Philippians 02 - Christ is Preached

Reading: Philippians 1:12-18

Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. Philippians 1:12 (NIV)

I.   Because of my chains

     A.  Something Bad happens

           1.  Even the most faithful Christians encounter hardships.

                 a.  No one gets an immunity shot for trouble when they become a Christian.

                 b.  In fact sometimes faithfulness is the very thing that gets us in trouble.

           2.  But those hardships are always purposeful

                 a.  Nothing can happen to us unless God can turn it to our advantage and the advance of His Kingdom.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 (NIV)

           3.  Hardships are not in parenthesis, the are part of the whole.

                 a.  We tend to think that hard times are what we endure, and life is the rest.

                 b.  But God is equally present and equally at work when times are tough.

     B.  The Palace guards hear

           1.  Because of my imprisonment, the Gospel advances.

                 a.  Not in spite of.

                 b.  I might have thought it a temporary set-back.

                 c.  Actually this is the plan.

           2.  God’s good news is spreading to the heart of Rome, because of this suffering.

                 a.  The palace guard are finding out about Jesus. The palace guard!

                 b.  The gospel is being carried to the inner sanctum of Roman Imperial power.

     C.  Others are inspired to Courage

           1.  What the enemy(ies) of Christianity intended had the opposite effect.

                 a.  Look what happens when the enemies of Christianity do their worst!

                 b.  Just when they thought they scored a victory, the victory turns to defeat!

           2.  When they saw that all of Rome could not stop the Gospel, they knew they were free.

                 a.  They were peasants, slaves, poor, foreigners, disenfranchised.

                 b.  But they were free because what they most treasured could not be stolen.

II.  Christians React to Paul’s hardship

     A.  Some act like Vultures

           1.  Vultures are creatures who feed on death

                 a.  This is God’s design to keep things clean.

                 b.  But there are people who collect garbage and put it on display

           2.  Some were feeding off of Paul’s imprisonment to promote themselves.

                 a.  They pointed sarcastic fingers at Paul and his message.

                 b.  They used the occasion to point out their own better and trouble free way.

     B.  Some act out of Love

           1.  Some saw the reality that Paul was put here for the defense of the gospel. (v.16)

                 a.  They saw it was God’s plan all along.

                 b.  Paul wasn’t there because what he believed was ineffective, but because not even imprisonment could stop it.

           2.  Out of love for Paul, for God’s people, and for God, they preached more boldly.

                 a.  They preached more courageously.

                 b.  They preached more fearlessly.

                 c.  They preached in such a way as to encourage Paul and each other.

III. What’s Really important

     A.  Christ is preached!

           1.  Paul felt OK about even those self-promoting preachers who preached Christ.

                 a.  Not that he condoned what they did.

                 b.  Yet, he still had to admit that in spite of them, the message was getting out.

           2.  His hardships helped him focus on what was most important to him.

                 a.  Hardship has a way of doing that, doesn’t it?!

                 b.  What Paul cared about was the glory of God and the eternal destiny of people.

                 c.  Knowing that when people come to faith God is glorified, he focused on the spread of the message of Jesus.

     B.  So I Rejoice!

           1.  Paul gladly gave up his personal comfort and reputation,

                 a.  Since it meant the Gospel moved forward.

                 b.  Since it meant people would come to salvation.

                 c.  Since it meant God would be glorified.

           2.  Paul was thrilled to see God at work through these terrible circumstances.

                 a.  In his own life.

                 b.  In the palace guard

                 c.  In the lives of fellow believers.

The Bottom Line:

(GHoF #327: 1,3 O for a faith that will not shrink)