Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Adversity is inevitable, though none of us write our stories out that way.

None of us write our 11th grade papers describing our future to include an exploded vertebrae from a car accident or a disabled husband that requires constant care or a wrongful termination that eliminates your financial security.

Instead, we write our stories so that our hair never things, our waistlines never expand, and our marriages are happily ever after.

And so, it’s a shock to the system when suddenly you realize that your ascent through life is filled with downward turns and immovable obstacles and uncertainty about the next step.

However, what’s interesting is that even though we don’t write our own stories to include adversity, we always write everyone else’s story to include it.

What good would a movie or a book be in which everything went the way that it was supposed to.

Jack Bauer without crisis isn’t Jack Bauer.

We understand that it’s adversity that brings depth to the character and it’s the response to adversity that inspires us.

When we look at the stories of other people, we have an advantage though.

We’re able to view their adversity through the lens of the big picture in a way that is difficult for us to do in our own lives.

Jack Bauer is fascinating not simply because he faces adversity, but because you know that he will overcome it and you want to see how he does it this time.

It’s viewing the adversity through the lens of the big picture that allows you to appreciate what is ultimately taking place.

And, this is what we find in the life of Paul today.

Paul is imprisoned and facing great adversity, and what we’re going to see is that it’s Paul’s Perspective on Adversity (Headline) that allows him to endure with joy and assurance.

God’s Word

Read

Whether I’m free or not, the gospel will “advance”.

v. 12 “what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel” It’s really amazing how different something can appear depending upon perspective, isn’t it?

With a microscope a drop of water can appear to be filled with organisms that look like soul-killing piranhas, but when looking at that same drop of water flowing in a river from the top of a hill is a scenic site that brings your soul peace and wonder.

And, when it comes to adversity and hardship, the difference between peace and anxiety, joy and despair is this same difference between zooming in and zooming out.

The human mind has a remarkable capacity to zoom in on adversity so that the smallest concerns appear insurmountable.

We can lock in on a single criticism or a single mistake or a single hardship so that it appears much larger than it actually is, overwhelming us with its impossibility.

You get a cold, and it feels like cancer.

You receive a critique, and it feels like you’re losing your job.

You have an argument, and it feels like your marriage is falling apart.

We zoom in so that the smallest problem appear insurmountable, but what we learn from Paul’s life is that the gospel is always calling for us to zoom out to see the grand design of providence.

The gospel is calling for us to take in the full panorama of the river that is flowing rather than zooming in on the single drop of water.

v. 13 “so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ” So, we’re seeing Paul zoom out throughout our text to focus his perspective on the big picture.

First, he says: Whether I’m free or not, the gospel will “advance.”

We could summarize verses 12-14 as him saying, “My circumstances aren’t good.

I wish that I weren’t in prison and that I was with you.

But, my apparent misfortune is being used by God to accomplish what I’m aiming to accomplish anyway -- advance the gospel.”

What we have here is Paul giving a missionary report, but it’s not like the missionary reports that we’re used to receiving.

This is a real life missionary report.

We’re used to hearing, “We’re surrounded by cannibals and famine, and they’re all being saved and life is great.”

But, Paul says, “You’ve funded me financially to reach the nations as a missionary, but I’m chained to a soldier.”

But, he has a singular focus that streamlined and simplified his life in a way that he could view even this hardship, even this frustration joyfully.

The word ‘gospel’ appears in Philippians 9 times, more than any other book of the New Testament per square inch, and it’s the gospel that forms the lens through which everything else in Paul’s life is viewed.

This is how he’s able to say what he says.

Not Victims, Vessels

The gospel “streamlines” life so that every circumstance is an “advancement”.

For Paul, his life wasn’t about his 401(k), and it wasn’t about well-rounded children, and it wasn’t about moving from a starter home to a family home to a retirement home.

Life was about the gospel.

He was a vessel through which the gospel was advancing, so much so, that he could say that marriage is about the gospel and parenting is about the gospel and college is about the gospel and suffering is about the gospel.

Paul was preaching and trying to reach Rome, with little success penetrating the imperial leaders.

But then, he was arrested, and do you know who he was chained to?

The imperial guard, the most influential soldiers of Rome, and so he didn’t stop being a missionary, his mission field just shifted.

Whether he was free or in prison, God was using him to advance the gospel.

And since that was the singular focus of his life, he could find peace and joy, even in prison, because the advancement of the gospel through his life was unstoppably taking place by the power of God.

Paul wasn’t a victim; He was a vessel.

And, this is the opportunity that the gospel affords us.

We don’t live as “victims”; we live as “vessels”.

Painful as it is, victimized as we are, if the gospel is singular focus, we can walk through the downturns of life certain that the gospel will advance through us.

Because of Christ, you can love rebellious children and cope with the loss of a job and respond to the horrors of abuse in a way that trusts the sovereignty of God, rests in the finished work of Jesus, and thus, proclaims and advances the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Ultimately, we are not victims, but victors.

We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus.

So, though we may suffer apparent defeats, we can have joy by zooming out from the big picture to remember that, ultimately, the gospel will be undefeated.

Suffering Can Be Inspiring

v. 14 “And most of the brothers....are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”

Paul reminds us: Suffering can be debilitating or inspiring.

That is, God is so sovereign over adversity, God is so sovereign over lostness, the gospel is so unstoppable in its power, that the very means that intended to stop it can be used to multiply it.

Putting Paul in prison is like pruning kudzu.

You think you’ve killed it by cutting it back only to find out that you’ve started three new stalks.

Paul is put in prison, and it doesn’t extinguish the church.

It emboldens the church.

Think about this.

Paul is imprisoned for preaching the gospel, but in prison, he doesn’t renounce Christ.

He evangelizes every guard that’s chained to him.

He keeps preaching in the face of potential beheading.

And, the church is inspired, man.

They see Paul keep preaching, and their spines stiffen and their voice stops shaking.

If Paul can preach in prison, then I can preach in freedom.

Paul suffered in way that increased confidence in the gospel.

He suffered well.

Suffering Amplifies

APPLICATION: Suffering can be wasted.

Suffering amplifies our trust or distrust of Christ.

It declares Jesus’ worth one way of the other.

Suffering either shows that Christ can be trusted in all and through all, or suffering shows that Christ is insufficient and Christ is undependable.

Your suffering will either inspire courage and faithfulness in your church family, or it will bring doubt and disillusionment.

When I haven’t felt well, Kathy Jacks has inspired me.

I’ve seen behind the scenes Linda Cockrell and Rhonda Turner and Glen Duncan minister to others and serve others through their suffering.

Brothers and sisters, don’t waste your suffering.

Don’t waste your cancer.

Don’t waste your sadness.

Suffer with full confidence in the goodness of Jesus and inspire forward a generation to recognize his worthiness.

APPLICATION: Suffering can be wasted.

Suffering “amplifies” our trust or distrust of Christ.

It declares Jesus’ worth one way of the other.

Suffering either shows that Christ can be trusted in all and through all, or suffering shows that Christ is insufficient and Christ is undependable.

Your suffering will either inspire courage and faithfulness in your church family, or it will bring doubt and disillusionment.

When I haven’t felt well, Kathy Jacks has inspired me.

I’ve seen behind the scenes Linda Cockrell and Rhonda Turner and Glen Duncan minister to others and serve others through their suffering.

Brothers and sisters, don’t waste your suffering.

Don’t waste your cancer.

Don’t waste your sadness.

Suffer with full confidence in the goodness of Jesus and inspire forward a generation to recognize his worthiness.

Whether I preach or someone else, the gospel will be “proclaimed.”

v. 15 “Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will.”