Side By Side Focus

The title of today’s message is, “Side by Side Focus.”

So as we get into this, I want suggest to you there are two types of people in this world: those who constantly drive their with dirty windshields, and those who really care about having a clean windshield.

Now in our marriage, we have both types… guess which one I am…

WRONG! This is a regular conversation when Katy and I are in the car...

I’ll be the one driving and the windshield will be crazy dirty… and I won’t even notice.

But Katy as the passenger is like, “Can you please wash the windshield?!?!”

Or it will just start raining… and I like to let that go for a while so I don’t get streaks… but she wants me to turn the wipers on right away...

And then oddly enough, I’m always the one who forgets to turn my wipers off after it stops raining too, which causes other annoyances to my lovely bride.

BUT I have to admit… even though I often drive with a dirty windshield... once Katy compels me to clean it… or wipe the rain off it… the clarity is refreshing and even necessary.

I can see the world around me so much better… I can see further down the road of where I’m going...

And sometimes… even when we don’t KNOW it… we need something to bring clarity to our circumstances.

We need to wipe the grime or the rain away from our perspective so that we can see clearly… so we can focus on what God wants for us at this moment in our lives… and view our present situation the way he wants us to.

Have you ever lacked clarity about WHY God has placed you in your current circumstance? Like, just think about your current life situation:

Maybe your circumstances include a physical limitation… your body isn’t able to do what you want it to do...

Maybe some grime has slowly built up about how you view your stage-of-life… as a young mom, you aren’t able to do certain things you once dreamed of… as an older man, you miss the things you used to do… as a young adult, you are unsure about what the future holds… as a student, you don’t see the purpose of 13+ years of schooling…

Maybe God has you in an unexpected job situation… you just aren’t where you thought you would be or wanted to be… or whatever you thought “success” would look like hasn’t arrived.

Maybe it’s a financial circumstance… you see needs and don’t feel like you have the resources to meet them.

Maybe you are just unclear about what God wants from your life in general… life just seems to be the same old routine day after day… far from needing anything from a supernatural God.

At any given time, we can find ourselves in confusing… challenging… hard-to-navigate… situations.

Especially in 2020… when life is rarely as we wish it would be…

We need something to bring our lives and our circumstances into focus.

That’s what we want to allow God’s word to do today as we study the book of Philippians.

Big Idea: Bring clarity to your circumstances by focusing on Christ's gospel priorities.

We’re in a sermon series through the book of Philippians called “Side By Side for the Gospel,” and our goal for this series is that we would “partner together in the pursuit of knowing and proclaiming Jesus.”

If we are going to partner together… if we are going to have true fellowship like we talked about last week… then we need to be clear about what we are pursuing...

We need to have a common FOCUS.

We aren’t just side by side… we are side by side FOR the gospel…

We aren’t just partnered together for any old reason… we are partnering together to KNOW and PROCLAIM Jesus.”

That priority is what brings clarity to our lives… because it is the reason God places you in any situation you might find yourself in.

It is the purpose for every single believer in Jesus Christ…

That EVERY ONE OF US would grow in a deeper knowledge of Jesus… and that we would work together to proclaim his glory to those who don’t know him.

And if you are listening to me this morning and you DON’T know him, the first step is COMING to know him… that is the reason God created you!

The good news of Jesus brings clarity to our lives.

We are going to see that today as Paul describes his own (very-difficult) circumstances in his letter to the Philippian church...

Paul is in Roman captivity… under house arrest in Rome… and as he writes his prayer letter to his gospel partners in Philippi… we can see the lens… the perspective… through which he views his suffering...

This is how Paul views this circumstance and every circumstance that God might lead him into.

Read with me in Philippians 1:12-26. [READ]

We can learn A LOT from Paul about how God wants us to view our circumstances…

Paul is writing about himself, but it is clear in the rest of the letter that he is an EXAMPLE for the Philippian church for what to focus on in their own circumstances (and for us to do the same).

So here’s what we are seeking to do: Bring clarity to your circumstances by focusing on Christ's gospel priorities.

Four Focus-Clarifying Questions:

How could Christ use my circumstance...

...to evangelize unbelievers? (v. 12-13)

(to evangelize is to make sure those who don’t know Jesus hear and understand the good news that Jesus is Savior and Lord)

Explain: So when Paul wrote this letter, he was likely under house arrest in Rome...

Which means that he was living at his own expense in his own rented apartment… but still couldn’t go about freely and was likely chained to a Roman soldier at all times.

It would be easy for the churches looking at his situation to think, “What a waste! We have the GREAT APOSTLE PAUL… we’ve supported his ministry prayerfully and financially… he’s finally made it to Rome… and he can’t even preach in the synagogues and public squares!

Some may have looked at his situation and thought, “We need to get him out of there FAST!!! When can we plan a jailbreak!”

Others may have thought, “Psssh… see… I knew Paul wasn’t that big of a deal anyway… I always had my doubts about him...”

But Paul has a different way of viewing his imprisonment. Look at verses 12-13 again [Read]

No matter where Paul found himself, he just assumed that the main reason he was there was to advance the gospel.

His sole desire in life was to know Jesus… and to proclaim that Jesus is Savior and Lord to others.

So if he couldn’t go into the synagogues and preach in the public square, he would share the gospel with the Roman guards chained to him.

If he couldn’t preach in the churches, the church members would come to him.

And as he spoke to them, the guards heard more about Jesus…

Paul says that by this time, the word spread so that the whole Praetorian Guard…

that’s the Emperor’s elite soldiers… kind of like our Secret Service crossed with the Navy Seals… all of THOSE DUDES would hear about Jesus...

ALL of them would understand that Paul was imprisoned… not as an enemy of Rome, but as a SERVANT of Jesus Christ.

So understand what this means: Paul was telling all of these trained killing machines who vowed to protect the Caesar as their supreme Lord...

He was telling them that Jesus is Lord over all and that every knee would bow before him.

Talk about faithfulness!

See, Paul’s circumstance is not what the average believer would expect… probably not what any of them would DESIRE in their flesh… but Paul knew it was EXACTLY where God wanted him!

Paul’s perspective on a successful life was not having the nicest house or the best job or the most money or the easiest friendships…

His goal wasn’t even to have absolute freedom…

Paul knew with clarity that success simply meant that Christ’s gospel priorities were met.

Remember, Paul called himself a servant (a type of SLAVE) for Christ Jesus in chapter 1 verse 1… this was his whole reason for living.

Faithfulness to Christ’s gospel priorities defined success for him.

Illustrate: So when we were on vacation earlier this month, we played a lot of driveway basketball as a family… and at one point in the week we also played a game of mini golf.

And so the boys got used to basketball where the goal was to have the highest score...

But then we went to play mini golf, and Titus got a 6 on the first hole and he was like, “WHAT!!! I Got a SIX… that’s AWESOME!!!”

And I had to explain to him that success in mini golf looks different than success in other sports like basketball.

In mini-golf, you want a LOW score… in basketball you want a HIGH score...

We need to understand that success in Christ’s kingdom looks different than success in the world.

You can be at the lowest place… rotting away in chains under house arrest in some dusty Roman apartment… and still be successful if you FAITHFULLY pursue knowing Jesus and proclaiming his gospel.

That’s “the win.”

So maybe today you look at your circumstances and think, “My situation is so not what I wanted it to be… it’s so not what I expected it to be… I don’t know what God is thinking!”

My relationships are hard… my body is giving me a hard time… my schedule is out of control… the government is making life difficult… whatever it is…

Ask yourself, “How does God want to use my circumstance to evangelize unbelievers?

Or maybe that’s not you… maybe your life is going pretty well right now… and the temptation for YOU is to forget about God’s purposes and just do your own thing because it “FEELS” pretty successful.

But Jesus said, “What good does it do if you gain the whole world but forfeit your soul.”

Christ has some gospel priorities for you life… and part of those priorities is that he would use you to point others to him.

Every single follower of Jesus in this room is uniquely positioned to reach a certain group of people with the gospel.

Your daily experiences are not my experiences… and God wants to use those experiences to show others the grace and mercy of Jesus in your life.

Your sphere of influence is not my sphere of influence… and God has put YOU in those relationships to show them the saving power of Christ.

Parents, your kids are not my kids… and God put YOU in their life to point them to Jesus day after day after day.

Ask yourself… even ask God… every day… how could Christ use my present circumstance to evangelize unbelievers? (pray and then look for the opportunities to serve Christ in that way).

Paul was uniquely positioned in Rome to reach the whole Imperial Guard. It looked like he was bound in chains… but the gospel was not bound.

But it wasn’t just that group that God wanted him to impact: his imprisonment had gospel influence beyond just that group...

Look at verse 14 [Read 14 only]

Here’s the second Focus-Clarifying Question: How could Christ use my circumstance...

...to embolden other believers to evangelize? (v. 14-18a)

Explain: Unlike in Philippi, when Paul got to Rome, there was already a church there.

He wrote to them BEFORE he got there… that’s what we have in our Bibles as the book of Romans.

So one of Paul’s priorities in getting to Rome was to build his partnership with these believers and encourage their faith in Jesus.

Well, how was he going to do THAT if he was put under house arrest as soon as he got there?

Would’t that have the opposite effect??? Like, wouldn’t all the believers see Paul’s imprisonment and want to stay away?

What we see in verse 14 is that Paul’s boldness for Jesus emboldened the other believers in Rome to evangelize.

They saw his love for Jesus… his steadfast faith that Jesus was HIS Savior and Lord… and it emboldened them to speak the word (the gospel) without fear.

Now not everyone was emboldened in the same way… some had good motives… others, not so much.

Look at v. 15-18 again… [read]

So Paul’s prison ministry emboldened people to speak the word without fear in two ways:

One group was legitimately stirred up because they saw Paul’s courage and faith…

They loved Paul and wanted to imitate him. They wanted to carry on the work that he was doing in their own sphere of influence.

The other group… not so much. They didn’t like Paul for whatever reason.

Now we don’t know why… maybe they were jealous of him. Maybe he corrected them on some matter.

But we know one thing about them: They aren’t false teachers. Paul calls them “brothers.” He is satisfied with the fact that they are preaching Christ.

They are just doing it with the wrong motives.

They want to somehow “afflict” Paul…

I can imagine this competitive spirit in their hearts judging Paul, “Look at this guy… some ‘big shot’ apostle! He can’t even get himself out of jail!”

Maybe they had opposed him on some secondary doctrine and now they think they are right just because Paul is suffering.

They want to rub it in that they are “successful” and he is not.

But Paul’s response is striking… I have to admit, I’ve really wrestled with it this week… He’s like, “They might have the wrong motives. They might hate me. But as long as Christ is preached, I don’t care!”

I have to admit, I have a hard time with that.

Because motives matter! And motives hurt!

A number of years ago, when I was the worship director... one of our musicians showed me this email from a worship pastor from another (bigger) church in the area.

That worship pastor had found out that this person was good at their instrument, and basically emailed them and said, “If you want an opportunity to play on a bigger stage, there’s a place for you at our church.”

He was willing to take someone who was working hard at a smaller church just to deepen the bench on his already large team.

And this was a church that I believe loves Jesus and this instrumentalist could have worshipped Jesus well there...

Thankfully, they didn’t give in to that rivalry and they stuck around… but I have to admit that it took me a while to get to where Paul is at...

“If they preach Christ, then I don’t care if they are trying to compete with me! I don’t CARE if they are trying to stick it to me!”

Now that doesn’t excuse their bad motivation… Paul is going to address the Philippians later and tell them not to have "selfish ambition” as their motivation...

WE are responsible to make sure that we aren’t trying to compete with other believers and other churches…

But Paul was so in tune with Christ’s gospel priorities… he SO wanted the gospel to go out... that he didn’t want some silly little personal offense to stand in the way.

Paul didn’t care HOW it happened… he just wanted Christ to use his situation to embolden other believers to proclaim the gospel.

Apply: When other believers look at you in your circumstance, are they emboldened to proclaim Jesus in their own situation?

Do they see a resilience in you that drives them to endure hardship or opposition for Jesus in their own lives?

Do they see a weakness in you that is evidence of your dependence upon Christ?

Is your boldness in proclaiming Jesus contagious?

Maybe you have boldness and resilience, but nobody knows about it!

Maybe you need to encourage another believer to partner with you...

Ask them to pray for you… ask them to serve alongside you… so they can be emboldened by you.

That’s not pride… that’s confidence that the Lord will work through the weakest of vessels.

That’s how Paul viewed himself: not some super-apostle… just as a weak vessel whose life was wrapped up in Jesus.

We see that as he continues to process his current circumstance in this letter to the Philippian church:

[Read v. 18b-24]

Paul’s life was SO wrapped up in Christ that his WHOLE focus was this: “what is going to bring me to a deeper knowledge of Jesus and what will cause Jesus to be honored more through me.”

That’s how Paul cleared the windshield to bring every circumstance into focus.

He wanted others to know Jesus for sure… but that flowed from a PERSONAL longing for Christ.

The first two questions will mean nothing to us until we get to the bottom of this next question:

How could Jesus use my circumstance...

...to examine my longing for him? (v. 18b-24)

Our circumstances have a way of revealing our heart’s desires.

Explain: And in my opinion, this is one of the most convicting passages in all of scripture… when we truly understand what Paul is saying here.

He’s saying, “I KNOW that you’ve been praying for me… and I KNOW that the Spirit is at work… and I KNOW that I will be delivered in some way… and I KNOW the promises that the righteous shall not be put to shame… and I KNOW that Christ will be honored… I JUST DON’T KNOW HOW YET!”

ALL of those things can happen if I’m released from prison and I can go on living… and ALL those things can happen if I am executed for preaching the gospel.

His life was so wrapped up in Christ… his confidence was so embedded in Jesus… that even death couldn’t shake him!

For to me to live is CHRIST… and to die is gain.

"To live is Christ" - I sometimes see a new mom or a new dad post a picture on social media of their spouse holding their baby and they’ll add the hashtag #mywholeworld

What are they saying? They are saying, "All of my affections... all my devotion... is wrapped up in these people."

Would you be able to accurately post a picture of Jesus (if there were such a thing) and say #mywholeworld

Or maybe you’ve seen these a pick-up trucks with a static stickers in the back window that says, "Fishing is Life" or "Biking is Life"

Why does someone buy a static sticker like that to announce it to everyone they drive in front of?

Because they want people to KNOW, "My sense of joy... identity... purpose... is found in this hobby... I invest a lot of time, money, energy into this."

Would you be able to look at the investment of your life and say "Jesus is life."

For to me to LIVE is CHRIST… and to DIE is gain.

Paul is saying, “If I make it through this trial alive, I’m going to live in such a way that Christ defines my life… my affections, devotion, joy, identity, purpose… ALL of it is wrapped up in Jesus. No question there...

If I live I will have fruitful labor for him.

And if I die… then I get to be with Jesus… and that is the ultimate gain!”

Now here’s where it really get’s mind blowing: he starts thinking about this potential option… like, “What if I were actually given the choice to keep on living or to be executed... which would I choose?

Just think about that for a moment: which would you choose?

You are sitting in a dark Roman chamber… chained to a guard… the choice of being executed… or walking free in broad daylight is put to you… which do you choose?

Here’s Paul’s dillemma: look at verse 23: “I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.” (Philippians 1:23–24, ESV)

Which would PAUL choose if given the option??? He knows that he NEEDS to keep living, but he would rather be EXECUTED.

Just let that sink in.

Paul would rather die and be with Jesus than continue on with the rest of his life and ministry, which we believe lasted another 6 years.

And it’s not because he wants things to be easy… it’s because he LONGS for Jesus that badly.

Illustrate: How do you evaluate the risk of life and death?

There’s been a lot of that type of evaluation going on since the Coronavirus first came to our shores.

And the risk assessment you heard in the news was always, “How likely is it for lots of people to DIE from this virus?”

It was always a calculation of likelihood and severity.

And if that likelihood was high that lots of people would die, then we shut everything down...

And if it wasn’t that high… then we let things open back up.

But as time went on, people began to realize that there is always another variable to risk assessment… and that’s the variable of value.

How valuable is it to get people back to work?

How valuable is it to gather churches together in person?

Risk assessment isn’t just about likelihood and severity… it’s about value.

And Paul is proving here that he places the GREATEST value on knowing Jesus and seeing him face to face.

He says, “THAT IS FAR BETTER!!!”

In the face of fear of execution...

(and believe me, Paul is not saying that execution is a fun idea…)

but in the face of that legitimate fear, he can look with hope and say, “If I die, it is FAR better to be with Christ… THEREFORE, I’m going to SPEND every second of my life so that other people can know him as well.”

I think this is such an important reality in the face of all the fear surrounding Coronavirus...

I’m NOT saying, “Take foolish or unnecessary risks.” And I’m not saying that the lives of others are un-valuable.

I AM saying, “Live for Jesus like death doesn’t scare you. Live for Jesus like death is gain. Live for Jesus like being WITH HIM… in the most personal sense possible... is FAR BETTER than being a thousand days elsewhere.”

How is Jesus using your present circumstance to examine your longing for him?

Death is only gain to the one who has put all their faith in Jesus Christ.

If we are unsure of what happens to us after death… if we are plagued by questions like, “What if I’m not good enough?” or “What if God doesn’t accept me?”, then we can’t share Paul’s confidence here.

Paul’s longing for Jesus comes from knowing JESUS as his Savior and Lord.

Paul had NO confidence that he would go to heaven based on his OWN good work. In chapter 3, he says, “I count that ALL as LOSS for the all surpassing worth of knowing Christ. I don’t have a righteousness of my own that comes from the law… I have the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ.”

You see, Jesus took away the question, “What if I’m not good enough?”

The perfect life of Jesus SHOWS you that YOU are not good enough. The holiness of God SHOWS you that you need a Savior...

And Jesus came to be that Savior.

He came to pay the death that you deserve on the cross.

He came to take your sin upon himself so that he could clothe you in his righteousness.

And He came to rise again from the grave so that you could have NEW LIFE in him… whether you live or whether you die...

Paul says it this way in chapter 3… that this new life is defined by this pursuit: “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10–11, ESV)

Paul’s singular longing is to KNOW Christ the deepest level possible… whether in life or in death.

What is our hope in life and death??? CHRIST ALONE! CHRIST ALONE!

What is our only confidence??? That our soul to him belongs!

Is that your anthem song? As you face the fear of death? As you face the circumstances of your life?

For me to live is Christ. To die is gain.

Now while Paul would rather die and be with Christ, he’s convinced that is necessary that he remain alive for the sake of the Philippian church, and other churches that he planted.

Look at verse 25 [read v. 25-26]

Four focus-clarifying questions:

How could Christ use my circumstance...

...to evangelize unbelievers? (v. 12-13)

...to embolden other believers to evangelize? (v. 14-18a)

...to examine my longing for him? (v. 18b-24)

...to expand gospel-centered joy among his people? (v. 25-26)

Explain: Paul says that he is convinced… he is certain… that God is going to keep him alive for the sake of the Philippian church...

He’s so in tune with Christ’s gospel priorities that… even though he would rather die and be with Jesus… he knows he still has work to do on earth.

A lot of times I’ll hear the question, “Why doesn't God immediately take us to heaven after we put our faith in him?”

Why does he live us in a world full of sin and suffering and waiting and hurting?

Well a big part of the answer is right here in this passage: he wants us to grow together in our progress and joy in the faith...

When “faith” has the word “the” in front of it, it’s typically referring to the teaching of the gospel that they put their faith in.

They needed to progress in that teaching so that they found ultimate JOY in that teaching.

They needed to experience more of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

They needed to expand their satisfaction and delight in Jesus.

And who better to help them do that than someone who could confidently say, “to die is gain!!!”

Paul’s life revolved around this gospel…. his ultimate delight was in knowing and proclaiming Jesus… and he wanted that to be true for the Philippian believers as well.

So he was coming to them again… he was going to visit them after he got out of jail...

And when he did, he was committed to being an example of a Christ-centered disciple in their midst.

He says, “IN ME you may have ample cause to glory IN Christ Jesus.”

“I’m going to come… and I’m just going to help you worship Jesus. I’m just going to help you expand your joy in him.”

Illustrate: Did you ever spend time with someone who loved something so much that they made you love it too?

Like how many of you know Bob Ray? Bob and Mary Alice are watching from home these days, but Bob LOVES his shop and the antique items in his shop...

And when you visit his shop, his excitement about that stuff gets you excited about it too!

I don’t know what HALF of it is… but I ENJOY it because Bob’s joy in it is contagious.

What if that was all of us in the way we showed our love for Jesus?

What if the reason God had you in the circumstance you are in right now was to demonstrate what gospel-centered joy in Jesus looked like… so that other people in our church could learn to glory in Jesus through what he’s doing in you?

How does God want you to do that in YOUR circumstance right now?

Maybe he wants you to ask others in your Gospel Community to pray with you that Christ would be revealed in your circumstance… and then you can rejoice together when those prayers are answered.

Maybe he wants you to encourage others to see Christ’s priorities in THEIR situation…

Four gospel priorities that bring focus and clarity to any circumstance:

That others would be evangelized.

That other believers would be emboldened to evangelize.

That my longing for Jesus would be examined and increased...

And that other believers would be encouraged to grow in their progress and joy in the faith.

Let’s take some time to pray and ask God to reveal these priorities in our own lives...

Apply: Take some time before the Lord to prayerfully ask these questions of your current situation. Confess any way you have lacked perspective about God’s gospel priorities and ask God to lead you in them. Get outside perspective if you have a hard time answering the questions for yourself. Discuss your reflections with someone in your Gospel Community this week.