Rejoice | Part 2| Philippians 1:12-18 | Unto the Furtherance of the Gospel
Alright we’re there in Philippians chapter number one. Of course last week we started a brand-new series called “Rejoice”. This is a verse-by-verse study through the book of Philippians. And if you weren’t here last week, I would encourage you to check out the sermon on our website or our YouTube channel. We are going to be studying the book of Philippians together over the next several weeks and really over the summer and we’re going to continue right where we left off in verse number 12. We went through verses 1 through 11 last week. We’re going to pick up in verse number 12 this morning. But before we do that, let me just say this. This letter that the Apostle Paul is writing to the Church at Philippi is teaching us about joy. He’s teaching us about Jesus and about the joy that can be found in Jesus. Paul actually has many reasons why he could be depressed. Sometimes you talk about joy and people think “If you were going through what I’m going through then you would be miserable also.”. Paul tells us about joy and really commands us to rejoice. He’s not on a tropical island somewhere. He’s in prison. Paul has many legitimate reasons to be down and discouraged.
Philippians 1:12, notice what Paul says. “12 But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;”. I want you to notice that the Apostle Paul here references that there are some things that happened unto him that would make you wonder if he is really teaching us about joy & rejoicing. I want to begin this morning by way of introduction of just breaking down for you the things that happened unto Paul. Because when he makes that statement “the things which happened unto me”, that’s not just a shallow statement in his mind. He’s going back to some very recent events and things that have happened that would cause anyone to be discouraged or down or depressed.
I thought about going to the book of Acts and showing you these but that would probably take too long. Instead I will give you the reference and of course you can jot them down and study them in your free time. What things were they? Number 1, in Jerusalem the Jews stirred up all the people against Paul and laid hands on him and the Bible says drew him out of the temple as they went about to kill him. Acts 21:27-31. Then after Paul was rescued from that mob by the chief captain of the roman soldiers, the chief captain himself commanded Paul to be examined by scourging which Paul only avoided by pulling his roman citizen card. Acts 21:31-33 and 22:24-25. After that Paul is brought to be heard before the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And after his testimony, another riot breaks out during which Paul would have been pulled in pieces of them according to the Bible. Acts 23:9-10. Then certain Jews which were more than 40 decided to band together under a curse vowing to not eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. Acts 23:12-14.
As a result, the chief captain has to send Paul to Caesarea Philippi by a guard of two centurions, 70 horsemen, and 200 spearmen in the middle of the night to avoid Paul being killed. Acts 23:23-24. Once in Caesarea Philippi, Paul is brought before Felix but is not given a fair hearing because Felix hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul. Acts 24:26. After two years, Festus replaces Felix and decides to leave Paul bound to show the Jews a pleasure. Acts 24:27. Finally, Paul is heard by King Agrippa and when that leads to yet another dead end, Paul decides to take his chances and appeals unto Caesar and is sent to Rome. Acts 25:22-26 and Acts 25:32. On his way to Rome, Paul is shipwrecked and the soldier’s counsel was to kill him because he was a prisoner. But Paul was rescued by the centurion willing to save Paul. Acts 27:42-43. After the shipwreck, Paul is stranded on an island and is bitten by a venomous viper. Acts 28:3-4. He survives that and makes it to Rome. And when Paul finally makes it to Rome, he dwelt two whole years in his own hired house on house arrest. And history tells us chained to a roman soldier 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Acts 28:30-31.
So when Paul says “the things that have happened unto me”, there are some things that have happened in the life of Paul. This list is enough to make anybody quit. This list is enough to make anyone depressed. With all that, Paul continues to encourage the Philippians to have joy and to exercise what he refers to as rejoicing or to rejoice. In fact, if you remember when we started this series, I told you that there is this theme of rejoicing. The book is only 4 chapters long but this word rejoice appears ten times through this book.
Philippians 1:18 “18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.”. Notice Philippians 2:16 “16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. 17 Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. 18 For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.”. Philippians 3:1 “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.”. Notice Philippians 4:4 “4 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.”. And Paul after all those things that had happened unto him and sitting in a prison cell chained to a roman soldier writes to the Church at Philippi and he says rejoice.
What does that mean? What does that tell us about Paul? It means 3 things about Paul. Number one, it could mean that Paul is just crazy. I mean he has been beaten, stoned, shipwrecked and all of these things have happened so maybe his head has been bashed so much that now he is insane or crazy. You could look at Paul and think that there is no reason for Paul to rejoice. It could mean that Paul is crazy. Another option is that Paul is just pretending to be joyous. As a spiritual leader, maybe he has to just put a smile on his face and encourage others.
But I don’t believe that Paul was crazy or faking it. I believe that Paul has learned something about joy and rejoicing that is the opposite of what is intuitive in our culture and world. The world teaches that joy is based on our circumstances. Paul has learned that there is a different source to joy. So in this passage we see how Paul thinks. We see his mindset. We see how he overcomes adversity and chooses to have joy and to rejoice even with all sorts of problems around him. So this morning I want to give you 3 thoughts in regards to Paul’s mindset. We see it in this passage and we will break it down in verses 12-18.
The first thing I want you to notice is Paul’s passion. Philippians 1:12 “12 But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me…”. And again, being assaulted, imprisoned, not given a fair hearing, bitten by a venomous snake. He says “12 But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;”. The Apostle Paul had a passion of his life and it could be summed up in these two words. The gospel. The theme of the book of Philippians is rejoice. The theme of the life of the Apostle Paul is the gospel. In fact, I want you to notice verse 5. He says “5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;”.
Look at verse number 7. “7 Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.”. Look at verse 17 of the same chapter. “17 But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel.”. Look at Philippians 1:27 “27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;”. Paul had a passion. There was a master passion in his life and it was the gospel.
Romans 1:15 “15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.”. Paul said as much as in me is, with every ounce of energy, with everything I’ve got, I am ready to preach the gospel. See, Paul had this passion of his life and it was the gospel. Over and over and over through his writings he talks about the gospel and he preaches about the gospel. He had this passion of the gospel. If you asked Paul what he was doing or thinking, Paul would say the gospel. Or if you asked Paul what he was interested in then he would say the gospel. His passion was the gospel. And by the way, Paul’s passion was also God’s passion which is the gospel. We all have a passion. We all have a master passion. Something that drives us. See, if you study the life of Paul, you’ll learn that Paul was what we would call a Type A Personality. He was highly driven, highly effective, highly goal oriented. If Paul wanted to, he could have been the greatest CEO of whatever company. He could have been an emperor. But Paul had given his life to the gospel. His passion was the gospel.
See, we all have a passion. For some people their passion is money and they give their lives and they drive their energy towards gaining money. For other people their passion is pleasure. For other people their passion is education. For other people their passion is success. For other people their passion is status. For other people their passion is possessions. But for Paul, his passion was the gospel. What he cared about was the gospel and getting the gospel out. And we need to understand this. You might wonder what this has to do with rejoicing. Before you can understand Paul’s problems, you have to understand Paul’s passion. What was it? The gospel.
William Booth was a man that lived in the 1800s and he was the founder of the Salvation Army. Now the Salvation Army and what the Salvation Army is today and what it was when it was founded in the 1800s are very different things. When the Salvation Army was founded in the 1800s, originally it was an organization that would train evangelists to go out into the streets and preach the gospel face to face to the poor and destitute. It was really what we would call a soul-winning ministry. Here’s what William Booth said. “Some men’s passion is for gold. Some men’s passion is for art. Some men’s passion is for fame. My passion is for souls.”. Paul had a passion that was similar to that of William Booth. If Paul would have met William Booth, he would have given him a high five. He was interested in getting people saved. He was interested in preaching to the lost and reaching people. That was the passion of Paul. That is the passion of Christ. That is the passion of God. And by the way, that ought to be your passion. That ought to be my passion.
So we begin this morning by seeing Paul’s passion. What was it? The gospel. But then I’d like you to notice secondly this morning that not only do we see Paul’s passion but we see Paul’s problems. Paul had two problems that he talks about in this passage. The first one was his position. What we mean by that is where Paul found himself. He found himself in prison. Notice verse 13 “13 So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;”. Paul said my bonds are manifest. He says people are aware of the fact that he had been arrested. He was in prison. His problem was that he was captured. He was tied up, literally bound by a prison. What’s interesting is that many people today are unhappy because they feel imprisoned by their own lives. Paul was literally physically imprisoned. But I believe that this morning in this group of people there are people who may feel imprisoned by their lives.
Let me read to you a little excerpt from an article that came out from psychology today. It’s entitled “Imprisoned By Your Life”. Here’s what it says. “Many people feel trapped by aspects of their life. Trapped in a difficult relationship, at an unfulfilling job or generally unhappy with their life despite their basic needs being met.”. The article goes on to say “People are unhappy because they view their lives as prisons. People get married, have children, buy a home and cars, furniture, vacations and whatever else. They have been programmed to associate with happiness and success. After the novelty wears off, their new goal is to find success. They feel like prisoners in their own life.”.
I want you to notice and understand that the Apostle Paul had a problem and it was the fact that he was in prison. And maybe you’re here this morning and you feel like your life is a prison. Maybe you feel imprisoned in a marriage. You are trying to make it work but it isn’t working out like you intended. Maybe you feel imprisoned by children that are going wayward. No matter what you do and how much you pray, it just isn’t working. Maybe you feel imprisoned because your job situation or career situation is just not working. There’s just not really somewhere to go or something else to do.
See, there are people who often feel this problem. They’ll say they can’t be happy because they feel imprisoned. Maybe you’re reading this sermon right now as a transcription literally from a prison cell. Our Church has a ministry where we send transcribed sermons every week to prisoners all over this country. Maybe right now you’re reading a transcription literally from a prison cell and you feel imprisoned. I want you to notice that the Apostle Paul felt imprisoned as well.
Paul had a second problem. His first problem was his position. His second problem was his opposition. Notice verse 14. “14 And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”. In verse 15 he will start talking about the opposition. “15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will:”. In verse 15 he isn’t talking about enemies of the Lord or enemies of the cross. Paul does that in other books and other places. But Paul is talking about opposition coming from his Brothers and Sisters in Christ. He says He says there are some out there who preach Christ, not a false gospel. He’s not rebuking them for preaching the false gospel. But he makes a statement in regards to their motivation to preach the gospel. He says some indeed preach Christ. They do it even of envy. Envy is what you and I today would call jealousy. Jealousy is a different word in the Bible and I won’t take the time to explain that now. But he says there are some brothers and sisters out there preaching the gospel but they’re not doing it out of a good motivation. They’re doing it because of envy.
You say why would they be envious of Paul? Because Paul was the big man on campus. Paul was the most successful Christian leader of his day. Paul was the most successful Christian leader other than the Lord Jesus Christ of all time. And some people looked at Paul and they said “Well I want to get invited to the same conference as Paul gets invited to and I want to be asked to preach like Paul gets to preach and I want to be revered like Paul is revered and honored like Paul is honored.”. And Paul says there are some who indeed preach Christ but they don’t do it because their passion is the gospel. He says they do it even of envy and strife. Some people don’t get into the ministry because they want to reach people. They get in the ministry because they want to fight with people. Now fighting is part of the ministry. The Bible says we are to earnestly contend for the faith. But he said some people are just motivated by envy and strife and some of good will.
Verse 16 “16 The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds:”. This group is referring to those preaching of envy & strife. You might be thinking “Who does that?”. Explain to me why a Church can have a protest and the attendance goes up and people get all fired up and they all want to go soul winning. But what happens is that once that fades out a little bit, people go back to their normal laziness. What is that? It’s because some people just want to preach the gospel of contention not sincerely, not genuinely. And I want you to notice what Paul said. Paul said they’re preaching out of envy and strife, preaching out of contention and not sincerely. That’s bad enough. But then he says “…supposing to add affliction to my bonds:”.
I think we would all agree that Paul has gone through a lot. Shipwrecked, stranded on an island, beaten, riots, people vowing to take his life. Paul says after all that and while in prison that there are people out there who are continuing in the ministry, supposing to add affliction to my bonds. He says they are malicious and they are petty. They’re actually trying to make my situation worse. And by the way, let me just say this for those of you who don’t like all the drama. People always talk about the drama. I don’t like all the drama but here is the thing. Christians have been bickering and fighting with each other since the first century. We’re Christians and we love the Lord but human beings and people are going to fight and bicker and do those things. Christians have been bickering with each other since the first century.
Philippians 1:15-16 “15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: 16 The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds:”. Christians have been fighting each other. I’m not talking about fighting false prophets. Christians have been fighting false prophets at the beginning as well but you know Christians have been fighting each other, bickering with each other, writing Facebook posts about each other since the first century. There have always been those who are envious and attack others who are succeeding. There have always been believers who are malicious and take advantage of the setbacks of others.
Here what is happening is that Paul has just been tearing it up. He’s Mr. Type A Personality. He’s a hard worker. By the way, he wasn’t married. He didn’t have kids. I’m sure that helped a little bit with his ability to be able to just go out and do things. But he is setting the world on fire and then there are people looking at him and they are envious of his success. They want to have what Paul has. And then Paul gets thrown into prison and they are happy about it. Instead of them trying to do as much as Paul, they seek to add affliction. You say “Christians wouldn’t take joy in the setback of another Christian.”. Oh really? You’ve never seen saved people make statements in a positive way when a good Church gets protested? You don’t think some Christians rejoice when our YouTube channels get shut down? Saved Christians made positive statements when Pastor Mejia’s church was bombed by the LGBTQ mafia. They said that he deserved it. Some people preach Christ of contention not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my bonds. See, Paul had a passion. It was the gospel. But Paul also had a couple of problems. It was his position. He was in prison. And another problem was his opposition. It was other Christian brethren kicking him while he was down. It was other Christian brethren rejoicing at his setbacks.
Even through these things, Paul learned how to genuinely rejoice. How does someone rejoice through all of that? Thirdly this morning I want you to notice Paul’s perspective. Paul had a different way of looking at things. See, Paul looked at a situation that you might look at and say we’re discouraged and he said I’m rejoicing. Paul had a different way of looking at things. Notice verse number 12 again. He says “12 But I would ye should understand, brethren,”. He’s saying that I want you to know this. He’s saying that he doesn’t think they understand the perspective that Paul has about it. “…that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;”. Paul says that when he looks at his problems, he looks at them through the lens of passion. He realized that his problems actually furthered his passion. He said that they resulted in the furtherance of the gospel.
What does Paul mean by that? Notice verse 13. “13 So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;”. See, Paul understood something. Paul understood that his position in prison resulted in the furtherance of the gospel. Paul was given an opportunity to preach the gospel in a place that he never would have been able to preach. He had access to people working in the palace. He has access to the king, the emperor, the household of Caesar. Paul explained that he had some problems in prison being in house arrest. History tells us they would take eight hour shifts and a different guard would be chained to Paul for eight hours. History tells us that Paul would be chained 24 hours a day, seven days a week and different guards would take shifts and be chained to Paul for eight hours. Paul’s passion was the gospel so every time a new guard came, he said “Let me ask you a question. If you were to die today, are you on your way to heaven?”.
Paul’s passion was the gospel. Paul looked at the people being captive to him and being forced to listen to the gospel. He didn’t look at himself as being captive. As a result, some of these soldiers got saved. These are people connected to the emperor. Paul is stating that his position gave him a chance to preach to people from within the palace that he never would have gotten to preach to. Philippians 4:22 “22 All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household.”. Paul is stating that everyone he got saved in Caesar’s household salutes them. Paul had access to people that he would never have gotten an opportunity to preach to. Paul said that his bonds are manifest in all the palace.
Turn to Acts 9:15. Here we are going to see God tells us his plan for Paul when he first gets saved. Acts 9:15 “15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:”. How did Paul stand before kings? I’ll tell you how he stood before King Agrippa. I’ll tell you how he stood before Festus. I’ll tell you how he stood before Felix. I’ll tell you how he stood before Caesar and got access to Caesar’s household. By being in prison. He says “15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: 16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”. Paul realized that these things happened in order to further the gospel to the palace of Rome.
Paul also understood Philippians 1:13. The Bible says “13 So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;”. Paul not only understood that his position in prison had gotten the gospel to be further to the people of Rome. Paul had this desire to go to Rome. Romans 1:15 the Bible says “15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.”. Paul wanted to get to Rome and had never been able to get to Rome. But now because of his imprisonment, he’s in Rome. What do you think Paul did while he was in prison? If you understand his passion then you might understand that he preached the gospel to the soldiers and Caesar’s household.
In Acts 28, Paul is in Rome. Notice verse 30 & 31 “30 And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, 31 Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.”. What is Paul doing? He’s having Bible studies at the expense of the roman empire. Paul was basically getting paid by Rome to preach the gospel to Caesar’s household and to the Roman Empire. Paul understood that his position in prison had furthered the gospel not only in the palace of Rome but also with the people of Rome. By the way, let me say this. During this time, Paul wrote what we refer to as the prison epistles. The Holy Spirit of God through Paul penned down the book of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. The interesting thing is that the longest period of Paul’s incarceration was the greatest period of Paul’s impact. Paul understood that his prison position had furthered the gospel in the palace of Rome and with the people of Rome.
But I want you to notice thirdly Paul’s present prison position had furthered the gospel with the preachers in Rome. Look at verse 14. “14 And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”. Paul said that he went around trying to motivate Christian to preach the gospel. He was able to motivate some but not motivate others. But when Paul went to prison, many of the brethren became confident to speak boldly. Some people thought that if Paul was able to risk himself then they could to. If Paul could preach in prison then they could preach in freedom. Paul’s present prison position furthered the gospel not only in the palace of Rome, not only with the people of Rome but he furthered the gospel with the preachers of Rome. He motivated others.
You might wonder, how could Paul not be depressed? How could he rejoice in prison? From Paul’s perspective, the problem furthered his passion. Paul had a different way of looking at prison. Paul did not look at his prison as a problem. He looked at prison as an opportunity. How can you rejoice in prison? Most people would think it is unfair, be depressed, be discouraged. But Paul looked at it as an opportunity to get access to Caesar’s household. He’s motivating other Christians, holding Bible studies on the dime of the Roman Empire. Paul was able to rejoice when he saw his problems through the lens of his passion and he saw it as an opportunity. The reason you’re always down about your prison or your problems is because you look at it in the wrong way. Sometimes God puts problems in your life as an opportunity.
Let me give you an example. There is a lady named Fanny Crosby which many of you probably recognized. She wrote many of the hymns in your hymnal. When Fanny Crosby was 6 weeks old, she caught a cold but their town doctor was unavailable so they sought the advice from a nearby country doctor who unwittingly prescribed a hot mustard poultice for her inflamed eyes. When she started crying, the doctor said something to the effect that it was working and they should leave it on for the prescribed time. The result was total blindness. When it became known throughout the small town, the man left and no one ever heard from him again. Concerning this tragedy, Fanny Crosby wrote “I have not for a moment felt a spark of resentment against him for I have always believed from my youth up that the good Lord in his infinite mercy by this means consecrated me to the work that I am still permitted to do.”.
Fanny Crosby wrote more than 9,000 hymns including “rescue the perishing”, “blessed assurance”, “pass me not o gentle savior”, “all the way my savior leads me”, etc…She used her testimony and her writing to encourage multitudes of people unto this day. By the way, Fanny Crosby who had her sight stolen by an incompetent doctor is the one who wrote these words in the song “all the way my savior leads me” She said “all the way my savior leads me, what have I to ask beside. Can I doubt his faithful mercies who through life has been my guide? Heavenly peace divine his comfort heir by faith and all to dwell. For I know what air befall me Jesus doeth all things well. For I know what heir befall me Jesus do with all things well.”.
How about Amy Carmichael? Amy was a young girl that was not pleased with her appearance. She was envious of the girls around her who had blue eyes and she had brown eyes which she found very unattractive. While quite young, she remembered her mother’s teaching. If she asked God for anything, he would surely grant her requests. So having a spiritual stirring at a young age, Amy proceeded to ask God to change her eye color. As the years unfolded, Amy came to realize the wisdom of God’s denial of her request while serving as a missionary in India. Her brown eyes became an asset to her ministry. Amy Carmichael would dress up like an Indian peasant girl and would put on the clothing of an Indian girl which would cover her entire body including her face except for her eyes. Her blue eyes would have surely given her away but since she had brown eyes she looked like any other Indian girl and was able to walk into the temples and literally rescue the lives of hundreds and maybe thousands of girls that had been given over as prostitutes for the temple in India and were going to be given as human sacrifices.
Here’s all I’m telling you. Sometimes you need to see your prison as an opportunity. How about JC Penney? JC Penney was a Christian businessman who started a highly successful retail store by the same name. I have a book written by him in my office called “The Lines of Laymen”. His thought was that if you practice the golden, rule you treat people the way you’d like to be treated, God can bless your business. He wanted however to do more for the cause of Christ but felt trapped by his success in business. He felt that too many people were relying on him and his responsibilities for him to be able to do something else. So he decided to turn his prison into his opportunity. It is sad that he decided he would give 90% of his income to God and live off of the other 10%. He turned his prison into an opportunity.
You know why you can’t rejoice during opposition? It is because instead of seeing opportunity, you’re seeing opposition. Instead of seeing opportunity, you’re seeing prison cells. Sometimes God allows adversity in our lives. Sometimes God allows problems into our life. Sometimes God allows things to come into our lives and some Christians respond with mourning and with anger and with bitterness and others like Paul respond with rejoicing and with joy. Was Paul crazy or faking it? How could he rejoice. Paul looked at his problem as an opportunity. I want you to notice Paul’s 2nd problem. Go to Philippians 1:17
Philippians 1:17 “17 But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel.”. Paul talked about these disingenuous preachers who preach for contention out of envy and strife. He talked about these preachers that have the wrong motives. In fact, they’re trying to add to his affliction. Paul would say there are others are preaching out of love. If Paul was here today then he would say “I know there are some people out there who are preaching the gospel and they’re doing it for the wrong reasons. I know there are people out there who are preaching the gospel just because they’re trying to compete with me and they’re envious of me and they’re trying to outdo me. I know there are people out there who are preaching the gospel and they’re trying to kick me while I’m down and talk smack about me while I’m in prison. And I know that there are people out there that are malicious.”. Paul wasn’t talking about unsaved people but people preaching the gospel.
But Paul realized that there were others preaching of love. Paul kind of shrugs his shoulders and says “18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.”. Pretense means pretending or doing it for the wrong reason. Paul’s saying that the gospel is his passion. His desire was that people would get saved. And Paul said that he didn’t care why people were preaching the gospel.
By the way, what I’m about to say is me preaching and Paul and I hope you take this the right way. I’m not saying this in an arrogant way. My goal is to motivate as many of our Church people to preach the gospel. I don’t care why you preach the gospel. If I preach sermons about people dying and go to hell and tug at your heartstrings and motivate you to preach the gospel then amen. If I preach positive sermons about the fact that we can go and find disciples and invest in people and reproduce ourselves then so be it. If you go and preach the gospel because it’s a cool thing to do at Verity Baptist Church and it’s what all the cool kids are doing then I will rejoice in that. I don’t care why people preach the gospel. Paul says I don’t care if people are preaching for the wrong reason or right reason. He says “…whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.”.
Galatians 1:8 says “8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”. Paul understood that if somebody’s preaching the false gospel then let’s go after him. If somebody’s preaching the true gospel but for the wrong reason, Paul says “I rejoice.”. By the way, Jesus said something similar in Mark 9. Mark 9:38 “38 And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. 39 But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. 40 For he that is not against us is on our part.”.
You say “Pastor, what do we do with these Churches that don’t like you and they don’t like Pastor Anderson and they don’t like the New IFB but they’re out there and they’re preaching the gospel.”. If someone is corrupting the gospel then we go after them and expose them and earnestly contend for the truth. We fight false prophets. But if somebody’s out there and they’re preaching the true gospel and they don’t like Verity Baptist Church or our stances, what should our position be? My position is that anytime somebody preaches the true gospel, we rejoice. What if the Old IFB said “I’m sick and tired of these young guys out there and I want to spark a soulwinning revival and teach these young guys how to get it done.”. And then they went out to preach the gospel and it was all based off competition just to show us what’s what. How would I respond to that? I would say “Praise the Lord.”. I would rejoice. Why? Because when the gospel is preached, Paul said he was for it even if there was the wrong motivation. “18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.”.
Was Paul crazy or faking it? Paul would say that he was happy and joyful even with the problems. Paul would say that his problems furthered his passion of God. And the result is that he could rejoice. Let me let you in on a secret. Many Bible characters rejoiced through adversity. That’s why Joseph could stand before his brothers groveling at his feet even after they had lied about him, sold him into slavery, he’d been lied about in Potiphar’s house, thrown into prison, etc… After all that he could maintain a good attitude because he realized that though they meant it for evil, God meant it for good. He understood that these things happened but would result in the furtherance of the gospel.
That’s why Esther could lose her parents, be raised by an older cousin, be taken into the custody of a wicked king, be forced to be a prisoner wife or concubine and Mordecai could look at Esther and say “You were brought to the kingdom for such a time as this.”. And Esther still rejoiced. How is that possible? She understood that the things that have fallen unto me have happened unto me for the furtherance of the gospel.
Let me ask you about your prison. Let me ask you about your position. You feel incarcerated in your current situation. Is it possible that it’s an opportunity God has given you? And when you see your problems as an opportunity, you can rejoice in prison while people are talking bad about you. In the midst of a prison position and personal opposition, you can rejoice when your perspective’s right. When you realize that your problems are an opportunity, we like Paul can rejoice.
Let’s pray.