Affliction, Priorities, and Motive

What is the role of affliction in our lives? What does that teach us about our priorities? Is our motive for doing good important?

All of what we have talked about this week so far leads us to take notice of something about Paul, and that is his gospel priority. Paul would rather be in prison preaching the gospel and fulfilling God's kingdom purposes, than to have his freedom, if having that freedom meant not advancing the gospel.

Now that's the key. Paul's not asking for persecution. He doesn't want distress. He doesn't take joy in affliction itself. Paul is not a masochist. What Paul is after is the advancement of the gospel. That's what brings him joy. If it also brings him temporary affliction, he's okay with that, because he knows it is temporary and he knows it brings his master joy.

And neither does God take joy in seeing Paul suffer. Jesus empathizes with us in our suffering, for he knows what it's like to suffer, and he himself did not relish it. The writer to the Hebrews said Jesus endured it, endured the suffering. Why? For the joy that was set before him, the joy waiting on the other side. And it is the writer to the Hebrews who also tells us that Jesus is touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

So there's no joy in the affliction, either for God or for Paul. The joy comes for both in the accomplishment of what that affliction brings. The joy comes from perfect communion with God. God wants that for us. Paul wants it, too. Paul longs for the fullness of the kingdom, both in himself and in the world, and so he loves the advancement of the kingdom. He loves the advancement of the gospel.

Which brings us to the third point about this first paragraph, which is the priority of the world to come. Do you see it? The reason he's okay with temporary afflictions is because he knows those afflictions are bringing about the world to come. He says in Romans 8 that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now, waiting…for what? The adoption, the resurrection, the completion of God's great work of redemption in the revealing of the sons of God. These are birth pangs. Labor pains. They hurt, but they're temporary. And they're bringing about a better world.

Think about something. Paul is already anticipating his day before Caesar Nero. He's going to bear witness to Christ and the resurrection before the most powerful man in the world. That's how he views his day in court—as an opportunity for the gospel. And we know this because this is what happened when he appeared before governors and kings in Acts 22, 23, and 24. When it happens he doesn't even defend himself. He just preaches the gospel. So we know that's what he's going to do when he stands before Caesar Nero.

If you had a day before the President of the United States, a hearing with an opportunity to speak, to say whatever you wanted, what would you do? Because he’s the President, our minds immediately go to things like political reform. Paul’s priority is not political reform. His priority is the gospel. His priority is not this-worldly, it is next-worldly. Paul will use his day before Nero to advance the kingdom by proclaiming the good news that Christ is already King, and that he is soon returning to claim all that is his.

Now there's something even more interesting going on here. Paul is so in awe of God and what God is doing, he marvels that his imprisonment has led to some even preaching Christ for the wrong reasons. We see that in the next paragraph, which begins with verse 15. I’m going to lay it out for you side by side with verse 17. Here they are:

Philippians 1:15a,17 ESV - Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry,…

The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.

What an odd thing. He lists envy, rivalry, and selfish ambition as motives that some have in preaching the gospel. Selfish ambition is something that he is going to lambast in the next chapter, by the way, so he's laying groundwork for that right here. He's going to be preaching to our generation (and to me) in a very straightforward way, when it comes to modern American evangelicalism’s penchant for trying to build platforms and become a name. He's going to hit on that pretty hard.

Then he says that some are even preaching the gospel in the hopes of adding affliction to his bonds. Now, this is all Paul says about that. It is difficult to understand exactly what he means or how this worked itself out, but somehow, some of these people believe that now was the time to exalt themselves over Paul, by doing more for Christ than Paul, and somehow this would add suffering to Paul, they thought.

As odd as that sounds, I’ve experienced similar things—churches competing with each other for numbers, or ministers out to make a name for themselves. Some of these, in my experience, have preached a false gospel and a false Christ, but this doesn't seem to be the case here. Remember, if Paul has trouble with someone's theology, he doesn't mind calling it out and condemning it. In the book of Galatians, for example, when the Judaizers are preaching a false gospel, he says so. The whole purpose of the epistle to the Galatians is to correct bad theology.

So that's not what's going on here. These individuals are preaching Christ in truth, just doing it for terrible motives. Again, we're reminded that motive is meaningful. When we do good for the wrong reasons, the good is still done. That is a good thing. But as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, there's no reward for that. “They have their reward.” What an awful thing our sinful human nature is! In our wretchedness, we are even capable of doing the best things for wicked motives.

So what is the proper motive for ministry? Paul's going to tell us in verse 16, and we will look at that tomorrow.