Paul wasn't polished

When you think of Paul in the bible what do you usually think of? For me, I think of a stud who was bold in sharing the gospel wherever he went. I think of a man who had absolute trust in God no matter what his circumstance was.

The commonalty of this post is your circumstances. Think about the circumstances you are in today. You might be going through a breakup, you might have had a terrible week at school, and maybe you struggled to do the things you love well. Maybe you lost a loved one, maybe you are beyond mad that the snow is back. No matter what, we are all going through something and face some sort of circumstance. Circumstances aren't necessarily bad either. You could be on cloud nine. You could be coming off of a week where you got A's on all your tests. You could be coming off a week where everything seemed to go your way.

One thing that I can guarantee you is that no matter how bad your circumstances are right now, they probably aren't as bad as Paul's. Paul circumstances were not at all what he had planned. He had been in prison for two years and then the people decided to send him to Rome. While he was on the ship heading to Rome, the ship he was on got into a wreck. Once he finally made it to Rome he was put back into prison. Sucky circumstances right?

One thing that we need to do is be an agent of advancement of the gospel. We need to live for gospel advancement. The first way we do that is through our circumstances.

In Philippians 1:12 Paul writes: "I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel." 

Paul knows that his circumstances suck right now and he understands that what has happened to him has happened so that the gospel can be advanced. Paul's testimony throughout every circumstance was that Jesus is Lord and the Christians in Rome noticed that. They had been hearing Paul's testimony.

Later on in verse 14 Paul writes: "And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear." 

Paul's testimony was affecting the Christians in Rome. They were becoming more confident in the Lord because of Paul's imprisonment. The awesome part is that they were becoming much more bold to share the goodness of God.

No matter what circumstances we are in, we need to let the joy God provides trump worldly pain. The negative circumstances we are faced with can serve as either a catalyst or an excuse. How are you going to let your negative circumstances affect you? You might never know how God will choose to multiply the good through your negative circumstances.

The second way we can be an advancement of the gospel is through proclamation. There was a rise in Rome because of Paul. He had no problem advancing the gospel and then no problem encouraging others who did as well.

Philippians 1:15-18 says: "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 preach Christ out of selfish ambition, 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. "

I've read through this passage many times before but it never really made sense until today. I always thought Paul was a little salty about these other preachers preaching out of selfish ambition but that was never the case. Paul wasn't polished. He didn't speak well, he was a little different then everybody else but the one thing that made Paul who he was was that he followed and lived a bold proclamation for Jesus.

I love the: "What then?" It's like Paul is laughing at this idea. Paul is overjoyed that the gospel is being preached and lived out regardless of who is preaching it. Paul found joy in any sort of gospel proclamation. This is very encouraging. Unfortunately it's kinda easy to from opinions about other churches or ministries. Paul being filled with joy because the gospel was being proclaimed is so encouraging. We need to love other churches and other ministries. Sure we have our differences and disagreements but the one commonality is that Jesus came to save sinners like us. It's like when you see someone diving the exact same car as you on the highway. You most likely have no idea who is driving it, but you still wave because you have the same car. Commonalities strengthen bonds.

There are things that are easier to do as a Christian then others. It can be easy to live a Christian lifestyle. But it's very difficult to actually proclaim the gospel. Think about it though, it can be so hard. That is the most difficult thing to do without a doubt. It's easy to do a lot of other things Christians do when you compare it to proclaiming the gospel. Which stinks to say, it's kind of clunky but it's something we all have to work on. I know that I have to work on it every single day.

The third way to live for gospel advancement is with our lives. Paul's biggest prayer in his life was that he would be faithful to Jesus Christ day in and day out. He was most concerned with honoring Christ everyday. That's what we need to do as well. Who cares what circumstances we are in? The most important thing is that Jesus saves.

Christ needs to be exalted over all.

Paul was never polished during his time on earth and neither are we. We will never be because we cannot be perfect. Some day we will be polished and that is when we take our last breath and we immediately are in the presence of God. How encouraging is that. No wonder Paul had no fear. He knew that when he died he was going to immediately be in the presence of the Lord, he had no reason to fear and neither should we.