Sermon Tone Analysis

*Philippians 3**.*

Please turn to Philippians chapter 1 *[P]*.

Do you know I get asked some difficult questions?

One that people often ask me, and which I find very difficult to answer, is: “How has your week been?”

I generally make an evasive remark to try to avoid answering it.

I know, it is “small-talk”, and I am not very good at small talk.

But how do I assess how my week has been?

My bike got a puncture – does that make my week bad?

We had curry for tea – does that make it good?

What say I was ship-wrecked, or beaten up, or arrested and put in prison?

Surely that would be a week from hell!

But maybe it might be a week from heaven!

We have seen how the early church encountered trouble at every twist and turn – yet indisputably God was at work, using those circumstances to His ends.

How am I going to evaluate my week?

Am I going to use my own human assessment?

Or am I going to have God’s perspective?

*[P]* That He is sovereign, in absolute control, even if the earth shakes a bit.

You see, here is Paul in prison.

The Philippians are partners with him in his mission of spreading the Gospel.

From their point of view this is a calamity, things have gone wrong – Paul can no longer spread the Gospel.

But Paul has a different view of things – and that is what he seeks to address in this personal letter to these who are so dear to him and who are so concerned for him.

*[P]* Let’s turn to [*Philippians 1:12-20* /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.

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; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.

What then?

Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice.

Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death/.]

Paul in his letter to the Philippians now moves from the introduction and preliminary remarks to the reason he wrote this letter.

Here he is imprisoned in Rome, held back from this all-consuming mission of spreading the Good News.

But in [*Philippians 1:12* /Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the Gospel/,] Paul says that his circumstances in prison are actually advancing the Gospel, not hindering it.

Why would he say this?

What issue is he addressing here?

Paul’s goal in this section is to change the Philippians’ perspective on his circumstances *[P]*.

He wants to drop a theological bombshell on their way of looking at things.

Paul’s primary purpose in this section is to change the Philippians’ perspective of his circumstances.

How does he do this?

When Paul says “/I want you to know/” he does it to highlight significant ideas – we might say “get this!”.

He is doing the same thing by referring to the Philippians as “/brothers/”.

We do the same thing in English today: picture a coach giving a pep talk, just before he gets to the key point, he says, “Alright guys, I want you to …”.

We know the coach wouldn’t be telling us something unimportant, so why say things like this?

Why do pastors say things like “Don’t miss this, people …” or “If you don’t remember anything else folks, remember this …”?

It’s all about getting our attention.

Because not everything is of equal importance, we use special markers to indicate what is especially important.

That is what Paul is doing when he says “/I want you to know/”.

His statement also does something else: it causes a /delay/, an interruption to the flow that creates suspense.

He does this to make his big ideas stand out.

Paul is doing because his big idea for this section is going to rock their view of the world with his bombshell.

He wants them to see that what appears to be a bad thing is actually a good thing.

Why? – because God is using it.

He is in control bringing about His purposes.

I addressed this a bit in the introduction to this letter.

The early church encountered trouble at every step of the way – yet through it God accomplished His purposes.

God is in ABSOLUE CONTROL!

But Paul is also going to ask them to do much more than just accept his perspective on the situation.

Paul is addressing their attitude here.

It has to do with having a /human/ perspective on our circumstances instead of seeing things from /God’s/ perspective.

It’s not only the Philippians or the early church who have this problem; it is something we all struggle with.

We tend to look at things from our human perspective; we forget that God is in sovereign control over all.

When you find yourself in dire straits without hope for change, it can make you ask God: “How long?” or “Why have you forgotten me?”

There may be outright anger and indignation.

It is easy to feel distanced from God or abandoned when circumstances prevent us from doing something we feel called to do.

In our prayers, we implore God to deliver us from our circumstances or to somehow change them.

Where is God in such cases?

Has He abandoned us?

From the Philippians’ perspective, Paul is supposed to be spreading the Gospel.

What could possibly be worse for this cause than him being in prison?

If we allow our perspective toward the circumstances to prevail, it can make us utterly useless to God (see Psalm 73:21-22).

Frustration can turn to bitterness and hopelessness, making us completely ineffective.

Something needs to change, but what?

In the Bible, what happens when God’s people cry out to Him about the wicked prospering and the righteous falling?

What changes?

Not what you’d think.

The vast majority of the time, it is the /attitude/ about the circumstances that God changes rather than the circumstances themselves.

The key is to see things from God’s perspective instead of from our own human perspective.

It is only then that we can find the hope, courage, and faith to move forward.

Paul wrote this letter partly to address the Philippians concern for his circumstances in prison and its effect on his ministry.

From their perspective, imprisonment meant a huge setback.

Paul shatters this notion, claiming that his circumstances actually served to advance the Gospel rather than holding it back.

Hearing this news would have been like dropping a theological bomb, destroying their flawed perspective about the situation.

It says in [*Philippians 1:13* /so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else/,] Paul elaborates on how his circumstances are a good thing.

Word of his imprisonment has spread to everyone *[P]*.

He singles out the imperial guard from /all the rest/.

If he had just said “all” or “everyone,” there is a good chance that the imperial guard would not have come to mind.

By specifically mentioning them and then adding /all the rest/, he draws attention to this important group of witnesses – the Gospel has impacted right into the stronghold of Rome – in (Phil 4:22) members of Caesar’s own household greet the beleivers.

By mentioning the guard draws attention to them, even though they are implicitly included.

The same effect is achieved by referring to /most/ of the brothers in [*Philippians 1:14* /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/.].

Paul’s imprisonment has actually caused most to be bolder and more courageous in their witness.

But it makes us wonder, “What about the rest of them?”

This sets the stage for Paul to talk about this minority group in [*Philippians 1:15-17* /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; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment/.].

By talking about /most/ of the believers rather than /all/ of them Paul singles them out *[P]*.

I could do the same kind of thing by saying I liked /most/ of the sermon or that I /mostly/ liked you as a friend.

Chances are you’d be wondering which part I /didn’t/ like.

This is exactly what Paul is doing here.

He is going to talk about this unnamed subgroup of believers.

It seems that not everyone who was preaching was doing so out of pure motives.

The first group of evangelists (mentioned in Phil 1:15,17) are those preaching because of envy or strife.

This negative group is contrasted with a positive group, who he emphasizes by saying /on the other hand/ there are those preaching for the right reasons – Paul highlights the contrast with /envy/ and /strife/ by emphasizing the word /goodwill/.

He contrasts their motives and their rationale for proclaiming the Gospel.

Those who preach out of love do so because they have recognized Paul’s role; he was appointed /for the defense of the Gospel/ (and Paul emphasizes this).

He wants the Philippians to know that his imprisonment has not changed this.

He wants them to respond like the majority of believers, those who have been encouraged to preach.