We will all have adversity, even ministers. This daily devotional looks at how Paul assured the Philippians his imprisonment was not a setback to spreading the gospel.
Nuggets
- We are to use our experiences to witness to and encourage others.
- We are all ministers for Christ.
- We are to accept other ministers if they are preaching about the true gospel, regardless of the difference they have to us.
Devotions in the Joy in the Gospel series
Paul probably wasn’t sure what the Philippians had heard about his imprisonment. He wanted to assure them that, though he was facing adversity, he was fine. The passage also shows us what ministry means.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Let's Put It into Context #2
Okay. I learned something here. In the first devotion in the Joy in the Gospel series, all the research I did said that we don’t know in which town Paul was imprisoned.
Here, it says Paul was imprisoned in Rome.
- He was arrested, released, and then arrested again.Paul was arrested and imprisoned in Caesarea from 57-59 AD.
- He informs them that he is a Roman citizen (Ac. 25: 11).
- Paul is placed under house arrest in Rome from 60-62 AD.
- He was released in 62 AD either because he was acquitted, his accusers didn’t show to plead their case, or the time limitation was reached.
- We don’t know what happened between 62-64 AD.
- Paul is arrested in 64 or 65 AD because of trumped up charges championed by Nero.
- He was beheaded in 64 or 65 AD.
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Paul Kept Preaching
“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” (Phil. 1: 12-14 CSB)
We are to use our experiences to witness to and encourage others.
Paul was in prison. He didn’t want his special friends to be overly concerned about that.
Paul wasn’t. He found the joy in his situation.
God doesn’t promise that we will have a stress-free, trial-free life. This is equally true if we are ministers of the gospel.
Oh, yeah. Paul would have rather not been there, but he knew we would be persecuted for being believers of Christ. “In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (II Tim. 3: 12 CSB).
So, buckle up, buttercup. Adversity is coming. Strong or weak, Ballard said it is our “duty, desire, and privilege” to withstand adversity.
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I know — interesting three words.
- Duty: “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours” (Jn. 15: 19-20 CSB).
- Desire: “‘Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.’ You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Mt. 5: 10-12 CSB).
- Privilege: “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him” (Phil. 1: 29 NIV).
Because we are disciples of Christ, we will be persecuted. There is no way around it.
Paul saw this as another opportunity for the church to grow together. Shared concern helps her to band together.
Not only that, church members could be encouraged as they saw how Paul responded to his persecution. It was a great how-to sermon without saying a word.
Paul Taught Us How to be a Minister
We are all ministers for Christ.
How we handle the adversity can be our witness. Paul witnessed to his guards as well as visitors he had. He witnessed to the city — both Jew and Gentile — showing them his zeal and calmness.
Go back to the guards for a second. It is probably a safe bet that they saw a variety of hardened criminals.
It probably didn’t take them long to determine Paul was not one of those. Lightfoot reminded us Paul’s living arrangements showed he was not considered a dangerous criminal.
- Paul was not charged with a crime that had him being thrown into the darkest dungeon.
- His rank and reputation did play into his sentencing.
- Even those sending him to Rome acknowledged that Paul was not guilty of the crimes with which he was charged.
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What the guards saw was — even in chains — Paul was thoroughly devoted to God and His church.
So, in a nutshell, Paul was saying that adversity cannot stop the spread of God’s kingdom. Paul may have been bound, but the gospel wasn’t.
In fact, adversity strengthens God’s disciples/ministers and helps us to grow. We all have a part to play in the gospel’s spread.
Pastor Joey said something that really resonated with me. He said, “The ministry does does not make the minister. The minister makes the ministry. We can be a minister anywhere. We can have a ministry anywhere.”
The point was we’re to serve as if we’re in ministry.
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What the church has to realize is that we are not only disciples of Christ, but we are also ministers of Christ, regardless of our occupation.
Interacting with Other Ministers
“To be sure, some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of good will. 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. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice” (Phil. 1: 15-18 CSB)
We are to accept other ministers if they are preaching about the true gospel, regardless of the difference they have to us.
Paul listed a number of motives that disciples can have in proclaiming the gospel. However, these motives are still used today.
- They think they can do a better job than someone else.
- They preach out of love — for Jesus and for their audience.
- They think about what they will get out of it.
Paul said that we need to take a step back. The gospel is about Jesus, not us. It is about His message, not that we are proclaiming it.
Lyth said the motive for serving God may not affect the complexion of the service, but it will affect the accomplishment of it.
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Ballard said it best in the title of his sermon. It comes down to The Real and Counterfeit in the Christian Ministry.
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The problem is the counterfeit minister doesn’t minister through Christ’s Spirit. What ministers need to be doing is trying to spread the gospel message to save a lost and dying world.
Yes, we each need to grow in our relationships with God. We are important, too.
But we need to be looking for those we can lead to Christ.
Did we expect Paul to say that God will still use the ministers with the wrong motives? He basically said that, even if they are preaching for the wrong reasons, they are still speaking the name of Jesus.
We know God uses even non-believers to do His work. He used Cyrus and Nebuchadnezzar. He used Judas and Pontius Pilate.
Paul could have been remembering the verses that say
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isa. 55: 10-11 ESV).
God’s word does not return void. His work will be done.
Beecher said that verses 15-18 came from Paul seeing his replacement on the mission field being men with questionable motives.
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Oh, we would have originally thought that would have burned Paul. He put all this time and effort — and pain — into building the church.
And his replacements are substandard.
No, that isn’t what Paul said. He said rejoice in their work. Realize their motive, but rejoice in their work.
It wasn’t the gospel they were getting wrong, so they weren’t false teachers. Their preaching was right.
Something was wrong with their reasons for preaching.
So, how do we apply that. We move on or out of a job. In comes our replacement.
Do we tear them down because they aren’t doing it the way we did? Are we wishing them to fail?
We shouldn’t. We should wish them success, even if we don’t agree with their motives.
Collyer equated this to the different denominations. My Ladies and I were sort of talking in our Sunday morning Bible study about this when we talked about the first part of the chapter.
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If the other religions are preaching the essential doctrines, we should be good with it. We don’t have to agree on all of the interpretations.
What are these essential doctrines?
- Jesus is the Messiah come to pay the penalty for our sins.
- He came to call all people to salvation.
- He could do this because He was sinless and divine.
- We have to believe in Him and repent of our sins.
- He called us to follow God’s laws and commandments as described in the Scriptures.
We have to be unified with those who truly believe that Jesus is their Savior and Lord.
Ooo, baby. I like Beecher’s definition of toleration. He wrote, “Toleration is not an enforced forbearance with men who teach error. … Nor is it a recognition of the right of men to freedom of thought and experience, which is only part of it. … It is a generous confidence in the vitality of truth and its ultimate victory, born of hope, nursed by courage, adopted by love.”
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Let’s apply this. We say that worldview people say disciples have to show love to others by tolerating their sin.
This says no. Tolerance is not a leniency for those who are doing evil. Evil is equated with sin because it is that which goes against God and His purposes.
What tolerance is, is a generous belief in the strength of the gospel and its ultimate victory over evil. This is both of hope and love. Hope is the expectation, also called a living hope, based on the confidence that, because of our relationship with God, our names will be found in the book of life.
Oh, yeah. It will take courage. Remember, we are talking adversity. It is going to be a rough road.
But we are also talking about joy. The road will be rough but not impossible. We know our purpose is to praise God.
Making the Connections
Something Johnstone wrote really hit me. He wrote, “The discoverer of a remedy is bound by humanity to make the remedy known: so surely should he who knows of the Divine physician. In heathen countries evangelism is the immediate fruit of conversion …”
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At conversion, most of us want to tell the whole world what we have found. The joy just bubbles up inside us and spills over.
But worldview people don’t always want to hear it. They push back.
So, some disciples take another route. Johnstone finished that last sentence by saying, “… but also many professing Christians never speak a word for Christ.”
I know I swung that way for many years. Oh, it was never “… never spoke a word …” It was more like rarely spoke a word, or spoke only when it came up in a situation.
It was more witnessing by my life as I went.
It was never voluntarily go to Rome — or wherever.
How Do We Apply This?
- Remain confident in Jesus regardless of our circumstances.
- Depend on the church to help us through.
- Remain devoted to the work God calls us to do.
- All consider ourselves disciples/ministers of Christ.
- Remember that, whatever happens to us, God is in control.
- Find courage and boldness in the adversity, knowing God will expand His kingdom through our work for Him.
- Love God and others so that our motives are correct.
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We are all ministers of God. We should encourage this who are truly preaching about Jesus and His gospel.
Father God. You have called each of us to serve You as ministers of Your Word. We are to serve You even though we will run into adversity. Help us to show others Your great love. Amen.
What do you think?
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