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

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

Things are looking bleak for the U.S. right now. We are in the middle of the worst banking crisis in decades. We have massive oil shortages and out of control gas prices. Some say that the earth is becoming a blazing inferno. Tens of millions of Americans do not have any form of health insurance. We have major problems that do not have easy solutions, but I hope that as a Christian, you know that the solution to these problems only has one answer. There is only one person to whom we can turn during these tough times—Sarah Palin. J Of course, I am kidding here.

Some people will cast their vote this November out of fear. I hope you are not one of them, because even though we are responsible for electing good leaders, we know that the president alone cannot save our country. We have no guarantees that our economy will not get worse or that the oil shortages will not increase. We have absolutely no guarantees about the future of our country at all.

Circumstantially, when the apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians, things looked bleak for him also. He was locked in a prison cell, which meant that he was not able to do what he had been doing for half of his life—preach the gospel. He was not able to travel about planting new churches or strengthening the ones he had already planted. But in the midst of these difficult circumstances, Paul rejoiced. He rejoiced because of the growing faith of the believers in Philippi. He rejoiced that he would one day see Jesus face to face. But he also rejoiced because the gospel was still being proclaimed despite his imprisonment. Prison did not stop the advance of the gospel. In fact, Paul argued that the gospel continued to advance precisely because he was in prison. I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. You can chain the messenger, but you cannot chain the message. You can even kill the messenger, but you cannot kill the message. We cannot depend upon our president. We cannot put our hope in the economy. No matter how things around us crumble, there is one thing that is certain—the gospel cannot be chained. The gospel of Christ cannot be stopped.

We know that Paul was imprisoned several times, suffered beatings and many other forms of suffering for the sake of the gospel, but Paul could have avoided all of that very easily. All he had to do was to change the message just a little. He was preaching a radical message that got him in trouble wherever he went. He upset the Jews when he preached to them about Jesus. He upset the Greeks when he tried to proclaim Jesus to them. Paul preached a difficult gospel about the cross of Christ and I am convinced that he could have stayed out of trouble had he toned down the message somewhat. I am not saying he should have gotten rid of Jesus altogether, but maybe he could have made Jesus a little less radical—you know, how many churches do today.

There is a group in our town that goes by the name of Christian but offers a very different Jesus. Here is one of their core beliefs. “The goal of religious life is to reawaken and strengthen, through prayer and ritual, those forces of the soul that unite the human being with his or her divine-spiritual origin. Through Christ we can free ourselves from compulsion; through him we can find on earth the power of nonegotistical love.”[i] I am guessing that if Paul had taught this message, he would never have spent a day in prison or ever felt a leather whip on his back, especially if he followed the ecumenical nature of this “Christian” group, who also believes that “members are not required to sign articles of faith, and are encouraged to form independent judgments in religious matters.” Can you see Paul preaching to a group of Jews about Jesus and just before they began to get angry at him, Paul said, “My friends, this is what I believe about Jesus, but I encourage you to draw your own conclusions.”

But you might be thinking that we would never fall into this trap because we are an evangelical church and we hold to clear doctrine. Maybe yes, and maybe no. Like Paul, we like to see the gospel advanced forward in our community. We like to see people following Jesus, but there is often a disconnect between our official doctrine and our actual practice. When we take the radical message of the gospel out into the real world, too often we tone it down, because even though we will almost certainly not be thrown into a prison cell, an even worse fate awaits us—people won’t like us. Can you imagine if half of your friends, family members and acquaintances suddenly hated you? Which would you rather have happen—spend a week or two in jail or have half of the people in your life hate you? In the core of our being, we all have this need to be liked. On paper, we hold to this radical message about Jesus, but in every day life, the need to be liked and appreciated is more powerful than the true message of the gospel. We don’t want to get rid of Jesus because we know that would be wrong, but we fear that the real Jesus who was crucified on a cross and calls us to take up our own cross and follow him is just too radical for the average person. If we give other people that radical Jesus, then they may not like us—and that scares us to death.

So the answer is that we give them a slightly watered down Jesus. There is a website called A Little Leaven that collects examples of “Jesus Junk”. Here is a sampling of what is available for your purchasing pleasure.

Astronaut Jesus, bobble-head football Jesus, plush Jesus, Jesus was a vegan, Jesus is my golf coach, Jesus is my ballet instructor, sk8tr Jesus, Jesus is my sensei, Rambo Jesus, pez dispenser Jesus, surfer dude Jesus, homeless Jesus, another football Jesus, Harley Jesus, rodeo Jesus, musical Jesus. Then we have the unabashed marketing of Jesus on everday products: a Christian hammer, a Christian multi-tool (this one is made by a company called kerusso, which is the Greek word for “preach”), a Christian axe and knives, and if you injure yourself with these Christian tools, you can bandage it with a Christian first aid kit. Notice the package says “Jesus heals,” but if Jesus heals, why do you need a first aid kit? For the ladies we have Christian perfume, Christian stretch cream, Christian lip balm. Then when you get hungry you can eat some Christian toast and wash it down with a bottle of holy water, Scripture tea or Trinity energy drink (infused with the fruit of the Spirit, and only ten calories!). After eating you can freshen your breath with testamints, Messiah mints or Last Supper mints. If you want to live on the wild side you can get your tongue pierced with this Jesus tongue barbell, you can light your cigarettes with this Jesus lighter while you drink whiskey out of your Jesus shot glass and gamble with your friends (and witness to them at the same time) with your Christian poker chips. Then of course we have the selection of Christian t-shirts to numerous to mention, but here are a few: creepy Jesus, “Hii saved me”, “Jesus loves the Red Sox” (wait—that one’s true!) and finally we have hang gliding Jesus with the appropriate question—What Wouldn’t Jesus Do?

I show all of this Jesus Junk to illustrate that we even though we no longer live in a Christian culture in terms of Biblical Christianity, Jesus is still everywhere you look. The basic message is that Jesus can fit nicely into your favorite hobby and your comfortable lifestyle, no matter what that is. People like Jesus, or at least they like their perception of Jesus. And here’s the thing: as long as we hold to one of these types of Jesus, then they will like us too! I don’t think Paul was sitting in prison because he peddled a soft Jesus. As an encouragement to the church in Philippi, he wrote, “it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.” He was not in prison because he committed a crime or because he was a political dissident. Paul’s imprisonment was for Christ. Do you think Paul said to the Roman guards, “Hey, have you seen the new imperial soldier plush toy? My nephew has one, and he loves it. It comes complete with a sword and a shield, and you can even take the helmet off!”

Paul was not concerned about being liked. Paul was not concerned about making Jesus more compelling or helping him appear hip and relevant. Paul was concerned about the pure message of the gospel; the whole message of the gospel; the offensive message of the gospel. He was preaching the gospel while he was in chains. This reminds me of Pastor Adrian Rayo, the church planter we support in Sun Prairie. Many years ago before his immigration papers were in order, Adrian spent a few nights in jail, but it was not wasted time. He witnessed to everyone he met and he was privileged to lead at least one fellow jail mate to the Lord. Paul’s imprisonment brought a whole host of blessings and advanced the gospel in several ways.

1. It gave him a new platform from which to speak. His story was spread throughout the whole imperial guard. It’s doubtful that every last person knew about Paul, but his story of religious suffering was widely known. These Roman guards would otherwise have never heard the gospel. By the way, how do you think he treated his captors?

2. It was an encouragement to the believers who heard about his imprisonment and were given courage to speak with more boldness and less fear. Here is one reason that I prefer the ESV.

The NIV reads: “Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.”

The ESV reads: “And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”

Do you see the important difference? The confidence to speak the word more boldly was not a self-confidence but rather confidence in the Lord—a God-confidence.

This I was working doing siding at the church with a few other pastors who came to help. I thought it looked pretty good when we were done, so when Steve Wilder showed up Saturday I pointed out our progress to him. He walked over to it and said, “Hey it looks good…except you did that part wrong.” Ahh—my only aim in life is to finally please Steve Wilder with my construction skills! You see, I was looking for a little self-confidence.

In the same way, the guy who made this amazing football catch[1] surely added a great deal of self-confidence to his football skills.

These are types of self-confidence. In each instance, you gain more confidence in yourself. But Paul was talking about a God-confidence…to witness, to speak for Christ, to not be liked for Christ, to…

3. It was an encouragement to believers to see that it was possible to not only endure imprisonment but to thrive in any setting.

4. Many who witnessed Paul’s imprisonment would themselves be put in prison one day for the faith. Paul’s endurance decreased their fear and anxiety about such a possibility.

5. It was an encouragement to see fellow believers caring for one another by prayer and practical acts of love.

The gospel was advancing because Paul was preaching to the imperial guard. The gospel was advancing because fellow believers gained confidence in the Lord and shared Christ with boldness and without fear. The gospel was also being advanced by Paul’s enemies. Even when others were preaching out envy and rivalry, Paul still rejoiced that the gospel was being preached. We don’t know who these people were or why they were trying to harm Paul, but they hit Paul where they thought it would hurt the most—his own preaching. They thought they were taunting Paul. “Hey Paul, look at us. We’re outside those dirty prison walls preaching the gospel, how does that make you feel.” Their motive was not to preach the gospel, but to cause harm to Paul.

My favorite ice cream that you can buy at the store is Breyers vanilla fudge swirl, but years ago I found a flavor at a little ice cream shop that I liked even better. It was called “death by chocolate.” How does that sound? Well you know, if you gotta go, may as well be killed by chocolate, right?! Now imagine if you were on a diet, which means no death by chocolate, or whatever your favorite flavor. Now imagine your friend was licking an ice cream cone in front of your face and taunting you with the intense flavor and enjoyment. In what way could another person most bother you? Would you go nuts if they wrecked your car? How ‘bout if they dissed your favorite sports team? What if they insulted your children? This is what they were attempting to do to Paul, but they were doing it by preaching the gospel. But we know that it backfired, because Paul did not mind if others were preaching. He wrote, What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. The irony of this situation was that the agitators who had hoped to cause him great harm were actually a source of great joy. They were enemies of Paul but they were still advancing the gospel through their hatred.

What was the result of this advancement of the gospel. In other words, how many conversions were listed here? That’s just it. We can read between the lines and probably see some conversions from all of their preaching and witnessing, but there is not one clear example of an actual conversion. Do you see what this means? It means that Paul was rejoicing simply because the gospel was being preached. He was rejoicing because the truth of Christ was being proclaimed. I don’t mean for a second to imply that Paul did not care about conversions. Clearly his goal was to see people bend their knees in allegiance to Christ. There is no question that Heaven erupts in celebration when even one sinner is brought to repentance. We should work for and pray for conversions and we will rejoice when they happen, but we should also rejoice when the Christ is proclaimed even in the absence of conversions. We should rejoice in every opportunity we have to share Christ, for even these advance the gospel.

As a pastor, this is a great encouragement to me, because I do want to see the gospel advanced and I do want to see conversions. But I often wonder, “Why God. Why do so few turn to you?” I think about other countries where people are turning to Christ in droves, where conversions are at least a weekly occurrence, but things are far too few and far between. But this passage encourages me, because even the proclamation of the truth is advancing the gospel. Paul rejoiced by mere preaching and so should we.

Friday I was talking with a friend in the office with whom I have shared Christ many times. This person referred to herself as a lost cause, not because she didn’t think herself worthy of God, but because we both know that she has absolutely no interest in the message of the cross. I said to her, “No, you are not a lost cause, because it is not up to me to convert you. All I can do is share the truth with you and God is the one who does the work of conversion.

Why did Paul preach the gospel? Because he was overflowing with the joy of Christ and could not do otherwise. What happened when he preached? He gained even more joy. Until our joy in Christ outweighs our fears, we will remain silent, or worse, we will open our mouths and peddle a soft Jesus. The gospel will still advance with or without us, but we will miss out on the joy.

Rich Maurer

September 28, 2008