Sermon for MHBC (26 September 2021). You can listen on Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, or our website. Live at 11:00am on Sundays. Also available as a podcast here or by searching “Monument Heights Baptist Church” in your favorite podcast app.
This morning our text shows us a serious man. Paul has one aim in life—to make much of Jesus. There’s a lot of stuff that grabs for our attention. We live busy lives. But I just want you to imagine for a second what your life would look like if you had one singular goal—a goal that stood above all the rest, that informed every decision you made. That’s what we see in Paul’s life and we see it in many of the saints throughout the history of the Church. They lived with a singular focus—to make much of Jesus.
Let’s look at v. 12: I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. Paul wants them to know something. He wants them to know that what has happened to him has been good for the gospel. Remember what he’s talking about. He’s talking about his imprisonment. He says, “You may think it’s bad. But really it’s been a good thing for the gospel. It may look like the gospel is getting crushed, but, on the contrary, the gospel is advancing.”
What sort of person would say that? What sort of person would look at a situation wherein they are imprisoned and say, “Actually, it turns out this is a good thing”? Only a person who is singularly focused.
Look at any elite athlete, and you’ll see this intense focus. It’s laser-like. It is singular. One thing matters. The only thing that matters is achieving the goal. I was reading about Tom Brady’s daily schedule. Of course, Tom Brady has more Super Bowl victories than any NFL franchise. At 44, he’s still playing at an exceptional level. As you might imagine, his routine is rigorous. He get’s up at 6:00 and he’s in bed by 8:30 among other things. Listen to what he says in one-interview: “So whether that’s what I eat or what decisions I make or whether I drink or don’t drink, it’s always football-centric.”[1] Literally everything in Brady’s life centers around football.
That’s basically Paul here. Literally everything in Paul’s life is about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter if he’s in prison. It doesn’t matter if people are trying to destroy his reputation. It doesn’t matter that he’s constantly criticized. The gospel is his singular focus.
What does he mean about the gospel advancing? How has that happened? Look at v. 13: so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.
The gospel has been made visible because everyone knows why Paul is in prison. He’s in prison for preaching Jesus. He mentions the whole imperial guard. Some of your translations reflect the original word by saying the whole praetorium guard. We basically have two options with this word. It could be a reference to the palace of the governor (so KJV). Or, it could be a reference to the emperor of Rome’s personal guard (so most translations).[2] That second option seems most likely since the next phrase is a reference to people: “to all the rest.”[3] In all likelihood, then, Paul is in Rome as a prisoner under the guard of the imperial soldiers. And he says that the gospel of Jesus is known to them.
The gospel has been made known throughout that whole guard, which at that time numbered around 6000.[4] I’ve always loved this cryptic remark at the end of Philippians. As Paul concludes the letter, he mentions greetings. Look what he says in 4:21–22: Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household. It’s almost as if he has just said that members of the imperial guard are being converted. When you put Paul in prison what happens? Does he stop preaching the gospel? No. Roman soldiers are converted. Caesar’s own servants are converted. Perhaps some in the royal family are converted. Can you imagine living your life this way? Every situation is a gospel opportunity.
Paul’s influence affects other believers. Verse 14: And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. This is a reference to other believers. They are confident in the Lord. Now isn’t this interesting. The persecution and suffering doesn’t decrease their confidence. It increases it. They are emboldened. They are more confident. They are more outspoken and they aren’t afraid.
Now why are they emboldened? First, they see Paul’s confidence. They see the comfort he receives from the Lord. Second, many of them know they will join Paul’s company in prison if that should happen.[5] Really they are seeing what matters and they are seeing that the powers of the world have nothing to offer as valuable as the gospel.
One writer asks some helpful questions on this verse. Why is it that we are willing to help out in certain situations, but we are reluctant to share the gospel? Put another way, why do we show courage under certain circumstances but lack courage to be bold in gospel witness?[6]
What can we do to be bolder witnesses? We can pray that God would give us boldness. This is precisely what the Christians do in Acts 4 after persecution begins. They pray for boldness. We should follow suit. We should pray for boldness to enter conversations about the gospel. We should pray for boldness to have gospel conversations with the people in this neighborhood.
Now there’s a contrast in v. 15. Paul isn’t universally loved. Look at the verse: Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. Some are preaching for selfish reasons. It’s a competition. They have a vendetta against Paul. Their preaching likely even has attacks built into it. And then there’s another group who preach Christ with good will. This word good will is a reference to their commitment to the gospel. Their desire is to see the gospel purely proclaimed. They aren’t worried about personalities. They are only concerned with proclaiming Christ. They do it out of love for Christ.
Verse 16: The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. They aren’t attacking Paul. They know that he is a faithful servant and since their focus is on the gospel, they continue to proclaim. But the other group isn’t singularly focused on the gospel.
Verse 17: The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. Why does this group proclaim Christ? Not because they are focused on the gospel but because of selfish ambition. They are seeking their own accolades.[7] And they are doing this in order to harm Paul. There’s personal vendetta involved. They aren’t interested in the gospel. They’re interested in making Paul look bad.
Now how do you think Paul would respond? Verse 18: What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Paul says, “So what? As long as Christ is proclaimed, I rejoice in that.” Whatever happens to motivate these people, Paul rejoices over a singular fact—that Christ is proclaimed. In that I rejoice.
This is really the key to all of this. For Paul, one thing matters—the gospel of Jesus Christ. Everything else is secondary, including how people treat him and his circumstances. Success for Paul is making much of Jesus.
We can extrapolate this into our own lives. Success for us means making much of Jesus. Success for Monument Heights means making much of Jesus—regardless of the outcome, regardless of what people think. We have our own issues with strife, division, and factionalism here. There are indeed a small few within our numbers who are seeking to create division through the use of fear, gossip, and accusation. If it continues, there will come a time to address it even more directly than I am now. But for now, I think we can say with Paul that those things are petty and secondary. Our job is to remain focused on the gospel of Jesus. As long as we are focused on proclaiming the gospel and making Jesus known in the city of Richmond, we can be confident. And to the extent that our focus on the gospel is singular, taking precedent over all else, we can rejoice. And my commitment as the one who is tasked with preaching Sunday after Sunday and leading this congregation is do everything within my power to keep our focus singular. We do that through vigorous and faithful worship, careful teaching of Scripture and doctrine, and an unwavering commitment to the gospel.
One commentator summarizes this section with the phrase “things that matter and things that do not.”[8] That’s the simple reality of our move forward. There are things that matter. And there are things that do not.
The application for us is to develop a singular focus. To that end, let me offer some suggestions. (1) Pray that the Lord would give you a singular focus for the gospel of Jesus. (2) Meditate daily upon the gospel. Learn about it through good books and good teaching. Fill your head with the glorious truth that Christ has died for our sins. (3) Bathe in Scripture. Read large chunks. Study small portions. Read, read, read. I believe it was Spurgeon who said that Scripture should be so much a part of the Christian life that when a Christian is cut, they bleed bibline.[9] Consume it so much that the way you see the world is radically changed. (4) Prioritize Christian community. I preached on this last week. Relationships with other believers will nourish you. That’s why Paul writes to the Philippians. That’s why the believers in Rome are encouraged by Paul’s imprisonment. Your faith will weaken apart from believers, but it will be strengthened by other believers. Take advantage of the opportunities we offer here at the church.
I’ll close where I began. Imagine your life with this singular focus—to make much of Jesus. What would it look like? Can you see some priorities that would shift? Can you see the impact on your relationships? Maybe you can even write down some stuff that would be different as a result.
We search for happiness and serenity in our lives. But I want to remind you of one of the main themes in Philippians—rejoicing. I’ve titled the series Gospel Gratitude because we see again and again that the gospel produces a joy and gratitude that grounds us and settles us in a way nothing else can. That’s why Paul can look at his opponents, while he’s in prison for that matter, and say, “I rejoice.” May we learn this too.
[1] Original interview with WEEI Radio in Boston. Cited here: https://www.balancethegrind.com.au/daily-routines/tom-brady-daily-routine/
[2] Holloway, Philippians, Hermeneia, p. 87.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Henry, Commentary, 6:586.
[6] Francis Chan, Exalting Jesus in Philippians, p. 55.
[7] See LSJ ἐριθεία.
[8] Holloway, Philippians, pp. 82, 84–85 (exact phrase on p. 84).
[9] https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/do-you-bleed-bibline/