Saturday, September 1, 2007

Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing

On Friday I heard Joseph Stowell talk about Philippians 1:20, where the Apostle Paul writes “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death” (NIV).

Stowell reminded us that Paul was under house arrest. But rather than complaining, he pointed out that his imprisonment had actually served to advance the Gospel. Paul also had to deal with petty fellow Christians who wanted to be big stuff and so preached out of envy and rivalry. Paul didn’t let that get to him, either. He said, in effect, “So what? At least Christ is being preached.” In fact, Paul didn’t even really care whether he lived or died. To live was Christ, to die was gain. Either way was good. And all through the letter to the Philippians, Paul the prisoner talks about rejoicing.

Stowell pointed out that the key to Paul’s attitude is Philippians 1:20. Paul’s concern was not his own circumstances or what other people thought or anything else except that Christ would be exalted in him. Stowell told about a time when he was desperately trying to get from Kokomo to Grand Rapids to speak to a thousand people, and he got so caught up in his need to get there that he was a pretty lousy witness to a Kokomo airport employee. He wondered how things might have turned out if his goal had not been getting to Grand Rapids to speak to a group [about Christ] but rather magnifying Christ in every situation.

Those of us who believe that God has called us to fight slavery can get so caught up in the problem that we might forget the most important thing—glorifying God. If we lose that focus, even for a cause that God has called us to, we won’t succeed. Remember John 15:5: “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (NIV).

1 comment:

Steve said...

Those are good thoughts and insights, Bob. Thanks for writing.