Dwell in the Word Philippians 1:12-18

Think on these questions as we dwell in Philippians 1:12-18:

1. How does Paul's experience of imprisonment challenge conventional thinking about how God advances the Gospel? What does this reveal about God's providence and His ability to work through unexpected circumstances?

2. What significance does Paul place on the proclamation of the Gospel, even when done with mixed motives or less-than-ideal intentions? How does this perspective inform our approach to sharing the Gospel with others?

3. Why is it crucial for believers to ensure that the message of the Gospel is presented accurately and without distortion? How does this align with Paul's concern in other writings, such as the Book of Galatians? How can we discern and prioritize the faithful proclamation of the Gospel in our own lives?

Transcript:

As we are in this section, we see something rather interesting, interesting to think that, well, Paul has been imprisoned and it has served to advance the gospel. Now, that runs contrary to the way you and I think altogether. Well, wouldn't Paul be better off if he was free and he could go and he could spread the gospel all over the place? Wouldn't that be better? But that's not what God in His providence chose to happen. God is, in fact, using these circumstances, this persecution to build up the proclamation of the Gospel. What do we see here? That Paul is able to have an in with the whole Imperial Guard. This is a big deal. He has an end to people who are on the ground, people who are living real lives, and people who have a position within the government. He's able to proclaim the gospel. We see here that most of the brothers have become confident in the Lord by his imprisonment. What sense does that make? We would think, well, God's hand must not be upon this because, well, he's in prison. He's suffering. Well, we have to remember, and we have to think about this.

We just came out of the Gospel of Mark, right? What did we see at the end of the book? That God did his work through suffering. And so, we shouldn't be surprised when his people suffer too. Paul is suffering for the Gospel, and it's causing the gospel to advance. The gospel is upside down. The way we would plan things is not the way that God often does his work. In fact, he usually does it through means that we would never, never think he would do, such as the imprisonment of Paul or saving humanity through a crucifixion. But what does this lead to? It leads to the truth that Paul just wants the gospel to get out there. He said that there are some brothers who preach Christ from envy and rivalry. I don't know what that looks like. I've studied that and thought about it. What does that mean? They're just trying to get their name out there? Not sure. He says other people do it out of love. They're proclaiming the gospel because Paul can't go out and do it. Well, even if they're proclaiming the gospel with selfish ambition, hoping to afflict Paul say, Hey, Paul, we're put in the gospel and we're not in prison, or whatever afflicting him means, all Paul cares about, all Paul cares about, whether in pretense or in truth, that Christ is proclaimed, and for that, he rejoices.

Now, they had bad motives, but what they had, as we think about this, is they had a correct gospel. Because if we look at some of Paul's other writings, specifically, I'm thinking of the Book of Galatians. When people get the gospel wrong, Paul is upset. He's quite angry in the Book of Galatians because they get the gospel wrong. But here they're clearly getting the gospel right. So as long as the gospel is proclaimed, Paul is happy. As long as Christ and him crucified is getting out and people are hearing, Paul clearly trusts that the Spirit will be at work bringing people to faith. That is why we are concerned that people are proclaiming the gospel, that they're proclaiming the truth of that gospel and not distorting it. When they do, we rejoice because we know that that is the message that God works through. We want to be able to discern that message. We want to proclaim that message because we trust that that is the message that God works through. That is how he brings people to faith. And so may we faithfully proclaim that gospel. May we lift up those who also faithfully proclaim that gospel, and may we rejoice knowing that people will hear, the Holy Spirit will work, and people will not only be built up in faith, but new people will be coming to faith through the proclamation of that word.

And so, may we proclaim that word today.