Christ is Proclaimed, Philippians, 1:15-18
Philippians 1:15-18 · Vern Peterman · Apr 27, 2003
Philippians (2003), No. 14
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4826225525668

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. I was thinking as you were saying that, Helmut, you know, as the years go by, I kind of look at and thinking, you know, I'm looking more and more like my baby pictures. But anyway, we'll go ahead. We want to proceed right into Philippians here, OK? And I'll try to speak like an adult, OK? In Philippians 1 as Wayne read for us 15 through 18 here Paul's continuing on and he's he's not changed his theme. He's talking about the presentation of the gospel He's talking about the the Philippians partnership with him He is he is talking about the fact that he's still in prison. Okay, that's one point He doesn't make any bones about he's talking about us, you know place in prison But what he's starting to go on with is this.

You remember last time we were looking at this, this is a few weeks back now, okay? Last time we were looking at this, Paul was saying, you know, my presence in prison has made some more bold in their speaking the truth, more bold in their proclaiming Christ, okay?

Now he wants to do a little fine-tuning to the picture here, okay? There been a situation like that where you kind of have to fine-tune something? He's fine-tuning it. He's made this statement, my being in prison has made some people more bold, but yeah, there's a little clarification I need to make here so you get the full picture.

That's what he's doing in these verses. He's giving us both a fine-tuning as to how people are carrying out that boldness, as well as a fine-tuning that is giving us a spiritual insight into what is happening in the hearts of those who are proclaiming Christ boldly. That's what these verses are about. So let's take a look at it.

Now, remember he's writing this from prison. This is likely not the prison because he's actually, by the words he used for imprisonment, actually some translations have it bond and more literally that's what it is, he is bound to a Praetorian guard So we don't have a picture of the house that he was in, this is probably his last house. But I put there just as a reminder, he is daily chained to a constant shift of Praetorian guards. It was interesting, I think the Praetorian guards, and I'm speculating here but it's fun, I think the Praetorian guards either came to a point of saying, boy, I never want to get chained to that guy again, or, please, assign me to Paul.

I'll take it. Anytime. And I think they tend to probably go one way or the other. That'd be my guess. So here we are. And one of the things we want to point out is Paul is explaining, yes, there are people speaking more boldly the gospel now that I'm imprisoned.

But at the same time, he says there's this distinction in what they're motivated by when they do that speaking. and so that's why we've got color-coded, and we'll divide it up even more. Notice there are some motivations here that are negative motivations. We have those color-coded in red. There are also some motivations that are not negative, positive motivations, good ones, and those are color-coded in blue. So we have on the negative side, envy, strife, and selfish ambition. On the positive side, goodwill, love, and pure motives. And there's a little bit further insight beyond that we'll take a look at.

But the distinction, and I think it shows up on your handout there, these are motives that are worlds apart, aren't they? He's making the contrast. Yes, we've got people who are proclaiming the gospel, and they are proclaiming, as we'll see in a bit, the true gospel. But the motivation behind it is worlds apart. And in truth, I think we have to clarify what we mean by worlds apart.

They are, in fact, nature's apart. What we see on the one side, envy, strife, and selfish ambition is one kind of a nature, one source of motivation, and on the other side is another set of motivations. They are nature's apart. You don't see those same kind of motivations come out of the same nature. They're of a different source, aren't they?

We'll take a look at that in a bit. Notice also, as you look at this passage, they have intended results. Do you see that? There are intended results, and those results that are intended come out of a particular and specific perspective. Those with the motivations of envy, strife, and selfish ambition have the very specific intended result supposing that they are causing Paul distress, okay? We'll take a look at the result in a minute. They have that perspective.

Because they're motivated by envy, strife, and selfish ambition, they, with the perspective that they are supposing that they are causing Paul distress, are carrying out a particular intent. On the other hand, there are those who have motives of goodwill, love, and pure motives, and knowing that, and notice the difference, supposing and knowing, knowing that Paul is appointed for the defense of the gospel, this is the bottom line. One is intended to antagonize Paul, and that this particular thing you might want to make note of, because it's not specifically on your handout. These are intended to antagonize Paul.

They have that motivation, they have that perspective, and now they have that intent. They want to preach the gospel, to preach the gospel of Christ, with the specific intent, they want the result to come out that Paul is antagonized. That's what they have in mind. Strange, huh?

Now, there are those, on the other hand, And Paul makes this differentiation. There are those with motivations of goodwill, love, and he qualifies it as pure motives, who have this specific intent, knowing that Paul has appointed or is set for the proclamation of the gospel. They're supporting Paul. And so he sees that here's this strange thing. People are either way telling the truth.

The motivations behind it are linked up with a perspective and linked up with an intent. that are different, very different, day and night different, even though the outward behavior appears to be the same. Notice, as we look at those words, let me back up just a sec here, see these words envy, strife, and selfish ambition? Turns out that those words show up and they're translated a little differently in some of the different translations. But if you go to the Greek word, you find out what's behind it. Those words, each of them, shows up in the deeds of the flesh listed in Galatians 5.

Okay? Isn't that interesting? I mean, and he doesn't mince any words. These are things right on the same list that have to do with idolatry and sorcery. These are words on the same list that have to do with drunkenness and carousing. Isn't that something? Amazing here. Okay. Let's take a look at the next one.

Here we have these motives that are worlds apart, and they have different sources, and we want to take a look at these specific words that show up there on the list of the deeds of the flesh. It's no accident that we have these motives, that we have these intents, that we have these intended end results, these perspectives all tied together. you have on your key word showing up on the front of your handout. That's the one with the racing stripe at the top. The key words there.

Envy is one word that comes out. It's funos, and I'm not spitting. Funos, and it means, and this is strange when you think about it, it means to feel pained or maligned at seeing the happiness or success of another. Now isn't that a weird motivation? Somebody else is accomplishing something, getting somewhere, and you feel pained or slighted by it.

That's the character of the flesh. The flesh is weird, isn't it? The flesh is really weird, bizarre. That's the way Paul writes it out. He says this is envy. Feels badly, feels distressed, feels offended that somebody else is accomplishing something or doing well. really odd. What this does, it tries to find personal value in seeing somebody else damaged. It finds personal value in seeing somebody else pushed down or shoved down. It has that motivation. Instead of relying upon the value that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ placing his value on us and in us. That's the contrast here. Here's another one. Strife, translated from the Greek word eros. Contention or debate is the idea there. Paul warns, and this is interesting, Paul warns Timothy and Titus to stand aside from those who like to argue.

Don't get caught up in wrangles with these people. Have you ever run into folks like that? Some folks, they don't care what's right or wrong. They don't care what the truth is. They really don't even care what their own position is. They just love to argue.

It makes me think of something. I hope you won't be offended, but it makes me think of this. Pig wrestling. I've done this. I can't say as I really am anxious to do it a whole lot or do it again, but I've done this. And there was an insight by a fellow, and he's not a believer, but it's a true insight nonetheless, George Bernard Shaw. I learned long ago never to wrestle with the pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.

Now, that's the character of these people. The flesh is strange that way. It does horrible things, and it likes what it's doing. It is not the nature that the Lord intends that the believer live by, but nonetheless, the flesh kind of gets on this conveyor belt and can't get off of its own. So Paul identifies that. He comes up with another word.

This is now turning to side two of your handout. Selfish ambition. Eretheas. It's interesting, this is derived from a word meaning to work for hire, with the idea that the hired worker is inclined to do work for his own self-interest, just kind of, he's got a short-term idea on there, and not necessarily advancing the interests of the one for whom he's working. Here's the perspective that's behind that.

In Philippi, as in a great many cities and towns of that time, this is the way they would do things. Right here at Philippi is the general kind of the forum and marketplace. And in one area of that marketplace, and we don't know exactly which area here in this case, but at one area they would kind of set aside an area and they would say, this area is where those who are kind of day workers just kind of hired them out because they didn't have temp agencies, okay? You couldn't just call on your cell phone and hit the, you know, call the temp agency and say, send me somebody. So somebody who needed workers would go to a marketplace like this And in one designated area, people who are available to hire for whatever you had in mind for that day would be sitting there at this designated area. And you could go, if you were somebody who needed help, you know, in whatever you were doing, you could come and you could take these temp workers and they'd go work for you for the day. But it wasn't necessarily any loyalty involved because they might work for somebody else, maybe even a competitor the next day.

And that's what this word is talking about. These people are working for themselves, but they really don't have any connection to the big picture of what's going on. That's the word Paul uses here. And so a lot of these people, because many of them would be hired for agricultural work, a lot of them would go work out in the field and something like this. That's the word that Paul's using here. This selfish ambition, these people are just kind of, all right, I'll do whatever I have to do to get paid today, and they're kind of short-sighted. That's the perspective he's conveying here. Now, let's take a look at the other side of the coin here.

This is the other set of words that Paul uses for us. These key words here, he first comes up with this word, goodwill, eudachia, and it's a compound word. Paul loves compound words, by the way. If you ever look at that, we have some folks going through the Greek class here, which is great. And one of the things to note, Paul loves to use compound words. This is one of them.

And it's eudokia, good intent, or we might have the idea of benevolence. There's good intent. They, of their motivation, have good intent. That's straight from the heart. That's what he says here of those who understand, who know that Paul is set for the proclamation of the gospel, and are just simply in cooperation with what Paul is doing. They're supporting Paul in that, knowing that Paul's in prison, So they're basically saying, I know Paul's in prison, the Lord has his purpose in it, but I'm going to support Paul by going out and proclaiming the gospel. They have good, straight, direct intent. Now, the heart and intent of this Word is to seek a spiritually and morally good outcome based on the life of Christ rather than the negative motivations of the flesh. Total contrast, isn't there? It's one or the other. This says the life of Christ. The other set of motivations is the flesh, which is not the life of Christ. There's no mixture of the two. Here's the next key word here, love, agape. We've talked about this before. In context, and there are other contexts where it means something else, but in context, love which is self-sacrificial in nature and has God as its source.

Seeking the benefit of the recipient entirely without return. It's not a question of what do I get out of this thing? Well, not what's in it for me. It is how can I benefit the person receiving this good news? That's what motivates these people. It's an entirely different set of motivations from the other, isn't it? The opposite is in sharp contrast. Then the next one, and the next one is actually a transition to Paul's final statements here. Pure motives. Hognos. This isn't a hog's nose. Hognos, purely, is the idea there.

It communicates a transparency with what is lived and said consistent with the intent. Have you ever talked to somebody, and I'm asking this question knowing that the answer is yes, have you ever talked to somebody and they have had some other intent than what's apparent? You get that every time the phone rings at night around dinner time, right? Oh, this isn't a sales call, but I want to sell you something, right? This is the exact opposite of that.

This is people, what they say and what they live and what they mean are all consistent. They come straight out because what they are living, in this case, is the very life and person of Jesus Christ. No pretense. No fakery. No, I'm here for this, but really it's for that. None of that. They're straight out. Now, this contrasts again with the motives of the others who appeared one way on the surface. but had contrary motives underneath.

I'm going to tell you about the gospel of Christ, they would say. When in fact what they had was, ah, I want to get attention for me. I want to cause Paul trouble. I see myself getting advanced here by presenting the gospel. And I'll give you the gospel, but I've got some other ideas in mind. I'm not really intending to present this for the things that are on the surface and appearing to be But it's an ulterior motive. Now, there's some other words we've got to look at. Words that aren't on the list we looked at before, but they're right at the end of this passage.

Pretense. Prophasis. Again, compound word. It means to appear before. It's like I take a mask. It appears before you. And you see the mask and not me, if I hold the mask in front of me. That's the idea here. It appears before you one way, but what's behind it is something else. I can put the mask on and appear one way, but what's behind that mask is an entirely different face. Two-faced? Yeah, that's a good way to look at it.

So, that's the idea of communicating with that word. The other is truth. The Greek, alētheia, This word conveys a genuineness that's really close to the pure motives idea, isn't it? It's a genuineness. Have you ever noticed that there's a sense of discomfort with people once you sense that they have a motive other than what they're saying is their motive? There's a discomfort there because you don't know what's really true or at least what they're saying is one thing and what's behind the surface is something else.

He's describing those who are conveying the gospel with pure motives as those who are conveying truly what is behind it. They're not trying to put on something else. This isn't an act. This isn't a fake. I'm not telling you one thing with intentions that come from somewhere else. We would call this integrity. That's the word that we use, integrity. Now, there's some points of grammar to take a look at here, Philippians 1, 15-18. 1.

Paul's antagonists, those are the ones who are antagonistic to Paul, they are thinking, or King James has supposing, in the present tense. Isn't that interesting? In the present tense. That means they're thinking right now they're causing Paul distress. Right as Paul's writing, they're thinking, these people have it in their mind, They think, I'm causing Paul distress. I love doing this because I know it bugs Paul. They like that. And so they'll go out and preach the gospel because they think they're causing Paul problems. Now let's ask a question. Why would they think that? Let's look at the scenario here. He's writing probably from Rome. Now, Paul arrives in Rome. Paul hadn't been there before, to our knowledge.

So, Christianity had come there through other means. Now, people come in and they begin kind of setting up their own little Christian kingdoms. You know, I've got my following, and I've got people that listen to me, and I'm kind of making a name for myself out there. And Paul comes along. I mean, this guy is the guy who went and spread it around the Gentiles, you know. And he's written letters to the church at Rome, all this stuff, and here he is. As a matter of fact, he comes in prison, and he's sitting in prison.

And so, they actually feel threatened by Paul's presence. And they say, great, he's in prison, I'll go out and preach the gospel and rub it in his face. I'll taunt him about it. I'll even tell people, Paul can't tell you this because he's in prison, but I'll tell you. That's the scenario. That's what's going on. So these people are thinking right now, present tense, that's what they're supposing that they're doing, causing Paul distress. But here's the next part.

In the case of Paul's supporters, different. The word knowing is in the perfect tense. Perfect tense means completed past action, ongoing results in the future. It means they long ago, had it set in their minds what Paul's purpose was. They're not going on with some ongoing misunderstanding of what's taking place here.

Instead, they long ago said, hey, Paul's been set by the Lord. As a matter of fact, in the King James, I think it says, set for the proclamation of the gospel. Some of the other translations will be appointed. The word there actually means laid, like in a foundation. Paul is just laid out as in a foundational mode. He's laid out for the proclamation of the gospel. He's placed there, that's what he's supposed to do. These people knew that long ago.

Those that are supporting Paul, they say, hey, I know the Lord put him there, that's his place, didn't threaten me or bother me at all. So they have it clearly in their mind what Paul's supposed to do, they aren't threatened by it, and they're under no illusions as to what Paul's purpose and place is, even if he's in prison. It doesn't bother them in the least. They're not fighting for territory. This isn't a territorial issue anyway, is it?

Now, something else to take a look at. Paul, at the last part, he mentions this word rejoice twice. And we've brought up before this Keres family of words, and the head of that is this word grace. In this Keres family of words, one of the words that shows up is rejoice. And you can look at some of your earlier handouts where we've covered this. But I just want to highlight that here in verse 18, it shows up again. And notice that those are in blue, because that's our current passage. They're also asterisks. Let's take a look at that.

The first rejoices in the present tense. The second rejoices in the future tense. It doesn't always come across real clearly in English, so we want to point that out. the first time it's in the present tense, the second time it's in the future tense.

So, what does that mean? Essentially, Paul is saying this, only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I am now continuing to rejoice, yes, and in the future I will be repeatedly rejoicing. See the difference there? He says, these people are thinking they're causing me distress, and I want you to know Right now I'm rejoicing, and I'm going to keep on rejoicing. That's what he's telling me. Is this causing him Paul distress?

Is it? No. What's he doing? He's rejoicing! Praise the Lord! I'm in jail! How many of you have said that? Never mind. So now, we've got some really good questions. You like good questions? We've got some really good questions. I hope we have some good answers, because the questions are really good.

How is it exactly that Paul can rejoice that Christ is being preached when some of those who are doing the preaching are doing so in the flesh? We know that they are doing it in the flesh because each one of the motivations that Paul lists come straight, word for word, Greek word included, straight off the list of the deeds of the flesh. How can Paul rejoice in the midst of that?

That sounds like a problem. Doesn't it? Sounds like a problem. We'd better figure that one out. Well, we'll get there. Okay. Since it is apparent that Paul's antagonists are preaching Christ out of the flesh, can he possibly mean that preaching out of the flesh is okay? When you come to the electives here at Holly Hills, does it matter whether the people that are teaching are teaching from the life of Christ or out of the flesh? Let's bring it down to personal situations. We got not just here, but in the electives that are going on Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon, midweek, Bible studies in the home.

Does this matter? Big question, isn't it? All right, now, that's not all. For the one preaching, what are the consequences of preaching Christ out of the flesh? I mean, the way Paul's talking, it almost doesn't make any difference. Isn't that kind of almost the impression you get?

People are doing it both ways. I'm happy. I'm rejoicing. I'm going to keep on rejoicing. How can you say that? Sounds like a problem. I think we better come up with some answers. Shouldn't we? Shouldn't we? I think so. Okay. Let's go ahead and do that. One thing is clear.

Those who are having the mixed motives are still preaching Christ. I think that's one distinction to make here. Here's an interesting thing. They're preaching the truth even though the motivations from which they are preaching are definitely not anything that we would applaud. They are fleshly. That's one distinction.

And the reason we say that, the Greek text has a definite article in front of Christ. So Paul is writing THE Christ. They are not proclaiming something about Christ. They are proclaiming THE Christ. How about that? He's specific about it, not general. They were apparently not preaching a false Christ but the truth about Christ, so there was not a problem with the content of their message so much as the motivation. There's the distinction that he makes. There's a difference there.

Now, this wasn't a 2 Corinthians 11.4 issue where somebody was coming to the Corinthians and preaching another Jesus, a different one, and he's saying, oh boy, people come to you and they preach a different Jesus and you swallow it. In here, it doesn't appear to be the issue. It's singular. The Christ.

Their motives were worlds apart. Here's how we look at the diagram. Remember we had these envy, strife, and selfish ambition, goodwill, love, and pure motives. Here's these motives that are worlds apart, and as we mentioned, they're natures apart, aren't they?

This is one of the flesh, this is one of the very life of Christ. We're communicating the message of Christ, singular. Both. So that's one distinction. It's one reason why Paul can say what he has said. Here's the bottom line, I think, from John 16, 14.

The Holy Spirit is able to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ with a message that is true as to content, even though the motives of the one delivering the truth might be based on pretense. Isn't that amazing? and the preaching of Christ may be motivated from the flesh. It is because as the truth is conveyed, even if from wrong motives, the Holy Spirit, not because these people are operating out of the life of Christ, but the Holy Spirit is able to take the truth and apply it to people's hearts. That is amazing, isn't it? It is amazing. The Holy Spirit is still able to use that truth by God's grace, by God's grace, even though the motivations are faulty. That is true because God's Word is true.

Let me give you, for instance, a friend of mine. His name is Russ Haupt. I haven't had contact with him for some years, but he was a friend. Russ Haupt was working on the trail crew at Yosemite National Park. And as Russ was getting ready one night, and I'll shorten the story up, he got a hold of a gospel tract.

I've seen the gospel tract that he looked at. It's horrible. But nonetheless, it had the gospel in it, the truth. And from that gospel tract that he found, while he was an unbeliever and hanging out with other unbelievers, he became a believer. Up there, as the snows were melting, it was revealed. And he became a believer looking at this horribly written gospel tract. But the truth was there, and the Holy Spirit was able to use that. He became a believer, and the Lord just radically changed his life as a result of something that he just found, you would say, by accident. And because it had the truth, even though the fellow who wrote it, I'd say, boy, I sure wouldn't write a gospel tract that way.

So is there still a problem? Have we answered the questions? Well, I think not. We're not there yet. Those preaching from the flesh were still preaching Christ truly. Okay, we've come to that conclusion. The Holy Spirit was still able to convey the truth to the hearts of the listeners. Okay, so far so good.

So what's the problem? Everything's fine, right? We've answered all the questions? No problem. You want to preach Christ from the flesh? No biggie. Is that what the answer is? No. I'm not going to settle for that. Is preaching Christ in the flesh okay after all? No. We're not going to go there.

Let's look at 1 Corinthians 3, 10-11. Here is where Paul addresses this issue of, okay, someone is going to be carrying on a ministry, and another person is carrying on a ministry. On the outside, it may look very similar. But there is a distinction to be made in terms of what's rewardable.

Verse 10, According to the grace of God which is given to me like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it, for no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if any man builds on the foundation, which is Christ, with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw, each man's work will become evident, for the day will show it because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. Notice the foundation is the same, but the quality of what is constructed is not the same. If any man's work which he has built on, on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire."

It is possible to convey the truth, but instead of it being out of the life of Christ, it is instead out of the motivations of the flesh. And the Lord said, by my grace, I will bring that truth into the life and hearts of people. But the Lord is seeking, what can I reward? And He can only reward that which comes from His life. Here's what the bottom line is.

If someone preaches Christ truly, but from the motivations of the flesh, by the grace of the Lord, the Holy Spirit can certainly convey those truths to the hearts of others and use that in their lives. But the believer who preaches Christ from the motivations of the flesh is still building with wood, hay, and stubble so far as his own reward is concerned. Though God is merciful and gracious to the hearers of truth, through whomever it is delivered, the source and motivation of the one delivering the truth determines whether that delivery is rewardable in eternity or not. This is the dividing line. This is the point. Paul can rejoice that the truth is being preached. He can rejoice that Christ is being proclaimed, boldly, even though the motivations of some, as he puts it, are from the motivations of the flesh. Christ is preached in that Paul rejoices.

It is unfortunate, and maybe unfortunate is not a strong enough word, it is unfortunate for for those people who choose to proclaim Christ out of the motivations of the flesh, that it's unrewardable in eternity. As we've spoken before, their capacity to glorify the Lord in eternity is diminished. It doesn't mean they're not believers, but the rewardability is at issue. Now, it's because Christ is the source of life that we say this. It is only through the life of Christ, lived out in the believer, including the one who's teaching and proclaiming, that that is rewardable. The Lord can't say, I'm going to reward you for things in the flesh. The Lord may indeed use that by His grace.

One of the things that Nancy encountered one time, and this I think is something that Christians struggle with often, so hear me carefully here. One of the things that Nancy encountered, she was with a group of ladies, And the subject came up of believers marrying unbelievers. And some of the ladies said, well, I think it's fine for believers to marry unbelievers. As a matter of fact, I became a believer because, or excuse me, my husband became a believer because I was a believer, and so it must be okay. What they're doing is they are using God's grace. It is by God's grace that that person became a believer, right? They're using God's grace as an excuse to justify something that isn't right.

It's important that we learn the distinctions here, because if we're not careful, we'll say, well, the end result must mean that how it's going about is fine. And Paul's not making that blurring distinction here. He's not blurring that line. Merely emulating Christ on the outside is not the goal. That's, I think, the key here. He is rejoicing that Christ is being proclaimed. He is not rejoicing about the motivations behind it.

The truth is that the flesh can do and say all the right things. The flesh can learn how to act. The flesh is a good actor. Have you ever seen a movie that portrays a Christian and they do a pretty good job of it? And then that very same actor turns around and plays some other role in another movie that's horrific. You've seen that? That happens. And why? It's because that person, when they were acting out the role of a Christian, they were acting.

And so Paul is not trying to reinforce that. He's not saying, okay, here's a list of right things to do. Look good. Act well. He is making the distinctions to say these motivations matter. They do matter, okay? Now, let's look at this Philippians passage and let's just look at kind of expand it and explain it. I like to do this kind of at the end so that we pull it together, we get the whole sense of the passage and all the details we've been talking about. And you have this on the bottom part of page two on your handout there.

Some, that is some of those who were speaking boldly in the prior passage, to be sure are preaching the true message of Christ, even if they're doing it from fleshly motivations of envy and strife. But some others are also speaking boldly, as we saw in the prior passage, with motivation springing from goodwill that is characteristic of the life of Christ in the believer. Isn't that interesting? He's making the distinction. Yes, people are going out and speaking boldly, but what's behind it is day and night different, worlds apart, natures apart. Let's take a look at the next verse.

The latter, these are the ones who are preaching from goodwill, preach the true message of Christ out of a heart of love. This is the agape love, the selfless love, self-sacrificing love. which proceeds from the very life of Christ, having fully seen that I am appointed by God's own doing for the systematic defense." And by the way, that's what he means by the defense of the gospel. The systematic defense is the same word used in a legal trial. "...of the good message." Verse 17, "...the former proclaim the true message of Christ out of fleshly, selfish ambition rather than from pure motives originating in the person of Jesus Christ."

Sharp distinction. Continuing to think that they're causing me distress in my continually, my being continually chained to a Praetorian guard. I'm chained from one to the next to the next to the next and they think that's causing me distress. Guess what? I'm rejoicing. I'm going to keep on rejoicing. Alright, now, final verse there.

What really matters in the progress of the gospel then? And remember that that word progress is the clearing of the path for the gospel? That's what it is, questioner. So what really matters in the progress of the gospel? Only that in every way, whether in fleshly motivations or for motivations that are in line with the truth, the true message of Christ is proclaimed. And in this progress of the gospel, I am now continuing to rejoice. Yes, and I will in the future rejoice repeatedly. as well. It amazes me as I look at this passage.

Here's Paul, and he is going through an awful time. A constant shift of guards, some of them, I'm sure, coming to be believers, some of them being increasingly antagonistic, and every reputation of the Praetorian guards is, if they didn't like you, you knew it.

Here is Paul, and he's not sitting there whimpering and sniveling about the struggles he's going through. If the Praetorian guard said, I'm sorry, you're not going to the bathroom until I'm ready for you to go to the bathroom, you aren't going to the bathroom then. If you said, I'm hungry, he said, who cares? He's not whimpering and sniveling about that and complaining about it. What is he doing?

He's saying the gospel, as we pointed out before, the gospel is just fine. And as a matter of fact, he says, in the midst of this difficult circumstance, I am going to rejoice. In the midst of this, I'm going to rejoice. In our elective this morning, one of the things we looked at is we have a privilege as believers, suffering, okay? Suffering.

And here is Paul in the midst of this, and he's not saying, look, I know there's a bunch of you out there and you're supporting me. Pray that I get out of this thing. Pray that the Lord just takes it away. I know the Lord can do a miracle and I can be out of here in a minute. He doesn't write one sentence about that. and daddy tells you the gospel's doing just fine, and there are people out there wanting to cause me distress, but I'm rejoicing, and it's really, you know, their motivations are not anything we'd applaud, and I'm not happy for that, but nonetheless, I keep on rejoicing right in the middle of the circumstance because the first priority is the gospel, and the gospel is just fine. Let's pray.

Lord, as we look at this passage, we see the distinction between the life of Christ and the believer, and the believer trying to live out of the motivations of the flesh, apart from the life of Christ. The distinction is intense. The distinction is strong and potent and powerful. And Lord, Paul in the midst of this is not appealing to have a suffering relief, but is instead appealing to them in their partnership to depend upon your very life. And we just ask you that you would indeed bring these words true to our hearts and that you would teach us as you see fit, not just in our minds, but in our lives. We just pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.