SPEAKER_01: This morning's scripture reading comes from Philippians chapter 1, verses 12 through 18.
SPEAKER_01: Hear the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is from Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
SPEAKER_01: Some indeed preach Christ from every from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill.
SPEAKER_01: The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.
SPEAKER_01: What then?
SPEAKER_01: Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And that your word is instructions for our lives, Lord, and for our good.
SPEAKER_00: That we are our hearts and our minds are ready to receive this, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, this word that Paul wrote while he was in prison.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we just pray that we also find great joy, no matter our circumstances, Lord, knowing that this word sustains and changes lives.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we just pray that you use Brother Robert this morning, Lord, in a powerful way, God, and just allow him to be your vessel for your glory.
SPEAKER_00: Pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: You guys can be seated.
SPEAKER_02: Welcome.
SPEAKER_02: As my sweet wife read for us this morning, our scripture comes from Philippians chapter 1, verses 12 through 18.
SPEAKER_02: No offense to the rest of you guys who read scripture, but she's my favorite, just in case you're wondering.
SPEAKER_02: It is quite sweet to be able to hear her read and then preach the the text.
SPEAKER_02: So um quite a quite a privilege for me to be able to do that.
SPEAKER_02: Um, so again, we're in Philippians 1, verse 12 through 18.
SPEAKER_02: And this morning's sermon, just from the beginning, this morning sermon, normally um I'm heavier on depth and theology.
SPEAKER_02: This one is more for whatever reason, as I flesh it out this week under the Lord's, the Spirit's direction, it's more it's more application in nature.
SPEAKER_02: So I just want you guys to know that.
SPEAKER_02: And part of that is the reason, or part of that is the circumstances behind what Paul is writing.
SPEAKER_02: The circumstances of what he's living out, and the circumstances of other things that he had to live out at multiple times.
SPEAKER_02: Philippians 1, 12 through 18, and even going on through the end of the chapter, is is basically it can be summarized as this is what happens when Christ is your everything.
SPEAKER_02: It communicates clearly the practical expression of what it means to live with your focus and your devotion on the person and work of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Paul had what I would call a laser focus on Christology.
SPEAKER_02: The simple way to say that or define that is that that brother was focused on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus at all times and in all things.
SPEAKER_02: It was his focus and his goal to proclaim Christ and Christ crucified.
SPEAKER_02: We see him express that at multiple times throughout his ministry and in multiple letters.
SPEAKER_02: One of those comes from 1 Corinthians.
SPEAKER_02: We spent several months there, over a year there, a couple of years ago.
SPEAKER_02: And in chapter two, in the first two verses of chapter two, he talks about when I when I came to you, brothers, did I not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God?
SPEAKER_02: And I didn't come doing that with lofty speech.
SPEAKER_02: I didn't come doing that to impress with all of my background, with my two PhDs, basically that I had by the age of 21.
SPEAKER_02: No, I came that because the most important thing to me was to proclaim to you that Jesus was the Christ and that he was crucified and he rose again.
SPEAKER_02: That was his aim.
SPEAKER_02: And he speaks that to the Corinthians.
SPEAKER_02: And what's interesting for us to think about is that very church at Corinth that he wrote the letter of the 1 Corinthians to was only a few hundred miles, about 300 miles from Philippi.
SPEAKER_02: The people he's writing this letter to, and it was his goal in Corinthians to proclaim above all things Christ and Christ crucified.
SPEAKER_02: And that goal impacted his day-to-day life.
SPEAKER_02: And it was also the same goal that he had in Philippi.
SPEAKER_02: It impacted his day-to-day life, and it also impacted the way that he carried out ministry, the perspective that he had in ministry, the purpose that he pursued.
SPEAKER_02: And as we dive into today's text, I want to remind you that prior to verse 12, where we're at today, prior to that, he had spent several verses writing out this prayer through for the Philippians.
SPEAKER_02: You see that through verse 11.
SPEAKER_02: And remember when he showed up on the scene, this comes from three or I guess four weeks ago now.
SPEAKER_02: When he showed up on the scene at Philippi, we know that there was no gathered body of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: There wasn't a bunch of Christians running around Philippi.
SPEAKER_02: That wasn't the case when he got there.
SPEAKER_02: He had yet to be evangelized.
SPEAKER_02: Christ crucified had not been proclaimed.
SPEAKER_02: And he came and he shared the gospel with the people in Philippi, and people came to know Christ.
SPEAKER_02: The church was birthed, and that's who he's writing this letter to.
SPEAKER_02: And he challenged that church to proclaim the same message that he was proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ, the hope of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: He challenged them to do the very same thing that he did.
SPEAKER_02: And for contextual purposes, if you're unaware, Paul endured a lot of difficult things in his life.
SPEAKER_02: The list of things that he had to endure, even up until this point when he's writing this letter, the list of things that he had already had to endure were extant, it was extensive.
SPEAKER_02: And at the time of writing this, he was a prisoner in Rome.
SPEAKER_02: So he pins this letter.
SPEAKER_02: He is in prison for Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And again, that's not because of some mistake he made.
SPEAKER_02: He didn't break some uh egregious law or commit some egregious sin, but he was simply being obedient to the commands of Christ to proclaim the gospel to people who hadn't heard it.
SPEAKER_02: That's what he was doing.
SPEAKER_02: And he got thrown in prison for it.
SPEAKER_02: So I want you to think about something for a second.
SPEAKER_02: Think about being in first century Philippi, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Being in first century Philippi.
SPEAKER_02: And we're there and we're carrying out the instruction that Paul had given us.
SPEAKER_02: Paul had come, he had shared the gospel with us.
SPEAKER_02: We put our faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: We were baptized, much like these three sisters were this morning.
SPEAKER_02: We were the gathered body of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And Paul says, Hey, go proclaim the same message that I proclaim.
SPEAKER_02: And we do that.
SPEAKER_02: And about 10 years later, we get word that the very person who helped start this church got thrown into prison, proclaiming the same message he challenged us to proclaim.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to think about what that news of Paul being imprisoned for his obedience to Christ could have done, could have impacted the church and their the discouragement of their evangelism.
SPEAKER_02: Think about it, how it could have impacted Paul.
SPEAKER_02: It could have been both discouraging for the Philippians, leading them to throw in the towel, saying something like, You mean to tell me, and not owning a fireworks stand for you, Joe Dirt fans, but you mean to tell me he preached the gospel and ended up in prison?
SPEAKER_02: No thanks.
SPEAKER_02: I'm out.
SPEAKER_02: He preached the gospel that I'm supposed to preach and he ended up in chains for it.
SPEAKER_02: No, thank you.
SPEAKER_02: I'm out.
SPEAKER_02: Further, think about how it could have impacted Paul.
SPEAKER_02: It could have been a driver for self-pity and this initiation of the blame game from Paul.
SPEAKER_02: I preached Christ crucified.
SPEAKER_02: I just did what I'm supposed to do.
SPEAKER_02: What the heck?
SPEAKER_02: It's his fault.
SPEAKER_02: Man, think about me.
SPEAKER_02: Feel bad for me, feel sorry for me.
SPEAKER_02: Come get me out of prison.
SPEAKER_02: The local church at Philippi was super young.
SPEAKER_02: It was only about 10 years old.
SPEAKER_02: And the big sea church wasn't that old either, but either, about 25 to 30 years, right?
SPEAKER_02: Since the church was established.
SPEAKER_02: And when you stop to think about the context holistically, it could have easily killed the momentum of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: We're talking about 25 years that the church had been in establishment.
SPEAKER_02: And this is happening.
SPEAKER_02: This intense persecution is happening.
SPEAKER_02: Paul is in prison for the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: I love what Dylan said last week on Wednesday night.
SPEAKER_02: The gospel has grown from a few thousand in the first century when Paul's writing this letter to a few billion in some 2,000 years.
SPEAKER_02: And think about how it started.
SPEAKER_02: The brother was in prison for proclaiming the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Persecution and difficulty has been the norm for the church since the inception in the first century.
SPEAKER_02: It's not outside of the norm, and it should be expected.
SPEAKER_02: And brothers and sisters, some 2,000 years later, we are challenged to faithfully live out and labor for the same gospel message that Paul labored for here and that the Philippians church was laboring for.
SPEAKER_02: And there's two particular postures that we see from Paul that will serve both as our sermon points and also our application this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Those things are keep an eternal perspective and pursue an eternal purpose.
SPEAKER_02: With that said, let's start with keep an eternal perspective.
SPEAKER_02: It seems as though from the language of verse 12 that Paul is aware of the temptation that would have faced the church at Philippi.
SPEAKER_02: The temptation to lose sight of the purposes and plans of the sovereign God.
SPEAKER_02: He says this I want you to know.
SPEAKER_02: That's how he begins.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to know.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, hear it from the source, from the very one who is facing this persecution that you have heard about.
SPEAKER_02: I'm facing it most directly.
SPEAKER_02: Hear it from me.
SPEAKER_02: It has served to advance the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 12 and 13 speak to Paul's humility.
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't say again, he's in prison.
SPEAKER_02: Think about this.
SPEAKER_02: He's in prison.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't say I am enchained.
SPEAKER_02: And this is terrible.
SPEAKER_02: Please talk about me amongst yourselves.
SPEAKER_02: Please have pity on me.
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't say that.
SPEAKER_02: Instead of taking the opportunity to call attention to himself and to his circumstances that were quite difficult, he does the opposite.
SPEAKER_02: He redirects the attention of the Philippians, who would have been quite eager to hear from Paul after hearing about him being imprisoned.
SPEAKER_02: And he redirects their attention from himself to the God ordained and God sustained purposes that were being accomplished through his imprisonment.
SPEAKER_02: Think about that humility.
SPEAKER_02: I read one commentator write it this way A strange chemistry of providence, this to extract so great a good as the enlargement of the gospel out of so great an evil as the confinement of an apostle.
SPEAKER_02: This brother was in prison and the gospel was advancing, and he wasn't focused on the difficulty of his circumstance.
SPEAKER_02: He was focused on the reality of the gospel is advancing.
SPEAKER_02: It made me think of 2 Timothy 2 9, which says this, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal, but the word of God is not bound.
SPEAKER_02: Put me in chains, and my body will be held down.
SPEAKER_02: Try to put the gospel in chains, and guess what?
SPEAKER_02: It's going to spread like wildfire.
SPEAKER_02: Good luck.
SPEAKER_02: The work of the Lord and the advancement of the gospel will happen, and there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it.
SPEAKER_02: We must understand that.
SPEAKER_02: And when you read verses 12 and 13 together, you can see this beautiful picture taking place.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says, I have been imprisoned, but be being in chains has served to advance the gospel, not hinder it.
SPEAKER_02: Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: The chains have held me down.
SPEAKER_02: Paul, they have held me down, but the gospel wasn't held down.
SPEAKER_02: Paul had a big view of God.
SPEAKER_02: He had an eternal perspective.
SPEAKER_02: And the question that we have to ask ourselves is do we?
SPEAKER_02: We get so caught up on difficult things that are happening to us or around the world that we lose sight of the fact that the sovereign God is in control of all things.
SPEAKER_02: And there's nothing we can do about that.
SPEAKER_02: I don't care how hard you try to take the reins out of the sovereign God's hands, you will not succeed.
SPEAKER_02: Neither will anyone else.
SPEAKER_02: And this can be so difficult for many of us to hear, myself included, because of unwanted things that have happened to us in our life, unplanned things that have happened to us in our lives, things that have been difficult and painful or even shameful.
SPEAKER_02: Sinful nature may seem to win out in a moment.
SPEAKER_02: I'm sure all of you, if I asked for an affirmative or a raising of hands, if at some point in your life your sinful nature or the sinful nature of someone else around you seem to have won out in the moment, you would shoot your hand to the ceiling.
SPEAKER_02: It may win out in a moment because of what you did or what someone else did to you, either directly or indirectly, but God's sovereignty will have the final say.
SPEAKER_02: It will have the final say.
SPEAKER_02: This is Romans 8 28.
SPEAKER_02: This is what this is.
SPEAKER_02: And if you don't know that, it says this.
SPEAKER_02: And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.
SPEAKER_02: We see this all throughout scripture.
SPEAKER_02: Think about Joseph.
SPEAKER_02: If you don't know that story, that brother was sold into slavery by his brothers because of jealousy.
SPEAKER_02: Sold into slavery.
SPEAKER_02: Many might think ballgame over at that point, right?
SPEAKER_02: Conclusion: it's over.
SPEAKER_02: The last out has been made.
SPEAKER_02: The final minute or second has clicked off the top uh clock.
SPEAKER_02: The ball game is over.
SPEAKER_02: But God brought about good from what seemed to be evil.
SPEAKER_02: Remember, there was this famine, and Joseph at that time had found himself working from a slave to the second in command, and he saved so many people.
SPEAKER_02: Esther faced a death decree that spread across a nation.
SPEAKER_02: Can you imagine?
SPEAKER_02: But if she hadn't faced that decree, she would have never been in a position to spoil the plot to kill an entire nation.
SPEAKER_02: God working out something for good.
SPEAKER_02: The promise of Romans 8 28 is for all Christians.
SPEAKER_02: It's not just for Paul, it's not just for Joseph and Esther and other examples.
SPEAKER_02: Excuse me, other examples that we see in scripture, it is for all Christians.
SPEAKER_02: But listen to this, and this is the perspective that Paul had.
SPEAKER_02: It's two different things.
SPEAKER_02: When you put your faith in Christ and pursue obedience, the enemy is not happy about that.
SPEAKER_02: And he doesn't back down.
SPEAKER_02: This is why so many people say after I surrendered to ministry or after I came to Christ, it got so much harder.
SPEAKER_02: It's because the enemy is after you.
SPEAKER_02: Kill and destroy.
SPEAKER_02: I say this a lot in pastoral counseling sessions, but I don't say it enough.
SPEAKER_02: With individuals who are new Christians, buckle up.
SPEAKER_02: Buckle up.
SPEAKER_02: It's about to get real difficult.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to see in verses 12 through 14 that God understood, or that that Paul, excuse me, understood that in all things, God rules over everything.
SPEAKER_02: In part because of where we live and the prosperity of our culture, it is so hard for hard for us because our people around us, and even we tell ourselves good things happen to good people, right?
SPEAKER_02: And I bet you all know the question that follows that when something bad happens, we ask, why do bad things happen to good people?
SPEAKER_02: And we don't always have a great situational answer for that.
SPEAKER_02: One that is both sufficient and satisfactory.
SPEAKER_02: We just don't have a great answer for it.
SPEAKER_02: But when you look at it from a biblical perspective, it may not feel good, it may not seem good, and you may wish, man, I wish this wasn't happening to me.
SPEAKER_02: I wish it wasn't happening to someone I love.
SPEAKER_02: But here's the deal: He is good.
SPEAKER_02: He is good, and he is using whatever it is to accomplish his purposes.
SPEAKER_02: For there's not a single place in all of Scripture that says good things will happen to good people.
SPEAKER_02: It's not there.
SPEAKER_02: I promise you.
SPEAKER_02: If it was, I would have found it, or someone else would have found it.
SPEAKER_02: And people have been searching all over the place for that.
SPEAKER_02: And they never find it.
SPEAKER_02: They may, they may read into something that's not there, but it's not there.
SPEAKER_02: Scripture screams at us, and in both the words on the page and the actions of people like Paul that we read about in Scripture, it screams to us that bad things will most certainly happen to faithful, obedient followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: But take heart.
SPEAKER_02: But God is working out those things for good.
SPEAKER_02: Not good in the sense of pleasure, not good in the sense of comfort, not good in the sense of, man, this is awesome, but good in the sense of his plan is being carried out, and we are blessed to be a part of it even in our suffering.
SPEAKER_02: Think about these.
SPEAKER_02: These may be hard and very personal.
SPEAKER_02: A couple of them are for me.
SPEAKER_02: God rules over cancer.
SPEAKER_02: God rules over broken relationships.
SPEAKER_02: God rules over disease.
SPEAKER_02: God rules over sickness.
SPEAKER_02: God rules over addiction.
SPEAKER_02: God rules over tragedy.
SPEAKER_02: God rules over whatever sin you can't get.
SPEAKER_02: God rules over your life.
SPEAKER_02: And God rules over your death.
SPEAKER_02: God rules over all things, and we can be absolutely certain and sure that his rule is good.
SPEAKER_02: It is so good.
SPEAKER_02: You see, something feeling good isn't what makes it good.
SPEAKER_02: I'm sure it didn't feel great for Paul to be in prison.
SPEAKER_02: But oh how good it was.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: Oh, how good it was.
SPEAKER_02: We must change our posture from why is this happening to me to how are you going to use this for my good and for my glory, or for your glory.
SPEAKER_02: That's the posture we have to have.
SPEAKER_02: I almost deleted this part because I don't know if I can get through it emotionally, but I'm I'm gonna do it.
SPEAKER_02: The where I served before, in a matter of a few months, we had four sets of parents.
SPEAKER_02: Who had to bury their kids.
SPEAKER_02: 26 all the way down, I think the youngest was 17.
SPEAKER_02: To bury their kids.
SPEAKER_02: And I remember one sweet, sweet woman that I still communicate with.
SPEAKER_02: She actually texts me about it two weeks ago.
SPEAKER_02: I remember being at the funeral for her daughter, who had died tragically in a car accident on the way home.
SPEAKER_02: Going through the funeral as we would, right?
SPEAKER_02: There's songs, there's a eulogy, there's there's all the things.
SPEAKER_02: I remember, and I can still see this in my head.
SPEAKER_02: I can see, I know where I was, and I know where she was.
SPEAKER_02: One of the last worship songs is playing.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody's sitting and somber, and she stands up with aggression and lifts her hands in praise with tears pouring down her face.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, suffering and praise don't have to go in opposite directions.
SPEAKER_02: They don't have to go in opposite directions.
SPEAKER_02: Often they will run on parallel tracks.
SPEAKER_02: Because, brothers and sisters, if Jesus is your everything, there is nothing that you can't handle.
SPEAKER_02: You can endure anything.
SPEAKER_02: If Jesus is your everything, you can endure anything.
SPEAKER_02: What happens is we often, in times of difficulty, we lose sight of the cross.
SPEAKER_02: We lose sight of what Jesus did on the cross.
SPEAKER_02: And when we lose sight of what Jesus did on the cross, our capacity to endure the realities of this earth tanks.
SPEAKER_02: It goes straight to the bottom.
SPEAKER_02: You can't hardly handle anything if you lose sight of the cross.
SPEAKER_02: I am weak.
SPEAKER_02: I cannot handle anything apart from the cross.
SPEAKER_02: May we have an eternal perspective like Paul.
SPEAKER_02: He says most.
SPEAKER_02: Which brings us to verses 15 through 18, right?
SPEAKER_02: Pursue an eternal purpose.
SPEAKER_02: Remember when I began the sermon, it was Paul's aim to preach Christ in Christ crucified, right?
SPEAKER_02: I hit that several times.
SPEAKER_02: You probably got annoyed with the number of times I've said it.
SPEAKER_02: And as the Philippians observed, and we have the absolute privilege now of reading and observing, he did that not out of the pursuit of personal gain.
SPEAKER_02: He did that not out of the suit, uh, the desire to get his uh pat on the back to be the number one or to be the guy who communicated all things and got all the credit.
SPEAKER_02: He didn't do it out of selfish gain.
SPEAKER_02: He did that out of pure devotion to Christ, right?
SPEAKER_02: Pure devotion to Christ.
SPEAKER_02: It wasn't about selfish gain.
SPEAKER_02: And I want to approach this last section as we see those several verses there.
SPEAKER_02: It talks about envy and rivalry and jealousy and proclaiming Christ and all the things.
SPEAKER_02: I want to approach this last section from two different perspectives.
SPEAKER_02: The first one is the motives of others, and the second one is your motives.
SPEAKER_02: You see, because eternal, if you if you have an eternal perspective and you're pursuing an eternal purpose, your motives will be impacted.
SPEAKER_02: And the way that you respond to the motives of others will be impacted.
SPEAKER_02: So I want to spend some time, and this is going to be pretty in your face, just gonna throw it out there.
SPEAKER_02: I want to spend some time looking at the motives of others first.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying in this, go evaluate and question the motive of every single person around you as they share the gospel or as they seek to be obedient to Christ.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying that, and that's not what Paul is doing here.
SPEAKER_02: But he does say, verse 17 specifically, he does say that some have the wrong motives.
SPEAKER_02: Look at verse 17.
SPEAKER_02: The form of proclaimed Christ out of selfish ambition.
SPEAKER_02: The exact opposite posture that we see Paul take.
SPEAKER_02: They're proclaiming Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.
SPEAKER_02: So not only were did they have the wrong motive, but they sought to afflict Paul in his imprisonment.
SPEAKER_02: I heard one guy this week, as I after I finished the sermon, I went and listened to a guy preach this, and he said they sought to put the very chains that were on Paul's hands around his neck.
SPEAKER_02: They sought to afflict him.
SPEAKER_02: They were after him, they were pursuing his harm.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to notice something here.
SPEAKER_02: This is so important.
SPEAKER_02: Notice the difference between the patience and compassion of verse 17-18.
SPEAKER_02: Spoiler alert, if you read verse 18, it says, Whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
SPEAKER_02: So even if they're after me, even if they have the wrong motives, if they are proclaiming Christ, I rejoice.
SPEAKER_02: So that's the patience and compassion of verse 17 and 18.
SPEAKER_02: Now, in his letter to the church at Galatian, or at Galatia, listen to the aggression and urgency.
SPEAKER_02: But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the deal: Paul understood that the defense of the gospel message was more important than the defense of his own life.
SPEAKER_02: Think about that for a second.
SPEAKER_02: He understood that this gospel message was more important than his life.
SPEAKER_02: He goes after a false teacher who's not preaching the gospel of the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: He goes after them with aggression.
SPEAKER_02: But someone who is preaching the gospel faithfully and coming after Paul, that brother is patient.
SPEAKER_02: Praise God.
SPEAKER_02: They are proclaiming the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: I don't care if they're after me, they are proclaiming the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Praise God.
SPEAKER_02: Do you care more about the sanctity of the gospel?
SPEAKER_02: Or do you care more about what people think of you?
SPEAKER_02: That's a question I have to ask myself all the time.
SPEAKER_02: Do you, Robert, care more about the sanctity of the gospel and protecting the gospel, or do you care more about protecting yourself?
SPEAKER_02: I should ask that.
SPEAKER_02: The other elder should ask that.
SPEAKER_02: If I stop asking that question, man, get rid of me.
SPEAKER_02: But guess what?
SPEAKER_02: You, as a follower of Jesus, if you sit in your chair right now and you say that you are a follower of Jesus, you should be asking yourself that same question.
SPEAKER_02: Do you care more about the gospel or do you care more about yourself?
SPEAKER_02: We should all ask ourselves that question.
SPEAKER_02: That's why verse 18 seems like such a slap in the face, whatever be their motive, whatever be their desire for me, if Christ is proclaimed, praise God.
SPEAKER_02: Praise God.
SPEAKER_02: Paul was being criticized, he was being treated unjustly, he was being discounted, he was being disrespected, and he simply says, only this, but if Christ is proclaimed, praise God.
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't defend himself, he doesn't go on the offensive against the other folks, he doesn't show the same aggression that he shows towards a false teacher.
SPEAKER_02: No, that's not what he does.
SPEAKER_02: He simply puts his hand on the plow and keeps on going.
SPEAKER_02: Model yourself after Paul in similar situations.
SPEAKER_02: And I I get it.
SPEAKER_02: I naturally don't care a lick about what someone is preaching, if they are seeking anything other than the good of myself and mine.
SPEAKER_02: If someone is seeking something ill will against me or my family, I don't care what they're preaching.
SPEAKER_02: That's what comes naturally to me.
SPEAKER_02: I get it.
SPEAKER_02: It's going to be hard to tolerate anything they do, even the proclamation of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Certainly don't want to celebrate the success of the ministry that God has in them.
SPEAKER_02: That's not the natural thing for us.
SPEAKER_02: You know, we buy those commentaries for you guys in the four-year for you to grab the one for Philippians that we put up there.
SPEAKER_02: There's a quote in it that I love.
SPEAKER_02: It says this you can't control what others think of you.
SPEAKER_02: All you can do is finish the race with faithfulness.
SPEAKER_02: Can't control what others think of you.
SPEAKER_02: All you can do is finish the race with faithfulness.
SPEAKER_02: Brothers and sisters, pursue faithfulness.
SPEAKER_02: Certainly, there's a whole nother sermon about reconciling and doing being faithful and all that.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not, I'm not discounting any of that.
SPEAKER_02: To do your best at that.
SPEAKER_02: But what I am saying, and what Paul is saying, is you can't control what others think, but you can surely pursue obedience and trying to finish the race with faithfulness.
SPEAKER_02: Which brings me to the second aspect I want you to look at under this one.
SPEAKER_02: Your motives.
SPEAKER_02: I remember after I got here, uh, I sat with a counselor here.
SPEAKER_02: I was going through some things, still meet with him regularly, biblical counselor.
SPEAKER_02: And I remember telling him my the first session, I spent like four or five hours with him, just vomiting every my whole life to him.
SPEAKER_02: And I remember telling him about my call to ministry, and there was a part of it for me, I'm just gonna be completely transparent and honest.
SPEAKER_02: There was a part of it for me, I had two misconceptions in my mind.
SPEAKER_02: Really, one of them was more a sinful desire than a misconception, but two two things in my mind that uh now looking back on it, the Lord used to call me into ministry.
SPEAKER_02: One was this, and this is the dumbest thing I've ever heard or said man, if I can become a pastor, the battle against sin would be way easier, right?
SPEAKER_02: That was dumb of me.
SPEAKER_02: So that was one, and the other one was this.
SPEAKER_02: I really liked, and this is hard to admit, I really liked a pat on the back.
SPEAKER_02: I really like a pat on the back.
SPEAKER_02: And if I'm a pastor, I'll get a lot of pat on the back.
SPEAKER_02: I didn't know I get a lot of kicking the teeth too at the time.
SPEAKER_02: And to this day, I struggle with this finding sinful satisfaction in the approval of people around me.
SPEAKER_02: I constantly have to ask myself, are your motives selfish or unselfish?
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes they are selfish because I'm a sinful man.
SPEAKER_02: Paul warns against that here.
SPEAKER_02: Envy and rivalry, rivalry is evidence of an unbiblical motive.
SPEAKER_02: It's evidence of unbiblical motive.
SPEAKER_02: They promote self and not Christ.
SPEAKER_02: When Paul models and instructs the exact opposite, promote Christ, not self.
SPEAKER_02: But yet we often promote self and not Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever been around a person, or maybe you've been the person who talks about themselves all the time, right?
SPEAKER_02: Spending more time telling you about who they are and what gifts they have and how they are such a blessing to people around them, and how much success they have had in ministry and this, that, and the other.
SPEAKER_02: And what they do in that is they communicate to you and to others that they are a blessing to Christ instead of Christ being a blessing to them.
SPEAKER_02: They may very well have the right words to say and know all the scriptures and do all the things, but they very well also may be driven by selfish ambition.
SPEAKER_02: Further, have you ever been around the person or been the person who has gotten upset because someone else got to work, do the work of ministry that you wanted to do?
SPEAKER_02: Maybe they didn't get to do the work for it, but maybe they got the acknowledgement for it.
SPEAKER_02: Brothers and sisters, we have to be very careful and be very weary and watch over and protect ourselves from jealousy and self-promotion.
SPEAKER_02: They are the antithesis of the gospel, and it will destroy lives and churches.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we provide excuses for ourselves or others by saying something like, oh, that's just a personality quirk that they have.
SPEAKER_02: They can't help that.
SPEAKER_02: That's that the way God made them.
SPEAKER_02: It may be the way that God made them, it may be a personality quirk, but guess what?
SPEAKER_02: It's still a sin.
SPEAKER_02: Jealousy, self-promotion, being upset that you're not the one who gets to do it or get the credit is sin.
SPEAKER_02: And some of us struggle with things that are more black and white, right?
SPEAKER_02: Sexual sin is very black and white.
SPEAKER_02: Anger is very black and white.
SPEAKER_02: Others of us may struggle with something like this that can be kind of gray when you really think about it, right?
SPEAKER_02: It's clear that sex outside of marriage is sin, right?
SPEAKER_02: No questions asked, crystal clear.
SPEAKER_02: There's no denying it.
SPEAKER_02: If you have sex outside of marriage that is sinful, no sugar coging it.
SPEAKER_02: Jealousy and self-promotion, on the other end, can be quite gray.
SPEAKER_02: Because we can justify jealousy or envy by telling ourselves or telling others that we just want things to be done well.
SPEAKER_02: I just want something to be done well, when in reality, what we really want is recognition for the being the one who did it.
SPEAKER_02: Do you get upset when someone else receives the praise for something?
SPEAKER_02: Do you get upset or frustrated when someone else completes the task of the work of ministry that you wanted to do or without you?
SPEAKER_02: Be careful.
SPEAKER_02: That is not the attitude of if Christ is proclaimed, I rejoice.
SPEAKER_02: Paul wasn't the one getting to do it at that time in many places because the brother was in chains.
SPEAKER_02: He didn't care if he proclaimed Christ, he didn't care who proclaimed Christ, as long as Christ got proclaimed.
SPEAKER_02: The Westminster shorter catechism tells us this man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.
SPEAKER_02: Think about that.
SPEAKER_02: The chief purpose of our existence is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.
SPEAKER_02: You will never be able to assume the posture of if Christ is proclaimed, then I rejoice.
SPEAKER_02: If the glory of Christ is not your chief purpose.
SPEAKER_02: If you are pursuing anything else, you will not be able to do that.
SPEAKER_02: Verses 15 through 18 should rock our worlds a bit.
SPEAKER_02: For being selfish, for pursuing selfish gain, for thinking about myself more than the glory of Christ, for thinking about the people around me that I love.
SPEAKER_02: I can put my wife on a pedestal so easy and think about her more than I do Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And guess what?
SPEAKER_02: I am terrible at loving her in that moment.
SPEAKER_02: If I don't love Christ first, I'm not loving my wife well.
SPEAKER_02: If I don't love Christ first, I'm not loving my kids well.
SPEAKER_02: The glory of Christ is our purpose to pursue his glory.
SPEAKER_02: I'm real good at worrying about my well-being.
SPEAKER_02: I'm real good about worrying about the well-being of my family.
SPEAKER_02: I'm real good about worrying about the well-being of you guys.
SPEAKER_02: I'm real good about worrying what people think of me.
SPEAKER_02: I'm real good about worrying if people need me or not.
SPEAKER_02: My wife in a classic Ashley and very appropriate way this week said, You think you're all things all people.
SPEAKER_02: You're right.
SPEAKER_02: And it doesn't matter what excuses I start tossing out there when I live as though the desires of Robert are my chief purpose.
SPEAKER_02: I am living in sin.
SPEAKER_02: If you're a follower of Jesus, I want I want to challenge you.
SPEAKER_02: The response today is super simple.
SPEAKER_02: I want to challenge you.
SPEAKER_02: Where are you coming up short and living for the glory of Christ?
SPEAKER_02: Where are you coming up short?
SPEAKER_02: I can't answer that for you.
SPEAKER_02: Your spouse may be able to.
SPEAKER_02: Mine can read me like a book.
SPEAKER_02: Where are you coming up short?
SPEAKER_02: Where is the glory of self?
SPEAKER_02: Where is the glory of family?
SPEAKER_02: Where is the glory of work?
SPEAKER_02: Crept in and taking priority over the glory of Christ in your life.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to reflect on that before a holy God.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to make a list of that.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you might go, I'm not, I'm out on that.
SPEAKER_02: Make a list of it, right?
SPEAKER_02: Make a list of it.
SPEAKER_02: Repent before God and show that list to someone and ask them for help.
SPEAKER_02: Show that list to someone and ask them for help.
SPEAKER_02: The other beauty of this to me is that Paul is writing this to the church at Philippi to encourage them.
SPEAKER_02: He's not writing this to one person, he's writing this to the church.
SPEAKER_02: Brothers and sisters, if all the church is for you is for you to come and do your thing on a Sunday and then bounce and you're not doing life with anyone.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying this to convict you, I'm saying this to say you're missing out.
SPEAKER_02: Get help from your brothers and sisters in this.
SPEAKER_02: Let that be your response.
SPEAKER_02: Make that list and get help.
SPEAKER_02: And if you're not a follower of Christ, life is really hard.
SPEAKER_02: You know that.
SPEAKER_02: I don't have to tell you that.
SPEAKER_02: Life is really hard.
SPEAKER_02: It is really difficult.
SPEAKER_02: Really difficult.
SPEAKER_02: We used to work through a new city catechism with our kids, and I would ask three-year-old Eli.
SPEAKER_02: I think even when he was two, maybe two-year-old Eli, what's your only hype, hope in life and death?
SPEAKER_02: And I can still hear his sweet voice.
SPEAKER_02: Still hear his sweet voice.
SPEAKER_02: That Jesus came, died on the cross, and rose again.
SPEAKER_02: That's his only hope in life.
SPEAKER_02: That is your only hope in life and death.
SPEAKER_02: The only way that you can endure, as I said earlier, when Christ is your everything, you can endure anything.
SPEAKER_02: The only way that you can endure is through Christ.
SPEAKER_02: That's it.
SPEAKER_02: So let this morning your response be responding at the prompting of the Spirit to put your faith in Christ for the first time.
SPEAKER_02: Let me pray for us and then we're going to respond by participating in the Lord's Supper together.
SPEAKER_02: Father, we're grateful for your gospel.
SPEAKER_02: We're grateful for the hope that it is.
SPEAKER_02: And God, as we read a passage like this where Paul seemed to have just an unexplainable joy, an unexplainable outlook, an unexplainable um desire to see the glory of Christ and really the good of others, even those who are coming after him in a sense.
SPEAKER_02: God may may we be challenged by that?
SPEAKER_02: Most certainly.
SPEAKER_02: God, you rule over everything.
SPEAKER_02: And while it may not feel good here for a moment, God, we know that you are working things out for our good and that one day we will stand before the God of creation and we will look upon your face in glory and what a day that will be.
SPEAKER_02: So may we find hope in that.
SPEAKER_02: Even as we celebrate the Lord's Supper, God, may we find hope and encouragement and joy in the blood and the body of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: May we be a church who pursues the glory of Christ above all things.
SPEAKER_02: God, even if that means we have to set our well being to the side.
SPEAKER_02: May we be a church and may we be a people who pursues the glory of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: May that be so.
SPEAKER_02: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.