The Advance of the Gospel (Sermon)

This sermons was preached by Kevin Deane on June 14, 2015 at Fairmont Baptist Church in Saskatoon. You can listen to the sermon online here.

WWI was filled with heroics, battles and bloodshed. One of the most significant battles and pivotal moments in Canadian history was the battle of Vimy ridge. There were 4 Canadian divisions against 3 German divisions. Vimy Ridge is a ridge in France that overlooks a very crucial pass. Take it, and the armies can advance. The battle began at 5:30 am on April 9. It was during a heavy and cold snowstorm. By 6:30 am they had captured the first line of defense. By 7:30 am, three of the four divisions had captured the second line. The 4^th division was almost entirely wiped out. After 4 days, Canada had captured the ridge. You can well imagine the commander behind this attack. His orders would have been very simple, "keep on advancing." There was no adequate excuse for the troops to stop. Their conversations, had there been any, would have been something like, "It's snowing." "Advance!" "The fourth battalion has been wiped out." "Advance!"

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

(Php 1:3-5)

Paul is thankful for this church. He is filled with joy every time he remembers them. Why? Because of their participation in seeing the gospel go forth.

The gospel is like an advancing army, and they have supported that army.

Stop and think of all the reasons Paul could have been filled with joy for these people. He is not filled with joy because they were once saved – although I'm sure when they were converted He was jubilant. He's not filled with joy when he remembers them because of their hospitality or great memories he has of them. He's not filled with joy because they are particularly knowledgable, or have something new and exciting going on in the church, or even because they are growing. Paul is filled with excitement, filled with joy, because when he thinks of these people, he is reminded of the fact that the gospel is going forth.

It is the advance of the gospel that is of the primary importance to Paul.

If you think of being far from home, it's not hard to relate to the concept of being filled with joy. Your letters home might say something like,

'I'm excited to know you are safe and healthy,' or, 'I was excited to hear about the marriage of so-and-so' or that someone got a new job.

Even when we are absent from the people we love, we still celebrate with them and for them. Paul is filled with joy every time he remembers them, but not because of their well-being or because of any accomplishment, he is filled with joy because of the role they play in seeing the gospel go forth.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

(Php 1:6-7)

So here Paul is expressing the same thing. He says he is confident that God will bring them to completion at the day of Christ Jesus. Why is it ok for him to think that? Because he holds them in his heart. In the greek, that is his inward being, the center of all emotion. So there's this deep yearning that is going on in Paul. He loves them deeply – why does he hold them in his heart? Read verse 7 – because they are partkaers in grace, in his imprisonment and in his defense and confirmation of the gospel.

For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

(Php 1:8-11)

The love he has for the Phillipians is not his own. This deep love, this passion, it is because Christ is loving through him. He deeply loves them and gives them a model for how they ought to live.

And now here is Paul's desire for them – he desires them to grow and grow and be more holy. More love. More knowledge. More discernement. Approve what is excellent. Be pure. Be blameless. This is what Paul wants for them.

And it's an absolutely incredible call for us to examine our own affections. To examine what brings us joy. Because what we are going to see in the rest of this book is that there is absolutely nothing Paul is not willing to go through, nothing Paul is not willing to give up in order to see the gospel advanced. Knowing that Jesus' message is advancing is so high on Paul's priority list that it should put all our selfishness to shame.

So while we live our lives in our comfortable homes with our nice leather bound Bibles. What the book of Phillipians is asking us today, is how much of a role do we play in seeing the gospel advance. And how well do we on Paul's model of living? Do you love more? Know more? Than yesterday?

"I see so few of our churches risking everything for the mission. We have retreated into our nice big buildings, where we sit in our nice, cushioned pews and chairs, where we are insulated and isolated from the inter-cities and spiritual lostness of the world. We have given a tip of our hats to world missions and evangelism as an optional program for the faithful few while we go on designing endless programs that revolve around us; and when we should be on the firing lines for God...most of our people are still in the nurseries of our churches drinking spiritual milk." - David Platt

Is a ticket at a parking metre what makes or breaks your day? Or is it the advance of the gospel that gives you joy?

What gives you joy? God is the giver of joy. And in the cross we see every attribute of God represented. In looking at the cross we see God. Knowing God and seeing others given the opportunity to know God should be the greatest thrill we can encounter.

Think about the fact that in the last week, dozens of funerals have taken place in this city. About 4 thousand people died worldwide because of Aids. Thousands worlwide have been sold into the sex trade. And what really grabbed hold of your attention this week was if the Blackhwaks would beat the Lightning. Shouldn't our focus be riveted on a message that can counteract all the darkness?

See we're like, 'what an awful day I got stuck dealing with people all day long,' and Paul's like, 'I just got thrown in prison and am now chained to a guard. This is awesome, the guard can't go anywhere. I'm going to preach all night long. Even if I sing he can't leave.'

Read these verses:

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

(Php 1:12-14)

Do you hear that? He's happy, or even pleased with what has happened because it serves as an opportunity to advance the gospel. I think the modern parallel would be to write something like, “I want you to know, brothers, that I have cancer. But this has really served to advance the gospel, for I now have opportunity to preach it to a variety of hospital staff.”

We as a culture are so self-absorbed. Our first priority is our own well-being, and the well-being of our children. Just think how many children have been discouraged from going to the mission field, or from bible college, because their parents didn't want them to encounter a life of poverty and hardship. But here's Paul, 'I am excited to see the gospel is advancing.'

I was at a youth conference a few weeks ago with about 400 young kids and several youth leaders. I was working with this one youth group and staying with the leaders. And from these two ladies that helped organize it, every morning we got up we heard new complaints. “These matresses are thin, my back hurts. Oh, I'm so tired from that late night. I'm having to runa round with these kids. I'm too old to do these weekends more than once a year.” And I remember sitting in a session and hearing the gospel proclaimed so clearly and we brought 8 youth. I think 5 of them went forward to receive Christ. And I could see visible, tangible changes in these kids lives. Maybe you should sleep on thin mattresses more often. Maybe tiredness is really just selfishness. Paul would have been thrilled to sleep on thin matts – he's thrilled to sit in prison! and run around all night with those kids if they got to hear the Word of God.

But here's Paul, 'I am excited to see the gospel is advancing.'

Paul isn't excited about seeing different giftings used (and he wrote Corinthians). He's not excited about new or different programs going in churches. He's excited about the advance of the gospel. I think our priorities are wrong, when we get excited that the awesome games we play has helped our youth group grow to 40 kids.

When the reality is, we should be more excited that 5 kids were taught, grown, mentored, sanctified, and made into evangelists. The Christian has a very different view of success than the world does.

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

(Php 1:15-26)

Our understanding of success, and our understanding of endurance changes dramatically. See the average person when faced with difficulty clings to the hope that the sun will come up tomorrow. That they will make it though the darkness. But for the Christian, every roadblock, every barrier, is an opportunity to proclaim the gospel, whether we make it through or not.

We are a faith built on upon a history of men and women who have endured unto death.

The priority of the Christian faith is seeing the gospel advance.

Think of Stephen, proclaiming the gospel to the Jews. And they begin to hate him and become angry. He is not looking for a light at the end of the tunnel. If you think a happy ending means peace and prosperity, and good prevailing, then Stephen's story does not have a happy ending. As they pick up stones and kill him, the happy ending is seeing the gospel travel from Jeruslaen to the ends of the earth.

As the apostles are murdered, one by one, they are not looking for silver lining in those dark days, but they are singing hymns as they go to be publicly murdered because they know the gospel is advancing.

In more recent times, Jim Elliot marches into Ecuador and is murdered. If you read his diary, he was ready to pay that price. And his wife knew what was important – not the memory of her husband, but the advancement of the gospel, and she marched into the tribe and preached herself.

Regardless of what we face, our priority is always the gospel. It's the only thing that ought to stir the affections of our hearts. Seeing it advanced is our first priority. And if we will spend our lives advancing the gospel, it must mean the death of our self-centred love of our own comfort.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

(Php 1:27-30)

I can't help but think of the story of George Whitefield. A man who preached daily until he died of exhaustion.

• He started preaching at 24
• On average, preached about 1,000 times every year, or three times a day
• He preached for 30 years
• This included 18,000 different sermons and 12,000 different talks and lectures.
• Most weeks he was speaking more than he was sleeping
• He preached on average for 60 hours a week
• He never took time off (there was no private life or family life)
• No one has ever really preached as much or as widely
• He preached until the age of 54, when he was on his way from town to town and was intercepted on the way. He was asked to preach and could barely finish he was so tired. He continued on to the town he was headed to and had to be carried from the boat because he was so tired. The house didn't hold all the people, so he preached outside. Despite being almost two weak to finish, he completed his sermon. He went to bed, got up in the morning, prayed on his knees, lay down on his bed and died of exhaustion.

Let us be the same way. Let us not be concerned for ourselves. Not concerned for our safety, or our well-being or our reputation. Let us see that te gospel advances through Saskatoon. Whether they martyr us or we see revival. Let us make it our priority.