Not Getting Petty When We Get Attacked

From the book of Philippians, we’ve been looking at how the tough times in Paul’s life were not an impediment, but a furtherance to his ministry. Another way that God worked through Paul’s imprisonment was this: Philippians 1:14, “. . . and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Amen! Even more people were out witnessing. And they are witnessing boldly. “If Paul can do it, so can I,” perhaps they thought. And God emboldened them. They saw Paul’s courage, and they saw Paul’s results. They wanted in on the action.

One person is sometimes all it takes to get the ball rolling. One bold person can get others excited and on board. Boldness is contagious, and you can be that kind of a person that gets others stirred up. Paul got on fire for Jesus, and lots of other people did too. We can get on fire for Jesus, and start that same kind of fire in others.

Enthusiasm is contagious, and so is bravery. One soldier brave enough to charge the enemy lines will usually cause the rest to follow screaming and charging with all they’ve got.

But someone has got to be the one out in front leading the charge. That person can be you. And if not, it can be you who joins in the charge following someone else’s lead.

Come on, folks, we can do this? We can get the Gospel out in our community, can’t we? We can get excited about reaching this community with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul led the charge then, and lots of people are joining the fray. They are witnessing boldly just like Paul did. And we can do that same thing here.

But, not everyone was positively inspired by Paul. Some were negatively inspired. Philippians 1:15-17 states:

“Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.”

Do you see? There were two kinds of responses to Paul’s imprisonment. There were those who loved Paul, and because of his example, they too preached Christ. But some did it to thumb their nose at Paul wanting to “add affliction” to him. Their motivation was to hurt him. They envied his success – they wanted his ministry. And they were overjoyed that Paul was now out of action, so they could rise to the top.

It’s amazing how many pastors are envious of the churches down the road. And how much strife? “Paul is too out of touch. People need a fresh voice,” They say. “And the fact that Paul is in prison proves that God wanted him out of the way.” And now they have their chance to move to the forefront.

Didn’t that bother him? I’m sure it did. He was human, after all. And this kind of response has got to hurt. Nearly every pastor has felt that pain and heartache from others at one time or another. It could come from people in the church who have not been allowed into leadership for one reason or another. Perhaps the pastor had good reason to restrict them. But now is there chance, and they take it. And they gloat over the pastor’s loss of power or prestige.

But, by the grace of God, Paul rises above that. So many people think that just because Paul was an apostle that this didn’t hurt. That somehow apostles, like pastors, are not quite human so they don’t have real human feelings that can be crushed. Let me tell you, I’ve never seen more broken people than some of the pastors I’ve met at retreats. Men who have given their lives to ministry only to be beaten down with criticism and attacks until they really have little left to give. Sometimes, Paul must have felt that way. I have at times.

Listen to what Stuart Briscoe writes about Paul:

“Whatever we may think of Paul, he was no alabaster saint on a pedestal. The statue and the pedestal are the products of our own lack of reality. The real Paul had a temper that got heated and feelings that got hurt. He was no computerized theological machine churning out inspired writings, but a very warm human individual who needed as much love as the next man, and then some.

You can’t hurt a computer’s feelings or grieve a theological concept, but you can destroy a man. Paul was destructible, but he wasn’t destroyed. And it wasn’t for lack of somebody trying. The perspective that he had discovered allowed him to say that he didn’t really mind what happened to him so long as nothing happened to stop the gospel, because in his understanding the message preached mattered more than the man preaching.”

That’s a mark of spiritual maturity - to be broad shouldered enough to bear the slights and the hurts that others would pile on you without taking it personally or letting it get you off track following God’s will. Spiritual maturity doesn’t make every issue an issue. And it allows room for differences between people. It does not grow angry or vindictive.

So while they were eager to slip the knife between Paul’s ribs. He praised God that at least they were preaching Christ, even if not from the purest of motives. Do you know, it takes a lot of grace to not be petty.

The Not So Secret Source of Our Joy

Paul, during his ministry, experienced horrific suffering and persecution. Yet, he wrote the book of Philippians as an encouragement to joyousness. Do you think, maybe if you were in his situation, do you think you might have thought about giving up - that you might have thought about sitting down and having a pity party? Most of us would be griping and complaining to everyone you met of your misfortunes?

And I’m not saying it to be mean – I might be right there with you. It’s just our human nature. And from watching our own reactions, we know it doesn’t take the extremes of Paul’s situation to send us into the pits of despair. It really doesn’t take much at all. Most of us can wallow in self-pity with the roses growing all around us - with hardly anything going wrong. We’re just that way.

But not Paul! Since his salvation, he had been living a life of unrelenting personal attack, of continuing tragedy and ruin. He’d lost everything that had been important to him in his former life as a rich and powerful Pharisee. Everything that the world considers important for health and happiness Paul had given up for Christ. And now he’s been arrested for preaching the Gospel of Christ, and he sits in prison waiting on the probable verdict of execution. Yet, he’s writing an epistle filled with joy. What makes him that way?

Plus, he’s writing to a church that was desperately poor and persecuted as we can see in Philippians 1:27-30. And it is a church that has relentlessly attacked by false teachers as we can read in Philippians 3:2, 18-19. And it is a church that was embroiled in a feud between two strong women as we can read in Philippians 4:2-3. It was a church that could really have been gripped in the clutches of despair and discouragement. But Paul is commanding this church to be joyful. In Philippians 4:4, he commands them and us to, “Rejoice in the Lord always! And again I say, rejoice!”

So, how could Paul demand that of them? How could Paul have joy himself? How can we in our less difficult situations find that joy?

Here is the answer: We can figure out where joy comes from if we turn to Galatians 5:22-23:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

Do you see? Joy is a Fruit of the Spirit. It is something that the Holy Spirit grows within those He indwells. It is a product of the Holy Spirit working within us. We don’t manufacture joy by the grit of our teeth and the set of our jaw, the Holy Spirit grows it within us.

This is why the world can’t find real joy and why they chase after elusive happiness instead. And it is a futile chase. As Solomon might say, quoting him from Ecclesiaastes, it is “vanity and grasping for the wind.”

Happiness is always out there just beyond our grasp tempting us and tormenting us, offering those moments of fleeting exhilaration or temporary bursts that fade and fizzle. But it is never a lasting possession like joy can be. Our happiness is always frustrated by our bad marriages, by our dead-end jobs, by illness, by poverty, by debt. I didn’t make the team. Suzy didn’t notice me during break and talked with Fred. I missed that promotion at work because they gave the job to that idiot Bill. So how can you expect me to be happy about it?

The truth is, life in this cursed world isn’t designed to make us happy. Rather it is intended by God to be futile and frustrating apart from Him. It’s intended to drive us to Him as the only source of meaning and joy in this world. This world is not intended to make us happy, and happiness depends on what happens. Therefore, it is beyond our control. If good things happen, we are happy. If bad things happen, we are not. Therefore happiness always comes and goes. It is transient.

But joy is not transient, not for a believer, because joy isn’t dependent on our surroundings. Joy is dependent upon our relationship with God. It is dependent upon the work of His Holy Spirit within us.

And for a believer, that doesn’t change. We still have the power of the indwelling Spirit of God both in the good times and in the bad. God is as much with us in the crisis and failures as He is in the good times and triumphs. We have God’s promises on that.

Many times in Scripture we are given that promise: Jesus promised us this in the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:20, where He promised “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” And Jesus promised us the very same thing in Hebrews 13:5, where He said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Our relationship with God remains constant in spite of the circumstance. If all is well between me and my God, I can be filled with joy. I can rejoice through the good and through the bad. My joy is not dependent upon my circumstance. My happiness doesn’t depend upon what happens. Our joy is based upon our relationship with Jesus Christ. That is true for every believer.

As Chuck Swindall has said about people who exhibit that joy: “Joy is the flag that flies above the castle of their hearts announcing that the King is in residence.” Is the King of kings in residence in your heart?