"Magnifying Christ"
Philippians 1:9-20

October 15, 2006
by C.W. Powell

“9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
12 But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;
13 So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;
14 And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will:
16 The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds:
17 But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel.
18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.
19 For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.” (Php 1:9-20 av)

Last week we looked at this wonderful prayer of Christ for the church: That their love would abound more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. True love, you see, never exists apart from other things: where love abounds, then knowledge and judgment (discernment) abounds. It is not love that acts randomly and irresponsibly; but where true love abounds, there also knowledge and discernment abound. One of my chief gripes is the bumper sticker that urges us to do random acts of kindness and love. Real love will have knowledge and judgment.

The purpose for this abounding love, is that they might be able to approve the things that are excellent. Love produces the ability to discern between less and more; between good and bad; between good things and excellent things. If they were able to do this, then they would be sincere (without being phony) and without offense till the day of Christ.

I pointed out that if their love abounded more and more, they would be filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. This brought us back to verse 5; for it is in the fellowship of Jesus Christ through the Gospel that we are made partakers of the Holy Spirit--the "he" in verse 6, who begun a good work in us, until the day of the Jesus Christ.

So these "fruits of righteousness" are nothing more or less than the fruit of the Spirit that Paul spoke of in his letter to the Galatians: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law.

It is in union with Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit that we are enabled to abound in love, and so bring forth the fruits of righteousness. We are not united to Jesus Christ because we are righteous; we are made righteous because we are united to Jesus Christ. This union is by faith, and through the work of the Holy Spirit.

So we come to the next verses.

vs. 12. But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; Paul does not want the church at Philippi to be discouraged because he is in prison. To Paul, the gospel was everything. It would be very easy for the Christians at Philippi to reason thus: It is really going to hurt the cause of Christ for Paul to be in prison. What is that going to do to the preaching of the Gospel?

How different is Paul's response! He did not ask, "What is going to happen to me?" He did not ask: How is this or that going to affect me, but how is this or that going to affect the Gospel? The advance of the Gospel was always Paul's first concern--not what happened to him.

vs. 13. So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; In realty, his imprisonment has worked for the furtherance of the Gospel. It had served as a way of clearing obstacles: like a pioneer cutting his way through the brush; or an engineer removing obstacles for the advancement of the troops.

II Tim. 2:9: Though Paul was bound, yet the word of God was not bound, and it received a tremendous push forward by Paul's imprisonment. Here is a great lesson: the Gospel has never been impeded by the tribulations and trials that God's people endure. That principle is so firmly embedded in the whole of Scripture that it must be only our selfishness and love of ease that causes us to miss it. Now, my agenda might be impeded. My selfish desires; my program may suffer loss through persecution and tribulation; but the cause of Christ is never made lame by the sufferings of the saints. Rather, in this is seen the Cross of Christ, and it is in the Cross of Christ that the power of the gospel lies.

Paul was under constant guard. The guards relieved each other; hence, many of them came into contact with Paul, and the power of his witness. They became witnesses of Paul's gospel. How different Paul was from the ordinary political adventurers they were used to guarding. "He has done no wrong; but is suffering only from his connection to Jesus Christ, whose gospel he proclaims. The gospel became the talk of the town. For the agenda of the gospel, nothing better could have happened. this made Paul glad.

vs. 14-18 And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: 16 The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: 17 But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. 18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.

Paul's imprisonment encouraged others to be bold. Paul, when he came to Rome first preached to the Jews, and some believed. Many other Gentiles believed, and the church grew greatly. So there were Jewish churches in Rome, and Gentile churches, but no doubt a bond between them.

When Paul came as a prisoner, it seems that many disassociated themselves from Paul, looking to their own interests, and not to the interests of the Gospel. They were frightened, because becoming too closely identified with Paul might mean they would go down with him. So Paul in other places in this epistles, warns the brethren to look out for one another, and not just for your own things, and not to be terrified of the adversaries.

At his trial, all of these forsook him. (II Tim. 4:16). The trial was over, and Paul was awaiting sentencing. From Paul's steadfastness and courage, the others took heart also. "Many" or "Most" of the brethren were becoming more bold, energized through Paul's example.

Two groups of preaching was taking place, because of Paul's witness.

vs. 15 First: some were preaching Christ of envy and strife. These were not false prophets; these were not corrupters of the Gospel. What they said was true; but they were saying it from the wrong motive and the wrong reasons. They were filled with envy and strife. These, perhaps, were preachers who had been in Rome long before Paul arrived. Paul's zeal and steadfastness, perhaps, made them look bad. They were now trying to recoup their lost prestige and power.

"Envy" means the displeasure we feel when we see the success of others. They didn't like the attention Paul was getting. They wanted some of the attention themselves. They wanted to take some of the prestige away from Paul and attach it to themselves. What? could this be in this pure age of the church, that ministers would look out for themselves? Ministers often have had mixed motives in the preaching of the gospel. To take credit for themselves. The result might even be more affliction for Paul, but they didn't care as long as their selfish ambition was achieved. Paul is not talking of false teachers here, but of those who preach the true Gospel with bad motives. The church has always had such.

Second: Others had good will--true affection for Paul and preached with sincere and good motives. Because they were motivated by true love, they did not envy Paul, but could love and support him, even though no fame or prestige attached to them.

vs. 18. What really matters, then. Christ is preached. Most of the hearers would not be able to discern the envy and strife in the envious preachers. Their pretense would not be found out. People would be added to the church, they would be edified by the Gospel, and the church would grow. The envy and the pride of place would have very bitter fruit in the history of the church, for from this desire for honor and power and prestige would arise the terrible papacy that shed so much blood over the history of the church, but that was yet in the future. For the time being, Christ was preached, and Paul rejoiced in that.

Paul would not allow his personal feelings to blind him to the real issues: the gospel was being preached, and that was the only thing that really mattered. He would come to his own prospects later on in this chapter, but for now, He could rejoice in the preaching of the Gospel, even if some were doing it for the wrong reasons. The Lord will sort the reasons out in the last days.

Paul would not have rejoiced if these men had been corrupting the gospel. There is no hint of this at all. Christ was preached, and that rejoiced the heart of Paul. What a great man he was!!

vs. 19. For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The fellowship of the saints is reciprocal. You pray for me, and I will pray for you. Paul had prayed for them in verses 9-11, now he is confident that their prayers would be effective for him.

Some of the elements of prayer:
1. Human factor: their prayers for him.

2. Divine factor: the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Paul never separates the Spirit from Jesus Christ. The fullness is in Jesus Christ; and the Spirit draws of that fullness to supply the saints. The supply: the supply. See Phil. 4:19. My God will supply all your need: physical; mental; emotional; financial; moral; spiritual. How? In the fellowship of the Gospel. In Jesus Christ. In Christ dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily.

3. Paul's salvation: the same as ours. That in our bodies (the body as a whole: the instrument of life) Christ is magnified.

"Present your bodies" a living sacrifice is the way Romans 12 puts it. Here is a wonderful illustration of what Paul said. If you are going to magnify Christ, it must be in your body. Your body is the instrument that God has given you to live your life. It is there you must glorify God. You worship God in your soul and heart; but you live the Christian life in your body.

There is a sense in which all of us are called to a kind of martyrdom. Paul says in Romans 12 that we are to present our bodies as living sacrifices; “I am crucified with Christ, he said. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. You are not your own, you are bought with a price. You are to sacrifice your desires, your pride, your selfishness, to the glory of God, the good of others, and the advance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. May God bless you.

Amen and Amen.