Yang Education Reading Corner: The Gospel of Christ is More Important than Anything Else!

¹²I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, ¹³so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. ¹⁴And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

¹⁵Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. ¹⁶The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. ¹⁷The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. ¹⁸What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,

Philippians 1:12-18

There are two problems in this passage we just read. The first problem is the most common problem, which is the problem of fear. In this case, Christians were afraid of being Christians simply because their leader, Paul, was imprisoned. As we all know imprisonment is naturally associated with bad things. Commonly we are not rejoicing when we are put in prison. In the same way, when the Christians in Philippi knew that Paul was put in prison because of being a Christian, they naturally became afraid. It is very likely that they were afraid because of the possibility of them being put in prison just like Paul. This is why Paul told them:

John Calvin rightly pointed out:

The Apostle provides against this danger, when he states that the gospel had been promoted by means of his bonds. The design, accordingly, of this detail is, to encourage the Philippians, that they may not feel deterred by the persecution endured by him.^{^[1]}

This encouragement by Paul was very much needed by the Philippians at that time. Paul’s eyes were fixed on advancement of the gospel even through his imprisonment and he wanted the Philippians to see that as well. The very fact that even the worse of conditions could be used by God to advance the Gospel of Christ is proof that nothing can stop God. This should have comforted and encouraged the Christians in Philippi. In our sermon today I won’t reiterate further about the first problem and Paul’s solution to it, since it is the most common problem we may find. Besides, we have so many passages of Scripture tackling this similar problem. I would like to proceed further to what I think is most unique in this passage, which does not occur anywhere else. I’m going to ask you to give me your undivided attention from here on.

Now, Paul’s encouragement in verses 12-14 did not solve the second problem, however. It only solved the first problem. The second problem was more problematic. Paul stated bluntly:

When Paul ended his encouragement in verse 14, he said that most of the brothers were fearless in speaking the word of God because of their becoming more confident in the Lord Jesus despite Paul being imprisoned. Paul’s imprisonment became like a catalyst for them to stand up and take Paul’s place in advancing the gospel even more. However, some of them did not preach out of good will, instead they preached the word out of envy and rivalry. This is the second trouble, and it is much more troubling than the first.

Why more troubling? Because their motive to proclaim the gospel was aimed at hurting Paul, knowing that Paul was in prison because of the gospel. Now, this doesn’t make sense, how could a person would preach the gospel in order to hurt Paul who was already in prison?

Some people have attempted to explain that these people were the people with twisted theology, like the Judaizers and others, and since they disagreed with Paul’s theology, thus with Paul being in prison they seized the opportunity to spread their theology. Therefore Paul was hurt in prison because he could not do anything to stop them. While many people would see that their argument could be reasonable, this is actually not the case here. Because, that was the case Paul would be mad and not rejoicing. Compare Paul’s attitude here and the one in Galatians 1:6-9:

⁶I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Whereas here in Philippians 1:18 Paul says:

¹⁸What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,

Theologians by the names of I-Jin Loh and Eugene Albert Nida pointed out:

Those persons did, in fact, proclaim Christ, but they did not do so with pure motives.^{^[2]}

Another theologian by the name Kent Hughes elaborated further:

Paul’s detractors were preaching the Biblical Jesus. They were not anti-Christ but anti-Paul.

They preached the true gospel motivated by a warped amalgam of perversity. Again, they preached Christ “out of rivalry” (v. 15) or out of selfish ambition. These preachers were petty, territorial, calculating, and focused on self-promotion. Paul’s diminution could mean their elevation.^{^[3]}

This fact is scary, because these so-called preachers of the gospel exploited the condition where Paul was imprisoned in order to gain advantage for themselves. It is like dancing on other people’s misery kind of cruelty. In a normal world, they should have shown sympathy to Paul. But they opted to walk in a perverted path and exploited the holy gospel of Christ in order to bring down Paul and elevate themselves. John Peter Lange et al. commented:

Though the Apostle’s enemies preach Christ as do the others, they do not, like them, seek to edify the church, and to assist the Apostle, but stir up strife and hatred against him. They preach Jesus as the promised one, that those who hear may say: ‘This is indeed also Christian preaching; we need not run after Paul.’ They thus draw the church to themselves, and withdraw it from Paul. They preach concerning Christ essentially as he does, only either more strictly to please those who are zealous for the law, or more loosely for the sake of those who are still weak, or in a more rhetorical way, not to offend the cultivated, as does the Apostle. Thus they not merely weaken the attachment of others to him, and draw away his followers, but excite enmity against him, and thereby make his imprisonment still more oppressive.^{^[4]}

This kind of trouble is tough. It was tough for Paul. Being imprisoned itself was tough already. Now, this additional pain inflicted by those who exploited the gospel proclamation in order to hurt him more. What a cruel motive. They intended to steal Paul’s fame. They intended to rob Paul of his honor. These people thought that they were at least the same like Paul and even better than him. They persuaded the Philippians that they did not need Paul. Let Paul rot in jail. In loneliness.

At first, it is kind of hard to find this kind of cruel motive in the modern church. People seem to be nice to one another. Pastors and preachers especially are kind of nice. But upon further reflections I can actually catch a glimpse of a similar thing happening in the 21^st century church. Take for example, when a senior pastor is preaching the gospel faithfully and yet the modern churchgoers do not seem to like his sermon because he faithfully delivers God’s message as the Scripture has said it even though it might be offensive to them, the people begin to dislike the pastor. This senior pastor does not shy away from the hot button issues such as the LGBT or the evolution or the rise of free sex among the youths and the young adults, to name a few. Week after week the senior pastor continues to preach faithfully, and the church people gradually boycott the pastor because they are offended. Knowing that condition, the junior pastor sees a golden opportunity to get ahead; in order for him to take the prominent position and thus to replace the senior pastor. He knows that the senior pastor is so bold in his sermon touching every hot button issue and calling the people to repent from their sins. He also knows that such move is unpopular among many. So, in order to get ahead, he takes a different route. He decides to avoid all the hot button issues, even though those issues need to be addressed because the world is challenging the church precisely on those matters. The junior pastor does not stray away from the good interpretation of the word, yet he refuses to address the important issues for fear of offending the congregations and for gaining favor from them. Sure enough, the junior pastor gains more attention and attendance each and every week. When the junior preaches, the sanctuary is full. When the senior preaches, the sanctuary is quite empty. The junior pastor preaches more eagerly. But the motive is not to carry God’s message faithfully or to assist the senior pastor, instead he means to win the competition with the senior pastor. He means to hurt the senior pastor who is already in pain because he is rejected by the people even though he is being faithful to the Lord. In the end the goal is for the junior pastor to take the position of the senior pastor and then the senior pastor to be ousted from the church. If you really know what’s going on in the modern church anywhere in the world, you will know that what I have just described is not an imagination, but a sad reality. Yes, brothers and sisters, church politics do exist and they are uglier than the secular politics. I hope this church is not participating in such trend.

Now that we have touched this gloom reality of the modern church which is similar to the issue plaguing the Philippian church, our hearts must be troubled but it. How do we fix this troubling reality? How do we deal with it carefully and accordingly? How do we battle this dirty church politics (envy and rivalry; selfish ambition and all that) without losing our integrity as Christian? The answer lies in Paul’s attitude: “¹⁸What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,”. This amazing attitude that Paul displayed here is the key. This is how Paul battled church politics in Philippi. Paul knew that those preachers did not preach a different Jesus. So it was not false theology. They just preached the right content with the wrong motive, which was to oust Paul and to gain advantage for themselves. They did it zealously in order to reduce Paul’s significance and promote themselves. But Paul said: “I don’t care.” Ha! Paul did not care about his own significance as long as Jesus Christ was proclaimed correctly. Paul rejoiced when Christ was proclaimed accordingly. That’s it! That’s the brilliant solution! Theologian Peter Thomas O’Brien commented:

For Paul the goal of the gospel’s advance overrides all else; thus his personal inconveniences, sufferings, and imprisonment serve this end. He knows of this surprising progress of the gospel because of the effects of his imprisonment upon those outside the Christian community (v. 13) and because others within the Christian fellowship have been given fresh courage for the work of evangelism (v. 14).^{^[5]}

In the same line with O’Brien, Hughes emphasized Paul’s life purpose:

For Paul, the advance of the gospel overrides all else. Everything in Paul’s life is subsumed to this end. If we fail to understand this, we fail to understand Paul.^{^[6]}

Paul is indeed an amazing human being. He is an amazing Christian. Truly faithful to the Lord. Sincerely loves the Lord. Wholeheartedly devoted to his Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, for Paul nothing else matters, only the gospel of Christ to be advanced. The great English preacher, Charles Spurgeon spoke beautifully about Paul:

Notice the beautiful self-forgetfulness of the apostle Paul. So long as the gospel could be more widely published, he did not mind where he was, or what he suffered.^{^[7]}

Spurgeon continued:

Sweet forgetfulness of self! So long as Christ is glorified, Paul does not mind how he himself fares, nor what unkind motives towards himself may actuate other preachers. This is real Christianity.^{^[8]}

Spurgeon added his comment about Paul in this context:

He felt sure that it was a good thing for him to be in prison; that it would be a good thing even if he had to die there; that it was well that many were preaching Christ, even though some did it of ill will. For Christ was preached, and the result could not be evil. And the troubles and trials of the churches were good, for somehow or other they would be overruled for God’s glory.^{^[9]}

Yes, yes, and yes! O’Brien, Hughes, and Spurgeon are absolutely right in commenting about Paul. His attitude solved this troubling reality. This kind of attitude ought to be adopted by every faithful servant of God. Paul nullified the adverse attack toward him personally by shifting the focus of importance to the advancement of the gospel. If the attack was toward the gospel, then Paul would zealously defend it with his life.

Sadly, many “servants of God” do exactly the opposite of what Paul did. They nullify the attack toward the gospel of Christ by considering the gospel needs to be compromised. And they defend their personal reputation like there is nothing else more important in life when the attack is directed toward them personally. In short, these modern “servants of God” are self-centered. They do not care for the gospel. They use the gospel for their own gain. Very contrast to Paul.

Now, the senior pastor does not need to be mad toward the junior as long as the junior continues to preach Christ without compromise. In that way, the senior pastor could then nullify the malicious motive of the junior pastor and allow God to use the preaching to advance the gospel. If the junior pastor starts twisting the gospel, then the senior pastor must jump in and do what he must in order to bring the people back to the truth, to the untwisted gospel. Paul overlooked the personal attack for the sake of the gospel. For Paul, the gospel of Christ is more important than anything else. Now, the senior pastor, and all other servants of God who suffer a similar attack, should also overlook the personal attack for the sake of the gospel. In that way, the gospel of Christ is advanced, and Christians may rejoice as God is glorified, for the gospel of Christ is more important than anything else.

Now, the last lesson is the wider application of the understanding about the prominence of the gospel of Christ. Its application cannot be confined in the similar case that Paul experienced with the ill willed preachers. D. A. Carson pointed out wonderfully:

Paul’s example is impressive and clear: Put the advance of the gospel at the center of your aspirations. Our own comfort, our bruised feelings, our reputations, our misunderstood motives—all of these are insignificant in comparison with the advance and splendor of the gospel. As Christians, we are called upon to put the advance of the gospel at the very center of our aspirations.

What are your aspirations? To make money? To get married? To travel? To see your grandchildren grow up? To find a new job? To retire early? None of these is inadmissible; none is to be despised. The question is whether these aspirations become so devouring that the Christian’s central aspiration is squeezed to the periphery or choked out of existence entirely.^{^[10]}

This is tougher, because we then have to evaluate our own interior self. We need to be careful of our priority. What Carson is arguing is whether our aspiration would make us blind of the most important aspiration every Christian ought to achieve. Even the hard-working pastors can be blinded by their own aspirations and thus no longer able to see the importance of the gospel of Christ. Hughes said the same thing as Carson with different emphases:

When the gospel is no longer the main thing, when it becomes assumed, the next generation may be lost. As evangelicals we must take note. All kinds of issues cry for our attention—abortion, pornography, media bias, economic justice, racial discrimination, classism, sexism, to name a few. And we need to be alert and involved in certain of them. But if any of them become the main thing so that the gospel is marginalized, beware!^{^[11]}

Brothers and sisters, I have met in person pastors who put the gospel of Christ at the very bottom of the stack so that they could advance their own agenda. One of the most common agendas, and this is the agenda of the pastors I met, is that of comfortable life. For the sake of living comfortably, these pastors figured they had to “obey” the desires of the congregations that were represented by the council members. So they resolved that the boss of the church is the council. Came the point where the people, through the council, demanded that the gospel be twisted. And in the case of the pastors I met in person, some of the compromises were about evolution and LGBT. In order to satisfy the demand of the people, these pastors compromised the Scripture and gave in to the voice of science that spells evolution as the way the world happened and not through the word of God. And they also succumbed to the demand of the people to twist the gospel to say that LGBT is not condemned by the Scripture. They did that so they could continue to live comfortably in the wealthy church they were currently in. Rejecting the council, thus the people, would mean they got kicked out of the church. So they opted to marginalize the gospel in order to maintain their lifestyle. This is the first kind, which Carson spoke about.

The one Hughes talked about is quite different. There are Christians who then put the gospel in the back burner in order to deal with matters that they believe to be more popular and that gain more support. Yes, more practical issues are answering people’s immediate needs. While such issues like social justice, abortion, and so on, should not be neglected, throwing the gospel to the last car of the train for the sake of the more popular issues is marginalizing the gospel of Christ. There are Christians who care more about popular issues at the expense of the gospel of Christ. These people do not proclaim the good news of God’s redemption in Christ, but they zealously help those in need of food, clothing, shelter, and so on. Today we see a new trend in the modern church where the church puts more emphasis on how to acquire assets for the church organization, how to strengthen the financial resources of the church organization, how to provide business training for young adults so they may be successful materially in this world, how to teach the wives how to please their husbands, how to educate the children so they could be more prepared to face the industry 5.0, and the list goes on – but this list does not include the advancement of the gospel at all. What I mean is that the main thrust of the gospel has been stripped. The proclamation of God’s salvation in Christ, the call to repentance, the call to renounce sins and return to God, the need for forgiveness, the reconciliation with God, all these are rendered irrelevant in many of the modern church today. This is what Hughes warned us about. Beware!

The remedy to these two is the same. It is to adopt Paul’s example. For Paul, the gospel of Christ is more important than anything else. Not social justice, not business training, not my own comfort, not my dream to be a great preacher, none of that, but the gospel of Christ. And so, no matter what may befall us, as long as the gospel is advanced, then we consider our misfortune nothing. As long as God is glorified, the gospel of Christ is proclaimed, people return to God in true repentance, our suffering is a small price to pay. Paul did that. He sacrificed his reputation, his physical and mental comfort, and everything actually, so that the gospel of Christ can be advanced more and more. In the final analysis, our text today speaks of this eternal theme: The Gospel of Christ is More Important than Anything Else! Amen!

^{^[1]} John Calvin and John Pringle, Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 34.

^{^[2]} I-Jin Loh and Eugene Albert Nida, A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1995), 25.

^{^[3]} R. Kent Hughes, Philippians: The Fellowship of the Gospel, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007), 50.

^{^[4]} John Peter Lange et al., A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Philippians (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2008), 21–22.

^{^[5]} Peter Thomas O’Brien, The Epistle to the Philippians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1991), 86.

^{^[6]} R. Kent Hughes, Philippians: The Fellowship of the Gospel, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007), 48.

^{^[7]} Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon Commentary: Philippians, ed. Elliot Ritzema, Spurgeon Commentary Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014), 21.

^{^[8]} Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon Commentary: Philippians, ed. Elliot Ritzema, Spurgeon Commentary Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014), 22.

^{^[9]} Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon Commentary: Philippians, ed. Elliot Ritzema, Spurgeon Commentary Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014), 22–23.

^{^[10]} D. A Carson, Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1996), 25-26.

^{^[11]} R. Kent Hughes, Philippians: The Fellowship of the Gospel, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007), 52.