About this sermon
Paul writes from prison that his circumstances have served the greater progress of the gospel, for the whole praetorian guard has heard of Christ and the brethren have grown bold. Even when some preached Christ from envy and rivalry, he rejoiced that Christ was proclaimed. Beatings, shipwreck, and chains could not stop the gospel, and believers rejoice in its advance and walk by faith when they do not yet see the fruit.
Sermon transcript
Well, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I do greet you and I do thank you once again for having me with you this evening. In order to spend some time in God’s word together, I’d like to invite you to open your Bibles to the epistle to the Philippians, Philippians chapter one, which in the pew Bibles and the New Testament can be found on page 154. I thought in this opportunity that I have with you, we would just talk about the progression of the Gospel and Paul’s encouragement to that end. We’ll be looking at Philippians 1, verses 12-18. Please hear the Word of our God.
Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the Gospel. so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear, some to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed. And in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice.
Let’s pray and ask for God’s blessing on this word. Heavenly Father, as we do come to your word written through the life and pen of the Apostle Paul to this congregation of your people, We pray, Father, that your spirit would indeed be here with us, that you would bless us during this time of meditating on your word and the same spirit that was filling Paul’s heart so with these words, that same spirit that communicated them faithfully to the church at Philippi. Yes, indeed, Father, that same spirit would now be here with us this evening, being with me and communicating, being with your people and hearing. And we pray, Father, that you would indeed bless us with the joy of which Paul speaks of here.
For we ask it through our Lord Jesus Christ’s name. Amen. Well, I had a dear professor at seminary long ago named Renick Wright, the New Testament professor. And I still remember that when he began to teach on this particular epistle, he started off this way. Paul was in prison and he was happy. Paul was in prison. And he was happy.
And indeed, with those words, he really captures one of the great themes of the book of Philippians, which is that of rejoicing. That the Christian life is to be filled with rejoicing. Eleven different times in this book, Paul uses that word in one form or another to rejoice. Another five times, he talks about the joy that we are to have as God’s people. And that really raises a question. What was it that was making Paul so happy being in prison? And answering that question might answer one for us today.
What are to be the true sources of Christian joy that we as God’s people are to have? Well, though we could find many sources for our rejoicing, I think, in this book, I do want to highlight the one that’s predominant in the text. that I just read, and it’s this one. We are to be rejoicing in the proclamation of the gospel. We are to be rejoicing in the proclamation of the gospel.
It’s pretty clear that Paul did not want their focus to be so much on his circumstances, because they were a church that was concerned about their dear founder and apostle being in prison. Nor did he want their eyes resting on the difficulties and trials and opposition they were facing as a congregation, because certainly that was the case. But he said, what I really want you to be reflecting on here as I address you, what should be a great source of rejoicing is this, is that the Gospel cannot be halted.
I’m in prison. I’m in chains. You are facing opposition, but the gospel cannot be stopped. And we we need this encouragement today. And as I talk about that, the gospel not being stopped. And as Paul was writing about it here, I don’t want you to hear it this way.
Kind of in a dry, stoic, Calvinistic kind of way. where we know this is a doctrine that we have to dutifully mumble. Yes, God will save the elect. That’s true. That’s definitely true. But we’re to have a spirit of joy in that truth as he exhorts this Philippian church He’s not just thinking of them as these people he just wants to teach a theological doctrine to.
This is a church that, as he said back up in verse 6, we have a partnership together in this gospel with one another. And I want you to know that I care about you and you have shown that you care about me. Matter of fact, Paul had sent Epaphroditus back to them to just check on their welfare. And when he received the report of Philippi and came back to the apostle Paul, he came bearing a gift because this congregation loved Paul and wanted to show their support and concern for him in prison.
So this is just no dull exchange, theological exchange. Paul is saying, and he’s wanting to convince this congregation of the fact that the gospel cannot be stopped. The progress of the gospel cannot be stopped. As I just prayed, I don’t know you very well. As I just prayed and thought about what message God’s Spirit would want me to bring to you this evening, this was laid on my heart, and so I’m just here tonight to encourage you in that very simple truth. The gospel cannot be stopped.
But there are those who would seek to stop it. And we, we face that and we can fear that there are obstacles that do arise to the progress of the gospel. And I want us to think about how Paul looks at those obstacles and how he treats them here and how he helps the Philippians to think appropriately about them. So we’re going to think about these three obstacles tonight, impossible circumstances, incredible opposition, and impure messengers. Incredible circumstances, I’m sorry, impossible circumstances, incredible opposition and impure messengers. Paul treats each of these and he says none of them can stop the gospel. Matter of a fact, what we’re going to see is that they each actually become means of the further spread of the gospel. So first of all, those impossible circumstances.
Paul must have written the words of verse 12 with a twinkle in his eye, a knowing expression on his face when he says, I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel. My circumstances. What has happened to me? Well, think for a moment, reflect for a moment those circumstances that Paul went through. In a letter to the Corinthians, he summed them up for us. You remember in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11, he tells us some of the circumstances of some of the things that he went through.
The beatings and the trials that he went through five times. received from the Jews 39 lashes, almost to the point of death. Three times he was beaten. Once he was stoned. Three other times he was shipwrecked. And on one of those occasions, he spent a whole night and day alone in the sea.
And he goes on and reminds them of all the things that he encountered. Rivers, robbers, cold nights, Jews and Gentiles after him, hunger and thirst and imprisonments. And so he’s seen it all. But I think as he’s talking about these circumstances and he’s writing this church that he founded, certainly that what’s rising up in his mind and what he’s trying to remind them of as well as some of the circumstances they had shared together.
You recall how Paul went to Philippi. He tried to go one place and then another, but God kept him from going on that journey to those other places. And he got in the middle of the night, what was what we know is the Macedonia vision, come over here and help. And so he went to that part of the world. And when he came to Philippi, you recall, that he met a group of ladies down by a river praying.
And when he began to interact with these ladies, there was a real reception to the gospel. We hear, we read that many of them in the book of Acts, many of them responded to the gospel. And particularly one of them, Lydia, the scriptures say her heart was open to the gospel, but not only her heart, her home. She opened up to Paul and his companions and it became a basis for ministry there in Philippi. And it looked like the doors were just wide open. Paul was going to have a nice, easy ministry for once.
But you know how the story goes. As he goes further into the city of Philippi and begins to minister the gospel, Satan sends in the form of a girl under demonic influence, an annoyance to Paul. This girl goes around calling out through the city, you know, listen to this guy, listen to this guy. He’s a servant of the most high God.
But in a sense to Paul, it was like ridicule. Here’s Satan ridiculing me through the voice of this demon. And finally he’d had enough. And he cast that demon out of this gal. And those that were making profits off of her weren’t happy. You know, this would be like us maybe going into a, into a union hall as a stranger, trying to shut the thing down. I don’t think he’d be welcomed very well.
And in the same way, that’s what happened here. These men had Paul and Silas imprisoned and they spend a night in prison and they were beaten beforehand. And if beating and imprisonment wasn’t enough. Then an earthquake struck in the middle of the night. And you can imagine for a moment what that must have been like for them.
Here we are seeking to serve you. The door opened, but now we’ve been beaten. We’re in prison and the whole building around us is shaking. And yet, how did God use it? The door swung open. Their chains fell off, and that earthquake shook more than the ground and buildings. It shook open another person’s heart to the gospel as this jailer cries out, what must I do to be saved?
And he, like Lydia, takes Paul and Silas back home. They preach and minister the gospel to this family, this jailer’s family, even as they’re tending to the wounds and the pains of Paul and Silas. This whole household comes to faith in Christ. Impossible circumstances cannot halt the power of God. The congregation had seen it in Philippi. So he’s reminding them in this dear letter to them that the same thing he’s in prison once again, but the same thing is occurring.
His circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel. And I don’t know about you, but when I read the Apostle Paul, I’m quickly put to shame. all that he was willing to endure in order to see the gospel go forward in the faith that this man had. And he was filled with and sought to pour into the hearts of these Philippian believers. I’m ashamed at how easy, easily I can get discouraged, depressed, downcast, dismayed over the little oppositions that I can face when seeking to tell the gospel to others around me.
And it’s so easy for us. We are, we’re comfortable in our generation and modern America. And it’s so easy for us to make excuses that we don’t have enough resources. We don’t have enough people. We don’t have enough money. They won’t listen to me. The doors keep closing. And so we slumped the shoulders. We lose our zeal.
We stop praying, we start giving up, we quit sowing with eagerness, and then we wonder why we’re not seeing the gospel spreading around us. If there is no circumstance, God cannot overcome even a lack of zeal among God’s people. And we need to just hear these things once again to be encouraged and re-fortified in our faithfulness to bring the gospel to other people. We need to hear stories of what others are encountering in more difficult places so that we’ll remember that we can go forward with the gospel.
One of the couples that recently graduated from RPTS came to us from India. And Vicky and Shami last year graduated and have returned to the city of Bangalore where they are planting a church. And it is not an easy thing. I was in a class, a church planting class with them, watching them plan to go over there with another Indian family to start this congregation. And as we interacted in the class, just thinking about how to do ministry in a Hindu culture was just mind boggling to me. I was learning far more, I think, than I was teaching in this church planting class as I engaged with them and others like them trying to plant churches in very difficult cultural environments.
One of the things that has recently occurred there that just encouraged me to hear was that Xiaomi hasn’t been able to have children. And so they wanted to adopt. And after many years of frustration, and some miscarriages. Her heart was almost closed to the idea of children, but God led them to an orphanage and she saw an eight year old boy and God just opened her heart to this young boy.
But the thing about Abbie is that he’s paralyzed from the waist down and their family and the doctors And the experts in church planting said, that’s not what you need right now in your life, because you’re devoted to church planting. This is going to slow you down. This is going to prevent you from doing what you say you’re called to do. Well, recently, Xiaomi wrote an article called The Gospel is Not Paralyzed. And I just want to read a couple of sentences to you from what she wrote.
She says, the spirit of God does not need perfect bodies and bones to penetrate and perfect his work. God was going to use my son’s very infirmities as a channel for fruitful ministry. His immobile feet are going to speed the gospel of Jesus Christ. And she explains how his people see this pastor and his wife loving, this paralyzed boy, that the others, and there are many, many others in bodily weakness in India, this is opening doors that were never opened before. We can have impossible circumstances, but the gospel of God cannot be halted. And we can have incredible opposition as well.
Paul said that in verses 13 and again in 14, he again speaks of this imprisonment that he was under. And in the book of 2nd Corinthians, we know that Paul was in prison many times. We wonder which one is this, this imprisonment. But we know as we put the facts of the New Testament together, that where Paul is writing currently is in his imprisonment at Rome.
This is where he was when we get to the end of the book. of acts. And when he talks here about the opposition that he is facing, the difficulties that he had to go through and the things that he’s encountering here, what we’re talking about is not just the difficult circumstances, but also the human opposition that he had to undergo as a minister of the gospel. You know, the Jews had opposed him. And that’s why he was imprisoned. And I just want to give you a reminder. I just want to go through his three missionary journeys very quickly. And some of the pit stops that he had and how the opposition that he faced in each one of these by human sources. First missionary journey, he lands and comes to Pisidian Antioch.
And it says, when the Jews saw the crowds, this is Acts 13, they were filled with jealousy, began contradicting the things spoken by Paul and were blaspheming. And they went on to incite prominent people in the town to drive Paul away. Iconium, Acts 14, verse 2. The Jews who disbelieve stirred up the minds of the Gentiles and embittered them against Paul and Silas. In Lystra, Jews came down from Antioch and Iconium.
They won over the crowds. And this is where they dragged Paul out of the city and stoned him till they thought he was dead. That’s the first journey. Second journey, Thessalonica. The Jews were jealous, taking some wicked men of the rabble. They formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason where Paul had been, although he escaped that attack. Berea. When the Jews of Thessalonica found out the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul and Berea also, they came down there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds against them. Corinth. While Galileo was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul, brought him before the judgment seat, and again, he was stopped, or so it seemed.
Well, he comes to his third missionary journey, and certainly he must be thinking, well, maybe God’s going to make it a little easier on me now. No. In Ephesus, the place where he spent most of his time, there was a riot that drove him out of the city. When he came to Greece, the Jews formed a plot against him there. And though he had one plan, he had to divert it to escape with his life.
In Caesarea, as he’s heading down toward Jerusalem, a prophet comes and takes a belt off Paul, binds his feet and his hands with it, and says, this is what’s going to happen to you. And that’s exactly what occurred. And you know how the story of Acts then unfolds. His trials, movement from one site to another, the ship, the journey and the shipwreck. He finally ends up here in Rome. And you remember how the book of Acts ends, right? He’s in prison in Rome. But the very last words in the book of Acts, it says he was proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. incredible opposition could not halt the gospel of Jesus Christ. And as he writes these very words, he has a guard, the praetorian guard or the imperial guard around him.
These were elite soldiers. They were specially handpicked. They were paid double and they were trained. And so they were kind of like the Green Berets. of the Roman Army, the Marines of the Roman Army set to guard him. And his testimony here is, is that they were being converted, that some of them were being converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel has become well known through the whole guard. Paul was able to see how opposition ended up spreading the gospel, giving the gospel a bigger audience. He stood before kings and rulers, defending the gospel, proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And this should encourage us.
In Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, As Christian is on his journey and comes to the interpreter’s house, you might recall there are several rooms in that house. In one of those rooms, the interpreter takes him in and he sees this large fireplace with a fire burning there. And there’s this sinister looking man and he’s taking water and he’s dumping it on the fire. But Christian, as he looks at the flame, he sees it not going out, but rather it just seems to grow in its intensity and keeps getting hotter. He says to the interpreter, how can this be? Well, the interpreter takes him around into a secret passageway. And there behind that fireplace is another man with vessels of oil. And every time the water’s coming from the one side, he’s putting more oil in on the other side.
And as the interpreter explains this to Christian, he tells them that when you are facing opposition, you will be given greater grace and greater boldness for the cause of Jesus Christ. And so it is. So it is. that God gave greater confidence to Paul and to many others. As it says in verse 14, most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. You see someone take a shot for the team. It can inspire and encourage you to go on. And so instead of hindering the gospel, This opposition was just causing it to arise. We’re getting word back. As we send these students year by year back to China. We’re getting word back about some of the opposition that they’re facing. One of our graduates was brought in.
Had his head struck numerous times being told to stop preaching and he didn’t. A young lady doing Christian education just recently had their school shut down and brought before the authorities even this past week. And as she testifies, I prayed openly and I told them exactly what we’re doing and appealed to them to let us teach the children the ways of God.
When you hear this, and it encourages you, strengthens you. I’ve yet to have one of these men, when they’re preaching in our chapel as part of their assignment, as part of their studies, I’ve yet to have one of them not mention suffering or encourage us that we’re called to suffer for the gospel.
And it’s strange to our American ears. And yet seeing these brothers and sisters in the Lord encourages us to not back down. against opposition. The gospel cannot be stopped. And it can’t even be stopped by what we might call impure messengers, finally.
In verses 15-17, Paul speaks of these messengers. He talks about there are good messengers, those who do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel, those that were like-hearted brothers, those who belong to Napark with one another, I get along and encourage each other and our joint ministries don’t see this as a thing of envy or rivalry. But then there were others Paul speaks about that these in verse 17 who proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but trying to flick me even as I am in prison. Who are these people? Are these the ones that he talks about over in chapter three, the evil workers, the ones he even calls dogs, those teaching the circumcision?
I don’t think so. And part of the reason I don’t think so is because Calvin didn’t think so. And it’s always good to agree with Calvin. Calvin said this impurity that Paul is speaking of here was of the mind, did not show itself in doctrine that can be inferred from the text.
Paul would have had no pleasure in seeing the gospel corrupted But what he is seeing here are men with gifts preaching Christ, but doing it out of envy, trying to supersede Paul, take the voice of Paul away and get people’s attention on him instead. They didn’t have pure motives. They were jealous of Paul and his power. And so they spoke in such a way as to try to influence and persuade people to follow them than him. You know, envy can sometimes be one of the most difficult pieces of opposition that we can face.
We don’t realize that it stops us in our tracks. You know, before I came out here, I was in the middle of cornfields in Indiana, a pastor there for a couple of decades. I had church planted, and I know what it’s like to preach to a small congregation. I feel right at home tonight. I felt right at home. And it was so hard at times to look at others and not be envious of what they experienced and what they had. Preachers who were popular in town had lots of resources and the big buildings, large congregations and followings.
You know, those men out there, they’re Christians. They do proclaim the gospel. They speak of Jesus Christ. They’re not cults. But as you look at their ministries, there seems to be a lot of referencing themselves. I remember two of the men in town. Again, it was an evangelical church, but the billboard outside of town advertising their church had these huge pictures of them. on it. They use things, you know, in worship like videos and dramas and shows in order to attract large crowds.
They laugh at traditional practices of the church. Many of these men don’t really have any other authority beyond themselves. And it was easy to allow self-pity and even envy to set in. Yet, Paul says there’s really only one righteous thought to have.
If we see people spreading the gospel, even if they’re doing it for impure reasons or motives, we’re to rejoice. Because ultimately what we want And what we care about is not whether their name or my name gets known, but the name of Jesus. And if his name is being proclaimed and spread and multiplied, and Paul says, I’m going to rejoice. I’m going to rejoice. Impossible circumstances, incredible opposition, And pure messengers, they don’t hinder the gospel. They advance it. They are God’s bridges to bring the gospel to other people. We have to trust that every obstacle is a God-ordained advancement. Speaking of Pilgrim’s Progress, remember where John Bunyan was when he wrote that. Twelve years in prison because he wouldn’t deny Jesus. And yet what an influence he has had for generations of people.
Back in verse 14, as Paul talks about his imprisonment, it’s literally there in verse 14 when he says, because of my imprisonment, the literal translation of that should be through my bonds. through my bonds. The brethren are trusting the Lord through my bonds. In other words, these bonds of mine have actually become the God ordained means to create more boldness in the church for preaching and proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that really leads us to the application of this passage for you tonight in verse 18, where Paul says what then?
Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ has proclaimed, and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice. You see, it wasn’t just that Paul was in prison and he was happy. Paul was in Christ, and that filled his heart with joy. And he could see beyond the opposition and the circumstances and the impurity of the messengers of his generation, and say, I’m going to rejoice. Can I get an amen with that? Amen. Let’s pray together. God, our Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this reminder tonight. that your gospel cannot be stopped.
And Father, I just want to pray, especially for this congregation of your people, the Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church here in Sewickley. Lord, I know they have a history of bringing that gospel to many other people. I know that you have sent out from them people who have gone and spread it near and far. And Lord, I pray that you would continue to encourage them in their gospel work here in this part of your world. I pray, Father, that you would encourage them as they go out this evening, as they return to their homes, and then through this week are in neighborhoods and schools and places of business, that wherever they go, that you would use them as your ambassadors, your representatives. And I pray, Father, if there are doors that they’ve been knocking on that seem closed to them, that, Father, by your providence and spirit, you would open those doors and give them opportunity to speak into the ears of friends, of neighbors, of employees, employers. I pray, Father, that you would cause your gospel to keep advancing here.
I pray that you would bring a new season of fruitfulness and blessing to them. And God, even when they don’t see these things yet, that you would help them to walk by faith. And that God, that in their heart of hearts, they would rejoice. Because Jesus Christ is receiving day by day more and more glory around this globe. To you be all the praise and glory, Father. For we ask it through your Son’s name. Amen. So we conclude our service tonight. I’d like to invite you to open your psalm books to Psalm 72, Selection C. 72, Selection C. As this psalm reminds us, just
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