Turning Trouble into Triumph

GWTarget's short story called The Window has been of great interest to many through the years and it's a story that makes a tremendous point. I want to summarize this story for you this morning. I'm not going to read it all, but GWTarget in that story tells of two men, both seriously ill, who occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all of his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in military service where they'd been on vacation, all kinds of things. And every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and inliving by all the activity and color of the outside world. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake, the man said. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. The man was walked arm in arm and amid flowers of every color of the rainbow, grand old trees, grace the landscape and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene. One warm afternoon, the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear the band, he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words unexpectedly. An alien thought entered his head. Why should he have all the pleasure of seeing everything? While I never get to see anything, it didn't seem fair. As the thought fermented, the man felt ashamed at first, but as the days passed and he missed seeing more sights, his envy eroded into resentment and soon turned him sour. He began to brood and he found himself unable to sleep. He should be the one by that window. That thought now controlled his life. Late one night as he lay staring at the ceiling, the man by the window began to cough. He was choking on the fluid in his lungs. The other man watched in the dimly lit room as the struggling man by the window groped for the button to cough or help, listening from across the room he never moved, never pushed his own button which would have brought the nurse running to the room. In less than five minutes, the coughing and choking stopped, along with the sound of breathing. Now there was only silence, deathly silence. The following morning, the day nurse arrived to bring food, to bring water for their baths, when she found the lifeless body of the man by the window she was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take him away. No words, no fuss. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it all himself. He strained to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall. Now the moral of that story that GW Target wrote was that joy in life is all dependent on your perspective. How you view your circumstances is what will bring you joy or sorrow, peace or heartache in your life. It's all in your perspective. And that's exactly what Paul communicates in his letter to the Philippians. In Philippians chapter 1, verses 12 through 18, we're going to look at those verses this morning. So I would invite you to open your Bibles to that passage in Philippians chapter 1. Paul is going to describe his situation in Rome and he describes it in these words in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 12. He says, now I want you to know brothers that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel and then he goes on and explains more about it. But I want you to see, he describes his condition in prison and everything that is led up to that in these words, what has happened to me. Something that's happened to him over a period of four years, he describes as what has happened to me and then he passes right by it and goes on to describe his perspective on what has happened to me. In order to really set this in its context, in order to really understand the depth of what Paul is doing here, I want us to go back and review what has happened to him. He's been here for a few years and he's been here for four years and you find Paul in the temple in Jerusalem. You find him worshipping there and all of a sudden a mob surrounds him and angry mob and they begin to attack him and seek to tear him limb from limb. The Roman army cohort that is in the Antonia fortress, right beside the temple courtyard, sees what's going on, they are supposed to restore order, things like that happen frequently in Jerusalem especially in the temple. So they rush down, they grab Paul and they get him away from the crowd. They arrest him. He is illegally arrested, illegally held because he's a Roman citizen. They don't know that yet but he's illegally held. He is mistaken to be an Egyptian anarchist by those Roman soldiers and beaten for it. Then they finally figure out what's happened, realize who he is and they give a lymphopology and his accusers are brought forward. They falsely accuse him unjustly, accuse him and Paul is shuttered away in prison awaiting a trial. While he is awaiting that trial and all the red tape that has to lead up to that, he becomes aware of a plot against his life. The Jews are plotting that when he is moved from the prison to the place of trial, they will set an ambush, they will attack and they will kill Paul. When Paul becomes aware of this through his nephew, in fact, he sends word to the soldiers, the soldiers whisk him out of Jerusalem at night, take him an hour and a half to Caesarea, a Roman port city where he is thrown in jail and basically is forgotten for two years. He does appear before the Roman governors from time to time, uses those opportunities to make clear why he is there, therefore his faith, but the red tape drags on. In the meantime, there is a change of governors. The new governor doesn't know Paul doesn't understand the situation, decides when he hears about the case, this is something that should be really tried in Jerusalem. So he intends to send him back to Jerusalem. Paul knows the ambush, the plot on his life, all that still active, he will be killed and so he pulls a legal maneuver, one that was within his rights to do. And he says, I appeal to Caesar. And the governor looks at him and says, I don't know why, he hasn't done anything worthy of it, but you appeal to Caesar that you're right as a Roman citizen, so to Caesar you will go and he goes to Rome. Now Paul had always wanted to go to Rome. Look at these verses in Romans chapter 1, they're on the screen for you, where Paul says, in writing to the Roman church, in my prayers at all times, he's talking about remembering them. He says, and I pray that now at last by God's will, the way may be open for me to come to you, that is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. And he had plans to go to Rome. In fact, in Acts chapter 19 he sets out his itinerary. It says this, after all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Decayah, this was because of another attempt on his life, he decided to change his travel plans. And he says, after I have been there, I must visit Rome also. And so Paul has plans to go to Rome. He is going to preach the gospel. He's got to drop off this offering for needy believers in Jerusalem first, that he's been collecting, and then he plans to go to Rome on his way to Spain to preach the gospel there. But it didn't happen. While Paul was in Jerusalem as when he was arrested, and everything else has taken place that I've just described, he's finally being sent to Rome after two years. As a prisoner, but he's not going as a preacher, he's going as a prisoner. And even on his way to Rome, more things happen. What has happened to me, Paul says? More things happen. The ship's captain foolishly decides to sail too late into the autumn, and they are caught up in a hurricane on the Mediterranean Sea, blown way off course. Finally, shipwrecked, cast away on an island in the Mediterranean. The ship is gone. His life is spared, and that's another whole story about how Paul had the right perspective on trials. But that's for another sermon. That's a move on. He finally does get to Rome. When he gets to Rome, he's put in prison there. The end of the book of Acts tells us he's in a house where he has some freedom, but he is confined to that house. He's able to entertain guests, but he's confined to that house, and he's under constant supervision of Roman guards for two years. It's been four years. Four years, and Paul finally writes this letter. When Paul summarizes in this one phrase, whatever happened to me, whatever has happened to me, he's thinking about all this stuff that's happened over the past four years. And he says, I want you to know that what has happened to me? This is my perspective on it. Paul is not complaining. He doesn't drag up all of that stuff that's happened and say, man, if I ever had a string of bad luck, all of these terrible circumstances have happened to me. He doesn't say that. In fact, if anybody's even going to find out about the conditions in prison in the Philippian church, they're going to have to ask you, Paphroditus. The man they sent to check on Paul. Because Paul doesn't talk about whether he's cold or warm at night. He doesn't talk about whether the soldiers are kind to him or harsh to him, whether not there are other prisoners who are all alone in solitary confinement. He doesn't talk about how bad or how good the food may be. He doesn't address any of that. He just says, whatever happened to me, encompassing everything that's happened, and then he gives his perspective on it. And his perspective on what has happened is a tremendous lesson to us about the perspective we should have on whatever happens to me, whatever happens to us. There's a tremendous lesson here from Paul's perspective. He shares just in talking with the Philippians in this letter, two perspectives that he has on whatever happened to him. The first is the perspective of faith. And he describes it in verses 12 through 14. Look again at those verses. Verse 12, I want you to know brothers that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the Word of God more courageously and fearlessly. Paul is basically saying there, nothing ever just happens to a believer. There are no coincidences. There are no accidents in life. Nothing ever just happens. The things that happened to me, he says, God had a purpose for. And what he's describing here is his faith in that purpose. Most Paul had faith and confidence in God's purpose to work out all things for good for him and to use every circumstance, no matter what it was, in some good way Paul could say, hey, what's happened to me? Here are the results. Here's my perspective on it. My faith in God's purpose to use whatever happens. The first thing he says about this perspective of faith is that what's happened to me has served number one to advance the gospel. So Paul trusts that God is advancing the gospel through what's happened. In fact, God's purpose for putting him where he is and the whole string of circumstances that led up to it is for the purpose of advancing the gospel. The word advance is an interesting word. It's a Greek word that was used in Paul's day of cutting through deep undergrowth to prepare a road for an army to be able to make progress. If an army had to traverse some difficult terrain, there would be a group of soldiers that were sent ahead and would clear the way. And it was tough work. It wasn't easy, but they enabled the army to make progress. The word is also used in first century times of advancing against blows, of making progress even though somebody's trying to stop you from making that progress. And you may be facing some blows, but you're making progress anyway. That's how the word was used. That's what the Greek word means. Advance. And Paul, what Paul is saying is, it hasn't been easy. There have been a lot of blows and there have been a lot of underbrush to clear out some hard work to get to where I am. But the gospel is advancing. The gospel is making progress. And he goes on to describe exactly what kind of progress it's making in verse 13. As a result of this advance of the gospel, he says, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. It's interesting, he mentions the palace guard which probably indicates that something else has changed about Paul's status in prison. At the end of the book of Acts, he's in his own house. Confined, home confinement, if you will, house arrest, if you will is what we call it today. He's under constant guard of Roman soldiers and guards, but he has some freedom to entertain visitors to write letters and send them out, talk to people and so forth. But when he mentions palace guard here, the word he uses is the word that was used of what was called the Praetorian guard, which was a special detachment of Roman soldiers assigned to the palace of Caesar. And there was a holding area in that palace where you would be taken if your case was already heard and you were awaiting the verdict or you would be taken if your case was pretty soon on the docket and you would be heard soon. And so evidently, Paul's situation has changed. He's no longer in that house. He is now chained in this holding area to Roman soldiers, either waiting the verdict of his case or awaiting to make another appearance before Caesar. He's less free than he was before. He is now in chains shackled to a Roman soldier. And that Roman soldier would be there four to six hours, scholars disagree on the time, but four to six hours, that soldier would be there, shackled to him, chained to him. And you know what Paul's doing? We can kind of read into what he's saying here as a result of what's happened to me, the gospel has become clear in the whole palace guard. In other words, these soldiers who are guarding me or shackled to me are hearing the gospel. They are hearing the reason I'm in chains is because of Christ. Because I know Christ, I love Christ, I preach Christ. It's all because of Jesus Christ. That's what I've been arrested for. And I can just imagine Paul telling the whole story. If he's going to tell them why he's been arrested, he's going to tell them what Jesus means to him too. Because they'll wonder, who is this Christ? Are you talking about some political leader that you got arrested for some sedition? No, no, no, Paul's going to explain who Christ is. And what he's doing for Christ, preaching the gospel, I'm sure he witnessed to every Roman soldier that was shackled doing. And can you imagine the guys going back to the barracks after that tour? Have you guys been assigned to that duty with a guy named Paul over there? Have you heard what he has to say? Why is he here? They begin to talk about it. But as Paul continues to explain, some of them are beginning to listen. Some of them are getting under conviction about who this Christ is and what he has done for Paul as they've heard his testimony and his background and how Christ revolutionized his life. And they're beginning to wonder and to think, I believe that some of those guards got saved and then they began when they'd get back to the barracks, talk into the cooks and cleaning lady and everybody else and they started taking it up to the palace and probably some of Caesar's family began to hear about Paul and Christ and who Christ was. If you'll flip over just a couple of pages to chapter 4, verse 22, when Paul's closing out this letter, notice his greeting to the church there in Philippi and he says in verse 22, all the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar's household. Whoa, what does that tell you? That tells you that some people in Caesar's household, whether that's household servants, palace guards or maybe even some family, had come to know Christ and they are now saints, their believers and they're greeting the church back in Philippi as Paul writes this letter, that Roman guard that shackled to him that day saying, hey, tell him high for me, tell him I got saved. Can you just imagine the gospel has penetrated the very heart of the Roman Empire, Caesar's palace. Paul would never have been invited there to preach. No other preacher in Rome would have ever been invited there to preach in Caesar's palace. But the gospel is making advances against blows, clearing out the underbrush and advancing in Caesar's palace. And that's why God put me here. Paul says. The perspective of faith hasn't been easy. The last four years have been pretty bad, hasn't gone all the way. I thought it would go. But I see now God has me here. These circumstances have worked out to put me here so that the gospel can advance. Do you see your circumstances that way? Would to God that we could see our circumstances, no matter how difficult they are as being an opportunity for us to spread the gospel to other people? Would I have a testimony for Christ and help other people? Dan thing spoke to the men yesterday at the men's breakfast. It was tremendous. He told us about lessons he's learning from his P and G brothers. Sometimes we think of missionaries going to the field and they've got it all together and they're going to teach the nationals what is really true in the Bible and what the Bible is going to say and how they ought to do things and Dan said, I'm learning a lot from my brothers in P and G. He said, one of the things I'm learning is their passion for the gospel, that they seize every opportunity to get the gospel to people. They're passionate about that. And it's been a challenge, Dan said, in my own life and it would be to me too. He told the wonderful story and Dan, I hope I'm not stealing your thunder from any presentation. But again, I'm too far into this to back out. He told the story about a pastor, a national pastor, a man who teaches on the Bible college campus there, a P and G national who was mistakenly arrested one day. He had borrowed missionaries vehicle to get into town, was coming back out of town, picked a guy up who needed a ride. Little did he know this guy committed a crime and was running from the police. So before he gets back to the compound, the police are hot on his tail and they stop him and they arrest the criminal and they arrest him too, thinking he's an accomplice and they impound the vehicle. Well, later in the day things get sorted out and this P and G believer pastor, Bible teacher is told by the police, okay, we understand the situation now, you can go. You know what he said? He said, I think I'd like to stay a little while longer. Dan made the point that prisons in P and G are not like prisons here in the United States. They're not very comfortable, they're not places you would like to even visit. But the guy said, I think I need to stay here a while. There's rationale, what he told Dan later was, God put me there. That happened for a reason and I just felt that God wanted me to witness to somebody. So he starts witnessing to this guy that's just been arrested and to others there in the prison. That's what Paul's talking about and that's what we should see whenever we face difficult circumstances, things didn't work out like we'd hoped and we tend to complain and gripe and criticize and get all bent out of shape. And what we need to be looking for is how can I see this as an opportunity to spread the gospel or how can I see this as an opportunity to encourage someone else? Paul says, whatever happened to me just kind of blows it off, all those four years of things that happened to him, whatever happened to me happened for the advance of the gospel. And I'm here in a place where I can get the gospel where I would not have been able to get it otherwise. But there was a second reason Paul saw in faith trusting God's perspective on this, there was a second thing he saw in this perspective of faith. And that was that what happened for him was not just to advance the gospel, it was also to encourage others, to encourage others. And he says it in verse 14. He says, because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. Paul says, you know, I'm in prison, but as a result of me being in prison, most of the other brothers, he's talking about believers there in Rome, most of these other brothers have gotten more bold. They've been encouraged by what's happened to me, to speak the word of God more boldly. Probably a couple of reasons for that. There may have been some people who were thinking, you know, Paul's written us, he wants to come to Rome and he's planning on coming to Rome after he's in Jerusalem to deliver this offering and maybe they're thinking, you know, Paul's coming to town, he'll do the preaching and we'll stand behind him, but Paul's in prison. And so now if the preaching's going to get done, if the gospel's going to be spread, it's going to have to be done through them. And so realizing what's happened to Paul has encouraged them to be more bold and not to take, you know, not to slide back into the crowd and to be more bold and to fearlessly proclaim the gospel. But I think ultimately Paul means this, what they have seen happened to me because of Paul's perspective on that, because they saw that Paul was using that as an opportunity to spread the gospel, they're sitting back thinking, now wait a second, if Paul's not gripping and complaining about the food in prison, if he's not all been out of shape about what's happened to him there, but he's just seizing the opportunity to get the gospel to more people, shouldn't we be doing the same out here on the streets? I mean, we're free, shouldn't we be more bold to proclaim the gospel? I think that's what Paul's talking about. Because of what's happened to me, most of the brothers are fearlessly proclaiming the gospel and they've gotten more bold. Have you ever, ever grasp the fact that what happens to you, whatever happens to you? To use Paul's words, could be used by God to encourage someone else. The difficulties you go through, the trials you encounter, the disasters, the tragedies that you face in life, the heart breaks that you feel, all of those things are God's opportunity to build something into you and then use you to encourage others. And we miss those opportunities, we don't even see them when we just have that pity party and just complain and gripe about what's happened to us. Rather than that, we ought to see, and I include myself because I don't get this a lot of times. We ought to see that as an opportunity for God to use us to encourage other people, to bless other people. I'll never forget a gentleman in the first church I've passed, when I went to Needham's Grove Church in 1973, Koi Comer had already had a stroke, pretty serious one. He was an elderly man. The patriarch of the Comer family, 13 children, all of whom and their families were in our church. About half the church was Comers. And he was a great man. And to hear his life and hear his kids talk about him, what a great man. But by the time I got there, he was in a wheelchair. He was paralyzed and could not walk, could not move his right arm, he could only move his left arm and he could not speak. The strokes had done a terrific amount of damage. So he would always sit in a wheelchair on this side, right over here, right on the front in a wheelchair. And whenever I would come in, I would usually come in through a door after I met with the choir and we had prayer and I would come through a door out in the auditorium. And Mr. Comer would always raise that left hand. And the biggest smile on his face, he would start waving that hand and start, just like that. He couldn't say anything. He was just letting you know and his wife would always be able to interpret those sounds and actions. He was letting you know, so glad to see you. It's good to be in the house of God. I love being here. We're going to have a great service today and he's just encouraging me as a young preacher with his presence and with his verbal and giving a scent through his arm that he knows God's going to do something and he's glad to be there. I can't tell you. The number of times that was an encouragement to me as I walked through that door. I will never forget that man. And I could tell you stories of other people who've faced similar difficult circumstances. Some of them here, some you know. And they have chosen not to become bitter and not to become cynical, but their perspective has been one of faith. I will trust God that God will use this circumstance in my life so that I can be an encouragement to other people. And my friend, that's what brings you joy in life. You will become a bitter, cynical person if you don't have the perspective of faith that God makes no mistakes and whatever circumstances may be happening in your life, he can use them to advance the gospel and to encourage others. And if we have that perspective of faith, I trust you God that you're in control and I trust you. You will use these circumstances for good in my life and through me to others. If we do that, if we pursue it that way, then maybe we'll be used like Paul was to get the gospel out and to encourage other people. But there was another perspective that Paul had, not only the perspective of faith. As Paul goes on to describe what's happening and the things that have happened to him, it just kind of leaks out of him. He's not boasting about this, he's not trying to make an impression on anybody. But what he says shows us that he also has the perspective of grace. Notice what he says in verses 15 to 18. He says, it is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of good will. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I'm in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached and because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice. What a perspective. Paul talks about two kinds of preachers in this passage here. He describes them for us. He's mentioned in verse 14, most of the brothers are proclaiming the word more courageously, more fearlessly, but there are two kinds of preachers out there in Rome right now. And he describes them both for us. I want you to understand right up front. It's very important to understand this. Both of these groups of preachers are preaching the gospel and they are preaching Christ, doctrinally they are sound. It's a very important to understand because Paul would not say what he's going to say about them unless that were true. So they're preaching Christ or preaching the gospel with some of them, their motives are very suspect. In fact, Paul's got a pretty good clue. What their motives are. He's been told evidently what's happening. And with some of them, their motives are pretty rotten. Let's describe that group of preachers first and use the four words that Paul uses to describe them. In verse 15, he says, some preach Christ out of envy. They envy Paul. Maybe they envy his authority as an apostle. There are not many apostles left by this time. Maybe he envies his authority. They envy his authority. Maybe they envy his position, his ministry, his ability, how God has greatly used him, but they're envious. He does a lot of that today. People who envy others. I'm talking about preachers now. There are preachers who envy others. There's a lot of that today. They would wish to have those person's gifts. That person's opportunities. A lot of envy. And when envy becomes a motivation for what we do, it's a wrong motivation. It's an impure motivation. Paul says, that's what's going on. Some are preaching envy. But he also says some of them are preaching out of rivalry. The word literally means a spirit of competition. A spirit of, I now have an opportunity to pick up some ground in my popularity ratings since Paul's kind of off the scene. So I can kind of get a leg up on Paul. I can build my following now that he's in prison. It's almost like we're in competition with each other trying to build something bigger, get more acclaimed, be more recognized. That goes on a lot today too. So some preach out of envy, some preach out of rivalry, and then look at verse 17, the third thing he says about them, they preach out of selfish ambition. The reason for the envy and the reason for the spirit of competition is because they want attention. These guys, they want attention. They want somebody to recognize them. They want to be known as the best preacher in town or the one who has the radio program or writes all the books or whatever. They want to be known as that kind of preacher. They want to be recognized. Now please don't misunderstand what I'm saying. There are a lot of men who are involved in those kind of ministries who are just as humble as can be and don't do it for the acclaim. They do it to spread the gospel. But evidently these men were doing it for selfish motives. And then the fourth thing he says about them, they're not preaching sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I'm in chains. Stir up trouble for me while I'm in chains. The idea is that they believe because of their rising popularity while I'm in shackles that Paul will get all been out of shape and disgusted over their success like they have been over his and that Paul's imprisonment then will be more grievous for him because other guys are getting more opportunities now and they're being heard and I'm not. And they think that's the effect it will have on Paul. They have failed to reckon with the greatness of the man. They have failed to reckon with who Paul is and that he will not see things that way. So there's a group of preachers that preach for the wrong motives entirely. And Paul would never approve of those motives. In 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 he said that there should be no party spirit. There should be no competition rivalry between preachers. We are just simply people giving out the seed and it's God that gives the increase. So there should be no spirit of comp to Paul would not agree with that motive whatsoever. And Paul certainly wouldn't agree with the motives because in 1 Thessalonians 2 he talks about his own ministry and he says you know I'm very aware that before God I have to keep my motives pure and preach the gospel in a pure way with sincerity. No mixed motives at all. So Paul would not agree with these motives whatsoever but that's the first group of preachers he talks about. Second group of preachers he talks about he says in verse 15. The preachers are preaching out of good will. It doesn't mean they've rented a good will store and they're preaching out of there. Good will here. The idea, the word is they are seeking to do good for others. In other words their motive is to try to help Paul because Paul is more restrained now. So they're going to do more because they want to get the gospel out and they're going to double their effort since Paul can't be out there with them. They're doing it because they love Paul. They're doing it because they have good will toward others who need to be saved. They want others to be saved. And he goes on to say in verse 16 the latter do so in love knowing that I'm put here for the defense of the gospel. So they know that I'm in prison because I'm defending the gospel and I have the opportunity to get the gospel in some places they won't. So they love me and they're cheering on my ministry and they're trying to help outside the jail and they love Christ and that's why they're preaching Christ and they love souls. They want people to be saved. They're doing it out of love. There's no spirit of rivalry in the selfish ambition. So there are these two groups. Okay, Paul describes the two groups of preachers but what I really want you to see is Paul's attitude. Paul's attitude of grace in verse 18. Paul says but what does it matter? In our vernacular today we would say so what? So what? The important thing is, here it is, here's Paul's perspective of grace. The important thing is that in every way whether from false motives or true Christ is preached and because of this I rejoice. Yes and I will continue to rejoice. Now please understand what Paul's saying. Paul would not approve of the motives of these preachers who have self-seeking ambitions and so forth. He wouldn't approve of their motives but you know what? Motives are something for God to settle at the judgment seat of Christ. That's not what I need to be involved in. I don't need to spend my time. Nor should I waste my time or effort trying to straighten out everybody's motives or their methods that they use in ministry. Paul says there's something more important than that and the important thing is they're preaching Christ. They're preaching the gospel. I'll let Christ sort out their motives at the judgment seat but thank God they're preaching the gospel. People are hearing the gospel. People are being saved and I choose perspective. I choose to rejoice in that. I choose to focus on that which is most important. Now please understand that's not compromise on the part of Paul. If these guys have been messing with the message, Paul would have gone after him. He did go after people who did that. If they were trying to change the gospel, if they were not preaching Christ and Christ alone as the way of salvation, you know what Paul would have said? The exact same thing he said to the Galatians. Paul said to the Galatians, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. Now here's how Paul deals with that. But even if we or an angel from heaven, this is Galatians 1, 8 and 9, even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned. Did you hear that? Maybe not so Paul says I'm going to say it again. Verse 9, as we have already said, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel other than what you have accepted, let him be eternally condemned. So you mess with the message, Paul is going to come after you. You mess with the messenger, Paul says, I can let that go. I can just let that go. I'm thankful you're preaching Christ and some people are going to get saved through your ministry. I'll let Christ sort out the motive thing later on. But I'm thankful you're preaching the gospel, you're preaching Christ, you're doctrinally straight. But regardless of the other stuff, I'm thankful that people get saved through your ministry. All how we need that spirit of grace today. In so many fundamental Bible believing churches, there is so much criticism, so much critical spirit, so much cynicism, so much backbiting, so much division and taking sides over issues that are not the most important things. Issues like what translation you use or what music you use in your church services or what kind of worship style you have or what kind of evangelism, method of evangelism you use or your schedule of services, whether or not you have a Sunday night service or this guy. People choose sides and criticize and complain about those things all of the time. That's not the important stuff. The important stuff is that Christ is preached. You know what? We even have cults today, I call them cults, who follow certain preachers, just like Paul warned against in 1 Corinthians, because there are different preaching styles. The style I use in my preaching is expository preaching with a lot of application and illustration to make the truth very plain and clear. I believe in preaching through texts of Scripture pointing out the important words explaining the meaning of the passage, but then heavy application and illustration to make things clear. There are certain preachers in the country who are known for that kind of preaching. David Jeremiah, James MacDonald, Kent Hughes, those men have kind of been unofficial mentors to me. That's the way I like to preach. That's not the only way to preach the Word of God. For some other men who every sermon is a intense, in-depth Bible study, it's full of explanation, John MacArthur would be one of those kind of guys. I have most of his commentaries. I learn a lot from him. I don't preach that way. I've chosen not to, but I love the guy and he has a lot to offer. And then there are some other preachers who focus more on application. I've heard them enough to do in-depth preaching to know that they know the Word and they preach the gospel and they preach Christ, but they focus, especially in their weekend services on application like Rick Warren or Bill Hybles. And we have kind of personality cults today that say, well, I'm a Warren man or I'm a John MacArthur man or I'm a David Jeremiah man or I'm a Charles Stanley man. And I think of Paul were here. He would say exactly what he did to the Corinthians. Some of you say you like a Paulus better, some of you like Peter better, some of you even like me and some of you are so spiritual you don't like any preachers, you just say I follow Christ. Paul said the whole bunch of you are just causing disunity and division in the church. Stop it, stop it. Paul says and we need to stop it today. We need to rejoice in the fact that Christ is preached, the gospel is getting out, Rick Warren will reach some people I will never reach. I thank God for that. And Jack Hyles was alive. A lot of things I didn't agree with about his methods and so forth. He reached some people I would never reach. For each the gospel and they got saved, I'm thankful for that. One of the reasons why Jim prayed this morning for another church is as I was preparing this message and thinking about it and I mentioned it in the early service and Jim heard, I'd like for us to start praying in our pastoral prayer times for other churches in the community and pray God's blessing upon them and that they'll reach people because they'll reach people that we won't reach. As long as they're Bible preaching churches, they preach the gospel and they preach Christ. We're not in competition with anybody, folks. We're not building little kingdoms. Nobody in God's work should be doing that. Do you remember the names John Wesley and George Whitfield? Two great British preachers back in the 1700s. They had very different ideas on theology. Wesley was what we call an Armenian. He believed you could lose your salvation. Was a merely kind of weak on some things. But anyway, he preached the gospel and a lot of people got saved through his ministry, preached Christ. George Whitfield was a very strong Calvinist. Preached a lot about the doctrines of election and predestination and those kinds of things. But you know those two men worked closely together. They even traveled together to the states at one time to hold some meetings. They worked together in England. Someone one day, both of them were greatly used of God, by the way. Both of them had thousands of people come to Christ under their ministry. Somebody asked John Wesley one day, you think you'll see George Whitfield in heaven? And Wesley said, no, I don't. And the guy kind of backed up and was shocked and said, you mean you don't think he's a converted man? And Wesley said, oh yeah, of course he's a converted man. But I think Whitfield will be so close to the throne of God and I'll be so far away. I probably won't see him in heaven. You see, that's the spirit we ought to have. That's the kind of spirit we ought to have. The perspective of grace. To let some things go, as long as a person is preaching Christ and the gospel does doctrinally sound, their methods may be different than what we use. They may preach a little different style or whatever. Thank God if they're preaching Christ and if the people are being saved. I heard Andy Stanley tell this story at a moody conference one time. Andy Stanley, you know his father probably better than you know him, at least some of you would. His father's Charles Stanley. Andy ministered with him for a while and then Andy wanted to have a more contemporary kind of ministry and moved outside to a northern suburb of Atlanta, planted a church that now runs close to 15,000 and they're just winning all kinds of people to Christ. Andy Stanley told this story. He said he got a phone call one day and their church was very large and it creates huge traffic problems on Sunday morning for that area of North Atlanta and the city has tried to build in some other lanes and so forth but it's still a huge traffic problem in that part of town just for people getting to Stanley's church and so he got a phone call one day from another pastor. Pastor who pastors a very small church right across from where Andy Stanley's church is and the other pastor started out by telling Stanley said you know every Sunday morning when I'm trying to get to our church I get caught in your traffic jam and Stanley said oh no here it comes. I'm going to have a pastor die a tribe about somebody building a big shallow ministry that doesn't have any depth to it which is often a misconception of those kinds of churches. They don't look deep enough to see what all is going on under the surface. So Stanley was prepared to hear that criticism again and he said but the guy went on. He said I want you to know that every time I get stuck in that traffic I pray for your church and I pray for all the people that are making their way to your church and I pray that if some of them are lost they'll get saved and I pray that you'll be able to draw even more people and get more people to come to know Christ and I just pray for you and your message that morning and it's a good way for me to spend my time caught in your traffic jam. Stanley said he about dropped the phone at that point in the conversation and the guy went on to say I know you speak all over the country and everything but would you ever think about coming over and speaking at our church. Now that says a lot about that guy because here's Andy Stanley who speaks all over the world and he's going to come across our little church and everybody's probably going to go over to his church when he gets done speaking when they hear him you know but no he didn't feel that way. Would you ever consider coming over to speak at our church and to Stanley Stanley said through tears I told him I would be honored to come speak at your church and you did. No fanfare no big announcements or anything he just went and spoke with that little church 50 people or so. I wish we had more of that today. Wish we had less party spirit critical of this person and their methods and the way they do things and focus upon what Paul says the important thing is the important thing is they're preaching Christ and people are getting saved and I choose perspective of grace I choose to be gracious about those other things would differ on as long as they're doctorally correct as long as they're preaching the gospel preaching Christ I choose to rejoice in that and I'll continue to rejoice. That's the way this church ought to be about other churches. This is the way we ought to be about other preachers who are preaching the gospel. If they twist the gospel they deserve the condemnation that Paul gives the Galatians. But if they're preaching the gospel preaching Christ we can let a lot of other things go and we can be thankful for them and rejoice in the fact that they're reaching some people that we probably wouldn't reach here at Johnson Chapel. Well how do you see the things that happen to you? If you were writing this letter and you were to start it out I want you to know that whatever happened to me where would your pen go from there? What perspective do you have on whatever happens to you? Is it a perspective of faith? I can trust God no matter how rough it's been the last four years. Paul could have said I can trust God that all of this is for a good purpose God's God's letting me get the gospel into Caesar's palace. It's allowing me to encourage others. Forget about the bad food, everything else. You have that kind of perspective. And can we have the kind of perspective that says Lord I know you can use this in my life to help me encourage others when they go through similar hard times. Can you do that? Can I do that? Only by God's grace. Father, thank you for Paul for his ministry, for his spirit, for his perspective on the things that happened to him. Lord help us to have that same perspective of faith and perspective of grace that Paul exhibited. Pray that you would deliver us from the petty criticisms and party spirit that we so easily fall into. Help us to be people who have the right perspective and honor you with our attitudes and our spirit. May we show grace to others. May we show faith toward you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.