Heavenly Citizens: Hopeful, Not Despair

May 19, 2022

Book: Philippians

Bible Passage: Philippians 1:12-18

God’s Word invites us to be citizens of heaven by grace through faith in Jesus.  But God’s Word also makes it really clear that we are going to encounter distractions along the way.  There are going to be discouragements.  There are going to be whispers of doubt.  Therefore, in our passage we are going to see three sub-points; 1. God Working Around Us. 2. God Working Through Us. 3.  The Fruit of God’s Labor.  Let’s start with the first sub-point; 1.  God Working Around Us.

  • God Working Around Us.

Philippians 1:12-14, “12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, 13 so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the praetorian guard and to everyone else.”

There’s a lot of mixed feelings about Paul. Some of us might put someone like Paul on this sort of pedestal. Not in an idolatrous sort of way but more like he was in a whole other league. A devoted believer. I mean, I believe but not in the same way Paul believes, that’s different. He healed people, he was bitten by snakes and lived. The man’s presence would incite riots… He wrote today’s Scripture… Sometimes reading about someone like Paul can make our personal walk seem insignificant. Those things are true about Paul and all, but keep in mind NONE of what he did could be done apart from God. And when you read his writings, you’ll see he is the first to acknowledge that. He gives glory to the Lord in all things and here in verse 13 there is no difference. 

Here we have an example of the enemy, the world, Satan, trying to isolate and render Paul useless. I can see the reasoning “If he’s not traveling around, he can’t cause any more trouble.”  The thing is that we cannot prevent God’s work from being completed. No more than we can prevent the sun from rising on a new day.

I forget that my life rests in God’s hands. Do you forget that sometimes? be reminded today brothers and sisters. Whether you are a new believer or have been walking with the Lord most of your life. Remember He holds all things together. That includes our lives. That includes this moment right now.  Let’s look at our second sub-point; 2. God Working Through Us.

  • God Working through us.

Philippians 1:14-16, “14 And that most of the brothers and sisters, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.” Seeing Paul being imprisoned elevated their courage, not squelch like the world thought it would. 15 Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from goodwill;  16 the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.”

So here in verse 15 Paul is addressing those who are speaking Ill of him all the while preaching Christ. I want to make a distinction that who he’s talking about are not speaking bad theology, they are preaching Christ, but their hearts are not right. The reason I say this is because we know based on other letters, Galatians comes to mind how seriously Paul takes the Gospel as he should. Yet he doesn’t seek to correct them. But he does make the distinction Their contention with Paul was personal. 

 In fact People misrepresenting Paul happened so much that Peter felt led to write about it in his second letter. 2nd Peter 3:15-16 he says 

“and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which there are some things that are hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction”

The word love here in the original language is “Agape”, this isn’t the kind of love that we hear about in the world today. This love in the Greek means divine love, a love that only can be from the Spirit of God to us and us to Him. In the Greek there is also Philia love with is brotherly or sisterly affection which isn’t what is written here. So, they preach Christ but from Good will their hearts are filled with the intention to glorify Christ. For them Christ is at the center of their lives. They know what it is to be a heavenly citizen and are walking in that way. Now here in verse 17 Paul makes the distinction between those who preach Christ with Love and those who preach Christ with selfish ambition. 

The temptation right here, for me brothers and sisters, are to overlook my own selfishness.  My mind without much coercion starts to think about other people who show some semblance of what Paul describes. Or preachers who grossly mishandled the text of scripture to justify their sin.  That wasn’t even the point of the text. In fact, if you take a closer look Paul specifically states “thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment”. 

Before we rush to judge who is doing it out of love or who is not, let’s keep in mind that we can only get snippets of a person’s heart and mind. And that’s just based on what comes out of their mouth or deeds. we can never fully know. So instead of looking outwardly let us first reflect on our own motivation.

With that… I confess that I know all too well what that feels like. When Paul mentions those who preach Christ with selfish ambition, a memory comes to mind.

Back when we were at Pillow Elementary in Austin, TX Michael had just started a new series about engaging the community. It was after service, and we were tearing down. A few of us were outside loading stuff into the storage pod and this guy came by on his bike with that look like he wanted to talk to someone. I made eye contact with him, but someone else was talking. So, I didn’t say anything. He waits a few seconds and then decides to move on and coasts down the driveway towards the main entrance. I finally finish loading up the Pod and start to head back to the main doors. And there I see Michael is still talking with that same guy from earlier. Based on that guy’s body language it wasn’t a friendly conversation, but Michael was patient. 

Apparently, he came to protest our church services since they were being held in a public school.  Michael responds with a confused look… We signed a lease to be here. He also mentioned how it’s wrong for us to spread lies from our fairytale book. He was angry… I was hearing this as I was walking over.

Here’s where that selfish ambition comes in. As I was approaching, I thought to myself, “Oh look, an atheist. I got this. I’ll just point out his inconsistencies: bada bing bada boom he’ll have no choice but to concede and we’ll win another one for Jesus… He’ll come to Christ, be baptized, and join the hello team in no time. This is going to be great. I was especially motivated because we just came out of a sermon on engaging the community. No… no that’s not what had happened at all… When I finally took my moment to make my point, not only did he not concede, but without missing a beat changed his reasoning. 

How his mom died of cancer. What kind of God would do that to her?  He didn’t want to go to a church in Austin, TX.  I stayed quiet after that. Not only because I didn’t have a response but also because I saw the Lord working through that confrontation in at least two ways.  First, God was addressing my heart issue, the pride in me to think I am the one who can lead him to salvation. And secondly God brought this person to meet followers of Him. That guy could have just stayed home but his soul was stirred up. enough to get on his bike and come find us. 

As I continue to grow in my faith and understanding of God. As beautiful moments of God’s faithfulness wash over me during trials. I am reminded that it is by His grace that I have my faith. I didn’t even seek Him. But because of His loving kindness I am now a citizen of heaven. I am adopted into His family. Not only am I inside the gates, but I also have a seat at the table.  Let’s look at our third sub-point; 3. The Fruit of God’s Labor.

  • The Fruit of God’s Labor.

Philippians 1:17-18, “17 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking that they are causing me distress in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice.”

Grace and forgiveness are fruits of the Spirit who is God. with all that he had gone through and knowing full well that he is being slandered by others for their selfish gain. whether it be fame or money or just all-around pride. Paul proves what the true Spirit of God does in a person’s life. Verse 18 is a difficult verse for me. But it’s a great verse to help see what’s in our own heart. to exam our own motives. 

“I believe in 2nd Timothy chapter 2 we can get a better understanding of what Paul means  Remember Christ Jesus, risen from the dead, descendent of David, according to my Gospel, for which I suffer hardship even to the imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned. For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.”

As you can see behind me written on this wall it says look around.  I want you to do just that.  We used scripture to understand God’s work through Paul and the Philippian Church, but I also want you to see the fruit of God’s labor here today. 

It’s all because of Jesus. God working around us put someone in Michael’s life he gave him the Gospel. God works through Michael to start North Village Church and the fruit of God’s labor is the hundreds and hundreds of people who have come and gone through this church. 

It is truly amazing. I became a believer just before I came here but it was here at North Village where I was baptized into the kingdom of God. And it’s today that I preach my first sermon. Glory be to God.

So, I’ll ask you this for the last time, Church family… What does the world have on you, that Christ hasn’t already paid for? 

If you don’t know who Jesus is, believe in Him today. He is the creator of all things. He stepped into His creation and lived a sinless life. A sinless life we could not live. 

He paid for our sins on the cross. So that we can be reconciled to the Father. He was buried and on the third day he rose from the dead having buried all our sins for all of eternity. Believe in him and you have an everlasting life. Believe in him and you will be saved.

We will continue next week in Philippians. Let us close our eyes and bow our heads in prayer.