This is for That

This passage, just three verses that we will see today, begs us as believers to ask a question about what we are facing in life.

What is it for?

College president often repeated this little phrase, “this is for that.”

Connect the dots illustration

dots seem random, some very far apart an should be unrelated.

God connects dots in life that we see as worlds apart. God arranges puzzle pieces that fit in shape, but don’t look like they will make a beautiful picture.

Genesis 50:20 ESV

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Ephesians 5:15–16 ESV

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

All things can be redeemed for Gospel usefulness in the wise and powerful hands of Christ.

1. Things that Happen

The context of Paul’s life in relation to his words here have to do with suffering.

We spent a great deal of time in Job looking at suffering, so The main goal of this sermon is not to address it specifically, but to see it as an example of something that might be redeemed in the advancement of Christ’s work.

“what has happened to me… my imprisonment is for Christ.”

What happened to Paul?

Writing to the Philippians, currently in prison, having been imprisoned also when he first met them.

2 Corinthians 11:23–28 (ESV)

imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 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; 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; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

We tend to think of these things as “what has happened to Paul as a direct result of serving the Lord.”

But this text shifts our focus from “what has happened because I follow Christ” to “what has happened for the service of Christ because of my trials and experiences.”

“what has happened to me...” seems separate and unrelated. But “this is for that” reminds us that nothing is unrelated or meaningless.

Consider Paul’s words.

“My Imprisonment is for Christ.”

for

on behalf of, in favor of, to the benefit of, having a purpose for...

A life that looks our with Christ-centered eyes sees all things, all experiences, all relationships has having potential and purpose for the advance of Christ’s Kingdom.

A Christ-centered outlook on life fights against all kinds of misery and feelings of uselessness and doubt, because the unseen links of the chain are often being forged in the quiet of life.

2. What They Might Serve to Do

“Advance the Gospel”

“Bold to Speak the Word

Advance - blazing a trail before an army.

Seedbed of work.

1 Corinthians 3:6–7 ESV

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

We should be specific that the Gospel message itself is the seed that we plant and water, but various things allowed and worked in God’s providence are servants of that planting and watering.

John Newton would not have felt such a weight and importance of “Amazing Grace” had he not spent his former days captaining a slave ship.

David learned lessons in shepherding that undoubtedly served him in his kingship.

Solomon, His son, learned many “what not to do” lessons that become pieces of wisdom that the Lord gave through him which we still benefit from today in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.

When Paul was a young man, he studied the Torah and went further in his studies than most of his peers. Undoubtedly some of his family members and fellow-Pharisees scoffed at his conversion to Christ and his “throwing away” of his training, but those were seedbeds of learning that served Him as he travelled the known world for Christ.

And so what might it be for you that serves to till up soil in a seedbed for the Gospel to go foward?

Might it be a skill that you’ve acquired, seemingly mundane, that might be used to open a door for a conversation, a relationship, where Christ may enter in?

Might it be a career path that puts you also in the footsteps of others who you befriend and love with the Gospel of Christ in you?

Might it be an experience of difficulty that allows you an audience with those who see you with care or even pity, yet blooms into a garden where faith and the hope of the Gospel is radiant?

What God brings you through in life may feel insignificant, or at times you may feel that you are even “in the weeds.” But what has happened is purposeful and can be useful for eternal glory.

3. How They Might Be Used

Overall - it is God’s providence and Sovereignty that makes all things redeemable and purposeful.

Specific ways.

Personal Testimony

so that it has become known

The Bible is full of stories, and stories of God’s people have his handwriting on every page.

The Imperial Guard

Most Elite Group of roman Soldiers, 9000, at times even held power over the Caesar himself.

His Testimony to them - My Imprisonment is Christ’s

Literally, “My chains became manifest as “christ’s”

Imaging that testimony to a Roman Solider, unassuming, asking Paul why he was there?

The Letter to the Philippians A. The Progress of the Gospel (1:12–14)

I am in chains because I belong to Christ. I serve Christ. Jesus Christ in humility and in obedience to God’s will died for our sins on a Roman cross under Roman power. Jesus Christ is now the risen and exalted Lord above all powers. Christ called me to proclaim the good news about him among the nations. Christ is the Savior of all who trust him. One day everyone will recognize and worship Christ as the Lord of all.

It is the same testimony as Joseph to his brothers - what you meant for evil, God meant for good.

That is our testimony to others - what was intended as, perceived as, or normally would be understood as one thing, is actually altogether another thing in Christ.

our life experiences belong to Christ, like Paul’s chains.

Exemplified Worldview

This is for that

My (imprisonment) is for Christ

A time for “the rubber to meet the road.”

Where “what you say you believe” becomes pictured fully in how it stands up to the stress of testing.

Encouragement and Edification

become confident by my imprisonment

This is where “partnership in the Gospel”, the theme of Philippians, comes into play.

We see all things as from God’s hand, and God being all-powerful we see potential for all things to be redeemed for usefulness, but sometimes we stop short and see only how they are useful for us.

I went through this, and it made me stronger

I went through this, and learned that I needed to repent of this or that attitude

I went through this, and I felt the Lord’s closeness.

Yes and Amen to all of that! But it is even more potent than that.

“This is for that” can be easily seen as “this is for them” also.

It goes both ways. Not only might we have the eyes of Gospel-purpose when we are facing the “this”, the “experience,” but we might also have on those glasses when watching our brothers and sisters as they walk through things we are not walking through.

Part of seeing fellow Christians as believers is seeing that what they learn is valuable, and what they have to share is valuable.

Spurring on to love and good works

What happens to you might serve as a friendly goad - a poke in the side that is poignant with love for someone who is watching you through the experience.

Hebrews 10:24–25 ESV

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.