The Case for Joy: Philippians 1:12-18a

Good morning, everyone. It's great to be with you even though it's virtual. I'm glad to be able to stand before you to open God's word. We're going to continue in the series, The Case for Joy in the book of Philippians. So, if you have your Bible or your phone, you can meet me in Philippians chapter one. We're going to read verses 12 through 18, the first part of verse 18.

Philippians chapter one verses 12 through the first part of verse 18. I'm reading from the CSB version.

Now I want you to know brothers and sisters that what has happened to me has actually advanced the gospel. So, that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is because I am in Christ. Most of the brothers have gained confidence in the Lord from my imprisonment and dare even more to speak the word fearlessly. To be sure, some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry but others out of goodwill. These preach out of love knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. The others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, thinking that they will cause me trouble in my imprisonment. What does it matter? Only that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is proclaimed and in this I rejoice. — Philippians 1:12-18a (CSB)

Before going further, let's pray. Heavenly Father, I love that we have an opportunity to come before you in your word. I ask, O God, that you would meet us by the power of your spirit in the name of Jesus that we will be salt and light in the world even in this time of isolation, of being quarantined. But Lord, where we may be bound, you are never bound. And so Lord, we ask that you would use us as only you see fit in the name of Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Price Is Right and Life's Detours

How many of you grew up watching The Price Is Right? Maybe some of you watch it today but when I was a young boy, mostly at my grandmother's house, I found myself with my siblings and even my grandmother or sometimes when my mother was there, all of us together, we would sit in front of the TV watching The Price Is Right. We would sit in front of the television trying to guess at the price of items. We even envisioned ourselves being called out of the crowd. "Russell, come on down. You're the next contestant on The Price Is Right." It was fun.

There was one game that they had on there called Plinko. This is a game where you would have these chips on a slanted board, and you would slide the chips down the board trying to get into the highest price slot at the bottom. The highest price slot at the bottom was $10,000 but there was a problem. The slanted board had wooden stakes all around it, and the chip just couldn't slide straight down. It would be detoured as the chip would slide down the board.

Every contestant when they got this chip would try to move to a place and just try to guess if they let it go here, then maybe it could move into the $10,000 slot. The wooden stakes caused the chip to move seemingly erratic. But every now and then, someone would get into the $10,000 slot. Some people would get into the dollar slot but there was no guarantee because of the way the chip moved that you would get into the slot that you wanted.

When we look at Paul's life, his aim was always to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ but if you look at his life, you would see that he was often hindered. It seems sometimes that he was moving at an erratic pace because at one instance in the book of Acts, someone is trying to kill him. He's let down through a window in a basket. People are always lying on him.

One instance, in particular, I'm remembering when Paul was on his first missionary journey. He went with Barnabas. They decided to take a person with them named John Mark. Well, they were excited about going to the ends of the earth, going to places where Christ has never been proclaimed but in the midst of this journey, John Mark left him. He abandoned them. This caused a rift between Paul and John Mark but it also caused the rift between Paul and Barnabas.

Paul knew what hardships were like. Paul knew struggle. Paul knew what it was like to be going in one direction and get detoured in life. All of us know what this is like because when we look at our lives, things seldom go the way that we plan for them to go.

For me, I wanted to be a professional basketball player. I wanted to make a boatload of money and then retire. I just wanted to live a very comfortable life but that didn't happen for me. I'm here today and I'm so thankful that God detoured me from the path I wanted and brought me to the path that he determined for me to have but this does not mean that my life is free from trial and difficulty.

I have a lot of difficulty, but I'm so thankful that I am on this journey because I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God is with me and He is working all things out for His glory and my ultimate good. You see, even when life looks erratic, God is controlling what seems to be erratic. He takes us through this maze of life and brings us to where He wants us to be, in His timing. Another example of this—we can just look at the life of Joseph in the book of Genesis.

Paul cared about God and His glory. He didn't pay much mind to his particular condition, only that Christ was proclaiming all the earth. See, at the end of his life, he would write to his son in the faith, Timothy. In Second Timothy, chapter four, verses six through eight, these are Paul's words to Timothy:

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time for my departure is close. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day and not only to me but to all those who have loved his appearing. — 2 Timothy 4:6-8

My friends, Paul had joy not only while he was in prison, but Paul had joy as he was staring death in the face. Why? Because he was going to be with the one he proclaimed to all the people he encountered—that's Jesus Christ.

Finding Joy in All Circumstances

You see, you and I can have joy no matter the circumstances. We are certainly today, with all of this COVID-19 and being isolated, living in a time where we need to pull from the reservoir deep within us because we're in Christ and know and look at reasons to have joy. We need that in a disposition that says, no matter what, Jesus is God and He is with me, and no matter the circumstances I may be experiencing in life, I have many reasons to have joy.

It is because of this that Paul would tell his readers to rejoice. My brothers and sisters, if you look at the last week or even today, can you find reasons to rejoice? Let's look at the simple things. The food that may be before you. Can you rejoice in the fact that you were able to eat? Not only eat, but can you rejoice in the fact that you could actually taste your food? Now, that may seem simple, but I've been trying to reflect and say, where can I find joy because of what Christ has done, because of what God has done—He created me. We can rejoice in the fact that we could actually taste and enjoy the food that's before us.

Can we rejoice in the fact that we're in the land of the living, as my grandmother would often say? The fact that we have life. We don't deserve it. We didn't wake ourselves up. God in His infinite wisdom determined that we would see this day.

What about your children? I know our children are experiencing this just like we are as adults and they may be going crazy in the house, but can you look at your children and rejoice in the fact that they have been given to you by God and they are wonderful? Can we rejoice in this? Now, there are many, many things that we could come up with—countless reasons to rejoice. That's why I love this book. And this is what the apostle Paul believed.

Paul's Situation in Prison

You see, when he wrote this letter, he wrote from a prison—a Roman prison. He was cut off from the rest of society. Paul was chained to another Roman soldier with his movements restricted. He couldn't go where he wanted to go. Truthfully, Paul didn't know if he was going to die or not. He didn't know this, but he still found reasons to rejoice. He was more concerned about God and His glory and for the spiritual growth of the believers at Philippi.

Now, stay with me. We're getting to the text, but I want to set this up right so that when we go through the text, we have a good visual picture. See, it needs to be remembered how Paul met the believers in Philippi. In Acts, chapter 16, verses six through 10, it says this:

They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia. They had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they came to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. Passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. During the night, Paul had a vision in which a Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him, "Cross over to Macedonia and help us." After he had seen the vision, we immediately made to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. — Acts 16:6-10

Now, after this, Paul and his companions went to Philippi. Now, if you read Acts, chapter 16, you will see three people that Paul and his companions encountered, and I think it's a beautiful picture here. The first person he encountered was a woman by the name of Lydia. And the Bible says she was a seller of purple. Now, they were in Philippi in Macedonia. She was from Asia. She was an immigrant. And with the believers in Philippi, they welcomed someone who was not from where they were.

She was welcomed into the fellowship. The Bible says she was a seller of purple. This means that she had access to wealth because this was one of the most costly substances in the ancient world. So she was a wealthy person whom the Lord rescued, who was a part of the body. Then there was a slave girl. The slave girl was a native Greek. Now she was at the lowest place in society. In the eyes of the law, this girl was not a person at all. She was just property to be used. That's it.

When you read the story, you will see that this slave girl was used by her owners to just go around doing whatever she was doing. I don't know what it was, but she was making money but she was following Paul and his companions and kept calling out, kept saying who they were. Paul got vexed, turned around, and told that spirit in her to come out of her. Now what she was doing, she's not doing anymore. These guys realized that we don't have a means to make money through her anymore. She has been changed. This woman encountered Paul and his companions and life would never be the same for her anymore.

Finally, there was the Philippian jailer. He was a Roman citizen. Paul and Silas were arrested and thrown into prison and this man was over that prison. But the Bible says in Acts chapter 16 that there was an earthquake and the gate was open, the chains were loose. And when the Philippian jailer recognized this, he figured that all of the prisoners had left. When he saw this, he determined—it's time for me to kill myself because if I don't, they're going to kill me. Paul told him, "Don't do yourself any harm. We're all here." This moved this man to go to Paul and ask him, "What must I do to be saved?"

You have Lydia, you have the slave girl, you have the Philippian jailer. You have the top of society, the bottom of society, and the middle of society. I think this is a beautiful picture of what the church is like. Who is a part of the church? The church is not just for wealthy people. The church is not just for people on the bottom or people in the middle. The church is for everybody. All of us to come together as one and worship King Jesus. This is why I'm committed to church planting.

Paul wrote to the believers at Philippi because they were his friends. Paul was close to them. Now this church in Philippi was probably very small and poor. They were poor probably because of persecution—not because they didn't have an opportunity to go and make money, but because they were followers of Christ, they were persecuted. Yet this very poor church wanted to financially support Paul in his ministry. To see this, all you have to do is go to 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 to see this very poor church wanted to give out of their poverty to Paul and what God had called him to. And this was the only church that Paul accepted a financial gift from. He loved this church. He loved the people there. Therefore, he wrote a letter to them, thanking them for their gift and encouraging them to make sure that they would stay unified as a body even in the face of difficulties.

God Uses Suffering to Spread the Gospel

As we continue in this series, "The Case for Joy," looking at the first chapter, the two things I want us to see as we walk through these verses. The first thing is: God uses suffering to spread the gospel. We see that in verses 12 through 14. God uses suffering to spread the gospel. And finally, in verses 15 through 18, I want us to see that God uses weak men and women for His purposes. God uses weak men and women for His purposes.

This morning, I want to speak from this subject: joy in the midst of hard times.

So let's look at our first point—that God uses suffering to spread the gospel. Again, verses 12 to 14 say this:

Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually advanced the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is because I am in Christ. Most of the brothers have gained confidence in the Lord from my imprisonment and dare even more to speak the word fearlessly. — Philippians 1:12-14

Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter or spoke this letter. Paul probably didn't write this letter himself. They had someone who would write for him, but he probably dictated it. But he was in prison. Now he didn't send this letter generically to people he didn't know. He sent this letter to a group of people, a body of believers he knew and knew well, and he loved them and he wanted to encourage them.

In verses 12 through 13, he reminded the Philippians of his imprisonment. He let them know where he was. However, his imprisonment didn't end his missionary activity. Actually, it expanded it. See, he saw God's hand in his imprisonment because he said in verse 13 that the whole imperial guard heard the gospel. And then he said in verse 12 that the gospel actually advanced.

This word "advance" literally means to chop down or remove whatever is hindering progress. See, Paul's imprisonment didn't hinder anything. Here's the beautiful picture: Paul is one man in prison, but because Paul was faithful to disciple and train and raise up other leaders as they were rescued by the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul now had a group of people who, even though he was in prison, were going out all across the area sharing the gospel. So the gospel is not hindered. It doesn't depend on one man, Paul. It actually progressed in reaching people who had not heard the gospel.

See, Paul was the one who was sent, and now he had the opportunity to preach the gospel in Caesar's court. The church at Philippi sent him. Paul was the one that went; the church at Philippi supported him.

Our Role in God's Plan

Now, what does this mean for us? How will you and I be involved in church planting? We have to ask ourselves: Is God still using the church to reach the world? Absolutely, yes. This is God's plan A. There is no plan B. So if we are followers of Christ, then God is calling us in some way, form, or fashion to get involved in His work of church planting.

What is it? Is God calling you to join a church plant? You know, if you're like me, you may like comfort when things are easy, when stuff is already established, and to break away from what's easy to start something new seems sort of scary. I get it because there are days where I'm like, "Lord, what's going on? What's happening? I don't know if I could do it." But then I'm encouraged when I hear other stories from other pastors or when I read God's word—I get energy.

Maybe God is calling you to join a church plant, to start something new. Because you, the body of Christ, you are the ministers based on Ephesians chapter four. Maybe He's calling you to do that, or maybe He's calling you to be like the believers in Philippi and support a church plant. See, this church, even though it was poor, supported Paul through prayer and finances. Maybe God is calling you to do that. No matter what He's calling you to, all of us are called to get into the game. We're not called to sit on the sidelines.

The Gospel Advanced Through Imprisonment

You see, the Philippians may have thought that Paul's imprisonment was a defeat for them and the gospel, but his imprisonment was not a defeat. It advanced the gospel.

Most of the brothers have gained confidence in the Lord for my imprisonment and dare even to speak the word fearlessly. — Philippians 1:14

To have confidence in the Greek means to be convinced, to be persuaded of what is trustworthy. You see, these believers saw the life of Paul. They heard what he preached. They even saw how he conducted himself in prison, and based on what they saw in Paul, they were convinced through the gospel and seeing the Lord Jesus Christ rightly that what they believed was true. And because it was true, they went out and they proclaimed the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul's imprisonment was the reason that many people heard the gospel. Again, who did Paul say heard the gospel?

The whole imperial guard and everyone else. — Philippians 1:13

Government officials, other Roman citizens of high stature—they heard the gospel because of Paul's imprisonment. Instead of being in prison with his impending trial hindering the gospel, it pushed it forward. More and more Gentiles heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Again, God uses the suffering of His people to spread the gospel.

Each week now, in this new rhythm, my wife and I try to get out of the house and go walk. We practice social distancing but we want to get out of the house and change the routine of just being in the house. When we go walk, we go to Knightdale Station—a nice park in Knightdale, a fairly new park. And when we walk, I tend to just watch who's around me.

I remember one particular day, we were walking and came by one soccer field, and in the middle of the field there were a small group of Africans playing soccer—people who were not from this country in Knightdale, kicking a soccer ball. Then we go to another field and we see some Hispanic or Latin brothers and sisters, a small family, maybe they're flying a kite or kicking a soccer ball. Not from this country, but in Knightdale. Then we continue to walk and we encounter some white brothers and sisters, and then we encounter maybe some African American brothers and sisters.

But I look at this park and I see that there are people from all around this planet in Knightdale. And then I begin to think, "God, you are bringing people from all over the globe here. So God, could you use us and those you send us to change the world for your glory?" And I know the answer to that. God can use anybody. He can use us.

So do you want to be a part of something like that?

Do you want to be a part of something like that? See, some of you may be adrenaline junkies where you need that thing to give you a rush, to give you that energy to go do something. For some people it's like jumping out of a plane, and I can assure you this—Russell is not jumping out of a plane. But some of you may like that. For me, church planting is giving me that rush, but I'm not trying to do it and then quit it. I want to stay in it because I want to see people's lives change. I want to see God at work.

See, even though we are small, the gospel is still going forth. We may be hindered because of the coronavirus, but we're not stopped. Again, the church at Philippi was small and poor. Paul was in prison, but the gospel was not locked up nor imprisoned. You can't confine the gospel.

See, I was thinking about this this week. If you had a lion—if any of you have ever gone and saw a lion, you know that a lion can do some serious damage. If you go to a zoo, you see a lion in a cage. The lion is confined, but for a lion to do what he does, you don't have to train that lion. You don't have to tell that lion what to do. In order to let that lion loose, all you have to do is unlock the cage. The gospel cannot be confined. For the gospel to do what it does, all we have to do is share it. All we have to do is get to work what God has called us to do. The gospel cannot be confined.

My friend, God wants to use you to proclaim His gospel. If you look all around you, even in the midst of this isolation, there are myriads of opportunities for us to open our mouths and share the gospel and trust that God will do work. We may not see that work, but we have to trust that the Spirit of God is at work. Even in the midst of our suffering in this time, do you believe that you could be used by the Lord Jesus Christ to draw someone to Himself? God can use suffering to spread the gospel.

God Uses Weak Men and Women for His Purposes

And secondly, in verses 15 through 18, I want us to see that God uses weak men and women for His purposes. Again, starting in verse 15:

To be sure, some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry but others out of goodwill. These preach out of love knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. The others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, thinking that they will cause me trouble in my imprisonment. What does it matter? Only that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is proclaimed and in this, I rejoice. — Philippians 1:15-18

Not only does God use suffering to spread the gospel, but He uses weak and imperfect men and women. See, there were two groups of people who were strengthened to preach the gospel. Paul described one group as those preaching Christ from envy and rivalry. And then in verse 17, it gives their motives:

They proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, thinking that they will cause me trouble in my imprisonment. — Philippians 1:17

The other group he described as those of goodwill. He even referred to them in verse 14. Now verse 16 says:

They preach out of love knowing that I'm appointed for the defense of the gospel. — Philippians 1:16

We have two groups preaching one gospel with different motivations. See, those who preach from envy and rivalry wanted to cause trouble for Paul in their preaching. They preached with bad motives. They probably sought to capitalize on Paul being in prison monetarily. So, if Paul is preaching and he's free and people are following him and the church is supporting him, now that Paul is in prison, maybe they had in mind: "Now that he's in prison, let's go there and preach the same Jesus, but let's get them to start giving money to us." Their motives were wrong. They had personal agendas. They may have thought that as they preached and got people to join their fellowship, their church, or their gathering, that Paul would become envious.

However, Paul's concern was not on their motives for preaching. His main concern was that Jesus is being preached. He said in verse 18:

Christ is proclaimed. — Philippians 1:18

Paul cared about one thing and one thing only—Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's what he said to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians. When he came around them, he didn't have a bunch of messages to preach to them. He had one message and one message only—that Jesus Christ came to this earth, He died, was buried, and raised on the third day. And this is what gave Paul joy. He rejoiced in the fact that the gospel was being proclaimed.

Now, Paul was not giving these people a pass on their motives. He didn't overlook that. He was just more concerned about the message than the motivations of those proclaiming the message. Now, when we look at this and consider that God uses humans at all to proclaim to the world who He is, it is absolutely amazing that He uses us. Why do I say that? Because all of us are hypocrites.

The best of us are hypocrites because none of us lives according to the standard of the gospel we share. Russell, you tell other men that they must love their wives as Christ loved the church. But Russell, do you love your wife every day, all day in that way? Or that you should care for your kids, raise your kids right, love your kids, but are there times where I treat my kids in a way that I should not treat them? Russell, do you ever lie? See, none of us lives according to the standard of the gospel that we share. Yet, God determines to use us anyway.

God Uses the Unlikely

See, God has always used the unlikely. He uses weak and fallible men and women to do his work. You see, he used a young virgin girl to be the channel through which our Lord Jesus would come to Earth. When Jesus was in his earthly ministry, Jesus called disciples to be with him to follow him and one of his disciples was a zealot, a person who hated the Roman Empire, and one of his disciples was a tax collector, one who worked for the Roman Empire and these men would have clashed but Jesus called them to follow him. They became tools to change the world. He would even use a man who was a hard persecutor of the church, Paul, to plant churches all over. God can use anybody, even hypocrites for his purpose.

This my brothers and sisters is a case for joy. There was a man, a junkyard specialist, who specializes in finding stuff that people throw away and doing something wonderful with it. He would go into junkyards and find that piece that people look down on, that people said is no more good. He would then take that piece, reshape it, do something wonderful with it, make it very nice and beautiful, and sell it for upwards of thousands of dollars because what one person saw as worthless, he saw as full of worth and beautiful.

Before Jesus, you and I had absolutely nothing to offer God nor his kingdom. Nothing. Our sins separated us from God but once we met Jesus, the Bible says that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. Even in our mess, he rescued us. He turned to us and made us a valuable masterpiece. He made us fit to be used by him.

We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. — Ephesians 2:10

See, it's important for us to consider how God works. Typically, when we look at scripture, God does not work through channels of economic and political power. He doesn't go to that person in lofty positions and say, I want to use you because you got everything I want and need. God does not need anything and to make this even more true, God typically uses what people think can't be used. I remember the story of Gideon in the book of Judges where he had all these people in his army and God said, nope, that's too many. Cut them down. Cut them down. Now, how is an army of a few hundred going to fight an army of thousands? Because with God, anything is possible. God uses what is weak in the eyes of the world. This is how he advances the gospel. He typically uses means that the world rejects. He uses weak men and women for his purposes.

This again, my friends, is a case for joy.

Tangible Ways to Rejoice

There are many ways to respond to this with joy that's tangible. What can we do to respond to God and his word? Again, I want you to look at moments today in the next coming days where you can pause and have joy for what God has brought right in front of you. Notice the small things.

Let's rejoice in the fact that we have our family, our health, and food. Now, there are many people around us who may not have family because of COVID-19, a lot of people are passing away. A lot of people are sick and then others may not even have food. But you have, you still have reason to rejoice if you have these things.

Let's rejoice in the fact that God grants us sleep. That each night, we get to lay down by his grace and go to sleep. This is a gift to us and we can rejoice in this.

Let's rejoice in the fact that we can go outside. We can look up at the sky. If it's raining, let's rejoice in the fact that God still sends rain to the earth or if it's a sunny day, a cloudy day with clouds in the sky. Let's rejoice in God's handiwork.

I would also like us to rejoice in this: that if you have neighbors, rejoice in the fact that God has placed you in a community where you have neighbors. People on your right and left made in the image of God and that we have an opportunity to love our neighbors as ourselves. In this time, appropriately because of our isolation, let's rejoice.

May we have tangible ways to rejoice because God is still on the throne and he is ruling even in the midst of this COVID-19.

Finally, in response to his word, we ask you to consider giving to God and his work. See, many of you already give online but we ask that you look at what God has provided for you because the truth is, all that we have, even our very being does not belong to us.

It all belongs to God and God is asking us just to give a portion back to him of what he has already given to us. When we look at the fact that what we have does not belong to us but him, that should move our hearts to be able to say, "God, I give to you and your work."

So consider this: there are different ways that you can give that you can see on the screen. But as you look at these things, realize that we have what we have not because we're so good, but because he is good and because he is a giver—a giver of the gifts that we have.

The way we worship God is to give our very being to him as a living sacrifice.

Prayer

Let's pray.

Lord God, there's so many reasons for us to rejoice, and I pray that we would look around us. We would look at the moments that you've given us. Even when things are hard, I pray that we will find reasons to rejoice. So, heavenly Father, be glorified in us. I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.