back to index2019-9-04 Wed Bible Study Lesson 3
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We're going to bring our attention up to the front and take about 30 minutes to walk 00:00:10.080 |
Let's take a moment to pray for God's blessing and spiritual fruit as we walk through the 00:00:19.120 |
All right, God, we thank you so much for your grace. 00:00:22.920 |
Lord, we're such a privileged people to be able to come to your word and to see the light, 00:00:31.760 |
to have your spirit illumine our eyes, to open up the text to us, and God, to have it 00:00:39.000 |
We just absolutely recognize that we are so privileged, and God, we want to express to 00:00:47.720 |
Father, Lord, we do confess, although the scripture and the word is so near us, so readily 00:00:53.960 |
available, Father God, sometimes the standard of your word is so high, and also our flesh 00:01:00.760 |
is so weak, and we pray that you grant to us spiritual strength. 00:01:05.360 |
We pray, Father God, that you would empower us so that our hearts and our minds would 00:01:10.120 |
be receptive, and God, that we would continue to labor and to fight every source of distraction, 00:01:16.720 |
rebellion, resistance in our heart, whatever it may be, Lord, excuses, to put those things 00:01:22.520 |
aside, and God, that we would continue to aspire to conform to what we see in the word. 00:01:28.520 |
And so thank you again for what you teach us in the book of Philippians. 00:01:31.320 |
We pray for a fruitful time of study tonight. 00:01:37.600 |
Okay, so what I'd like to do is first just take a moment to walk down this passage together 00:01:46.080 |
and kind of show you why I outlined in a brief way, by just simple indentation, this passage 00:01:56.840 |
So obviously, in this beginning portion, it clearly kind of started off a new section 00:02:02.680 |
by Apostle Paul saying, "Now I want you to know." 00:02:09.440 |
And typically he gives us a topic sentence this way, and he says, "Now I want you to 00:02:13.400 |
know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the 00:02:20.480 |
gospel so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known to the whole 00:02:28.400 |
Praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the 00:02:33.760 |
Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without 00:02:41.200 |
At that point, what you see is, if this is the topic sentence, here you have, "In terms 00:02:46.960 |
of the circumstance having turned for the greater progress of the gospel," you have 00:02:51.280 |
two "so that's" here, "and that and so that," which tells me this one sentence is like one 00:02:58.080 |
So what I did is I broke it off for you guys right there. 00:03:01.680 |
It says, "Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some 00:03:10.240 |
The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. 00:03:14.720 |
The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking 00:03:24.080 |
As I read this, I kind of thought, "Hmm, that's completely a kind of a transition of thought 00:03:30.240 |
there," because over here it was, "This is great. 00:03:33.840 |
There's progress of the gospel, and most of the brethren are actually trusting in the 00:03:38.200 |
Lord and being encouraged in faith," and one might say, "Wow, that's really awesome." 00:03:42.600 |
And Apostle Paul has a little bit of a contrast and says, "But some, to be sure, are not actually 00:03:49.280 |
Some, to be sure, are actually responding in their flesh a bit." 00:03:52.440 |
So then you start thinking, "Okay, that's kind of horrible." 00:03:56.400 |
And so I break a break right there, because he asked this question, "What then?" 00:04:08.080 |
And as he asked this question, you got to give attention to these kind of rhetorical 00:04:12.320 |
questions because you know Apostle Paul wants us to think about it. 00:04:19.700 |
If in this kind of dire situation, Apostle Paul is in prison, and the people who are 00:04:24.720 |
taking this opportunity to boast in their own teaching perhaps, maybe have a kind of 00:04:30.200 |
selfish worldly ambition to succeed while the head honcho is locked up in jail or wherever 00:04:39.960 |
Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed. 00:04:50.520 |
For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision 00:04:54.480 |
of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will 00:05:00.280 |
not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as 00:05:06.160 |
always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death." 00:05:11.960 |
Okay, so there's our paragraph, or at least section of the scriptures for tonight. 00:05:17.120 |
And I split it into three sections, not just because having three points to a sermon is 00:05:22.480 |
awesome, but because you saw the flow of thought, right? 00:05:26.280 |
You saw how he was saying, "I'm so grateful that there is a greater progress of the gospel." 00:05:32.040 |
And then some, however, to be sure, are preaching to Christ out of envy. 00:05:35.400 |
"What then?" he said, "Only that in every way Christ is proclaimed, and that makes me 00:05:43.960 |
So I have these three sections for you, verse 12 through 14. 00:05:48.440 |
There are circumstances for the progress of the gospel. 00:05:52.240 |
Clearly Apostle Paul is taking his current situation. 00:05:59.720 |
He's taking the kind of situation that would cause any group of people or any particular 00:06:04.680 |
individual to fret and worry, and he's interpreting it for them. 00:06:08.960 |
And then what's more, there is what I like to call a mixed bag reality, because Apostle 00:06:17.160 |
There are surely some who are preaching out of envy. 00:06:20.400 |
And then verse 18 through 19, "However, I will rejoice when Christ is exalted." 00:06:29.160 |
So in that way, I tried to summarize really briefly what I just read, and I hope that 00:06:32.760 |
when you guys do your study, that you guys are walking through it multiple times in that 00:06:36.920 |
way, reading it just a few times to find the flow of thought. 00:06:41.000 |
Where are the transitions of thoughts moving? 00:06:43.280 |
And it helps you to really outline the passage. 00:06:46.880 |
Now what I like to do is start by looking at section one, verse 12 through 14. 00:06:53.280 |
Let's take a look at it a little bit more carefully. 00:06:56.120 |
I love it when Apostle Paul writes in such structural ways. 00:07:01.320 |
You know, we learn in school, when we start writing essays, paragraphs have structure 00:07:06.640 |
You have a topic sentence, you have certain points or arguments within it, and you also 00:07:12.900 |
Something that's emphatic, or whatever it may be. 00:07:15.120 |
And what you realize is Apostle Paul's thoughts are typically really well organized. 00:07:19.320 |
So I love it when there's this kind of topic sentence. 00:07:23.520 |
Here he says, "I want you to know and understand this, brethren." 00:07:30.520 |
So whenever you see that, you should also be thinking, "Anytime you ask the observations 00:07:37.920 |
Clearly that's one emphatic thing, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater 00:07:45.980 |
And then as you read the next part of that sentence, which is kind of a long sentence, 00:07:49.840 |
you realize all he's doing is unpacking that topic sentence by saying, "So that my imprisonment 00:07:57.440 |
in the cause of Christ has become well known through the whole Praetorian Guard and to 00:08:01.680 |
everyone else, and that most of the brethren trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment 00:08:07.280 |
have far more courage to speak of the word of God through fear." 00:08:11.020 |
And so we ask the really kind of obvious question of, "Okay, so clearly Apostle Paul thinks 00:08:16.560 |
this current circumstance is not as bad as you think it may be. 00:08:23.640 |
Yes, I have my limitations and all that kind of stuff. 00:08:28.240 |
But this circumstance has led to greater progress in the gospel. 00:08:32.920 |
Simply because that imprisonment, A, has been well known through not only within his immediate 00:08:46.800 |
When you looked at this passage, we asked the question of, "Okay, how is it that his 00:08:51.200 |
imprisonment being well known is a good thing?" 00:08:59.120 |
How is it that it's spreading to the guards is a good thing? 00:09:04.360 |
Is it because then people are wowed at some of the miracles that has happened? 00:09:07.920 |
If you guys remember back in Acts chapter 16, there was even the earthquake shaking. 00:09:13.560 |
Here and now, we believe he's in Rome, and clearly there's him sharing the gospel, him 00:09:19.360 |
even being on trial and trying to even convert those people who are trying him. 00:09:27.200 |
What's really interesting is if you did one of those exercises that we were trying to 00:09:31.320 |
do in previous Bible studies, there is something to notice here, which is that the imprisonment 00:09:38.360 |
is specifically because of the cause of Christ. 00:09:42.320 |
Maybe you guys check the other translation, the ESV. 00:09:45.920 |
Who here is still using ESV as your own Bible? 00:09:52.800 |
When you look at this verse in the ESV, it reads a little different, right? 00:09:59.440 |
It says, "So that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest 00:10:11.680 |
It's kind of nuanced a little bit, and it kind of gives an emphasis on this idea. 00:10:17.920 |
This idea is the imprisonment is not just simply, "Oh, wow, Apostle Paul is suffering." 00:10:27.080 |
He's been through all kinds of ... Remember like in 2 Corinthians 11 where he goes through 00:10:33.040 |
this laundry list of sufferings he's experienced? 00:10:38.620 |
It's that all of those sufferings are now pointing very clearly to Christ. 00:10:47.920 |
The idea behind this is the greater progress of the gospel has come forth not just because 00:10:52.840 |
word is spreading, but because of the clarity as to why he's there. 00:11:01.240 |
There is a clarity as to the link between what he's doing in jail, the suffering that 00:11:11.320 |
A, sometimes I kind of forget, Apostle Paul even before becoming a Christian, like even 00:11:17.120 |
before his conversion, he was already a well-known individual, an individual who was educated, 00:11:25.120 |
I almost see him as like, if you actually study him or think about all the various character 00:11:30.920 |
traits and all the various privileges he had, he was almost like a presidential candidate 00:11:39.940 |
He actually has authority to go and chase down people and even execute, right? 00:11:44.860 |
So you think about this and you realize all I'm saying is he was already a well-known 00:11:51.160 |
And in terms of being well-known, there is a sense to which he could have been well-known 00:11:57.480 |
because man, Apostle Paul has courage to go stand up against King Agrippa to give a defense, 00:12:10.960 |
But the thing about it is, here, Apostle Paul is not emphasizing the fact that people heard 00:12:19.160 |
He's not emphasizing the fact that people heard just simply of his stature. 00:12:24.140 |
He's emphasizing the fact that people get why he's there, right? 00:12:30.360 |
Now, there are times when sometimes I'm like, "Hmm, am I making too much of this?" 00:12:36.040 |
Well, other passages really highlight the way Apostle Paul thinks about this. 00:12:41.600 |
For example, a passage in Ephesians chapter 3, you don't have to turn to it, but I'm just 00:12:47.720 |
Verse 1 through 2 says, "For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for 00:12:52.640 |
the sake of you Gentiles, if indeed you heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was 00:13:16.240 |
Now, the reason why I say this is because, quickly making a small point of just conviction 00:13:27.880 |
Is there a clear link between the things that we experience and its cause? 00:13:36.900 |
Is there a clarity when people see you operate, when people see you work, when people see 00:13:41.840 |
you carry the responsibilities that you have? 00:13:49.520 |
I'm assuming that a lot of people are looking at Apostle Paul thinking, "You know what? 00:14:01.520 |
They're putting you through unfair trials, and they're realizing you could easily, very 00:14:09.000 |
All you have to do is say, 'Oh, you know what? 00:14:16.460 |
Back in the book of Acts, whether it was chapter 16, whether it's chapter 20, or chapter 28, 00:14:20.800 |
a lot of the people are just upset because they're like, "Hey, so many people are coming 00:14:24.400 |
to this guy, and this guy's going to be a threat to us. 00:14:33.880 |
But what was clear was Apostle Paul could not stop speaking of his Lord. 00:14:40.160 |
And so what you have is a clarity, a direct link as to what Apostle Paul is doing and 00:14:50.600 |
And so in that way, the greater progress of the gospel is going forward. 00:14:54.480 |
And then what's more, he says, "And most of the brethren," so the majority of the people 00:14:59.640 |
who are finding about a situation, concerned, all that kind of stuff, "they are trusting 00:15:06.000 |
in the Lord because of my imprisonment and have far more courage to speak the word of 00:15:13.600 |
So one thing we want to highlight is things that are repetitive. 00:15:17.480 |
What we'll see is that there's going to be an emphasis, and I'll do this kind of really 00:15:21.960 |
briefly in orange too, there's going to be an emphasis on the progress of the gospel, 00:15:27.800 |
there's going to be an emphasis on speaking, there's going to be an emphasis on exaltation, 00:15:32.280 |
there's going to be an emphasis on proclamation. 00:15:35.900 |
What Apostle Paul is most concerned about is the understanding that the advancement 00:15:42.640 |
of the gospel and the truth about God needs to go forth. 00:15:48.560 |
There is this one track, there is this high, high priority goal of Apostle Paul where what 00:15:55.040 |
he desires to see in life is not simply that he would realize his full potential, it's 00:16:01.840 |
not simply that he would escape certain woes, he wants to see the gospel preached. 00:16:06.960 |
And he says, "What I'm so encouraged about is not my two years of being neglected in 00:16:12.440 |
jail, what I'm so encouraged about is that through this, the brothers, the people of 00:16:25.000 |
What an amazing perspective for Apostle Paul to have. 00:16:29.160 |
Now, again, just taking a real brief moment, just a real brief moment to cause that to 00:16:37.720 |
If we were to think about this, man, number one, Apostle Paul is reinterpreting the current 00:16:45.760 |
Any single individual just wants to take a moment to imagine if some of our leaders at 00:16:50.640 |
our church were imprisoned because of their stance, because of their beliefs. 00:16:56.040 |
I mean, there would be such a stir in our community. 00:17:00.120 |
Not only that, but I mean, think about how discouraged we would be. 00:17:06.240 |
Think about all the concerns of, "What's next for the church? 00:17:11.640 |
Well, in this moment, Apostle Paul is reinterpreting that entire circumstance saying, "You guys, 00:17:17.040 |
with all the worry and concern that's there, think about how the gospel is moving forward." 00:17:23.280 |
And within that, there is a convicting, convicting truth there, which is there is a challenge 00:17:29.960 |
to the normal kind of experience where in the moments where we're challenged to shine 00:17:35.480 |
the light, in the moments when we're challenged to EV, are we going to have courage or are 00:17:41.840 |
By way of just kind of thinking through this a little bit on my own too, for myself that 00:17:46.520 |
is, I'm going to say honestly, every time I'm in front of an individual and I have that 00:17:51.320 |
little stir in me, because I believe each one of us, we want to evangelize. 00:17:57.760 |
But within those moments, there are almost those times where I start playing out the 00:18:03.640 |
Okay, I'm going to say this, I'm going to say that, and I'm going to say there are a 00:18:07.800 |
lot of times when I have a major case of the quit before I even begin. 00:18:15.880 |
I just automatically assume, "Oh gosh, that person is not going to be receptive." 00:18:20.560 |
I automatically assume like, "Oh gosh, this is not going to work." 00:18:25.320 |
Before I even say something, I already quit because why? 00:18:35.140 |
I feel like they're not actually going to come turn around, whatever it may be. 00:18:41.480 |
And so, as we look at that, there is a quick, quick just conviction for us when we think 00:18:48.040 |
about how is Apostle Paul's imprisonment, right, supposed to actually stir up courage 00:18:56.400 |
I believe if our hearts are right and we want to share the gospel, anytime we see individuals 00:19:03.160 |
go like have a moment where they overcome those fears, overcome those sufferings so 00:19:07.800 |
that they continue to pursue what they know and believe to be right before the Lord, what 00:19:14.680 |
Okay, so this first section, thinking about how Apostle Paul is thinking about the circumstances 00:19:26.320 |
Now, as we think about this, I want to move to the next section. 00:19:31.080 |
Someone can say, "Wow, like there's so many people who are then being encouraged. 00:19:37.600 |
But all I want to say is Apostle Paul in this next section, there is kind of a reality. 00:19:44.280 |
Apostle Paul is not saying, "Hey, guys, I just want to say suffering is amazing, right? 00:19:55.560 |
That's kind of like, I've heard sometimes like people kind of overcompensate. 00:20:00.360 |
Overcompensate meaning, yes, we're supposed to delight in all scenarios. 00:20:04.360 |
We're challenged, consider it all joy when we experience the variety of sufferings that 00:20:10.720 |
But we don't want to necessarily overdo that and be like, "Yes, bring it on." 00:20:16.960 |
We're not sadistic or like sadomasochistic where we love pain. 00:20:23.480 |
To be sure," okay, which is a realistic look at the current situation, "there is a contrast." 00:20:40.360 |
So whenever we have that, we should be thinking, "Do I really understand the contrast between 00:20:47.680 |
Okay, as we take a look at this passage, let's think about the individuals that he says. 00:20:53.280 |
There are some who are preaching Christ even from envy and strife. 00:21:00.080 |
Some who are preaching Christ from goodwill, okay? 00:21:04.200 |
The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. 00:21:09.280 |
However, the former, okay, the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than 00:21:17.000 |
from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. 00:21:22.280 |
Okay, so if we're thinking about kind of this versus here, we kind of think about this scenario 00:21:31.920 |
and it says, "Man, they're experiencing everything from," I'm just going to put the first letters 00:21:39.320 |
They've got selfish ambition, and then not only that, they're having this kind of thinking 00:21:45.400 |
intentional thought of causing him distress." 00:21:48.480 |
And as you think about that, it's kind of strange, right? 00:21:54.600 |
Apostle Paul is in prison, already in like a dire situation. 00:22:05.400 |
Wicked people who are thinking about then just elevating themselves. 00:22:10.240 |
They're opportunistic, a little bit like sharks. 00:22:15.560 |
But as I kind of started thinking about that and asking those questions, like who are these 00:22:21.920 |
There is this question, have there already been through church history where people take 00:22:33.600 |
Like God forbid, but are there pastors who are self-motivated, who are seeking to preach 00:22:39.600 |
just so that they can showcase their knowledge, to showcase how better they are, how eloquent 00:22:45.760 |
They want to kind of step up in the ladder of the corporate ladder of church. 00:22:58.160 |
It's like, "Oh, you think you're the anointed messenger?" 00:23:02.280 |
Those kind of stuff happened even from a long time ago, back in the Old Testament, right? 00:23:06.560 |
You think about even Moses and his own sister. 00:23:12.040 |
I want us to think about that because even within the very early stages of the church, 00:23:17.080 |
you guys think back to Acts chapter 5, people were trying to give generously from their 00:23:24.720 |
And then you have individuals jump into that saying, "Well, I'm going to one-up you. 00:23:38.640 |
But it's so crazy how subtly our flesh, the motivation to just have some kind of influence, 00:23:46.080 |
the itch to have people respect you, for people to believe you're holier, like it's so strong. 00:23:54.760 |
And so just as a moment of conviction for us, what's really interesting as Apostle Paul 00:23:58.840 |
says, even within moments like this, you have both. 00:24:02.720 |
The reality is a lot of times there's a mixture of the flesh even within ministry. 00:24:08.920 |
And that's something we have to be really careful of, right? 00:24:12.960 |
So Apostle Paul, with a dose of reality, says, "Individuals, some of them, some of them, 00:24:20.680 |
not all of them, perhaps a minority, are even going to this degree." 00:24:24.920 |
Now, what's really interesting is he has this contrast and he says, "These individuals, 00:24:29.560 |
there's goodwill, there's love, and what I'm going to say is there's even respect." 00:24:38.640 |
Apostle Paul clearly is somebody who is anointed for the defense of the gospel. 00:24:44.000 |
The early church recognized that Paul had apostolic authority. 00:24:49.140 |
And that's why when he was going from church to church preaching, people received him and 00:24:54.000 |
said, "He is teaching to us the Word of God." 00:24:58.320 |
Individuals who had the spirit of them, Christians who are being genuinely converted, they recognized 00:25:02.560 |
that and so they gave him that kind of respect and ear, right? 00:25:07.520 |
What's really crazy to me is the degree of the other side then. 00:25:13.440 |
I think Apostle Paul is clearly highlighting, like, these individuals would go to the degree 00:25:24.800 |
These individuals who are preaching the gospel, going and actually trying to share of Jesus, 00:25:31.040 |
there's such a mixture and such a blindness in them, they would actually go against an 00:25:37.440 |
So as a kind of a summary point of that, sometimes there's a mixed bag. 00:25:43.040 |
And I think as a convicting point, man, every single individual who is trying to do anything 00:25:51.440 |
Don't we have to do diligence to examine our hearts to see, "Why in the world am I doing 00:25:58.360 |
"Do I care much whether this like ministry or even just serving, do I care much about 00:26:06.320 |
its success because it reflects me or do I care much about its success because it reflects 00:26:14.280 |
Whatever I'm doing, what am I caring about in its end fruit? 00:26:19.000 |
Whatever I'm doing, what am I caring about in terms of the intentionality when other 00:26:26.080 |
Am I caring much about, "No, I just want this to be good because it benefits, number 00:26:30.680 |
one, our God who is watching and he is worshiped because we're putting the energy and sacrifice, 00:26:35.360 |
and two, it's benefiting the church because it's going to benefit you in your edification 00:26:41.680 |
Or are we caring deeply about, "Is this my work? 00:26:46.320 |
How does this reflect my energy, my expertise and success in making sure that it's fruitful?" 00:26:54.200 |
Those are just some of the things that we have to do. 00:26:57.640 |
So, as we think through that, I'm not going to... 00:27:02.080 |
On your papers, I listed a bunch of sample questions for questions about the passage 00:27:08.640 |
I'm not going to cover all of them, obviously, just for the sake of time, but I just wanted 00:27:12.520 |
to make sure that within each major section, we ask the more important ones, "Do we understand 00:27:26.440 |
Within this, I want us to take a moment to just drop down into the context of this passage 00:27:34.160 |
Apostle Paul said, "Look, guys, here's a scenario. 00:27:39.480 |
Maybe a little bit is kind of understating that, right? 00:27:42.520 |
I know it might be really discouraging, actually. 00:27:46.760 |
This has caused there to be a greater advancing of the gospel, and for that, I'm really thankful 00:27:52.280 |
because people are now knowing and the Christians are actually being encouraged and they're 00:27:58.060 |
The reality is that's the majority, but there are still some who are taking this opportunity 00:28:05.120 |
Now again, I'm assuming if we were to ask the question, "Why does Apostle Paul even 00:28:12.600 |
Could it be because the church is looking at this with a sense of discouragement?" 00:28:18.160 |
And then as I thought about this, I want you to take a moment to think about if this was 00:28:24.320 |
So I want to share with you that Pastor Peter Kim, he's mentioned many times to me that 00:28:31.880 |
he regularly thinks about missions and evangelism because that's where his heart is. 00:28:36.440 |
And then once in a while, we'll go out to lunch or something, and then he'll just drop 00:28:39.560 |
a bomb and be like, "What would you say if I went to X country to do missions?" 00:28:46.200 |
"So what would you think if I went to Korea?" 00:28:48.920 |
And I was like, "Dude," and then my mind's just running wild. 00:28:52.080 |
And then I'm going to just be honest, like sometimes I'll say something crazy like, "This 00:28:55.680 |
church will never survive without you," right? 00:28:59.320 |
Or there are moments I think about even bigger churches where the pastor has been there forever, 00:29:05.280 |
And you know, Grace Community Church with 7,000 members with Pastor John MacArthur, 00:29:09.600 |
I sometimes watch his sermons on video, and then there are days when I'm thinking like, 00:29:16.960 |
He's looking extra pale today in this video," right? 00:29:20.320 |
And I'm just sitting there thinking like, "Dude, the guy is like 71, 72." 00:29:31.280 |
That's like years and generations of just people he's pastored. 00:29:36.440 |
And then to imagine like, if you can imagine having somebody that pivotal to a community 00:29:43.040 |
be gone, be in jail, and the prospect of death is like really, really likely because he's 00:29:48.960 |
already been beaten this close to death, right? 00:29:52.300 |
And then in his absence, you start seeing like a rise of these pastors and shepherds 00:29:56.400 |
where like, "That guy is pretty ungodly," right? 00:30:00.040 |
You start wondering like, "And that guy is like crazy, crazy prideful, and that guy is 00:30:05.520 |
Because if Apostle Paul can see it, I'm pretty sure other spiritual people can see it, right? 00:30:09.720 |
I just want you to think about the whole scenario. 00:30:18.480 |
And if you're one of those people who just like, you can't stand, you're like, "You know 00:30:23.680 |
Apostle Paul, you need to write a scathing letter to that one fool who's like preaching 00:30:27.920 |
right now, and we need to get together, and we need to squash that guy." 00:30:39.800 |
But Apostle Paul has a desire to mature the church. 00:30:59.960 |
Now, he answers in such a profoundly mature fashion. 00:31:04.980 |
He says, "Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, 00:31:21.000 |
If we were to ask, "Man, where is the emphatic, like, center point? 00:31:26.880 |
Clearly, there is such an emphasis right here. 00:31:29.280 |
He uses the rhetorical question, like, "What are we supposed to do about all this? 00:31:35.000 |
And then he says, "In every single way, only that, right? 00:31:38.840 |
In every way that this would happen, Christ would be proclaimed. 00:31:46.960 |
Then he says this, "For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your 00:31:54.560 |
prayers and provisions of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to the earnest expectation 00:31:59.440 |
and hope that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ 00:32:06.320 |
will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or death." 00:32:12.240 |
Okay, let's take a moment to camp out here, and then we'll wrap up the Bible study section 00:32:23.600 |
I just kind of transitioned by asking you, if you were to put yourself in that kind of 00:32:28.600 |
situation, how would you feel about all that, right? 00:32:32.520 |
How would you feel about the Apostle Paul and the other disciples are being imprisoned 00:32:42.220 |
But what's really mature and amazing about all this is that Apostle Paul does not base 00:32:48.280 |
the success of the gospel on the person carrying it, right? 00:32:53.280 |
There is such a confidence on the gospel truth of God. 00:32:56.760 |
There is such a confidence on the sufficiency of Scripture. 00:33:02.760 |
And the ministry that God has already set into plan is bearing fruit. 00:33:08.600 |
And Apostle Paul is not conditioned to think, "Oh, goodness, because there is enemies, because 00:33:15.840 |
there is bad preachers, because there's this and that, there's going to be such a sway 00:33:22.560 |
Apostle Paul has a mature way of thinking about what is his confidence. 00:33:28.760 |
And what's more, that confidence then is really his singular focus. 00:33:34.160 |
It's his, I like to call, massive purpose and goal. 00:33:41.920 |
This is what I want to see, this is what I love to see, and I'm thankful for it. 00:33:49.800 |
Could it be that there's a mixed bag of stuff? 00:33:55.840 |
Could it be that there's threats here and there? 00:34:05.680 |
And so the emphasis there is where he has such confidence, there he finds such joy. 00:34:14.280 |
Where he finds such clear purpose, there he finds such joy. 00:34:19.080 |
Where he finds his number one desire, there he also finds his joy. 00:34:32.000 |
The more that he stakes everything on that one singular purpose, the more he's able to 00:34:43.800 |
Let's take a moment to think about this for a little bit, okay? 00:34:46.280 |
So here we have the double stars for emphasis. 00:34:54.960 |
Because Apostle Paul has firmly established his goal, his purpose, his desire upon this, 00:35:00.520 |
that Christ be proclaimed, look at the effect it has on his subjective joy, right? 00:35:07.140 |
Look at the effect it has on his subjective experience. 00:35:10.680 |
For example, Apostle Paul has a certain kind of confidence because he says, "You know what? 00:35:18.720 |
This is what I know, that it's going to turn out for my deliverance." 00:35:21.960 |
Does that sound like a wishy-washy, timid person who's not sure? 00:35:25.000 |
It's like, "I don't know what's going to happen to me, guys." 00:35:30.640 |
No, he says, "I know this is going to turn out for my deliverance." 00:35:34.920 |
For through the provisions of the Spirit, so he's confident in this provision, the resource 00:35:40.320 |
And then what's more, he says, "According to my earnest expectation and hope," so he has 00:35:44.680 |
hope, "I will not be put to shame in anything." 00:35:47.880 |
Think about this idea of like, "I'm not going to be put to shame." 00:35:55.080 |
If he was a normal human being, he'd be absolutely ashamed. 00:35:59.480 |
There's nobody in this world who is chained to a guard or sitting in prison who's going 00:36:03.400 |
to sit there like, "I've got my head up high. 00:36:08.040 |
That kind of clarity of conscience comes when you've staked your life on something solid. 00:36:14.360 |
And what's more, he's got an incredible boldness. 00:36:24.840 |
We, at the beginning of the book of Philippians, we said, "The book is about joy. 00:36:32.320 |
The book is about a kind of fruitful result of really knowing and having Christ." 00:36:39.800 |
Apostle Paul here and now is modeling that in the midst of suffering. 00:36:45.000 |
And what he's doing is not looking at the circumstance. 00:36:47.640 |
He's not looking at the people's response to a circumstance. 00:36:51.640 |
He's not simply even looking at his immediate hope and perspective. 00:37:01.880 |
And he says, "Through that, I am going to rejoice." 00:37:07.720 |
Did you guys get to ask the question of like, I know sometimes we run out of time, but how 00:37:12.960 |
does Apostle Paul envision and think about this deliverance? 00:37:20.040 |
Because for him to begin by saying, "Oh, I'm happy because my circumstance, which is my 00:37:25.520 |
imprisonment, is producing all this good stuff. 00:37:29.240 |
People are finding out about Jesus Christ and learning. 00:37:33.120 |
And then what's more, they're being encouraged, and then they're being bold." 00:37:37.240 |
And then he says, "I'm really confident that I'm going to be delivered." 00:37:42.240 |
So then we have to ask the question, in his bucket of deliverance, what does that mean? 00:37:47.400 |
And what's very, very clear is that he does not mean that he's going to get out of prison 00:37:57.000 |
Apostle Paul defines this in such a much, in such a bigger way. 00:38:03.180 |
He judges this scenario by saying that he is going to turn out for his deliverance almost 00:38:11.920 |
It's going to be his deliverance almost more like his vindication, right? 00:38:16.440 |
That he's not going to be ashamed, but rather in boldness, he is going to actually do what 00:38:25.480 |
He's going to be able to do what is his main objective, which is to exalt Christ, whether 00:38:33.120 |
Now, let me talk to this point a little bit, which is to say this. 00:38:38.200 |
This is such a major, major paradigm shift for everybody. 00:38:45.080 |
A lot of times when I counsel individuals, I find that something very important to counseling 00:38:58.600 |
Certain life circumstances happen and we have a natural instinct to judge. 00:39:03.200 |
We have a natural instinct to say, "This is good. 00:39:09.440 |
And what's more, we have certain then criteria to judge that. 00:39:13.200 |
We will say something to the extent of, "You know what? 00:39:16.840 |
And what that means is you are judging by your own worth. 00:39:20.560 |
If I am to be respected up here, then that that's happening in my life is not fair. 00:39:27.860 |
Sometimes we'll say things like, "This isn't right. 00:39:30.360 |
And what that means is we're judging by our sense of justice. 00:39:34.080 |
What's more, in moments when we say, "Oh, gosh. 00:39:43.040 |
The reason why I say this is such a major paradigm shift is Apostle Paul is interpreting 00:39:49.480 |
everything in his life, including his death, by the standard of, "Is Christ exalted?" 00:39:58.200 |
And so this is a convicting point for every single one of us. 00:40:07.080 |
Do you have such a goal and desire that is so big it is encompassing the front and back 00:40:12.500 |
of your life to the degree that even it makes sense of your death? 00:40:17.600 |
And this is where I would start to conclude by saying this. 00:40:28.080 |
Man, what's really, really clear is that Apostle Paul is using the criteria and the rubric 00:40:35.120 |
to say his hope is that which encompasses Christ. 00:40:44.080 |
That his entire existence, his entire existence, he has an absolute clarity. 00:40:55.000 |
There is one singular focus by which he can answer the question, "Who are you and what 00:41:02.720 |
And as he answers that, he is absolutely able to make sense of every single experience, 00:41:08.560 |
every single suffering, including the prospect of death. 00:41:16.380 |
Some of us have a hard time making sense of the things that we go through in life. 00:41:21.220 |
Some of us have a hard time making sense of, "Why is this like this? 00:41:25.120 |
Why do I have to go through these hard times?" 00:41:30.140 |
My question to you is, do you also have a growing clarity like Apostle Paul? 00:41:37.160 |
Do you have such an ambition, such a goal, such a desire where a good life or even a 00:41:44.760 |
good death is not because we simply live long enough, it's not simply because we've knocked 00:41:49.840 |
off all the stuff of our bucket list, but it's because we have exalted the Lord? 00:41:56.160 |
Let's take a moment to pray, and then you guys can jump into discussion. 00:42:03.400 |
Heavenly Father, we want to thank you so much for the many servants, the many brothers and 00:42:17.280 |
sisters we have that are encouraging us to exercise our faith. 00:42:24.080 |
And we are so thankful that here we have the example of Apostle Paul, who has tied himself, 00:42:33.120 |
who has fully embraced your plan for him, and God, that he is desiring so eagerly to 00:42:41.880 |
Lord God, we pray that every single one of us in this room would also have that as our 00:42:51.600 |
We pray, Father God, that that desire in us would never grow stagnant. 00:42:56.200 |
It would be the constant beating, almost obsession of our mind that God, we need and we desire 00:43:07.800 |
I pray, Father God, that Lord, you would help us to put aside every other competing desire, 00:43:14.760 |
to put aside every other competing distraction, Lord, and God, that we would desire to focus 00:43:19.620 |
on you in such a way where God, we have such a clear interpretation and judgment on this 00:43:25.400 |
I pray, God, that we would be individuals living with such purpose. 00:43:29.000 |
I pray, Father God, that we would be individuals living with such identity.