In Prison
In Prison: Philippians 1:12-18a
Paul is in prison. He had come to this city in response to a vision he had experienced of a man of the area asking him to come over and help. On arrival in the city he had gone to the local place of worship, as was his normal practice and engaged in conversation with those who were there. Some of them were convinced by what he had to say, and invited him, and his companions to stay with them. But Paul is one of those blokes who just can't seem to stay out of trouble. He ends up getting into conflict with some of the worthies of the town and thrown into this prison.
Paul is in prison, but as he repeats again and again in his letters, rejoice in all circumstances. And he walks the walk, or in this case sings the songs. As he and his companions praise God, there is an earthquake, the prison doors burst open and they are free to go. The Jailer rushes in, ready to kill himself because he thinks that the prisoners will have escaped, but Paul stops him, “Do not harm yourself, we are all here.” The grateful Jailer brings Paul out and asks what he must do to be saved. He comes to believe in Jesus, and he and his household are baptised that night.
The next day the city authorities release Paul and his companions, but ask them to leave the city, which after a few encouraging words to the fledgling believers, they do.
About ten years later the church that was founded on that visit hears that Paul is once again in prison, in another place. Their experience is that when Paul is in prison, he rejoices, God releases him, and people are bought to faith. But that isn't happening this time. Paul is still in prison. Has he stopped rejoicing? Is he still being faithful to the gospel? Has God left him? Are people still coming to believe in Jesus?
That city was Philippi, and in tonight's extract from Paul's letter to the church in that city, I think that we can find the answers to those questions.
If you were in prison and given the opportunity to write to your friends, what would you write? I think that I would want to let them know what kind of state I was in, how I was being treated, how much I missed them.
The first reassurance that Paul gives his friends is not that he is OK, not that he's got enough food, not that he's not being tortured. The first reassurance is that what has happened has helped spread the gospel. This is Paul's first priority, just about the only thing that he cares about, or that he wants his friends to care about. In this imprisonment his chains have meant that the whole guardhouse has heard about Jesus, just as in the Philippian jail the earthquake had meant that the guard heard about Christ.
As a bit of a side bar, I would just like us to note that just because two situations look similar to us, does not mean that God will work in the same way in both. I believe that God is faithful and trustworthy, but I am fairly sure that God is not predictable.
But Paul goes on, not only are the people in prison hearing about Jesus, people on the outside are hearing as well, even though Paul is locked up, because the members of the local church have stepped up to the mark and are proclaiming Jesus.
Now I find this all a bit odd. If Jackie was arrested and put in prison because she was preaching about Jesus, would that really make us speak the word with greater boldness and without fear? It seems completely against common sense. I reckon that if someone is arrested and jailed for something, that would be a pretty good reason not to do that thing. So, why is it that the imprisonment of Paul has led most of his brothers and sisters to preach Christ more fearlessly?
There are, I think, two different sets of motivations.
The first set of motives are given explicitly by Paul. There are some, in the church, who are preaching Christ in order to big themselves up and to hurt Paul. I think that this is reasonably, and perhaps uncomfortably, easy to imagine:
Paul is in prison, God has forsaken him, either he was teaching incorrectly or he has fallen into sin, come and listen to me preach instead.
Paul is in prison, quick let's go preaching whilst he's out of circulation so that we have more people in our church than he has got in his.
The second set of motives are driving those who preach from goodwill and love. These can perhaps be explored by looking at our gospel reading, from Matthew. This passage comes some time into Jesus ministry. It is part of the preparation that Jesus gives his disciples when he sends them out on their own for the first time.
The first encouragement is the fact that this bit of preparation is in Jesus teaching, and is in the Bible. This is Jesus warning what the outcome will be for those who follow him. I think the fact that Jesus takes time to warn his disciples, so that they are not surprised is confidence building. The fact that the warnings are accurate also says something about how trustworthy Jesus is.
The second encouragement is the gift of the Holy Spirit. As persecution comes, Jesus promises that the Spirit will speak through his followers. This is not a Spirit of cowardice, but a Spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.
The third encouragement is the assurance of Jesus that the Father is with his followers, that the Father knows the value of his children, and will hold them safe for eternity, regardless of what is done to their bodies in this world.
Confident in Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and safe in the arms of the Father, the people of God declare the Kingdom with boldness.
At the end of this bit of his letter, Paul returns to where he started, to what is really important to him. Christ is to be proclaimed in every way. In other places he will lay into those who oppose him and preach out of ill motives. In yet other places he will detail and expand on how and why faithful followers can be encouraged by persecution, but these are not his focus here. His focus here is that the most important thing is that Christ is proclaimed in every way. In Philippi it was by an earthquake, in this prison it was by Paul's chains. How is it going to be proclaimed in Littleover?
It seems to me that there are lots of opportunities. There are Littleover Churches Together events. There are often families coming in to church, bringing their children to baptism. There is Lunch Club and Women's Fellowship. There will be the events organised as part of Hope '08. There is Tiddlywinks. There are the conversations we will have with our friends and work colleagues tomorrow and through this week. In all these ways Christ is, or can be, proclaimed. Let us rejoice in that and set ourselves to do so more and more.
As we set ourselves to this, it is worth remembering that in the two situations we have looked at, we do not hear Paul preaching. In both prisons, he reacts to the situation with rejoicing, and it is this reaction to the situation that God has given him that proclaims Christ. It is after people have responded to this that words are needed.
If you go to the Gardener's World website you will find a list of jobs to do this week in your garden, if that is something that is important to you. One of the jobs for this week is to dig over your vegetable plots, mixing some compost into the soil. I am not a gardening expert, but I suspect that this is something to do with making sure that the soil is in the right condition for providing healthy and fruitful crops when it is time to sow the seeds or plant out the seedlings.
Using similar logic, if we are to make the most of the situations that God is going to put us in, and be ready to rejoice in them, I think that it would be wise for us to do a bit of groundwork. To do some digging and some preparation that will allow us to be more fruitful in the future.
As part of this, I think that it would be worth looking at what the most important things in our lives are.
There are a few ways of approaching this. One way is to look at our lives and think about what we use our resources on. What kind of things use up our time, our money, or our energies? Another approach is to ask ourselves what aspect of our lives brings us joy, or would cause us pain if we lost it?
Having done this, we then have a harder task to complete. We have to ask God if the things that are most important to us are the most important things to God. This cannot be hurried, and it is probably best to do this with someone else alongside. We need companions, just as Paul did.
There's a third stage to this, and it's the hardest of all. We might have to change. And this could take a while, because things that are important to us, are important to us. Because of this they tend to be fairly deeply rooted in our lives. This means that changing them is likely to be painful as well. In addition any changes are highly likely to affect those close to us as well, we will have to enlist help and support in making any changes that God is calling us to make.
For Paul, as for Jesus, the most important thing is to follow God faithfully, proclaiming Christ the King and his Kingdom in what we do, in how we are, and in what we say. As we continue to work to make this the most important thing in our lives, individually and as a church community, we will rejoice more and:
Confident in Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and safe in the arms of the Father, we, the people of God will declare the Kingdom with boldness.
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