WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.599 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:20.480 ! It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:25.679 either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray for us 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:32.159 that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself? 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:37.359 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:42.159 we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:48.799 Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will do 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:55.120 what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a non-Christian 00:00:55.119 --> 00:01:00.320 checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't hesitate to send us 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:05.280 questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the types of things 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:07.759 that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:19.840 Thanks so much, George. It's really great to be here among friends. We so appreciate the fellowship 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:24.000 and the ministry here of Church of the Messiah, and I so appreciate George's friendship. We've been 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:30.879 friends ever since we moved to Ottawa in 2016, and George's friendship has been a constant for me, 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:36.239 which I've appreciated so much. So it's great to be back and to be with you. We are in Philippians 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:40.560 chapter 1 this morning, and if you've got a Bible there and you'd like to open to that passage, 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:45.200 that would be wonderful. Then you'll be able to follow what we're talking about, and as you do that, 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:49.200 and as we prepare our hearts, I'm going to lead us in a word of prayer. Let's pray together. 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:55.680 Father, God, our Father, we thank you for the gift of your living word, and we pray that as we open its 00:01:55.680 --> 00:02:01.520 pages now, we would hear your voice and you would feed us in our spirit that we might be nourished 00:02:01.520 --> 00:02:08.240 and refreshed to serve you in the days that are to come. For we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:16.400 One of the repeated themes, as you may know, of Paul's letter to the Philippians is the theme of joy 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:25.439 and rejoicing. Joy runs like a red thread through this letter. Paul tells us that he is rejoicing at 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:34.080 various points, and he calls us to rejoice too as we walk with Christ. Paul tells us in verse 18 of our 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:41.520 passage today in chapter 1 that he is rejoicing and that he will continue to rejoice, and he tells us 00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:50.640 in verses 25 and 26 that he wants the Philippians to have joy as well. Now, we all know what it is 00:02:50.640 --> 00:02:58.320 to experience joy. We look back with gratitude, don't we, to those seasons in our lives when we've known real 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:08.479 joy. We are delighted when our circumstances bring us joy at the present time, and we long for a joy-filled 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:18.879 future, each one of us. But for most of us, most of the time, our experience of joy tends to be tightly 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:27.199 bound up with our circumstances. Family life is happy, and we rejoice. Our health is good, and we're able to be 00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:35.599 joyful. Our finances are healthy, and it's a source of joy. We receive good news, and we rejoice. But the 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:43.039 remarkable feature of Paul's experience of joy in Philippians is that it seems to be thoroughly 00:03:43.039 --> 00:03:52.239 unshackled from his circumstances. After all, Paul is writing this letter from prison, and everything seems to 00:03:52.240 --> 00:04:01.200 have gone wrong for him. On one level, Paul is living through a nightmare, and yet at the same time, 00:04:01.200 --> 00:04:11.520 he is filled with joy. Paul's joy in the midst of crisis is a very striking feature of this letter and 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:18.319 of our passage today. And so today, the question I would like us to think about and consider together is 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:29.759 this. How can we learn to rejoice as Paul rejoices even when things go wrong? It's easy to rejoice in 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:36.800 the good times. We all know how to do that. But how can we rejoice when crisis strikes, when it seems like 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:45.120 life has just gone off the rails? Now, as we begin to consider that question from this passage, a key thing to 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:54.399 notice is that Paul's joy is grounded in conviction. It's grounded in knowledge. Notice how the passage 00:04:54.399 --> 00:05:01.840 begins, I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has really served to 00:05:01.840 --> 00:05:08.160 advance the gospel. And then he proceeds to tell them how that is so, and then down to verse 18, 00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:17.400 and in that I rejoice. Let me help you to know what I know, what I have seen to be true, and let me help 00:05:17.400 --> 00:05:25.820 you to understand why it is that I can rejoice. And then again, second half of verse 18, the start of 00:05:25.820 --> 00:05:33.480 the new paragraph there, yes, and I will continue to rejoice. Why? Why will Paul continue to rejoice? 00:05:33.480 --> 00:05:42.600 For I know that through your prayers, etc. Paul rejoices because he knows and he understands 00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:49.759 certain things to be true. His rejoicing is grounded in his confidence, indeed in his conviction, 00:05:50.319 --> 00:05:58.759 that certain things are indeed true. How will you and I learn to rejoice when things are hard 00:05:58.759 --> 00:06:07.000 and when things go wrong, when crisis strikes for us personally or corporately? We will be able to do 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:14.399 that if we are confident of two truths, one concerning the present and one concerning the future. 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:23.120 So first, a conviction about the present. God is at work for the gospel. That's the conviction for the 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:27.839 present. God is at work for the gospel. And here we're looking at verses 12 to 18. 00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:35.500 The arrest of the apostle Paul must have seemed to the Philippian Christians to be a total disaster. 00:06:36.519 --> 00:06:42.699 The apostle Paul had brought them the gospel. He had prayed for them. He had corresponded with them. 00:06:42.919 --> 00:06:50.159 He had taught them the great truths of the faith. He was their spiritual father. And now he languishes 00:06:50.159 --> 00:06:57.739 in a prison in Rome. It's disastrous. It's catastrophic. Surely, they think, this will cause the 00:06:57.740 --> 00:07:04.699 cause of the gospel to be set back by years, even decades. Think of all the people who would be 00:07:04.699 --> 00:07:10.699 evangelized if Paul would just be set free. Think of all the immature believers who would be brought 00:07:10.699 --> 00:07:17.860 to maturity through his teaching. What a shame this is. What a terrible setback. And as they contemplated 00:07:17.860 --> 00:07:22.120 this unfortunate turn of events, the Philippians may well have been wondering something else, 00:07:22.120 --> 00:07:30.879 something even more troubling. Has God actually lost control of this situation? Has God's good plan 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:35.579 for the apostle and for the work of the gospel, has it now just been knocked off track? 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:43.699 Those fears may well have troubled the Philippians, as they may well trouble us when crisis strikes. But 00:07:43.699 --> 00:07:50.399 what does Paul have to say in response, verse 12? I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:59.439 to me has really served to advance the gospel. When I was a child, my grandmother used to knit 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:07.099 tapestries. She had a long-term project ongoing to knit reproductions of a series of famous medieval 00:08:07.099 --> 00:08:12.199 tapestries that are actually kept in the Musée Cluny in Paris. They're known as the Lady and the Unicorn 00:08:12.199 --> 00:08:16.219 tapestries. Maybe you've been to that museum. Maybe you know the ones. You've seen pictures. 00:08:16.220 --> 00:08:23.460 They're beautiful, rich images with vibrant colors, lots of sparkle, imagination, a good dose of whimsy 00:08:23.460 --> 00:08:28.160 too, actually. My grandmother had been working through this project for a number of years, 00:08:28.260 --> 00:08:35.940 and by the time I was old enough to remember, she was on to her final one. By that time, most of the 00:08:35.940 --> 00:08:42.040 series of these big tapestries, probably, I don't know, five foot by four foot, had been stretched, 00:08:42.039 --> 00:08:48.899 mounted in gold frames, hung in various places in their home. But one thing that always fascinated me 00:08:48.899 --> 00:08:53.839 was to look at the tapestry that she was working on, and particularly to look at the back of the 00:08:53.839 --> 00:08:59.439 tapestry. You know, the front was beginning to take some shape, but the back of the thing was always just 00:08:59.439 --> 00:09:06.319 an awful mess, with straggly kind of tufts of wool coming out all over the place, looking all mixed up 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:12.440 and disorderly. For the life of me, I couldn't see how this mess of wool, especially when seen from the 00:09:12.440 --> 00:09:17.980 back, would end up producing anything like the beautiful pictures that were hung around the house 00:09:17.980 --> 00:09:28.720 in the gold frames. But of course, it did in the end. A mess on one side, a masterpiece on the other. 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:36.259 Paul says to his Philippian partners, no doubt confused and bewildered by Paul's circumstances, 00:09:36.680 --> 00:09:44.399 I want you to know that God is up to something here. From our perspective, this looks like an awful 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:52.960 mess, but I want you to know he is putting together a wonderful gospel masterpiece. I want you to know, 00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:58.700 brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:07.399 How is that so? How has God been at work here? How is this mess a masterpiece for the gospel? 00:10:08.279 --> 00:10:13.759 Well, in a couple of ways, he tells us. Verse 13, as a result of my imprisonment, it has become known 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:20.060 throughout the whole imperial guard and all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 00:10:21.100 --> 00:10:26.399 The imperial guard here refers to a company that numbered some 9,000 men at this time. 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:32.319 We shouldn't probably assume that Paul meant that every single one of them knew his story, knew the 00:10:32.319 --> 00:10:38.240 details, knew what he was in for, but Paul's language here is actually quite inclusive. Throughout the 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:44.759 whole imperial guard, you notice it there, and to all the rest, Paul is indicating that hundreds, 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:52.340 thousands of people have become aware that this man is here in prison because he believes and trusts in 00:10:52.340 --> 00:10:58.620 Jesus of Nazareth. This man has been putting his life on the line because he believes that Jesus is the 00:10:58.620 --> 00:11:05.800 true king and the savior. That's his cause. That's his crime. And even the great might of imperial Rome, 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:13.240 well, it cannot silence him. And actually, it's wonderful to see God's strategy at work here. We all 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:19.420 know the power and influence of key cities for spreading ideas and extending influence. If you want 00:11:19.419 --> 00:11:24.879 a global presence or global impact, you know, you've got to set up offices in New York or London 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:31.919 or maybe Toronto, even Ottawa, we might add. What was the great global hub in Paul's day? Where was the 00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:38.419 seat of power, the place of influence? What was the great world city of the first century? Well, we all 00:11:38.419 --> 00:11:44.839 know the answer. It was Rome, of course. And by his imprisonment, Paul has found himself grounded 00:11:44.840 --> 00:11:52.139 at the very heart of the Roman world, chained in Caesar's own prison with 24-hour-a-day access to 00:11:52.139 --> 00:12:02.620 Caesar's own guard. It looks like a mess, but it is God's masterpiece for the gospel. And look what 00:12:02.620 --> 00:12:08.420 has resulted, verse 14, and most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, 00:12:08.419 --> 00:12:16.019 are much more bold to speak the word without fear. As other believers in Rome have looked on and seen 00:12:16.019 --> 00:12:21.899 Paul's witness in prison, as they've seen the cost that he has been willing to bear for the name of 00:12:21.899 --> 00:12:29.579 Christ, they too have been emboldened to speak the word of God more courageously. You might think that 00:12:29.579 --> 00:12:35.620 the model of a man in chains might put other people off. You might expect that the realization that prison 00:12:35.620 --> 00:12:42.299 is a real possibility that that would sober the believers and just quiet them down, but just the 00:12:42.299 --> 00:12:48.820 opposite has proved true. Paul's ministry looks like it's being curtailed by chains, but actually it's 00:12:48.820 --> 00:12:56.299 being amplified, expanded, and made more effective. All that being said, Paul is aware that even some of 00:12:56.299 --> 00:13:03.340 the good things that have resulted from imprisonment are pretty tainted by sin. Even this boldness in 00:13:03.340 --> 00:13:09.620 gospel proclamation, it's got an ugly underbelly in some cases. Verse 15, you notice it there. 00:13:09.940 --> 00:13:16.960 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. The latter do so out of love, 00:13:17.040 --> 00:13:22.480 knowing that I'm put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:29.940 not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. It's not all roses. 00:13:29.940 --> 00:13:36.600 Some have actually used Paul's imprisonment to pursue their own agenda while he's locked up. 00:13:37.140 --> 00:13:42.660 Some have even seen here an opportunity to raise their own profile in ministry, but Paul's confidence 00:13:42.660 --> 00:13:48.880 is unshaken. He knows that even here God is at work and his good plan won't be derailed. 00:13:49.540 --> 00:13:57.380 Verse 18, but what does it matter? What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, 00:13:57.379 --> 00:14:06.919 Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. The apostle in prison, the great preacher in chains, 00:14:07.240 --> 00:14:14.220 what a disappointment, what a disaster. Preachers preaching from envy and rivalry, from selfish 00:14:14.220 --> 00:14:23.019 ambition. How ugly, how worrying. It looks like chaos. It looks like a mess, but God is working out a 00:14:23.019 --> 00:14:29.559 masterpiece for the gospel. The word is going out. Christ is being made known. The gospel is advancing. 00:14:29.559 --> 00:14:39.259 It's moving forward. When the atheistic communist party came to power in China in 1949, all Western 00:14:39.259 --> 00:14:46.439 missionaries were asked to leave the country. With the combined effect of a rising atheistic state on the 00:14:46.440 --> 00:14:52.360 one hand and the removal of the mission agencies on the other, it looked like the growing but very 00:14:52.360 --> 00:14:58.840 fragile Chinese church was just going to be decimated. Decades of persecution of believers 00:14:58.840 --> 00:15:06.820 followed, and some of that persecution was very intense indeed. In recent decades, as China has begun to 00:15:06.820 --> 00:15:12.360 open up against the rest of the world, we might have expected to find that the church had been wiped out 00:15:12.360 --> 00:15:19.259 and that the party's mission had been accomplished. But you probably know just as well as I do what 00:15:19.259 --> 00:15:26.759 actually happened. Gospel growth in China has been explosive. There are something like 100 million 00:15:26.759 --> 00:15:32.820 Christians in the country. By the year 2030, it's estimated that China will have more Christians 00:15:32.820 --> 00:15:39.120 than any other country in the world. And in a wonderfully ironic development, it's thought that there are 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:46.659 probably now more Christians in China than there are members of the Communist Party. You see, it's a mess 00:15:46.659 --> 00:15:55.379 that became a masterpiece in the purposes of God. How many Chinese Christians could echo in recent decades 00:15:55.379 --> 00:16:03.460 Paul's words in verse 12, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served 00:16:03.460 --> 00:16:12.800 to advance the gospel. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the death of five of the best-known 00:16:12.800 --> 00:16:19.780 Christian martyrs of the 20th century. Jim Elliott, Nate Saint, Ed McCulley, Peter Fleming, and Roger 00:16:19.780 --> 00:16:25.780 Udurian were American missionaries, as you may know, who in the early 1950s moved with their young 00:16:25.780 --> 00:16:32.720 families to Ecuador to bring the gospel to the Hurani people. After months of dropping packages of gifts 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:40.500 over Hurani territory to build bridges of friendship, the five men eventually established a camp near 00:16:40.500 --> 00:16:49.279 their territory, hoping to establish personal contact. But on January the 8th, 1956, the five men were 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:56.840 murdered by tribal warriors, apparently bringing their efforts to an end in failure. It was a tragedy, 00:16:56.840 --> 00:17:04.299 and it looked like a disaster. Five young lives full of promise cut terribly short. Five young wives, 00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:10.039 nine young children, suddenly left without husband and father, and all that with the gospel never having 00:17:10.039 --> 00:17:17.039 reached the Hurani. News of the death of these five men was soon broadcast globally. Something about their 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:24.100 story had captured the world's attention, with Life magazine running a feature about their story. 00:17:24.099 --> 00:17:31.099 It's hard to quantify this, but by all accounts, it seems certain that the death of these five men 00:17:31.099 --> 00:17:38.679 gave renewed focus and impetus and energy to the church in North America and beyond to invest in 00:17:38.679 --> 00:17:45.480 global missions. And countless young believers were inspired to offer themselves for service as 00:17:45.480 --> 00:17:52.659 missionaries as a result of hearing this story. The impact of the death of those five young men on the 00:17:52.660 --> 00:17:59.320 missionary movement for the generations that followed, it is incalculable. And there is really no telling 00:17:59.320 --> 00:18:05.140 how many people all around the world have heard and responded to the gospel as a result of their 00:18:05.140 --> 00:18:12.880 sacrifice. But by every account and every estimate, the impact was staggering. It seems quite certain that 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:19.240 their deaths did more to spur on world mission in the second half of the 20th century than any other 00:18:19.240 --> 00:18:28.720 single event. You see, it was a mess that became a masterpiece. It's verse 12 all over again. Friends, I don't need to 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:36.720 tell you that there are and will be crises in our individual lives and in our corporate life which will look and 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:44.519 feel like disasters. Some among us will be going through real crises at the moment. That's your story. 00:18:44.519 --> 00:18:55.079 What will keep us in such times? How can we, like Paul, learn to rejoice? Well, we need to have the 00:18:55.079 --> 00:19:00.799 conviction that the sovereign God is still in control. We need to know and believe that he is still at work 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:10.500 in the circumstances of his people. But as we see that, we need to recognize that God's purpose here 00:19:10.500 --> 00:19:19.259 in Philippians 1 is the advance of the gospel specifically. And that is still God's purpose and his concern today. 00:19:19.579 --> 00:19:27.259 That's his big agenda. And for his servants in the short term, the advance of the gospel won't always mean the 00:19:27.259 --> 00:19:35.240 increase of our happiness or our comfort. Paul in his day could see that God was doing something wonderful 00:19:35.240 --> 00:19:40.819 through his imprisonment. He rejoiced to see that the sovereign God was at work, but that didn't mean 00:19:40.819 --> 00:19:46.500 that things were going to get any easier for him personally. He had no confidence that he was going 00:19:46.500 --> 00:19:52.240 to get out of prison. He had no confidence that the people of verse 17 were going to stop trying to stir 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:58.400 up trouble for him. He simply had the confidence that God was using his trial for the advance of the gospel. 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:06.200 When you and I face times of difficulty or crisis, we long to find that special passage of Scripture 00:20:06.200 --> 00:20:13.780 that tells us that God promises to take our troubles away. But we search for it in vain, don't we? 00:20:15.180 --> 00:20:20.900 You see, the tough reality is that God doesn't promise to take our trials away this side of heaven. 00:20:21.400 --> 00:20:27.340 But Scripture teaches us again and again that he is more than able to use our trials for his gospel 00:20:27.339 --> 00:20:33.439 purposes and for his glory. What we see here in these verses is actually part of a repeated pattern that 00:20:33.439 --> 00:20:38.539 we find throughout Scripture. You know, we see it in Joseph's life in the Old Testament. His brothers 00:20:38.539 --> 00:20:45.419 sold him into slavery thinking to do him harm. But when Joseph sees that he was actually sent to Egypt 00:20:45.419 --> 00:20:51.919 so that the Lord might feed his people in a time of famine, Joseph can look back and say, 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:59.820 you meant this for evil, but God intended it for good. We see the pattern actually repeated throughout 00:20:59.820 --> 00:21:07.300 the book of Acts. Disaster after disaster for the apostles is shown only to propel the gospel to new 00:21:07.300 --> 00:21:14.759 lands. And supremely, of course, we see the principle at work in the life and the death and the resurrection 00:21:14.759 --> 00:21:23.799 of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. The Lord's Messiah, the King of kings, rejected, mocked, beaten, 00:21:24.599 --> 00:21:32.660 crucified. It's a disaster. It is a mess through which God works out the masterpiece of our salvation. 00:21:33.980 --> 00:21:39.819 What Paul speaks of in verses 12 through 18 is no isolated incident. This is part of the biblical 00:21:39.819 --> 00:21:46.099 pattern of how the sovereign God works. Time after time, God uses the trials of his servants to achieve 00:21:46.099 --> 00:21:54.899 his good purposes for the gospel. In God's economy, you see, no experience in the life of the believer 00:21:54.899 --> 00:22:02.460 is ever wasted. It is all part of a larger plan to bring the gospel to a needy world and to bring glory 00:22:02.460 --> 00:22:11.180 to his name. You see, you and I, we may never see the presentable side of God's tapestry, this side of 00:22:11.180 --> 00:22:17.860 heaven. We may never know how God may be working right now in and through our trials for the sake of 00:22:17.860 --> 00:22:24.759 the gospel. Paul had the privilege of seeing some of the outcome of what God was doing. He saw verse 14, 00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:31.259 the proclamation that resulted. He could see verse 18 that Christ was being preached. You and I, 00:22:31.259 --> 00:22:37.440 we may never see it, but we have the confidence that the same sovereign God is at work today, 00:22:37.980 --> 00:22:45.039 bringing his plans to fruition in and through our own circumstances, just as he was at work in Paul's day. 00:22:46.619 --> 00:22:51.420 Some time ago, I was speaking with a member of our church who was diagnosed with a serious 00:22:51.420 --> 00:22:57.339 life-threatening illness. She shared a little bit about how she had been processing what was going on 00:22:57.339 --> 00:23:02.759 and how she was learning to trust the Lord through it. It was wonderful to hear her testimony and to 00:23:02.759 --> 00:23:08.339 see how the Lord had been sustaining her. But I think I was most struck by what she shared with me 00:23:08.339 --> 00:23:14.359 about her initial reaction to her diagnosis. She said that when she was first given the news that she 00:23:14.359 --> 00:23:20.000 had this life-threatening disease, the first thought and the first image that came into her mind was the 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:28.000 image of a tapestry. Right away, she thought to herself, God is doing something here. He is weaving 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:35.319 something together. He's got a big plan, and I'm only seeing a small part of it. And as she shared that 00:23:35.319 --> 00:23:42.619 reflection, I thought, what a wonderfully Christian instinct that is. What a Bible-shaped way to think 00:23:42.619 --> 00:23:49.339 about what is going on. On the surface, here is some terrible news, a crisis, frankly an ugly mess. 00:23:50.139 --> 00:23:56.479 But what does the believer see with the eyes of faith? A masterpiece that is being woven together. 00:23:57.799 --> 00:24:02.199 But at the same time, if you ask her, you ask me, how is this mess going to be a masterpiece? Well, 00:24:02.219 --> 00:24:08.959 she has no idea, nor do I. But here is a core conviction to sustain the believer and even to give 00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:16.700 joy in the midst of trial. God is at work for the gospel, and he is able to use our circumstances, 00:24:17.180 --> 00:24:24.519 good or bad, to further his cause. That's the conviction for the present. And now, rather more 00:24:24.519 --> 00:24:32.039 briefly, in verses 18 to 26, Paul teaches us a conviction concerning the future. And the conviction 00:24:32.039 --> 00:24:40.819 is this, God will deliver his people. Middle of verse 18. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that 00:24:40.819 --> 00:24:48.220 through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance. 00:24:49.819 --> 00:24:57.339 On first reading, it looks like in verse 18, Paul is saying that he is rejoicing because he knows that 00:24:57.339 --> 00:25:02.240 the Philippians are praying for him to be delivered for prison, and he just knows that God is going to 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:08.679 answer their prayer and get him out of prison. But as we read on, it becomes pretty clear that the 00:25:08.679 --> 00:25:15.899 deliverance Paul has in mind is not necessarily a deliverance from prison in the short term. Verse 20, 00:25:15.899 --> 00:25:23.139 it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage, 00:25:23.140 --> 00:25:30.000 now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. See, by the end of 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:36.700 verse 20, it's pretty clear that Paul is aware that he could still die. So his confidence is not first 00:25:36.700 --> 00:25:41.740 and foremost that he will be released. No, his confidence is that God will give him ultimate 00:25:41.740 --> 00:25:47.700 deliverance. That word deliverance in verse 19 is actually the same word that can be translated 00:25:47.700 --> 00:25:55.640 salvation. What Paul is saying is this. He knows that as the Philippians pray for him and the spirit 00:25:55.640 --> 00:26:04.160 of Jesus helps him, he will stay secure in Jesus, secure in his salvation. And he continues on in that 00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:10.220 same train of thought. Verse 20, it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all 00:26:10.220 --> 00:26:16.559 ashamed or not be put to shame. It could be rendered. Often in the Bible, when it talks of a person being put 00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:23.559 to shame, it speaks of their standing before God. Ultimately, the only judge we should care about is 00:26:23.559 --> 00:26:31.899 God himself. And the only shame that really matters is the shame we might feel before him. To be put to 00:26:31.899 --> 00:26:39.419 shame on the day of judgment is to be rejected before God. But to be without shame on the final day is to be 00:26:39.420 --> 00:26:47.720 accepted and to be saved. And I think Paul has that kind of Bible background here in mind in verse 20. 00:26:48.100 --> 00:26:53.700 And I think he's saying something like this. I eagerly expect and hope that I will have no reason to be 00:26:53.700 --> 00:27:01.019 ashamed before Jesus my judge. Paul's got the final judgment in view. He's got eternity in view. 00:27:01.019 --> 00:27:09.639 And so what might make Paul ashamed before Jesus on the final day? Well, simply this. He will be ashamed 00:27:09.639 --> 00:27:17.839 before Jesus on the final day is if he is ashamed of Jesus before others here on earth. If when it 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:24.160 comes to his trial in Rome, Paul is embarrassed of Jesus, he's embarrassed of the gospel, well, he knows 00:27:24.160 --> 00:27:31.660 that he will be ashamed when he stands before Jesus on that great and final day. You may remember that 00:27:31.660 --> 00:27:38.140 Jesus said in Mark chapter 8 that if any of his followers is ashamed of him and his words in this 00:27:38.140 --> 00:27:48.140 generation, he, Jesus, will be ashamed of that person when he returns. Well, Paul is confident that he will 00:27:48.140 --> 00:27:55.160 not be put to shame on the final day, but rather he will have, middle of verse 20, full courage to exalt 00:27:55.160 --> 00:28:01.259 Jesus in this present situation, to remain faithful to Jesus, to stay true to the gospel. And as long as he is 00:28:01.259 --> 00:28:08.440 doing that, Christ will be exalted in Paul, whether by life or by death. Paul's concern isn't his present 00:28:08.440 --> 00:28:16.280 circumstances. It isn't primarily this trial before Caesar. It isn't even the matter of life or death. What he has in 00:28:16.279 --> 00:28:23.700 view is ultimately the day when he stands before Jesus Christ. Paul isn't concerned about what will 00:28:23.700 --> 00:28:30.200 happen today or tomorrow. His concern is what will happen on that final day when he meets his Lord. He is 00:28:30.200 --> 00:28:37.460 confident that the Lord Jesus is able to deliver him, to bring him safely to heaven. And so he's able to 00:28:37.460 --> 00:28:47.259 say, verse 21, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. All that matters to me in this life is the Lord 00:28:47.259 --> 00:28:55.779 Jesus Christ. And death is actually a gain and not a loss, because I go to be with him and I enter into 00:28:55.779 --> 00:29:02.840 the fullness of his salvation. With things said in that perspective, Paul is able to speak with great peace 00:29:02.839 --> 00:29:10.179 about the question of whether he lives or whether he dies, verse 22. If I am to live in the flesh, 00:29:10.220 --> 00:29:18.539 that means fruitful labor for me. Well, that will be good on one level. Yet what shall I choose? I cannot 00:29:18.539 --> 00:29:27.339 tell. I am hard-pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:32.819 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I 00:29:32.819 --> 00:29:38.419 will remain and continue with you all for your progress and your joy in the faith, so that in me 00:29:38.419 --> 00:29:46.339 you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again. On the one hand, 00:29:46.779 --> 00:29:51.319 dying and going to be with Jesus would be better by far. On the other hand, staying around a little 00:29:51.319 --> 00:29:57.980 bit longer is going to be useful for the Philippians. But either is okay with Paul, because he knows that 00:29:57.980 --> 00:30:04.240 his eternity is secure. He knows that whatever Caesar may do, the Lord will deliver him. 00:30:05.799 --> 00:30:12.319 We thought a moment ago about the five martyrs who gave their lives to bring the gospel to an 00:30:12.319 --> 00:30:18.120 unreached people. Jim Elliott, one of the five, famously wrote these words in his journal a number 00:30:18.120 --> 00:30:24.720 of years before heading to Ecuador. He wrote this, he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep 00:30:24.720 --> 00:30:35.680 to gain what he cannot lose. What was Jim Elliott meaning? He knows his eternity is secure. He knows 00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:41.559 that the Lord can deliver him. And he knows that this life is brief and the things of this world are 00:30:41.559 --> 00:30:49.839 temporary. So why not spend everything in the Lord's service? See, Jim Elliott was clearly someone who 00:30:49.839 --> 00:30:55.899 believed, verse 19, that the Lord delivers his people. And he is clearly someone who lived out, 00:30:55.980 --> 00:31:04.379 verse 21, and in his kindness, the Lord used him, his life and his death, in a remarkable way for the gospel. 00:31:06.379 --> 00:31:13.639 Friends, we have an assurance in the present that God is at work in ways that may be confusing, 00:31:13.640 --> 00:31:21.860 that are largely invisible, but he is at work for his glory, for the sake of the gospel, for our good. 00:31:22.360 --> 00:31:30.420 And we have a hope for the future, a firm hope that he will indeed deliver us as we trust in Christ. 00:31:31.660 --> 00:31:38.060 And so in these things, we may have joy, whatever our circumstance today. Let's pray together as we 00:31:38.060 --> 00:31:43.120 conclude. God, our Father, we thank you for this assurance that we have, an assurance for the present, 00:31:43.640 --> 00:31:49.580 and an assurance for the future. And we pray that you might teach us to have joy, whatever our 00:31:49.580 --> 00:31:57.480 circumstance, that we might be liberated to serve you freely and wholeheartedly. For we pray it in 00:31:57.480 --> 00:31:59.240 Jesus' name. Amen. 00:32:13.640 --> 00:32:15.640 Amen.