16th May 2025

16th May 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Philippians 1:12-18a focus v18a)


Message (Alan Burke)


If someone was slagging you off round the countryside what would your response be to that? I think for most of us we’d have a multitude of emotions going through our head from anger, disbelief, hurt, no doubt we would be upset at it. Yet as we read these words of Paul today as he was in prison for the gospel there were those who were preaching out of envy and rivalry, out of selfish ambition, not sincerely and they were supposing that they could stir up trouble for the apostle while he was in chains and for us while we might be drowning in self pity eat our circumstances and that people were slagging us off seeking to stir up trouble for us Paul asks what does it matter? For Paul he wasn’t concerned for himself he was concerned that Christ was preached and it led him to rejoice. 


We might be thinking as I’ve done so throughout this letter so far that Paul has lost the plot, that he really needs to get his head checked but at the same time Paul’s purpose in life was in all that he did, in whatever circumstance he found himself in that goofy was brought to his saviour. He of course had a choice in all of this, he could have been wallowing in self pity because of his imprisonment and how there were those preaching out of envy and rivalry, out of selfish ambition, not sincerely and they were supposing that they could stir up trouble for him but instead he is rejoicing because Christ is being preached. It would have been easy for him to be overwhelmed by his circumstances, and yet in the midst of all of this Paul rejoiced. For Paul what mattered was not himself but that the gospel was being preached the good news of salvation and Jesus Christ alone and that gave him reason to rejoice. He wasn’t concerned about his own reputation and standing but what he is concerned about is the glory of his Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. 


He knew that even in the midst of the sideshow, his circumstances, of his imprisonment and of what some where saying about him, whether their motives were false or true that God was at work through it all otherwise he would have been quick to say otherwise and he would have been quick to condemn those who preached if he preached a false gospel as he had in his letter to the Galatians (1:6-9). In all his circumstances the Lord was accomplishing what he had purposed. the gospel will accomplish what the Lord has indeed, preachers will come and go, some preach out of the right motives, others not, some have hearts after the Lord’s others are grievous sinners but the power is not in the preacher it is the message that is proclaimed that matters. What matters not only in this church but our lives is Christ. 


God even in the midst of our circumstances, in the midst of suffering continues to work out his purposes out for his glory. God works in ways that to us seem weakness, foolishness, even what looks like defeat but what matters is Christ and him crucified. Maybe in the midst of your life you’re facing circumstances that are tough, that you can't make sense off. Yet we need to know, and be reminded of the wonderful truth that Paul knew all too well even in his imprisonment and as people were slagging him off is that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Rom 8:29). I do not know what you face but what matters is Christ and the hope that we have in him, for one day this life will come to an end and it will be a distant memory. While visiting one of the saints recently in Lissara they put it to me as crossing a river, it’s hard work while you’re trying to get across but when you get to the other side it will all be worth it and the difficulties you had in getting there will be forgotten. For Paul what mattered to him was Christ because of the glorious hope we have in him and while this life we often face much, feel overwhelmed when we get to the other side, when we go to glory it will will all be worth it.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q85 What doth God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and curse, due to us for sin?
A. To escape the wrath and curse of God, due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption.
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