“In Chains for Christ”
“New Life in Christ” Letter to the Philippians Series
Pastor Mike Clark
Church of the Valley
April 19, 2015
Apple Valley, CA
Last Sunday we began to examine the new life of a follower of Jesus through studying the
Letter to the Philippians. The Apostle Paul wrote the letter while in jail for sharing about Jesus.
Some think he was jailed in Ephesus, but the Bible does not indicate Paul was jailed there. Most
think he wrote from jail in Rome where we know he was imprisoned. Paul was actually in chains
awaiting trial. While he waited, Paul took the opportunity not to sulk but to share about Jesus
with his prison guards. This had great effect on his jailers and many others who heard of Paul’s
boldness while in jail.
Paul speaks about his witness in jail in Philippians 1:12-19. “12Now I want you to know,
brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance
the gospel. 13As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and
to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14And because of my chains, most of
the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to
proclaim the gospel without fear. 15It is true that some preach Christ out of envy
and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16The latter do so out of love, knowing that I
am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17The former preach Christ out of selfish
ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in
chains. 18But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether
from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and
I will continue to rejoice, 19for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision
of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my
deliverance.”
Paul was in chains for Christ. He wore those chains as a badge of honor to serve the Lord. His
chains did not stop Paul from speaking about Jesus. As a result, the whole palace guard, the
soldiers guarding the prisoners in Rome, knew about Paul and Jesus. There is a tradition
(meaning it is not in the Bible) that they kept having to change Paul’s guard because he kept on
converting them into followers of Jesus. When it was heard Paul was sharing about Jesus in
prison, this encouraged many others to keep on sharing about Jesus. So instead of Paul’s
imprisonment making it harder for the early church, it actually made their sharing about Jesus
more effective in bringing others to know and follow Jesus too.
So Paul rejoiced. And Paul said he will continue to rejoice. Why? Because Paul had confidence in
the Lord to overcome every difficulty. Paul knew the Lord would turn his jail time into a time of
experiencing a deeper relationship with Jesus and would lead to his deliverance from jail. Paul’s
confidence was always a matter of his trust in Jesus to use all things in Paul’s life as part of the
greater glory of God, even the difficult times. Paul knew he had two powerful forces working
with him for deliverance: 1) people praying for him and 2) the Holy Spirit of Jesus. Never
underestimate the power of prayer and value the power of the Holy Spirit, God with us today in
all our situations. With these strengths, Paul confidently knew he would be successful in spite of
his chains.
No difficulty would stop Paul from carrying out the mission the Lord gave him. Paul went
through a lot of difficult times. Through them he learned the power of perseverance in the
strength of the Holy Spirit. Paul listed some of the many difficulties he endured in 2 Corinthians
11:23-27. “I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged
more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24Five times I received
from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods,
once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a
day in the open sea, 26I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger
from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from
Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in
danger from false believers. 27I have labored and toiled and have often gone without
sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have
been cold and naked.” Not a single one of those difficulties stopped Paul. Paul confidently
continued to rejoice because He knew the Spirit of Jesus would deliver him. Paul knew in his
trust in the Lord that he would persevere and successfully serve the Lord.
And after hearing all Paul went through, we might say, ‘Wow, that is amazing for Paul, but I
know I could not do that.” Well, yes you can. I have seen many of you do this, just like Paul.
You share with me a big difficulty you are going through; facing cancer, the death of a spouse
or child, the loss of a job, a divorce, or so many other big trials. We pray together about it. We
ask the Lord to give you strength to get you through and overcome the trial. Then in a matter
of months or years (it takes a while for big difficulties to resolve), you share with me that the
Lord got you through. You emerged stronger and more trusting in the Lord. When we learn like
the Apostle Paul to turn over every difficulty to the Lord in prayer and to His Holy Spirit, we
learn we can confidently persevere through the trial.
The Apostle James said it this way, James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and
sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing
of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you
may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James faced many fierce trials too.
He suffered for sharing the Gospel and was eventually killed doing the Lord’s work. Like Paul he
considered these trials opportunities for the Lord to do greater things through him. He
considered the trials as joyful because of what the Lord would do through them. Now most of
us don’t do this. Most of us, when we face a trial or difficulty, don’t consider it a time of joy but
a time of bother, anxiety, terror or worse. We don’t say “I am joyful.” We say a lot of bad
words instead. That is because we have not learned the valuable lesson about living in this
crazy world. Yet, we can learn from Paul and James how to joyfully endure trials in this world.
Here is what they are trying to show us. 1st, trials are not from the Lord. The Lord does not
cause evil, suffering or any harm upon anyone. The Lord wants us to succeed and enjoy a
better life. Trials and difficulties come from a world not following the Lord. Sometimes we cause
our own troubles as we suffer the consequences for doing the opposite from what we know the
Lord wants us to do. There are bad consequences to bad decisions. Sometimes we suffer the
consequences of other people’s bad decisions in our families, neighborhoods, work places, or by
national leaders. When company’s officials make bad choices, it may lead to the layoffs of their
employees. When a president or congress passes bad laws, they harm the citizens. Sometimes
we suffer from evil that is intent on harming us. Sometimes we suffer from a world gone astray
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such as with illnesses or natural disasters. The Lord does not cause these sufferings or
difficulties. They result from humanity and creation living apart from the way God created all.
2nd, we need to hear the Lord does allow some trials and difficulties to occur in the lives of His
followers. Why? James tells us that trials are the tests of our faith – not so we will fail – but to
grow our faith so we will succeed! The Lord allows some, not all, difficulties in our lives so we
will stop trying to live without Him and trust to follow Him more. The trials and difficulties bring
more faith as we learn to trust in the Lord. This greater faith brings more perseverance in other
difficulties we face. We learn we can get through the bad, any bad, in this world with the help
of our greater Lord. The stronger perseverance brings more maturity into our lives. The more
maturity in us means the more we become like Jesus. So looking back on our difficulties and
seeing how the Lord helped us endure and learn through them, the more joy we have in our
lives. This joy develops as we see the results of our faith grow in this world. This joy will come
in completeness when we ultimately experience life in God’s kingdom in which we will be fully
mature and lack nothing.
So let me repeat the process of joy through difficulty. We live in a world with bad situations. As
we give our bad situations to the Lord, our faith grows. As our faith grows we develop more
perseverance to overcome any other bad situations we face. As we persevere, we mature and
grow strong in our walk with Jesus. This results in joy as we draw closer to our Lord and see
His greater life in spite of and often because of our trials. The Lord only allows trials into our
lives that will mature and deepen our trust in Him. I can see this growing strength of trust in
my life. The Lord allows me to deal with far deeper spiritual battles now than I could bear
before. These in turn cause me to grow even more mature. We will never stop maturing in the
Lord! As I mature, the Lord does not take away the difficulties, He keeps them coming so I can
mature more. This sounds cruel, but it is actually exactly what we need. If I pray to be more
patient, the Lord puts me in situations that test my patience so I learn patience in Him. If I pray
to love better, the Lord puts me in situations that stress my love so I seek more of His love. If I
pray to have more self-control, the Lord allows temptations before me so I will seek His Holy
Spirit more to control my life. The result of all this is I become more patient, loving and selfcontrolled. I become more the man God wants me to become. Life in this crazy, mixed up world
is our elementary school where we learn to pray for each other and seek the Holy Spirit. We
mature to become people ready to live with Jesus for eternity when we graduate from here.
Rick Warren shared it this way, “Every problem is a character-building opportunity, and the
more difficult it is, the greater the potential for building spiritual muscle and moral fiber. Paul
said, ‘We know that these troubles produce patience. And patience produces character.’ What
happens outwardly in your life is not as important as what happens inside you. Your
circumstances are temporary, but your character will last forever.” (Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life.
p. 252. Zondervan. Kindle Edition.)
We learn this not just from the Apostles Paul and James, but also from Jesus. How did Jesus
endure the worst trial of abuse, scourging and crucifixion? Hebrews 12:2 tells us how Jesus did
it. We are to be “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the
joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the
right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus endured, persevered and overcame the cross by
looking beyond it to the joy awaiting Him in the resurrection. He saw the reward of God the
Father waiting for Him – to sit at the right hand of the throne of God – the most powerful and
prestigious place anyone could ever sit. Jesus endured the cross for the joy of His Father’s
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loving appreciation, and for all He could do to help His followers overcome in their fight against
wrong, evil, suffering and death. For the joy set before Him, Jesus endured the cross.
As Jesus overcame His trials and suffering, so we can live like Jesus in the strength of the Holy
Spirit. We can live for the joy set before us; greater life, love and relationships with Him and
each other. Notice Jesus is the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith – the model of faith and the
giver of that faith. He is the Coach and, at the same time, the source of strength for us. He
shows us how to overcome trials, and gives us His Spirit to overcome them just as He did. Let’s
look at the verses around Hebrews 12:2 to hear how we do this. Hebrews 12:1-3 “Therefore,
since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off
everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with
perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and
perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its
shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who
endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose
heart.
When we get into troubles, we don’t grow weary, we don’t lose heart, we run the race with
perseverance with our eyes fixed on Jesus. We throw off the things that hinder us and follow
Jesus alone. He sets the pace and we follow, running right with Him. He encourages us, not
leaving us behind, but staying with us, a step ahead to show us the way to victory. I loved to
ride bicycles with my good friend Todd where I used to live. We would take off and ride long
distances. At least 2 times I rode over 100 miles with him in a single day. We would ride in
good and bad weather. Todd was an Olympic athlete chosen to represent the USA in the 1980
games. How did I ride with Todd an Olympic Athlete? It was easier than you think. Todd would
ride in front of me. I would stay in his slipstream. He would do the hard work breaking the
force of the wind against us. I would do the easier work of being just behind him. We would
ride for miles like that over big hills, down their back sides and home again with the joy of the
completed ride. So it is with the Holy Spirit leading us through difficult times. He does the hard
work for us while we follow right behind. Together we persevere. Together we overcome.
Together we become stronger and win the victories.
The Lord allows difficulties to bring us to maturity. He disciplines His disciples. Hebrews 12:11
explains “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it
produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by
it.” At first the difficulty will be hard not pleasant. It can be downright painful. But later on, the
result is righteousness and peace for the disciples of Jesus. We become the trial hardened, fit
and healthy people of God who enjoy peace with God and each other in the midst of a chaotic
world. And we look forward to even greater joy in our eternal future in His new world where
there will be no more suffering, evil or death. All there will be joy, peace and greater life for the
sons and daughters of God in Jesus Christ. This is the joy we have that will get us through
every difficulty in this life. Don’t go through difficulty thinking only of defeat. Give your
difficulties to the Lord to persevere and succeed in finding joy.
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