Calvary Bible Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan

Have you ever noticed that Father’s Day doesn’t get nearly as much publicity as Mother’s Day? Why is that? Are mothers more important? Moms certainly do work hard. Perhaps one reason is that without the reminders from all the advertisements, most men would probably forget Mother’s Day.  Women are well prepared for Father’s Day, but men have to rush out Saturday night and try to find a last minute gift. I speak from personal experience. A lot of us guys just aren’t the best when it comes to planning.

Here’s one case of terrible male planning. It allegedly comes from a worker’s compensation form completed by a bricklayer.

Dear Sir:

I am writing in response to your request for additional information in Block #3 of the accident report form. I put "Poor Planning" as the cause of my accident. You asked for a fuller explanation and I trust the following details will be sufficient.

I am a bricklayer by trade. On the day of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a new six-story building. When I completed my work, I found I had some bricks left over which, when weighed later were found to be slightly in excess of 500 lbs. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley which was attached to the side of the building at the sixth floor. Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went down and untied the rope, holding it tightly to insure a slow descent of the bricks. You will note in block #11 of the accident report form that my weight is 135 lbs. Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel which was now proceeding downward at an equally impressive speed. This explains the fractured skull, minor abrasions and the broken collarbone, as listed in Section 3 of the accident report form.

Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley. Fortunately by this time I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold tightly to the rope, in spite of the excruciating pain I was now beginning to experience. At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Now devoid of the weight of the bricks, that barrel weighed approximately 50 lbs. I refer you again to my weight. As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles, broken tooth and severe lacerations of my legs and lower body. Here my luck began to change slightly.

The encounter with the barrel seemed to slow me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell into the pile of bricks and fortunately only three vertebrae were cracked. I am sorry to report, however, as I lay there on the pile of bricks, in pain, unable to move, I again lost my composure and presence of mind and let go of the rope and I lay there watching the empty barrel begin its journey back onto me. This explains the two broken legs.

Many of us guys may be poor planners, but this morning I want to speak about the consummate planner—our Heavenly Father. God’s plan is perfect. Every detail will be fulfilled. Psalm 33:11 says, “The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation.” Even in the darkest days of the nation of Israel, when Jerusalem had been conquered by the Babylonian Empire, God spoke to them through the prophet Jeremiah saying, “For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope” (Jer 29:11). Our God is a planner.

God hasn’t revealed all the details of His plan to us, but He has made known His guiding mission. Throughout the Scripture we see that God wants people to live in an unhindered relationship with Him. That was the kind of relationship that Adam and Eve had with God up until the point that they disobeyed Him. Because of that sin, all of us are born into a broken relationship with God. God’s mission all the way from Genesis 3 to Revelation 20 is to bring about individual reconciliation with us.

The Apostle Paul describes God’s mission in 2 Corinthians 5:18-21: Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Jesus Christ came to fulfill God’s mission. Through His death, Jesus made this reconciliation possible.  He bore the punishment for our sins against God. This reconciliation is so powerful that once it touches our lives, we are transformed into emissaries, ambassadors for Christ.

Two weeks ago we began to examine the joy that characterized the Apostle Paul’s life. He speaks of it often in his letter to the Philippians. We’ve seen that Paul found joy by viewing all of life through the perspective of God’s grace. Last week we saw that Paul found joy by imitating God’s love for people, a love that is expressive, that speaks the truth, and is committed to honoring God. This morning we come to Philippians 1:12-18 where Paul speaks of the joy he found as he let God’s purpose and mission fill his mind and control his thoughts. The same principle is true for us: we will find joy as we commit ourselves to fulfilling God’s mission, extending His offer of reconciliation to others.

We don’t normally think of evangelism this way. We tend to see it as a burdensome duty. The mere mention of witnessing for Christ elicits feelings of fear and guilt in most Christians. There’s no question that evangelism requires deep commitment, but there are also benefits, rewards. Today in Philippians we find three of those rewards that bring joy to our lives.

1. When we think missionally, we find the joy of divine serendipity (vv. 12-14).

What is “serendipity”? Serendipity is when someone stumbles onto something good that was outside of their plan. Some of the world’s greatest discoveries and technological advances have been unintentional, accidental, serendipitous. Back in 1839, Charles Goodyear was experimenting with rubber.  In its natural form rubber is sticky and even gooey when heated. Goodyear accidentally spilt some rubber onto a hot stove and charred it. The result was what we call vulcanized rubber, the substance later used to make millions and millions of tires. So think of serendipity as a good accident.

But I add to “serendipity” the word “divine”. We’ve already said that God has a plan that touches upon all of life. From God’s perspective, there is no such thing as accidents or chance or luck. Divine serendipity occurs when God uses what seems to be an accident to accomplish his purpose.

That is exactly how Paul describes his imprisonment. Paul wanted to go to Rome to preach the gospel, but before doing so, he chose to go to Jerusalem. While he was in Jerusalem, he was arrested and taken before the governor of Palestine. For over two years he waited in prison. Finally, when a new governor came, Paul presented his case again and appealed to the Roman Emperor. Although still a prisoner, Paul was transported to Rome by the Roman government. And that’s not all. Let’s see what he says about his imprisonment in Philippians 1:12-14: Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.

One would think that Paul’s imprisonment was a bad thing. After all, Paul is an apostle, a champion of the gospel. He was intensely committed to preaching Christ to those who had never heard. Most Christians loved Paul. The last thing they would have wanted was for him to be taken prisoner. In fact, the book of Acts tells us that some Christians tried to stop Paul from going to Jerusalem, because they were afraid that this would happen. Paul’s traveling companion, Luke, tells what happened in Acts 21:8-14: On the next day we left and came to Caesarea, and entering the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, we stayed with him. Now this man had four virgin daughters who were prophetesses. As we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says: 'In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'" When we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, remarking, "The will of the Lord be done!" Paul didn’t want to be arrested.  He didn’t see it as some great, creative strategy. He knew that his life was in jeopardy!

God had other plans in mind. He had planned to work through divine serendipity, using something that seemed bad to everyone to accomplish something very, very good.  First, Paul’s imprisonment gave him an evangelistic opportunity. He says, “My imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known.” People never change; we always like to hear the latest gossip. It sounds like Paul’s arrival in Rome was big news.

The news spread throughout the praetorian guard. This was the detachment of troops assigned to protect the Roman Emperor. Elsewhere in the Empire, soldiers were recruited from the various provinces. These men, however, were Italians – local men. They were paid better. Their terms of service were lighter. They were more ceremonial, than functional. One of their responsibilties was to guard high-level prisoners—not base criminals, but political prisoners. Now here comes Paul—not some treacherous politician, but a religious man. His imprisonment had to have raised all kinds of questions, and I’m sure Paul took full advantage of those questions to tell people about Jesus Christ.

I think God surprised Paul.  Here he is imprisoned, but his imprisonment serves as an open door to tell his captors about Christ. Then the story spreads. It’s the talk of the town that the praetorian guard is holding this religious teacher prisoner. You get the sense from Paul’s words here in Philippians that just about everyone in Rome knew what was going on.

As a pastor, I tend to be a bit isolated from unchurched people. Like many of you, my day is spent working at the office. Thankfully, all of my co-workers are Christians. So my back injury this year was the last thing I wanted. In many ways it hindered my ministry, but at the same time it brought me into contact with a lot of people at Borgess Hospital. For some reason, word seemed to spread quickly about the pastor with the fractured vertebra who was trying to get on his way to a doctoral seminar. I didn’t rejoice over the suffering I was experiencing, but I found joy in the opportunity it gave me as an ambassador of Christ. That’s divine serendipity in action.

Paul’s imprisonment also inspired other Christians to engage in evangelism. When I think about what it means to follow Christ, I sum it up in five words: worship, relate, grow, serve, go. Those are the duties of a disciple. We are called to worship God, loving Him above all else. We are called to relate to other Christians in biblical fellowship. We are called to grow spiritually, learning and applying the truths of God’s Word. We are called to use our spiritual gifts to serve one another and to meet pressing needs in our community. And finally, we are called to go to people as God’s ambassador, telling them of Christ’s sacrifice and pleading with them to be reconciled to God. Of those five duties, I think going, evangelism, is the hardest for us. We find so many ways to talk our way out of doing it. Often something dramatic has to take place in our hearts before we finally step up to being intentional ambassadors for God. Paul’s imprisonment was that dramatic event for many of the Christians of his day.

Paul was so diligent that his fellow believers may have been tempted to think that he could do it all. He could evangelize the whole world. Why did they need to speak? But when Paul was imprisoned, they couldn’t say that anymore. And if Paul wasn’t out preaching, how would people hear? It was certainly enough to do it for God, but Paul’s willingness to suffer and now his absence kindled a flame in the hearts of the believers. The whole situation inspired them to be bold witnesses for Christ—another case of divine serendipity, something good coming from something that seems bad.

When our former Senior Pastor, John Munro, resigned from Calvary two and half years ago, no one considered that a good thing. It brought change and a certain amount of instability. Many people had come to know the Lord and grown spiritually under John’s ministry. A lot of tears were shed when he announced his departure. At the same time, his absence inspired people in the congregation to step up and fill the gap by being more diligent in outreach. The existence of this campus is one expression of that diligence. I don’t rejoice that John Munro moved on, but when I look at it from a missional perspective, I see divine serendipity. God was accomplishing something good that none of us expected.

Now if Paul’s primary concern had been for his own comfort and freedom, he would have been depressed and frustrated by his imprisonment. Even these good things wouldn’t have mattered to him, but Paul thought missionally. The purpose of his life was to be a faithful ambassador for God. So when Paul saw that his imprisonment created an evangelistic opportunity and that it inspired Christians to engage in evangelism, he rejoiced.  He was able to find joy because he thought about life from the perspective of God’s mission.

When we face difficulties and trials, we will find that God will ultimately use those circumstances in some way. He may use the trials in your life to open up evangelistic opportunities. He may use the difficulties you face to inspire greater commitment in other Christians. He may do something else to surprise us. If you will commit your heart and mind to the advancement of the gospel you will not be disappointed. You’re signing up for the joyful adventure of divine serendipity.

2. When we think missionally, we find the joy of esprit de corps (vv. 15-16).

“Esprit de corps” literally means the spirit of the group. The term encompasses mutual devotion, cooperation, loyalty, and pride. Have you ever experienced that? Have you ever been a part of a team laboring together to accomplish something?  We catch a glimpse of Christian esprit de corps in Philippians 1:15-16 where Paul says, “Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.”

Those who felt joined to Paul in God’s mission were compelled to labor harder as Paul was imprisoned. We just spoke a moment ago about how this response was part of Paul’s joyful experience of divine serendipity, but there is something more here. We’ll talk later about those who were preaching from envy and strife. For now we focus on those who had right motives.

Paul describes them in three ways. First, he says that they preach Christ from good will. The Greek word that we translate “good will” is eudokia. The word means more than simply kindness. In other places where the word is used, it always ties into the desire of the person. It’s something that pleases the person, something that seems good and right to them. In this context, because of the contrast with strife and envy, the Amplified Bible translates the statement in these words: Some, it is true, [actually] preach Christ (the Messiah) [for no better reason than] out of envy and rivalry (party spirit), but others are doing so out of a loyal spirit and goodwill. There was a sense of moral duty, or loyalty that compelled these people to step up when Paul was laid aside.

He also says that they preach Christ out of love. This is the word agape that the Bible so often uses of God’s love for us—that sacrificial love that prompted God to give His Son for us. These people were preaching Christ in part because they loved Paul this way.

Finally, he says that they preach Christ because they know Paul’s calling. They know that God had called Paul to defend the gospel.  That mission had to go on. If Paul could no longer carry the baton, then they had to pick it up and run. That’s missional thinking.

Now pull all of this together. Put yourself in Paul’s place. You have poured your life into people. You’ve done everything you can to lead them to personal reconciliation with God and to inspire them to carry that message of reconciliation to others. Some people get it, but others get caught up in trivial distractions. Then the time comes when you’re locked away because of your boldness. What will happen? Will they carry on without you? Think of what Paul felt when he heard that they were preaching Christ. Think of the joy—the sense of fulfillment that someone caught your passion and is carrying on in your absence. That is the joy of esprit de corps.

A more biblical word to use would be “fellowship”, but we have watered down that word to the point that for most of us it probably fails to capture the idea. Fellowship for most of us is an optional get-together with food, lots of food. There’s nothing wrong with food, but the essence of biblical fellowship was closer to this esprit de corps in the mission of Christ.

Paul experienced this while he was in prison in Rome, and he calls the Christians in Philippi to live the same way.  In Philippians 1:27 he writes, “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.”

That is a significant verse for us here at East Main. When Calvary’s Elders proposed the idea of uniting with Kalamazoo Bible Church to become one church in two locations, we used this verse, Philippians 1:27, as our theme. There is a joy in striving together, a camaraderie, an esprit de corps. I have experienced it. I feel a unique affection for many of you because we have stepped out into this endeavor together. Many of us who came from the Drake Campus didn’t really know each other. We had been connected with different groups. But coming together here and serving, striving, laboring to do God’s work here has welded all of us together. I think this is what Paul felt when he heard about these people preaching Christ. It was the joy of being part of a team.

Why don’t more people experience this in their church involvement? The simple answer is that most of us probably just don’t want to put that much into it. We’re relatively content with a shallow church experience – coming and going without investing ourselves. Experiencing the joy of esprit de corps requires commitment beyond a Sunday morning. We’re talking about personal devotion to preaching the gospel – not necessarily in a pulpit or on a street corner. Whenever you explain to someone the biblical way of salvation, you are preaching Christ. When you devote yourself to preaching Christ, you will experience the joy of striving together with the body of Christ.

3. When we think missionally, we find the joy of magnanimity (vv. 17-18).

The word magnanimous refers to someone with a great soul. It’s the opposite of petty selfishness. To be magnanimous is to rise above the insults and attacks of immature people. This is what we find in Paul.

Remember in verse 15 Paul spoke of those who were preaching Christ out of envy and strife. He reveals more about them in verse 17. He says, “The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.”

This is astounding. These people are Christians, but rather than rallying to Paul’s cause as some did, they see in his imprisonment an opportunity to take a shot at him. They were jealous of Paul—jealous of the love so many Christians showed toward him—maybe jealous of his accomplishments in planting churches in so many cities. They wanted that respect and notoriety among Christian circles, so in some twisted way this motivated them to preach.

It does not sound as if they were preaching anything false. If they were, Paul would have certainly identified that. He is quick to do so in other letters. From all that we can tell, they were preaching the biblical gospel. Their downfall was their motivation; they wanted to be recognized. Even worse, they wanted to provoke Paul to envy and concern. They knew that being a prisoner Paul couldn’t do anything about it, so they saw this as their chance to move in on Paul’s territory.

Sadly the history of the Christian church is full of people who have shown similar carnality. The Apostle John encountered a situation like this. He addresses it in 3 John 9-10 where he writes, “I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church.”

Perhaps you have been a part of a church situation with someone like Diotrephes—someone who loves to be first, who loves to be in control at the center of everything. Sometimes it’s a pastor. Sometimes it’s another person in the church. In a sense they’re good people. They believe the right things. They do many of the right things. But when it comes down to it, on some occasions their selfishness shows itself. They attack someone with gossip and innuendo. They complain, criticize, and tear down. They divide the church into factions.

Some people walk away with deep bitterness and hurt from such an encounter. They may pull back from involvement in the church or withdraw altogether. How did Paul respond?  When someone treats you the way that these people were treating Paul, the temptation is to sink to their level, to respond in kind. Paul could have boasted in his accomplishments as a church planter. Paul could have boasted in his unique conversion experience; he saw the risen Christ. Yet Paul does not respond in this way. In verse 18 he says, “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice.” 

That is magnanimity. By thinking of God’s mission more than his own personal feelings, Paul was able to rise above their immaturity. Regardless of their motives, Paul rejoiced that the gospel was going forth. The key here is Paul’s commitment to God’s mission. Paul’s missional thinking gave him the magnanimity, the greatness of soul to rise above—to rejoice in spite of their behavior.

Don’t let selfish, immature Christians steal your joy. Thank God for anything good that is taking place through them. They may need to be confronted and rebuked, particularly when their behavior becomes an obstacle to God’s mission, as it inevitably does. Nevertheless, we should be magnanimous enough to ignore any personal attacks they make on us.

Conclusion

One Christian leader, writing almost 100 years ago, put it this way: “Most men are not satisfied with the permanent output of their lives. Nothing can wholly satisfy the life of Christ within his followers except the adoption of Christ’s purpose toward the world he came to redeem. Fame, pleasure and riches are but husks and ashes in contrast with the boundless and abiding joy of working with God for the fulfillment of His eternal plans. The men who are putting everything into Christ’s undertaking are getting out of life its sweetest and most priceless rewards.”

We’ve seen three of those rewards today: the joyful adventure of divine serendipity, the joyful unity of esprit de corps—striving together for Christ, and the joyful strength of magnanimity rising above immaturity and selfishness. There’s more.  We could add to the list the joy of obedience as we obey Christ’s Great Commission. We could add the joy of fruitfulness as we see people respond to the gospel. Those are powerful rewards, but you will not experience any of them unless you begin to let God’s mission control your thinking and the direction of your life.

I want to challenge you today to take a step in being evangelistic. Next Sunday afternoon following our cook out some of us are going to go knock on doors in the surrounding neighborhood with a simple survey asking people about their spiritual beliefs. I know that sounds intimidating, but if your willing to try it I guarantee you’ll see divine serendipity at work and you’ll experience the esprit de corps that we’ve considered. It will fill your heart with joy, even as it burdens you for people’s souls.

Or, perhaps you have a family member, or a co-worker, or a neighbor that God has laid upon your heart. You need to speak with these people about what Jesus Christ has done in your life. Would you do that this week?

Or maybe this talk of evangelism and God’s mission seems foreign to you.  You may need to go back to the passage of Scripture we began with this morning, 2 Corinthians 5:21: [God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. God wants you to be reconciled with Him. Through Jesus Christ he provided a way for that reconciliation to take place, but you must respond personally, receiving Christ as your Savior and committing to follow Him as your Lord.

Whatever God has laid upon your heart, I urge you to respond today.