Philippians 1:12-18 (NRSV) 12 I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ; 14 and most of the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear. 15 Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. 16 These proclaim Christ out of love, knowing that I have been put here for the defense of the gospel; 17 the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase my suffering in my imprisonment. 18 What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true; and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice…
As we wend our way through Paul’s letter to Christians in Philippi, the site of an earlier brief imprisonment, we find him in prison again, though we are not sure where he is. Paul is the original lemonade from lemons guy. He is in prison and rejoices that the guards all know that he is a Christian.
I was not imprisoned, but on two different occasions I taught in prisons, to the maximum security men at Oak Park Heights and to the women in Shakopee. I taught ethics. I started out just looking at the rules one plays by, looking at football with the men and volleyball with the women. It was impossible, we determined, to have enough rules to have a rule for every situation. One needed to learn an appropriate way to respect each person. At the end of the semester, I shared with both classes that my life results from peace and forgiveness with God through Christ, not because of a set of rules or principles that would make life a success. Some thought I had “lied” by not telling who I was earlier, others said it was clear that my heart was not out to punish them, and still others celebrated life in Christ. A couple said they would take another look at the whole “Christian faith thing.” I needed to remember that even those in prison were human and were saved through Christ, not to be “trashed.”
What surprises me most as Paul begins in Philippians is that there are people telling the story. We still have those whose “proclamation appears to be” for gain and profit and popularity, and not humbly to tell the story of Christ and His salvation. It seems that at Paul’s time Christ was being proclaimed but that some seemed to want to rub it in to Paul that they could make more converts because he was in prison. He rejoices that the story is told. Let every parent, every adult, every child teach and learn during this year that joy comes in a committed relationship with Christ, wherever we live. To Him be glory.
Pastor Tom Trapp, Mission Pastor
Walking the Emmaus Road with the Risen Lord!
(Originally published in Emmaus Footprints, Vol. XV, Number 6, January 2014)