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My God and My Neighbor is a “Bible talk show” that looks at religious issues, Christian living and world events in light of the Word of God to give hope. This podcast is a ministry of Tennessee Bible College. TBC offers a bachelor's in Bible studies, a master of theology, and a doctorate of theology in apologetics and Christian evidences. TBC also provides Christian books, audio recordings on the Bible, and free Bible courses in English and Spanish. Tune in to My God and My Neighbor to experience the educational content that TBC has been delivering for nearly five decades!
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Hi, I’m Kerry Duke, host of My God and My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee Bible College, where we see the Bible as not just another book, but the Book. Join us in a study of the inspired Word to strengthen your faith and to share what you've learned with others.
Do you believe that God is able to bring good out of a bad situation? Do you believe that God can turn a painful experience into a blessing?
Paul did. He saw it happen many times in his life. Here’s one of them in Philippians chapter 1. “But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me, have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel” [Philippians 1 verse 12]. He didn’t say I want you to know about all the bad things that happened to me. They already knew that. They saw Paul mistreated the first time he came to their city in Acts chapter 16. He and Silas were arrested, beaten and thrown into prison. And now Paul is in prison again – this time in the city of Rome. That’s why Paul doesn’t go into a lot of detail here about his persecution. These Christians were well aware of what he was going through.
But what he teaches them is that his troubles were not the end of the story. As human beings, we tend to think the worst when something bad happens. As we sometimes say, we’re just waiting for the next shoe to drop. But throughout this book, it is amazing to watch Paul talk about one hardship after the other, and yet he sees the good that comes out of it all.
When Paul was put into prison in the city of Philippi, he didn’t stay long. So the Christians in that city and in other places didn’t lose heart. They knew Paul would just keep on preaching. They depended on that. They took encouragement from Paul’s example. But this time it’s different. He was a prisoner of the Roman government for several years. That means he was not able to visit these churches and encourage them like he did before. That means he couldn’t go to new places and preach the gospel. When Paul was taken out of circulation, so to speak, it left a big void in the Lord’s church. What could he do sitting in a guarded house in Rome ? What were the churches that depended on him supposed to do? It just seemed, from a human point of view, that what happened to Paul would be a big hindrance to the spread of the gospel.
But Paul said to these Christians that he wanted them to understand that didn’t happen. In fact, just the opposite happened. Instead of hindering the gospel, the bad things that happened to Paul actually furthered the Gospel!
How could that be? Paul answers beginning in verse 13. He said, “So that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ” [Philippians 1 verse 13]. Picture his situation in Rome. He is a prisoner under house arrest. Soldiers are guarding him. Sometimes they have to take him to appear in court. They have to escort him. And when they do, people see him. And people then were just like people today. They were curious as to what this prisoner had done. But they found out that he was not like a lot of the other prisoners. He wasn’t a thief or a murderer. He was a Jew, a highly trained Jew, who had joined a new movement that started in Judea. They found out why he was in chains. It was for Christ, the one called Jesus of Nazareth.
Paul said that the whole palace guard found out about why he was a prisoner. How many times have you heard the word Praetorian guard when you’re watching a movie about ancient Rome or reading about it? The words palace guard here in Philippians chapter 1 verse 13 is from the Greek word praetorian. The soldiers learned about Paul. And from there, we will never know exactly how far the word spread. We do know that people all the way to the household of the emperor found out about this prisoner called Paul. And we know that some of them became Christians. At the end of this book, Paul said, “All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar’s household” [Philippians 4 verse 22]. The household of Caesar can include the family of the emperor. But it can also include the servants, both men and women, who work for the emperor. Remember at this time that the Caesar was one of the most wicked men in history. His name was Nero. When you think about all that stood in the way of the progress of the gospel, it seems amazing that it could spread so rapidly into so many places. But when you think about the power of God, it shouldn’t be amazing at all.
If Paul hadn’t been arrested, this would not have turned out the way it did. Those soldiers wouldn’t have seen him and asked questions about him and learned about Jesus and the gospel. This is what Paul wants these Christians to understand. He wants them to remember this. God can take bad things, even the seemingly worst things, and turn them to good.
Think about how incredible this is. Paul is at the mercy of the most powerful nation on earth. He doesn’t have any influence to sway Roman officials. He sees the strength of their military. The Romans had conquered nations all around them. They seemed invincible. How could an obscure movement like Christianity, composed of poor people and slaves among others, make any difference? But it did. Not by any wealth or power or skill or intelligence Christians had, but by the power of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. And now that gospel has penetrated both the military and the government of one of the most powerful nations in history. And Paul did that by the grace of God, without bending the ear of a Roman senator. He did it without standing in the Forum and shouting at everybody that walked by. And, he did it without the internet.
But that’s not all. That’s just the first good thing that came out of Paul’s bad situation. The second thing he mentions is in 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.” Now he talks about the effect his trials had on the inside—on the church. Again, if you try to put yourself in the place of the Christians in the first century, how would you have felt when you found out that Paul had been arrested and then to know that he’s still a prisoner after several years? Would you be afraid? I think you would. Christians were being arrested right and left. The Jewish government was killing Christians and the Roman government was trying to figure out what to do with these people. That’s why Paul was detained for so long. Of course, just a few years after Paul wrote this letter, the madman at the helm of the Roman Empire declared his own personal war against Christians. And even though that hasn’t happened yet, it was still a frightening time for these early members of the church. Think of it this way. The Lord’s church is an army and Christians are soldiers. That’s an image Paul uses several times in his letters. Now what happens when one of the main leaders of an army is taken prisoner? How do the rest of the soldiers feel about that? This is what happened to the early church. Paul was one of the great leaders in the church. Those early Christians may have thought, “If they can do this to the apostle Paul, what about the rest of us?”
We know what happened when Jesus was arrested. That scared the disciples so bad they fled. Peter was so afraid he denied Jesus three times even though he had made the strong claim that he would never do that.
So what did Paul say about the effect his imprisonment had on the brethren? Did they stop preaching the gospel? Did they hide? No. They continued to preach the gospel. But they didn’t just preach. They were more bold than ever. How could that be? Paul said not only that they were bold, but that they were “much more bold to speak the gospel without fear.” What a compliment to these brothers. They didn’t back down.
You see how strong Christians are when they are tested. You see how strong your faith is when you’re really put to the test. Sometimes we’re surprised at other people. There are some that you think are strong, but they’re some of the first ones that back down and compromise when trouble comes. Then there are others that you didn’t think we’re so strong, but they end up being some of the strongest Christians when a crisis strikes. We learn over the years that our assessment of others is not as good as we think it is. We certainly learn that we’re not a good judge of our own character. We think we’re strong and then we learn we’re not as strong as we thought we were. Or, we feel like we’re weak, but we’re much stronger than we realized. The only way you can know is to be tested.
Paul said his persecution brought out the good in the brethren. They didn’t quit preaching. They didn’t make apologies when they spoke or avoid controversial subjects. They spoke with more courage and clarity than ever.
Did you notice what gave them this courage? Where did they get this renewed confidence? It wasn't because of something Paul said to them. It was because of what he did. I'm not talking about all the people that heard Paul preach. I'm not talking about all the people he baptized. Sure, he had great success in that way. And that's always encouraging to see today. But Paul didn’t say these brethren were uplifted and inspired by the great things he did. He said they were encouraged by what others did to him—the bad things they did to him. He said in verse 14 that they became “confident by my chains” —not discouraged, but confident. Confident that if he could do it they could do it. Confident that the Lord would bless them if they were persecuted. Confident that good would come from their labor just like it did with Paul’s.
This is a great lesson for us today. When you see Christians going through their bad times and keeping their head up and staying faithful to God, it doesn't just give you hope. It gives you courage. When you see a woman who has lost her husband of many years going to church and doing things for others like visiting the sick and taking food to families who are having a crisis, her actions themselves leave an indelible impression on you. She doesn’t have to say a word. Just seeing what she is going through and watching her smile in the midst of adversity moves you to say, “If she can do it, so can I.” When you see a man who is struggling with cancer go through treatment after treatment but he is at church services every time he can be there, it motivates you to say, “If he can come to church feeling as bad as he does, what’s my excuse?” When you see elders and preachers and their wives sacrificing for the good of the church, it makes you say to yourself, "I need to be more like that. I need to do better.”
This is what happened during those long days when the Christians at Philippi thought about Paul. They took courage. When they thought about him being in chains, it had to hurt them. But it did more than that. It lit a fire in their soul.
So in Philippians one verses 12, 13, and 14, Paul teaches us a powerful lesson. He shows us in verse 12 that bad things can turn out for good. He said that one good thing that came out of all this trouble was that people heard the gospel. That's verse 13. Then he said another good thing was that brethren gained confidence because of what he was going through in verse 14.
If you stop reading in verse 14, you'll see what we're talking about when we say that this book teaches you to look on the bright side of things. But if you read further, you'll see that lesson even more.
Paul said in verse 14 that many of the brethren, not just a few, but many of the brethren gained courage by thinking about Paul being in chains. He’s talking about preachers. We know that because of the next verse, verse 15. “Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill.” It’s encouraging to read verse 14 where Paul says these preachers didn’t back down out of fear, but when you read verse 15, you scratch your head and ask what’s wrong with some of these preachers. Paul said some, not all, but some of these preachers preach out of “envy and strife.” These preachers were jealous. They may have been jealous of each other. But evidently, because of what he’s about to say in the next verse, they were jealous of Paul.
Why? There may been several reasons. Paul was a very educated man, and some preachers resent a preacher if he has more education than they do. Paul was a specially chosen apostle. That was a high position. In fact, it was the highest position in the early church. Paul was also very successful. He preached at churches in many different cities. He was well known and well loved by many Christians. He got a lot of attention. He had the honor of speaking before Kings. Before Paul was converted, Jesus said he would appear before Kings. And now Paul has endured beatings, slander, and imprisonment [Acts chapter 9, verse 15]. He had a long list of accomplishments and was still a humble servant of God.
For whatever reason, some of these gospel preachers resented Paul. They preached, but they preached out of a heart of jealousy. It wasn't love that motivated them. It was envy. If you're a preacher, you need to think seriously about this. All of us preachers do. We need to look inside and ask what our motivation is. We need to be honest with ourselves about how we feel about fellow gospel preachers. There's no place for competition between brethren. There's no excuse for jealousy. And yet, you know as well as I do that this is one of the oldest and most common sins the world has ever seen. Cain resented his brother Abel because of the good man he was. Joseph’s brothers envied him. Saul was jealous of David. The Jewish leaders were jealous of Jesus. The church at Corinth was full of envy and bickering. You expect jealousy out of children. You’re not surprised to see it in the world. But you just don’t expect to see it in the church, especially out of all people preachers. But it happened then and it happens today.
Paul said these preachers preached out of envy and also out of strife—arguing and fussing, backbiting and causing hard feelings. This is what happens when envy gets into our hearts. We say and do things we otherwise wouldn’t. We cause strife because we want the attention somebody else is getting. This happens in homes, workplaces and even in churches. It happens with people in general, but here Paul said preachers were guilty too.
Paul didn't hesitate to say what these preachers were doing and why they were doing it. In verse 16, he said “The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains.” They were selfish. They were looking for glory and praise from men. He said they were not sincere. They did the right thing by preaching the gospel, but their heart was not right. Have you noticed how many times the New Testament talks about religious leaders looking for attention? Jesus said in Matthew six that the Jewish leaders would do good deeds and pray in public just so that everybody could see them. He told the Pharisees in Luke chapter 16 verse 15, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” He said in Matthew 23 that the scribes and Pharisees wore special clothes, sat in the best seats, and loved for people to call them rabbi, which means my great one. The Bible even says many among the Jewish rulers believed on Jesus, but they would not confess him because "they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” [John chapter 12 verse 43]. These preachers Paul talks about in Philippians chapter one had been infected by the same spirit.
Then in verse 15 Paul says something about these fellow preachers that was even worse. Jealousy is a terrible thing for many reasons, and one of them is that it roots out any feeling of compassion for the person you envy. All jealousy cares about is revenge and spite. Did you notice what Paul said about his chains? How did these preachers feel about that? Did they feel sorry for Paul? No. And not only did they not feel sorry for him, they wanted to see him suffer even more. Paul said they preached just to cause him more pain. They thought their preaching would add affliction to his chains! How on earth can men get that twisted in their hearts? But that’s what jealousy does. It blinds you. It makes you act like a crazy person.
So Paul said in verse 12 to remember that good can come from a bad situation. And now he tells us that one of those bright spots has a dark side to it! So as the Spirit guides Paul to write, where does he go from there? If he had been like a lot of us, he might have kept talking about how these preachers mistreated him when all he did was preach the truth. He might have dropped the subject and gone on to something else without saying anything good about all these preachers. He could have spent all his time talking about the bad people in the church. But he didn’t.
Not all the preachers that were encouraged by his example resented him. Some of them were sincere. In verse 15 he says they preached out of goodwill. In verse 16 he says they preached out of love—love for him, love for God, and love for the truth. What was the first thing Paul said after he talked about these jealous preachers? He gave credit where credit was due to these good men who preached the gospel out of a pure heart! Paul loved these men. They brought him a lot of joy. Think about what Paul said about Timothy. Timothy was such an encouragement to Paul when others were not. In fact, in the next chapter, in Philippians chapter 2, he said he was sending Timothy to the church at Philippi. And why Timothy? Here’s what Paul said about him: “For I have no man like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state” [Philippians 2 verse 20]. He told Philemon, “For we have great joy and consolation in your love” [Philemon verse 7]. He talked about how encouraging it was for Titus to bring him good news in Second Corinthians 7 verses 6 and 7.
Paul didn’t let these jealous preachers win. He didn’t allow himself to think about it all the time. How did he do this? How did he keep their bad attitude from making his attitude wrong? He kept himself busy in the work of God. If you do that, you won’t have as much time to think about how others look at you. He prayed to God and thanked God for all his blessings. If you and I pray more we will have less time and less reason to get mad over what others do to us. But what we find in this book of Philippians is that every time Paul talks about trouble in his life, he takes the high road. He talks about the good things in the midst of and in spite of all the bad things. He refused to let how these preachers felt about him control his heart and his life. He made sure to think about the good people in his life to balance his thinking. That’s the habit we’re talking about.
A few years ago people in real estate started talking about “flipping” a house. In the Christian life, you have to learn to do this with situations. If you look at trouble from one one perspective it will get you down. You have to train yourself to look at it from different points of view. You have to consider the long run, for instance. You have to think about the hard times others are going through. And you have to turn that awful situation around and look at the bright side. It’s there. You just have to look at it. This is not a mind game. It’s not playing tricks on yourself. It’s following the example of the apostle Paul and many others in the Bible.
That’s what Paul did. He looked at troubles from different angles. He saw the bigger picture. He didn’t look at problems like he was the only one that mattered. And here’s something else he did. It’s in verse 17. The preachers that preached out of love knew that Paul had been appointed by God to defend the gospel. The King James says, “Knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel.” That can sound like he’s saying he set himself to defend the truth, that he prepared himself and took a stand to defend the gospel. But the word “set” in the King James Version is used like it is in Matthew 5 verse 14 where Jesus said, “A city that is SET on a hill cannot be hid.” The city was placed or set there by the builders. Paul was set in this role or placed in this work of defending the gospel. The New King James says he was appointed to that work. So Paul is not saying that HE set himself to defend the gospel. He’s saying God set him in that role. Jesus talked about this with Ananias just before Paul was baptized. He said, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
Jesus said Paul would suffer. In the verses we’re looking at in Philippians 1, Paul talks about some of his sufferings. And in verse 18 he said it was his appointed duty to defend the gospel. That meant suffering for the gospel as well as teaching the gospel. He was appointed to suffer as well as work for the Lord. And it’s interesting that he told these Philippian Christians it was their duty too. He said in Philippians 1 verse 29, “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” Paul is saying in verse 17 that the preachers who were sincere understood that he would have to suffer.
So what was Paul’s final outlook on the situation in the church—the church as a whole, not just the church at Philippi? What did he say about this problem of some preachers being sincere and other preachers being jealous? Verse 18 gives the answer. Paul said, “What then? Only in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.” Paul was glad that the gospel was being preached, whether it was being preached in pretense or in truth. This CANNOT MEAN that Paul was happy whether the truth was being preached or whether it wasn’t. He never went along with false preachers and false doctrines. He said in no uncertain terms, “If we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed” [Galatians 1 verse 8]. So in Philippians 1 verse 18 Paul CANNOT mean that he rejoiced whenever someone preached Christ regardless of whether that preaching was biblical or unbiblical. When he says He was glad that Christ was preached, “whether in pretense or in truth,” he’s talking about the preacher’s heart, not his message. The ones that preached “in pretense” are the preachers in verses 15 and 16 that preached out of envy and strife. Paul says they were not sincere. They were pretending to be pious. The ones that preached “in truth” are the preachers in verses 15 and 17 that preached out of love and good will. They were honest and sincere in their motive. But both sets of preachers preached the same gospel. They both preached the truth. It’s not that one preached a false gospel and the other preached the true gospel. It’s that one had a fake motive and the other had a pure motive.
Imagine the self-control, the humility, and the wisdom it took for Paul to feel this way. Even though some of these preacher resented Paul and tried to hurt him, Paul said at least they’re preaching the gospel. He set aside his personal feelings and focused on the greater good. And, he did this without grumbling. He did it gladly.
How would you and I respond in a situation like this? If you knew that a Christian wasn’t sincere and that he was trying to hurt you by doing good, how would you feel? Would you be strong enough to say, “He may be doing me wrong, but at least he’s helping people, and I’m glad about that”? Would you be able to overlook the wrong that was done to you personally and be happy that other people were benefitting? Paul did. These preachers that envied him were acting like children. Paul was the bigger man. You could say he took one for the team, but that would be an understatement. His whole life was about serving others, not pleasing himself. He was truly unselfish. And, he’s just beginning to talk about that virtue in this book.
If Paul could rejoice with all this against him, do you have any reason you can’t? It’s a decision you make. And there won’t be many people in your life you can learn it from because most people don’t think like this. You’ll be fortunate if someone in your family or the church does. That’s why you need to read and meditate on this book.
God can and does bring good things out of bad situations. But you have to open your eyes to them. You have to look for the good in life.
Do the words of Paul remind you of something Joseph said in the Old Testament? Joseph had been through one hardship after another. His brothers hated him and sold him as a slave. He ended up in Egypt. A wicked woman lied about him and he was put in prison. All this time his father thought that he was dead because that’s what his brothers told him. Joseph was cut off from his home and his father. But finally the truth came out. He was the second most powerful man in the country and he eventually revealed himself to his brothers.
He told them that there were reasons why all these bad things happened above and beyond their part in it. They did him a terrible injustice. But God brought good out of it. Joseph told them, “But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life” [Genesis 45 verse 5]. In verse 7 he said, “God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” And then listen to what he said in verse 8 about the overruling hand of God: “So now it was not you who sent me here, but God”!
After this, his father, who was an old man, went down to Egypt to see his son. It had been over twenty years since they had seen each other. Imagine the pain they must have felt all those years. But finally they were reunited. Jacob soon died and his brothers thought Joseph would take revenge and kill them. They begged Joseph to spare their life for what they had done to him. Some of his last words are in Genesis chapter 50. Listen to what Joseph said and see if this doesn’t sound like what Paul said in Philippians 1 verse 12 about the things that happened to him turning out for good. Joseph told his brothers, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But 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” [Genesis chapter 50, verses 19 and 20].
Do you remember another verse—this time in the New Testament—that teaches what Paul talks about in Philippians chapter 1? It’s in Romans chapter 8. Paul is talking about the trials we got through in this world. In verse 17 he says if we suffer with Jesus we will be glorified with Him. He said in verse 18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
But He also says, just as Paul said, that these tragedies of life turn out for good. In verse 28 we have these words: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” That is the very thing Paul taught in Philippians 1 verse 12 when he said “the things which happened to me, have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.” In Romans, eight verse 28, Paul said all things work together for good. He's talking about the sufferings of this life. And he’s saying more than what a lot of people mean when they say, “Everything will turn out alright in the end.” This verse is more than that. It means the hand of God brings good out of these troubles in life. God does that in His own way, in His own time, for His own people.
These two passages—Genesis 50 verses 19 and 20 and Romans 8 verse 28—are a wonderful commentary on Philippians chapter 1.
Thank you for listening to My God and My Neighbor. Stay connected with our podcast on our website and on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever fine podcasts are distributed. Tennessee Bible College, providing Christian education since 1975 in Cookeville, Tennessee, offers undergraduate and graduate programs. Study at your level. Aim higher and get in touch with us today.