Philippians 1:15-18 New Living Translation
15 It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. 16 They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. 17 Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. 18 But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
The March of the Gospel
In this missionary letter to the Philippian church, Paul gets real. Though he shares encouraging news, the whole picture is not all rosy. The motivations some people had for sharing the gospel were downright bad—were driven not by good will so much as by rivalry and a desire to stir up trouble for the apostle.
The wrong motives of other people didn’t become the determining element in Paul’s attitude, however. Their selfishly motivated preaching did not keep him awake at night nor mar his true commitment to seeing the kingdom advance.
He passionately wanted the true gospel to be preached, so he wasn’t primarily concerned about the reasons others had for preaching, as long as they were still preaching Christ. His concern was for the Lord’s glory to be paramount, not for his own stature or even for his safety.
Perhaps we find ourselves relating to Paul, surrounded by those who share God’s Word, who share stories, their witness, their faith, out of false motives.
Then we will spend a ridiculous amount of time and effort and resources trying to debate, nit pick, critique, criticize whether or not their Christianity is valid.
But if we allow these failings to determine our own attitude or actions, we will risk spiritually crippling ourselves.
We will spend too much of our time and energy either constantly questioning the intentions of others or continually refuting, rebutting what they’re doing.
That would be to give the devil a great gain, in that we would then be distracted from our own covenant summons to proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.
It’s a huge temptation!
But Paul didn’t fall into that trap.
It is true that “where God sends reformation, Satan works deformation.”
What God builds, Satan seeks to destroy.
When God leads people forward in his grace, Satan tries to push them back into misery.
Yet this truth also remains: The forward march of the gospel cannot be stopped!
The assaults against the gospel are many.
For Paul, they included his imprisonment, and envy and rivalry among fellow missionaries, and the use of Jesus’ name for self-promotion.
For us, it may be the rejection of Christ as the only true Savior, or it may be a matter of giving in to the mixed-up moralities of our time.
But there is good news. The forward march of the gospel cannot be stopped!
Satan’s goal is to push us back into the cesspool of shame, the dungeon of guilt, the prison of fear.
But, to paraphrase a line from a Hollywood movie, that’s a “whole lot of ugly coming from a parade of stupid.”
The forward march of the gospel announces that Jesus bore our human shame, removed our guilt, and freed us from sin’s punishment.
He daily parades his love in order to nourish life.
Nothing can ultimately stop the forward march of the gospel.
There is great joy, then, for all who keep in step with Jesus.
Alternatively, you and I may wrestle with our own wrong motives for sharing the gospel.
One of the most significant challenges we all face is the potential for dreadful self-centeredness and pride.
Even in hard core, hot button, contentious matters of our faith, we will often wrongly want others to recognize us, and so we do the right thing but for all of the wrong motives, reasons (or, more usually, a mix of right, wrong reasons).
At the same time, we would find that envy prevents us from rejoicing in the fruitfulness of another’s life and ministry. But thanks be to God: He still uses broken vessels like us to carry forth the great gift of His Gospel message.
So, like Paul, fix your eyes on the goodness of Jesus and the advancement of His gospel, no matter the circumstances surrounding you or the flawed motives you suspect in others or see in yourself.
Seek to set aside your own pride and ambition so that your greatest concern will be the Lord’s glory—and as you do so, continue to share Him with those around you. What matters most is that Christ is preached, and in that we can all rejoice.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 119:105-112 The Message
105-112 By your words I can see where I’m going;
they throw a beam of light on my dark path.
I’ve committed myself and I’ll never turn back
from living by your righteous order.
Everything’s falling apart on me, God;
put me together again with your Word.
Adorn me with your finest sayings, God;
teach me your holy rules.
My life is as close as my own hands,
but I don’t forget what you have revealed.
The wicked do their best to throw me off track,
but I don’t swerve an inch from your course.
I inherited your book on living; it’s mine forever—
what a gift! And how happy it makes me!
I concentrate on doing exactly what you say—
I always have and always will.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 