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CHAIN REACTIONS

Journey Into Joy, Part 2

April 27, 2008

Pastor Bob Sanders

One of God’s marvelous saints was a Dutch woman named Corrie ten Boom.  Some of you remember her book (and movie) called The Hiding Place which told the story of how her family was arrested by the Nazis for sheltering Jews in their home, how she endured the death camps, and how after the war she become a tireless worker for the Lord Jesus Christ around the world.  In speaking to groups, she would say that the events of our lives can be viewed in one of two ways, and to illustrate what she meant she would hold up a piece of finished needlepoint stitchery.  When you look at the underside of a piece of needlepoint, what do you see?  A mess, that’s what – a tangle of knotted and twisted yarn with no apparent pattern or design. 

And she would say sometimes that’s how life appears to us – especially times of pain and disappointment.  It appears to be all confusion and chaos, without any purpose or plan.  But there is another side to the needlepoint.  If you turn it over, those same pieces of yarn come together to create an intricate, beautiful picture.  When we only see the underside, with its tangles and knots, we might begin to think that’s all there is to our lives.  But from God’s perspective these same events are being formed by his design into a pattern of beauty and wonder.  It all depends, Corrie would say, on which side we choose to look at.

Keep that needlepoint image in mind as we think about Paul’s words to the Philippians this morning.  As we’ll see, there are two sides to the picture, two ways to view the circumstances of Paul’s life.  On the one side, he is in jail, chained to a pair of Roman guards.  He’s about to be put on trial for his life, and the verdict could go either way.  He could be executed in a matter of days, his brilliant career snuffed out.  From this viewpoint, the circumstances of Paul’s life look very tangled indeed.  But like the needlepoint, there is another side, one of pattern and purpose, and that’s the side Paul is able to see.  It’s what we’re calling his “chain reaction” – not defeat and despair but confidence and even rejoicing.  Let’s listen to how he puts it in our reading this morning:

Philippians 1:12-26

12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.

15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18 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, 19 for I know that through your prayers and God's provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.  20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.

These words describe not so much what has happened to Paul but rather what has happened through Paul – through his imprisonment, through his chains.  See, for Paul it’s not the circumstances but what God can do through the circumstances that makes the difference.  In verse 12 he writes, “I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.”  The Greek word he uses for “advance” refers to clearing away brush and trees so that an army could move forward unhindered.  What an amazing statement: to say that his chains are no obstacle or impediment but are actually a means of advancing the gospel.  How so?  Paul suggests three ways this has taken place.  Because of his chains, new possibilities have been opened.  Because of his chains, new power has been released.  Because of his chains, a new perspective has been revealed.  Let’s look briefly at each of these as we think about Paul’s chain reaction.

New Possibilities

First, Paul’s imprisonment has led to a series of new possibilities.  In verse 13 he says “the whole palace guard” has learned that Paul is a prisoner for Jesus Christ.  The palace (or praetorian) guard was the elite military unit of its day, a hand-picked corps of Roman soldiers attached to the emperor’s headquarters in Rome.  Paul is literally chained to these guards, day and night.  They served in shifts and different units would be rotated in and out so that in the two years Paul was in Rome a lot of these palace guards wound up spending time chained to him – to the greatest missionary who ever lived.  They heard Paul speaking with other believers about the Lord Jesus.  They listened as he prayed for people he loved around the world.  Maybe they overheard him dictating one of his letters to the churches.  An early church historian wrote that as the months went by, more and more of Paul’s guards had to be relieved of that duty because they kept becoming Christians.  And that wouldn’t have happened apart from those chains.  Far from limiting Paul, they were links which connected him to new possibilities for advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I wonder what the outcome would be if someone were chained night and day to you or to me.  What would they observe in our lives?  What would they learn about our deepest convictions?  The fact is there are people bound to us in life’s relationships – connected to us not with chains but with ties of loyalty and responsibility – people who live with us and near us, people for whom we work or who work with us.  Do we realize the possibilities for Jesus Christ in these connections?  God has linked you and me to these persons for a reason.  What impact are we making on them?  They may know all about our politics, our temperament, our favorite food or movies or music.  I wonder if they know anything from us about the center of life itself – Jesus Christ.  I wonder if those connections are serving to advance the gospel.

New Power

In verse 14 we find a second aspect of Paul’s chain reaction: a new power has been released.  Look at what he says:

Because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.

When Paul arrived in Rome as a prisoner, most of the believers in that city were paralyzed in fear.  They were afraid – afraid to speak openly about their faith, afraid of being identified with Jesus Christ, afraid of being ridiculed or rejected or arrested.  If Paul could be taken out, what about them?  So they went underground.  They became a secret society, a band of frightened and anonymous believers lurking in the shadows.

But Paul says something changed.  A new power, a new confidence had come upon them and they began to proclaim the gospel without fear.  What made the difference?  Paul’s chains.  Strange to say, but maybe the best thing Paul could do for them was to get arrested and then show them how the power of God works even from a jail cell.  It wasn’t the last time that would happen.  Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote some of his most stirring words from a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama back in 1963.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer did some of his best work locked up in a Nazi prison.  Was it the sight of Paul’s chains that put some backbone into these Roman Christians?  That got them to quit apologizing for Jesus Christ and start sharing with others what he had done for them?  Seems like it.  A new power was released.

No, it wasn’t working perfectly.  Paul admits that some of them preached Christ out of envy and rivalry, out of selfish ambition.  There was some definite competition going on – and sad to say it still goes on today between different Christian groups, different churches.  But plenty of others proclaimed Christ out of goodwill and love.  For Paul, the bottom line is that the gospel is going public.  People are out there talking about Jesus.  And because of that, says Paul, I rejoice.

I find this fascinating.  As long as Paul was free to carry on his ministry, many early believers figured that since Paul was doing such a fine job spreading the gospel, there was no need for any of them to step up and speak out.  It was only when Paul was out of the picture, when Paul was locked up in jail that some of them realized they had a responsibility to get out and share the good news of Jesus Christ. 

I wonder if Paul isn’t saying something like this: I know you Philippians are worried sick about me, and I appreciate your concern.  But you need to understand, it’s not about me.  I’m not the center of the church.  Jesus Christ is.  And Jesus Christ is not in prison.  So quit thinking it all depends on what happens to me.  Quit thinking the future of the church depends on whether Paul is here or not.  Because no church can survive (dare I say it?) built around the preacher.  Preachers come and preachers go – good ones and bad ones, young ones and old ones.  But it’s not about the preacher, Paul says.  It’s about Jesus Christ. 

Are you hearing me?  I’m saying that too often the work of sharing Jesus Christ is neglected by “ordinary” believers, “amateur” Christians, and left to the “professionals” like me.  As long as the preacher is doing his or her job, that takes the rest of the congregation off the hook.  They can sit back and pay the preacher to do the proclamation.  Someone once described a professional football game this way: 50,000 people desperately in need of exercise watching 22 people desperately in need of rest.  Sounds like a lot of churches I’ve known.  Look, sharing Jesus Christ can never be left to the professionals.  It’s something every believer is called to do.  And the church here in Lake Grove, just like the church there in Rome, needs more of its people sharing the good news of Jesus Christ in natural ways, inviting our neighbors to come to church with us, yes, but also praying for them and looking for ways to share with them what the Lord has done for us.  When more of us are willing to do that, willing to share Jesus Christ, new power is released.

New Perspective

So here’s Paul’s chain reaction.  He’s imprisoned in chains, on trial for his life.  But where others see only limitations, Paul sees new possibilities.  He’s got half the palace guard converted already.  Where others see crippling fear, he sees new power.  More and more believers are out there sharing Christ.  And one thing more.  Where others see defeat and discouragement, Paul sees a new perspective.  Yes, the future is uncertain.  He might die tomorrow or he might live for another twenty years.  But it doesn’t matter, because his center, that which he lives for, isn’t touched by it – not by this prison cell, not by these chains, and not by the threat of imminent death.  Paul has this perspective, this definition of life that enables him to face anything. 

Look at verse 21.  It’s one of the shortest verses in the Bible, but definitely one of the most powerful (and well worth memorizing):

For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. 

Imagine I handed you a piece of paper, and at the top of the page are the words, “To me, to live is . . .” and the rest is blank for you to fill in as honestly as you can.  What would you write?  What is the most important thing, the center of your life?  For some it would be, “To me, to live is accumulating wealth, building up financial security, providing for my family’s future.”  Others would write, “To me, to live is my career, succeeding in my work, moving up the professional ladder.”  To still others it might be marriage and family: “To me, to live is my kids.”  It might be health or personal appearance.  It might be recognition or fame.    

When you get really honest with yourself, what’s at the center of your life?   

Paul says his center is Jesus Christ.  “To me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  Look, if the center of my life is financial security or career success or family relationships or personal appearance, then that means dying can never be gain.  Because in dying I’ll leave all those behind.  But if Christ is the center of my life, if Christ is what I most want, then dying will be gain.  Because when I die, I get more of Christ.  Paul knows his earthly life may be nearing its end.  But though he loves his life and loves his friends and loves his ministry, Paul’s life is not centered on any of those.  His life is centered on One who met him on the road to Damascus, who turned him inside out with amazing grace, and who never let him go, the One who began a good work in him and who will bring it to completion, the risen Savior, the Lord of life, Jesus Christ.  And so he can say to his Philippian friends, “Look whatever happens, whether it’s living and doing ministry or dying and going to be with the Lord, it’s all the same to me.  Because to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

What about you?  What is your center?  Is it your job?  Is it your finances, your possessions?  Is it your family?  These are all good things, and we should be grateful for a good job, a comfortable lifestyle, a healthy family.  But none of these is worthy of the center of your life.  We need something bigger, something greater, something that will challenge and transform us, something that will grab hold of us now and keeps us into eternity. 

We need Jesus.  The real Jesus.  We need the Jesus who saves us from sin and death.  And we need the Jesus who calls us to follow him into the suffering and sorrow of this needy world.  We need the Jesus who gives us life that begins now and carries on after we die.  That’s what Paul found and that’s what kept him going right to the end.  And it’s what keeps some of us going: this joyful, passionate, abundant life found only in Jesus Christ.  A number of you were here for the memorial service of Ollie Porter – that Christ-filled, joyful saint of a man.  And if you were here that day, you’ll remember the quote one of his daughters read that captured Ollie’s perspective so well:

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty, well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming, WOW!  WHAT A RIDE!

Or as Paul puts it,

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

* * * * *

As we saw in the beginning, there are two ways to look at the events of life.  As Paul reflects on his chains his reaction is not, “Why has God allowed this terrible, limiting thing to happen to me?” but rather, “How can God work through these chains for his purposes?”  Most of us haven’t spent much time in a jail cell, but as I look around I know that a number of us find ourselves locked to some difficult and challenging circumstances – health issues, family struggles, job uncertainty, financial problems.  Like Paul, we cannot change our circumstances.  But like Paul we have a choice on how we face them, on what we do with them. 

We don’t have to give in to despair, to fear, to defeat.  There are two sides to the needlepoint.  Our circumstances may appear tangled and knotted, without pattern or purpose.  But what we see in Paul is this unshakeable conviction that the Lord is still there, still in charge, and still working out his plan even in what seems like a hopeless tangle to us. 

The question is: which side will you choose to focus on?  What will be your chain reaction?