How God Advances the Gospel

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

I am so glad to be back! We missed you all greatly, but we had a great two week break with our family. We visited a church in Panama City and it was OK but nothing like home.

Remember: Potluck and communion next week. We have chicken ordered and everyone bring a side dish. We will eat directly after service. Please invite a friend!

Opening Prayer

INTRODUCTION:

What comes to mind when you hear the word “gospel”? There is not a more important word in the church that we need to know and understand than the gospel. We need to not only know the gospel but we need to understand the gospel, and understand why the gospel is important and today how God advances the gospel through our lives.

Romans 1:16 “for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” The gospel is what God has ordained to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ.

The gospel is the message of the cross. The gospel is the good news of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus which saves people from their sins. And God’s power flows through that message and converts lost hopeless sinners into children of God.

In our passage today we are going to look at how God advances the gospel in our lives. The good news is we do not have to be Paul, or Peter, or John, or have extraordinary gifts in order to win people to Jesus. God uses ordinary people with ordinary lives, to advance the gospel.

We are going to look at three areas this morning in Paul’s life of how God used him to advance the gospel and pull out some principles for our lives.

1) He uses both good and bad circumstances to advance the gospel

Philippians 1:12–14 NASB95

Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.

Explanation:

Let’s start off by stating the good. Paul’s history obviously testifies of the good. All the churches he has planted, all the people he had won to Jesus. The influence upon the gentiles. The great letters to the churches that we have and red and study today.

God obviously used this man in good circumstances to advance the gospel.

But now Paul is in prison. He has been arrested, sitting in a holding place in Rome, bound by chains, and no way to do what he has done in the past.

And he must have thought initially this was the end of his work, and there will be very little he can do from a prison cell other than write letter to churches that he has planted.

And for the Philippians they must have thought the same thing. Here is the beloved Paul. The mighty man of the gospel. The great church planter, in jail….and his influence will come to an end.

And now writing this letter to the Philippians, he looks back over his difficult time, his affliction and suffering and sees how God is still using him to advance the gospel even behind bars.

I want to talk about suffering for a minute. Suffering is a part of your life as a Christian. It is inevitable that will face many hardships as a a believer. We must not think we can follow Jesus and suffer for Jesus.

Not all suffering is the same.

Sometimes we suffer because God is correcting us.

Hebrews 12:6 “For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.””

Sometimes God allows suffering into our lives as a means to mature us

James 1:2–3 “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”

And here in the apostle Paul’s life we learn that sometimes God allows suffering to come into our lives to advance the gospel.

How was Paul’s suffering used?

He tells us in verse 13: “so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard. and to everyone else”

Now you think about Paul sitting in that cell day after day. And those guards coming down into his cell, different ones at different times and each one got to hear Paul’s story that may go something like this:

Guard: “Paul you seem like a nice guy and not a criminal. What are you down here in these chains for?”

Paul: “well, it all began on the road to Damascus, when a bright light appeared before me and I met the living God, Jesus Christ”….and then gores on to share how the scales fell off his eyes and he could see for the first time. And then how God began to transform his life.

And then that guard went hime that evening and shared his day with his family and they heard about this Paul who met the living God and had this life change and that anyone who believes could be saved.

And on and on and on

Application:

And as the sovereign hand of God directs us today, many of us will inevitably find ourselves in difficult or unforeseen situations with similar opportunities.

It may not be a prison cell, but it may be a difficult place of work that you cannot wait to leave with many lost people watching you endure and stay faithful to Jesus, or a difficult relationship with someone and you stay and you cling and you remain faithful, because that is what is right according to Christ, or a health problem that you face and you cling to Jesus even tighter.

In these times we must remember that God is using them to tell the world about Christ. He is speaking through our lives. He is speaking through our suffering.

And sometimes the only way to reach the people that need to hear the gospel requires some suffering on our part.

The human temptation is to always avoid pain, but we must never forget sometimes God advances the gospel through our hardships.

BUT, not only does God use our suffering for unbelievers our, but He also uses it to empower other believers.

(v 14): “and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear”

These are fellow believers who are following the Lord and because of what they saw in Paul, his continued witness, his willingness to suffer for Christ, they were encouraged to do the same. They said if Paul can do this with the possibility of death and still speaks with boldness then surely we can speak boldly about Christ as well.

And how many believers are watching you. Who may be new to the faith, who may be timid, who may have never experienced what you are going through and watching to see how you will react.

Never count out the way God will use YOU in the lives of other believers.

Especially your children and the ones closest to you

Principle:

What God had planned for Paul was quite different than what Paul had planned for Paul….But what God planned for Paul was the best that Paul could have

And we must Remember this too.

Psalm 37:23 NASB95

The steps of a man are established by the Lord, And He delights in his way.

Our plans may be quite a bit different than the plans of God, but the wise man trusts that God’s way is always better and will bear the most fruit for the Kingdom of God.

And most often we cannot see this until we look back and see all that God has done. We struggle to see what God is doing in the moment. In the difficulty, in the hard times. We fail to see the kingdom impact, but looking back it always becomes much more clear.

2) The gospel advances in pretense or in truth

Philippians 1:15–18 NASB95

Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,

Explanation:

Paul mentions two kinds of preachers in these verses:

The first group of preachers are those who preach “out of love”. They love Paul, they support Paul, they do it not to gain something for themselves, but because they want to see souls saved. They do not care about fame, or money, but sincerely care about the kingdom of God.

Then there is the second group of preachers who preach Christ “from envy and strife….and selfish ambition”.

That is there were Christian preachers outside of the jail where Paul was imprisoned who were preaching the gospel, but were not doing it for the right reasons. They were jealous, were envious, had their own selfish motives of why they were self centered preachers.

It is very likely they were jealous of Paul. His success in church planting. His great wisdom. His success in preaching the gospel. His success in having a such an influence over all the churches over Asia minor.

When a letter was written from Paul, that name made the letter worthy. Paul is the one who saw the risen Lord on the road to Damascus, He was so close to Jesus that he desired to die and be with the Lord rather than to stay in his own body..

And these preachers who knew Paul preached to try to cause him distress and affliction (this word means friction; such as rubbing iron chains on a prisoners hands and legs).

They had ill intentions towards Paul because of the great way that God had used him.

And we read this and are tempted to say that these men were false teachers or false converts. But if we look carefully, Paul clearly says that they are “proclaiming Christ”. These are not false teachers preaching a false message. The message they are preaching is true, it is the motive of the heart that is wrong!

And what does Paul say about them? Condemn them? Criticize them!? Tell the world about them? NOPE, He says he will rejoice because as long as they are proclaiming Christ, they are advancing the gospel

Application:

I think there is a great lesson to be learned here. It is to be sure we do not fall into the latter category. The people who look at other people who are more successful than us or churches who have more people coming or more baptisms than us and we look at them with contempt because we are jealous of their success.

And I think for a church this size with many churches around us that are quite larger to become jealous of them and then find something to criticize them. There Amy be churches who are geared just to get people in the doors, or who have made an entire ministry about being popular….

BUT, if they preach the gospel Paul would say SO WHAT! What does it matter!? It is the message of truth that God uses, not the motive! And if someone’s motive is not right then that is between them and God!

We must be like Paul and say if the gospel is being preached then we will rejoice!

The second thing I want us to see here is that motives do matter

It is a good practice that our motives at New Beginnings are not bad motives. Why we do what we do. Why do we hold events, why do we share the gospel, why do we come to church. What drives us to what we do!

I am convinced some people come and serve and even share the gospel just so they can be seen by other people.

What motivates them to give is so that others will see what they put in the plate, not the earnest desire to see the gospel advanced.

Or they attend a certain church, or put all their deeds out in public so that others will see them.

What should motivate us is our love for Christ and nothing more. What should motivate us to share the gospel is that the preacher knows, but that God will use it to convert people. Make sure your motives are pure and if not, then repent of that attitude and get your motives right.

The gospel advances in life or in death

Philippians 1:20–26 NASB95

according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again

Explanation:

THE GOSPEL WILL ADVANCE IN LIFE. how is that? (v 24) “yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary For your sake”

I just want us to think about what Paul is saying here.

First he makes the point that it is much better to depart and be with Jesus. It’s rare (if ever) to hear someone say that they would rather depart from this life solely because they desire to be with Jesus.

The reason he is hard-pressed in whether to stay on earth or go to be with Jesus has nothing to do with him at all! He is hard pressed because it would be better “for their sake” if he stay!

Is Paul exhibiting a little pride here? Not at all, he knows that contributing to the spiritual maturity of these believers will pay dividends for centuries to come.

And since Paul was the one who led the Philippians to Christ, he saw it as his responsibility to mature them.

The Great Commission does not end with telling others about Jesus, that command is followed by this one, “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you”.

And church we have not completed the great Commision until we have poured into the lives of those who come to Christ.

The mission does not end when someone begins to walk by faith and they get baptized. they are to be taught, trained, and seen it modeled in our lives.

If you have never been a part of the discipleship process in someone else’s life, you are missing out. There are few things greater than seeing someone grow in their faith.

But it will cost you! Not just time, but work, worry, prayer, stress, and sometimes sorrow.

But it is needed and plays a vital role in advancing the gospel.

THE GOSPEL WILL ADVANCE EVEN IN PAUL’S DEATH

Now how will that happen? Just the way it has happened for nearly 2,000 years. Everyone is dispensable. God must not have a a certain individual to advance the gospel! He can do it through Paul, and when Paul leaves raises up another, and another and another and the gospel will advance because it is God’s gospel and He will make it happen

So when we lose great leader and great men of the faith, all hope is not lost. Because a new generation is Comign, and God will continuously raid up faithful people who become giants in the faith.

CONCLUSION:

Now we hear this and hopefully we say, man I want that to be my life. I wish I had the opportunities that Paul had. I wish I had the gifts that Paul had. I wish I lived in the days of Paul when the gospel was radically advancing in so many ways.

What made Paul a key instrument in the advancement of the gospel was that he was a willing vessel to be used by God. He did not regard his life as his own, he saw himself as a servant of Jesus and allowed God to do as He willed with Paul. And it was God’s will to place Paul in that time with those gifts in those circumstances to advance the gospel and it was Paul’s will to do God’s will!

And the same is true for us. God sovereignly placed us in this time with our gifts, and in our circumstances, and around people who ned to hear and see our faith spoken and lived out so that we can be used by God to advance the gospel. Will we ever be used like Paul? I highly doubt it, but to be used at all is a great and blessing and a life well spent.

What God is seeking in you and I is simply to be a willing vessel.

And then maybe you are here and you have never received and believed and trusted in the gospel yourself. I want to give you the opportunity to do that today.

You and I are sinners. And that sin that we practiced, and loved, and made our lifestyle is an offense against God. And that offense brings consequences…eternal consequences. God will judge the world, that’s a promise.

But God sent Jesus to this world 2,000 years ago to take that punishment of death and hell and bear it on the cross. He died for our sin. He willingly took our place and took death so that we can have eternal life.

But not everyone has eternal life. The Bible says only those who repent of their sin and trust in Christ will be saved.

Repent does not simply mean to say, “I am sorry for my sin” though it includes having sorrow over our sin. Repent means to change our mind about sin completely and then turn from it and turn to Christ.

But repentance alone will not save us. It is faith which saves us. Faith mean that we begin to trust in Christ, obey Him with all of our hearts, trust what He says and how He calls us to live, trust Him to guide us, provide for us, and save us.

And the Bible says when we truly do that God will enter our lives and radically change us and make us a child of God giving His Spirit as a deposit of eternal life that is now in our possession.

And all of that happens in a single point of time when we repent and believe. Will you do that today? Turn from your sin and give your life to Him by faith and God will work everything else out

~PRAYER~