Preached on Sunday, March 7, 2010
from
Philippians 1:12-18
Theme: Paul’s confident affirmations about the gospel during one of his greatest times of trial teaches us how to pray for the success of the gospel in our own times of trial.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
You may notice that we’ve changed the order of events in our worship service this morning. Usually, we take the time to have our ‘church family sharing’ time before the message. But I’m asking that, today, we reserve our prayer time for one another’s needs until after the message.
There’s a particular focus that, I believe, God wants us to give more attention to in our prayer time together; and I have felt led to share a passage with you that teaches us about that focus.
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Let me begin by explaining what it is about our prayer times together that—I believe—God would have us adjust.
Much of the prayer requests that we share during our church family time are about specific trials we each may be undergoing—trials concerning our health or of someone in our family, a financial need, a pressing job situation, an upcoming surgery, or the need for guidance in the making of a decision. And one of the things that I believe we do ‘right’ as a church family is that we faithfully bring our burdens into God’s house and lift them up to His throne together as a part of our worship service. I’m very glad that we’re the type of church family that prays for one another’s needs; and I hope we’ll never change that.
But what I and some of the other leaders of our church have begun to notice is that the focus of our prayers tends to be—usually—on the impact our particular trial is having on us individually. But we feel that not enough of a focus is being placed on what God’s greater purpose might be for having sovereignly permitted those trials to come into our lives in the first place.
In order for our prayer times together to be pleasing to the Lord, I and some of the leaders feel that we need to adjust our focus. We need to be giving more attention to what God is doing in and through our trials. And in thinking about all this earlier this week, I found myself drawn to the first chapter of the New Testament book of Philippians; and to the apostle Paul’s sense of vision for what God was doing in one of the greatest personal trials of his life.
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Let me set the context for you.
The apostle Paul was in a very serious situation. It had all started when he sought from the Lord the opportunity to preach the gospel in Jerusalem. And when he finally arrived in Jerusalem, he seemed to encounter one frustrating trial after another. He was nearly killed by an angry mob of his own countrymen, was apprehended by Roman soldiers, and was dragged before the Sanhedrin to answer for the disturbances his preaching had caused. Humanly speaking, it seemed as if everything was going wrong. But in the middle of the night one evening, the Lord Jesus appeared to Paul and said, “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome” (Acts 23:11).
What an exciting opportunity! It was a ‘dream come true’ for the great missionary Paul—to be given the privilege by Jesus Christ Himself to preach His gospel in the capital city of the world! But it proved to be no easy time getting there! Paul had escaped a plot against his life, had to be escorted from Jerusalem to Caesarea by a Roman garrison, was made to stand before the Roman governor to face the charge of sedition, was forced to appeal to Caesar for justice, and was then transported by a military escort to Rome. (Oh—and there was that whole matter of a shipwreck that he suffered along the way!)
By the time we come to his letter to the Philippians, Paul was under house arrest somewhere in Rome—sitting in chains with the Roman palace guard around him. He had, apparently, already been tried in a Roman court and was simply awaiting the verdict. And as we read his letter, we can see that there was a very real possibility that he could be executed. He wasn’t sure what would happen next—whether he would be set free to live and return to the Philippian Christians, or be killed and sent to the eternal presence of His beloved Savior.
Now; if you were Paul, what would you have been the focus of your prayers in a situation like that? If you had sent some prayer requests to the congregation of Christians, what would you ask them to pray? For deliverance? For freedom? That you may be granted your life? That the trial to be brought to a favorable end?
Or, put yourself in the shoes of the Philippian Christians. Their beloved apostle Paul was now in prison for having preached the very gospel that he had first brought to them—and may very shortly be executed for it. How might that have affected your hopes for the whole enterprise of the spread of the gospel? How might that affect your own safety and security, and your own freedom to witness for Jesus? What might your prayer requests be in a situation like that?
This all brings us to Philippians 1:12-18; and given their context, these words are nothing less than astonishing. I believe, they give us a sense of what the focus of Paul’s prayer requests might have been. He wrote;
But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice (Philippians 1:12-18).
Here, I believe the apostle Paul is giving us an insight into the purpose of his trials—a purpose that extends far above the impact that his trials may be having on him personally.
And I suggest that these words teach you and me, dear brothers and sisters, how to pray in a much higher and worthier way concerning our trials—a way that gets at the greater purpose for which God had allowed those trials to come into our experience in the first place.
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Now; there are some important theological convictions that I believe stood behind Paul’s words. I believe it would be helpful for us to think about those convictions for a moment—and make sure that they are our own.
For one thing, Paul had an absolute confidence in the sovereignty of God over all that happened to him. He wasn’t simply a fatalist. He didn’t simply shrug his shoulders when trials came his way; and sing, “Que Sera, Sera, Whatever will be, will be.” He believed that everything that came into his life—even the difficult trials that he was experiencing in his service to the Lord; and even the severe trial of his imprisonment and possible execution—were all in the hand of a mighty God; and were divinely purposeful for bringing about the glory of Jesus Christ.
In Romans 8:28-30—in those precious words that have brought comfort and encouragement to many of us in times of deep trial—Paul affirmed;
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified (Romans 8:28-30).
This wasn’t something that he simply ‘hoped’ was the case. He knew—with rock-solid conviction—that all things truly do work out for the good of God’s people. And he very clearly expressed this conviction—even about his imprisonment—in the next few verses after this morning’s passage. In Philippians 1:19-21, he writes;
For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 1:19-21).
Now; stop and think for a moment. Is that your conviction about your trials? Do you see them in the hand of a sovereign God? And do you see them as allowed by Him to come into your life for the purpose of glorifying Jesus Christ? Before we can even begin to pray together about our trials as God would have us, we need to make sure that Paul’s conviction about the sovereignty of God over those trials is our conviction as well.
Another conviction that Paul held to was concerning prayer. The Bible doesn’t give us a promise us that God will answer any ol’ prayer request we might bring to Him simply because we’ve asked. Rather, it specifically tells us that “if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15; emph. added). Jesus Himself said, “And whatever you ask in My name [that is, as His representative and in accord with what Jesus Himself would ask], that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13; emph. added).
I believe that Paul knew this secret to prayer—that God moves His hand mightily when the thing that we ask from Him is in accordance with the thing He has already said He wants to do. And so, stop and think: Is that also your conviction? Do you have a sense of what it is that God is wanting to do in this world, as revealed in His written word? And do you adjust your prayers about your trials accordingly, so that you are asking what it is that God has already said He purposes to do?
Putting these convictions together, Paul emphasized the purposeful plan of God in his trial—that is, the plan of advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ through His redeemed people. And in seeking prayer for his situation, Paul would have prayed—according to God’s will—that the gospel would spread through the trials God had sovereignly allowed to come into his life.
And that, dear brothers and sisters, is what I believe God would have us emphasize more faithfully in our prayer concerns for one another. Paul’s confident affirmation during his time of trial—that God is bringing about the advancement of the gospel through it—teaches us how to pray with respect to our times of trial.
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Look a little closer with me at this passage. Paul begins by thinking what might be on the minds of his precious brothers and sisters. He wants to assure them that his trial of imprisonment—and even possible execution—is not a failure to the gospel. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. He writes;
But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel . . . (v. 12).
Think of that! The things that happened to Paul—the arrest, the shipwreck, and even the imprisonment in Rome—were divinely purposeful! God had caused them all to turn out for the furtherance of the gospel of Jesus Christ!
This makes me think of a story that someone shared with me the other day. A teenage girl was telling her mother how everything was going wrong in her life. She was failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her, and her best friend was moving away. As she was complaining about how all these trials were making her life miserable, her Mother was busy baking a cake. At a certain point, the mother asked the girl if she’d like to have a little snack; and the girl said, “Sure, Mom! I always love your cake.”
So her mother handed her a measuring cup and said, “Here, have some cooking oil.” And the girl turned up her nose with a loud “Yuck!” When she rejected that, her mother said, “Well then; if you don’t want that, how about a couple of raw eggs?” And the girl turned her head away with a loud, “Bleecck!!” “Alright then,” her mother said; “would you like flour and some baking soda instead?” And the girl rolled her eyes and said, “All that stuff is gross, Mom! Why are you trying to give those things to me?” And the mother replied, “All those things by themselves seem really bad. But when you put them all together in just the right way, they make a delicious cake.”
And I believe that’s how Paul saw the trials that he was undergoing. By themselves, they all seemed bad. But he knew that, behind them all, was the sovereign hand of a loving God. He was putting all these things together in just the right way; so that when they all came together, they proved to have turned out for the furtherance of the very gospel that saves lost souls.
And if we are submitted to the Savior’s lordship, we can be sure that the same is true for you and me. God causes the trials that He permits to come into our lives to advance the kingdom of His Son Jesus. By themselves, they seem bad; but together, in God’s mighty hand, they are wonderfully purposeful!
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Now; how would that confident trust in God’s sovereign hand have affected Paul’s prayer life? How might he have adjusted his prayer in his trial in such a way as to ask what God Himself would want to do? I believe we can see, in this passage, three things that he might have focused-in on.
First, I suggest that he would have prayed for . . .
1. HOW HIS TRIAL IMPACTED UNBELIEVERS.
He said that God was working to advance the gospel through Paul’s trial; “so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ” (v. 13).
God had sovereignly worked in such a way as to cause Paul, His most devoted and fearless missionary, to end up in jail in—of all places—the Praetorium. He was surrounded by the palace guard of Caesar himself! And every guard that was ordered to guard Paul would have had to spend great amounts of time with him. They would have watched his response to the things that were going on around him. They would have picked-up on his joy in the midst of the uncertainly of the outcome of his trial—and even in the face of possible execution. They would have surely known that he was not a criminal; but rather, that he was a man who was suffering because he had sought to bring the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to others! Word would have gotten around about this remarkable prisoner—and about the Jesus that he preached.
I have to show you something at the end of this letter that must have come as a tremendous surprise to the people who first read it. At the end of his letter, Paul writes a closing greeting and says, “All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar’s household” (4:22). Think of that! Some in Caesar Nero’s household—some of his closest servants—had heard the gospel of Jesus Christ from the prisoner Paul, had come to believe on the Jesus that he preached, and were now “saints” who sent their greetings to the Philippian believers!
Dear brothers and sisters; may I suggest to you that, when we pray together for the trials we may be undergoing, we need to make sure we pray for how the unbelieving people of this world are impacted by those trials? It’s God’s will that the unsaved people around us hear about Jesus. And one of the reasons God allows trials in our lives is so that unsaved people can see our devotion to Jesus first-hand; and so that a door may be opened for them to place their trust in Him too. As the apostle Peter wrote to Christians who were suffering a severe trial of persecution; “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).
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Another thing that I believe Paul would have prayed was for . . .
2. HOW HIS TRIAL ENCOURAGED HIS BROTHERS AND SISTERS.
He wrote the good news that, not only had his faith in Jesus become evident to some of the unbelievers in the imperial palace; but “most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word of God without fear” (v. 14).
Why might it have been that Paul’s imprisonment for Christ increased the confidence of other Christians? It may have been that Paul’s imprisonment—preventing him, as it did, from preaching the gospel abroad—encouraged others to step forward into the mission-field that might have otherwise held back. Or it may have been that, before this point, they had felt unworthy to step into the great apostle’s shoes; but now felt that God was calling them to partner with him in the work. Or it could be that they may have held back in fear of the suffering that preaching the gospel might bring upon them; but became encouraged as they saw how Jesus proved sufficient to sustain Paul during his time of suffering. But however it came to be; God had used Paul’s imprisonment to drive steel down the spines of His people—so that they stepped forward to speak the word of God to their culture with far more boldness than they would have otherwise.
I can think of an incident in the New Testament when just such a thing happened. The Bible tells us that Peter and John had been arrested for preaching the gospel. The two apostles responded by respectfully testifying that they cannot do anything else but speak of the things that Jesus had done. And after the Jewish authorities had threatened them and let them go, they returned to the rest of their brethren; and together, they all prayed the prayer contained in Acts 4:24-30;
“Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the mouth of Your servant David have said:
‘Why did the nations rage,
And the people plot vain things?
The kings of the earth took their stand,
And the rulers were gathered together
Against the LORD and against His Christ.’“For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus” (Acts 4:24-30).
Do you think that the saints would have become so bold to proclaim Jesus if it hadn’t been for the boldness they saw in Peter and John during their time of trial? God uses the example of His saints to encourage and embolden others of His saints in the preaching of the gospel. And I believe that was something that Paul would have also prayed for in his trial.
Again, let me suggest to you, dear brothers and sisters, that when we pray together concerning our trials, God would have us pray that other followers of Jesus would see in us such a faithfulness to His gospel, and such a joyful endurance for Him, that they too will be encouraged to be bold for Him!
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Now; sadly, not everyone was sincere about how they responded to Paul’s trial. Some were genuinely inspired by his example to proclaim Jesus as he did. Some did so out of love for Paul and for the Savior he proclaimed. But others were not so sincere. Some did so out of jealously toward Paul—hoping to add further pain to his imprisonment. Paul wrote, “Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel” (vv. 15-17).
Just think of how much it would have hurt Paul’s heart—that some would try to preach the gospel in order to make Paul’s imprisonment harder! I suppose that, in some ways, that alone would have been a worse trial to Paul than his imprisonment! But what’s interesting is how Paul responded to it. He didn’t say, “I don’t care if they do such a thing to me.” Rather, he said that he actually rejoiced in the fact that—even if they did so insincerely—Jesus Christ was being preached!
This is amazing when you compare it with what Paul said at the beginning of his letter to the Galatians. Some in Galatia were actually preaching false doctrine—and were distorting the gospel of Jesus Christ. And in that case, Paul wrote;
But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8-9).
But in the case of those who were preaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ—even if they were doing so from out of evil motives—Paul rejoiced! He was so concerned that the good news of Jesus got out to needy people, he would rejoiced if even his trial of imprisonment became a motivation for even insincere and envious people to do so!
This shows us, then, a third thing that Paul would have prayed . . .
3. THANKS TO GOD THAT—NO MATTER WHAT—CHRIST WAS PREACHED.
And I suggest to you, dear brothers and sisters, that God would have you and I look carefully into our trials, see how it may be that Christ is being preached through them, and offer expressions of genuine praise and thanks to the sovereign God for it!
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In just a few moments, we’re going to share our concerns to one another, and lift up our trials before God in prayer. But I hope that our look at Paul’s example will help us to adjust the focus of those prayers.
May we, by God’s grace, learn to see our trials in terms of something far greater than just the impact they may have on us personally. May we see them as instruments in the hands of a sovereign God by which He advances the gospel of His Son Jesus Christ through us!
And may we learn to pray accordingly. May we grow to pray increasingly for how our response to those trials impact the unbelievers around us. May we grow to pray more that our trials may be used by God to encourage and embolden our brothers and sisters to proclaim Jesus in this world.
And in all of it, may we learn to give sincere and joyous thanks to God for the fact that, in all ways—even in our times of trial—Christ is preached!