WHAT REALLY MATTERS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

But 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.

Philippians 1:18a

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Paul’s imprisonment in Rome opened up the opportunity for others to preach and carry on his Gospel work. As we saw in his words within yesterday’s message, these pastors of the Word fell into two categories depending on the motives they carried into their ministry.

Some saw Paul’s incarceration as a chance to alter the work he had done, seeking to get their believers to buy into their version of the Gospel which often added requirements beyond the ones God had set for salvation. These ministers were focused on themselves, on their belief about the way a person might be saved. There was no concern about violating the true Gospel and, in doing so, leading people astray.

Opposing these preachers were the ones who sought to support and reinforce Paul, sharing in his passion for the legitimate, unadulterated version of the Gospel. These ministers were most concerned about those they hoped to bring salvation to, the lost who had not yet decided to follow Jesus as Savior. This motivation was grounded in the same love that God had in His heart when He decided to send His only Son from heaven to earth to be the Savior of the world.

As we move to the verse that directly follows Paul’s discussion of the two different types of pastors and their competing motives, we see the Apostle make a statement that could be seen as a bit of a head scratcher, one that makes us pause for a moment and consider whether or not his words were advisable. Look again at the first part of verse 18:

But 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.

After reading how Paul called out one set of preachers for rebuke and praised the other, we might expect him to tell the Philippian believers to shun the ministers who were operating under selfish motives but as we see, he does the exact opposite. For the imprisoned Apostle, the man who had dedicated much of his life to the devoted preaching of the true Gospel, actually rejoiced over what was happening.

Why?

Because what really mattered was that Jesus Christ was being preached.  This was more important than the motives that were behind the person preaching.

Paul’s words are counterintuitive to what we might think. For left to our devices, we would probably send out a warning to others if we knew a minister was teaching and preaching out of false motives in their hearts.   

But this approach overlooks the powerful work of the Holy Spirit, the great Counselor promised by Jesus and sent by His Father God. It’s the Holy Spirit that helps a believer discern right from wrong, true from false, legitimate from counterfeit. Paul knew this as well as anyone.

This is why the Apostle could still rejoice, even while knowing that there preachers who were sharing an errant Gospel message. For he knew that the Holy Spirit was greater and more powerful than the best, smooth-tongued evangelist. And just as the wheat is skillfully separated from the chaff, so too would the Spirit distill the false teaching down to what really mattered, the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.

Today, we still find a lot of pastors out there who are misleading believers through their sermons and hypocritical pastoral behavior as they profess the self-sacrificing Christ while acting in self-centered ways. In the midst of our concern about these situations, we need to be like Paul and see that what matters most is that Christ is being preached and let the Holy Spirit drive the understanding and discernment of believers.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com