Worth Repeating - September 2, 2017

Philippians 1: 18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. . .  (NIV)

There are times I believe I should be something special in order to be a preacher of God’s Word.*

There’s no such thing as bad publicity. Do you think that’s true? I tend to disagree with the philosophy, but in this verse it seems Paul might go along with it. Word has come to him that there are people who are preaching the gospel with less than honorable motives – envy, ambition, and a desire to stir up trouble for Paul – but Paul is just happy that the word is getting out.

I find Paul’s outlook a little surprising because I thought that doing the right thing for the wrong reason was a bad thing. But here is Paul, contradicting my long-held belief. Paul doesn’t care about motives – he cares about truth. Motives take second place to preaching the true gospel.

But what about the lifestyle of the preacher? What if he is well-known for his dishonesty, or he is openly gay? He beats his wife and gambles away his paycheck? Shouldn’t the messenger match the message?

If a man rescues your child from a burning building just to get a reward, should we object to his not having the right motives? What if that child needed medical attention but the rescuer was not an EMT? Should he have left your child in the fire? This hero is not a trained professional, his motives are not pure, and his rescue is incomplete because he doesn’t know CPR. Your child’s life may still be at risk but at least he is safe from the fire. Should we not rejoice?

Can we better understand Paul’s attitude now? I think he would say that desperate times call for emergency procedures. He was in prison and so his freedom to preach was limited. But jail and wrong motives will not hinder the gospel. “God’s work was still getting done, and that was cause for rejoicing.”*

That gospel has lost none of its power.*