THE PRISON EPISTLES: NURTURE FOR OPPRESSED BELIEVERS

III. Philippians: Nurture In Living In Preoccupation With Christ

B. Nurture In Resting In God's Use Of Even Our Earthly Obstacles To Advance His Cause

(Philippians 1:12-18)

I. Introduction

A. When Paul wrote the "Prison Epistles" of Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians and Philemon, the fact that he was in prison troubled believers, Philippians 1:12-13; Colossians 2:1-2; 4:7-8 and Philemon 22; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, p. 1672, "Introduction to the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians."

B. To nurture his readers at Philippi, Paul wrote in Philippians 1:12-18 about God's encouraging use of even the human obstacles he faced to further the cause of Christ, and we view that passage for our edification:

II. Nurture In Resting In God Use Of Even Our Earthly Obstacles To Advance His Cause, Phil. 1:12-18.

A. Paul's readers "were apparently quite concerned about him, thinking he was discouraged and that God's plan had gone awry" via his imprisonment, a fact gleaned from Philippians 1:12; Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 650.

B. On the one hand, it was true that Paul was facing humanly discouraging obstacles to his ministry and calling as an apostle, Philippians 1:13, 15a, 16-17, 20 (as follows):

1. When Paul wrote the Philippian epistle, he was imprisoned in Rome as a prisoner of the state, Phil. 1:13; Ibid., Ryrie, p. 1682, "Introduction to the Letter of Paul to the Philippians: Place of Writing."

2. The trial of his case had probably begun (Ibid., ftn. to Phil. 1:19), and its outcome as to whether Paul would be freed to continue living or to be put to death was uncertain, Philippians 1:20, Ibid.

3. In addition to this personal human life-and-death crisis, Paul faced opposition by fellow professing Christians who should have been trying to encourage rather than discourage him, Philippians 1:15a, 16:

a. Paul reported to his Philippian readers that some professing Christians preached the Gospel of Christ out of "envy and rivalry" with the motive of trying to make that preaching "afflict" Paul in his imprisonment in that he was restricted from proclaiming Christ and gaining converts while they were free to become more famous ministers and gain many more followers than Paul in his imprisonment, Phil. 1:15a, 17 ESV.

b. This motive was of course a false, carnal one, not a motive in sincerity as to God's glory, Phil. 1:17.

C. Nevertheless, Paul refused to fall for the temptation of either feeling faithless fear in his life-threatening case or for the temptation to let human pride make him distressed over those who competed against him, and he did so by viewing his circumstances by faith from God's perspective so as to rest in God's agenda, Phil. 1:12-18:

1. Paul actually sought to encourage his concerned readers about his circumstances by claiming that, from God's viewpoint, his humanly negative imprisonment and opposition by carnal believers had "instead" (mallon, U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 682; Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 490) resulted in the "advancement, furtherance" (prokope, Ibid., p. 714) of the Gospel, Philippians 1:12.

2. Paul then explained how these problems had been used by God to further His own divine agenda:

a. Paul reported that his witness to the prison guards had affected the whole praetorium, the imperial guards of 9,000 men who were distinct from the regular army and who were very influential with the Emperor and whose members took shifts being chained to Paul in guarding him, Ryrie, ftn. to Philippians 1:13. As soldier after soldier was chained to Paul, they had become a captive audience for his witness, and so these soldiers had taken the Gospel back with them to the praetorium barracks until all 9,000 men in the Imperial Guard knew the Gospel, and with their influence caused it to spread greatly, Phil. 1:13b; Ibid.

b. The spread of Paul's witness in this way readily emboldened many fellow Christians outside of prison to speak the word of the Gospel without fear, Philippians 1:14.

c. Though some professing Christians out of carnal, competitive motives tried to irritate Paul by taking advantage of his imprisonment in making converts where he was powerless to get out to preach, Paul simply rejoiced that the Gospel was getting out, whether by good or bad motives, Phil. 1:16-18. Paul was not concerned about feeding his ego in pride, nor was he concerned about whether his case led to his acquittal or execution (Phil. 1:21), but only about the fact that God's agenda was being fulfilled in his life.

Lesson: Paul did not view his humanly negative circumstances in unbelief to get depressed or angry, but rejoiced in seeing by faith how God was furthering His agenda in his life, and Paul shared this view to edify other believers.

Application: May we adopt God's view of life's human setbacks to see God's will as being fulfilled in them, and so replace the depression and fear of unbelief with the joy of a life of faith. May we then share this view to aid others.