Rejoicing in Christ Proclaimed

Lord's Day Sermon

This sermon was preached at Ascension Reformed Church in Moscow, Idaho on August 9, A.D. 2026.

The Text

12 But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, 13 so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; 14 and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: 16 The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; 17 but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice (Philippians 1:12–18a NKJV).

Introduction

Last week we began this series in Philippians talking about our unity in Christ. That we are brought together both by and for the gospel. By this we mean that the gospel has saved us from the wrath due to our sin and brought us together as members of Christ’s body. And also that we have a united mission together, to see the gospel glorified and proclaimed both near and far. But as we see in our passage this morning, while this unity in Christ is in one sense a fundamental fact, we do not always maintain this unity outwardly very well. When pressure comes to a Christian community—whether it’s overt persecution, scandal, or very difficult trials—Christians will have different reactions and responses. By the grace of God, some believers grow in their faith and boldness, rallying together—but others begin to be tempted by various sins, such as envy and strife.

Summary of the Text

After opening his letter with thanksgiving and prayer for the church in Philippi, who have supported his ministry for the past decade, the Apostle Paul encourages them regarding his current situation in our passage this morning.

He writes that the things which have happened to him—arrest, and then transport and imprisonment in Rome—are actually serving to advance the gospel (v. 12). The Greek word translated as “advance” (prokopé) sounds very similar to the word for “hindrance” or “stumbling” (proskopé). This appears to be a play on words for his Greek hearers, as they would expect him to say that this persecution and his arrest have greatly hindered his ministry. But surprisingly, it’s the exact opposite. Paul explains that the two ways in which his imprisonment has been a blessing are that, first, the “whole palace guard” are aware that he is in chains for Christ, and, second, “most of the brethren in the Lord” have gained confidence to boldly “speak the word without fear” (vv. 13–14).

However, sadly that is not the case for everyone. While most of the Roman Christians are sincerely preaching Christ from goodwill, love, and truth, others are preaching insincerely from envy, strife, and self-ambition—hoping to even cause the Apostle Paul further harm (vv. 15–17). It may be hard to imagine what this looks like, and we will consider it later in more detail, but these preachers do not appear to be false teachers proclaiming a false gospel. Despite their apparent sin and bad motivations, the Apostle Paul is still able to rejoice in their message. So they appear to be misguided and sinful teachers, who nevertheless are preaching the same gospel as Paul.

Lastly, amazingly, rather than being dismayed by his suffering—persecuted by the civil authorities and even by those within the church—Paul simply rejoices that Christ is still preached, whether in pretense or in truth (v. 18).

God’s Purposes in Suffering

Now, it’s clear that the Apostle Paul is eager to assure the church in Philippi that the things which have happened to him have not hindered the gospel, but actually advanced it. Paul understands that this is not by chance but all in God’s providence. He arrived in Rome in chains because God had planned it for the spread of His glory.

This episode in Paul’s life and ministry began with his decision to go to Jerusalem on his third missionary journey. He was first warned by the brothers in Tyre not to go there. And then in Caesarea, a man named Agabus took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and prophesied, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of Gentiles.” Hearing this, both Paul’s companions and the brothers in Caesarea pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. Paul answered their cries by saying, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” To which they could only reply, “The will of the Lord be done” (Acts 21).

I had noted that last week the Apostle Paul introduced himself in this letter to the Philippians as a “slave of Jesus Christ.” And here again we see his ready service to his King. And so Paul continued to Jerusalem and was arrested in the temple. But he was not murdered there, despite his willingness to lay down his life. Although the crowds in Jerusalem cried out, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!” (Acts 22:22), God had another plan. Roman soldiers intervened and stopped the mob, and Paul appealed to the fact that although he was a Jew, he was also born a Roman citizen—both protecting him from torture and death in Jerusalem, but also affording him the right to appeal for a trial before Caesar in Rome.

And so while in custody, the Lord encouraged Paul one evening. Luke writes in Acts 23 that “…the Lord stood by him and said, ‘Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome’” (Acts 23:11). This was glorious news to Paul, for he understood his calling as an apostle to the Gentiles, to the pagan nations. As the Lord spoke earlier of Paul in Acts, “He is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.” Rome was the center of the Gentile world; it was the heart of the known world. And the Apostle Paul was certainly eager to proclaim Christ there himself for the first time.

Now, in God’s providence, Paul did not arrive in Rome as a free man as he once planned. He arrived bound in chains, prepared for trial. But it was precisely because of this providence that some of the most powerful men in Rome heard the gospel. Again, Paul writes in verse 13 that one way the gospel has advanced despite his imprisonment is that the whole palace guard now knew his chains were in Christ.

These are not just random soldiers or prison guards, or some sort of low-ranking men. The palace guards were the most elite group of Roman soldiers. They served as special bodyguards to protect Caesar. But not only that, this group of about 9,000 powerful soldiers at times exercised immense influence on Caesar. They assassinated Emperor Caligula and replaced him with Emperor Claudius. And after the death of Claudius, they helped Nero secure his reign until they decided to abandon him as well. So these were not just men with swords, but powerful and influential men with swords. The kind that could lift up emperors and also tear them down.

For two years, Paul had direct access to these high-ranking men in the Roman Empire. Acts 28 says that, “Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him” (28:30–31). In this house, Paul lived under constant Roman guard, chained to a soldier who watched over him. The soldiers likely rotated their watch in regular shifts, possibly every four hours.

You can imagine what those conversations were like. A guard might ask, “So what are you in for?” A soft ball lobbed at Paul. And he would say something, like, “I serve Jesus Christ the Lord. He died on a Roman cross but in three days rose from the dead for the forgiveness of sins; He is now exalted over all, and has sent me to the nations to proclaim this Good News to all who might believe…”

Who really is the prisoner here? The preacher has a captive audience with these Roman guards, and not only that, he had the freedom to receive guests, both Jews and Gentiles, in order to instruct them from the Scriptures. Rome believed that Caesar was Lord, and that they had this traveling preacher bound and in chains. He was under their control. But the Apostle Paul knew that Christ was Lord, that Rome was bound to Him, and that His good God was orchestrating every part of his affliction for the spread of the gospel.

This is how our God has always worked.

The Apostle Paul’s story here reminds us of an Old Testament character who experienced significant suffering as well. I am thinking of Joseph, who was sovereignly led through trials for the salvation of God’s people.

In Genesis, Joseph, the eleventh son of the patriarch Jacob, was envied by his brothers, thrown into a pit, and subsequently sold into slavery by them. Joseph then ended up as a slave in Egypt, experienced some success, suffered another setback in prison, but then eventually was exalted by Pharaoh to be his second in command over all his house and Egypt. This divine providence through suffering not only led to Joseph’s rise in power, but was the way God saved the people from famine, including his own brothers who had sold him into slavery. And so we have the famous words of Joseph at the end of Genesis to his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive” (Gen. 50:20).

What you meant for evil, God meant for good. You can hear an echo of that here in our passage this morning from the Apostle Paul, “the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.”

And so what you need to understand this morning is this: Our God is pleased to take the suffering of His people and turn it for their good and the good of the world. In fact, God not only turns it for your good, but He sovereignly works through it to that end. This is not simply a belief in “Happy Endings.” But an understanding that, as Elisabeth Elliot once wrote, “Suffering is never for nothing.” God does not waste the trials of His people, but He uses them for good. He uses them to magnify His Name. As our Lord Jesus once taught His disciples, “In this world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Paul was clearly aware of this truth, and he was eager for his readers to know it as well.

Responding to Suffering

Now, there were two different responses from the church in Rome to the imprisonment and suffering of the Apostle Paul.

Beginning with verse 14… “and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.”

The first group—the majority of the church—was emboldened by Paul’s example and earnestly preached the gospel.

Paul’s chains did not lead them to despair or discouragement, wondering if Paul was a true apostle or if the Lord was in control. Nor did his imprisonment cause them to shrink back in fear and hide. Rather, Paul says that his chains gave them confidence in the Lord. That word can also be translated as convinced or persuaded. What had happened to Paul urged them to speak the word boldly and without fear.

He also writes that they preached with goodwill and love. Their desire was not to compete with the Apostle Paul or cause him any sort of trouble or consternation. They genuinely desired to support him in his work.

This movement toward great boldness in the face of persecution is not uncommon in the church. From the beginning, this is how the Spirit has led God’s people.

In Acts 4, after the Apostles Peter and John were arrested and released, they returned to the church, and what was their response?

Turn with me to the story in Acts 4, where the Apostles Peter and John were arrested by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. They immediately turned to the Lord in prayer. And in that prayer they first acknowledged that all that has come to pass came from His sovereign hand.

Acts 4 reads, “So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: ‘Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: ‘Why did the nations rage, And the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the Lord and against His Christ.’ For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.”

The disciples understood that all of their lives were in God’s hand. They knew that they were merely characters in a grand story.

But the second thing they prayed for is at first somewhat surprising.

You’d expect them to ask the Lord for protection. For him to intervene and stop their persecutors. But instead, they prayed for boldness. Beginning again in verse 29, “‘Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.’ And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”

Their prayer was answered. In the face of opposition, the Spirit granted them the courage to preach the gospel boldly. This should be your response to opposition. This should be what you ask for from the Lord when you, or your family, or this church community faces trials.

Now you might be thinking… what persecution? We have it pretty nice here. We can’t in any meaningful way call our difficulties persecution.

On one hand, I do grant the point. There are many places in the world where our brothers and sisters are suffering severely for their faith. Where they are run out of their homes, raped, imprisoned, and killed for being Christian. We certainly are not experiencing that. We have many blessings in this nation. At the same time, we should not overlook the ways in which the Lord is trying His people in America.

I am thinking of things like the COVID lockdowns. Here in our community, we had members arrested at a psalm-sing for not complying with what we now know were unconstitutional laws. Or consider our Pastor Jonathan Parnell and our friends in Minneapolis at Cities Church—who had radical activists take over a Lord’s Day service, preventing them from worshiping and terrifying their children. And to this day they still are dealing with vile protestors. Or how about the saints at Christ Church DC—who are verbally assaulted by protestors as they walk into church every Sunday. And of course we all remember the murder of Charlie Kirk, whose faith was central to all of his work.

How has the church responded to such things? With joyful boldness.

That is the response I remember after the 2020 arrests here in town. And that is what I see from a distance from Pastor Parnell at Cities Church in Minneapolis and at Christ Church DC. As we witness faithful brothers and sisters suffer so that the gospel would go forth, we ought to be motivated, compelled, and convinced by the Spirit to go and do likewise. And so you could say these saints in Rome saw the Apostle Paul in prison, proclaiming the gospel even while in chains, and said, “How much more, Lord, should we do the same without chains!”

But that was not the only response to Paul’s imprisonment.

There was a second group—a minority—who were filled with envy and strife. They preached the gospel for their own gain, with self-ambition, and they even attempted to inflict further harm on the Apostle Paul. Now, we are not given more details regarding who these men were or what exactly they were up to beyond this. But there are some important details in this passage that at least give us some insight.

First, notice that the Apostle Paul says they preach the “gospel.” And this is a gospel that he actually rejoices in. One of the Apostle Paul’s chief concerns in his ministry is that the gospel be kept pure. In his letters, he does not refrain from hitting hard at those who would either subtract from or add to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We see this in Galatians 1:6–9, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.”

These men were teaching that in order to be justified, Gentiles had to be circumcised. And so later in the letter Paul says he wished these false teachers would just go all the way and mutilate themselves! This is not how Paul speaks of these brothers with sinful motivations in Rome. He seems to acknowledge that their message is the same message he preaches, despite their sins of envy and self-ambition. That is important to understand.

We are also not given a clear picture of how they are attempting to add affliction to Paul’s chains. If they are envious of his ministry, perhaps they are simply trying to take advantage of his imprisonment to bolster their own leadership positions. Maybe they hope he will become jealous of their freedom and despair. Or perhaps, in some twisted way, they hope that by continuing to preach, Paul would be treated even more poorly by the guards.

All of this seems very odd to us, but we must remember that we have a unique position, in that we can look back on the Apostle Paul’s office and ministry through the lens of inspired Scripture. But if you put yourselves in the shoes of a Christian in the early church, although Paul ought to have been received as a true apostle, he may have appeared to some as just another traveling preacher or missionary, one encroaching on their “territory,” leading to jealousy.

What these two responses teach us is this. It really is tempting for well-meaning Christians to distance themselves from those who publicly suffer or who are at the center of conflict with the broader culture.

The Christians in Rome were surely tempted to distance themselves from Paul the troublemaker. The church was already established before he set up shop in chains and under house arrest. Perhaps they feared being arrested themselves or being ostracized by family and friends for this new faith that they shared with this radical preacher.

Likewise, the Christians receiving this letter in Philippi could have been tempted to wonder if they should continue to support the Apostle Paul with their prayers and money. I mean, it would be natural to wonder how much he could be accomplishing under house arrest… Is he actually under God’s blessing if he’s in chains?

And these are the temptations that you most certainly face here in Moscow, where, as you know, controversies arise from time to time. You might feel embarrassed by the trouble or attention, or feel that maybe the conflict is really not conducive to the mission of the church. You might think that the ministry would be better off without such difficult associations. Couldn’t we all just tone this down a bit and act normal?

Now, I’m not saying we always get it right, never make mistakes, or that good Christians can’t disagree over best strategy. But if a faithful pastor or church member is undergoing trials for the truth, God is calling you not to shrink back from them, or to take up opposition against them. He is calling you to lean in, as these Roman Christians did for Paul, and to identify boldly with your brother or sister in the faith.

Responding to Opposition

So we have considered these two responses to observing suffering and persecution, but now we must consider how to respond to direct opposition itself. By this I mean, how do we deal with genuine Christians who preach the true gospel, but do so with selfish ambition or even in some kind of opposition to your own church’s ministry.

This is the question that Paul asks and answers at the end of our passage this morning, when he asks, “What then?” What does he think of these brothers who are seeking to harm him? What is the proper response to this situation?

There are four categories or types of opposition that you will encounter as a Christian.

The first category is simply that of unbelievers, and in particular, vocal unbelievers who actively oppose Christ and the gospel. These are revilers, men and women who hate God and His people. The kind of people who blast explicit music to drown out a psalm sing, or wave to Pastor Doug with one particular finger downtown, or spend their time posting slander online, or as my wife said she saw yesterday… stand in the middle of a block party with a sign instead of eating good food. These are people we need to reach with the gospel of Jesus Christ. These are enemies that we are called to love.

The second are those who claim to be Christian, but are actually false teachers and false brothers. These are people who pervert the gospel, who teach heresy, and whose ministries must be opposed and refuted.

The last two categories are the ones we are going to focus on, as they relate to our passage this morning. The third category is genuine brothers with serious sin and bad motives. These are the kinds of Christians Paul is dealing with in Rome. And the last category is sincere and sweet Christians who simply have different convictions, are ignorant, have believed false reports, or are simply cautious.

With regard to the last two categories, the Apostle Paul demonstrates that the proper response is, with humility, to forget yourself and to rejoice that in their lives and in their ministries the true gospel is preached anyway. Paul writes, “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.” Note that he does not commend their character or their manner of living, but he can commend Christ in their message.

I believe that when it comes to opposition to the men, ministries, and teaching here in Moscow—the Moscow project that has been labeled the “Moscow mood”—we are in a large part dealing with these two categories of people. Both locally and nationally, some of those who do not like us fall into this third category. They have a strong dislike—perhaps even hatred—for our pastors and teaching, and in a very real way they wish us harm. They are not generous or slow to listen, but rather appear to be rather envious and self-promoting. Many of these people are Reformed and Presbyterian brothers. On paper, we believe the same things. But in practice, there is a wide divergence in Christian living and practical application.

And so you might wonder – what are you to think of their broader ministry?

On the one hand, they might take occasional swipes at your own pastors and community, and on the other hand, they preach the true gospel, have wonderful congregations, and put out helpful resources. I believe Paul’s example here is what we should desire to imitate. We praise God—not for anything that we believe is sinful or wrongheaded—but we praise Him that Christ is still preached. That the gospel is going forth through the work of these men. That people are being saved through the work of their ministries. And that they have churches filled with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, who we will spend eternity with.

“What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.”

Now, when it comes to other local churches in our city, I believe we often find more of the fourth category—well-meaning believers who are simply misinformed or have different doctrinal convictions at the end of the day.

How should you respond to someone like that? How should you view them as you encounter them around town? I believe the answer is the same. You rejoice that Christ is in them and that Christ is preached in their church. You should seek to bless them and encourage them in the Lord, as God gives opportunities. Even if you yourself would not become a member of their church for various reasons—you can praise God for His people and the diversity of gifts among us.

One thing that attracted me to Moscow nearly a decade ago was that, while I could tell the pastors here had strong convictions and lived them out, there was a true catholic spirit here. There is a true, joyful willingness to work with others, despite any differences. There is a real sense that we’re happy to get along with genuine believers of all kinds. This is one reason why when we started the King’s Cross men’s prayer meeting, I put on a rotation of petitions for all the other evangelical churches on the Palouse and their pastors. Regardless of what they might think of us, we want to have love and affection toward them as fellow Christians.

So I encourage you, as you’re out and about, not to shy away from connecting with people who attend these evangelical churches. Despite any real differences that we have with each other, we can praise that Christ is proclaimed from multiple pulpits and churches in our city every Lord’s Day.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we must understand that in all of this, the Apostle Paul was simply imitating his Lord. He was a slave of Christ, following His Master—the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we will read in a few weeks, he was striving to have the mind of Christ. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus… who humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2). And it was this death that led God the Father to exalt Him above every name.

Paul also wrote to the Philippians that it was actually his desire to share in Christ’s sufferings, in order that he would also share in His resurrection. Paul was simply willing to endure all things—to go through any hardship—for the sake of the elect. That they would hear the gospel and be saved (2 Tim. 2:10).

The Apostle Paul understood this, which gave him confidence even in the midst of his trials. He knew that the salvation of the world came through suffering. God redeemed the world through the life—and death—of His only begotten Son. Until that final Day when Christ returns, the kingdom will advance in this way, with suffering before glory.

As the late Christian historian Herbert Schlossberg once wrote, “The kingdom of God moves from triumph to triumph, with all of them clearly disguised as disasters.”

This is God’s signature move. Death and resurrection—all designed and carried out by God’s sovereign and loving hand.