Well, good evening. Turn with
me, if you would, to the epistle of Paul to the Philippians. And
we'll look at a few verses here again in this first chapter. And while you're doing that,
let me just remind you of how Paul is has begun this letter
to the church in Philippi. And we've saw, as we looked at
the first part of this chapter, the great spiritual themes that
Paul brings out to these saints there. The Lord had done great things for those
people, hadn't he? Those people of Macedonia. And
to them, in spite of All these things which would
hinder, he'd sent the gospel to them. And he'd opened their
hearts and their minds to see and believe the truth. He'd called
them out of darkness. He'd separated them to his son,
into the kingdom of the son of his love, and just so much more. And he speaks about these things
as he begins this letter. And he goes on, we saw to speak
of the confidence and the wonderful truth that it's God who had begun
this good work in them. And if God had begun this good
work, well, how certain is the completion of it then? He writes of his thankfulness
to God for all the work that God has done for them. And of
his joy, and he speaks too of the fellowship, their fellowship
with him in the gospel. And he tells them too, and we
see the love and affection that Paul had for these saints, this
infant church there in Philippi. And his concern for them in spite
of all that was facing him, which we'll look at a little bit tonight.
In all of these things, the Spirit lays out before us to teach us. And I'm just so thankful for
that. I was just thinking today how
remarkable it is that the truth of God's word comes to us in
so many different ways, doesn't it? And this letter, it comes
from a man in prison sending this letter to a church far away,
and how the Lord uses so many different ways to communicate
his truth to us and brings out so much to us. But anyway, I
could go on, but let's just begin there in verse one. Paul and
Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in
Christ Jesus who are in Philippi with the bishops and deacons.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance
of you, always in every prayer of mine, making requests for
you all with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first
day until now. Being confident of this very
thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete
it until the day of Jesus Christ. Just as it is right for me to
think this of you all because I have you in my heart, and as
much as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation
of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. For God is
my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection
of Jesus Christ. In this I pray that your love
may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment,
that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you
may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being
filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to
the glory and praise of God. Now, as we read through this
once again, you can't help but be encouraged and blessed, can
you? full of joy as we read all of
these glorious things that God has done, not only for the saints
at Philippi, but for all of his people. Our hearts are lifted
up to realms of glory, if I could say it that way. And so the next
words of the Apostle Paul should tell us something of the importance
of what the word of the Lord has to say to us in these next
few verses. Paul brings them down, as it
were, to the hard circumstances of life. What does he say? Look at verse 12. But I want
you to know, brethren, that the things which have happened to
me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.
Now, What does he want them to know? He wants them to know,
in summary, about suffering. He says, I want you to know the
things which have happened to me. And Paul, in addressing that,
he wants them to know what Christian suffering looks like. He wants
them to know that This is the only suffering that matters.
Have you thought about that? There's a lot of suffering in
the world. Terrible suffering, tragic suffering. The only suffering
that matters is Christian suffering. Because that's the only suffering
which brings forth good. Suffering in Christ and for Christ
is what Paul wants them to understand and think about. And that's what
I would like for us to think about tonight. He's preparing
them for the statement, which is found further down in the
chapter, look down to verse 29. What do we read there? For to
you, it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe
in him, but also to suffer for his sake. Now think, to you, it has been
granted to believe in Christ. To you, it's been granted to
be justified by his blood. To you, it's been granted to
be born again of the Holy Spirit. To you, it has been granted to
be given life in Christ. To you, it's been granted to
repent. To you, it's been granted to
believe. And to you, it's been granted
to have an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for you." These are just some of the glorious
privileges and blessings of God which have been granted to his
people. Well, here's one more. This is
what Paul says, here's one more. To you, it has been granted to
suffer for his sake. That's a blessing of God. Hard
as it is for us to understand, it's a rich blessing of God. Belief in this truth and knowledge
of this truth alone will transform our view of suffering as the
Lord's people. I know I need that help, and
I'm sure you do too. When we find ourselves in a place
of suffering, we'll begin to understand that our goal, our
goal in the suffering, in these circumstances, is to glorify
Christ and to honor him. You know, how rarely I think
about that, you know, in difficult circumstances. But this is what
Paul wants them to think about, wants these saints in Philippi
to think about. In doing this, We suffer for
his sake and for his name. And again, that's the only suffering
that matters. So let's read and consider these
next few verses then in light of what the Lord has to
say about suffering. But I want you to know, brethren,
the things that happened to me have actually turned out for
the furtherance of the gospel so that it has become evident
to the whole palace guard and to all the rest that my chains
are in Christ. And most of the brethren in the
Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold
to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even
from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill. The former preach Christ from
selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to
my chains, but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed
for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every
way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached. And in this I rejoice, yes, and
will rejoice. Now, Paul says, I want you to
know, brethren, the things which have happened to me. Well, what
were they? What were they? What's he referring
to? Well, not good things. Not good things. Let me just
give you a brief summary. And this is all found, as you
know, in the account in Acts. But Paul had been attacked by
a mob in Jerusalem. Remember? A mob was stirred up
by Jews from Asia who saw Paul there and claimed that he preached
against the law, the people, the temple, and it defiled the
temple by bringing in Gentiles. And they dragged him out of the
temple and were about to kill him. And he was saved only by
the Roman, commander of the Roman garrison, who received news of
some tumult going on. And we read there, he got soldiers
and centurions and they actually ran to where this was occurring. and intervened. And then they
took him, the commander took him to the garrison of the soldiers
and bound him there. But then he receives word that
there's 40 men, I believe, who had sworn an oath that when he
took Pole down to the council the following day that they were
going to kill him. And because of this plot, the
commander there sent Pole with 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen and
200 spearmen to Caesarea. You just get a sense of the seriousness
of all that was going on when you read numbers like that. And
he sent him to Felix, the governor. And he examined Paul, you remember,
found no cause, found him to be innocent. But did he release
him? No, no, he didn't. He kept him
imprisoned for two years. And he then was succeeded by
Festus, who thought, I'll please the Jews. I'll send him back
to Jerusalem and that would have resulted in almost certain death. At this point, Paul, what does
he do? Appeals to Caesar. He's a Roman
citizen and he appeals to Caesar. Well, that meant a journey to
Rome. Again, what occurred? that Paul and the ship he's on
are caught in this incredibly bad weather, terrible storm. The Word of God says that they
were in danger of perishing for weeks during this time, and the
Word of God says until all hope that they would be saved was
finally given up. In the end, you know, they were
shipwrecked on Malta, and according to the Word that God had given
Paul, not a soul perished. Anyway, in the end, they make it to Rome. Now, here
is Paul. He's been falsely accused by
his own people, the people of Israel, to the Romans. He's imprisoned. He's unjustly held. He couldn't
secure hearing. He's insulted, maligned, threatened,
his life continually at risk. Reading the story, you see just
the level of malice and deceit, self-serving men, corrupt leaders. It was epic. And he eventually
entered Rome, not as a free man preaching the gospel of Christ,
but as a prisoner in the company of criminals, bound by a chain. And not only that, as you see,
this whole ordeal dragged on for years. And that's a trial
in itself, isn't it? He awaited the judgment of Caesar.
Who was that? An ungodly ruler of an earthly
empire. So here he is now. Here he is
writing this letter. He's still imprisoned, although
in the Lord's grace, in a house. yet guarded, still chained, still
unheard, still in dark circumstances, still with a dark future. And this is what he says, the
things which have happened to me have actually turned out for
the furtherance of the gospel. Isn't that wonderful? It's always
that way. Paul doesn't even need to remind
these Philippians of the parallels of when he brought the gospel
to them, does he? For that night he was in prison,
but what was it all for? The furtherance of the gospel.
Just as it was then, so it is now. His chains are in Christ. The gospel's not hindered in
any way. We need to remind ourselves of these things continually.
We know them. If I ask you, what would you say? No, no, no, the
gospel's not hindered. But we don't act that way most
of the time. It's not hindered. It's God's work. In fact, God
used all these evil circumstances to further the gospel, and he
always does that. He uses the good and the evil,
and his work is always accomplished. It's his work and he's ordering
all things exactly the way he wants them to be. And this is
true in everything, in every place, in every time. And it's
true today. Now, Paul says, the things which
happened to me. But listen, he's not calling
attention to his suffering. Note, I gave you this brief overview
of all that occurred. Paul doesn't mention any of that.
None, none. Paul does something which we
naturally find very hard to do. He doesn't think of himself. Who does he think of? He thinks
of Christ. Paul calls their attention to
his chains not to cause them to focus upon him and his suffering,
but to cause them to think about his chains, all of these things
that had happened to him, how they'd served to give glory to
God. As always, and in all things,
Paul's focus is always on Christ, and this is why the The Word of God holds the Apostle
Paul up in so many instances before us to teach us these things,
gives us so many details about his life because this is the
characteristic of Paul. You know, when we suffer, our
tendency is to think of ourselves, to focus upon ourselves, to feel
sorry for ourselves, And to have others feel sorry
for us. And to focus their attention
upon us. And our goal in suffering, is
this true or not? Our goal in suffering is to avoid
it at all costs. And to look for a way of escape.
And that's the natural reaction. But this isn't suffering for
the sake of Christ that the word of God is speaking of. No, to
suffer for his sake is to take the frowning providences of God
in our lives and direct our attention to Christ and direct the attention
of others to Christ, to think of him, to seek to honor his
name in our suffering, hard as that may be. And yet, God gives
great grace during these times. How do you think Paul was able
to do all of this? Only the grace of God. And I
know all of you have found this at some point in your life. I
know I have. In suffering, the Lord has given
great grace and brought forth things that were not in me. That's
all I can say, were not found in me. And yet he does with his
people and he brings forth things to his glory in suffering. Our desire should
be to the furtherance of his gospel, that suffering for his
sake. And all believers have been granted
this privilege. Think of that. It's something
that's been granted to you and I by God. It's a privilege that
we would be able to be in places like this in our lives. In his own suffering Paul thought
not of himself but of Christ. Now that's the first thing and
the second thing is that Paul in his suffering didn't speak
of himself but he spoke of Christ. The goal of the Apostle is to
glorify Christ in his suffering and Paul uses his chains as a
metaphor for suffering. we tend to think of in terms
of suffering for Christ. Isn't that what we mostly tend
to think of in terms of suffering as Christians? To suffer for
Christ. And that's true. That's true. But Paul doesn't say my chains
are for Christ. He says my chains are in Christ. And there's a difference. There's
a difference. What does he mean? He says, It's become evident
to the whole praetorium, the whole palace guard of Caesar,
and to all the rest that his chains are in Christ. Now, how
could they know that? How could these Romans, the palace,
the soldiers, how could they know that Paul's chains are in
Christ? Well, Paul told them, didn't
he? Paul told them. He told them about Christ. He
spoke to them about Christ through his words and through his life. And they saw before their eyes
that his chains, he was a unique prisoner. His chains were in
Christ. They saw that whether in freedom
or in chains, the cause of Paul's life was Christ. You know, just
a little further down, he says, for to me, to live is Christ,
in verse 21. For to me, to live is Christ. To suffer in Christ is to suffer
with our soul governed and conformed by this wonderful truth, for
to me to live is Christ. Suffering with that in our heart
and in our mind, seeking his glory, that's to suffer in Christ. Paul, as always in this whole
time, determined in his situation, among those he associated with,
In the place that God had put him, he determined not to know
anything except Christ and him crucified. This is his calling. He's in the service of Christ
and the circumstances he finds himself in make no difference.
We have a lot to learn from that, don't we? I know I do. Look at what he says in verse
17. I'm appointed for the defense of the gospel. Well, if he'd
been appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ for the defense of the
gospel, then what will he do? He'll do exactly that. He'll
serve Christ. Paul, he's there in Rome, imprisoned,
and he doesn't sit there bemoaning his situation. thinking, why
did God allow this to happen? Or thinking that the Lord had
set him aside from the work of the gospel. He could have easily
thought that, couldn't he? Unable to have a ministry? Or
these creeping thoughts that the devil has hindered the work? No, no, what does he do? He soldiers on. Have you heard
that term before? Is that an Australian term? I'm
not sure. I don't hear much these days,
but it's a good one, isn't it? It doesn't matter. Soldier on,
soldier on. And that's what Paul does. And he says there in verse 20,
look now there, but with all boldness, in verse 20, Yes, in verse 20, but with all
boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my
body, whether by life or by death. We saw in the epistle to the
Colossians that Paul gives a definition of the Christian life when he
makes this prayer, that you may have a walk fully pleasing him,
being fruitful in every good work. and increasing in the knowledge
of God. And we saw, well, isn't that
a glorious way to characterize the Christian life? Pleasing
Christ. Well, here, Paul gives another
definition of the life of the believer. Now also, Christ will
be magnified in my body. Now, Now also Christ will be
magnified in my body. Now, now, not at some point in
time, not in certain circumstances, not sometimes, now. See how he
puts it? As always, so now. Whether it's in times of great
abundance or in times of great want. times of exceeding joy
or times of crippling sorrow, whether in life or in death. Let this be true of you and me. Now, as always, let Christ be
magnified in my body. In times of trial and suffering,
we've been granted this marvelous privilege that Christ would be
magnified in our bodies. Isn't that amazing? Well, then
lastly, let's just consider some of the fruits of Paul's chains.
What effect did the sufferings of Paul have in these circumstances?
Well, he magnified Christ in his body. We know that. He says,
the things that have happened to me have actually really turned
out for the furtherance of the gospel. Now, we know that all
these things which were against Paul in the preceding years,
all the enemies and all the hindrances, all of these dark threads woven
into the fabric of Paul's life, the hatred of his own people,
the lies and deceits against him, the lack of justice, you
know, the word of God just covers this In a sense, in a dry way,
in a sense, right? But we're called upon to think. Think about yourself in places
like this. Every single one of these things
is a serious trial in itself. You know, I get upset about just
somebody being unhappy with me. You know, that's just a trial.
But think of all of these things faced by this great apostle,
these emotional and psychological, let alone all the physical suffering
he endured over a long period of time now, and this imprisonment,
the continual prospect of death, the uncertainty of the future.
These are all great trials for, For us, every one of them. Well, Paul has endured all this.
But he says, no, no, none of these things have been a hindrance
to the gospel. They've rather caused the furtherance
of the gospel of Christ. So, what does he say? He gives
some examples. He says, so that it has become
evident to the whole palace guard and to all the rest that my chains
are in Christ. Isn't that remarkable? Think
of that. If the church in Jerusalem or any of the other infant churches
had been told a few years previously that the gospel would be preached
and have its course among the Praetorian Guard of the ruler
of the Roman Empire, they wouldn't have believed it. The Praetorian
Guard was a handpicked division of imperial troops, and as part
of their duty, it seems, from here that they were called upon
to guard special prisoners who had appealed to Caesar, most
likely Roman citizens. During this period there would
have been, just think over time, all of the guards that would
have come and guarded the Apostle Paul. And what do you think he
was doing? He was preaching the gospel to
these men. And think of the wonder The privilege
of sitting there as a guard, whether they knew it or not,
and having visitors like Timothy and others come and visit Paul
during this time, and hearing him speak the things that we
read today. Not only that, what does he say? So it has become evident to the
whole palace guard and to all the rest that my chains are in
Christ. This witness and testimony wasn't
just confined to the guards, but Paul puts it in this way,
all the rest, who these were he doesn't say, but implied is
that the gospel was having free course throughout Rome during
that period of time. Look ahead for a moment to the
second to last verse of this epistle. Chapter four and verse
22. As Paul is closing this epistle,
we read something that is truly amazing. He says, all the saints greet
you, but especially those who are of Caesar's household. How
about that? The saints in Caesar's household. I don't want to get sidetracked,
but think of how the gospel of God's grace erases all things. Erases class, and background,
and ethnicity, and I could go on. Here's saints in Caesar's
household of the Roman Empire, obviously very important people
in the world, greeting the saints in Philippi. Isn't that wonderful? Well, too, Emperor Nero has gone
down in history as one of the most evil tyrants to have ever
ruled. His persecution, especially of
the Christian church, earned him the title Antichrist in the
first century. What do we find in the household
of this man? Saints in Christ Jesus. Well,
what else? What else? Go back to chapter
one, we'll just close then. He says, here's more of the fruit
of his chains in Christ. Most of the brethren in the Lord,
having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to
speak the word without fear. Once again, the Lord's brought
about exactly the opposite of what we would expect. The great
apostle to the Gentiles has been imprisoned, his life at risk,
his future uncertain, and he's unable to go forth to the ends
of the earth preaching the gospel of the grace of God. He's unable
to go forth as an ambassador for Christ. And we would expect
the brethren, what would we expect? Them to be discouraged, disheartened,
fearful because of the persecution? But no, what's happened? They've
become more confident. They've become much more bold
to speak the word, preach the gospel without fear. Their own well-being, their own
preservation, their thoughts about themselves no longer have
the ascendance. Now their thoughts and focus
were on Christ and his gospel and what a difference that made.
Notice how Paul puts it, having become confident in my chains. That's what the Lord used. It
is the life of Paul lived in his chains which has so inspired
them to become confident in the Lord and to go forth preaching
without fear. In other words, Christ has been
magnified and is being magnified through the life that Paul lives
in the dark circumstances of his life. Well, what is Paul's conclusion
about all of this? What then, do you see that? What
then, in verse 18. What then, he asks. What is his
whole view? Not only in suffering, but in
any and every circumstance of life. What then? Only that in every way, Christ
is preached. The Lord Jesus Christ is always
the central and controlling factor in the life of this man, in everything,
only that Christ is preached. That's a great desire, isn't
it? May it be more and more our desire. And Paul says, in this
I rejoice, And yes, we'll rejoice. Amen.