Philippians 1:12-18 | Christian Boldness

This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Thank you, Webb.

Take your Bible with me this morning to the book of Philippians.

As we continue our walk through this short New Testament letter.

This morning we're going to pick up where we left off last time in Philippians chapter 1, verse 12.

Philippians 1:12

If you have your Bible with you, I encourage you to open there, or if you have a device, to follow along.

Philippians chapter 1, beginning in verse 12.

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

I'm going to read all the way through verse 18 if you'd like to follow along.

Again, this is the Apostle Paul writing to a young, small church in the city of Philippi.

He says, 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 for Christ.

And most of the brothers, having been confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will.

The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.

What then?

Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

Amen.

Around 197 AD, a North African Christian named Tertullian wrote a defense of Christianity.

One phrase from his book has echoed down throughout the centuries since then.

He wrote it in Latin, but in English it's something like we become more numerous the more we are tested by you.

The blood of Christians is the seed.

Tertullian's statement has been restated many times since then.

And the popular version is probably appropriate today, a day on which a large part of the church honors the persecuted church, recognizes the persecuted church.

In modern times, Tertullian's statement is condensed to the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.

I prefer Tertullian's original version, even though the more modern version is more memorable.

The modern version links the growth, the expansion, the advancement of the church to martyrdom, to the sacrifice of one's life for Christ.

Tertullian certainly included that in his statement.

But when he says we become more numerous the more we are tested, it suggests more than just dying for one's faith.

Tertullian points to all manner of testing.

Christ's kingdom grows and spreads when it is tested.

You can't squash it, you can't drive it out.

You can't wipe it away.

It's sort of like one of those dirty windows that you're trying to clean and trying to get all the smudges out of, and you just can't, no matter how hard you try.

We only become more numerous.

This captures what the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in ancient Philippi while he was chained to a Roman soldier, awaiting his trial before Caesar.

His letter first updates his friends on how he's doing in his imprisonment and how that imprisonment is helping spread the gospel rather than hinder it.

Then it encourages them to model Christ-likeness as they speak about the Lord Jesus in their own community.

So these few verses then, verses 12 through 18, teach us that formidable, trying circumstances are opportunities for Christ-likeness and gospel focus.

We see that first in verses 12 and 13, where the Apostle Paul tells us that gospel advancement should always be our priority.

Before we really jump into that, though, we need to think a little bit differently about how we hear these passages in the New Testament, especially these short New Testament letters.

It's often difficult for us to hear these truths from the early New Testament time period in their first century setting.

We hear them as applying to gathered congregations in a nice modern building.

And so the church then is often pictured as this group of people all gathered together in a building.

The reality is that these New Testament letters were written to individuals, making up small New Testament churches meeting in homes.

So when Paul says back in verse 8, I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus, he's not really saying, I love you, church.

Although that's not wrong.

It's not really what he's getting at.

He's saying, I love you, Lydia.

The first person to come to Christ in Philippi.

He's saying, I love you, former Roman soldier turned jailer who came to Christ in the middle of the night.

He's saying, I love you, Eodia and Syntiche, who can't get along.

See, there's a personal nature to these letters.

And bec in part because while it's growing, the Lord's church is still small.

They were brothers and sisters in Christ.

They knew Paul and they knew his circumstances, they knew about his welfare, and they were concerned about it.

And he knew about them and their walk with Christ, and he wanted to strengthen that.

That's why he writes so intently about what has happened to him in Rome.

They know.

They know the difficulty, they know what he's up against.

And he knew that following Jesus in Philippi, that community sometimes called Little Rome, was not going to be much easier than following Christ in Rome itself.

The particular circumstances are different in every location.

No matter what part of the world you're in, taking up our crosses and following Christ is the same everywhere.

We are declaring our allegiance to Christ as Lord, and we follow Him.

But the results of doing that might vary.

For example, we do not have the daily pressure of wondering whether we will survive this day, today, like our brothers and sisters in Nigeria face.

But we are both called to walk worthy of our calling and to make disciples of Christ as we go about our daily lives.

So the expectation to advance the gospel and then the sinful obstacles that arise as barriers are the same around the world.

So Paul's letter encourages the individuals who make up the Lord's church to be gospel focused.

In that way, the personal nature of these letters helps us orient what is said to us, to me and you as individuals.

Our takeaway isn't directed so much to us as a collective group of believers as much as it is to the individual believers who gather together here as brothers and sisters in Christ.

And so gospel advancement is to be our priority.

And the primary way that happens is through our personal lives as Christians.

That means that the purpose of our Sunday morning gathering is not first to evangelize the lost.

I know that sounds terrible, but think about it for a moment.

Yes, the gospel is present because we all need to hear it and to be reminded of it continually.

But the purpose of our gathering together as brothers and sisters in Christ on this first day of the week, Resurrection Day, is to be fed by the bread of life in the Word of God so that we are ready and prepared to take the gospel with us as the Lord causes us to go about our daily lives.

For Paul, that meant telling everyone he could about Christ, even if he was chained to a Roman soldier.

You see, the irony here is that Paul was chained in one place 24-7.

He was stuck, literally, to a Roman guard.

Yet the gospel was on the move while he was essentially immovable.

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.

This is a military term.

There's a lot of military language in this section talking about how God, like a warrior king, is advancing his kingdom stage by stage, step by step, area by area, region by region, person by person.

Yet Paul's stuck to a Roman soldier, chained day in and day out.

This is part of what Jesus meant when he said the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

The Roman Empire is essentially an unstoppable juggernaut at this time period.

Emperor Nero is near the height of his power.

Within two years of the writing of this letter, he would be blaming Christians for the burning of much of Rome and begin a horrendous persecution against believers.

Jews had already been expelled from Rome earlier, and that likely meant a good number of Christians were driven out as well.

So those who remained are going to feel the pressure of a government opposed to them.

Caesar did not consider the truth of another Lord as good news for his empire.

Imprisoning the leading preacher of this growing segment of his empire would surely hamper its appeal.

And if it hampers its appeal, it's going to hamper the spread.

But like Psalm 2 says, God sits in the heavens and laughs.

Paul wouldn't stop talking about Jesus.

The whole Imperial Guard, he says, knew that he was imprisoned for Jesus.

The Imperial Guard was comprised of Caesar's most loyal and trusted soldiers.

The elite of the Imperial Guard served as his own personal bodyguards.

Some estimate the number of the imperial guards in the thousands.

So a large number of Roman soldiers who were an integral part of the Roman governing system became aware of the gospel as their superiors ordered them to guard Paul.

Imagine that.

They're thinking they're hindering the spread of the gospel by guarding Paul, and all they're doing is contributing to the spread of the gospel.

Hearing this, friends, should reorient how we think about formidable circumstances.

Paul was guiding the Philippians to see their circumstances as opportunities for gospel advancement.

They're likely grieved about Paul's imprisonment.

They're likely burdened and thinking about how he's going to survive his upcoming trial.

But he wanted them to see it as an opportunity for gospel advancement.

Friends, the Lord lays out our steps so that he puts us in places to speak of him, so that the gospel advances.

It is no circumstantial situation that Paul just ends up in a Roman prison, chained to a Roman guard, day in and day out, week after week, month after month.

God had him there to spread the gospel.

This happens, friends, as you have or have lunch with a coworker.

It happens as you're on a business trip, as you're having coffee with a neighbor.

It happens if you're laying in a hospital bed.

If you're receiving medical infusions.

God places you specifically in assisted living situations.

God places you to teach your children as you contemplate a life change.

He puts you in places of grief, of celebration, of hope, of prayer as opportunities for gospel advancement.

You see, Paul's imprisonment wasn't merely about chains and hardship.

It's about having captive audiences for the gospel.

Paul's not the captive, the Roman soldier is.

The prisoners are for gospel advancement.

That's a change of perspective.

Let your perspective be challenged to see the circumstances of life through the lens of the gospel.

On October 16th, 1555, pastors Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were condemned to death by Queen Mary I for their Protestant preaching in England.

They were tied to stakes in Oxford and burned to death.

Fox's Book of Martyrs attests that Hugh Latimer reportedly said to Ridley as the wood was being lit: Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man.

We shall this day light such a candle by God's grace in England that I trust will never be put out.

Latimer and Ridley's boldness was evidence of their perspective.

Here's an opportunity for gospel advancement and gospel priority.

It also displays what we see secondly here in our text: a fearlessness towards worldly systems.

Christ's kingdom should motivate our boldness.

Look at what he says.

Most of the brothers, verse 14, and I think we can include their brothers and sisters.

This is speaking about all the Christians in Rome, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Gospel priority leads to kingdom boldness.

Someone has said that we would not fear anything if we could see the Lord's glorious presence with us.

Because perspective changes everything.

In a similar way, the imprisoned apostle declares that most of the believers in Rome gained a kind of fearlessness as a result of his imprisonment.

And that boldness, he says, wasn't in Paul.

He says it was in the Lord.

Most of the brothers and sisters having become confident in the Lord.

Our confidence or our boldness will be shaken, like an earthquake, if it's grounded in anything other than the unchangeable nature of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In fact, God warned his people through Isaiah about this very thing.

He said in Isaiah chapter 31, verse 1: Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they're very strong.

Isaiah 31 · chapter mention

But do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult Yahweh.

This has been God's directive from all time.

If we don't have our hope and our motivation grounded in Christ, we will be shaken.

And it's Paul's imprisonment.

They viewed their circumstances through the lens of gospel priority, leading them to see Paul's imprisonment as God's means of advancing his kingdom.

And that inspired their boldness.

Even death itself is nothing to fear in light of the Lord's kingdom.

That's what Latimer and Ridley teach us.

For if death is our greatest enemy, for those who belong to the Lord, and if his resurrection has conquered it, then what is there to fear?

We can speak the word boldly without fear.

It's said elsewhere.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Tribulation.

Distress Persecution.

No Famine.

Nakedness.

No.

Danger.

No.

Sword.

No.

For in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

My friends, this kind of perspective requires a reorientation.

Hard and painful times will either push us more into fear and anxiety, or it will move us more toward an absolute and fearless trust in what Jesus is doing.

And when we see our circumstances in light of what Jesus is doing rather than what we want for our lives, the Spirit will begin to motivate our boldness for Christ.

The Apostle Paul pointed to the pressures that Rome put on Christians to show those in little Rome, Philippi, that they too could achieve and discover a new kind of gospel boldness if they could see life through the lens of the Lord's kingdom work rather than the impact of circumstances on their own lives.

He's saying, look at my set of circumstances.

It's not easy.

I can't move around.

I don't have freedom like you have.

But look how the Lord has used it.

That leads us then for us to walk through this to see verse 15, where there's a slight shift in verses 15, 16, 17, 18.

And it's a shocking shift.

He says that Christ-like character should spur our motives.

Here, the apostle describes the heart motives of brothers and sisters in Christ who are boldly speaking of Jesus.

They have a gospel priority.

They've gained a confidence by seeing life through the lens of the Lord's kingdom, and they're speaking the word of God without fear.

That sounds great.

What's there not to like about that?

Well, in a subtle yet effective way, the imprisoned apostle writes back to those Philippian believers to say, don't be like some of these Roman Christians.

Don't be like some of these Roman Christians.

Try to imagine how we would feel.

If the Apostle Paul wrote to some church in New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas, pick your city.

Imagine the Apostle Paul writing to a church in another community saying, I'm thrilled with those brothers and sisters at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks.

I'm so glad that they are gospel focused, that they are confident and bold proclaimers of Christ.

But please don't be like them.

What?

That's what he's doing here.

He's critiquing their motives while complementing their boldness and confidence in Christ.

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill.

The latter do it out of love, knowing that I'm put here for the defense of the gospel.

The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.

We're not told how Paul has gained this knowledge of their motives.

But because God included them in his word, we can be confident that what the Apostle Paul says here is true.

Some of the confident and bold brothers and sisters in Rome had questionable motives.

There's an emphatic contrast here.

Among the confident and bold Christians in Rome, some spoke of Jesus out of envy and rivalry, thinking that they could somehow make Paul's imprisonment worse.

But others spoke out of goodwill, knowing that the Lord had Paul in a Roman prison to defend the gospel.

That's a fascinating look into the reality of believers functioning in a sin-cursed world.

These gospel proclaimers are brothers and sisters in Christ.

They've declared their allegiance to Christ as Lord, not Caesar.

Their peace with God comes through forgiveness of sins found in Christ alone, not through Roman peace.

They are forged together in a common bond in Christ, forever bound as brothers and sisters, but they are not all the same.

Because some display the character of Christ while others do not.

Some proclaim Christ out of rivalry and envy, meaning they act as though Paul were some kind of competitor in the gospel.

Just as we sometimes do, if we're honest, with other churches in our community.

We feel about them as though they're competitors.

At the same time, some spoke of Christ displaying a different kind of character, a Christ-like character.

Let me show you what I mean.

Look over here.

Keep your finger in Philippians 1.

Look over at Philippians 2, verse 1.

Philippians 2:1

So, if there is any encouragement in Christ, which there is, if there's any comfort from love, which there is, if there's any participation in the Spirit, which there is, any affection and sympathy, which there is, then complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Do you notice the parallel between verse three of chapter two and verse 15 of chapter one?

Or verse 17 of chapter 1.

Some Christians in Rome were acting without Christ-like character, even in their gospel proclamation.

It seems too that perhaps some of that tendency was already on display in Philippi where Iodia and Syntich couldn't agree on anything.

Some of that's already infiltrating the church in Philippi.

Rivalry in verse 15 is sometimes translated as selfish ambition or even strife.

All of those senses can be included in the term.

They could have wanted to one up Paul while he was in prison.

They may be trying to show that their ministry is way better than his ministry.

They could also be wanting to stir up strife that leads to contention among Roman Christians.

Maybe this is a Jewish Christian and Gentile Christian thing.

We don't know.

We're not given those kinds of details.

All we're told is that there are some Christians who are proclaiming the gospel, doing what's right out of good intentions, and others doing what's right out of poor intentions.

One is a Christ-like character, the other is not a Christ-like character.

It's the kind of thing that Paul feared he would find in Corinth.

Look at what he says in 2 Corinthians chapter 12.

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

Paul says, I fear that perhaps when I come I may not find you as I hope, as I wish, and that you may not find me as I wish.

That perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.

These are the kinds of subtle sins and sinful motives that can enter into fellowships of believers as brothers and sisters in Christ without us even recognizing it.

The Philippians and all believers of all times must guard against it.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, and we know there is, then we ought to be more and more transformed to be like Christ, so that even the inner motives of our hearts are like his.

That's why he goes on in chapter 2, verse 5: have this mind among yourselves, which is also in Christ Jesus.

In a subtle way, the Apostle Paul, chained to a Roman soldier, wrote to those Philippian Christians to spur them on to Christ-like character.

Where sin is, which is everywhere, there will be the temptation to even do righteous things with sinful motives.

The counsel then to our generation of believers is to do the work of the ministry, to have gospel priority wherever the Lord has placed us, and to do that with righteous motives.

That means we need to look behind our actions to evaluate what lies behind them.

These heart issues are grounded in the person of Christ, as Paul makes clear in chapter 2.

They're grounded in the person of Christ and in his humility.

Paul says to his friends back in Philippi, watch out.

This is happening here.

Don't let it happen there.

Which brings us to verse 18.

Christ-like focus should ground our perspective and generate joy.

Put yourself in the apostle's place for a moment.

As much as you can imagine it.

You've been chained to a Roman soldier for many months without end.

There's a shift change every three to four hours.

A new soldier comes in, and the shackles are changed over, and you're chained to a new soldier.

Which means a new gospel opportunity.

You are a captive, and in some ways, you have a captive audience.

You spend your time teaching and proclaiming Christ to each new soldier, along with whoever comes in to see you.

And that way you have a bit of a captive audience.

You're soon going to have your trial before Caesar.

The gospel, while you're captive, is advancing seemingly without hindrance.

God's people are encouragingly bold.

But some of them want to make your pain worse.

They don't care if the soldiers are meaner or abusive to you.

They don't care if your ministry decreases while theirs increases.

And so Timothy or Luke or Epaphroditus or someone else comes with a bottle of ink and a quill and a fresh papyrus scroll, and you start dictating your letter.

And they scratch the words onto the scroll.

And you dictate and they write out the words the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, strife, and contention, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.

What then do you dictate next?

We might expect something along the lines of 2 Timothy 4, verse 14, where Paul told Timothy, Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm.

2 Timothy 4:14

The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.

Beware of him yourself.

What then?

What do I do about this?

What do I, Paul, a prisoner of the Lord, say or think about those who want to make my imprisonment worse, who proclaim the gospel out of impure motives?

What do I say about that?

Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I will rejoice.

That's astounding.

There's no backlash, there's no judgment, there's no calling them out by name, there's no reason, and there's no there's no judgment lavished on them, there's no bringing everything out into the open.

And the reason is that those brothers and sisters spoke of Jesus.

And that Christological focus, that focus on Jesus Christ takes priority over the ways their sinful motives affected Paul.

We're going to see more and more of that as we go on in verse 19 through chapter 2, where there's this massive focus on who Christ is and on his kingdom.

The Apostle Paul doesn't completely overlook their sinful motives.

He gently and subtly informs the Philippians that the motives of some Roman believers do not conform to the character of Jesus in chapter 2.

So in chapter 1, he holds up the character of the Roman Christians.

In chapter 2, he holds up the character of Christ.

And there's nothing more he needs to say.

The comparison says all that needs to be said.

So the question before us, brothers and sisters, is are you focusing on the person, kingdom, and message of Christ?

And are you becoming more and more like Jesus every day?

Now rejoicing in Christ didn't make Paul's chains any lighter.

It didn't make the tension of the shackles any less.

It didn't make the sleeping on a hard floor chained to a Roman soldier any sweeter rest.

But his focus on the Lord's kingdom and the Lord's work enabled him to look through the pains of the present to rejoice in the gospel's advancement.

The gospel advances through the power of Scripture and the faithfulness of the Lord's people, who are emboldened by his power to be like Christ.

And so those who can see through their suffering, through their trials, through their pains, to see the Lord's kingdom work can rejoice even when Christ is proclaimed from impure motives.

And in that, his church should rejoice.

Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus, help us to be kingdom focused.

By your spirit, mold us and continue your promise to conform us, to mold us and shape us to be like Jesus.

Oh Lord, we want nothing more than to be like you.

Cause your spirit to fill us so that what comes out of us would be more of you, so that we would be not just speakers of your word, but people who are worthy in our walk of the calling to which you've called us.

And through all of those who are gathered here today, that you would cause your gospel to advance without hindrance.

Through the ministry and the word of your people, our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Amen.

That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.

Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.

You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.