To Live Is Christ

Phil 1:1-18

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

It is wonderful to be with you all today. Uh, and I hope everyone had a fantastic week. Uh, it was great to see so many of you guys at the fair this week. My family really enjoyed bumped into some of you guys, and there were some impressive accomplishments at the fair this year. And it's always a joy to celebrate those in our church family who work hard and succeed. So, shout out to Becca! Yes, for getting an outstanding at the state fair. That's incredible. Yeah, sorry, Becca. I didn't tell I was gonna do this. Oh, great. Uh now, last week we uh finished our series on the book of Titus, where we talked about the culture we want our church to be built on. And today we start a new series on the book of Philippians. Now, the book of Philippians is considered to be one of the most pastoral letters uh that Paul wrote because it is so relatable. And it ties the story of the gospel with some of the most difficult aspects of our lives, uh, while at the same time giving us the gumption to live a life full of joy in the midst of adversity. So before we dive into the details of the book of Philippians, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father God, we are so you are so good to us. You are so good to us, and we are so thankful for your great grace and your mercy. Thank you for giving us another Sunday to gather to worship you, to learn from your word, and to have fellowship with one another. Lord, I pray that you would give me the wisdom to preach your word and that I would speak what you would want me to speak. Uh so you are glorified. Lord, you are holy, holy, holy. Your love endures forever. You are the rock of ages, and we are glad to be your people. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay. Before we read Philippians 1, let me paint you a picture, right? Let's let's uh let me start by setting the scene. Uh, Paul is writing this letter alongside Timothy, and he's writing this letter from prison in Rome. And you can read about this in Acts chapter 28. If you want to make take notes, like just know that this is a direct call out to chapter 28 of Acts, and we're gonna be bouncing back and forth a little bit so you can get to get the context. And uh, that is the account of Paul's arrival in Malta uh when he was shipwrecked, and then he was bit by a snake, and then later arriving in Rome, where he was placed on house arrest. And this all takes place around AD 60 and AD 62. So Paul at that time would have been a seasoned adult. Like we don't have a specific age that he would have been, but uh the estimates say that he would have been around 50 to 60 years old at that point. Now the city of Philippi was located in northeast Macedonia. Uh, the city uh became a Roman colony. And when you think of the world map, if you know where Italy is, and Italy kind of looks like a boot, and there's like a heel of the boot, like directly across, would have been northeast Macedonia. Uh so it became a Roman colony, which it sounds just like another city under Roman control, but it was much more than that. Roman colonies uh were intended to be little Rome. Not every city was a Roman colony. They were Roman um guided or Roman uh under Roman control, but they were not all Roman colonies. Philippi was. Uh the citizens of the cities possessed Roman citizenship, uh, they enjoyed tax privileges, they dressed like Romans, they spoke Latin in official settings, they adopted Roman cult costumes, they worship Roman gods and were incredibly proud of their citizenship. They were incredibly proud of their citizenship. Uh, they were proud to be Roman. And that is a little detail right there that is super important later because Paul will directly address that. He will speak to them in terms that they understand, just like he did with Titus. Remember when we read Titus and he's talking to them about the Greek gods, and he kind of pokes phone at Seuss a little bit. Like this is another minor detail that he's gonna talk about later. Um, because the the people in Philippi are really, really proud of their identity as Roman citizens. Um, so uh he will go on to challenge the people of Philippi uh and and make them think uh about how uniquely Roman they think they may be uh when they are comparable to the Cretans as well. Uh so now let's talk about the church itself. So uh turn your Bibles to Acts chapter 16 and we're gonna start reading in uh verse nine. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night, and a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him to s urging him and saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately he sought we sought to go to Macedonia, including that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Somothras, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is which is a leading city in the district of Macedonia in a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days, and on the Sabbath we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed uh there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to a woman we had who had come there together. Uh, one who heard us, one who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Teratira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what he to I'm sorry, to pay attention to what was said by Paul. Then after she, then after she was baptized and her household as well, she urged us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay, and she prevail upon us. Okay, stop there. All right, we'll stop there for a second. Um, right here we see the first convert in Europe. The first convert in Europe was Lydia. Uh, she was a businesswoman, a successful businesswoman at that. She was selling purple goods. That was really hard to come by. Um, so and they sold for really, really expensive. Um, and she was a worshiper of God, and Acts says that the Lord opened her heart. The Lord opened her heart. Make yourself a little note here. Uh if you if you write this thing so in your Bible, because this is a direct callback that that Paul will address in Timothy uh uh next week when uh Michael uh is preaching. Uh and he makes a reference to this in Philippians uh 1, 28 through 29. So if you want to make a note, that's the direct callback. Uh even the founding of the church begins with God's sovereign grace. All right, let's carry on. We're reading now from Acts uh 16 through 18. As we were going to uh up to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gained by fortune telling. She followed us, she followed Paul and us, crying out, These men are servants of the Most High God who proclaimed to you the way of salvation. And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, that's funny, turned and said to the spirit, I command you, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her, and he came out of her that very hour. Okay. Uh, let's stop there for another moment. Now we have the slave girl. So instead of celebrating her freedom, her owners then become angry because they have lost their income. So Paul and Silas are arrested. That's the next thing that happens right there. So we just read how like the the slave one, the slave girl comes out, she's prophesying and saying all these things. Paul gets annoyed, says a stop, and then she the owners lose all their money, all their business, and then he's taken over and over to prison. So then let's read uh Acts 16, 25 through 33. About midnight, Paul and Silas, um, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundation of the prison's prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were open, and everyone's bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke, woke, and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, Do not harm yourself, for we are all here. And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be safe? And and they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, and you and your household will be saved. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Okay. Let's stop there again. After an earthquake opens the prison's door, the jailer prepares to kill himself. Why why the harsh reaction? Well, it was a big deal. If a Roman, if a Roman soldier is tasked with keeping an eye on a prisoner and that prisoner escapes, there's a worse fate that awaits that Roman soldier than to just get a reprimand or get a slap on the wrist. So he's thinking to himself, you know what, I'm just gonna kill myself because that is actually far like less gruesome than what's gonna happen to me if I'm getting caught. If I get caught. Paul responds with, believe in the Lord Jesus. And after that, the jailer and his household believed. All this to say, church, that the Philippian church begins with a successful businesswoman, a formerly demon-possessed slave, and a hardened Roman jailer. There are completely different people united by one gospel. This one gospel transcends economics, gender, social status, ethnicity. I mean, your pastor is a brown man from a third world country. I think we're doing all right. Paul's relationship with Philippi is unique. It's perhaps the warmest relationship with all with any congregation. Unlike Corinth and Galatia, Paul spends very little time correcting doctrinal error. Instead, the letters, the letter feels deeply personal. Which I also think is really cool. Can you imagine if the church in Corinth or Galatia had gotten along a hold of the letter to the church in Philippi? Now let's turn our Bibles to Philippians chapter 1. Starting in verse 1. Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and the deacons. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always, in every prayer of mine, for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, and I am sure of this, that he who began the good work in you will bring it to completion to completion on the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affections of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard, and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers having become confident in the Lord in my imprisonment are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in presence or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice. Okay. Now that we have the background and the context, and we've read through the passage together, we have to ask ourselves a very important question. And that question is what is the author trying to communicate? This is how we study the Bible. We ask ourselves, what is the author trying to communicate? What is the message? What is the golden thread of this whole section together? And I believe the answer to that is this a gospel-centered life interprets every circumstance through the advance of Christ's kingdom rather than personal comfort. Let me repeat that. A gospel-centered life interprets every circumstance through the advance of Christ's kingdom rather than personal comfort. What does that mean? Well, it means that no matter the season of life you're walking through, whether we're on a mountaintop or in or in the valley, whether life is easy or incredibly difficult, if our lives are truly centered around the gospel, on the gospel, then every circumstance becomes another opportunity for Christ to be magnified and his gospel to be advanced. Instead of asking, why is this happening to me? We begin to ask, Lord, how can you see how can you use this for your glory? How can you use my current situation to point someone to Christ? In church, that's not natural. Naturally. Number two, through thanksgiving. And number three, through gospel partnership. Number one, grace and peace. Number two, thanksgiving, number three, gospel partnership. So let's go to number one through grace and peace. Paul begins his letter the way that he often begins his letters. He says, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace, grace to you, and peace from God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. As we uh talked about during our study through Titus, Paul's words are never accidental. Every greeting, every phrase, every word has a purpose. And when Paul says grace to you, he's praying that every kind of grace would be experienced by every kind of believer. We talked about this last week. When he says, Grace be to you, he's already explained what grace is and what the expectation is, and he wants it for every believer. So who is the recipient of God's grace? The answer wasn't the morally impressive, it wasn't the spiritually accomplished, it wasn't uh who somehow somebody who somehow earned God's favor, as if that can be possible. Grace is given to sinners. God is grace is God's unmerited favor shown to those who deserve his judgment. But here's what's so beautiful about this whole thing Paul isn't writing to unbelievers hoping that they'll experience grace today. He's writing to Christians, he's writing to saints, people who have already been redeemed. And yet he tells them, Grace to you. Grace to you. Why? Well, because the Christian life never moves beyond grace. I said this last week. We never graduate from the gospel. We don't begin by grace and then continue by our own strength strength. We need grace every single day. We are justified by grace only to be sanctified by our own by our own performance. Every single day we stand in desperate need of God's grace. Every single day. We need grace to fight temptation, we need grace to forgive people when they have hurt us. We need grace to endure suffering. We need grace to love difficult people. We need grace to remain faithful when life doesn't make sense. Church, the Christian, never outgrows his dependence upon the grace of God. Paul gives instruction before he offers encouragement, before he calls them to unity, before he addresses suffering, he reminds them of the atmosphere that in which every Christian should live. Grace. We live in a state of grace. We cannot forget that. Again, another callback to what we just went through. We always have to be living our life and looking at our lives through the lens of grace. When Paul adds an and then uh then Paul adds another incredible blessing, he says, and peace. And when he hears the word peace, we usually think about quietness, not conflict, no stress, uh, everything finally settling down, but that's not biblical peace. The peace that Paul speaks echoes the Hebrew word shalom. And there's uh the translation here. So the book of Philippians is written in Greek, and there's two words in Greek for the that that mean peace, and they both sound very similar and they're spelled similarly. Uh, one is Irene, and one is Irene, and Irene is the god, the Greek goddess of peace. The other one simply means peace, but it's more closely um significant to the word shalom in Hebrew. And shalom speaks to completeness, wholeness, flourishing, a life that has been made right with God, and it is settled confidence that everything is exactly where it belongs because God Himself is sovereign over all. It is no wonder that when you uh when you meet a Jewish person, a common greeting is shalom, because it carries weight. Church, there is nothing like the peace of God. Think about that for a moment. The God who created the universe, perfectly holy, holy, who cannot, who cannot tolerate sin, and his justice demands the wicked to be judged. Judge, judge. Left to ourselves, every one of us stood as an enemy of God. Not because God was unfair, not because he simply decided to hate us, but because our sin placed us in open rebellion against him. The holy God of heaven was at war with our unrighteousness, but through Christ everything changed. The wrath we deserved was poured out upon Christ. The judgment that belonged to us upon fell upon him. The separation caused by our sin was removed at the cross. Now, through Faith in Jesus Christ, we are no longer enemies, we have been adopted as sons and daughters, and we have peace with God, the God of the universe, who could just like snap his fingers and destroy everything. We have peace with him. Peace with God is our objective standing before him because of Christ. The peace of God is the daily experience that flows from knowing that we belong to him. Isn't that interesting? Paul opens his letter by praying that they would experience grace and peace. And then later in chapter four, he will write, The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. The peace. He begins the letter exactly where he intends to end it, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Because before Paul ever tells them how to live, he reminds them what they have already received in Christ: grace and peace. And those two realities become the foundation upon which the entire Christian life is built. So back to our question. How do we become the kind of believer who can look at every circumstance we're going through, not through the lens of comfort, but through the lens of the gospel? We can do that by remembering that we are the recipients of the grace of God, which in turn produces peace. That is so complete, that so completely overshadows any other circumstance that when you receive grace and peace, you become completely unstoppable in your gospel resolve. If you've experienced the peace of God, you're literally unstoppable. And Paul knew this very well. Uh, remember the context we talked about earlier before Paul writes to the letter in Philippi, he was shipwrecked, he was bitten by a snake, and he was in prison. And yet, this guy is out there unbothered by the snake bite, to the point that if you go read that account, people are looking at him and thinking, like, dude, are you gonna die? They're just looking at him thinking, the snake bit him, like a viper hit bit him, and he's not dying. He must be a god. The people in Malta thought that he was a god. He's unbothered by the snake bite bite. He starts singing hymns and spiritual songs, he converts a Roman guard, all the while counting it all for joy. So, number one, we become that through grace and peace. We become that kind of believer through grace and peace. So, number two, through thanksgiving, let's read the text again, starting in verse three. I'm gonna read from three to ten. I thank my God in all the remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, and I am sure of this, that he who began the good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ of Christ Jesus, and it is my prayer that you love, that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may prove that is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. Okay. Paul writes, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, for you all making my prayer with joy. Like I said before, this is Paul's warmest letter. You can almost hear the affection in his words. People is overflowing with joy. Paul, I'm sorry, Paul is overflowing with joy as he thinks about the people of this church. And he says, I thank my God every time I remember you. Church, stop there for a second. Think about your own life. Is there someone? Is there someone that comes to mind that makes you say, Lord, thank thank you for them? I'm so thankful for that person. Not because they're perfect, not because they've uh never disappointed you, but because God has used them in your life. Maybe it was a person uh who first the person who first shared the gospel with you. Maybe it was a Sunday school teacher who faithfully opened the uh God's word. Maybe it was a parent who prayed for you and with you, maybe it was a friend who refused to let you walk away from Christ. And when you think of them, your heart naturally turns to thanksgiving. Now ask yourself another question. Why? Why does your heart turn towards thanksgiving when you think of such a person? Why are you thankful for them? Paul tells us, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. That was Paul's reasoning. And that is the reason that we all should hold on our hearts. Paul thanks God because these believers had joined him in the work of the gospel from the very beginning at the church in Acts 16 until the day Paul writes this letter, they had remained faithful. They prayed for him, they encouraged him, they supported him financially, they sent Epaphroditus to care for him, which we'll read about later. Then they suffered alongside him. They were partners in the mission Christ had given them. Church, those are the kinds of relationships that endure. Those are the kind of relationships that endure. Friendships built around hobbies eventually fade. Friendships built around common interests eventually change. They need more care. You have to like be plugged into certain areas. But relationships centered on Christ and his mission to only grow deeper. Relationships centered on Christ and His mission only grow deeper. I can speak to that personally. My best friends became my best friends because we struck conversations about God. It started with God. I can tell you with absolute certainty that when I stop to think about the day the Lord saved me, I think about the people God used. The people who patiently answer my questions, the people who faithfully preach the gospel to me, the people who refuse to give up on me. And every time I remember them, my heart responds the same way that Paul does, and so should yours. And I'm sure he does. Lord, thank you. But now I'm in a different season of life. Now I find myself thanking God not only for what he has already done, but for what he's doing right here in this church. As I look around this room, I don't simply see people attending church. I see people who God is knitting together for the sake of his kingdom. You may not realize this now today, but every believer in this room has received the very same commission. Go and make disciples, proclaim the gospel, build up the church, love one another. We are not simply people that happen to gather in the same building every Sunday for a random for a random reason. We are partners in the gospel. And church, do you know what gives Paul such confidence? Verse 6 tells us that and says, I am sure of this that he who began the good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. I love that verse. It's a very popular verse. Paul doesn't just place his confidence in the Philippians because of the track record that they may have. He doesn't say, I'm confident because you guys are disciplined, or says, I'm confident because you got strong leadership, or I'm confident because you've been faithful all these years. No. His confidence rests entirely upon God. The God who starts the work in the life of the believer is the God who will see it through. Church, if your salvation depended upon your ability to hold on to Christ, you'd be lost. We would all be lost. If our salvation depended on our ability to hold on to Christ, we would all be lost. I wish I could take credit for that, but it was Martin Lloyd Jones that said it first. Thank God my salvation does not depend on my frail hold on him, but on his mighty grasp on me. The same God who opened Lydia's heart, the same God who saved the Philippian jailer, the same God who transformed soul into Paul, is the same God who promised to complete the work that he's begun in you. What an incredible promise that is. Because there will be a day when you don't feel like you're growing, days when you stumble, days when you'll question yourself, days when you'll wonder whether God is still working. And Paul reminds us that he is. If he began the work, he will finish it. Not because you're faithful, but because he is. Then Paul says something beautiful in verse 7. He said, It is right for me to feel this way about you because I hold you in my heart. You see, Paul doesn't apologize for loving this church. These people have become family. Why? Because they are partakers with me, with me of grace, is what he says. They partakers with me of grace. Notice that what united them wasn't personality, background, politics, or social status. It was grace. That was the common denominator. Grace made him a family. The same grace that saved Paul, saved Lydia, the jailers, saved the believers and Philippi. And it's the same grace that had brought us all together here. The ground at the foot of the cross is perfectly level at grace. No one stands above another person. Every single one of us comes the exact same way. By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And because we've received the same grace, we are called to extend that same grace to others. And to one another. I love that. That phrase kind of flies under the radar. I love that phrase. Paul isn't simply saying, I really like you guys. He's saying, I love the love that Christ has shown me has become the love I now have for you. He says, For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. That's what happened when Christ changes your heart. You begin loving people differently. You become more patient, more compassionate, more forgiving, more willing to bear one another's burdens. Not because people become easier to love, they don't. But because Christ's love begins to shape your own. Christ's love begins to shape your own. Then Paul moves from Thanksgiving to a prayer. And notice what he doesn't pray for. He doesn't pray that their lives would become easier. He doesn't pray that the persecution would end. He doesn't pray that they would become wealthier. He doesn't pray that he uh could get out of prison instead in prison. Instead, he prays for something far greater. He says, and it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more. It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more. Last week I said that one of the cultures we want to emulate is a church that love one another. That we, as Scripture says, will be known by the love that we show to one another. Church love is never meant to remain stagnant. There is no finish line where we loved enough. Paul prays that their love would continually grow. But notice that this love is not disconnected from truth. He says, with knowledge and all discernment. With knowledge and all discernment. That's an important, that's really important. Biblical love is never blind. Our culture often says, if you love someone, you affirm everything they do. Especially nowadays. If you love me, you're gonna affirm me. Because if you don't affirm me, you will love you don't love me. There are churches and whole denominations built around this. Scripture says something completely different. Christian love is guided by truth. It knows God, it treasures his words, and it has discernment. It can distinguish between what merely feels like loving and what actually honors Christ. That's why verse 10 flows so naturally. He says in verse 10, so that you may prove what is excellent. So that you may prove what is excellent. In other words, not simply choosing between good and bad, but learning to choose what is best. A mature believer doesn't spend life asking, what is the minimum I have to do? What is the bare minimum of loving I have to do? He asks, what most glorifies Christ? What most advanced the gospel? What is excellent? It's funny, I tell I tell my kids to go do a chore and I tell them, hey, do it, do it excellently. And I ask them, what does excellent mean? And they go like, better than the best. Paul says that uh that says that that kind of discernment prepares believers to be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Do you hear how often Paul uh returns to that day? He has eternity in view. He's not merely praying that they survive this week, he's praying that they are ready when they stand before Jesus. And finally, in verse 11, he says, fill with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. Notice where all this ends. The Christian life begins with grace, it grows through grace and bears fruit through Christ, and it ends with the glory of God. Church, that's the goal. That's why Paul is thankful. That's why he prays, that's why he rejoices. Because God is creating a people who increasingly looks more and more like Christ, bear the fruit of Christ, and ultimately live for the glory of Christ. And that is exactly what a gospel-centered life produces. Which brings us to point number three through gospel partnership. Let's continue in verse 12. This is home stretch now. So we start in verse 12. I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. Remember what happened to him is that he was in prison and a lot of other things before that. So that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. The latter will do it for love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel, and the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, I will rejoice. Church, when I ask earlier, how do we become the kind of believer who looks at every circumstance, not through the lens of comfort, but through the lens of the gospel? This is exactly why I asked that question. Because Paul's response to his imprisonment is astonishing. Think about it. Paul isn't sitting in a comfortable home. He's writing this letter from a band from he's not writing this letter from a beach somewhere. He's chained to a Roman soldier awaiting trial, possibly awaiting execution. Most people in that situation would naturally ask, Why me? Lord, what are you doing? How can anything good from come from this situation? But Paul doesn't ask those questions. Instead, he writes, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. Who says that? Who looks at chains and imprisonment at uncertainty and says, Actually, this is working out better than you think. Only someone whose life is no longer centered on himself can do that. Someone who knows he has grace, peace, thanksgiving in his heart, and knows that there are greater, greater, greater things at stake. Paul had reached a point where he measured every circumstance by one question. Is Christ being known? Is Christ being known? If the answer is yes, then his circumstances become secondary. And that is a radical way, different way to live. Because our default response is usually, how is this affecting me? How is my life getting affected by the current circumstances, by my current situation? How is this making my life more difficult? And Paul asks, how does this magnify Christ? Church, imagine what would happen if we begin asking that question every day. Even when work becomes difficult, how can I magnify Christ through this? When your health declines, how can Christ be magnified through this situation? When your plans fall apart, how can Christ be magnified through this situation? When life doesn't unfold the way you expect, man, this really stinks, but how can Christ be magnified? Paul had learned something many Christians spend a lifetime learning. God often advances his kingdom through circumstances we have never chosen. In fact, Paul tells us exactly what happens. His chains became a pulpit. Paul's chains became a pulpit. The imperial guard had no choice but to spend hours chained to Paul. Can you imagine that assignment? Today's duty is to guard Paul. Wonderful. Another eight-hour sermon. One after another, soldier after soldier, they heard about Christ. The gospel preached places it never would have reached had Paul remained free. Church, sometimes what feels like God's delaying that, like God delaying his work, it's actually God expanding his work. Then Paul says something even more surprising in verse 14. He says, And most of the brothers having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment are much more bold to speak the word without fear. His suffering didn't discourage the church, it strengthened it. His faithfulness gave it courage to others. And church, you may not realize it, but your own faithfulness encourages someone else. When you continue trusting Christ through sacrifice, someone is watching. When you continue serving, even when life is difficult, someone is watching. When you continue worshiping after receiving devastating news, someone is watching. Faithfulness is contagious. Just as fear spread, so does courage. Faithfulness is contagious. Just as fear spreads, so does courage. Then Paul addresses another surprising reality in verse 15. He tells us that not everyone preaching Christ has pure motives. Some preach from envy, some preach from rivalry, some are hoping to make Paul's imprisonment even more painful. Imagine that Paul's already in prison, and there are people out there trying to capitalize on his suffering. And now, if we're being honest, most of us would become defensive at that situation. We'd want to protect our reputation, we'd want everyone to know who was in the right, why am I in this situation? But listen to Paul's response. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, that Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. That is incredible maturity. Incredible maturity. His suffering didn't discourage the church, it strengthened it. Paul certainly cared about sound doctrine church. Read Galatians. And you'll know that he fears uh he he fiercely opposed false gods. But here the message began being preached is true. Problem is the motive, and Paul refuses to make himself the center of the story. He says Christ is truly being proclaimed, and I can rejoice. That is the very definition of humility. Paul's greatest concern wasn't building his own ministry, his greatest concern wasn't uh that that Christ would be I'm sorry, his greatest concern was that Christ would be known. And that is a gospel-centered life. It isn't about making much of ourselves, it's about making much of Jesus. Many of you guys have probably seen or read The Lore of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Rings. Yes. You have the Hobbits, you have a wizard, you have a Ranger, a Dwarf, an elf, and some men from different kingdoms, different backgrounds, different possibilities, personality. I'm sorry, different personalities. If they had met under ordinary circumstances, many of them probably would never become friends. Some of them didn't even like each other to begin with, but they were united by something greater than themselves, a common mission. And because they share that same mission, they learn to sacrifice for one another, to encourage one another, to protect one another, to carry one another's burdens. Look around this room. Under ordinary circumstances, under ordinary circumstances, many of us would have never met. We would have never met. Different ages, different occupations, different backgrounds, different personalities, different stories. And yet, Christ has brought us all together right here to this little church. Not because we all enjoy the same hobbies, not because we vote the same, not because we grew up the same way, but because we've all been rescued by the same Savior. We've all received the same grace. We've all been given the same mission. We're our partners in the gospel. And just like every member of the fellowship had a role to play in accomplishing the mission, every believer in this church has a role to play in advancing the gospel. That is the mission that unite us all. Some will preach, some will teach, some will disciple, some will serve quietly behind the scenes, the scenes, some will give, some will pray, some will encourage. But every single one of us has been called to labor together until Christ's return. That's what Paul is celebrating. He's not rejoicing because prison is enjoyable. He's rejoicing because nothing, not change, not suffering, not selfish ambition, no opposition can stop the advancement of the gospel. And when that becomes the lens through which we see life, we finally begin to understand what Paul says in verse 21. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Because once Christ becomes your greatest treasure, every circumstance becomes another opportunity. So to wrap this up as we close this morning, let's go back to the question we asked at the beginning. What is the golden thread running through this passage? And I said, I believe that a gospel-centered life interprets every circumstance, every season of life through the advancement of the gospel rather than through personal comfort. And this is the result that had, and this is the result of a heart that had become so captivated by Jesus that everything else was viewed through him. It certainly was the case for Paul. His chains, his friendship, his prayers, his suffering, his ministry, even those who sought to hurt him, everything was filtered through one question. Is Christ being magnified? Is Christ being magnified? And that is the question I want to leave with you all this morning. When you wake up tomorrow morning and you head to work, or you start your day, when you're changing diapers at home, when you're sitting in the in a doctor's office, when you're caring for aging parents, when you're struggling in your marriage, when you're grieving, when life is wonderful, when life falls apart, when you're your will your first question be, how can I get out of this? Or will it become, Lord, how can you use this? How can you use this to magnify Christ? How can you use this to make much of yourself and less of me? Trusting that God who began the good work in us will surely bring it to completion. Before we close in prayer, I want to share something with you, church. We are in a season of growth, and my prayer and our prayer as a church and the leadership staff has been that we grow together spiritually before we grow numerically. Numbers are fine. We love that. We love that more people are coming to church, but we also want to grow spiritually. And part of spiritual growth is setting leaders in place that can help shoulder the burden of leading the people of God and protecting the flock. So on that note, I want to make an announcement. Andres South has joined us as an elder of the church. And he's going to be serving. So make sure that you reach out to him, encourage him, talk to him, pray for him. And we're excited to have him join the effort to grow this church, not just in numbers, but spiritually and also, most importantly, to protect the flock. Let's pray. Father God, your name is great. You are awesome. You are mighty. You are holy, holy, holy, perfectly set apart. Lord, I pray that this week and every day for the rest of our lives, we can ask ourselves every morning, Lord, how can we make much of you and less of us today? How we can move the needle for your kingdom, how we can point people to Christ in our lives in every circumstance. Lord, we praise you for your message. We praise you for your word. We know that your word is good and true. And he's able to change, to pierce our hearts, to cut through. Lord, writer in our hearts. Lord, we praise you. We thank you for you are our rock and our redeemer. May every day of our lives bring glory to your name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.