April 7, 2008 by

"It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 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 1:15-18

For those who don't know, Paul is MY dude. I've been teaching sunday school for a while and we've been on Philippians for months now it seems. Every time I read this epistle, I've always got something else to say about it, but I'm not very gifted in articulating my thoughts through speech so I really feel as if my Sunday School class always gets a jumbled mess every time I'm up there speaking. Sorry guys. I’ll try to make up for my incoherence.

We often come across passages in the New Testament about false apostles and wolves who come in sheeps' clothing. We get plenty of warnings at church about being misled by “false prophets”, but I think the whole issue of rivalry from within the church gets overlooked. In this passage, Paul has to deal with rival missionaries and preachers who are basically preaching the same Gospel, but are stirring up trouble for Paul, making him look bad, while he is imprisoned.  What does this mean?

Growing up I was naïve and believed that all Christians are alike, anybody preaching the gospel is a good.   I forget that whenever you have people, you have to deal with pride &  sinfulness. What happens when, like in Paul’s case, there are others who are Christian & take pride in being Christian, but along the way use their leverage as being a “good” Christian to put others down.  What happens when you have people who use the message of the gospel for their own glorification?

….Hey look at me, I’m so awesome and holy and I do this, this and that. If you’re not doing this, this and that, you’re not a good Christian and you’re not worth as much as I am worth in God’s eyes… 

Okay, so maybe people won’t say things like that explicitly.

There are rivalries between ministries and churches, and along the way, the gospel might be used & manipulated so that the “competing” ministry, preacher, group, church etc, looks bad. Also, I think this comes down to different theologies and different understandings of how we’re supposed to be.  I used to wonder why we have to have so many different Christian denominations and I’ve come to the conclusion that we need to be separate so we won’t end up arguing over the little things that we don’t agree on. We don’t live in an ideal world and everybody’s take on the gospel is slightly different. 

And if you haven’t noticed, I’m a cynic. I don’t care if the guy is standing behind a pulpit or is standing outside at the street corner. If it sounds like self-righteous jibber jabber, standing behind a pulpit pounding on a bible doesn’t give it any more credence, and  having the title as preacher or pastor wouldn’t do much to add to credibility either. 

I really commend Paul, he's able to rejoice and be glad that, whatever the motive, the gospel is being preached. This is something that I struggle with.  I can’t get past the person, no matter what message he/she is preaching.

umm…yea, incoherence. This is what happens when I write my stream of consciousness.

*note to AEC Y.A.'s: Paul says he was put there (in jail) for the defense of the gospel. defense- APOLOGETICS!! exciting stuff *  

Sage
Great blog!
sanabeans
Thanks.
Nee-ron
LOVE THE BLOG!  GO APOLOGETICS!
sanabeans
i'm trying to temper my cynicism too. i don't have much faith in people.
minnesotabob
That was among the most coherent incoherent messages I've read in a long time. I'm a cynic too. Unfortunately, I haven't learned (or been willing) to temper my cynicism with love very well. My wife reminds of t
...View More
chamnan
Sana, Thank you so very much for expressing and sharing your feeling and idealism about christianity. As I went through your profile, I noticed that you currently are a law student. This means that you will be a lawyer or judge one day in the near future. You are such a smart person. Well, working ...View More
sanabeans
I know we're not supposed to judge. I know we're not supposed to think that others use the gospel for their own self-glorification.  We all know these things already, but we're dealing with reality. You can't take sinfulness out of the picture, even when you're dealing with people who are tryi...View More