And
I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has
helped to spread the Good News. For everyone here,
including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. And
because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s
message without fear. It’s
true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. They
preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the
Good News. Those
others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not
sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. But
that doesn’t matter. Whether their
motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either
way, so I rejoice. And I will continue
to rejoice. Philippians 1:12-18
(NLT)
People see things through different lenses. Jed and his buddy Gomer had been out of work
for a good while. Then they heard of the
problem with the wolf population preying on Southern Mediterranean sheep
flocks. There was a bounty of $150 on
each wolf hide. They gathered their gear
and headed off to make big bucks.
They didn’t see so much as a track for
days. Then, one night, just after they’d fallen asleep by the campfire, Jed was awakened by a low growl. When he opened his eyes there were 150 pairs
of evil yellow eyes staring at him from every angle. Jed broke into a grin, poked his buddy and
said, Gomer…wake up man, we’re rich!
It is hard to look at some circumstances and
not think, Boy, God sure messed that one up! I have had extended conversations with
unbelievers who cite natural tragedies like hurricane Katrina, Tsunami’s or the
AIDS epidemic as reasons why there cannot be a God. Deep down, they know that’s foolishness; they
just cannot reconcile why God allows some things to happen. Their perspective of how God ought
to act doesn’t allow for human beings’ poor choices. Sometimes it just looks like God’s asleep at
the switch; it appears that He’s just failing to do His job as God.
It’s true – sometimes we just don’t get what
God is up to. But things are not always
as they appear.
Near the end of World War II the American
beloved president Franklin Roosevelt died.
It was difficult for Harry Truman to fill his shoes. When the war was over, America craved
change. It didn’t look good for Harry
Truman’s bid to be elected.
That November election night in 1948 everyone
went to bed having read the newspaper headlines confidently announcing Mr.
Dewey as the winner. Thomas Dewey would
be the next president of the United States.
But somebody forgot to tell the voters that,
and Harry Truman spent the next four years in the house at the end of
Pennsylvania Avenue.
There are a lot of apparent failures
in history:
· Abraham
Lincoln lost many an election on the way to winning the presidency in 1860.
· Thomas
Edison found thousands of ways to NOT make a light bulb before he lit things
up.
· Babe
Ruth struck out twice as many times as he hit home runs.
But the most notable and most abject apparent
failure in history was Jesus of Nazareth.
· Jesus
was not really popular or particularly well-liked apart from his very close
followers. In fact, after one of his
sermons everybody left except
the twelve disciples.
· Jesus
was a political failure; he was rejected at every level of government; then
they conspired to kill him.
· He
had no wealth, holdings, world headquarters; he didn’t build a Christian
amusement park or host a TV talk-show.
· In
the end it was one of his closest friends who betrayed him to the
authorities.
But the most compelling piece of “failure
evidence” is the cross. When they took
Jesus down from the cross, he was dead – stone-cold dead! This was a man who talked of eternal life and
kingdoms. What a failure!
But the language and measuring stick of the
world is not the same as that of the Gospel.
After Good Friday, on Sunday, there was no talk of failure. There was no talk of failure on the day of
Pentecost, when the power of God fell on all the friends of Jesus. What we celebrate today at the table, where
we remember the cross and tomb is seen by the world as “fools remembering a
fool”. But we sing Victory in Jesus.
Throughout the past twenty centuries, those
who have followed Jesus, and been his most useful servants, have also been seen
by the world as failures.
Paul was certainly one of those. After a career of riots, imprisonments,
threats, beatings and shipwrecks, Paul was confined to the nastiest Roman
prison imaginable. People were saying
bad things about him. He was not able to
defend his character, or his leadership.
By worldly standards the life of Paul was a miserable failure! But Christian followers hold a different view
of what was happening.
By definition the word “failure” means to
fall short in an attempt to accomplish a goal or set of goals. Paul saw what was happening as a great
success, because his goal of spreading the gospel, the Good News of Jesus, in
the most efficient way possible, was being accomplished.
Rome was the center of the world back then,
and the Roman emperor held the reigns of worldwide power.
Paul was arrested and shackled to Roman
soldiers. That put him in a position to share Christ with the whole Praetorian Guard, the emperor's select personal
army. What better platform from which to
preach Jesus?
On top of that, his imprisonment was the
inspiration that some believers needed to “come out of the Christian
closet" and begin witnessing boldly.
Sometimes we use the world's measuring stick,
standards which lead us to believe that God has somehow failed – that
Christianity doesn't work in the 21st century. Because we do not see like God sees, what we
call “failures” are only apparent failures.
We need to see things as God sees things.
The Bottom-Line
Way of Looking at Things
In Paul’s circumstance there was mixed
reaction also. Some of the church folks
got bold and preached Christ out of love (both for Christ and Paul); some
preached in a cynical attempt to add to Paul's problems. They were looking to capitalize on the
publicity about Paul, and make a little profit.
What did Paul think about such
goings-on? Paul knew the goal of
spreading the gospel was happening. And
it caused one thing to happen in him - he REJOICED! And he promised to keep on rejoicing.
While the world looks on and says power,
prestige, position, money, sex, things – these are the important issues of life;
God looks down from heaven and whispers, My ways are higher than your ways.
The bottom line assessment is that it is
God's kingdom - we are servants. In the long view, it really doesn't matter
what the details are concerning our comfort and personal circumstances. If Christ is preached, we must rejoice.
This morning, we celebrate the professions of
faith and baptisms of those who have responded to the bold mission advance of
the Gospel of Christ.
We also celebrate the table – God’s “Jesus
memorial” – commemorating Christ’s sacrifice that makes our new birth and
eternal life a reality.
The world largely says “God has failed”.
This morning we say, “Not for me!”
Father, our greatest joy is
the anticipation of hearing ‘well-done, thou good and faithful servant’. Grant us the ability to see the richness of a
bold advance in the Gospel, even in our weakest circumstances.
We pray in the Name of the
Father, Because of the Son, Cooperating with the Spirit…Amen!
