Same Team

Scripture: Philippians 1:12-30

¹² I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually resulted in the progress of 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 rejoice, ¹⁹ for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my salvation. ²⁰ It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way but that by my speaking with all boldness Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death. ²¹ For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. ²² If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet I cannot say which I will choose. ²³ I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better, ²⁴ but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. ²⁵ Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, ²⁶ so that, by my presence again with you, your boast might abound in Christ Jesus because of me.

²⁷ Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel ²⁸ and in no way frightened by those opposing you. For them, this is evidence of their destruction but of your salvation. And this is God’s doing. ²⁹ For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ but of suffering for him as well, ³⁰ since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

Questions

1. What does it look like to proclaim Christ out of envy and selfish ambition?
2. Why would Paul rejoice in people preaching the gospel from selfish ambition?
3.  What does it look like when Christians strive together?

Background

Related Scriptures: Job 13, 1 Corinthians 9

Paul is in prison, likely in Rome, when he wrote the letter to the Philippians.

This chapter has a major theme of looking for joy in all situations, especially in the midst of suffering.

Paul’s focus in this passage is not on “dying for Jesus” that is not his goal, his goal is to live for Jesus until he dies.

Paul wants the Philippians to see the difference between truly living for Jesus which brings unity and selfish ambition which creates disunity in the Church while building up one person as a leader.

Reflection

Paul is intimately aware of pain and suffering in the world. He understands the difficulties that need to be overcome, which is why he wants the Philippians to focus on the phrase “strive together”. Paul is in prison and wants the Philippian community to remember him, to pray for him, and in that way unite with him. Yet he is aware of the fact that some are capitalizing on his imprisonment to gain clout, as they preach the Gospel with their lips while failing to live it.

Paul’s discussion in verses 15-18 reveals there are some who preach the love of Jesus with their mouths but even as they are seeking personal gain at his expense. And while Paul is not going to say they are false teachers he wants it to be clear they could do better. He is living out the message he is preaching in this passage. He could easily throw these individuals under the bus as selfish and not proclaiming Jesus. However, Paul chooses to acknowledge the good in their message. He shows the genuine nature of his message in that he does not condemn others but demonstrates where their faith is genuine while calling others to a standard higher than his opponents live. As John Chrysostom put it, “Note Paul’s wisdom. He does not hurl around scurrilous accusations. He calmly describes what has come to pass.… Though the aim and motives on which they acted were corrupted, still the preaching itself was not corrupted. And the preaching of Christ occurred despite it all.”^[1]

What Paul describes reminds me of Job and his friends. Jobs friends preached “what they knew to be true” and what they said in many ways aligns well with what some Christians preach today. Yet Jobs friends are ultimately chastened for their words. This is because their words created distance between themselves and Job. They preached a “true message” in a way that caused harm. They were not united; they did not strive together. They put themselves on one side and Job on the other.  Job was forced to contend alone as his friends all sparred with him and it dragged him down. How could it have changed Job’s life if his friends, instead of beating him while he was down, had focused on helping him? What might have been different if Job’s friends had focused on unity and helping the one who was struggling instead of simply pointing out his faults. Paul wants us to work together so as to build each other up. He knows that there are some who disagreed with him on issues related to the Gospel. What he wants is for those people to do what he did, speak well of his preaching to bring unity and selfishly take advantage of another Christian’s situation.

Paul wants us to realize that we belong to the same team when he says strive together, he recognizes there will be trials. But he also recognizes that the trials are from life and not fellow Christians.

We are striving together means recognizing that we are on the same team. Teammates can have disagreements, teammates can have struggles and difficulties, but teammates do not compete against one another during the match. A good teammate will build their team up, help teammates who are struggling, and do what they can to help the team win. It is a poor and selfish teammate who puts their own stats ahead of the team’s success.

Paul wants us to see that when others were using his situation to advance their own agendas, even if they were proclaiming the Gospel they were missing the point. Yes, they are proclaiming Jesus and as Paul says that is a good thing. But they are also bringing disunity to the Church and that will ultimately have a serious cost. Our goal is not simply to proclaim the Gospel; it is to live the Gospel and part of living the Gospel is striving together. We are called to work together as a team for God’s glory in this world.

---

^[1] M. J. Edwards, ed., Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture 225.