. So standing was a military analogy. Striving is an athletic analogy, it calls for team work against an opponent who threatens to defeat us all personal matters aside…all personal matters aside. We must proclaim the truth.

Strength in your Position

Now this is a good time for me to say we must never be fearful or timid to proclaim this truth. I feel like the church today is so afraid to speak the truth. There is no boldness. And the reason for this is the church really doesn’t know who they are. Look at verse 28: “…and not frightened [or alarmed] in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.”

That’s good news, isn’t it? That word “frightened” or “alarmed” is never used another place in the Bible, that’s the only place it’s ever used but it’s used in classical Greek to refer to startling horses. Don’t be startled, don’t be bolted or jolted by your adversaries, your enemies. Why? Because it’s a sign of destruction for them but of salvation for you and that too from God. What does he mean? Their hostility toward you is a sign that they’re going to be destroyed. And it’s a sign that you’re going to be saved in the end. I mean, if they’re attacking you, that proves whose side they’re on and that proves whose side you’re on, right?

When we really believe who we are, we should not be afraid of telling others of the good news. We are citizens of the greatest kingdom in the history of the world. And don’t think that I am talking about being a citizen of America. I am talking about being a citizen of Heaven. And yes, being a citizen there, begins now and will continue on this earth into the future. But you are a citizen there now! Our one purpose, then, is to live godly lives, to be the salt of the earth, preserving and protecting it for God’s glory.

Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth. If the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.” (Matthew 5:13). Our one purpose is to live in fullness of faith, being bold as lions, with no fear. Why is this important? According to verse 28, by not being jolted by anything the enemy attacks with, and facing life with confidence and a heavenly perspective, it tells others clearly, those who do not have this truth, that if they don’t call out to Jesus, they are doomed.

Did you catch that in this verse? Let me read it again: and not frightened [or alarmed] in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.” So if you are advancing God’s kingdom and being vocal about it, get ready for opposition. It will come. But when it comes, in whatever form, stand firm at your post and fight! It is God’s battle anyway, and there are a host of angels around God’s faithful, fighting with you and for you. What this passage is saying is to be a clear sign to others who don’t know Jesus that something is wrong with them and if they don’t change — which can only happen by the power of God in their lives — they are going to forever be destroyed. That’s a heavy way of looking at things, I know. But that is what this passage is teaching us. Do we believe it or not?

Conclusion

29 “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.”

What does he say suffering is granted to us? If a church is what it ought to be it won’t be easy, you will suffer for you to it has been granted to you — it is a gift of grace. He uses the word here related to grace (charis). God has chosen you not only for salvation, and He has graciously gifted you not only with faith, but with suffering.” Did you know suffering is a gift from God? You say, “He gave me a gift of suffering?” You say, “Why is it a gift? What’s so good about it?” It assures you of your salvation, doesn’t it? When they attack you, it tells you whose side you’re on. It produces hope of heaven. It perfects you for usefulness. It provides union with Christ, the fellowship of His sufferings. It brings joy due to the privilege, like the early church said, they counted it all joy to suffer for His sake. It leads to eternal reward. It strengthens the church. It wins the lost. Paul’s suffering did, he said that in Philippians 1:12 to 14. Ultimately it glorifies the Lord. Expect it…expect it and don’t feel alone, verse 30 says, you’re not alone. All the faithful servants of the Lord have suffered.

Philippians 1:22-26, ESV:“If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.”

Introduction

Adonirum Judson was the first American missionary sent overseas, an unusual godly man and brave ambassador of Jesus Christ who went to a very hostile and primitive country known then as Burma. Fourteen years after he had left Massachusetts and went to that treacherous land, all he had to show for it — 14 years of ministry — was the grave of his wife and the graves of all of his children. He was absolutely alone. He experienced imprisonments that were wretched, severe conditions, and horrible diseases. And yet he remained faithful. He never left, never quit, never checked out. He said: “If I had not felt certain that every trial was ordered by infinite love and mercy, I could not have survived my accumulated sufferings.”

In other words, he saw it as part of the sovereign plan of God. It would have been easy for him to have wanted to check out and go to heaven, to go to be with Christ, to go to be with all the people he loved who had gone on to be with the Lord, namely his wife and children; there was joy waiting for him there! But his interests and joy were divided: He not only longed for being with Christ and his family, but he also longed to meet the needs of the Burmese people who were in pagan darkness. And so he prayed, prayed not that God would take his life, but that God would make him live and not die until he had translated the entire Bible into the native language and until he had presided over a native church of at least 100 Christians. He pleaded with the Lord to let him live at least that long.

That great man had the spirit of Paul. That’s the heart of Paul. On the one hand he longed to be with Christ. On the other hand, he longed to be useful to the church. On the one hand he wanted to be free from the pain of life and ministry and difficulty and suffering. On the other hand, he wanted to advance the kingdom in this world.

All the great servants of God are caught at one point or another in that same dilemma. Because it is part of spiritual greatness to know Christ intimately, it is therefore part of spiritual greatness to long to be with Christ. Because it is part of spiritual greatness to be totally committed to the advancement of the kingdom, it is also part of spiritual greatness to want to stay here and see people won to the Savior and the church built up. So the great men and women of God live in that tension, in that dilemma, in that state if you will, of joy on both sides.

It is in that tension that Paul writes (verse 22-26) these words: “If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.”

Now Paul is in the real strait, having a high wall on one side and a high wall on the other side and not knowing really how to relieve the pressure. He’s waiting on the Lord to show him. The key part of this passage goes back to verse 18. And this has been the theme of the whole section. He says, “I rejoice, yes and I will rejoice.” Remember now, the Philippian church is greatly concerned because they heard he was a prisoner. They’re concerned about his welfare, his safety, his ministry!

He writes this letter back to them in effect to say, “Don’t be concerned, I have joy.” And he mentions his joy repeatedly in this epistle, over and over he mentions his joy — multiple times in every chapter! Even though the circumstances were difficult, and the trials were great, Paul knew joy.

Remember our first point that we said he had joy in spite of trouble as long as the gospel advanced, back to verse 12 to 14. He says, “It doesn’t matter to me,” verse 12, “as long as my circumstances have turned out rather for the progress of the gospel. Secondly, in verses 15 to 18, he rejoices in spite of detractors as long as Christ is preached. Some in verse 15 were jealous and envious of him. Verse 18 says they were preaching Christ out of selfish ambition. They didn’t have pure motives. They wanted to add pain to Paul’s already afflicted state. And what was his reaction to these jealous, envious preachers? Verse 18: “I rejoice, Christ is preached. I have joy in the fact that he is preached in spite of detractors.” Thirdly, he had in spite of death as long as Christ is glorified. He says at the end of verse 20 that Christ shall be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. In fact, since living is Christ, dying is gain.

So the point he’s making is this, my joy comes not in my circumstances.

Now we come to the last of the four points: Paul rejoices in spite of being in the flesh as long as the church is helped or benefited. This is a tremendous statement. He rejoices in spite of being in the flesh, as long as the church is helped. He just said in verse 21, “Living is Christ and dying is gain.” He has confessed there that the best thing would be to die and go to be with the Lord. But he is willing nonetheless to remain in the flesh if it will benefit the church. For now if that is what God wants, that’s fine with him because…follow this thought…that’s what he wants.

It is not the desire of Paul against the desire of the Lord. It is not Paul’s desire for heaven against the Lord’s desire for him to stay; it is Paul’s desire for both equally. There is no disparity here. The text is saying he has a tremendous desire to be with Christ, he has a tremendous desire to build the kingdom, advance the gospel, assist the church. So he himself has two strong desires. And I want to suggest to you, as we go through the passage, that those ought to be the two compelling desires of every believer: one, to be with Christ; two, to be fruitful in strengthening, building and advancing the church.

Now let’s look at verse 22. “In spite of the fact that dying is gain,” he says, “If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.  Now that phrase “if I am to live in the flesh” simply means “if I’m to stay in this world.”(Sometimes when Paul refers to being in the flesh he has being sinful in mind…such as Romans 8:5, where being in the flesh is contrasted with being in the Spirit in the sense that one represents righteousness and one represents unrighteousness, one represents holiness, one represents sin).

But there are also occasions when the phrase “in the flesh” means simply in your humanness, in this physical world. And that’s the way Paul is using it here. So, Paul is saying, “If I am to live on in my humanness, if I’m to stay in this condition I’m in now, being human in the world, this will mean…I love that…this will mean fruitful labor for me.” Being alive in this world was synonymous with fruitful labor. Fruitful work for Christ was synonymous with being alive in this world. He said it in verse 21, “For me to live is Christ.” He is the center and circumference of my existence, nothing else matters to me but Christ. “Therefore, for me to be alive in this world is to be engaged in fruitful work for Christ.”

That word “work” is used in a way that refers to spiritual work, work for the kingdom, work for the Lord. And he says, “If I live in this life, I’ll work and it will be fruitful work.” What is fruit? Spiritual results. He says to the Romans in chapter 1, “I want to come and have some fruit among you.” What does he mean? Some converts. He talks about the first fruits of Achaia, the first people saved in Achaia. He talks about the fruit of righteousness in Philippians chapter 1, verse 11. He talks about the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5, love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. The writer of Hebrews talks about the fruit of your lips which is praise to God.

Righteous deeds, righteous acts, righteous words, righteous ministry, that’s what he has in mind, winning people to Christ, bearing fruit, producing something that lasts that is in fact eternal. That’s his heart’s desire. And he says, “If I stay in the world, I’ll work and bear fruit.” He recognizes that fruit comes from work. And if he is to stay, it is to produce. That’s a strong desire. It is not desire over against duty, it is two strong desires. He wants to bear fruit for the Lord’s glory, he wants to do that, that’s what he says in verse 26, that your boasting may abound to Christ Jesus. He wants to bear fruit. He wants to see people saved who can then give glory to God. He wants to see the church strengthened so its evangelistic effort is more effective.

So strong was that desire that he says at the end of verse 22, “I do not know which to choose. Living is Christ, dying is gain. And although dying is gain because I go into the presence of Christ whom I long to know personally, intimately, in an unhindered relationship, although that is gain to me, if I stay here I have fruitful labor and that is so much gain to me that I don’t know what to choose.” When he says “I do not know,” he uses a word that is particularly Pauline, it’s used 26 times in the New Testament, 18 times by Paul. It always means to reveal or make known, I can’t reveal, I can’t make known, “I cannot tell” would be a way to translate it. “I can’t declare it…I don’t know what to say about what I will choose.” Why? Because it’s in the Lord’s hands…it’s in the Lord’s hands. But given the choice now, I can’t make a choice, I can’t choose. I can’t choose heaven over earth.

Do you ever feel that dilemma? There’s something in me that longs to be in heaven, there’s something in me that longs to be with Christ. That’s a very strong desire. But there’s something in me that longs to be here, to build the church, and win the lost, and bear fruit. And if the Lord said, “You have five minutes to choose,” most would have a very difficult time choosing, but not for the same reasons of Paul. Most people can’t make the choice based on those two things. Most people would say, “I want to stay.” Why? “Well, we’re getting a new house, we’re going on a trip…I don’t want to leave my kids…” Those are worthy thoughts but those are not the things that were in the heart of Paul — nor are they the real issue.

Paul is saying, “Look, nothing really matters to me except to glorify Christ. And if I can glorify Him in glory, I’ll be thrilled. And if I can glorify Him by fruitful labor, I’ll be thrilled. And given the choice, I can’t choose.” But the dilemma is just those two issues…just those two issues. So he says in verse 23, “I’m hard pressed from both directions, I am hard pressed from both directions.”

The verb is very vivid, (sunechomai), it basically means to be hemmed in on both sides. “I feel pressured on both sides. I don’t know which way to move.” The imagery is of a narrow road between two walls and you’re trapped, and you can’t move. On the one hand you want to help the church, you want to have fruitful labor to the glory of God, to the advancement of His name. And yet, verse 23, having the desire to depart. Now I want to stress something here: When Paul says “I have the desire to depart,” it’s not a good desire and a bad desire. It’s two good ones. It’s not a strong desire and a weak desire overruled by God, it’s two equally strong desires and if you ask him which one he’s choose, he’d say, “I don’t know. I can’t choose one over the other.”

Now that word “depart” is a fascinating word, analusi. Let me give you a little background of this term: It was used of taking down a tent, breaking camp. And there’s a sense in which Paul is saying, “I’d like to break camp and move on to the eternal house, I’m tired of living in a tent.” It was used by sailors of putting a ship in the water that had been up in dry dock and letting it set sail on the sea. And he’s saying, in effect, “I’m tired of being in the dock, I want to sail to the golden shore that God has prepared for me.” The word was also used of freeing a prisoner from chains and bars. The word was used of unloading an animal of its heavy burden. The word was used of solving a problem. And there’s some of all of that bound up in that word. But the surpassing issue is none of those. Look at verse 23, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ…” The major issue was he wanted to go and be with Christ because he loved Him so deeply, so profoundly. That’s the issue…personal, intimate, complete, unhindered, conscious fellowship with Christ. That shows you the maturity of his heart. No question, mature man.

Now there’s a tremendous lesson here that I need to give you very briefly. This is one of the great verses in the Scripture that teaches that when you leave this world you are immediately in the presence of Christ. There is no such thing as soul sleep. There is no such thing as a waiting place. The Bible nowhere refers to anything remotely related to purgatory. Paul says “I have the desire to depart and be with Christ.” And that is what happens when you depart. You depart to be with Christ.

Then Paul goes on in verse 23 and says “for that is far better.”  And he does something very unusual in the N.T., he gives us a triple comparative. It would have been enough for him to say, “that is better.” It would have been enough for him to say, “that is much better.” It is more than enough to say, “that is very much better” (triple comparative). It is so far beyond anything in this life. It is far better. It is very far better for me to be with Him.

Yet, verse 24, “But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.”  Now you want to see a spiritual man, where your needs and his needs create equal desires. Did you get that? The desire personally on his part is to be with Christ, that’s far better, that’s much better, that’s very much better for him. But for you, it’s better that he stay. And his desire for you is as great as his desire for him, so he can’t choose.

Now that is a godly man whose personal desire does not surpass his desire for you. That’s true humility. That is a servant’s heart. He is compelled by both equally to the degree that he says in verse 22, “I cannot tell you what I will choose. I don’t know. I can’t make a choice.” So, verse 24, “But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.”   The church needed him. The Philippians needed him. They had problems. There aren’t a lot of problems specifically identified in this letter, nevertheless, they had some problems: Chapter 2, the first few verses, they needed to learn humility. Chapter 3:2, they needed to beware of the dogs and the evil workers and the false circumcision. Chapter 4, there were some women (verses 1 and 2), who needed to learn how to live in harmony.

They needed to learn to rejoice. They needed to learn to be content in whatever state they were in. They had some things they needed to learn. If they were going to have an impact on the world, if they were going to win people to Christ, they needed some strengthening. They needed some instruction. They needed some leadership.

And they were one of many churches that Paul felt needed him. So he is saying it’s more necessary for you that I stay. And there are only two things in my life, only two, Christ and His church, that’s all…Christ and His church. Given my choice, I’d rather be with Him for my sake. Given my choice, I’d rather be with you for your sake. That is the dilemma of a godly servant and that was Paul’s dilemma. And that ought to be our dilemma. We should be caught in a dilemma, not in the infantile immaturity of the dilemma between Christ and career, Christ and money, Christ and prestige, Christ and power, Christ and fame, Christ and success, Christ and the world, Christ and our vacation, Christ and whatever. But the dilemma that we ought to be caught in is the one Paul was caught in, Christ and the church.

Are we so consumed with love for Christ that the deepest longing of our heart is to be with Him? But on the other hand, so consumed with the love of His church and the need of His church that the heart’s desire is also to be with them? And do we live in that tension and no other tension? I daresay few Christians do. Most Christians are caught between Christ and this and Christ and that or the church and this and the church and that. We don’t really understand this tremendous spiritual depth being illustrated by this man…profound spiritual commitment in his life. He is caught between two things, this tremendous love for Christ and this passionate love for the church. And those two things are the things that control his life.

Now look at verse 25, he shows us that he has a strong feeling about what’s going to happen. “Convinced of this…” could be translated, “Being confident of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith…”

I think this expresses a personal conviction. Some think he may have received a revelation that he was going to be able to stay. I don’t see that because he doesn’t say that. I don’t want to assume that having been given a revelation from God about something this important, he wouldn’t have brought it up because it would have solved the dilemma in the minds of everybody about whether he was going to lose his life. Because, after all, he was a prisoner waiting for sentence. He could have alleviated everybody’s pain if he’d have said, “You know, the Lord told me I’m not going to die, so don’t worry about it.” The fact that he doesn’t say that and that he just says, “I am convinced of this…I know that I will stay and continue,” seems to me to have been a Holy Spirit generated strong compulsion, something inside, he just felt a strong personal conviction. I think it’s this strong absolute assurance based upon his calling and his assessment of the needs of the church and based upon what he feels the Spirit of God is prompting in his heart.

So he says, “I’m convinced, I know that I will ‘meno’ and ‘parameno’.” A little play on words. I will remain, and the second verb means remain alongside you. I will remain for the purpose of coming alongside you all. Why? “…for your progress and joy in the faith.” It’s so wonderful. He throws that word “joy” in there. It’s really on his heart, that word. He says it’s for your progress, a word that means to sort of blaze a trail for an army. He says I know I’m going to remain to blaze the trail so that you, as the Christian army can march to victory. I know God’s going to let me do that. And also, for your progress and also for your joy. Isn’t that wonderful? That joy goes along as a partner with spiritual growth, advancing faith is accompanied by increasing joy. The more you grow in Christ, the more joy you experience. And so, Paul says, “Look, my personal conviction and assurance is that I will remain and remain alongside you all for your spiritual progress and accompanying joy in the faith.” The faith, simply a reference to their Christian faith, their relationship to God, the substance of the fact that they were God’s children and they belonged to His church. I know I’m going to stay, he says, for your progress and joy.

Conclusion

And then he gives the purpose in verse 26: “So that… your rejoicing or your boasting or your exalting or your glorying or your “proud confidence” (NASB) in a good sense, your proud confidence.” And the Greek reads this way, “In order that your proud confidence may abound, first of all, in Christ Jesus in me.” You will notice the ESV puts “in me” before “in Christ Jesus.” The Greek does not do that. And I think that order is very important. It would sound like, “So your proud confidence in me may abound.” Paul would never say that, that he wanted them to boast in him. The Greek says, “That your proud confidence may abound in Christ Jesus in me.” It’s not abounding in me, and it’s not abounding in Christ Jesus detached. When I come alongside you and your joy increases, your “proud confidence” will abound in Christ Jesus who is working in me. That’s the point.

The word means overflow. When I come to you and you grow spiritually and your joy increases, your “proud confidence” will overflow to Christ who is working in me in my coming to you. He gives all the credit to Christ, all the glory to Christ. Their boasting is in Christ Jesus who dwells in and ministers through Paul…not in Paul.

Philippians 1:19-21, ESV:

“for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Introduction

If I could encapsulate in a phrase Paul’s perspective on life, it is, strangely, the worse the circumstances, the greater the joy. There is a secret that Paul lived with that gave him joy that was unaffected by even facing death.

Now I doubt frankly whether any servant of God had more sorrow than Paul. In fact, any of us who read the New Testament are struck with the fact that things basically seem to go so badly for Paul. In Acts chapter 9 he’s saved. But before you get out of chapter 9 the Jews are already plotting to kill him and he has to escape with his life. He then turns to the church at Jerusalem and they reject him as well. In the very chapter where he is saved, he is rejected by the unsaved and rejected by the church.

When he goes on his first missionary tour to preach, jealous Jews publicly contradict him and accuse him of blasphemy. They stir up mobs against him. They stone him and leave him for dead. That’s the way it was. That was only the beginning. In 2 Corinthians, he tells us some of the things that he endured. He said, “with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.” (2 Cor. 11:23-28). That’s a lot of sorrow. And in his ministry he was forsaken by friends. Remember he said, “All in Asia have turned away from me…..only Timothy understands my heart and he’s the only one I can send to represent myself.”

The churches he invested a great portion of his life in, fell into sin, sometimes gross sin and bad theology. He had reason to be sad. To say nothing of the continual sorrow and heaviness of heart that he expressed in Romans 9 over the lostness of his people Israel. He sorrowed and was sad because of his lost nation. He had the disappointment of defecting people into whom he had poured his life. He had the hostility of an ungodly world and the threats against him and the pain and the agony of bodily injury. He ended up in prison four times, at least: once in Jerusalem, once in Caesarea, twice in Rome.

But in spite of all of that, he never lost his joy. And that’s the amazing thing. He then becomes to us the classic picture of joy in ministry. And he summed it up in a beautiful little phrase in 2 Corinthians 6:10 where he says, “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” He never lost his joy no matter how sorrowful his circumstances might have been. As I mentioned earlier, the worst the circumstances, the greater the joy. Why? Because as your circumstances begin to collapse around you and become sorrowful or negative, it pushes you deeper into your trust, it pushes you deeper into the soil of your faith and you begin to extract your joy out of your relationship. And so what you wind up with is an unmixed joy.

When everything is going well, you’re happy go lucky, it’s all the way you want it circumstantially. You’re not pressed to dig deeply for the joy of faith, or the joy of relationship because you have certain happiness in your condition. But when your condition is negative and difficult and you have anxiety, it presses you into the joy of faith that is far deeper and richer than the joy of experience. So, in a very real sense, the epitome of joy is reached when the circumstances are ultimately negative, because that throws you totally on the relationship, throws you totally on faith and you extract nothing out of circumstances. You know the pure joy of a living relationship with the living Christ. That’s where Paul is. Now what is it that produces this kind of joy? Or what is it that contributes to joy in ministry even though negative circumstances exist? He gives us insight.

First of all we said, and this is the point we covered two weeks ago, first of all we said that he has joy in spite of trouble as long as the gospel advances. Back in verse 12, “what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel” In what sense? Verse 13, “Evangelistically, the whole Praetorian Guard and everybody else knows the gospel.” Not only that, in terms of courage for the church, verse 14, “The brothers have more courage to speak the Word because they’ve seen what’s happened to me and how God has used me even though I am a prisoner.”

So he’s saying, “I have joy in spite of trouble as long as the gospel advances.” Now keep this in mind. If you live for the gospel, then that’s what matters to you. And that’s what Paul lived for. Second point that he makes here, he has joy in spite of detractors…in spite of critics, in spite of those who out of jealousy, strife, and selfish ambition want to slander him, abuse him verbally, throw stones at him. He has joy in spite of these detractors, he says, as long as Christ is preached. And down in verse 15 he says, Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry,” but then in verse 18, he says “what then (so what)? Christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice.”

Now we come to the third point: He has joy in spite of death as long as the Lord is glorified. In fact, it really doesn’t matter to him whether he lives or dies. Follow verses 19 through 21. Verse 19 says, “for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Now what he is saying here is that in spite of death, as long as the Lord is glorified I rejoice and I will rejoice. You see, his joy was not related to his circumstances. It didn’t matter if he was in trouble. It didn’t matter if he had his reputation attacked. It didn’t even matter if he was killed. All that mattered was the gospel advances, Christ is preached, the Lord is magnified. That’s all that mattered. Very few in the church today are so completely and selflessly sold out to Jesus Christ as Paul is, to the point where death is of no consequence, to the point where attacks against their reputation are of absolutely no consequence, to the point where trouble and struggle is of absolutely no consequence, and that is the case with Paul. He is a living illustration of everything embodied in the statement of Christ when he said, “Take up your cross and follow Me, and if you’re not willing to do that, you’re not worthy to be My disciple.” Here was a man who was willing to bear the cross. Here was a man who couldn’t care less honestly what happened to him, what people said about him, or whether he lived or died. That is a tremendous level of spiritual commitment.

In some ways I would guess practically unheard of today. We live in a materialistic self-centered day, a self-serving day, not a self-sacrificing day. People today live for a lot of things. They are not focused on one thing like Paul was, and so the message this morning speaks directly to a very deep need in our lives. Now how is it that in verses 19 and 20 he can face death with joy? How is it that death can be so inconsequential to him? How is it that he can be confident that the Lord will be magnified in his death? What is it that allows him to face death with joy? Let me give you several things that he brings out, all right? I’ll give you five of them…five things he is confident of and these five things help him face death without fear.

*(1) He is confident in the precepts of the Lord. Verse 19, “for I know that…this will turn out for my deliverance.” Stop right there. Great statement. When he says, “For I know,” oida, he is telling us, what to him, is absolute knowledge.

Now what is this? The present circumstance…the present trouble, the chains, all of the difficulties, adversities in his life and ministry, the whole thing he’s going through. He says I know that this present trouble shall turn out (future tense) — it’s going that direction — shall turn out for my deliverance…How do I know that? Because that was the promise of God! He had received it first hand when he wrote down “All things work together for good to them that…what?…love God and are the called according to His purpose,” (Romans 8:28). He knew that principle. For I know, absolutely confident, that this, all this trouble, shall future turn out for my deliverance. Now what does he mean by deliverance? The word here is soteria, which is the word for salvation. And some of your Bibles may say “for my salvation.” So what is meant by that? Well, that word can be translated salvation, deliverance, it can be translated well-being, it can be translated escape. What does it mean?

Some say it means ultimate salvation. Some say he is simply saying, “I know that this present trouble is going to turn out for my eternal salvation, ultimately to be in the presence of the Lord, my soul salvation.” He is confident that he will endure to the end and be fully finally saved and glorified in the day of Christ, the day he sees Christ. Some say no, it means his health, his well- being, his welfare, his benefit that I’m going to benefit from this that my well-being will be secured. Some say it means vindication. Some commentators think he’s saying that “I’ll be vindicated in court and that my trial when it reaches its second phase” (the first phase had already been held when no one defended him and he’s waiting for the second phase, namely the sentence, that he’s saying it will all work out for my vindication at my sentencing). Others say it means his release from prison. Since the primary meaning is deliverance from death that he’s saying all of this — that’s going on — is going to ultimately end up in my being released from prison.

Well, which of those is right? I would say that the truth is in all of those, and let me show you what I mean: Paul believes that his current distress is only temporary. That’s really what he’s saying. It’s temporary, that’s the point. It isn’t going to last. I will be delivered from it. Maybe I’ll be vindicated at my second phase of the trial. Maybe I will be released from prison. Maybe I will go to heaven to be with Jesus Christ and therefore be delivered in the sense of ultimate salvation. Maybe my well-being will be at last the issue. I don’t think he knows.

But what he is saying is, “I do know that that what I’m going through now is temporary and the future holds my deliverance, whether it’s vindication in court, release from prison, well-being, or eternal heaven, I’ll be delivered out of this.” Why? How can I be so sure about this? This statement that he makes “For I know… that this will turn out for my deliverance” is a verbatim quote of Job 13:16, a verbatim quote of the Greek Old Testament, Job 13:16…word for word.

Paul was a scholar in Scripture. And obviously identified his own problems and his own struggle with that of Job. He knew the story of Job — all the Jews know the story of Job. And he knew that Job was a righteous man and that God put Job in a situation of suffering. But Job knew — because he knew God delivered the righteous — that no matter what he went through, God would deliver him out of it. Job knew that, even to the point of death where he said, “Though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I…[what?] see God.” He knew that one way or another, either temporally or eternally, God would deliver him. Why? Because God delivers the righteous — that’s an Old Testament principle. Job knew it because it was the truth about God even before the Old Testament was written. Paul knew it and Paul is identifying with Job who is a righteous man, going through very difficult times who also said “I know that this will turn out for my deliverance.” And Paul quotes Job because he takes security in the truth of the Word of God.

What both Job and Paul went through wasn’t the chastening of God or the punishment of God or the condemnation of God, so he is giving expression to the conviction that everything must work together for good to them that love God. And whether he was released from prison in this life, whether he was vindicated at his trial or whether it worked out for his physical well-being or whether he went to glory as a martyr, he would be delivered. You can’t isolate it to his release from prison because he says right here “whether by life or by death,” so he didn’t know that he was going to live. He is simply saying God delivers the righteous. That’s a great principle. Confident then in the precepts of the Lord. And so we can rejoice in the face of death for the same reason, confident that if we face death because of righteousness like Peter said, we can count it joy. We can rejoice because God will deliver us. He may deliver us temporally, He may deliver us eternally, but He will deliver us. That’s His Word’s promise.

*(2) He was confident in the prayers of the saints. He says, “through your prayers…” What a great statement! Paul knew the Word of God would come to pass. He believed in the sovereignty of God. He believed in the eternal purposes of God laid down from before time began but he also knew that God effected His work and brought His purposes to pass in concert with the prayers of the saints. And so he says, “through your prayers.” One of the most wonderful truths of Scripture is that God works His purposes through the prayers of His people. And he says to the Philippians who loved him so dearly and to whom he was bonded in a very unique way, maybe unlike any other congregation as we pointed out earlier.

He knew he had their prayers and he knew that the effectual fervent prayer of righteous men produces much fruit, and has great effect and he knew that God working out His purpose through the faithful prayers of these people, would bring his deliverance. He believed in prayer. He was confident in prayer. And he called people to pray on his behalf. In Romans 15:30, “I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf,” He says, “Please pray for me.”

In Ephesians chapter 6 Paul says, Pray “…that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains (Ephesians 6:19-20). “Pray for me.” He believed that God worked His purpose through the prayers of His people. And so he said this will work out for my deliverance, my joy is fixed, my joy is fixed, my joy is fixed in the face of trouble, in the face of detractors, in the face of death. Why, Paul? Because the Word says God vindicates the righteous and because the prayers of the saints are effective. So, Paul could face death as long as Christ was magnified. And he was confident of that because of the precepts of God and the prayers of the saints.

*(3) He was confident of the provision of the Spirit. In verse 19, “…and the help [provision] of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” “I know this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and…implied…through the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” And these are the three things that always work together…the Word, prayer and the Spirit, right? The Word, prayer and the Spirit. And they always work together for the benefit of the servants of God. The emphasis here is the provision which the Spirit gives. In other words, the Spirit will grant to me whatever is necessary to sustain me.

The word “provision” by the way, means help or supply. It can be translated “bountiful supply” here. It could be translated “full supply” or “full resources.” And the full resources of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (that’s the Holy Spirit, who is called here the Spirit of Jesus Christ). So he is confident that the Holy Spirit, his indwelling teacher, interceder, guide, source of power, will provide what he needs. Boy, what a tremendous confidence!

Jesus said, “You’ll receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1). In John 14 Jesus said, “I’ll send you the helper, the comforter, and He’ll give you everything that you need, He’ll bring all the resources of God to you.” If you need power, He brings you power. He is the provider who brings the provision. And every Christian possesses the Holy Spirit and every Christian then has that resource, that provision. So Paul is confident in the presence of the Spirit.

*(4) He was confident in the promise of Christ. This is really implicit here rather than explicit. But I think it’s really what’s in his heart. He says in verse 20, “…it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body…”  What he is saying there is simply this: I’m confident in the promise of Christ that if I’m faithful to Him, He’ll be exalted in me; if I’m never ashamed of Him, He’ll never be ashamed of me (Mark 8:38).

Jesus said, “If you confess Me before men I’ll confess you before My Father, but if you’re ashamed of Me before men, I’ll be ashamed of you before My Father.” And Paul is saying, “I have this earnest expectation and this hope that I will never be put to shame in anything — never. And I just move with all boldness so that Christ as always can be exalted in my body.” He had this earnest expectation, this tremendous hope that he would never be shamed. He had no fear of being disappointed by Christ. He trusted His promise. He trusted that Christ would never fail him or forsake him, that Christ would never leave him or abandon him. And so he says in verse 20, “my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed.”

It is a concentrated eagerness, intense fixed gaze, straining with the neck as far as you can. And so he says, “I live in this eager anticipation that I’ll never be put to shame, I’ll never be shamed, not before the world, not before the courts of Caesar, and certainly not before God because Christ will be exalted in my body — that’s His promise to me. And then he adds this one phrase at the end of verse 20: “whether by life or by death.” And by it, he introduces us to the fifth aspect of confidence.

*(5) He is confident in the plan of God. He doesn’t know what it is, it might be life, it might be death, but he’s confident in it…whether by life or by death, I will boldly move on for God’s plan is God’s plan and I rejoice in it. He’s resigned to God’s plan. He didn’t know whether he was going to live, he didn’t know whether he was going to die. In fact, if he had a choice, he’d die! In verse 23, he says, “I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” So if you really want to know what I’d like to do, I’d like to die.”

You might be thinking “what a thing to say!” But it’s not really. Once you really get a grip on what God has in store for you and His ultimate plan for you, you can trust Him to the same extent that Paul did. By life, if I’m freed, he means, that’s God’s plan, I’ll preach, I’ll be bold, I’ll build the church and I’ll magnify Him in the process. And He’ll be exalted in my body. And if I die, if I’m killed, He’ll still be exalted in my body for I will have died for His name, I will have died as a testimony to my unwavering faith, I will have died as a trophy of His grace and in glory forever and ever and ever exalt His name. His name will be exalted every way you look at it. So what he’s saying is, “I don’t really care if I live or die, I don’t care at all. The issue with me is not my trouble, not my detractors, not my death, the issue with me is “Is the gospel advancing? Is Christ being preached? Is the Lord being magnified?” He is totally surrendered to God.

And he sums it up in this capstone statement in verse 21: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” What is great here is there aren’t even any verbs in the Greek: “living Christ, dying gain.” I live only to serve Him, only to commune with Him, only to love Him. I have no concept of life other than that. Now follow this thought. He is saying I am totally wrapped up in Christ, loving Him, knowing Him, preaching Him, serving Him. Christ is the reason for my existence. He doesn’t mean Christ is the source of his life, though He is. He doesn’t mean Christ lives in him, though He does. He doesn’t mean Christ controls him, though He does. He doesn’t mean that Christ wants him to submit to Him, though He does.

He simply means living is Christ. Life is summed up as Christ. I’m filled with Christ. I am occupied with Christ. I trust Christ, love Christ, hope in Christ, obey Christ, preach Christ, follow Christ, fellowship with Christ; Christ is the center circumference of my life. It’s all Christ! So if the gospel advances, I’m happy. If Christ is proclaimed, I’m happy. If the Lord is magnified in my body, I’m happy. Whether I live or die doesn’t matter to me. In fact, give me the choice, I’d rather die. Dying is gain. And that’s where every Christian ought to be. To glorify God — Nothing matters but that, absolutely nothing matters. And yet we fill our life with trivia, don’t we? Just absolute trivia. Not Paul.

Conclusion

Let’s personalize, okay? Look at the verse, verse 21, take out the word “Christ” and put a blank there. Now fill in the blank. “For to me living is _____” Wealth? If living is wealth, then dying is what? Not gain but loss. If living is prestige, then dying is loss. If living is fame, then dying is loss. If living is power, then dying is loss. If living is possessions, then dying is loss. If you’re looking for prestige in the world, you lose it when you die — you’re gone. If you’re looking for fame, you lose it when you die — you’re forgotten. If you’re looking for power, you lose it when you die — you’re lifeless in this world. If you’re looking for possessions, they’re all gone when you’re dying —  it’s all over. The only thing you can put in there to make the last part make sense is Christ. If you put in that blank anything but Christ, the last word has to be loss. Okay? Only Christ makes dying gain…only Christ. Otherwise it’s loss.

Now you say, “Well, I…boy, I have Christ on my blank.” But if you look carefully you probably have Christ plus wealth, Christ plus power, Christ plus possessions. For to me living is Christ, not plus anything else. If it’s living is Christ plus possessions, then death is gain and loss. But if living is Christ then death is all gain. That’s where Paul was. That’s exactly where we ought to be.

Philippians 1:15-18, ESV:

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

Introduction

There are two things that are the most discouraging, distressing things in the ministry:

(1) People who choose to live and behave at a lower level than they should based upon their spiritual knowledge and experience. It is extremely discouraging in the ministry when a believer who knows the Word of God well and who has experienced significantly the blessing of God’s spiritual growth, Christian fellowship, who then almost defiantly turns his back on it and walks away into sin. That is very discouraging. Much more discouraging than a new Christian who falls into sin or an untrained Christian who stumbles into sin because they’re ignorant of God’s Word. The heartbreaking thing in the ministry is people who know very much about Scripture and very much about spiritual living and have had great spiritual experiences and have seen the movement in the power of God and know what it is to really to walk in the Spirit and choose to walk away from it and engage in sin.

(2) Being falsely accused, falsely accused by those who are your fellow preachers of Christ. That too, is very difficult. There are people who want, for whatever agenda they have, to discredit your ministry. And so they falsely accuse you. They aren’t doing it from the world of unbelief, they’re fellow preachers of Christ. It’s very difficult to deal with being falsely accused by people who also preach Christ who are your fellow servants of Christ, but for some reason want to discredit and harm your ministry.

You say, “Well why do you bring that up?” Because that’s exactly what Paul brings up in this passage. That second issue is the issue of verses 15 through 18.

Now the Apostle Paul is a living example of having joy in the ministry when the ministry, was very difficult. The key verse in this text is the phrase “I rejoice yes, and I will rejoice.” And that statement is a bit emphatic, almost defiant in some ways, as if it ran contrary to everything we might suspect — he will rejoice in spite of everything. And one of the joy-killers that Paul was facing, was from other “brothers,” those that believed in Christ. Nobody — Paul included — no one who really honestly serves the Lord Jesus Christ wants anyone to think that he is a dis-creditor of Christ. That must have been very difficult for Paul.

Now I guess you expect that from the unsaved world. You expect the Christ-rejecting world to be malicious. I do. But the hard thing is to be falsely accused by those who are fellow preachers of the truth of Christ. And all the accusation is unjust and untrue. This is very discouraging. And the bottom line, so often for Paul was, “I have a clear conscience,” (he says that repeatedly). But then again, look at Jesus. Jesus was falsely accused, people turned on Him and killed Him. And He never did one thing wrong, never thought one thing wrong, never said one thing wrong. And they killed Him. And all He did was commit Himself to God. That’s all Paul did.

Thomas Manton, a simple Puritan writer from the 1600s, said, “God is the most powerful asserter of our innocency. Therefore it is best to deal with God about it and prayer proves a better vindication than self-defense.”

So, you look at Paul and that’s obviously what Paul did because in the middle of all of this false accusation at the end of verse 18, he says, “I rejoice, yes and I will rejoice.” It couldn’t steal his joy. It was discouraging, it was distressing, it was disheartening, discomforting. It was a pain to the body of Christ. It was a terrible disruption to the church. There were those for and those against Paul in the church at Rome and that wasn’t a comfortable thing. But he maintained his joy in spite of it.

Jesus said “Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!” (Matthew 18:7, NIV)

So it’s to be expected, but it shouldn’t touch our joy and that’s what we’re going to learn from Paul. Since joy is the measure of spiritual strength, we would expect in Paul an unbreakable joy because he’s so spiritually strong and his joy doesn’t break. I said last week that wherever your joy breaks down, that’s the point of your spiritual weakness. With Paul his joy remained, even under these tremendous personal accusations that he was receiving.

Now do you remember what we pointed out last time? There are four areas of thought in this paragraph from verse 12 to 26. The first one we said was Paul has joy in spite of chains, or in spite of trouble, as long as Christ’s cause is furthered. Remember that? Go back to verse 12, “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel…” So he says, “Look, I rejoice, in effect, in my chains as long as the gospel progresses.” And then he explains how it’s progressing in verse 13. The first thing that’s happening is the gospel is going through the whole Praetorian Guard and to everybody else. God is saving the men that are chained to Paul. God is saving people in the Praetorian Guard that were responsible for him. And God is saving people in Caesar’s household, as 4:22 points out. There’s a revival going on among unbelievers and everybody else in Rome is getting the Word.

The second way the gospel is progressing is in verse 14, inside the church. Not only outside the church but inside in that, “And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment (literally being confident in the Lord because of my imprisonment) are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” It’s making the church more bold because they’re seeing that even if you’re in prison you can still have a ministry. And so they’re willing to be bold and leave the results to God. So, he says, “Look, I don’t care about the chains, 24 hours a day for two years, I don’t care about being incarcerated, I don’t really care about being stuck with a Roman soldier all these years, never having privacy, never being alone. I don’t care about losing the freedom and not being able to travel and go to churches and plant…I don’t care about that as long as the gospel is progressing.” Now there is a self-less man who was totally able to rejoice if the gospel went forward no matter what happened to him.

Now let’s go to the second element in his joy: Paul rejoices in his detractors as long as Christ’s name is proclaimed. Now what do you mean detractor? Maybe we need to define the word for you so you’ll understand. The dictionary says “a detractor is a person who belittles, devalues or attacks the reputation of someone.” A detractor is someone who wants to tear someone else down. That’s what Paul had to deal with. Hard to imagine, such a faithful soldier, such a beloved servant of God, such a godly man, but he had his detractors. He was a holy, godly, powerful, successful man who was a problem to men with big egos and impure motives. Among those brothers who were made courageous, who have more boldness to speak the Word, there were two groups or two kinds of people. The first kind that he mentions in verse 15 were these detractors. And while they were preaching the gospel their real agenda was to discredit, defame, accuse, criticize, belittle, devalue, dishonor Paul. Almost unbelievable kind of treatment. Their whole perspective in ministry was to attack Paul. That’s what made their blood flow, that’s what got them up in the morning. “Let’s destroy Paul.”

And so he mentions them in verse 15, look at that first word “Some.” What do you mean some? “Some of the brothers who are speaking the Word of God,” (verse 14). “Some” goes back to the “brothers,” — some of the preachers. “Indeed,” (some translations “to be sure…he throws that in because it’s so unthinkable). If he just said “some are preaching Christ,” we’d say, “Are you sure about that?” So he says, “Indeed or to be sure.”

It’s so hard to believe. How could anybody be attacking Paul who was in chains for his faithfulness? How can they do that? But he says, “Some, to be sure, don’t question me on this, no doubt about it, as surprising as it may seem, it is true. Some of these preachers “indeed” are preaching Christ.” So far so good, right? They’re preaching Christ. You want to know something? These aren’t heretics. These aren’t Judaizers or gnostics. These aren’t those who were attached to Greek mythology. These aren’t false religionists of any kind. These are people who preach Christ. And inherent in that statement is all the gospel truth. They’re my fellow preachers. They could sign Paul’s doctrinal statement and he could sign theirs. They’re preaching Christ — and yet they’re after him. We’re not talking about doctrinal difference, and that’s not what Paul was talking about. We’re talking about something else. The detractors here were not attacking Paul’s theology; it was his person that bothered them.

Look at verse 15, “Some indeed preach Christ” — verse 17, “The former proclaim Christ”  verse 18, “Christ is proclaimed.” Three times he says that. They’re not the dogs or the evil workers of that verse. There’s no difference in their content. There’s no difference in their gospel. There’s no difference in their preaching. The difference is in their motive. It’s their motive that messes them up. What’s another word for envy? What is it? Jealousy. They were jealous. Jealous of what? I’ll tell you what, Paul’s giftedness, Paul’s success. They were jealous that Paul was so beloved. They were jealous because more people followed him than them. They may have been jealous of the fact that he on three occasions had encountered the living resurrected and exalted Christ personally. They were jealous — jealous of his gifts, jealous of his blessings, his ministry, jealous of his success. And as a result of being jealous they created rivalry or strife. The word means contention, conflict. Their jealousy pitted them against him and conflict occurred.

I have to tell you, people, it’s a sad, sad thing but that is rampant in the church, rampant today. There are people who are motivated out of jealousy and envy. They focus their whole life on trying to discredit other people who occupy some kind of place of blessing that creates envy in their sinful hearts. They preach the true gospel but they have such an impure heart. They seek to be more prominent. They are angry that someone else is more successful than they are, as an evangelist or a writer, or a pastor, or a teacher. So they are producers of rivalry. They see themselves in competition with Paul and they become his detractors. And the way they’re going to win the battle is by slander and accusation and criticism and tearing him down.

You say, “Well how were they…how were they detracting from Paul? How were they attacking him? How were they expressing this contention and strife?” Well he doesn’t tell us, but if we speculate a little, it’s not hard to figure it out. There were probably different groups saying, “Well, he sinned — this is chastening. I mean, here Paul’s having all this freedom and God was blessing and now he’s in a chain and…God did it to him, he sinned. If we know the truth we’d know there’s something in his life that isn’t right, he’s sinned.” These are the legalists, those who think they can read everybody’s mind and who think they know all the secrets of all the ages. They would have uncovered some sin in Paul’s life or died trying, if they could.

And then there was the other group, probably if it was like today, who would say, “Well, the reason he’s in prison right now is because he doesn’t have the spiritual power to be triumphant. You see, he’s in prison and he can’t get out, he hasn’t learned yet how to tap the resources of God’s power.” He’s weak, we’re free because we’re triumphant. We’re moving around free, we have power. He doesn’t know how to tap into divine resources or he’d burst the chains and walk out.” You can just hear it, you know. And then there would be others who would say, “Well, the Lord put him over there to keep people from getting to him and the Lord left us free so you’d come to us. See, we’re the ones you want to listen to. He’s antiquated. He’s old time. This is a new day. And the new day, we’re the new men and God just sort of shoved him over, chained him there so the people won’t go to him, he’s not free to go preach anywhere, we are, God’s left us to roam around and do the ministry. So you want to listen to us, not him.”

The bottom line was discredit Paul. This dear man…I mean, as great a saint as ever lived, and he says, “I have no one who came to my defense,” at his first trial in Rome. He says, “All in Asia have forsaken me.” He says, “There’s no one of like mind with me but Timothy.” And now he’s got all these people saying all these terrible things about him. ”Is this what you get after a life of faithfulness? This is the church? A bunch of spineless people who won’t come to your defense? People who won’t live according to the pattern that you’ve taught them? People who want to attack you?” That’s Pretty ugly.

Some are like that. But on the other hand, back to verse 15, Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. That’s a purely biblical word, eudokian (u-do-key-in), it means they’re satisfied with my life, good will toward me, they’re content with what God is doing in my life. Their motive is pure. They’re content not only with my life but with theirs. They’re satisfied not only with what God’s doing with me but with what God’s doing with them. They’re sympathetic to me. They’re grateful, they’re generous in their feelings toward me. They just have good will. Thank God for people like that. What a blessing they are! And I thank God that He’s filled my life with people like that who are such an encouragement, such a blessing, such a source of joy.

Paul describes them a little bit more in verse 16. “The latter do it out of love.” He says they do what they do, “out of love.” The implication is that the ones preaching Christ out of envy and strife certainly aren’t characterized by love. Some of those people who were the brothers preaching Christ were preaching out of love. Love for whom? For him, is what he’s talking about? They had a deep affection for him, they cared about him. They loved him. And that, in a sense, laid down the integrity of their whole life. They loved, and that’s the bottom line.

And, he says, “knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.”  They know that I’m here for the defense of the gospel and I’m in a strategic place and God set me here and I’m destined for this. The word, he says here, “I am put (appointed),” that is a military term, keimai (Key-my) — I am set. It’s used for a soldier on duty. Paul was as much on duty set by God to defend the gospel as a Roman soldier was on duty being chained to him. The word can also mean destined. And so if we combine it, we could say, “They love me and they have good will toward me.” And he says, “They know that I have been destined to be on duty for the defense of the gospel.” They were convinced that Paul was where he was, not because he was unfaithful, but because he was faithful. He was where he was not because he failed, but because he succeeded. He was where he was not because he was out of God’s will, but because he was in God’s will. He was set for the defense of the gospel.

That word “defense” is a great word, apologia (apologetic comes from it). He was God’s defender of the gospel. And God put him in a strategic place to make that defense, before the hierarchy of Rome. But he said, “Of all the people preaching Christ, you can divide them in to two groups: the one who lovingly, compassionately, sympathetically hold me in good will and they know that I am God’s man destined to do what I do and I’m faithful to my duty, and then there’s that other group whose real agenda is jealousy and envy and rivalry and they speak evil against me, wanting to tear me down so they can push themselves up. They have no good will.”

He returns to that group in verse 17. And he gets us a little deeper into their hearts. “The former [detractors] proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition…” Again he reminds us for the second time, they proclaim Christ, the true gospel, “but they do it out of selfish ambition.” There’s the motive. They don’t have pure motives, their motive is selfish ambition, the ugliest most wicked vile of all motives. They’re a long way from the principles of chapter 2:3 which says, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself.”

So their message is right, but their motive is wrong. They wanted prominence — preeminence. And they saw the way to do it, if they could just get on top of Paul, they’d be at the peak. If they could just push Paul down and be thought of as greater than Paul, they’d arrived. You have probably heard of or know people like that. You attack whoever’s on top. You don’t attack the other guys on your level, you go and attack the guy on top so you can be elevated above him. And so they saw Paul’s imprisonment as an opportunity to advance their own influence and their own prestige. They craved honor and fame rather than loving this faithful man.

Look verse 17, “but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.” They wanted to hurt me. They weren’t concerned with the church, purity of doctrine, growth of the church. Nah, they just wanted to hurt him. They wanted to rip him up so they could crawl up and be on top. “Thinking,” it said… planning, scheming, to cause me distress, to aggravate my affliction. Speaking against him, attacking his integrity, attacking his credibility, attacking his faithfulness, attacking his character would hurt him and they wanted to hurt him. Isn’t that sad? Isn’t it sad that the church has a way of consuming itself with that kind of trash? It does. The word “distress,” by the way, basically means friction. They want to just rub me till they’ve irritated me, just like chains rubbing his hands and his feet. They were adding to his chains more friction, more irritation, all from malicious treatment. Their goal wasn’t to exalt Christ. Their goal wasn’t to protect the church. Their goal wasn’t to evangelize the lost. Their goal wasn’t to defend the Word of God. Their goal was to irritate Paul and pull him down in the eyes of the people so the people wouldn’t believe him and wouldn’t trust him.

And I don’t think Paul includes this section in here just to get sympathy. I don’t think he ever wanted sympathy. He wanted prayer but I don’t think he ever wanted sympathy. But he puts it in here so we won’t be surprised at it. It happened to him. Are we surprised that it happens to us? I’m not. Here’s the bottom line: Did it steal Paul’s joy? No. And that’s what’s so important about it. You couldn’t steal his joy in spite of chains, as long as Christ’s cause is furthered. You couldn’t steal his joy in spite of detractors as long as Christ’s name is proclaimed.

Let’s go to verse 18. What then? You know what that means? So what that such detractors speak against me! What’s my response? Here it is: “Only that in every way, whether in pretense [that is as a hypocrite like these detractors] or in truth [like the lovers and the men of good will], “Christ is proclaimed.” You know what he’s saying? Look, what does that mean to me? Absolutely nothing! Only one thing matters to me. In whatever way, whatever method, whatever motive, whether it’s hypocrisy, pretense — and it doesn’t mean they pretended to believe the gospel, they believed it, they just pretended to preach it out of pure motive when their motive was really to hurt Paul — or in truth, Christ is proclaimed (with authority). If Christ is being proclaimed with authority, that is enough to satisfy my heart. Whether sincerely or insincerely, if Christ is preached I rejoice.

He didn’t rejoice in the preaching of error. And did not rejoice in the sinful attitude of the preachers. But he rejoiced that Christ was preached. That was the overriding thing. And he will rejoice in that. He had joy in the proclamation of the Gospel. You say, “Well, you mean they really preached the true gospel? Could it affect anybody?” Yes. A preacher with a jealous, envious, selfish motive can still be used of God, and I’ll tell you why. The truth is more powerful than the package it comes in. It doesn’t matter if it’s spoken by Balaam’s ass —  the truth is the truth. And you can put the Word of God and the saving gospel in the mouth of a man with bad motives and the truth is still the truth and powerful. In the midst of all his suffering, all the selfish cruelty that’s thrown at him, he is undaunted in his commitment. As long as Christ is preached, that’s what I live for, that’s what I die for. So he says, “and in that I rejoice… yes and I will rejoice.”

One old commentator wrote, “While we detest the abominable profaneness of men who so dreadfully abuse the gospel, let us not cease to rejoice at the good effects which God produces by their hands. Let us hold the thorns of such plants in horror and gather with thanksgiving the roses” (Jean Daille, French Huguenot, 1594-1670).

Conclusion

Paul didn’t care who got the credit. He didn’t care what happened to him. He lived for the gospel. How do we instill that in a generation today? How do we get that into the heart of pastors and teachers and elders and deacons and leaders in the church? We must pray — and pray diligently. Only the grace of Christ can enable you to handle slander like that.

Philippians 1:12-14, ESV:

“I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”

Introduction

I have always believed that the measure of a person’s spiritual character, the measure of their spiritual strength and the measure of their spiritual maturity is what it takes to steal their joy. At whatever point your joy breaks down, that’s the level of your spiritual strength. You can find out how mature you are, how Spirit-controlled you are, how spiritually virtuous you are, by finding the breaking point where joy is lost and bitterness begins to creep in and take over your life. The measure of your joy is how you react, not to things the way you’d like them to be, but to things the way you wouldn’t like them to be.

We are commanded to rejoice all the time, in all circumstances and that is what the Spirit of God produces. So there really should be no breaking point in the life of a believer where joy is forfeited to bitterness because of some things that aren’t the way we’d like them to be.

Jesus said in the world you’ll have trouble (John 16:33). James said that trouble comes in order to make you perfect. It has a divine purpose. So expect it and know that God has a purpose for it, which is good. He has profound purposes in our affliction, and in our trials and one of them is not to take our joy. The key to maintaining joy is to have perspective — to understand what’s going on and to yield to the Spirit of God and not be overtaken by the difficulty. Paul models this because he is a man whose joy knew no breaking point. There is never a time in the NT when the circumstances in Paul’s life impacted his joy. He has a fighting-back mentality — the greater the struggle, the more insistent he is to articulate his joy. He is a living illustration of the perfect combination of severe affliction mingled with supreme joy.

Now he writes this epistle about joy as a prisoner in Rome. For a number of years he had longed to go to Rome. In Romans 1 he said, “I am ready to come to Rome and preach the gospel.” At the end of the epistle to the Romans he said, “I want to come to Rome and set up a base so that I can go from you to Spain.” And now he was there. That long-time desire had come to pass and he was in Rome. However, he wasn’t there under conditions which he would have designed for. When he desired to go to Rome, according to Romans 1:10, he said, “I hope to have a prosperous journey to come to you.” But that’s not the way it worked out. He didn’t come in a prosperous way; he came as a prisoner. And the journey was not without tremendous difficulty because the ship he was on was wrecked and he had to swim for his life at the end. The record of this whole scenario is given to us starting in Acts 21 right through 28.

I like to walk you through all of it, but for the sake of time, turn only to the 28th chapter of Acts. Verse 16 of Acts 28 says, “And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who guarded him.” He was not put in a common prison with the rest of the prisoners. I imagine that would have been a little bit difficult since there was no crime which he had committed. And not wanting to throw him in with criminals, since there was no charge against him, yet wanting to handle the matter before they made any decision to release him, they made him a private prisoner. And where was this? Verse 20: “For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain.” He was not only a prisoner in a private situation with a guard that was chained to him. In fact, Paul was chained to a guard 24 hours a day. According to the Roman custom the guards would change every six hours. So he would have four different men chained to him over a period of a day at all times.

We get more insight from verse 23 which says that the people who came to him, a group of Jews, came to him at his lodging. So he was given a private house in which he could stay. And there he would have at least the freedom of people coming to him, if he could not go to them, so that he might preach and teach. Notice also, down in verse 30, it tells us further that he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus. Chained to a soldier, but unhindered in preaching. A prisoner and yet a prisoner in a rented house so that people had access to him.

It’s an unimaginable thing to think of in one sense. The freedom that he had known, the journeys that he had taken, the ability to go and found churches and go back and strengthen churches, the ability to train leaders, to be on the move, to carry that apostolic commission to its fullest was not at an end. He didn’t even have solitude with the God he loves and serves. Even in the little tasks of life, he knew no privacy, for he was always chained to a Roman soldier. He slept chained to a Roman soldier. He wrote chained to a Roman soldier. He ate chained to a Roman soldier…ever and always.

Now it had been about four years since the Philippians had really heard any word about him. The two, two-year imprisonments had isolated him from them. And somehow the word had traveled down to Philippi that he was in Rome as a prisoner. And because they loved him and there was such a unique bond between Paul and the Philippian church, they’re very compassionate and sympathetic toward him and they want to know what his condition is. So in order to find out, they send Epaphroditus (from their own congregation) along with financial support, and he goes to Rome to find Paul to learn two things…what is your condition and what is the condition of the gospel. How are you doing and how is the gospel doing? Those were the two things that burdened their hearts.

So Paul wrote Philippians in response to that. And the answer Paul gives to their questions is one of joy! He wants them to know that in spite of the circumstances, he rejoices. Why? Because though his conditions are not what they would perhaps want them to be, nor what he would want them to be, the gospel is going forward. The letter then is intended really to confirm joy in the ministry, in spite of affliction. And it becomes to us a marvelous testimony of how Paul was able to deal with his trial in joy.

Now, back in Philippians 1, notice in verse 18 this line, “I rejoice, yes and I will rejoice.” He has a heart for them too. He doesn’t want them needlessly worrying about him. Back in verse 4 he says, “My prayers even are filled with joy.” Chapter 2:17, “I rejoice, and share my joy with you all.” Chapter 3:1, “Rejoice in the Lord.” Chapter 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say rejoice.” Don’t be sad. Don’t be sorrowful. Don’t fret and worry. Rejoice!

The joy of ministry in the life of Paul was unrelated to circumstances. If his joy was related to circumstances, he wouldn’t have had any joy. If his joy was related to pleasures in this earth, he wouldn’t have had any joy. If his joy was related to possessions in this world, he wouldn’t have had any joy. If his joy was related to freedom in this life, he wouldn’t have had any joy. If it was related to prestige, he wouldn’t have any joy…to outward success, he wouldn’t have any joy…to a good reputation, he wouldn’t have any joy. But it was all related to something completely other than that. It was all related to the ministry and the joy in the ministry was, in the sense, absolutely indifferent to all other things.

As I read through verses 12 to 26, I see at least four aspects of Paul’s joy in ministry. (1) You will notice that he had joy in spite of chains, or trouble, as long as Christ’s cause was furthered. (2) He had joy in spite of detractors as long as Christ’s name is proclaimed. (3) He had joy in spite of death, as long as Christ’s glory is seen. (4) And he had joy in spite of the flesh as long as Christ’s church was helped. These are tremendous insights which he gives us. This is the heart of this great man of God.

Now this morning I want us to look just at the first point: Paul had joy in the ministry in spite of trouble…in spite of physical chains and pain and imprisonment. He had joy as long as Christ’s cause was furthered. Verses 12-14: “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”

Joy in Spite of Trouble

Now immediate human perception would say, “Well, he’s in a terrible situation, it’s little wonder if he has no joy, and if his ministry is totally crippled.” But that is not the case! He begins by saying, “I want you to know…” (a little formula often in ancient letters). Paul wants to be clearly understood. The assumption would be, Paul’s a prisoner, he’s chained, woe is me. The gospel is shut down, the ministry is debilitated, the preaching is limited. And he says, “Now, I don’t want you to think that, I want you to understand this, that just the opposite is true.”

You know what he’s really saying?: God had a better plan than I had. Instead of this thing shutting down the ministry, this has expanded the ministry. This has all turned out for the progress of the gospel. Now the NASB says, “For the greater progress,” (mallon) which they translate as “greater,” I think would be better translated “rather,” so that Paul is saying it has turned out rather for the progress of the gospel. I mean, when you’re free to preach and all of a sudden you become a prisoner, you would assume that that would shut down the progress. Not so. It has rather led to the progress of the gospel.

The word “progress” is a word we ought to look at, prokope. It’s an interesting word. It’s not just a word that means progress in the sense that something moves along. It contains the idea that something is moving along in spite of obstacles, danger, distraction. In other words, inherent in the word is resistance. It’s moving in spite of resistance. Picture an army moving along. And picture ahead of the army, those who would go before, cutting down trees and hacking their way through undergrowth to make a path. So it is progress against resistance, progress against opposition, progress against those things which would hinder the advance.

So he says the gospel is advancing against obstacles. And the chief obstacle was his imprisonment. But far from binding the gospel and halting it, the gospel was advancing against these circumstances. The gospel means simply the message of salvation. Paul refers to it in verse 5, verse 7, verse 12, verse 17 and once again in verse 27. So he refers to it over and over again. It is his passion and he lived to preach it and to advance it. And even though he was a prisoner, it was still being advanced. Opposition never stopped him, never. In 1 Corinthians 16 he says, “I’m going to stay here at Ephesus because there’s an open door and there are many adversaries.” And to the Thessalonians he writes (1 Thessalonians 2:2) that we have preached the gospel amidst much opposition. In fact I think it’s pretty traditional in the advancement of God’s kingdom that opposition never stops the gospel. The Lord has His way. You can’t bottle up the gospel. The servant of God may be bound, 2 Timothy 2:9, but the Word of God is never bound.

Now he focuses on two things, one in verse 13 and one in verse 14. First of all, he focuses on the advance of the gospel outside the church, and secondly, inside the church. The impact of his ministry outside the church and inside the church. Look at verse 13, first of all, and here he speaks of the tremendous results of his imprisonment outside the church, “so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.”

Now this is amazing. Let’s start at the beginning of verse 13. Paul wasn’t a prisoner because he committed a crime; he didn’t commit a crime. He was a prisoner because he preached Christ, because he believed in Christ, because he represented Christ. He told the Roman Christians that though he had done no wrong, he was delivered as a prisoner into the hands of the Romans (Acts 28:17). He tells the Philippians repeatedly about his bonds, or chains, three times in this first chapter.

In Colossians, which he also writes from the same imprisonment, he speaks of his chains for the sake of Christ and calls on the Colossians (chapter 4) to remember his chains in Christ. He also wrote that little letter to Philemon and in that he talks about the chains of the gospel. He writes Ephesians and in chapter 3:1, he calls himself the prisoner of Jesus Christ. You always see his being in prison because of Christ. That’s what everybody else realized. Do you see verse 13? “My imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known.”

By the way, in Acts 28:20 he speaks as being bound with chains. And in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 20 he says he’s an ambassador in chains. Usually the word is desmos (or desmois, plural). But in those two cases it’s the word halusis. And that little word introduces us to a richer understanding of his condition. The halusis was a short chain — a little bit longer than a set of handcuffs. It was placed over the wrist of a prisoner and over the wrist of the soldier. And they were in somewhat close proximity, maybe 18 inches or so. It was that chain which bound him to that Roman guard 24 hours a day. Escape was impossible, privacy was impossible. And though he had a private house, he was constantly linked to a soldier — over two years.

Now think about it. What is the result of that? “My imprisonment for the cause of Christ has become well known.” How did it become well known? “Throughout the whole praetorian guard.” Why? Because those were the guys who were chained to him. Now you have to understand it’s one thing for Paul to be chained to a soldier, and it’s a whole other point of view to realize that a soldier was chained to Paul. Imagine being chained to Paul six hours. That could get a little heavy duty. Boy, what an incredible…incredible missionary opportunity. I’m sure there were Christians in the Roman church praying, “O God, help us somehow to reach Caesar’s household. Help us somehow to reach the elite corps of the Praetorian Guard. Help us to get the gospel into the high places. Help us to reach these people.” And there was no way in. And so the Lord, in His wonderful wisdom, made the whole Praetorian Guard captive to Paul at six-hour intervals while he evangelized them all.

The results were very predictable. Can you imagine what the topic of conversation was? It wouldn’t be hard to imagine, would it? They would see his character, his graciousness, his patience, his love, his wisdom, his conviction. And the result was that the Praetorian Guard became the second line of local evangelists, going out telling everybody about this man who was a prisoner for preaching Christ. It became well known. The Praetorian Guard were being converted. How do I know that? Look at chapter 4″22, when he closes the letter in verse 22 he says, “All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household.” Little by little, the conversion of Caesar’s household is taking place.

Now if you have an KJV it says that it was well known throughout the whole palace. The term praetorian can refer either to a place or a group of people. The problem with translating it palace is that Paul was not in a palace — he was in a private house. Almost all commentators use it as it is most commonly used, and that is to refer to a body of people. And the praetorian was a group of soldiers. They were associated with the palace because they were the imperial guard for the emperor. These were the first-rate men in the Roman army. Augustus had kept them dispersed throughout the city of Rome because they were the leaders of his presence there, responsible for keeping the peace. Tiberius had concentrated them in Rome in an especially built and fortified camp so they had high profile presence in Rome. They were a threat to any rebellion. History tells us that they eventually became so powerful, that they chose the emperor

When Paul then arrived as a prisoner to Rome, he was put under the charge of the prefect of the Praetorian Guard. And it was under the Praetorian Guard that he was kept prisoner. And it wasn’t just the ability of Paul to articulate the gospel that impacted those men; it wasn’t just his lifestyle of graciousness and mercy and gentleness and conviction. It was the fact that all of this truth and character was coming out of a man in deep affliction. That is what made his message so believable. Because they knew what he was suffering. And they knew his life was on the line. And they knew he could lay his head on a block and have an axe chop it off his body, if Nero so decided. And he knew it too, and they knew he knew it. And they must have been in awe of the man. And the impact was that Caesar’s household was starting to fill up with saints.

Now this became headline news, I mean, absolute headline news through Rome. It says in verse 13 that it was well known through the whole Praetorian Guard and to everyone else. Somebody says, “What does that mean?” Just what it says, everybody else. Everybody else where? Everybody else certainly in the palace, everybody else in Caesar’s household, but everybody else in Rome. Rome wasn’t so big that the word wouldn’t spread. I mean, you’d know it…you’d know it if started to happen in our country, something like that. I mean, if a revival, for example, hit the FBI, we’d know. The word would spread and it spread. Everyone else. And people were coming to him then in crowds and he was preaching and teaching. And here, what looked like a disaster turns out for the progress of the gospel. And that’s how God used him to evangelize Rome.

“Well, what does this say to me?” Do you ever think about your life? Somehow, someway you maybe say to yourself, “I can’t go preach the gospel. I can’t go spread…I can’t be a missionary, I can’t be a pastor. Maybe not even a Bible teacher. I’m stuck with my job.” Are you chained to a desk? Are you chained to your home? Are you chained to a classroom? Wherever you are, look at it as a point from which you can further the gospel. Whatever it is, live in your chained place in such a way as to make the gospel believable. Maybe it’s a hard place, probably not as hard as Paul’s. Maybe it’s a difficult place. But that’s all the more opportunity to demonstrate the reality of a transformed life. I have heard people say, “You know, it’s hard to be a witness in my job.” My reaction is it probably would be harder to be a witness if you had a perfect situation. If you have a very difficult situation, you probably have the easiest place to be a witness because the contrast is so obvious and your character will be so manifest if under adversity you demonstrate Christ’s likeness.

So, the gospel was spreading outside the church. But it was also beginning to change inside the church, look at verse 14. The impact of Paul in his imprisonment was touching the church in this way, “And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” The implication here is that before Paul’s imprisonment, the church was lacking a bit of courage. Maybe they had a small amount of courage, but now they have far more. I can understand why they’d be hesitant. There was a growing hostility against Christianity. Paul was living proof of that because he was a prisoner for preaching. And you can imagine that the church preachers were saying, “We want to be very careful because we don’t want to end up in jail. We want to keep our freedom, so we don’t want to say too much.” So they lacked great courage and great boldness that should belong to the people of God. And their general trend was to face that hostility with some fear.

But when they began to see Paul and his ministry and God providing for him and sustaining him and giving him this incredible outreach and he was evangelizing Caesar’s house and the Praetorian Guard and the whole city knew about it and Rome was coming to him and people were being saved, it says, verse 14, “Most of the brothers.” Pleionos means majority, not just many, but the majority of the brothers trusting. A good way to translate this is “having confidence in the Lord because of my imprisonment [they] now have far more courage.”

And that’s exactly what happened. They began to see the effectiveness of Paul. They began to see how God protected him. They began to see how God was using him in tremendous ways to evangelize Jews and Gentiles. And their courage was renewed and their zeal was increased and their boldness was strengthened by his brave example and the results of his ministry. And they believe that if God could minister through him in that condition, He could minister through them. And so his strength became their strength.

So, here is a man who has negative circumstances beyond our ability to understand them. And yet he’s a model of joy. Why? Because his joy isn’t related to his comfort. His joy isn’t related to his self-indulgence. His joy isn’t related to his freedoms. His joy isn’t related to his success. We’ll find out it isn’t even related to his reputation. It isn’t related to any of those things. His joy is strictly tied to the advance of the gospel, so he has joy in his ministry, in spite of trouble, as long as the gospel is advanced. His chains, in a sense, became an effective line of communication to these elite soldiers of the Roman empire. And if they were converted, they would carry the message to the rest of the city and for that matter, the rest of the world. And so he was rejoicing in the progress of the gospel.

Conclusion

Is that where you are? That’s really the question. As you look at your own life, is your joy that sort of ebbing and flowing tide of earthly things? Does your joy rise and fall on your pleasure? On your possessions? On your prominence, your prestige, your reputation, your comfort, your fulfilled ambitions? Is that where your joy is? If it is, you’re going to ride the crest and sink to the depths. You’re going to ebb and flow with the times of life, the changing times, the shifting sands. But if your joy is tied to the progress of the gospel and your life is committed to that end, then your joy is ever, ever undiminished. That’s certainly my prayer for my own life and yours as well. Don’t get caught on that roller coaster, that up and down of acceleration and depression where you ride the crest of joy one minute and sink to the depths of despair the next.

Fix your heart on the progress of the gospel, and it doesn’t matter what happens to you as long as you can see God’s kingdom being extended. And of course you have to be part of that extension in your prayers and in your efforts. And if that’s what you live for, then that’s what you rejoice in. What is that passion of your life? What do you live for? If you live for that, if that’s your passion, as you pour your life and your time and your energy and your money into the extension of the gospel, you’re going to find your joy is there, too. Undiminished no matter what happens to you. That’s how Paul had joy in ministry in the midst of very, very difficult circumstances.

1 Samuel 1:10-13, ESV:

She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 11 And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.” 12 As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman.

Introduction

Motherhood is a special privilege and a sacred duty. I am convinced that Moms that know the Lord well, likewise know their children well and have a greater love for them — no matter what their age. Think about the role a mother plays in the nurture and development of a child. There is a South African proverb: “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the nation and its destiny.” Nothing can take the place of a mother’s love; it is special and unique. But the highest calling of a mother, is the duty is to raise a child to follow and serve God. And if your children are grown, or even have children of their own, then the duty has shifted from child-rearing to and protection, to the duty of prayer on their behalf and knowing that they are in God’s hands for protection.

There may not be a greater heartache than for a woman to have the heart of a mother, the desire to nurture and love a young life, but not have a child. What great pain and struggle for young couples who want a child, yet cannot have one. It grips your heart to see the tears of a woman who wants to be a mother so badly. It is contra-wise a grand thing to see a young lady whom God has blessed after struggling with this for years. You see their complete countenance and perspective on life change, and they are overjoyed that God is so good.

Now, this kind of situation is not only a modern one, it was the circumstance for a young woman in the Bible. And as you already have guessed from the title, her name was Hannah.

10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 11 And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.” 12 As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman.

You almost have to chuckle at the scene — at least from seeing the whole story and understanding the perspective of Eli. But taking into account Hannah’s distress, it wasn’t a laughing matter. Hannah hurt deeply because she wanted to be a mother. And in her pain, she cried out to God. So Hannah does exactly that: she goes to God in her pain and she does what many do — even today. She makes a vow. She said (verse 11): If you will give me a son, “then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”

I. Hannah gave a vow to God

What a great gift it is to become a mother — or a father for that matter. But with it comes a tremendous responsibility, especially in today’s world.  It can be overwhelming for any parent to face the demands placed on them. Yet, it is an amazing honor to be given a precious young life to shape, mold, and direct. Unfortunately, we don’t receive an owner’s manual with our children, and so we often make mistakes. We need someone more qualified than us to help with this process, and Hannah points us to who that is.

You know, we think we live in a tough time today and in many ways we do. But the time in which we live today is no tougher than the time in which Hannah lived. It was the period of the judges in Israel. And the situation in Israel was extremely difficult. Samson had died and with the death of Samson there was no great leader in the land. And the land was in a state of fluctuation and turmoil and confusion. And there was a desperate need for a great leader in the chaos and the sinfulness of that day.

And I say again, it was a day that was perhaps the parallel of our day, but even worse. The Philistines, who were the arch-enemies of the Israelites, were gaining ground. The priesthood that was supposed to lead the people of God had become totally corrupted. There were vile and sinful men in the priesthood. There were things going on which I find it even shameful to mention. It was a wretched time, a time of gross evil, a time when not only was the leadership gone but the priesthood had abandoned its calling. The nation was weak. The nation was impotent. And the nation additionally had limited prophetic voice, there were no great preachers. It was a time of a tremendous slide away from the divine standard. And so it was a time when God needed a special man and in order to make a special man you need a special woman and Hannah was that woman.

Hannah gives her son to God, and she directs us to do the same. Hannah promised her future son to God as a priest. To demonstrate the depth of her commitment, she committed her boy with a Nazarite vow. According to Jewish tradition, Levite priests served until the age of 50. Likewise, a Nazarite vow lasted for a limited time. But Hannah made a commitment that reached far beyond either one. Her vow was for all the days of his life. I find it amazing that that Hannah would make such an extreme promise for a son she did not have.

Now here is the difficult question: Mom, how much do you trust God? Do you trust Him enough to give Him your children? If not, the next question is, why not? Hannah trusted God completely with her son, and you can too.

II. Hannah gave her son to serve God

The North American Mission Board’s statistics have reported that baptisms in Southern Baptist churches have declined. More than 10,000 Southern Baptist Churches did not baptize anyone in a recent year. What will change this course? I believe we have a much needed lesson from Hannah about what we can do to build God’s kingdom.

Jesus told us that the harvest was plentiful, but it was the workers who were few (Matthew9:37). A new generation of individuals given to God could become a mighty army for His kingdom.

Listen to these quotes from missionaries about the need to take the gospel to the world:

“In the vast plains of the north I have seen, in the morning sun, the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has ever been.” Robert Moffat.

“We talk of the Second Coming; half the world has never heard of the first.” Oswald J. Smith.

“You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.” Amy Carmichael.

“The mark of a great church is not it’s seating capacity, but it’s sending capacity.” Mike Stachura.

“‘Not called’ you say? ‘Not heard the call’ I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned beg you to go to their father’s house and entreat their brothers and sisters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face — whose mercy you have professed to obey — and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.” William Booth (Salvation Army).

Now unless you are dead, we you hear quotes like this — especially the last — they stir something within you. How much do they stir you? They might stir you enough to give some money to a missionary or a mission fund. They might even stir you enough that you give some time and actually go on a short-term mission trip. And those are great ways to give to missions. But do they stir you enough for you to give your child to God?

You may say, “I think that is a high price to pay, to give my son or daughter to serve God.” And you are right, it is a high price to pay. It was the price God paid when He gave His only Son to the world. Are you willing to give your son or daughter?

III. Hannah gave her son to worship God

When Samuel was weaned, Hannah made good on her vow to God and brought the boy to Eli the priest. Here is how 1 Samuel 1:26-28 describes that encounter:

26 And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. 27 For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. 28 Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.

Here is what is amazing about this passage. It is not Eli who worships God, but Samuel. This boy, who is at the most two or three years old at the time, knows how to worship God. How did he learn to worship? He learned from the only person around him: his mother. Children are like sponges, soaking up every thing around them. And Hannah was a woman who had a right heavenly relationship and much of that spilled over onto Samuel. When she has a problem she doesn’t lash out at her husband, when she has a problem she doesn’t lash out at her adversary, Peninnah, she doesn’t lash out at the children in the house, she doesn’t lose her cool all around, she goes directly to whom? To the Lord.

 ⁹ After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord.

The reason he sat around all the time was he was a huge guy (the Bible says) who finally fell over off his stool and broke his neck and died. He was a proverbial slob is what he was, couldn’t even get up off of whatever he sat on to check on his own kids. And there he was plopped on a seat leaning on a post that held up the temple. And so she came in, you know, for some spiritual advice to see the high priest, she was very distressed and I love what it says in verse 10: “She…prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly.”

Now what do we see in this right heavenly relationship? Number one, she had a passion for God’s best. And you know what God’s best was?: Children. The fact that she didn’t have children she felt that she didn’t have God’s best. Children are an heritage from the Lord. She says in verse 11, “If You’ll just look on my affliction and remember me and not forget me,” and all of that means…give me a child, give me a child, give me a child. That’s why she wept, she had a passion for God’s best.

You say, “Are children God’s best?” Absolutely. People say, “Oh, I don’t know if I want to bring a child into this world.” This world is no worse than that one was for her. They are an heritage from the Lord. They are a blessing.

She was not selfish. She didn’t want a child so she could prove her womanhood. She didn’t want a child so she could show them off to everybody. She wanted a child because she believed that a child was God’s best gift. She was willing to accept the responsibility.

I say curse abortions for — those are God’s best gift. A truly godly mother is not a reluctant mother. A truly godly mother is one with a passion for children, who sees them as a gift from God, a fulfillment of the divine intention for woman, not to indulge herself and not to prove her womanhood but because they are God’s best gift.

Hannah also was a woman of prayer. Her heavenly relationship meant she wanted the best and she prayed for it. And all of the praying runs right down to verse 12, “As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth.”  He watched her. And she wasn’t just praying silently, her mouth was moving all the time, she was impassioned in her prayer.

So this was the kind of woman Hannah was. And in the early years of Samuel’s life, he watched his mother worship; she worshiped God and included Samuel in that time. That is how he learned to worship God.

If you want your children to learn to pray, include them in a home prayer time. If you want your children to worship, worship in front of them. If it is service, ministry, Bible study, or any other spiritual discipline, your children will learn it from you if you model it in front of them and include them in it.

IV. Hannah gave herself to God

First Samuel 2:1-2 details Hannah’s prayer. It is the secret to how Hannah trusted God, and taught Samuel to worship God. Look at how I Samuel 2:1-2 records the prayer of Hannah — and how she gave herself to God:

“And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. 2 “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.”

Hannah rejoices in the Lord and His salvation. Her horn, which is a symbol of power, is the Lord and her rock is God. In just two verses, Hannah exalts the might and power of the Lord. These are not just words — they reflect her heart. This prayer was her response to God’s gracious answer. And she goes on and on all the way down to verse 10 praising the Lord…words that are just filled with praise for God. Go back and read it.

Elizabeth did that when she heard of John the Baptist. Mary did that, didn’t she, when she heard of the birth of Jesus. You know, it makes me sick to think today that people find out they’re pregnant, instead of praising God for such a gift, they get upset about it. Hannah wasn’t like that. She was not only dedicated to the child but dedicated the child to the Lord.

Jesus told the story of two men who built homes, one upon the sand and one upon the rock. The storm came and destroyed the house on sand, but the house on the rock stood strong. The purpose of Jesus’ parable was to lead us to build our life on the firm foundation of the rock, which is Christ. Hannah built her life on the rock. She knew there was no firmer foundation. She was an example of worship to her son. How could she do that? She had a personal relationship with God that fueled her trust, commitment, and life.

Conclusion

Let me conclude with some questions for you. And if these questions aren’t applicable to you because your kids are grown, apply them to your grandchildren — if you have them.

How can you be a mother who trusts God which her children? How can you make a commitment to lead you children to serve God? How can you be a model and example to your children / grandchildren of a life spent worshiping God?

Your relationship with God through Christ fuels your trust, commitment, and life.

Can you trust God with your children? You can, if you trust God with your life.

Can you lead your children to serve God? You can if you serve God.

Can you lead your children to worship God? You can if you worship God.

Can you lead your children to become mighty men and women of God, individuals He uses to advance His Kingdom?

You can if you have built your life upon the rock of a personal relationship with Christ.

Philippians 1:9-11, ESV:

9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Introduction

All of Scripture is profitable and is useful; but some passages are so rich and packed with evident truth and wisdom, that you come away from reading it with a sense of looking at it again to gain even more light and knowledge.

This is one of those passages. And it is an excellent prayer. It is the kind of prayer that I would suggest you pray for someone when you do not know how or what to pray. Many Scriptures are good for that! Enjoy them as you come across them!

Abounding in Love

Verse 9: “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more…”

(1) That this love is not perfect. It is a love that can grow and increase. And we ought to want it to do so. There is no one who reaches the pinnacle of expressing love perfectly — no one can love another well-enough to say they have arrived. It is a process. That is why the apostle prays that it will “abound more and more. So this love is not perfect — that is implied in this verse.

(2) Nothing motivates a Christian more than love. Actually this is true for all people, but even moreso for the Christian. You have heard me say that looking into the future to the promises of God is what motivates a believer — and that’s true. But you have to ask yourself, “What is it, at bottom, that I want to experience above all else on that day? And then never cease to experience it for eternity?” The answer is love. You want eternal love. That’s what motivates you. The trouble with people today, is that they seek for it in all the wrong ways in many wrong places.

Have you ever wondered what Paul meant at the end of his first letter to the Corinthians about love when he said “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor. 13:13). The reason why love is greater than the other two is simple, really: It never ends! When you get to Heaven, is there going to be anything left to hope for? No. Who hopes for what he sees (already has)? But if we hope for what we do not see [which we do now], we wait for it with patience. (Romans 8:24-25). There will be nothing left to hope for; you will have what you have always desired.

What about faith? Faith is defined as the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is simply believing that those realities are coming. But when they get here, does faith — at least the way we experience and define it now — remain? No. It is no more, because seeing (at that time) will be believing.

So both faith and hope are no more. Love is all that remains. It endures all things (1 Cor 13:7). And nothing motivates a Christian more than love.

(3) It is love that is fed by knowledge and guided by judgment [discernment]. **Now what is meant by knowledge here is the grasp or understanding of theoretical and practical truth. This type of knowledge isn’t just the gathering of information, whether it is classroom-type knowledge or knowledge of a more practical nature; it is knowledge that gravitates to your heart and has a transforming effect on you. It changes you. It fills you with light!

We need this to feed love – we cannot love an unknown person; we cannot know an unknown gospel; we cannot love one another except so far as we know one another. The more we know of our blessed Redeemer, the more we will love Him!

Knowledge is also needed to regulate love. Love without knowledge may lead into mistakes, distorted behavior, or even foolish decisions, like a foolish father who spoils his child.Love may waste itself on worthless or frivolous objects, or it may attempt impractical projects by inexcusable means. BUT if knowledge is the guide, the mistakes can be prevented.  

But there is not just knowledge; there is also judgment or discernment. Discernment is having a special insight into the way things really are. It is not naïve. This is more than knowledge. It is even more than the application of knowledge. It is a discriminating power given to help Christians understand the true nature of God’s reality.

Approving the Excellent

Now there is a very good reason God gives us love that is ever-increasing and is full of both knowledge and wisdom: it is to use it!

“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ…”

We are now given the capacity to use what we are given – that’s the point! Love, when it is guided the way God intends, sees past all disguises. It is a mighty preservative against error. Love tests or proves all things and hold fast – doesn’t let go – of the good things (1 Thess. 5:21). Don’t think like those of the world. You have a great prayer that you can pray and will set you especially apart from those of this world. The spiritual capacity you have to discern is different from those of the world!

There are many in the Church that are deficient in the power of spiritual discernment. Those who are strong, however, maintain a peacefulness and serve as a help and example to the weak.

Now the word “approve” is a very interesting and important word, dokimazo, it’s very familiar in the New Testament. It was used in classical Greek for appraising metal to determine its properties and its purity. It was used for testing money to be sure that it wasn’t counterfeit. In Luke 14:19 it is used of testing the quality of animals, namely oxen. And in Luke 12:56 it is used of sort of assessing the state of the sky, or analyzing the weather. So it has to do with testing to verify or to prove or to determine something. And what he is saying here is that my prayer for you is that you would have the capability to evaluate and determine the things that are excellent.

Now the Greek, diaphero, means literally to differ, referring to the things that are excellent, to differ. In other words, so that you’ll know the difference between things and be able to determine what is most important. The idea then is to be able to set proper value on things, what is valuable, what is not valuable, what is more valuable, what is most valuable, what is worthwhile, what is vital, what is excellent, what is the thing that really matters.

It is not the ability to distinguish between good and bad. Everybody can do that. It is the ability to distinguish between good and best and only a few seem to be able to do that. The discernment that assesses what is best — being able to take your life and focus your time and your energy on what really matters…approving what is excellent, testing, assessing, proving, approving what is most significant.

The ability to do that is what separates the simple from the profound, the weak from the powerful, and the common from the influential. Those profound powerful influential people are those people who have ability to focus their life on some excellent goal and they are not dissuaded or detracted by things that are less than excellent.

I read once about a study conducted in which a man gave people a new concept, something they had never heard of before. And asked them to believe it. And knowing that in asking them to believe it, they would have to set aside some of the things they had previously thought were true.

The results were interesting: Fifty percent of the people believed it immediately without thinking. Thirty percent of the people didn’t believe it immediately without thinking. Fifteen percent of the people wanted to wait a little while before they made up their mind but asked for no clarification and no further information and then made up their mind. Five percent of the people analyzed all the details and finally came to a conclusion.

And the result of the test goes something like this…it is estimated that five percent of the people think; fifteen percent of the people think they think and eighty percent of the people would rather die than think.

That’s how it is in the world. That’s how it is. They don’t want to think. People don’t think. And they don’t know how to approve what is excellent because they can’t control their mind because their emotions control their mind…and they just react. Somebody said, “Most of society is on a caboose looking backward.” Now they’re just seeing what goes by.

It reminds me of the story of the pilot who came on the loud speaker on the plane and said, “I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is we have lost all our instrumentation and don’t know where we are. The good news is we have a tail wind and are making great time.”

And I think that’s basically how most people live life. They have no instrumentation but they’ve got a tail wind and they’re making great time going through life like a blur with absolutely no idea of what’s going on.

If we can combine our metaphors like a guy sitting on the back of a caboose only seeing what’s already happened…with no anticipation at all.

See, people live by mood, they live by emotion; they don’t live by thinking. But as Christians, if we’re going to pursue what is excellent, we have to have mind over mood. You cannot be a victim of your emotions and your moods if you’re going to pursue what is excellent.

This word “pure” means “singleness of mind, simplicity, sincerity, purity.” Jesus said (Matt 6:22) “…if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.” The word “healthy”  is the same word used here.Be single-minded and narrow in [intense] focus , having a simple and over-arching single pursuit in life that doesn’t allow for impurities to find their way into your life.

Think about how irritating a tiny little piece of dirt feels when it gets into your eye. Jesus used this idea of having “pure eyes” because it was common for people back then to not only have irritants gets in their eyes, but also because eye-disease was characteristic of that time.

When you get something in your eye, no matter how small, you feel it, because your eye is sensitive and not used to having any impurities in it. How many people live with such things in their lives [ultimately stealing their joy] which they have grown accustomed to? They have grown insensitive and no longer feel or are bothered by the impurity that is present.

I find it understandable, then, that Jesus also asked the Pharisees, whom He referred to as “blind guides,” about their hypocrisy by having a “plank” [something rather large] in their own eye while trying to remove a small piece of dirt from someone else’s.

How many people have allowed things to build in their lives to become so big that you no longer are aware of its presence? Effectually, you have become blind. When you, by God’s grace, remove those things from your eye[s], it allows you to see reality — the way things really are, not just your perception — and enables you to have the focus that God intends for you to have. That’s the good kind of being “narrow-minded.” ….being single-minded and set on an objective which God is working into your life. That’s what God is after!

“…if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”  (1 John 1:7)

Walking in the light comes from seeing things correctly. It purifies us and keeps us outwardly blameless and prepares us “for the day of Christ” (verse 10).

We are called and expected to use this gift consistently and until the end – “for the day of Christ.” Your life is not meant to be constant highs and lows in the sense that you lack consistency. Sure, you will have days and seasons that will be more difficult, and others that seem easy. But that should not affect your love (the way this passage describes) – that is, your perspective and mindset.

Activated by Righteousness

“…filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

True love must work; it is active. It never lies dormant. And it always produces the fruit of righteousness. What is the fruit of righteousness? It represents all of the fruits of the Spirit collectively — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control — fruits that God works into you. All these together, in varying measure, are the fruit of righteousness.

But that fruit of righteousness is through (1) Jesus Christ.  “…the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” (John 15:4).

We must have Jesus to bring about the fruit of holy living. The life of a vine lives in the branch; the life of Christ lives in us and causes us to bear the fruit of holiness. And that fruit of righteousness is (2) “…to the glory and praise of God.” The ultimate end of the righteousness of the saints is the glory of God.

Conclusion

A life of love and a life of excellence and a life of good works brings glory and praise to God (By the way, glory, doxais the sum total of all of God’s perfection. Praise is the homage given to God for that perfection.) So He receives the affirmation of perfection and then the praise which is elicited by that perfection.

And so the love of God poured in our hearts, abounding in insightful knowledge of His Word causes us to pursue excellence with spiritual integrity which generates a life of power through Christ that produces good works which redound to God’s glory as a redeeming transforming God worthy of eternal praise. That’s the sum of it all.

Paul’s prayer is my prayer for you…as well. “And this I pray,” Paul said, and I say, too, And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.