Christ Is Preached

I have in many ways appreciated our pastor, Joel Gillespie. He has redefined my view of a pastor in a good sense. One noteworthy thing he has done along with the other elders of our church is to occasionally pray for several of the churches in our community by name during our worship on Sunday morning. That says to me that not only is he supportive of their efforts, he is not concerned in the least about any type of competition. I truly believe that Joel’s desire is that Christ is preached.

The circumstances were quite different for the apostle Paul; nevertheless, he remained steadfast in his desire that Christ be preached no matter what. In Philippians 1:15-18, Paul describes a group of folks whose goal was indeed to preach Christ – not a heretical gospel of any type. Unfortunately, however, that was accompanied with selfish ambition. It seems that these brethren, who were part of the group mentioned in verse 14 that had gained confidence in spreading the gospel because of Paul’s testimony in prison, were actually jealous of Paul and were doing things to attempt to discredit him. Perhaps it was Paul’s apostolic authority or maybe the giftedness with which God had blessed him that caused these sinful feelings to emerge and create discord among believers. Whatever the case, despite their selfishness, the message of the gospel went forth by the grace of God alone.

I do wonder that even though Christ was preached, if their selfishness and unkindness toward their brother compromised the message of the gospel. If I was an outsider looking in and I was clued into the discord between Paul and these folks, I’m not sure I’d want any part of this Christianity thing. However (and I think this is the key point), we do not have a hand in the salvation of others. It is God the Holy Spirit at work in people’s lives that cause them to confess their sins and acknowledge Jesus Christ as the only way to save them from the terrible wrath of God because of those sins. It is God the Holy Spirit that awakens them and shows them that God made a clear, loving, sacrificial way for them to be in a relationship with Him through the perfect sacrifice of His perfect Son. So then, does this give us liberty to live however we’d like, not loving our brothers and sisters as we ought? Of course not! We are responsible to be holy as God is holy – it is commanded of us. We are to love God with all of our being and to love our neighbor as ourselves. If we are followers of Christ, then we are to imitate Him in every way. That’s our job – the rest is up to God.

We read in these couple of verses that the gospel was also proclaimed by those whose motive was love. These brethren were supportive of Paul and weren’t out to discredit him. They had a genuine love for him and longed to see the gospel go forth as he did. This must have been encouraging for Paul despite the opposition.

Paul’s confidence was in Christ and I believe that is why he was able to rejoice in the midst of this trial. He declared that he was appointed by the sovereign God to defend the gospel, and he had all of God’s resources to do so. Paul’s desire was to see the message of Christ preached and that’s why it didn’t matter what happened to him – the focus was on Christ, not Paul. It is said that when a person suffers, his/her heart is revealed. In the midst of this trial supplementary to the trial of his incarceration, Paul’s heart overflowed with joy that Christ was preached – not only at that moment but also in the future. He committed himself to rejoice.

In reflecting on these few verses, I realize how foolish we are when we go head to head with our brothers and sisters in Christ with selfishness at the heart of these arguments. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s okay to hash things out with one another, but we have got to be examining our hearts to uncover our motives. I wonder how much of each others’ time we waste because we are selfish or jealous or insecure. What a great tool for the enemy in distracting us and disunifying us. Take some time to reflect on your relationships with your brothers and sisters in Christ to see if you need to confess and repent of sinful attitudes toward them. Ask God for the strength and grace to do so and to make things right between you and them.

May God grant us grace and peace in our relationships with one another in Christ.