00:00:00:39 – 00:00:27:21
Clint Loveall
Hey, friends. Welcome back. As we close out the week together, good to have you with us. As we continue into the book of Philippians, we find ourself today. Partway through chapter one, we’re in verse 12. And I would say this is kind of where Paul, there’s still a personal aspect, an element to this, but I think that we now start to make it turn to some of the themes of the letter.

00:00:27:21 – 00:00:55:52
Clint Loveall
And so let me jump in, read a few verses, we’ll come back and and discuss them. I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard and to everyone else, than my imprisonment is for Christ and most of the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear.

00:00:55:53 – 00:01:21:32
Clint Loveall
Let’s stop there, Michael, just for a minute. So again, a word of encouragement for for the congregation in Philippi, as Paul tells them, you know that I’m in prison. They’re aware of his situation, but a kind of reassurance. I want you to know that this is actually been a good thing, or at least to say there is some good that is coming out of this.

00:01:21:46 – 00:01:56:04
Clint Loveall
And the word here actually helped is to say something like, the gospel has moved forward, that this is actually help to the gospel. Progress is a sense of the word there. And then Paul goes on to explain what that means. The Imperial Guard. Then he goes on to say, not only is the Imperial Guard aware of the gospel, but those who know that I’m in prison and have heard me continue to preach, they continue to preach as well, and they’re made bolder.

00:01:56:04 – 00:02:07:16
Clint Loveall
And so, I mean, this is really, what would we say, Michael silver lining in the in the dark cloud. But it must have been some encouragement to the people who read it.

00:02:07:21 – 00:02:38:36
Michael Gewecke
Yeah. No doubt. And there’s also a way of helping frame what’s happening here, because it’s reasonable to think that the believers in Philippi, certainly being aware of Paul’s situation, would have been discouraged. This would have been a heavy thing for them that a person who’s been a spiritual leader is finding himself in such dire straits. And the word that we have here that is translated Imperial guard, can also be translated.

00:02:38:51 – 00:03:06:20
Michael Gewecke
Pretorium. So you get the idea there of the actual Roman guard. But the commentators point out that this can technically be any governor’s palace, just the way that the words translate out. The point being here is not that this gives us an inside scoop as to exactly what’s happening to Paul. What it does do, however, is it it makes sure that we know that we understand that he is presently not free to do as he wills.

00:03:06:25 – 00:03:38:27
Michael Gewecke
And so therefore, and I think that this is really important, that we understand even from his position of imprisonment, Paul is speaking out. He is the one who is witnessing to these other Christians. And it’s insightful. It’s striking that even in these circumstances, Paul understands that he has a mission that goes beyond himself, that in this context, Paul still sees that he has a task to do.

00:03:38:40 – 00:03:49:48
Michael Gewecke
And there’s a way in which, as he reflects that out loud, he allows the Philippians to see for themselves that there is a calling for them, no matter what their circumstance as well.

00:03:49:53 – 00:04:21:18
Clint Loveall
It’s a pretty striking idea that Paul would be imprisoned and feel a responsibility to the men, probably certainly the men who are guarding him, who are over him, who are limiting and taking his freedom. And yet, even from the confines of this experience, Paul sees an opportunity to reach into the lives and share the good news of Christ with people who don’t know it.

00:04:21:23 – 00:05:00:27
Clint Loveall
And so for him to say that even the guards know that I’m imprisoned for Christ, the idea that Paul feels a responsibility to speak and act in such a way that he would, as a prisoner, make an impression on his captors, that that’s an amazing thing that I. I don’t know how many people land there. Naturally, that that is a remarkable testament to who Paul is and to how Paul understands his calling to share Christ with others.

00:05:00:31 – 00:05:29:30
Clint Loveall
It seems truly not to matter to him who those others are or what the circumstances are. He is constantly compelled to simply seek out opportunities to proclaim Christ to people who don’t know yet about Jesus. And I, whatever else we can or can’t say about Paul Michael, I mean that that to me is astounding.

00:05:29:34 – 00:05:56:10
Michael Gewecke
It is astounding. And I also think that it’s fascinating here that you can see him making the connection not just within the guard, but we have it very clearly here coming in verse 14, that it’s the brothers and sisters, the faithful, the Christians in this place where he’s in prison, having been made confident, they are speaking the word with greater boldness and without fear.

00:05:56:15 – 00:06:23:07
Michael Gewecke
And that Clint, too, I think, is striking, is that it’s not just that Paul senses a mission field for himself. He sees that an opportunity to mentor and to equip and to encourage. And that’s not all flowers and roses either, because it’s fundamentally that sets up people in positions to do things that Paul may not even find necessarily helpful in advancing the gospel.

00:06:23:07 – 00:06:25:46
Michael Gewecke
Yet he’s going to invest in others all the same.

00:06:25:48 – 00:06:51:24
Clint Loveall
Yeah. So, I mean, along those lines, let’s jump into the next few verses. We pick up at 15. Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. These proclaim Christ out of love. Knowing that I’ve been put here for the defense of the gospel, the others proclaimed Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but intending instead to increase my suffering in my imprisonment.

00:06:51:28 – 00:07:35:06
Clint Loveall
What does it matter only this that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true, and in that I rejoice. And yes, I will continue to rejoice. Again, an incredible statement, and one that sounds. At some level, not like other things Paul says when he speaks about, rivals, when he speaks about others who he is suspicious of here with a focus not on some theological issue, but on the proclamation of Christ.

00:07:35:11 – 00:08:02:33
Clint Loveall
He can say, well, it doesn’t really matter to me why those people are doing what they’re doing. So long as somebody is hearing about Jesus now, is it is it possible that Paul is softened somewhat by being in captivity? I suppose maybe, but again, what an incredible sign of maturity for Paul to say I there’s good preachers and there’s bad preachers.

00:08:02:33 – 00:08:30:41
Clint Loveall
Some are really have pure hearts and good intentions. There are others who are selfish, and even a few who are just trying to make trouble for me. But none of that matters. So long as Christ gets exalted, so long as Christ gets lifted up, so long as Christ is proclaimed, I will rejoice again. Those are incredible words and we’ve tried to be in the studies that we’ve had.

00:08:30:41 – 00:08:45:20
Clint Loveall
We’ve tried to be honest. When Paul is difficult to read, I think consequently, we also want to say in those moments Paul impresses us that it it is it is pretty amazing.

00:08:45:25 – 00:09:10:17
Michael Gewecke
Absolutely. And I think, Clint, that one of the things that we need to make sure that we slow down long enough to see is that when Paul wants to talk about the work of others doing the gospel, which I want to submit, it does happen in the letters, but not very frequently. Do we get editorializing about other people’s proclamation of the gospel, unless they’re proclaiming a baptism that they shouldn’t?

00:09:10:17 – 00:09:13:10
Michael Gewecke
Or, you know, if he’s making an argument against.

00:09:13:10 – 00:09:14:27
Clint Loveall
Generally arguing with them.

00:09:14:36 – 00:09:55:58
Michael Gewecke
Right. Yeah. It’s not very often he’s going to point out a good being done and here you would say that this good is, sort of a backwards good. But yet I just think it’s worth noting here that Paul doesn’t believe that’s the motivation that’s worth measuring in this instance. It’s rather the outcome. And here he’s willing to say, hey, look, some of these, in fact, we have a very clear in verse 17, the intention that words important intending to increase my suffering and imprisonment, basically say, hey, look, I know what they’re trying to do, but let’s take a step back here and see what they’re actually doing and what they’re actually doing.

00:09:56:11 – 00:10:35:42
Michael Gewecke
Is that Christ is proclaimed in every way, regardless of that motivation. And, Clint, I think we do live in a world right now that’s obsessed with intention. It’s really obsessed with motivation. What did they mean and what do they intend? And fundamentally, I wonder if there’s an invitation here in the letter like this to to take just one step back, take a deep breath, and to remember that we should be evaluating not just the intention behind the action, but look at the action itself and see maybe there’s a way in which God is using it, using that person, even if they’re not your favorite person, maybe they are doing a thing that is glorifying God.

00:10:35:42 – 00:10:50:12
Michael Gewecke
And if that is the case, then I do think there is Christian maturity. I would even go so far as to say wisdom clenched in rejoicing because God is doing good works even in what might be to you and me a surprising place.

00:10:50:16 – 00:10:59:46
Clint Loveall
There are a couple of places this takes me like on. The first is again a valid criticism.

00:10:59:51 – 00:11:44:13
Clint Loveall
In our age of reporting and social media, there unfortunately is no shortage of information and stories about pastors whose life and decision making don’t match up with their proclamation. We’ve seen in our lifetime hundreds, if not thousands of stories of people who profess Christ but don’t live a Christlike life, or who at least have fallings and failings that end up being significantly destructive and.

00:11:44:18 – 00:12:26:40
Clint Loveall
While that hypocrisy is important, and while that is a black eye on the church, I think the idea here that Paul can separate the gospel from those who presented and say that essentially those who present it, yeah, they may love attention, you know, hopefully they have pure hearts. Hopefully they have pure motivations. But even if they don’t, the gospel itself has a power and has an importance that can transcend the person who might be carrying it.

00:12:26:45 – 00:13:02:00
Clint Loveall
And, that’s a that’s not to belittle or to make light of those moments of people who shouldn’t do things, doing them. But it is to say that it is helpful to remember, I think, of the people who would say that they just don’t buy the faith because they’ve experienced hypocrisy, and they’ve experienced a disconnect between the faith and and Christians, between Christianity or Christ and Christians.

00:13:02:13 – 00:13:33:45
Clint Loveall
And that’s real. But I think it’s also real. And I think a helpful reminder here in the echo of Paul’s words, that none of us get it all right, and that the gospel is not changed or lessened and and we can rejoice whenever even imperfect people. Do something that elevates the gospel. And there are lots of nuances in that.

00:13:33:45 – 00:13:39:29
Clint Loveall
And I know we could have some arguments about that, but I it’s one of the things I here in this text.

00:13:39:34 – 00:14:07:12
Michael Gewecke
There is a temptation to read a text like this and to get caught up in some of the conflict or some of the historical questions. It’s easy to read past some of the Sunday school stuff, but I think if we make that mistake here, we’re going to miss something really important. I just want you to know this the simple but not the it’s a simple word that in the letters it’s not a simple word in meaning.

00:14:07:17 – 00:14:31:59
Michael Gewecke
Verse 12, we have Paul talking about, well, it’s actually helped to spread the gospel, right? The gospel is central here. And it comes again. That simple word comes again in verse 16, knowing that I’ve been put here for what purpose? The defense of the gospel. Let’s not read past it. The Gospels, the good news is the gospel is this compelling witness of what Jesus Christ came to do.

00:14:32:04 – 00:15:08:25
Michael Gewecke
And Paul doesn’t lay out gospel equals in this letter. But I just want to point out we have the closest thing thus far to Paul sharing what that gospel is came in our conversation yesterday. This idea, this prayer that your love would overflow knowledge and insight, determine what’s best, that you might be pure and blameless. Right. This whole section, and I think, Clint, one of the things that we so easily miss is we begin to associate the faith with our particular lived out version of it.

00:15:08:25 – 00:15:36:19
Michael Gewecke
Sometimes we do that with our buildings. We think of, well, my faith is where I go on Sunday. It’s where I serve on Wednesday. Sometimes we make that mistake with our traditions while I’m a Baptist and I’m a methodist, or you think I’m a Reformed Presbyterian, whatever camp you might put yourself and you begin to think that way, others begin to think in terms of ideas that, well, I have these ideas, and if you don’t have these ideas, then we’re not in fellowship with one another.

00:15:36:19 – 00:15:58:13
Michael Gewecke
And all of those, I think, make a substantial mistake in missing that. When Paul wants to make a case for why he gets up every morning, it’s because there’s a good news to defend. It’s not for him about building walls. It’s not for him about figuring out who’s in and who’s out for him. It’s not even necessarily about advancement.

00:15:58:13 – 00:16:21:00
Michael Gewecke
If that means his all in advancement, he’s happy to do the work from prison. He’s even happy for other people to do it against him as long as they’re doing it. Paul wants the good news of Jesus Christ to be known to, to whatever extent it can be proclaimed. And he thinks of himself as being a defender of that good news that it needs protected.

00:16:21:00 – 00:16:45:00
Michael Gewecke
And Clint, there’s something really compelling about that, because I think even in our day today, maybe especially in our day to day, the good news of Jesus Christ, and I mean that good news that the good news of what Jesus Christ came to do and that love that is supposed to be overflowing, that needs defended by Christians in whatever place they are imprisoned or not, there’s a context for us to be witnesses to that.

00:16:45:05 – 00:17:32:48
Clint Loveall
So that would have been or was going to be exactly my second point, Michael, that Paul gives us an example here. I think of a great deal of trust, not necessarily in the preachers, but in the gospel, in the work of God through Jesus Christ. And for those of us who now live in a time where there are multiple ways to be Christian and some temptation to look upon others that are Christian in a different way, with some suspicion to be able to say, yeah, whatever they are, as long as the gospel gets preached, as long as the work of Christ gets done, I rejoice in that and can you imagine if the whole church

00:17:32:52 – 00:17:58:49
Clint Loveall
was better able to rejoice in what others who are also Christian do instead of the competition and the the comparison and all of the things that we too often see, if we could look to one another’s situation and say, I don’t know if that’s how I would do it. I hope you’re doing it for the right reasons. But you know what?

00:17:58:58 – 00:18:07:21
Clint Loveall
If Jesus things are happening for you, then I rejoice in that. And I think Paul sets us a wonderful model there.

00:18:07:26 – 00:18:30:32
Michael Gewecke
You know, Clay, one thing I wonder here is to what extent did Paul rejoice? What does it mean when he says, I rejoice? I don’t think most people stub their toe in the morning and say, Lord God, I’m so grateful for the towel. I just stopped there is a way in which Paul here is most certainly speaking just as aspirationally as he is speaking literally, right.

00:18:30:32 – 00:18:58:15
Michael Gewecke
This idea that God can make joy even in difficult places, even literally in the midst of conflict. Paul is seeing how rejoicing is possible, having joy again, that is a very spiritual, very spirit led, very God trusting way of, seeing the world, seeing your context, your situation. Lord knows there are many people joining this conversation today and and possibly years from today.

00:18:58:15 – 00:19:22:36
Michael Gewecke
And wherever you are today, you may be like Paul, in a position where it’s people’s intentions against you, or it may be circumstances that now have come upon you. It might be health, it might be money, it whatever it is, there is a statement of faith that rejoicing can be had in any season, even in the proclamation of Jesus Christ, which is pointed against you.

00:19:22:40 – 00:19:40:30
Michael Gewecke
The proclamation is happening, and Paul can rejoice in that. That’s good news. That’s a thing that we can hold on to even if we don’t know the depth of it today. That’s a truth of the promise that we we should strive for again today, because that’s a gift that we are given even in those difficult circumstances.

00:19:40:35 – 00:20:09:47
Clint Loveall
This letter will give us lots of opportunities to talk about the word joy and the word rejoice. I think at this point it is at least fair to say that whereas we tend to think of rejoicing as a reaction, in other words, a good thing happens and it makes us happy. I think a case can be made that throughout this letter, Paul can also speak of rejoicing as a discipline, a thing that we choose to do.

00:20:09:52 – 00:20:45:25
Clint Loveall
And there in I think the the prefix re is really helpful to to commit to joy again and again and again, and to do so in the midst of difficult times. It is it is a beautiful lesson that the letter that Paul writes, in which he uses the word joy the most, he writes from prison the let lest we think we can only find joy when everything lines up and works out the way we hope it does.

00:20:45:30 – 00:20:54:38
Clint Loveall
This letter has something to say about that. And so, I will have lots of opportunity to discuss that. But I think it’s it’s maybe helpful to insert that here.

00:20:54:43 – 00:21:08:42
Michael Gewecke
It’s a great segue. And I think that’s the end for today. Certainly if you found this study helpful, hopefully it’s met you wherever you are today. Give this video a like it helps others find it in their study. And of course, we would love to see you as we continue on next Monday. Until then, be blessed.

00:21:08:43 – 00:21:09:16
Clint Loveall
Have a good weekend!