Christ is Proclaimed
Philippians 1:18-20 · Bob Eckel · Feb 18, 2024
Philippians (2021-24), No. 07
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261934131471

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

All right, we're going to start with verse 12 today, and my verses today that Roger's assigned are 18 through 20 in chapter 1 of Paul's epistle to the Philippians. Christ is proclaimed. So, verse 12, but I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.

So that it has become evident to the whole palace guard and to all the rest that my chains are in Christ. And most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some, indeed, preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill. The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, and sincerely supposing to add affliction to my chains, but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.

What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in trick, Christ is preached, and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice. For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Holy Spirit of Christ Jesus, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed. But with all of this, and as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. I'm only sorry I won't be here for the teaching next week, the verse that I frequently quote, which I don't live up to. But for me, the Lord is Christ and God is King.

What a tremendous message. Yeah, it is. Just incredible. Who's teaching next week? Andrew is, actually. Andrew's on it. Good for you. I can't wait to review it. I'll be able to review them while traveling. So looking forward to that. All right, let's go ahead.

Let's review, as we usually do, the lesson from last week that Roger preached. The preachers of Jesus Christ may have had wrong motives, but lessons could be learned and Christ was still preached. I mean, if we think about the application today where we gather here at Holly Hills for a reason, but other people gather in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ at other churches, many are saved, maybe some are not, but ultimately Christ is still preached and we pray and hope. And so we can think about how that might apply today. And the question I would ask here is, were these espousers, only these ones who preached out of envy and strife, were they only anti-Paul, or were they just Judaizers, and Paul's teaching was used as an example?

I mean, what do you think? Roy, what do you think? I think the ratio here is... Do you have your mic on, by the way? I think that these are believers, these are believing members of the church that got bold because they saw that he was a prisoner of Christ in prison and that it was the guards were being evangelized and the message was being spread all over the place. And so they were encouraged by that to speak boldly also. knowing that it would result in good. That's the most emphasis, that there was this undercurrent of need, lived by pride. Can anybody think of a section of scripture where Paul addresses this issue in particular? Well, make me turn to Galatians. The first chapter of Galatians, and this is incredible. Paul was dealing with these Judaizers in that setting.

He said, I marvel that you're turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel. And what was the different gospel? What was the different gospel that was being preached by the Judaizers? That's another gospel. That's not the true gospel that's based on grace. Notice what Paul says here. You've been called from grace to another gospel or divine gospel. Profound, isn't it? And I think that's the sum, except what he's addressing here. Jim? You know, I'm just reading Wiest here in verse 17.

He says, but others out of a partisan self-seeking spirit are proclaiming Christ not with pure unadulterated motives, but insincerely thinking to raise up additional afflictions to my adult, already distant chains. So, you know, they were in contention with Paul. Right, so there is an anti-Paul sentiment. I'm just raising the question, was it entirely that, or was it in fact they were using him as an example for another theme, which is really what I'm turning to here.

All right, let's turn to today's verses. Philippians 118. What then, or what does it matter, only that or notwithstanding in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, by the way we're going to come back to this, or announced, And in this, I rejoice. Yes, and will rejoice.

Now, how should we interpret pretense in lieu of truth? We've got to skirt around that. The Greek term is prophesis, and it means ostensibly with a motive, which is sourced by envy or actually some So, how should we interpret this? And, you know, if you look at this term where it's used elsewhere, I think it's an interesting, I'll give you a couple examples here.

Matthew 23, 14. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. for you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation." If you think about that in today's church, I'm not going to go there. But we'll just leave it there. And then 1 Thessalonians 2, 5. For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak or prophesis for covetousness. for God is our witness.

There are other examples of this, kind of what this Greek term really relates to. It's really wrong motives envy and strife. The sin nature is the source of bad things. Preist is preached or announced. I'm going to say of interest here, and I found this kind of interesting, although Patagangelo, I can't know whether that's correct, is most often translated as preached. It also could mean to announce or to declare or to proclaim or to speak of And it's also used to maybe more appropriate in some Texas and other states. And ultimately, when you say it's preached, it's translated preach often, but it's also translated in these other forms.

Romans 1.8, first, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

Same word. You could say it was preached throughout the whole world, but its best translator here is Spokaneh. First Corinthians, let's see, that's funny. I think it's 12.1. And I, brethren, when I came to you did not come with excellence of speech or wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. So it's both the speech and the declaring.

And in First Corinthians 11.26. Focus as often as you eat this bread, We go through this once a month, don't we? I drink this cup. You proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. So I've just given you examples of this term.

Preaching is perhaps announcing or declaring or just proclaiming. It can be broadly interpreted. It's not a sermon necessarily. And I think it's best translated here as announced. I mean, the whole message is being proclaimed or announced. It's a better way to translate. But either way, let's look at Paul's response. And in this, I rejoice, yes, and I will rejoice. It's kind of interesting here. I rejoice as present active, but I will rejoice as future second passive. That's a complicated definition. Why future passive? I will rejoice, future passive.

What are your thoughts? When it's passive, that means that he's receiving this. He's anticipating receiving this. That's the significance of that. Or make it passive. Again, it's not him doing it. Yeah, it's happening to him. I mean, he's currently actively rejoicing, isn't he? But he will be made to rejoice. I mean, I think that's kind of interesting. He's not saying, I'm going to rejoice. But probably through the Lord's working through him over time will bring him to the setting of rejoicing still, right? And I still think he's rejoicing over being in prison, he was seeing the gospel spread. Isn't that something?

Okay, Wiest, I think, and there's a translation here, and I know Roger often likes to use that, but let's look at this. What is my feeling in view of these things? So this is Wiest's translation of this particular verse. Supposing they do purpose to make my chain gall me. The only thing that follows is that in every manner, whether pretense or in truth, Neither, whether sincerely or insincerely, Christ is being announced, and in this I am rejoicing, and currently I will continue to rejoice. I think, I will continue, I would have put that, I will be made to continue to rejoice. But anyway, I think his translation is more literal, and perhaps helpful to us if we take a look at this.

Macaulay has something to share here, and ultimately what he says. When Paul says he rejoices in the activity of these men, he sets before us a beautiful example of loving truth by men more than he loved himself. To Paul, faithfulness to the truth was a virtue of primary importance. We are always shown that Paul evaluates other teachers based on the truth they proclaim.

Isn't that what we're about here? I mean, what are our goals for all of us? It's rightly dividing the word of truth. We want to not only learn truth, but we want to rightly divide it and understand how it applies to the church age. Additional thoughts? I think, you know, here's the question for the class, does this position condition relate at all to us today? I certainly think it does.

The question I have is, where do we draw the line at other denominations Like Independent Baptist Church, they preach the gospel, but they have a few weird things. And I can say that because I came out of a Baptist church. And even a Presbyterian church, they may preach the gospel, but they really have even more weird things. A Roman Catholic can be saved, but he's really confused. Where do we draw the line saying we rejoice in what they're doing?

Well, the Baptist experience, first of all, when I got saved, we went to an evangelical free church in Seattle. That's where we lived. And then we moved here. Sharon and I moved here. And we went to Southern Gables, which is also the evangelical region.

So ultimately, we started coming to the idea that, you know, I can't please God or anything I think and do. And something's got to be more Christianity than this. So we started opening up the door, the miles, etc. So we went to a Baptist church only for our kids to be schooled at Silver State Baptist School, which at that time was a fairly decent educational experience. Well, that ended up going south too.

But let me cut to the chase. The Baptist church that we experienced was all getting people to be saved, whereas almost everybody was saved already. I mean, so in other words, there was no enlightening the Christian experience by building us up in our faith. Remember, I was saved, I'm being saved, and I will be saved. The three verb tense of salvation.

So anyway, I think, back to your question now. I'm going to have others reflect on this. I think we have the freedom in this country to choose where we worship. I think to be here, you have to have a hungry heart. And what does it mean to have a hungry heart? Every day I read, None But the Hungry Heart. It tells us that we've come to the end of ourselves. It's the crudge line that we see. And that's why I mentioned at the beginning of the class, for me to live as Christ and die as game is such an overall comforting message because it means God is in control of my life. in the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ, Spirit-led, and thy future is nothing but promised. So, I mean, I think the hungry heart is what makes us come here. We want to rightly divide the Word of truth, and that goes beyond us trying to please God. Those are my thoughts.

Others? Bob's got a good question. Yeah. Well, I think Bob's question is, how supportive should we be of other groups of believers that apparently are preaching the gospel, but they got a lot of lot of issues. And so that's a toughie. I mean, just like with a, I have relatives that are in different denominations and I love them, you know, and I want to see them prosper. But I struggle with their, you know, where they're coming from many times. And so it's hard, you know.

I said Paul answered it here to some extent. And you still rejoice that Christ is preached. He has answered that. That's true. One of the things that I think about when this whole passage is an emphasis that Paul has, how good God is in bringing all of us, no matter the background of us, no matter the motive of us, to himself, to focus us on him. I think that that's what he's rejoicing about. He says, even though they do it out of envy, for the wrong reasons, People are focusing on the Lord Jesus and His love that the Father has served Him to us. He is rejoicing over them. and will continue to enjoy it.

Do you think that when Paul was rejoicing at other believers in Rome, now there were a lot of believers in Rome that were never taught by Paul, so they didn't know about Paul's doctrine, so there were probably a lot of Jewish believers who were saved, but they said, we still want you to get circumcised. We still want you to follow the law. I'm sure that they were saved, they were just confused. But now is Paul rejoicing over those believers, those men that taught that also? Well, he took on Peter in that issue, didn't he? Yes.

I mean, the Epistle of the Romans was much later than the Roman church. And of course in our study in Acts on when we meet at home, there is related to the early church with themselves, Judaizers basically. But don't you think too that, you know, I remember, you know, having discussions with my sister and my brother who both are certainly believers. My brother passed away, but I know he's with the Lord, but he was, you know, he went to a mainline Methodist church.

And he, you know, believed you had to do all this stuff. I mean, you just did. But he still was saved. So I know I'm going to see him. And so I think Paul is, I mean, I think he's talking about, it doesn't matter, all this stuff. I mean, even though I think what was sad was for my brother to not understand this. And I mourned about that, that, you know, he didn't, He didn't really have the full experience of being a believer because he didn't understand. He didn't have to be in the law. I think it's their experience that they're not really able to have the full experience of being a believer. They don't understand.

And I think that's the sad part about all these denominations. They may be believers and they're going to be there, but They're missing out on right here on earth. Well, the major concern we think, I think we have a better, even dumber tradition of covenant theology. They're ultimately bringing a lot of law and works into grace and confusing this. And that makes the Christian life a little more challenging, doesn't it? They don't understand grace at all. And it's not scriptural. It's what Paul argued with the Galatians about, another gospel similarities. Let's go ahead. Yes.

We still, we still have a lot of friends in the Baptist church that we came out of and they're believers, but they also are really involved in doing a lot of works. And they're also involved in the kingdom and a little bit of covenant theology there. But still, we rejoice in the fact that they're believers, and we have fellowship with them. But the fellowship is... I mean, my experience with those believers is, yeah, we love a lot of people. I've been to two different churches, and we still have contacts at both. It's that that fellowship is not complete.

That's right. One of the things that we were talking about is God's love for me. That's how He loved us. He lives in us with that kind of love that I've been describing, compared to our kind of love. Well, I always say we don't have to like everybody, we just have to love them. And that love is a different nature. You know, the flesh is not capable of loving like the Lord Jesus Christ loved us. But He lives in us. Yes, exactly. For me to live is Christ.

Andrew, do it next week. Let's go ahead. For I know, we're going to come back to that verb, I know, that this will turn out for my deliverance or salvation through your prayer and the supply, which means bountiful supply. I'm kind of adding some advocates here to help out in terms of the original brief of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. What do you make of this? For I know, I know. Why does Paul state this as fact? or perceive, but not known by experience, or gnosis. For I know that this will turn out with my deliverance. What do you think? Why is this factual?

And by the way, an interesting other use here is, is Paul counting entirely on the heard and supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ? And by the way, here's another example of the use of Ido for no, and you're going to be amazed by this. Wouldn't you think this is Gnoska or Epigenoska?

Romans 8.21, and we know that all things work together for good to those who are of God and all those who are called according to their Torah. Why is Paul stating this as fact, that he knows that the prayer and supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ is going to deliver him?

We're going to come back to what I think she means. Yeah, he's trusting God. I'm hearing a number of people. Roger, go ahead. Well, no, I'm just thinking that he's saying, if God has said it, that's fact, and I can rely upon that. And we know that all things work together. How many people are accepting that as fact, that all things work together for good? It's stated. It isn't the things that are working together. No, no. It's God's purpose. I think I planted that seed and it will be produced at this point.

Okay, so why will this turn out for Paul's deliverance or salvation? What's this relate to? And I think that's the next question. What's this refer to, his salvation? I'm going to take a couple of verses and see what you think. But I want you to know, brother, that all things which happen to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. That's spiritual salvation, isn't it? And ultimately multiple versions quote Job. He shall be my salvation for a hypocrite could not come before him. Now, what was Job's prayer that he will be my salvation? Was that spiritual growth? Joe went through everything, in terms of loss. Yeah, he lost everything. And his salvation was, you know, relief from all this.

So when we think of this, is this deliverance or salvation, and if so, from what? And I'm pointing out here that salvation could apply to a spiritual salvation, being saved, as I mentioned before, the verb tense that we all live in, we're being saved, but also to the healing of his body or release from imprisonment. Could this mean deliverance? And, you know, a useful term or verse to look at here is in Mark 15, 31.

Likewise, the chief priest also mocking among themselves with a scribe said, he saved others, himself he cannot save. Now that's the same Greek term, save. But yet, they weren't critical of him not coming down to the cross for his spiritual salvation. They were concerned about his physical life. I'm going to show you what Rhys thinks, but what's the question about it? Is this deliverance from his imprisonment and him saving his body from further punishment? Or is this his spiritual salvation? Or could it be both?

What's everybody's thought? By the way, the commentators are all on the board, right? The thought I have is in Romans 15, because I believe that Paul, at this point when he is writing to the Philippians, has also written a letter to the Romans. And in that letter to the Romans, he says, Now I beseech you, brethren, by the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, for the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea, and that my service, which I have for Jerusalem, may be accepted by the saints. Okay, so how do you interpret that deliverance?

It's a goal of spirits, a lot of folks. A lot of folks. In this case, it's from the persecution, but also that he would be accepted by believers. Right. Because of the rumors going around that he was spreading error and stuff. Let's see what we, someone much smarter than me, thinks about this. So, Paul uses it here of his own well-being. The knowledge that his imprisonment was not hindering the preaching of the gospel, but on the other hand, was cutting pioneer roads for us, for its advance and causing many in Rome to break their silence and proclaim the word, was likely tied to his soul, saving him from discouragement and sparing him on to greater endeavor or in the service of the Lord. So, well. What do we say? It's spiritual. It's both.

I think he mentions his imprisonment, not hindering the preaching of the gospel. But there's, you know, by the way, importantly, Paul remains in hope that he will again join the group of Philippi. And that we see in verse 26 of Philippi, or 25 and 26. And being caught through this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of your faith, that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again. So there is this deliverance from his imprisonment and the freedom he would again have being in Philippi. Let's go to somebody else very smart. Constable, does this mean that if the Philippians failed to pray for Paul, God's work in him would suffer?

Yes, but the salvation in view is progressive sanctification, not glorification, unlike this of Constable. God and people work together in the process of sanctification, but glorification is God's work. I think that last sentence is, you know, God's glory is what I mean, we're here to bring glory to the Lord. That's our life in Christ Jesus, is to bring God glory. And I think Constable brings up a concept that I think is not stated specifically by the Scripture, but I think it's an interesting conclusion of what the Lord is doing in Paul.

It goes simply beyond his own spiritual salvation. And parallel to that is what I just read to the Romans. If they would pray, You know, good verse, Laurie. And, you know, I can't keep not quoting other famous biblical scholars. Darby says, nevertheless, the pain caused by such an effort betrays the inability of man to maintain the work of God at its own height. Like, all of this happens in order that God may have the whole glory of the work. And it is needed in order that the creature may be manifested in every respect according to the truth." Isn't that really profound?

Anyway. All right. Now that we've conquered verse 19. Okay. The last verse of the Texas Martyrs. According to my earnest or eager expectation, and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. And isn't this an incredible verse? Let me read again, according to my earnest or eager expectation and hope that in nothing I'll be ashamed, but with all boldness and as always, he's been there before, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body whether by life or by death. And that sets the stage for what Andrew will be covering next week.

Okay, according to my earnest or eager expectation There's the Greek term. The Greek term relates to both words tied into, actually, three Greek words tied up into one. So it's only used once more in scripture, and it's interesting to see where that's used, this eager expectation. Where do you think it's used? Can anybody off the top of their head think of where this is used?

Oh, creation groans. Beautiful. Did you have my handout before you guys left? Actually, I had it on my notes before I went to it. There you go. It's good. It's good. Never mind. I would say, Nige, for the onus expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the receiving of the sons of God.

Isn't that interesting? The only other use of this eager expectation relates to our homegoing. I've just brought away that the same Greek term is only used one other time and it relates in Romans to our homecoming. I'm sure Roger and and Micah will be covering that up front here in the very near future. Paul's expectation and hope was that in nothing I shall be ashamed.

It's a great message for us too today, isn't it? And you know, Peter has addressed this, it comes up in other places in Scripture, yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. I mean, I think the issue is, we can discuss this for a minute maybe, When we're ashamed, what are we ashamed of? If we're ashamed by the gospel in some way, what we're witnessing or sharing it with others, what's that shame?

It's an affliction. It may be that the sharing of this was not appropriately administered. The spirit did not lead. I always say if people are asking questions, I'm willing and as open to answer questions the best I can, using scripture as the source. But forcing the gospel about the people is, remember, to the Jew, Christ is what?

Foolish. No, he's what? No, no, no. No, he's a stumbling block. And to the Gentile, he's what? Foolish. He's foolishness to the Gentile. And I think, my opinion is we can often sometimes do damage by forcing the gospel to someone who thinks Christ is foolish.

And they don't want to hear it anymore. My brother was a perfect example. He said, Bob, quit talking to me about the Lord. I just don't want to hear it. And my relationship kind of went south for a bit. But unfortunately, that recovered not because I continued to preach to him or announce to him or proclaim to him. But you know, a lot of times these people who that aren't interested in the gospel. As they watch you in your life and how you deal with, you know, things that happen in your own life in a different way than they're used to seeing, then all of a sudden you've become that witness and they're seeing that without your cameras.

Right. Well, Andrew, Margaret and I will never forget what your dad said and counseled us. He said, you may be the only Bible people ever read. each one of us may be the only Bible people ever read. And that relates to the life in Christ that we're called to live.

All right, but with all boldness as always, so now also Christ will be manifested in my body. So as Paul, thinking of the truth and principle of the verse, of a verse not yet written, and I'm just kind of thinking about, you know, ultimately Hebrews 4, 16, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and full grace in time of need. So this idea of approaching this issue to the Lord with boldness is something maybe, he doesn't, of course, you know, that scripture hadn't even been written yet, or he didn't know about that, I'm sure, when he was writing the Episcopal Revelers. But our approach is a bold one, and we should approach the throne with boldness, as always, so now that Christ may be magnified in our bodies. As always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. Importantly, will be magnified is a future passive. And will be magnified is a work of God. It's not a work of us. and the Holy Spirit ministers the Word of God to our knowledge and our experience and ultimately bring glory to the Lord.

Constable says the use of the passive, the exalted rather than the active reflects Paul's conviction that essentially the Christian life involves following the leading of God's indwelling Spirit. rather than seizing the initiative and doing things for God.

It's just a totally different mindset. Well, Roger, that was my point about sharing the gospel in a way that's antagonizing and not helpful in furthering people in their understanding. And Paul said it nicely in Galatians, but if you are led by the Spirit, you're not under the law. So, I mean, that, I think, relates to our sharing. It relates to our lives. The law does not guide our behavior. It's the law of Jesus Christ. It's Spirit led. Weiss says the word magnified is the translation of a Greek word meaning to make great, to make conspicuous, to get glory and praise.

He goes on to say Paul's desire was that the Lord Jesus might be seen in his life and all his beauty, that he might be conspicuous, that he might get glory and praise to himself through Paul. Is this not the emphasis throughout Scripture? I think it is. I think 2 Corinthians 4 is one of the great chapters in the Bible. I'm just going to take one verse out of there. Verse 10, chapter 4, always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be manifesting in our bodies.

Boy, fantastic. Here at the end of that chapter, it says, for our light afflictions, but for a moment, which works for us a far more eternal and exceeding way to glory, where we look not at the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen, but the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. And this is my last slide. This is a great problem. Amen. So Bob's insights, corrections.

The expectation that was in Romans, right? If he's in prison in Ephesus writing to the Philippians, And also writing to the Romans, it made sense that his thoughts would be paralyzed by the invitation. But isn't it neat that the Lord gives us a different kind of atmosphere surrounding those letters in terms of their purpose? Oh, yeah. All scripture is meant to inform. And the other half of it I was thinking was, only Paul could relate back to a direct confrontation from Christ. Why are you persecuting me?"

And then being taken in the desert and introduced to what he was meant to do with him in detail. We wish we had more details about that teaching experience, don't we? But you know, the thing is, all God needed for us to know is we have a man who's been totally changed. A man who was a formal and very well-educated Jewish leader. And we have his word of that encounter, so to speak, because Paul's writings, in my mind, is learning from Christ in the desert for three years. We have it written out for us. And it's a clear witness of what he encountered with the Lord.

That's what we need to know, basically, is what I'm saying. It reminds me of a newspaper headline. I think Sharon and I were in Seattle shortly after getting saved, where it said, Paul has been declared the greatest human that ever lived. This is secular newspaper, and somebody had done a study, and that was the headline. And believe me, we pondered that word for a long time. Just one thought, though, we need to remember he's a human being. Exactly. Still in the same nature. Exactly. Still had doubts sometimes. Yeah. What are you doing, God?

I sent Titus back over there to Corinth to make corrections. I haven't heard from him. You know, as he did, and we got along fine, you know, what's going to happen? And then he turns right around, when Titus shows up, thanks be to God, he delivered, and everything was repented in Corinth, everything's great. So he had emotions. Anyway.

Any other thoughts before we dismiss? Jim, close us in prayer, would you please? Father, we thank you for your grace and for your mercy to us. And we just ask that you would let us keep our minds on you from now on. We know that there will be circumstances that will draw us away from our minds being centered on you, but we ask that you always would bring us back to you. in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Thank you.