← ArchiveSunday, June 17, 2018DateJune 17, 2018Speaker—Text—Passages in this sermonPhilippians 11:37Acts 292:56Acts 253:00TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00*music* *music* *music* *music* *music*0:20*music*0:46*music* *music* Alright, if you think that because it's Father's Day, you're going to get the typical Father's Day sermon, and you're going to leave here all depressed and beat up, because I'm going to tell you how horrible you are, and how you need to change, you're not going to get that today.1:15We're going to continue our sermon series in Philippians, and it does have a lot to do with not just fathers, but all of us this morning. And the topic of the Gospel and suffering. And so if you would turn with me to Philippians chapter 1, we're going to look at verses 12 through 18. Through the Gospel, Jesus is making a people for himself.1:44And the church is a mystery and always has been a mystery. And we call people the church, and it's made up of individuals of every tongue, tribe, race, and nation. A new covenant creates a new community, one that brings Jew and Gentile together, male and female together, and makes a new humanity out of them as they are called the church. It is a mystery.2:13And it is amazing throughout history that the church has been able to progress. People have tried to stamp it out. People have tried their very best to subdue it. People have tried their very best to shut Christians up. And this morning, we're going to look at a guy that could not be shut up. And his name was Paul. And so if you would, we'll read the very first verse, chapter 1, verse 12.2:38I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the Gospel. Paul is in prison. And if you actually do some background work here, remember the story. Paul has been arrested when he set foot in Jerusalem back in Acts 29. spent two years in prison, eventually appeared to Caesar as was his right as a Roman citizen in Acts 25, verse 11.3:00And so he was sent off to Rome to stand trial there. And along the way, he endured some really nasty things, some unspeakable hardships, including his shipwreck. And now he stands trial, waiting to go before Caesar, knowing possibly this could be his execution. And this is what he says.3:28I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the Gospel. He doesn't tell us what happened to him while he's in prison. It's not a self-loathing moment. We don't know if he's hungry. We don't know if he's been fed. We don't know if he's been beaten. We don't know if he has broken bones. We don't know if he's sleeping on the floor. We don't know any of those things. He doesn't go into detail. I do know this. More than likely, the prisons and the jails in that particular point in time in Rome were not like the jails today.3:54They probably didn't get three square meals. They probably didn't have air conditioning. They probably didn't have cable TV and games to play. I'm just guessing here. It was probably a pretty nasty place that Paul was in. And so, it's very interesting to me that Paul is saying, not woe is me.4:14Look at me. I'm in this horrible situation. What he is actually saying is, man, the Gospel is going out. The Gospel is going out. It's not a self-loathing thing. It's something that he is actually excited about. And so, verse 12, Paul focuses on the continuation of the Gospel. And not on the circumstances because the Gospel matters most to him.4:43And it should matter most to us. And so, the Gospel is not hindered. The Gospel actually explodes. And we see this throughout the church history. Whenever anybody presses down on the church, she explodes. We see it in China. We see it in North and South Korea. We see it in places all over the world. Well, when Christianity is pressed on, when the church is pressed on, she explodes.5:06And the message that Paul is using here is a metaphor. He says the advancement of the Gospel. It gives the idea of military scouts who move ahead of the main force of an invading army. Clearing the path, making the way. And that's what Paul was doing. He was clearing the path, making the way. And that is what he was saying about his chains they have done for the Gospel. They have cleared the path so that instead of hindering, the Gospel has made advances.5:35Paul is saying to us, he isn't saying, he is saying to us that God's ways are not our ways. His plans are not our plans. And our circumstances should not define us. We may find ourselves in difficult circumstances. We may find ourselves in very hard trials and hard sufferings. But the Gospel has to be on the forefront.6:01Verse 13. "It has become known throughout the whole imperial guard that to the rest, to all the rest, that my imprisonment is for Christ." And so, here is the impact of living faithfully. We see Paul trusting in God's sovereign goodness to work all things out together for the good to those who love him. The word Paul uses for the imperial guard is a reference to the elite guards of the emperor.6:30These guys were not just your run-of-the-mill guards. Okay, these guys were picked out. There were about 9,000 of them. They were paid more. So that means there's more training. And they answered directly to Caesar himself. So these guys were, I don't know what generation here. You got Rambo. You got Jason Bourne. You got Navy SEALs. Those type of guys. Okay, so these were bad dudes. You didn't want to mess with them.6:59And so here we have Paul is being chained to these guys. On a regular basis. And it's just amazing to me that he's just not crawling under the table. Going, I cannot believe this is happening. Why is this happening to me? He's not asking those questions. So what sort of man is this? What sort of a man is saying, man, this is going to advance the gospel. What kind of person does that? It's a person that understands that the gospel must go out.7:30It's a person that understands that our circumstances don't define us. That we may go through trials and periods of time. That as long as we're faithful and true to him, he's going to see us through. And so you see the picture here. 24 hours a day. And six hours shifts. Probably one after another, these select soldiers were chained to the apostle Paul. And forced to be with him. Now here's what's interesting about Paul.7:59They probably heard the conversations that Paul was having with other people. With the visitors, they were discussing the spiritual things, the gospel. We don't see here where they just beat the fire to Paul. For being annoying. He wasn't annoying with the gospel. Are you tracking with me? In other words, he wasn't beating them over the head with the gospel. We just came back from Guff Shores yesterday.8:29What should have taken four hours to eight. Four-year-old, seven-year-old, pregnant wife. Each stop was 30 minutes long. Something like that. And you get annoyed. Especially when you're traveling up 65 and the traffic stops. And you're punching the GPS trying to find alternate routes. And none of them is going to work. And then you're just like, what are we going to do?8:59And you've got kids behind you going, Daddy, are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Daddy, are we there yet? Daddy, can you put my earbuds in? Because he can't put them in. And so I'm constantly going back and forth and everything. It's annoying. So guess what you want to do? You want to beat them. You want to just pull the car over. Take them out. And just beat the fire out of all of them. And say, you know what? Y'all stay here. I'm driving back. Myself and the peace and quiet. And so we look at Paul here and you think he wasn't annoying.9:25He wasn't an annoying person. He was probably a pleasant guy with the gospel. And so it tells us that we can be effective with presenting the gospel to our friends without being annoying. Warren Wiersbe says it like this. Little did the Romans realize that the chains that are fixed to his wrist would release Paul instead of binding him.9:53Again, 9,000 yards. And Paul says that somehow his witness and faithfulness in Christ amidst the storm of his own suffering has begun to permeate throughout the entire military regiment. And so we're gonna have to think about that for a second. These guys were sitting around the sharpening stones, sharpening their swords, talking about the Apostle Paul. That guy, do you remember him?10:23Yeah, I was chained to him last night. Are you listening to what he's saying? He's talking about this guy named Jesus and this freedom that he has and he just has this joy and he sings all the time. There's something different about that guy. Through that the entire regiment. He would never have that kind of an opportunity had he not been imprisoned. So think about the trials that you may be going through.10:52Think about the things that you have gone through and look back and go, you know what? Maybe that was for a particular reason. Maybe somebody needed to see that. Maybe someone needed to hear that. In fact, the witness goes further than that. In chapter 4, verse 22, you don't have to turn there. Here's how far Paul's witness had reached while he was in prison. He's sending greetings from Rome to the Philippian believers.11:19And this is what he says. This absolutely blows me away. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. In other words, not only has he influenced and affected the soldiers. There's people that are living with Caesar himself that have heard the gospel.11:43Chain him up. Beat him up. Press him down. The gospel still gets out. He still avails. His witness has penetrated right into the very home of the emperor himself. What an impact of the faithfulness and midst of trials.12:10Who knows who might be watching you? Who knows who might be watching what you do? Who knows? People are watching you at the very least you expect it. And it's how you handle the little stresses sometimes. It's not always the big things. The road rage. Some of you have, you refuse to put, I hope, you refuse to put the emblems, the Christian stuff on your car because it would be horrible.12:38The little fish. Yeah, that guy just turned, I mean, or the bumper stickers that, you know, I love Jesus and you're cutting people off. How about the ball field, the fits you may have at the ball field? People are watching that. How about the tirades and the slanders that you see on Facebook?13:07People are reading that. And that stuff don't go away. How you conduct business with others. In the line. Your impatience. People are watching that. How you handle stresses. How you handle situations. Are you furthering the gospel or are you hindering it? Then there's the big things. People are watching during those moments of great suffering.13:35A loss of a job. The marriage that may be going awry. A failure in marriage. Family disputes. During sickness. The death of a loved one. People are watching how you handle those things. Who knows who you might impact. You're desperate resting on Jesus and his grace. During those times. When you're at the end of your rope. People see you and they think you're their selves. I don't know how they did it.14:04How'd they get through that? During the disease. During the hospital stay. During that time when he was dealing with his family. During the loss of that job. How did that happen? And let me just say this. We're all human. When we go through suffering. We're very human. And here's what often happens. A lot of times we'll say, man, you know what?14:33God's got this. He's got this. But deep down inside. We're like, man, Lord, please. Do you really have this? And we begin to question. Because we're broken. We're sinful. And so we begin to ask the question, Lord. Do you really have this? And guess what? It's okay. It's okay to go, you know what?15:03I'm just not sure. I'm going through a season of my life right now. And I'm just not sure. Pray for me. It's okay. Cling to Jesus. No matter what your circumstances. And the Lord will be by your side. In wonderful and mighty ways. We all suffer through trials in different times. In different levels. The question is, will you suffer well? Will you suffer well?15:33Will your suffering compel you to love Jesus more? And sometimes that's after the fact. It may not be through the suffering. It may be when the suffering is over with. We're like, man, the Lord got me through that. And now rejoice. You have suffered. And because of your suffering, you love Jesus more because of your suffering. Maybe you lost a loved one and everything, but you have everything but Jesus in your life.15:57And you cling on him. Because that's all the treasure that you have. American missionary to India. E. Stanley Jones says this. Don't bear trouble. Don't bear trouble. Use it. Take whatever happens. Justice and injustice. Pleasure and pain. Compliment and criticism. Take it up into the purpose of your life.16:25And make something out of it. Turn it into a testimony. Turn it into a testimony. And I want to look at verse 13 more closely. Some versions read, my imprisonment is for Christ. Others read, my bonds are in Christ. And then there is my chains are in Christ. And here's what has happened here.16:53What the guards have noticed specifically about his imprisonment, his bonds or his chains. The instruments used by the Lord to spread the gospel. These chains revealed something to those who knew Paul. Something engaging was made clear to them and they watched him in the prison cell. They watched him suffer. And something changed them. Something intrinsically in their mind goes, there's something that's different about these guys. Something that's different about the chains that hold him.17:21For Paul at that moment in his life and experience, he is to endure that particular trial and that particular suffering. And so to be in Christ meant that he put his experience of sharing in the fellowship of Christ's suffering to test. And some of you know exactly what I'm talking about there. Some of you have been through some tough trials in your life. And all of a sudden that experience through the suffering starts to kick in.17:51And maybe you see someone else suffering through the very thing you've been through and you're able to help them. You're able to give them a cold glass of water and say, here, I've been here, I've done that. I know what that's like. You know what that means. As Paul suffers, clinging to his savior has a profound impact on everybody that he met. And that was becoming very clear to the guards.18:19That was becoming clear to the rest of Caesar's household. And so the question is, how precious is Christ to you? What do you prize more over him? What will you do that you might have more of Jesus? And those questions are what Paul is pressing on us. He wants us to understand Christ is worth it. There is no suffering that is not worth suffering for. It says, most of the brothers, having me could become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.18:50And so we've heard about the impact of Paul's faithfulness through trials on the lost. And he's switching gears here. Okay. So we're talking about the guards, we're talking about Caesar's household. He's having an impact on the lost people. So now he's starting to switch gears to the church. Most of the brothers have become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.19:19Before his imprisonment, men, people had been fearful of getting executed. They had been fearful of getting, of sharing their faith. But now they were boldly sharing Christ in every, in everyday conversation. Paul's circumstances, listen to this. Paul's circumstances invoke courage in the Roman Christians. In other words, when we see others suffering for the sake of Christ and pressing forward, that should embolden us.19:49Because this is what they were saying. They were basically saying, man, if he can do that in prison, I can do that out here. Easily. He's chained up. He's witnessed to 9,000 soldiers and people in Caesar's house. I am free. I can go to and fro.20:18So now they become emboldened. Throughout the entire city, you start to raise up young men and they start preaching the gospel. But, in verses 15, 16, and 17. This is what it says. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill.20:43The 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 sincerity, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. Now, when I read those three verses, I thought to myself, what in the world is going on here?21:08At first you see verse 14, and he says, most of them, most of them are emboldened. He's talking about the church. There's two camps here. Most of them are emboldened. Most of them have confidence in the Lord. Most of them are going forward with the gospel. And then you have these cats. There were some in Paul's day who were glad to see him go to jail. Christians.21:39Christians. Church goers. Pastors. Glad to see him go to jail. You may ask the question, why? Well, here's what happens. Whenever a predominant leader either falls or gets imprisoned or whatever, you have this vacuum. And you have these people that maybe they were jealous because Paul was selling more books than they were. I don't know. Maybe Paul had more bigger crowds than they did. And they were jealous.22:09So now this guy, he's in prison. Guess what they're doing? He got his. It's my turn now. Christians, pastors, church folks. They were gloating. They rejoiced. They were thrilled. But they failed to remember Jesus. And see that their savior was a man who suffered. They failed to see and remember Jesus.22:40And you and I must always be careful that we do not celebrate when others suffer. When a politician fails. When a religious leader fails. When a celebrity fails. When a marriage fails. When our friends fail. We must not celebrate that. There's a sickness in our culture. That is much like the day when people were glad in Paul's day.23:09And here's what they say. Finally, someone beautiful. Someone successful. Someone who is rich or better off. Someone who is smart. They're crying. They're suffering. They're hurting. And I feel vindicated. We live in a sick culture that says, it's your turn to suffer. And I'm glad because you're down and I'm up. It's the truth. My father-in-law says the truth will stand while the world is on fire.23:40And sometimes for us, it's the elephant in the room. Maybe you've done that. Maybe you've been that person that goes, you know what? There's just something about that guy. I don't like him. And I just want him to fail. We see it all the time. It's the attitude of when that person is down, I'm up. It's a sickness.24:11Paul says there's a sickness in us. That disease part of our sin nature, if it is not repented of, does not have a rigorous theology of suffering, but rather has a depraved celebration of suffering. So, know this. There will be naysayers. There's going to be people who mock. Even those that are closest to us. Some people patch on the back and they're looking for the knife to put in the back.24:40There's going to be those within our ranks. But the gospel, when pressed, advances. Always remember that. Faithful Christians, always remember that. Whenever you're pressed. Whenever you're mocked. Whenever that back is stabbed.25:08Press forward. Press on. Because the word of God is not chained. The word of God is not chained. God can do exceedingly abundantly above all we can imagine. Chains. There's no such thing for the gospel. There is no unreached people group. There is no nation that cannot be reached.25:34There is no person that cannot be reached. We must be obedient and go. We must be obedient and go. And proclaim the good news of the gospel. So how do we respond to suffering? How do we as believers in Christ respond to suffering? Paul answers that question in verse 18. It's an amazing verse. What then?26:02What then? Only that in every way. Whatever in pretense or in truth. Christ has proclaimed. That in that I rejoice. Now remember this for a second. The last three verses that he just talked about. Was three verses. Of basically being stabbed in the back by his friends. And what is he saying? I rejoice.26:31I rejoice. Because regardless of what they say. Regardless of what they do. Regardless of the naysayers. There's some men and women out there that are proclaiming the gospel. So we're going to press forward. We're going to move forward. And I ask the question. I have it in my notes. Do you think that's what Paul meant to say? I had to read it several times. You going to rejoice?27:01Really? That's the answering of the response to suffering. Is rejoicing. How do you do that? That even though there were Christians who had their sick view of suffering. Who had envy. Who had jealousy. A greed. Pride. Selfishness. Selfish ambition. That we should still rejoice. And Paul would say yes. As long as the truth about the death, burial and resurrection ringing forth. We must rejoice.27:30And Paul tells us that in suffering. The key is to rejoice. So how can you rejoice in the midst of suffering? How do you do that? Here's the thing. You cannot walk up to someone. You cannot walk up to someone. I don't advise this. You cannot walk up to someone. In the midst of their suffering. And just say, you need to be happy. You'd probably get hit. Because let me tell you something. When I'm suffering and going through something.27:59And someone comes to me and goes, you just need to get over that and be happy. I want to throat punch them. Because that's just my nature. And so, how do you do that? How do you get to that place in your life where you're joyful about suffering? We're incapable of feeling happy in the midst of suffering. You can't manufacture an emotion.28:27That can't be manufactured. But joy is different. Joy is different. Joy and scripture are not an emotion. If joy was an emotion, God wouldn't command it. The psalmist says this. Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord again. I say rejoice. All through scripture. If you look, joy and suffering and rejoicing are paired together.28:55So that's the answer. The answer to suffering is rejoicing. Because joy is a choice. Joy is a choice that you make in the midst of suffering. Joy is a lifestyle. And rejoicing is something that is possible in the midst of suffering. Now, it's not rejoicing that we are suffering.29:22It's not that. It's not that. Because that would be pretty crazy too, wouldn't it? Man, I'm suffering. Some people have done that. I'm suffering for the Lord. And you look and I'm like, really? That to me is manufactured. It is rejoicing in our suffering that there is purpose and hope that God would do something great in and through us.29:48That they would know, love, and trust Jesus more. That our families, that our daddies, that our moms, that our church people would love and trust Jesus more.30:03And that others would be compelled to become followers of Jesus. And that Christians would be compelled to be better Christians. That our suffering would not be purposeless. That it would be a purpose.30:34That we don't waste our hardship. That we don't waste our tears. That we don't waste our pain. That we don't waste our poverty. That we don't waste our sickness. Because of the brokenness of this world, we were going to suffer. It's just the nature of where we live. It's the nature of our culture. We live in a broken world. Therefore, we're going to suffer. But while we're here. While this only seems like a vapor when we get up there. We are to press forward.31:04Pressing on with the gospel. I'm going to leave you with this. And I'll close with this quote. There was a Russian atheist. During communist reign. And his job was to stamp out Christianity in the USSR. And his quote altogether is very insightful. Throughout Russia. And throughout the communist nations.31:32His responsibility was to destroy Christianity. To seek it out. Find it. And burn it down. And toward the end of his life. Here's what he says. Christians are like nails. The harder you hit them. The deeper they go. And when life hammers you. Will you rejoice.32:01Not in the pain of a strike. But in the depth. Of its effects. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.
