For the last couple of weeks we have been systematically walking our way through Paul’s letter to the Philippians. We have heard Paul speak to the church there with compassion, joy, and love. We looked last week at Paul’s encouragement of Christians who are enduring suffering. We were reminded of the fact that God uses Christian suffering to accomplish His will. Paul’s optimism in his imprisonment at Rome is something that I don’t know that any of us completely understand. The only answer that we can come up with is that Paul’s resting on the promises and sovereignty of God is second to none. We saw that Paul’s ultimate goal was the advance of the gospel. So we come to our text today, a text that reminds us in many ways of that which we looked at last Sunday. In fact, this text actually builds upon the principles from last week. Perhaps I should have squeezed last Sunday and this Sunday together, but I don’t think anyone really wants to sit where you are for that long. I mean, the pews are comfortable, but maybe not 45 minute sermon comfortable.
So, immediately after Paul has finished talking about Christian suffering being a good thing, he answers a question that the Philippians had to be asking at this point. The Philippians are wondering what their attitude ought to be to the people that are continuing to spread the gospel while Paul is chained up. I mean, after all, the Philippians are big supporters of Paul. They’ve been sending him money. In fact, in chapter four we’ll find out that Paul’s almost embarrassed by the fact that these relatively poor Philippians are sending him such generous gifts so that he can devote himself fully to the gospel. He’s their missionary. He’s their church planter. He’s their evangelist. They’re sending money to him. What should they think about these other people that are out there preaching the gospel while he’s chained up? They are saying to Paul, “Well, Paul, we’ve supported you, and now that you’re chained up there are other people out preaching the gospel…some of them are stepping up. They’re saying, ‘Paul’s in prison; we better get out there and share the gospel.’ But others of them, Paul, they’re your enemies. They’re envious of you. They don’t like you. They want to build their name. They want to have more converts than you. They want to be more famous than you. They want to be more influential than you. They want to get more credit than you. What are we supposed to think about them?”
And the Apostle Paul responds in this extraordinary way: “Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; 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.” So the Apostle Paul says ‘Look, some of these folks are out there because they know that I’m in prison. They love me, they love the gospel, they love Christ, and so they say “Lord, Paul’s in prison. We better step up. We better go out and share the gospel.” They’re doing it out of love, they’re doing it out of right motives. Others, however, may be thinking something like this, “Paul’s in prison, and when he hears that we’re out preaching the gospel and winning converts and gaining fame through our faithful proclamation, he’ll be discouraged because we’re winning the converts.’’ And the Apostle Paul says to the Philippians “Uh-uh. As long as Christ is being truly proclaimed, I don’t care who does it or who gets the credit for it, because the point is the promotion of the gospel.” And so he says to the Philippians “I am not discouraged when Christ is truly preached, even if it’s out of envy, even if it’s out of competition, even if it’s designed to discourage me. As long as the gospel is preached truly…” [He’s not saying, by the way, he doesn’t mind it when false gospels are taught. Not at all! He does mind it when false gospels are taught.] He’s talking about the true gospel being proclaimed, but by people with wrong motives. You know, their motive is to get at him; their motive is to discourage him; their motive is to get more converts than he gets, so that they get more credit and it discourages him in his state of imprisonment. But what they’re saying is true. You know preachers can preach the truth and not have hearts right with God. And the Apostle Paul says “Look, Philippians. Here’s the big concern. The big concern is the promotion of Christ, the promotion of the gospel, the progress of the gospel; and I’m not discouraged when Christ is truly preached. In fact, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, in this I rejoice.” Why? Because as far as Paul is concerned it’s not about him, it’s about Christ. It’s not about Paul being first, Paul gaining fame. It’s about Christ. I must admit to you that I struggle with this. I see pastors on TV and I immediately dismiss them. Now sure, there are those who we see that are preaching a false gospel, but not all of them. There are some who have decided that the gospel needs to be proclaimed over the airwaves and have taken up this task. I get upset and say that these pastors ought to go get a “real church” whatever that may mean and stop just doing this for the camera. How much I need to have the mindset of the Apostle Paul in these situations.
So we have seen last week that Paul is saying that Christian suffering is many times a good thing. We have seen this Sunday that even those who proclaim God’s word for selfish reasons are still accomplishing God will. Ultimately, Paul is telling us that God’s will will be done no matter what. He tells the Philippians how he can stay so joyful, so optimistic in such troubled times. He says, “Here’s my anchor.” “For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.” Wow. What a statement by Paul. Or to put it another way we might could say his response is, “You know, whether I’m released or not, I know I’m not going to be put to shame, because my goal is that whether I live or die, Christ is exalted. Here’s my hope,” the Apostle Paul is saying “Here is my hope, and nobody can take this hope from me. Here’s my hope: that Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or death.” With these words Paul is pointing us to the cross. Jesus’ great instrument of shame is also Jesus’ great instrument of victory. And if that is the case for Jesus, so also it is the case for all those who trust in Him, and so the Apostle Paul is saying this, “There is no shame that I can endure in this world that can ultimately shame me, as long as Christ is exalted in me, because that’s what I’m about. I’m about glorifying and enjoying God through Jesus Christ forever; and whatever shame I bear here will not ultimately be my shame, as long as Christ is exalted in me. So whether I live in prison or die at the hand of a Roman executioner, if Christ is exalted I will not be put to shame, because I am here to live for the glory of God.”
Now taking last week’s look at Christian suffering and this week’s look at such spiritual optimism, we can say that there are 3 very important things here to keep in mind. One, Paul makes it clear that Christians know that the word of God can’t be imprisoned. You know the Philippians are concerned that Paul being imprisoned is going to hinder the spread of the gospel, and Paul makes it emphatically clear here—“No, no, no! My imprisonment is not going to stop the gospel, because you can imprison the messengers of the word of God, but you can’t imprison the word of God.” Friends, you’ve got to have that confidence in this world. You’ve got to have that confidence in this world, that the word of God cannot be imprisoned.
Secondly, Paul makes it clear here that Christians rejoice when the gospel is being preached. The Philippians don’t quite know how to react to the progress of the gospel amongst these other preachers while Paul was in prison, some who love Paul and some who don’t. And Paul says to them, “Look, when the gospel goes forth, I’m happy!” I, your pastor, want us to love every doctrine in our Confession of Faith. I want us to understand it more and more and appreciate it more and more every day, every week, every year. I want us to live it out in joy and in gladness as we bear witness to the truth. I want us to have conviction about the doctrines that we believe. But when we see God using faithful servants who may be different from us, may believe a little bit differently from us, but who share with us a true understanding of the gospel, when we see that gospel going forth through their ministries, our response should be to rejoice! Even if they’re growing faster than we are, even if they’re gaining more converts than we are, we should rejoice! Because the point is not us or them, it’s the proclamation of Christ, it’s the spread of the gospel, and it’s the building of the kingdom. We ought to love the kingdom so much that we rejoice when we see the gospel proclaimed, even when it’s not us, even when it’s not our tribe, we ought to rejoice when Christ is proclaimed.
Thirdly, Christians long for Christ to be exalted, whether this is in our life or in our death. It’s the thing that we’re about. This is why our response to our circumstances is so important, because if our response is “Why me?” what does that say? Who is at the center of our worldview and universe? Me. But if our response is “How is Christ going to be exalted in this?” then who’s at the center of our universe and our worldview? Christ. That’s how it was for the Apostle Paul. Friends, I know…I know that this is a message for so many here today, in a variety of circumstances. Paul has a word for us about God’s providence—to trust in God’s providence. He has a word for us about the desire of our hearts in seeing the gospel proclaimed, and he has a word for us in understanding the purpose of our lives. What is our purpose? To exalt Christ, whether in life or in death. Or, in the words of The Westminster Shorter Catechism, to glorify and enjoy God forever. That’s what we’re here for. In every circumstance we have the privilege and opportunity to exalt Christ. May He help us to do so.
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