Pawned – Part 3

He is being blessed by what is
taking place here through the life of Paul, and that’s why
I’ve suggested the title of Pond, because Paul’s circumstance,
as he mentions them, was essentially the sacrifice of himself for
God’s benefit. And so we’ve subtitled it, God’s
Benefit at Paul’s Expense. And we’re looking at just the
blessings, those three glorious blessings that were brought about
by Paul’s circumstance, God given as it was. If you would, let’s
jump in again. We’ll read the passage in its
entirety. The passage is in the bulletin, if you prefer, with
a place there for notes. Philippians 1, and we’ll pick
it up in verse 12. 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. For I know that this shall turn
out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision
of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation
and hope, that I shall not be put to shame in anything, but
that with all boldness Christ shall, even now as always, be
exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me,
to live is Christ. And to die is gain. We recounted last week at some
of those circumstances that Paul had endured. And always with
the same attitude, whether it was shipwreck or imprisonment
or beatings or all of the calamities that recorded there in 2 Corinthians
11 that were part of Paul’s collective circumstance. Here in this context. in addition to the context there
in Corinthians where he refers to them as momentary light afflictions. And he looks at his circumstances
specifically in light of eternity. And he calls them momentary and
light. Here, he acknowledges that those
circumstances are contributing to the greater progress of the
Gospel. God is benefiting from what Paul
is enduring. Literally, when he talks about
his circumstances, as we saw several weeks ago, it is the
things according to me, the things that are happening to me. But
they’re not just happening. In Paul’s mind, they are orchestrated
by a sovereign God. They are God given circumstances. And as we saw, We recalled that
how much better would we be, how much better off would we
be if we constantly kept in mind that our own circumstances were
God given. It’s no surprises. In fact, even as I was pondering
this passage again this week, I thought, of course, of Romans
chapter 8. Listen to this. I consider the
sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with
the glory that is to be revealed to us.” There is another snapshot
of Paul’s perspective on God-given circumstances, no matter how
difficult. No matter how difficult they
are, Paul says they’re not even worthy to be compared with the
glory that will be revealed to us. But I want you to hear the
context of Romans 8. He goes on and says, “…for
the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing
of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected
to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected
it in hope.” Do you hear what Paul is saying there? that God,
and He’s not up in heaven like some cosmic bully, putting difficult
things in people’s life with no purpose at all, nor do we
willingly sign up for them. Lord, I’d like a little difficult
disease. Lord, I’d like a dose of poverty. That’s not at all. what Paul
says. Paul says they’re God given,
that God has subjected the creation in hope. God had a purpose. And the initial hope, if you
look at the context here again, the creation was subjected to
it to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected
it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from
its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the
children of God.” People endure difficulty in this life in order
to point them to God. What a merciful thing. I can
remember one friend of mine, who I’ll not
name, had endured a number of difficult things in his life.
And at one point, I suggested to him, is it possible? Is it possible that God could
be using these things to get your attention? I knew that it
was a for sure thing. I knew God was trying to get
his attention. And I said, is it possible? posing the idea
in his mind. The very next day, his truck
was broadsided. He called me up and he said,
what are you trying to do, put a hex on me? I mean, that’s the language of
Scripture. God has subjected creation to
futility and difficulty in order to point the creation back to
God. Paul goes on and says, for we
know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pain of
childbirth until now. This is the same context where
Paul culminates the thought with Romans 8.28. We know that God
causes all things to work together for good to those who love God,
to those who are called according to His purpose. That’s Paul’s
perspective on circumstances And when Paul says circumstances,
he usually doesn’t have a bed of roses in mind when he says
that. It’s the difficulty that we endure
in life. That’s what Paul means by circumstances. And astonishingly, here in the
opening paragraph of this great section, in verse 12, he says
that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress
of the gospel. And this people to the Philippians
had to be stunning. It was shocking to them to hear
him say this. Because life would tell us that
difficulty and struggle and frustration is a mark of God’s displeasure
and cannot possibly lend itself to God’s blessing. But Paul says, Circumstances
had turned out for the greater progress of the gospel. It was
better. Things were better. Here’s Paul in prison, the church
so concerned about not only him, but the cause of Christ. Paul
writes to reassure them that not only was he OK, he was OK,
regardless of whether they even killed him. Not only was he OK,
the gospel was OK. His circumstances had turned
out for its greater progress. We talk about greater progress,
we looked at this word and I wanted to return just to this thought
briefly. It is of a military garrison going before a great
troop, clearing the way, clearing the path. And if you look at
it this way, we’ve talked about Paul being pawned, as it were,
and I’ve suggested to you that God is gaining from Paul’s God-given
circumstances. But nowhere is that theme more
graphic than in this word, that Paul is, in essence, the bulldozer. Paul is, in essence, that garrison
that is going before the troops. It is Paul and his circumstances
and all that went into that that is leading to the greater progress
of the gospel. And such has been the case throughout
the Christian church, as we have seen. So we know that in some
general fashion, that Paul’s circumstances have led to the
greater progress of the gospel. And we began several weeks ago
by looking at the first of the three. I say there are three
glorious blessings that are brought about by Paul’s circumstances
here. The first is the cause of Christ. The cause of Christ
is advanced because of Paul’s circumstances. Look at verse
12 once again. 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. It wasn’t just that he was a
prisoner. It wasn’t just that he was this seditious rabble. It wasn’t just that he was it
wasn’t any of those things at all. He was no criminal at all.
The very fact that he’s in prison, has very little to do with it.
It’s the fact that he was imprisoned in the cause of Christ. It was
the fact that he was a Christian and a prisoner that was noteworthy.
That’s what was advancing the cause of the gospel was the fact
that he was imprisoned in the cause of Christ. We looked at
this, and it said that the whole news was becoming known to the
whole Praetorian Guard. And we saw that that referred
to people, not a place, not a building, not a barrack. It referred to
the Guard, all 10,000, almost 10,000 of them. And the news
of the gospel had spread like wildfire through that whole crowd.
As they took turns alternating and taking care of and watching
over this prisoner, they began to see in his life, in his lifestyle,
in his attitude, they began to see something different. One,
as I repeat, recorded this way, his life among them was one on
which so strong a light shone that nothing could well remain
concealed. He had no privacy, no solitude
day or night, except that solitude which every Christian heart can
make for itself, even in the midst of bustle by communion
with God. Studying Him by this light, seeing
His purity, His patience, His gentleness, His kindness, the
soldiers felt that assuredly this was no criminal and that
no charge could be for a minute sustained against Him. They heard. As he received would-be
inquirers to Christ, they heard his counsel to them. They heard
his proclamation of the Gospel. They saw him pray with wounded
and weary Christians. They heard him likely audibly
dictate his epistles, prison epistles, Colossians and Ephesians,
and this one, they heard these glorious words. Perhaps, I mean,
can you even think for a minute that Paul didn’t actively share
the gospel with those that just happened to be providentially
chained to his wrist? Paul had longed to go to Rome. The very fact that he’s chained
to a prisoner was part of God’s good providence, not hard luck. Not only was it known to all
the Praetorian guard, but to everyone else. He was known far
and wide. The whole city began to know about him. From the very
first moment that he came into Rome, as we reviewed that great
scene in Acts chapter 28, First, Paul begins to preach to the
leading men of the Jews, and then he begins receiving in his
lodging great numbers of people. And it says finally at the culmination
of that chapter, he stayed in his own quarters for two years
and was welcoming all that came to him. Can we even think for
a minute that the Gospel could somehow be sequestered to those
who were chained to Him this whole time? The question that we posed, and
I’m going to keep posing it, if God was benefited by what
the Apostle Paul was enduring in his circumstances, the question
for us is, is he gaining? Is he benefiting from our own
circumstances? Is the light of the Gospel shining
through us in our attitude and our behavior? Or do we gnash
our teeth at what God has dished out to us? Are we angry with
God to the point of obscuring the light that God intends to
shine through us? Do people see any difference
in us as we face the common struggles of life? Whether it’s sickness
or financial difficulty or a bad boss? Does God gain any blessing
from our life as we endure our own God-given circumstance? We introduced and began last
week the second of these three glorious blessings that God benefits
in Paul’s circumstance. Paul’s sacrifice led to God’s
gain, not only in the cause of Christ, but also in the proclamation
of Christ. It wasn’t just that they knew
that Paul was imprisoned for Christ. That was the first blessing,
that that news was beginning to be known far and wide that
this was indeed a Christian man. But that others, in seeing Paul’s
boldness, his graciousness, his magnanimous spirit, they began
to be energized by this and began to proclaim Christ with new vigor. Look at verse 14, if you would. And I just want you to course
with me through this brief passage and see how many times this whole
idea of sharing the Gospel, in whatever term you want to put
it, is used. Look at verse 14. 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. Verse 17, the former proclaim
Christ. Verse 18, what then only that
in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed. God was benefiting here because
now the proclamation of Christ was advancing And when he says
here, most of the brethren, he indicates that there’s a small
group that is still so timid, so shy about their faith. It
doesn’t mean that they’re unbelievers. It means that they’re just merely
timid and unspoken or less than outspoken believers. The frozen
chosen. Most of the brethren trusting
in the Lord because of my imprisonment. That was their motive. They’re
looking at Paul. They see the circumstances. His
circumstances are being used by God. He’s not daunted by them. He’s not giving up. His attitude
hasn’t diminished. His spirit isn’t quashed. One recorded it this way. His
bonds were a testimony to the entire truth, power and glory
of the gospel. He was an encouragement to the
Christians. And as the Christians saw him,
they were all the more eager to proclaim Christ. They were
charmed, said one, and convinced by his manly integrity, his undaunted
endurance, his open and candid testimony of his past career,
that of the persecutor of the church, his willingness to seal
his testimony with his blood, What might have been supposed
to dampen and discourage them had the opposite effect. It cheered
and stimulated them. What they saw was this faithful
man of God who was being held unjustly and yet joyfully enduring
it all, constantly under fire, constantly under persecution.
And yet God had sustained him and even advanced the cause of
Christ because of him. And because of that, I mean,
it says it most plainly, most of the brethren trusting in the
Lord because of my imprisonment have far more courage to speak
the Word of God without fear. They’re not daunted either. In
fact, if anything, they are emboldened by the fact that, you know what,
look, if Paul can have this attitude about the sovereignty of God
in this circumstance and be used by God in the midst of it, so
can I. And then Paul lights upon perhaps
one of the more challenging paragraphs in his
epistles. Because he says that some are
preaching Christ almost, I mean, can you say it any differently?
Un-Christianly. beginning in verse 15. There
is this dichotomy that Paul wants to outline for us. He says, some
to be sure, which means that the Philippians had likely heard
that there was some difficulty. There was some faction in the
church in Rome and that there was something going on. Something was amiss. People’s
hearts weren’t right. And Paul verifies it isn’t hide
it. That’s what makes the Scriptures
so much more valid. It underscores their integrity.
It doesn’t take away from them. And he doesn’t shy away from
it at all. He says some, to be sure, are
preaching Christ even from envy and strife. Sinful motives. There were another kind of preacher. They were all part of one great
group. Everybody was preaching the Gospel.
And there was this new motive, new energy, if you will, moving
and motivating the Roman church. But the motives in it were very
diverse. Most of the converts were motivated
by Paul’s sufferings. The way that he was going about
them, the way that he was enduring them. But there was this part,
this faction. I won’t even call it a minority.
We don’t even know. Maybe it was even the majority of those
that were preaching Christ. He does say some. But there were those that were
preaching almost against Paul or in opposition to him. There
was a party spirit among them, as we’ll see in a moment. And it was quite a paradox. That’s
why Paul is sharing this, that it was a paradox that even though
they were preaching Christ from perhaps an impure motive, God
somehow was using it and the preaching of Christ was going
forth. The question is, who were they? Who were they? Some believe that these were
unbelievers that had latched on to the gospel message, who
proclaimed Christianity in order to kind of stir up the hatred
of Paul’s enemies, which is such an unchristian spirit. I mean,
it’s one thing to do a good thing with a bad motive. And check
your own hearts. We all did it this week. We all
did good things with bad motives throughout the week. That’s what
Paul seems to be suggesting these are doing. But this attitude
of actually doing something with such an evil motive to bring
further hardship, even death upon Paul, goes beyond that. It goes beyond that. I don’t
believe that this is unbelievers, as we’ll see in a minute. Some
suggested that it was the Jews. The resident Jews who kind of
brought the gospel and its evidence. These were the Judaizers. They
brought the gospel and some of these things into controversy
so that they could dismantle Paul’s argument and refute it.
Paul was imprisoned. He’s kind of sidelined, if you
will. And so they’re taking whatever opportunity they can to mitigate
against the pure gospel. I don’t buy that one either,
because later on, Paul will say in verse 18, only that in every
way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed in
this I rejoice. Paul never rejoiced at the Judaizers
message. Read the book of Galatians. Paul
did not consider the message of the Judaizers the gospel. He called it there another gospel. preaching another Christ. There’s
another option. Perhaps these were Christians
who, for whatever reason, were jealous of the apostle and they
just sought to undermine his influence. To me, that is the
clearest and best explanation of who these preachers were,
One said it this way, it was that the Roman church, before
Paul had even arrived, had no defined leadership. It was easy
for ambitious and smaller men to obtain certain prominence,
which they found menaced by the presence and influence of this
apostle. And I’ll tell you, that in every
church that we’ve served, we’ve come in. Somebody told me, you
know, when we were in training, beware of the one who meets you
at the train station. And we found it to be true in
every church that we’ve served. There are those that regardless
of their title or absence thereof, think that they own and run the
church. They think that they are God’s
gift alone to the church and that the church is under their
stewardship and purview. Well, I think that’s exactly
the case here. I mean, who likes to be corrected? Who likes to have somebody come
in and look at what it is they’re doing and to correct what it
is they’re doing or to exert a new kind of leadership in their
midst? I think they were just flat jealous
of Paul. That does not make them unsaved. These could and are very likely
found in many churches in the country. They are true believers
in Jesus Christ. They long to see the message
proclaimed. They just also tend to like influence. They tend to like their own power,
their own influence. That’s what Paul was contending
with. There’s just this underlying spirit of competition, envy. that leads them to proclaim Christ
from an impure motive. They had what so many call a
party spirit. There was dissension among them.
They were factious. That’s the bottom line. And I’m
not saying that it doesn’t deserve rebuke. I’m not in any way suggesting
that it’s right. Paul says it right here, that
their heart was not right. that they were preaching Christ
from impure motives. That’s the implication. It goes on in verse 17, and he
says the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather
than from pure motives, their motives were impure. And specifically, it was their
selfish ambition. The word is an interesting one
and has an interesting difficulty attached to it. There are two
potential words that the word selfish ambition could be derived
from. One is eris, from where we get
the word contention, translated contention. The other word is
erathos. This is an interesting twist.
Erathos was a hired servant. And that, I believe, is the root
of the word here, selfish ambition. Go with me on this, just hear
me out. Essentially, this word meant, erathos, meant labor for
hire. And it ended up being applied
to those who serve in official positions for their own selfish
purposes, constantly promoting a party spirit of this faction.
This hired servant was the work of a day laborer of any kind
of menial kind. In politics, they had these hired
canvassers. They didn’t care about the person
that they were promoting. They just went door to door,
much like even our own day and age. But I’ll tell you, the image
that came to my mind when I heard this, When I heard about a hired
laborer, somebody who doesn’t really care about the product
they’re promoting, you’ll see him on many street corners in
our own city. They dress up, whether it’s like
the Statue of Liberty or some clown or a dog, and they carry
a sign and they spin it around and they look about as interested
in the product as the minimum wage that they’re earning. They’re
not really interested in the company’s well-being. They’re
not really interested in promoting this product. And that’s exactly the image
that comes to my mind when Paul says that they preach out of
selfish ambition. They’re just not really into
it. They’re not really promoting
Christ. And so the idea of a mercenary
comes to my mind Somebody who’s just doing it, but for all the
wrong motives. And it is sad. It’s sad to think
that even in our own day and age, the true Christ could be
promoted with a sincerely wrong motive. But if you think even
to our own day and age, there are many who are overly zealous
that all they want to give is the gospel message and they don’t
care about discipleship. They want their group to get
credit for this soul. And if you want to even put it
more crassly, they want to get credit for this soul. And they
put another notch in their belt and they go on. And they keep
on racking up, as it were, converts. Not disciples. There was a difference between
those who were friendly to Paul and unfriendly to Paul. There were those who had improper
motives and like so many hired servants, they kind of set aside
this idealism, the company line. And they set their minds only
on what’s in it for them. Their motive is further uncovered
here at the end of verse 17, when it says, they proclaim Christ
out of selfish ambition rather than pure motives, thinking to
cause me distress in my imprisonment. And as I said, this is a difficult
passage because to me, that comes very close to an unchristian
attitude, doesn’t it? To desire to bring someone distress
But I don’t see how you could proclaim Christ truly. I don’t see how Paul could say
in this I rejoice unless these are Christians just with a slightly
misguided heart. That’s my position. That’s my
take on that section. The main thrust of their activity
was just a factious opposition to Paul. Jealousy of his influence. And so they were going to get
out there and preach more and make more converts than Paul.
That’s the bottom line. One summarized it in these simple
terms. He said they’re all heralding Christ. They are all exercising
their ambassadorship. They are all publicly and authoritatively
proclaiming Him as the only name under heaven by which we must
be saved. None of them is preaching a false
doctrine. None of them is giving undue
prominence to the observations of law as a means of salvation.
None of them here is preaching a different gospel. But while
all are proclaiming the true gospel, not all are motivated
purely. But thankfully, Paul says there’s
another group. There’s another group that is
preaching Christ, we find them at the end of verse 15. He says,
some also from goodwill. Goodwill, they’re simply goodwill
towards Paul. If you had some that were motivated
by envy and this factious spirit, there are those also that were
motivated by goodwill, a loyalty to not only the Lord, but a loyalty
to Paul, their beloved apostle. Look down at verse 16, the latter
do it out of love. That is the further description
of their motive. They loved this apostle. They
loved the gospel. They loved the Lord of the gospel. They loved the lost. How do you
dichotomize and chop up and isolate one element of that love? They loved. They loved everything
and everyone. They loved the privilege that
they had to proclaim Christ. But it’s spelled out clearly
that certainly a love for the apostle was part of that element. Look at verse 16. The latter
do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense
of the gospel. They didn’t begrudge Paul any
authority that he had as an apostle. They knew that he was divinely
appointed. They didn’t disparage the gifts and graces that God
had given to him in his sovereignty. They proclaimed Christ out of
love. A love for Christ, a love for
the Gospel, and a love for the man that they knew God had sent. They were encouraged by what
he was enduring. These loyal, loving, Christian
people were motivated, stirred up to action in proclaiming Christ. And so what was Paul’s evaluation
of this whole thing, this whole scene as he looked out from beyond
his rented quarters, chained to a guard, not able to go and
even defend himself? Not able to go and correct? Not
able to go and rebuke those whose motives were bad? What was his
response? Look at verse 18. What then? The translation of that little
phrase is euphemistic. What’s up? What’s up with that?
That’s what he says. This isn’t real formal language
here. Paul just says, what then? What’s
the big deal? Only that in every way, whether
in pretense or in truth. And there he uncovers even further
their motives. They were pretentious. They’d
go on and Christians are so good at this. They would put on their
icky sweet smile and they would go around and people would meet
them and think that they were Paul’s best friend. They would
think that their motives were pure as the sunshine. Paul says, only that in every
way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed. And this, in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice. In other
words, Paul didn’t see it stopping. He saw this picking up steam. He wasn’t about to go stop them
from preaching, even if he could. But he did rejoice that as it
went on, Christ was continuing to be proclaimed. Paul could,
on one hand, rejoice that teachers were proclaiming to unbelievers
the message, the fact of salvation, the fact that Jesus Christ had
died on the cross, the fact that they desperately needed a Savior. And he knew as well, his heart
had to be tremendously encouraged that there were those out there
proclaiming Christ, not in pretense, but in truth. True motives. They
loved the lost. They couldn’t wait to share the
gospel. One pastor here said, no long
comment is needed on the noble spiritual lesson in this passage.
His Lord’s interests are His own. And the fact that amid extremely
difficult circumstances, He finds by grace more than resignation,
more than composure, there is positive and assured happiness. Self has yielded the inner throne
to Christ. And the divine result is harmony
between circumstances and the man, both are seen equally subjected
to and usable by him.” In other words, Paul was pawned. Paul saw himself as being pawned. And the greater progress of the
gospel was the reality. The cause of Christ and the proclamation
of Christ was advancing. People, our lives can and should
proclaim Christ even in the midst of our difficult circumstances. Isn’t that the time when people
are most watchful of our lives? To see, okay, let’s see how he
handles this one. Let’s see in the midst of this
if she really believes what she says. Isn’t it even that? As we look
back in our own testimonies, those moments when we looked
at the lives of Christians, whether it was in the pages of Scripture
or some biography, or in the living biography, watching a
Christian endure difficulty in this life, didn’t that prompt us to Christ
and say, there must be something about this? And don’t others
Don’t others deserve to see that in you as you experience whatever
God-given circumstances you have? Doesn’t Christ deserve to be
proclaimed in and through your life? I’ll close with this. Paul does not begin to pity himself
because certain jealous preachers were trying to win applause at
his expense. What really matters to him is
not what they’re doing to him, but what they’re doing for the
gospel. The listeners hear only the good preaching. They do not
see the bad motive. We’re called to proclaim Christ.
We’re called to advance the cause of Christ. And next week, we’ll
take it up here. We’re called to exalt Christ.
Let’s pray. Our gracious King, we thank you
for your great patience with us. We thank you for the clear words
of Scripture that you’ve used even this morning to remind us
that proclamation does not and must not cease in the midst of
difficulty. Lord, perhaps then our proclamation
can be its greatest. and can have the most influence
as those who hear us see that we are willing to suffer for
the cause of Christ. Lord, we pray. Give us open mouths
with regard to Christ. Purify our own motives. Help
us to proclaim Him in all that we do and all that we say. We pray these things in Jesus
name. Amen. so