Sermon Central
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Preaching From Philippians #2
Contributed by Dr. Odell Belger on Mar 31, 2022 (message contributor)
Summary: One of the reasons that it is a sin for Christians to take drugs or drink alcoholic beverages is because these are substances that control our behavior.
These are things that will ruin our lives and cause us to make fools out of ourselves. There is no way that a Christian can be controlled by the Holy Spirit if they are controlled by these substances.
But these are not the only things that control Christians.
For example, there are many Christians who do not drink or take drugs, yet their behavior is altered by circumstances as much as a person who takes drugs or drinks alcoholic beverages.
Circumstances can control us in such away that they can ruin our lives and make fools out of us.
The maturity of a Christian can be found in the way a Christian reacts to the circumstances in their life. Some folks allow circumstances to affect their behavior.
• If the circumstances in their life are good, they are one happy dude!
• If the circumstances in their life are bad, they are one sad dude!
Listen, it is as wrong for Christians to allow circumstances to control our behavior as it is wrong for us to allow alcohol and drugs to control our behavior.
When it comes to circumstances in our life, the Lord wants Christians to learn to live the Christian life by not allowing circumstances to control us, but by us controlling our circumstances.
As we look at the life of the apostle Paul, we see that this is what he was able to achieve. In this passage of scripture I want to show you TWO things about his life.
I. HIS CONTROL
Look at Philippians 1:12-14, we read, “But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”
In these three verses, Paul reminds the Philippian Christians about some things that happened to him. Evidently he felt that what happened to him needed to be explained to them.
To best understand what happened to Paul, I want to ask you to imagine you are a missionary. As a missionary you love the lost world so much:
• You’ve sold all your possessions and moved to a foreign country that hasn’t heard the Gospel
• You try to fit in with these folks you want to win to the Lord
• You take on their customs and habits
• You wear their clothes
• You eat their food
• You learn their language
• You love them
• You serve them
• You do everything you can to make it easy for them to hear the message you’re bringing.
They respond by having you thrown into jail. Paul was thrown into jail, just for telling people about Jesus.
Two more bad things happened to him:
(1) There were jealous ministers who chose to take the circumstance of him being in jail for preaching the gospel as an opportunity to put him down and lift themselves up! It is that old attitude of, “God is really blessing us because we are not in jail.”
(2) When things can’t seem to get any worse, it is possible that the authorities might pass the death sentence on him. He doesn’t know if he will get out of jail alive.
If you were a missionary, how would you feel? Would these circumstance cause you to be:
• Discouraged
• Afraid
• Maybe both
It may be that you would allow these circumstances to cause you to get ANGRY WITH GOD!
Paul is in prison. The only reason he’s in prison is because he was telling people about Jesus.
How did he respond to these circumstances?
• Is he discouraged?
• Is he afraid?
• Is he angry?
We know exactly how this great servant of the Lord responded. Look at Verse 12 again, “But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;”
He understood WHY HE WAS THERE, and he wanted them to UNDERSTAND WHY HE WAS THERE!
Look at verse 13, he says, “So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;”
HOW DID HE SEE THESE CIRCUMSTANCES? He said his being in jail had now given him a different congregation. He was now preaching to the palace guards.
Paul used his circumstances of being in jail to spread the gospel to the Praetorian Guard. These were the elite of the Roman army. These soldiers guarded Paul and were chained to the wrist of Paul day and night for two years.
HOW DID PAUL USE THESE CIRCUMSTANCES FOR THE GLORY OF GOD?
