Chains That Advance the Gospel: How God Uses Suffering - Phil 1:12-20

Good morning. What a blessing it is to study God's Word with you today.

My name is Pastor Simon and welcome to the preaching ministry of Dillingham Moravian Church.

Here at DMC, our focus is to make disciples of Christ as we study the Word of God together.

In an article from Desiring God, on January 9, 1995, Pastor Hristo Kulechev,

a congregational pastor in Bulgaria, was arrested and put into prison.

His crime was that he preached in his church, even though the state had appointed

another man the pastor whom the congregation did not elect.

His trial was a mockery of justice, and he was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment.

During his time in prison, he made Christ known every way he could,

and when he got out, he wrote,

Both prisoners and jailers asked many questions, and it turned out that we had

a more fruitful ministry there than we could have expected in church.

God was better served by our presence in prison than if we had been free.

I share this article story with you to illustrate that God uses and even orchestrates

circumstances, even suffering, to advance the ministry of the gospel. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, as we go to your word here, show us yourself, show us your truth.

Work in us with your Holy Spirit so that we may be able to understand and know

and apply what your word is teaching to us.

Use us father so that you your son jesus christ is glorified magnified in our

lives so there's nothing of us left and everything of you in your precious son's

name jesus christ i pray amen.

Recently here at Dillingham Moravian church we have started preaching on Paul's

letter to the Philippians.

Last week, God, through Paul, taught the Philippians and us that God calls us

as Christians to have very deep feelings of affection towards other believers in Christ.

Secondly, Paul modeled a prayer for the Philippian church that we as Christ

believers can use to pray for others and for ourselves.

Paul's prayer can be summed up by praying for Christ believers.

That they would abound more in God's love, that they would abound in knowing

God and having Christ's discernment, His sincerity and purity,

all to the glory of God the Father, so that we can be ready for Christ's return.

And today we're going to continue on in Philippians 1,

Philippians 1:12–20

verse 12 through 20, where Paul writes,

Now I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances have turned out for

the greater progress of the gospel so that my chains in Christ have become well-known

throughout the whole Praetorian Guard and to everyone else.

And that most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord because of

my chains, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.

Principle I see in these verses is that God uses circumstances to advance the gospel.

When my wife Abigail and I were living in Edmonton, Alberta,

I was a newer believer at that time, and a man at my church who was originally

from India was dying from diffuse systematic sclerosis.

This is a rare disease that causes a person's skin to harden,

and if the condition is bad, it can

crush your lungs hearts and kidney I went

to visit this man towards the end of his life he was

dying he could not move and could hardly speak because his skin caused his mouth

to close shut and his limbs and joints were seized up what I found so amazing

about this man was his faith in the under the threat of dying,

and yet he still clung to Jesus.

Before he was not able to speak anymore, he was a powerful prayer warrior who

would pray for others with a boldness and passion that I had never seen before.

And from what I heard, he continually shared Jesus with people whenever he could as well.

This godly man's testimony affected me greatly and still encourages me to be

bolder in my prayers and in sharing the gospel.

Paul in Philippians 1, verse 12-14 proclaimed,

Philippians 1:12–14

Now I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances have turned out for

the greater progress of the gospel,

so that my chains in Christ have become well-known throughout the whole Praetorian

Guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brothers,

having become confident in the Lord because of my chains,

have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.

Paul was in prison, chained to a Praetorian guard or the emperor's personal

guard, who were of the empire's most elite and noble families.

Each of the emperor's 8,000 personal guards had a turn in being chained to Paul.

Through being in prison in Rome, God gave access to the men and subsequently

their families that would have been able to influence the entire known world.

There are no statistics available, but it may be that more people were saved

through the praetorian guard that Paul witnessed to than all of the churches that Paul planted.

Another way that the cause of the gospel was advanced from Paul being in prison

was through other Christians being emboldened with courage to speak the gospel

truth because of Paul's imprisonment.

David B. Barrett, who was a missionary to Africa, he was a professor and a research

specialist for the Ancan Church and the Southern Baptist Church,

spent his life accumulating Christian statistics.

A seminary professor who wrote an article about Barrett said this,

David Barrett pioneered the quantitative study of martyrdom.

He died last year at age 83.

Barrett told me the story of when he was invited to speak to a group of wealthy industrious.

They asked him what the most effective means of evangelism was so that they

could invest their money to hurry up the evangelization of the world.

And he responded, We have been engaged in in-depth research on this subject,

and we think the most effective means might be Christian martyrdom.

There was an awkward silence until one industrialist screwed up the courage and asked, Dr.

Barrett, could you tell us the second most effective means of evangelism?

Now, we may not like it, but the most effective means of evangelism the world

has ever seen is discipleship amidst suffering and martyrdom for Christ.

What can we as Christians today learn from these verses in Philippians chapter 1?

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

We can learn that God uses circumstances to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now, most of us here or are listening to this message may not be imprisoned

or tortured for our faith in Christ.

But what about how we go through suffering?

If you are here listening and you are sick or ill with a disease or you have

a long-term illness and you are a believer in Christ, You have an opportunity

to be used greatly by God.

God can use your suffering to impact many people for the Lord.

Maybe you're a student at school and there are relationship challenges with other kids.

Or as an older teen or adult, you're going through a challenging time at work.

Or maybe a boss is mean to you or co-workers are treating you unfairly.

You now have the opportunity to example Christlikeness as you prayerfully endure

those situations and more with joy, with patience and love, and tell them about Jesus.

Maybe you are struggling in your marriage. Trust Christ's word.

Obey His word regarding marriage and relationships, and then example Christlike

joy and patience and love.

You see, as we go through our challenges with the courageous joy and patience

of the Lord and use our circumstances to share the gospel,

the Holy Spirit will work through us to work in others, not only on a mental

and cognitive level, but also in a person's heart as well.

There's something about courage and joy for the Lord amidst suffering,

amidst challenges that can cause even the hardest person to soften to the Spirit's work.

So far, we have learned that Paul in prison actually advanced the work of the

gospel amongst the Praetorian guard.

And emboldened Christians to share the gospel boldly as the Holy Spirit worked in him.

This leads us to the next principle that I want you to pay attention to,

and that is, as Christians, we are to rejoice that the gospel is proclaimed.

Paul continued on in Philippians 1, verse 15 to 18, Some, to be sure,

Philippians 1:15–18

are preaching Christ, even from envy and strife, but some also from goodwill.

The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.

The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives,

thinking that caused me affliction in my chains.

What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth,

Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice.

I want you to see that there are two groups that Paul was referring to in this section.

The first group were preaching Christ from envy and strife and selfish ambition.

Now, we need to understand that Paul was referring to, or the people that Paul

were referring to, were not false teachers in any way.

Rather, they were competing with Paul for fame.

According to one commentator, it should be borne in mind that there was a church

in Rome long before Paul arrived.

It can scarcely be doubted, therefore, that certain preachers in Rome had attained

a degree of prominence among the brothers.

With the arrival of Paul, and especially with the spreading of his fame throughout

the city, it is easy to understand that these leaders were beginning to lose

some of their former prestige.

Their names were no longer mentioned so often. Hence, they became envious of Paul.

Paul knew the envious and ambitious ones were taking advantage of his imprisonment

and probably would not have minded having Paul stay in jail longer so that they

could continue growing their ministries without interference from Paul.

The second group that Paul was writing about were motivated to preach Christ

out of love for God and for Paul, knowing that Paul was appointed by Christ

for the defense of the gospel.

They loved Paul and they loved Christ and wanted nothing more than to share

the wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ so that those enslaved to sin would be

saved from the wrath of God.

Either way, Paul rejoiced or was glad because the gospel was preached.

Although it is essential that the gospel is preached out of right motives,

Paul understood that the gospel, God's word, has a life of its own,

powered by the Holy Spirit.

As Hebrews says, the word is living and active, is sharper than any to its sword.

Isaiah in Isaiah 55, verse 10-11 wrote, for as the rain and snow come down from

Isaiah 55:10–11

heaven and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and

sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. Here's what I want you to hear.

It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that for which I purpose

it and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Therefore if both groups preach the

gospel accurately with such key doctrines as

Jesus being God one with the Father the

sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus salvation in

Christ Jesus by grace alone through faith alone Jesus being both God and man

heaven and hell eternal life in Christ after death but also spiritual life here

on earth now as God's people wait for Christ's return as conquering Lord, King, and Judge?

There are more key doctrines, but these are some of the main core truths that

Paul taught that the gospel is constructed of.

And so if the gospel of Christ was preached, then Paul was happy and he praised

the Lord for his work through others.

The main way that we can apply the truth from verses 15 to 18 is that we as

Christians are called to rejoice when the gospel is preached.

As a pastor, it's easy to be tempted to want to build my little kingdom and

grow resentful of another preacher's success in physically growing a large ministry.

Yet the truth is that regardless of the motives of that Bible preacher or biblical ministry worker,

we must focus on the truth that God's Word does not go back void and it will

succeed in what God purposed it and accomplish what God's Word was sent for.

It's not just the preacher that is working, but more importantly,

it is the Holy Spirit working in the hearts and minds of those who are listening.

And we can rejoice in the Lord for that.

However, I also want to warn us that although God can work through us,

even when we're sitting in our heart,

it is essential that we are living with God's right motives towards God and others. And here's why.

God will work even mightier through us when we love Christ and others.

And if we are sinning, God may not choose to bear fruit through our ministry.

Moreover, in the case that Paul was writing about, pride goes before a fall.

If our hearts are not right before God and towards others, eventually there will be consequences.

I also wish to say that just because a ministry is outwardly growing with lots

of money coming in and the preacher is famous, it doesn't necessarily mean that

God is with that ministry.

While the Scripture does teach that numerical growth can be a sign of God working,

we also know that God values His church to be abiding faithfully in Him.

God's understanding and timing of growth can also be quite different than our

understanding of growth.

My point is that we must rejoice in the proclaimed gospel and prayerfully guard

our lives so that we love God and others as we are proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.

The third principle that I want to point out to you in this passage is that

Christ will be magnified in us, whether by our lives or by our deaths.

My boy Jonathan had been taking the hunter safety course online this week,

and one of the sections talked about the use of scopes when shooting with a rifle.

The purpose of a scope is to magnify our target so that it becomes big enough

that we can see it, so that we can shoot it.

And this concept of magnifying or making something in our viewpoint larger is

what Paul was explaining about in Philippians 1, verse 18-20.

Philippians 1:18–20

Yes, I will rejoice, for I know that this will turn out for my salvation through

your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

according to my earnest expectation and hope,

that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness Christ

will even now, as always, be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.

Remember, Paul was in prison in Rome for the first time, and it was from prison

in Rome that Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians, also to the Ephesians,

the Colossians, and Philemon.

That word that Paul used for salvation or deliverance can be seen in two ways.

The first view of this word salvation referred to rescue from danger and to

restore to a former state of safety and well-being.

This view supports the position that Paul knew that he was going to be released

from prison, and whether from knowledge from the Romans or from the Holy Spirit.

The second view of salvation here that I want you to see is the transcendent view.

This view is the one focused on being delivered to be safe with Jesus.

Personally, both of these views can be valid because whatever happened,

and Christ would be magnified him,

whether by his life, where he keeps on living and ministering,

or in his death, where he lives forever with Christ, and other Christians are

then emboldened even more to preach the gospel,

and unbelievers are convicted by Paul's sacrifice and his martyrdom and become

saved, which is eventually what happened.

I want you to also see that the phrase, this will turn out for my salvation, was a quote from Job,

when Job was telling his friends that he still wanted to have his court date

with God and find out why all the disasters had befallen him and whether he,

Job, had actually sinned or not.

Job wrote in Job chapter 13, verse 15 to 16, though he slayed me, I will hope in him.

Job 13:15–16

Nevertheless, I will argue my ways before him. And here's what I want you to focus on, verse 16.

This also will be my salvation, for a godless man may not come before his presence.

See, Job was certain of his deliverance because he was humbly certain of his godliness.

Job also faced the reality that God could slay him.

But here is the important part, whether in life or death, Job would hope in God.

Back in Philippians 1, 18–20, Paul echoed this hope, that no matter if he lived

or died, Paul's earnest expectation and hope was that Christ would become more

honored, magnified in him.

The word magnified meant to be or become held in greater esteem by oneself or

others, conceived of as becoming physically larger.

Whether Paul was in prison or being put to death or set free in doing ministry,

Paul's absolute focus, desire, and hope was that he was to live boldly and without

shame in such a way that Christ would have been made so large in his life that

when others looked at him,

they wouldn't see Paul, but that they would see Jesus Christ.

Both outcomes were outcomes that Paul delighted in if it meant letting others see Christ as greater.

This was Paul's meaning in life. There's something else that I want to point

out to you in this section.

Paul knew that his deliverance, whether being set physically free from prison

or freed from the body to be with Christ, would be accomplished by the prayers

of the Philippians and by the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Paul taught here that believers' prayers to Christ in the Holy Spirit physically

helps others. Prayer is powerful.

However, this is important, and please don't miss this. Just because we do not

get what we desire through prayer doesn't mean that the prayer itself wasn't

answered or was not effective.

From God's perspective, both outcomes for Paul, whether released from prison

or executed, prayers for Paul would have been successful and answered. Why?

Because God desires more than anything is for Christ to be glorified through

Paul so that others can come to know the Lord.

Paul also knew that he would be looked after by the Spirit.

He was taken care of. He had no worries.

However, the supply or provision of the Holy Spirit may not have been what Paul

in his fallen flesh would want.

If he lived, the Holy Spirit would protect and provide for him so that Paul

could continue in his ministry to share Christ with the world.

On the opposite side, Paul was equally supplied and provided for by the Holy

Spirit if he was in prison and executed.

Because not only would Paul go to heaven and be eternally provided for,

but also with his death paul would

glorify god all the more we need to remember that all of us here today in great

part we are christians not just because of paul's writing through the spirit

but also because of the witness that paul showed through his life and through his death.

Paul's death was greatly supplied of the Holy Spirit, and it was good. Why?

Although the act of the Romans murdering Paul was evil,

when Paul died, when he was martyred, Christ was magnified in Paul,

and that proclaimed Christ perhaps greater through his death than in his life.

There are two ways that I see that we can apply Philippians 1,

Philippians 1:18

verse 18, to 20 to ourselves today.

The first application is that as Christians, our earnest hope and expectation

of life is to be for Christ to be magnified or glorified in us and through us.

As human beings, what are the common hopes that most of us have?

The hope that we will make it through the work week to Friday night.

The hope that our kids will be good to each other and obey their parents.

The hope and expectation that our kids will grow up healthy and happy and they

will get a good education so

that they can get a good job and be able to take care of a family one day.

The hope and expectation to live in a good community where the family can make

friends and where we can make a positive impact.

The hope and expectation to have a good job that we love and will provide for

us and our family, if you do have a family.

The hope that we'll get enough fish and moose for the winter for us who live in Bush, Alaska.

And these are just some of the common expectations that we in our humanness have.

Now these hopes and expectations by themselves are good and even needed.

Yet at the foundation of these expectations and hopes must be grounded in the

fundamental hope that Christ, our only Lord and God,

be made the center of our lives and be glorified in and through all of our hopes and dreams.

More than that, Christ's expectation and hope.

Must become ours. See, life is not always fair, and it definitely can be messy.

Satan is also very real, and there are very evil people in the world with real

plans to block the plans of God.

My point is that circumstances can rapidly, sometimes in disturbing and devastating

ways, thwart our human plans and hopes.

They can be upheaved. Yet as we keep abiding in Christ and surrendering to His

will in our lives, God will use any situation for His glory and for the expansion of His kingdom.

And this, my friends, we are to rejoice in.

Secondly, when we pray, our prayers need to be coming from God's perspective, not from ours.

And this means we are to delight and treasure what God treasures and delights

in, so that our prayers align with what God desires.

John, in 1 John 5, verse 14 to 15, explained, This is the confidence which we

1 John 5:14–15

have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the

requests which we have asked from him.

The principle of prayer that John pointed out is that we are to pray according

to God and how he teaches us in his word.

And as we ask for what God wants us to ask for, we can be confident that God

hears and that God has answered the requests that we asked of him.

What, then, has God through Paul taught in this passage?

The first truth that God has taught us is that God uses our circumstances to

advance the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Secondly, we as Christians are called to rejoice when the gospel is preached.

And lastly, our earnest hope and expectation in life is for Christ to be magnified

or glorified in us and through us.

I want to impress upon all of us that God sees life differently than us.

For us as human beings, a situation like being put in prison would be horrible.

And in our minds, it might be the end of our productive work for God.

Yet, God can use our circumstances to bring amazing fruit.

Where we see devastation and end, Christ sees hope.

As we make Christ the center of our lives so that He is glorified in everything

we do, God and His Holy Spirit will work through us in ways that we could never

have imagined on our own.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are so grateful for this opportunity to hear from You.

And these words that You have taught us today are difficult,

they are challenging, but help us, O precious Father, to live in abandon to You,

to live as You are our hope, that You are the one whom we treasure and live

for, no matter our circumstances.

And I pray for those who are listening. If there's someone who's listening that

is in a real struggle, a real challenge,

that you would work in those challenges and bring your good out of it,

bring fruit out of it, so that your gospel will be shared to those around.

And may your kingdom grow as a result. In your precious son's name,

Jesus Christ, we pray, amen.

I'll leave you with this blessing from Psalm 67.

May God be gracious to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us,

that your way be known on the earth and your salvation amongst all the nations. Amen.

Have a wonderful Sunday. May the Lord bless you all.