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. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. - Philippians 1:18-20
Christ and the Cross. Deliverance. What enables Paul to rejoice while in chains? He is in chains and could possible lose his life at any time, yet he encourages others to continue for the sake of Christ. What can make a person while in bondage rejoice?
It could only be Christ. We (me included) oftentimes forget the great significances of Christ and the cross. We tend to preach the “cross”. Meaning we preach only that Jesus saves us from our sins. While that is a great deal, it isn’t the entire story. Sometimes we tend to preach “resurrection” only. We preach because Jesus was raised, we too will be raised. This is a great gift, yet it isn’t the entire story.
The only way we can teach or preach the entire story is to preach Jesus. Jesus came to do so much more than we can even grasp at one time, so we do not want to limit the message. One of the many things Jesus came to bring is deliverance. He brings deliverance from sin, but he didn’t stop at that when he hung on the cross. He brought us deliverance from the tricks of the enemy and most importantly from ourselves. He gave us deliverance from the stronghold of “self”. That was a losing battle we often fought, when trying to do anything that would cause us to have to limit ourselves.
Why do you think Paul could rejoice while in chains? He had received the deliverance from the stronghold of self. Paul says in the scripture that he knows with the prayers of the righteous and the power of the Holy Spirit, the situation he finds himself in, will turn out for his deliverance. He wasn’t necessarily talking about his release from the physical chains he was in, but in any spiritual chains that might try to attach themselves to him and then truly make him one in chains (spiritual ones). He had freedom to move in the power of the Spirit, even with the captor thought he had him limited. He has the power of God to rescue him from whatever would keep him from fulfilling the will of the Father. And Paul was ready to go even to death, if it meant fulfilling the will of the Father.
Today we can rejoice because that same power of deliverance that was there for Paul is available to us. We can fulfill the cause of Christ in our lives because he has delivered us from ourselves. He has given us the Holy Spirit to equip us to stand even in the situations where the captor tries to hold us back. What rejoicing we can have, because even though Paul was in chains, it did not stop the spread of the gospel it actually encouraged the spread of the gospel. That is what God will do in our lives. He will allow the chains we find ourselves in to encourage others because they see in us the hope of glory. They see in us a made-up mind and a determined spirit. They see that even though our situation has us seemingly locked up, we move freely in the power of God.
I pray for us today that we meditate on the goodness we have been give through the total sacrifice of self that Jesus did for us. He examples us what total surrender to the cause of God can do. Today Lord help us yield completely to you, so that we can experience total freedom through your gift of deliverance.
