Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.
The devil tries with all his might to squelch the spread of the gospel. When the apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians, the influence of godless powers rallied by the devil resulted in Paul’s arrest and imprisonment. Those enemies of Christ must have rejoiced that the zealous Christian missionary and powerful preacher of Jesus Christ was detained and quieted. But in truth, it was the apostle Paul who rejoiced.
He was filled with joy because, though he was imprisoned, he could still talk about Jesus. And he did. Every six to eight hours another guard would come to relieve the one to whom Paul was chained. Imagine the number of guards Paul told about the Savior during his two years in custody at Rome and then how many people those soldiers told! Satan thought chaining Paul up would curtail his preaching of Christ. Instead, God used the circumstances to advance the cause of the gospel!
Additionally, detaining Paul resulted in other Christians stepping up to proclaim the gospel. Some of them were inspired by Paul’s example and boldly spoke of Christ out of genuine hearts for serving the Lord. There were other preachers, Paul admits, who were not so properly motivated. They were jealous of Paul’s popularity and tried to take advantage of his situation in prison to turn people away from the apostle and draw some attention to themselves. Yet they spoke the gospel through which the Holy Spirit still did his saving work. And for that reason, Paul rejoiced because Christ was preached.
Satan stirs up all kinds of opposition to frustrate the advance of the gospel. He even tempts us to wallow in the sins of jealousy and envy in order to discredit our proclamation of Jesus and distract people from listening. But the authority of the gospel is not limited by forces of evil; God’s truth is not rendered powerless by sinful hearts and insincere voices. God will always accomplish what he desires—to bring people to faith through the good news of Jesus Christ. Because of this we rejoice!
Prayer:
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