Well...not actually day 3. More like "didn't post over the three-day weekend so this is my third day posting". Anyway...
This beginning chapter of Philippians has got to be some of the most optimistic stuff Paul ever wrote. I'm not sure that I could view my imprisonment the same way he does: as a good thing intended to advance the gospel. I'm pretty sure I'd be complaining about how bad I had it, unless of course I was in an American prison which could easily be mistaken for a Hilton hotel. But I digress. Here again in the latter half of the passage he talks about the people who have begun preaching the gospel in response to his imprisonment. Notice that Paul says the only difference between these two groups of people is their motive: some out of love, some out of rivalry (with Paul I assume). Paul's response here is truly noble. He says he is just happy the gospel is being preached.
I have a hard time with this. I'm one of those who is guilty of trying to judge people's motives. Is that Christian music artist really a humble servant or does he do it for his own glory? Is this minister really turning the spotlight on Christ or is the spotlight fixed on him? Paul says it doesn't matter, as far as all of us are concerned. God will judge the motives, and that will be between the man and God. Paul could see the bigger picture. He knew that it wasn't about who followed "Paul" but who followed Christ.
I get frustrated sometimes with the efforts of some Christians and some Churches who seem to have serious short-sightedness. They work hard to get people to come to their church or their Bible study. I've heard statistics before that said most new members to a church aren't new converts but people who came from another church. I live in a town that has over 20 churches. The number of the churches doesn't bother me so much as the fact that they seem to rarely coordinate their efforts to reach the community. Often it seems the excuse given is that "we don't really agree with what that church teaches". Are we lacking Paul's community-minded or maybe Kingdom-minded approach? I don't mean to trivialize doctrine, but sometimes we must push aside these small (usually unimportant) differences of opinion, stop questioning the motives of other Bible-believing churches, and work together if we're going to see people saved. Paul recognized that he wasn't, not could he be, a one-man show. That if the world was going to be reached with the gospel it would take all kinds of people. Most of those people will have pure motives, others won't. According to Paul, the only thing that matters is that "Christ is proclaimed".
Philippians 1
15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
This beginning chapter of Philippians has got to be some of the most optimistic stuff Paul ever wrote. I'm not sure that I could view my imprisonment the same way he does: as a good thing intended to advance the gospel. I'm pretty sure I'd be complaining about how bad I had it, unless of course I was in an American prison which could easily be mistaken for a Hilton hotel. But I digress. Here again in the latter half of the passage he talks about the people who have begun preaching the gospel in response to his imprisonment. Notice that Paul says the only difference between these two groups of people is their motive: some out of love, some out of rivalry (with Paul I assume). Paul's response here is truly noble. He says he is just happy the gospel is being preached.
I have a hard time with this. I'm one of those who is guilty of trying to judge people's motives. Is that Christian music artist really a humble servant or does he do it for his own glory? Is this minister really turning the spotlight on Christ or is the spotlight fixed on him? Paul says it doesn't matter, as far as all of us are concerned. God will judge the motives, and that will be between the man and God. Paul could see the bigger picture. He knew that it wasn't about who followed "Paul" but who followed Christ.
I get frustrated sometimes with the efforts of some Christians and some Churches who seem to have serious short-sightedness. They work hard to get people to come to their church or their Bible study. I've heard statistics before that said most new members to a church aren't new converts but people who came from another church. I live in a town that has over 20 churches. The number of the churches doesn't bother me so much as the fact that they seem to rarely coordinate their efforts to reach the community. Often it seems the excuse given is that "we don't really agree with what that church teaches". Are we lacking Paul's community-minded or maybe Kingdom-minded approach? I don't mean to trivialize doctrine, but sometimes we must push aside these small (usually unimportant) differences of opinion, stop questioning the motives of other Bible-believing churches, and work together if we're going to see people saved. Paul recognized that he wasn't, not could he be, a one-man show. That if the world was going to be reached with the gospel it would take all kinds of people. Most of those people will have pure motives, others won't. According to Paul, the only thing that matters is that "Christ is proclaimed".
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