JOY IN GOSPEL-CENTERED FOCUS- Philippians 1:12-18

One of the beauties of a follower of Jesus Christ is the joy that is brought into their life. They are, or should be, the most joyful people on earth. Christians can have joy in the midst of persecution. Christians can have joy in the midst of severe loss. Christians can have joy when they endure unmet expectations. Christians can have joy in the midst of a bad report from the doctor. Christians can have joy when they are in a bad relationship.

We could go on with examples of when Christians can have joy. You will notice that their joy transcends their experiences. But this transcendent joy is not developed from Stoic philosophy or outlook on life, nor does it ignore the pain and suffering we experience in this life. Rather, this joy transcends our experiences because it is Joy in Christ, the theme of this letter and the focus for our present passage.

But this joy that Paul describes is anchored in reality, in real life situations. It is from these situations that we can glean truths for today.

I have titled this sermon Joy in Gospel-Centered Focus, because in these verses Paul is focused on the Gospel. Like a cat watching the moving string, Paul is zeroed in on the gospel work.

In fact, Paul is so centered on the Gospel of Jesus Christ that he sees his experiences, both good and bad, in light of God’s working. This is one way in which we can experience joy regardless of our circumstances. We have joy in Gospel-Centered Focus because we are fulfilling God’s desires for our lives.

If you remember from two weeks ago, Paul wrote a heartfelt beginning to this letter concerning the Christ-centered relationship Paul enjoyed with the Philippians. He mentioned his imprisonment, which we know took place during Acts 28, and we also know that Paul was beaten with rods when he first established the church in Acts 16. Paul is no stranger to enduring pain and suffering for the sake of Christ, and yet through it all he maintained joy. This, in part, is because he was focused on the Gospel.

If you and I are to have joy, we must have gospel centered focus.

I. Paul assessed his life in relation to the Gospel Ministry- 1:12-14

Paul’s situation was vastly different than our own. Paul was imprisoned. He stated that directly in 1:7, and we also know that he endure some other difficulties between Acts chapter 16-28. In fact, Paul offers a resume, if you will, of his experiences in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28. [RED TAB]

2 Corinthians 11:23–28 ESV

Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more 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.

How did Paul endure these things? How did Paul press on? This is the apostle who knew that God reigned and ruled over every aspect of his life. He has a Romans 8:28 mentality, which include the gospel ministry.

When we assess our lives in relation to the gospel ministry, our views of our experiences completely change. The unimportant is transformed into eternally important. The trivial becomes significant. The hardships become opportunity.

Frank Thielman, in his commentary on Philippians, says this,

“Paul’s life was so wrapped up with Christ and the gospel that to give news about himself was always to say how God was at work in Paul’s circumstances to advance the gospel.”—Frank Thielman

Do we view our lives in relation to the gospel ministry? When people ask us, “What’s going on?” Do we instinctively refer to the work of God in our lives? Christians, we must do so, not only in obedience to our Lord’s Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20), but also so that we can experience joy, regardless of what is occuring in our lives!

Let us dig in to these three verses, because we learn more about this apostle as well as his incredible joy.

A. Paul’s imprisonment advanced the Gospel—though it limited his freedom- 13

The first assessment concerned Paul’s imprisonment. Prisons in Rome were not for punishment as much as holding, though to be imprisoned involved uncomfortable situations, to say the least.

Often these prisons were damp and dark. There were no restrooms, and you can imagine how filthy they would become. In some cases, prisoners were only fed by people who brought them food. Paul was probably in a better prison, considering he mentions “the imperial guard.”

Regardless of the conditions, Paul was in a rough spot. Not only that, one of the ramifications of being imprisoned is the loss of freedom. Look at most maps in the back of your Bibles and you will see that Paul was not one who stayed at a place for long. But now he was imprisoned, unable to go to the churches nor minister the gospel to various people groups.

Perhaps the disciples at Philippi thought that God’s plan was now stifled. The once active apostle is now the passive prisoner. Maybe they were discouraged, because from their perspective, God’s work had ceased. Paul, in writing this letter, wanted to encourage the Philippians that God’s plan and work had not ceased with Paul’s imprisonment. In fact, Paul says, “that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel!”

He viewed his difficult circumstance in light of the gospel ministry. He assessed his life, his imprisonment, in relation to God’s work through the gospel, and because he did so he realized that his imprisonment was not pointless, but was purposeful.

Paul’s imprisonment advanced the gospel—though it limited his freedom. Do you see how this can transform your life? Do you see how this changes our experiences of suffering? When we consider our own prisons, those times in our lives when everything comes to a stop, do we assess it in relation to the gospel work?

Brothers and sisters, we must have a gospel centered focus, which means assessing our lives in relation to the work of the gospel.

B. Paul’s imprisonment lead to the further spread of the Gospel- 13

After telling the Philippians that his imprisonment advanced the gospel work, Paul goes on to describe how this occured. First, he mentions that “the whole imperial guard” had learned why he was imprisoned. These are individuals with whom Paul may not have ever had interactions, but because the Lord sovereignly brought him into their ward, they knew why Paul was imprison.

Second, he mentions a second group, “all the rest,” which suggests every one else (think of Jewish and Gentile people, lost and saved, cf. Acts 28:23-28). Though Paul was in prison, the Lord allowed the work of the gospel ministry to continue.

As Paul assessed his life in relation to the gospel ministry, he realized that, though his freedom had been limited, the work of God would go forth.

C. Paul’s imprisonment emboldened other believers- 14

Most of the believers that heard of Paul’s imprisonment became more bolder. Now, this seems to work contrary to human reason.

Think of dictators. They perform horrific deeds in an effort to limit the actions of the rebellious. This is not uncommon in history. But why would they be emboldened?

Because they were also assessing their lives in relation to the gospel ministry. They were living in light of eternity, not of temporal life. Paul discusses this in his letter to the Church of Colossae, Col. 3:2 [YELLOW TAB]

Colossians 3:2 ESV

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Their minds were so set on heaven, on the work of God, that this persecution of Paul not only did not discourage them, but encouraged them. They lived with the truth that they were in spiritual war (see Eph. 6:10-20), and as with any war, there are intermittent and intense skirmishes. As these believers assessed their lives, they realized that God’s work was advancing, and they were encouraged.

Tertullian is attributed to the quote, “The blood of the martyr is the seed of the church.” This is demonstrated in Scripture and in history. The book of Acts records much persecution, and believers still preached the gospel. Eusebius, an early church historian, records the various persecutions and often unimaginable torture endured by Christians. Did it stop the Church? No, it did not. Even today, persecution does not stop the Church. In fact, the gates of hell, as Christ tells us in Matthew 16:18, will not stop the advancement of Christ’s church.

Persecution and imprisonment, obstacles that we would normally allow us to stop us, when assessed in relation to the gospel work becomes an advancement.

What has God brought into your life, or what difficulties has He pulled you through? Do you see these in anger and discontentment? Or, like Paul, do you assess these experiences in light of the work of God?

II. Paul interacted with believers in light of the Gospel Ministry- 1:15-18

Paul assess his life in relation to the Gospel Ministry, but we also see how Paul’s focus on the Gospel affected his view of his relationships, particularly with other believers.

We do not lack for division in the Church. In fact, one of the arguments that Catholics frequently make against Protestant churches is that there are so many denominations. And why are there so many denominations? Because we disagree with one another.

The Protestant Reformation, which we just celebrated on 31 October, was a split in the Catholic Church. Within the Protestant movement there was several splits. Not only do denominations split and make new ones, associations and even churches! How do we interact with others with whom we disagree?

Now, before we dive into Paul’s discussion, I want to discuss one more thing. We typically disassociate with others based on doctrinal issues. We believe the Scriptures teach salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

We understand doctrinal division, but what about personal division? There are people with whom we have difficult times in hanging out. Perhaps there are some in this room that you would rather not talk to. How do we, as brothers and sisters in Christ, work through this? Notice Paul’s interaction with believers in light of the Gospel. That is, Paul was so focused on the Gospel that it changed how he viewed his personal relationships.

These relationships had both positive and negative aspects, and as with us, we need to learn this Gospel-centered focus to interact with our brothers and sisters.

A. People preaching out of envy- 15, 17

The first group of people Paul discusses are those who “preach Christ from envy or rivalry.” We do not know who these individuals were specifically, but Paul was frequently enduring conflict with his relationships. If you remember our reference from 2 Corinthians, we see that even in that portion Paul was facing difficult relationships.

It seems these individuals were jealous of Paul. Maybe they were jealous of his experiences with God? Or, maybe they were jealous of his basis his knowledge of the Scriptures. We do not know why they were jealous, we just know that they were. And their response was to preach from jealousy and envy.

In verse 17, Paul says that they are preaching “out of selfish ambition.” They wanted to advance their own agendas, build their own kingdoms, however you want to phrase it, they were looking out for themselves.

There are two things we must notice about these people who are selfishly preaching. First, they are brothers. Paul speaks of “most of the brothers” in verse 14, then from that larger group he says “some” in verse 15. They are brothers, believers, followers of Jesus Christ. This is absolutely key as we will consider the implications of joy in Gospel-centered focus toward the end of this passage.

Secondly, they were preaching Christ. These brothers, though selfish and envious of the apostle Paul, were still believers and their message was the same: Jesus Christ.

This qualifies our relationships. There are people who claim to preach Christ and claim the name brother or sister who are not brothers and sisters. They are false teachers. But Paul is not talking about them, he is talking about brothers and sisters in Christ.

We are Southern Baptists by association. That is a large umbrella. There are Southern Baptist pastors who, based on what I can observe, are preaching Christ out of envy or selfish ambition. They still preach Christ, but their motives seem to be shady at best.

To place it more in our context, these are people that you may simply not jive with. Their personality may rub you the wrong way. They may hold strong opinions strongly. Now, there was another group that Paul mentions, and I want to move on to them before we discuss Paul’s interaction with both.

B. People preaching out of love- 15, 16

These are the people that Paul enjoyed being around. They preached Christ out of good will. They were sincere. They shared the gospel faithfully and honestly.

They did so out of love and concern, because they knew that Paul was in prison because of his faithfulness to gospel ministry.

These are people you love serving with in ministry opportunities! Vacation Bible School is a wonderful example of this. I remember when I was growing up in the church Hannah and I spent a good bit of our lives I always hoped that I would get certain people to serve together.

These people loved Paul and served sincerely. These are easy people to work with!

C. Paul’s response to various people- 18

Now, we have focused on Joy in Gospel-Centered Focus, and this last point presents the way this applies in our relationships.

After discussing the opposites presented in their relationships, Paul asks, “What then?” In other words, “What does this mean?”

To which he answers this profound statement: “Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed [i.e., preached], and in that I rejoice.”

Paul was Gospel Focused, the ministry of God was his goal, and this affected his interactions with other believers.

He did not get bogged down with personal slights. He does not get caught up with church politics. He focuses on the gospel.

Now, we all want people to grow, and the Lord is at work on every believer (just remember 1:6). But our job is not to evaluate one another on the Lord’s work in our lives. Our focus should be the Gospel. We can, like Paul, rejoice that Christ is preached! It brought Paul joy!

Can this be said of us? Would be rejoice that God’s work was continue, though it may not be to our liking or even done with the right motives?

If you and I are to have joy, we must have gospel centered focus.

Paul had joy regardless of the prison or the people because he focused on the Gospel. Let us follow his example, enjoy the joy in Christ, and focus on the gospel!