Philippians 1:20-21; Magnifying Christ ~ 20230924 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

09/24 Philippians 1:20-21; Magnifying Christ Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20230924_philippians-1_20-21.mp3

Paul gives the church in Philippi, who had partnered with him in the advance of the gospel, an update on his situation in prison;

Philippians 1:12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. ...

Paul’s response of joy in the advance of the gospel, even toward those who intend harm to him personally, gives him confidence as he sees evidence of the gospel at work in his own heart.

Philippians 1:18 ...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 deliverance,

Deliverance, or salvation; the present ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer to bring each of us more and more into line with the character of Jesus.

Eager Expectation [ἀποκαραδοκία] and Hope

Philippians 1:20 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. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Eager expectation is a strong word, describing intense anticipation. It pictures turning away from other interests and stretching out the head in the direction of the thing desired. If Paul is talking about deliverance as his own release from prison, these are awfully strong words. But if he is talking about his anticipation that the God who began a good work in him will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus, these words are appropriate. The only other place this word is found is in Romans 8:19 to describe the eschatalogical yearning of all creation that all corruption, all futility, everything in bondage be set free, made new, glorious. Everything strains forward anticipating the new creation.

Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

Paul couples this intense longing with hope. Hope in the New Testament is a completely different animal than the way we commonly use the word hope; ‘I sure hope things go better today than they did yesterday’, meaning ‘I wish it to be true, although I doubt it.’ When Paul uses the word ‘hope’ it is a settled assurance that God will fulfill his promises. He goes on in the Romans 8 passage:

Romans 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

God has made promises. He will without fail make good on those promises. Hope is the confident looking forward to the fulfillment we do not yet possess. Paul speaks of his hope in Titus 1

Titus 1:2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began 3 and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;

Not Ashamed [αἰσχύνομαι]

Paul’s joy in the gospel despite his own personal circumstances will turn out for his salvation according to his eager expectation and hope. This hope is both negative and positive. On the negative side, his intense anticipation and expectant hope is that he will not at all be ashamed. Not ashamed. What does he mean that he will be ashamed in nothing? Shame is the feeling of disgrace or dishonor from doing that which ought not be done.

Peter says ‘if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name’ (2Pet.4:16). John says ‘abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming’ (1Jn.2:28). Paul quotes the Old Testament Scriptures in Romans;

Romans 9:33 as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

Throughout the Old Testament, there is hope that those who trust in God will not be put to shame. As it says in Psalm 69; Those who hope in the LORD will not be put to shame.

Psalm 69:6 Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord GOD of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.

This Psalm points to the Messiah,

Psalm 69:7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face. 8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons. 9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

We can be confident that we will be ashamed in nothing, not because we have never done anything to be ashamed of (that’s certainly not true), but because our shame has fallen on Jesus. He bore our dishonor, our reproach. He took our shame on the cross, so that despite those who seek to put us to shame, we can have the eager expectation and hope that in nothing will we be ashamed.

In Romans 5 Paul uses this language of rejoicing and hope and not being ashamed;

Romans 5:2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame [καταισχύνω], because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Paul is able to rejoice in his own sufferings, even when his suffering is caused by brothers preaching Christ out of impure motives; envy and strife. Paul is able to rejoice because his hope is in something greater; his confident expectation is that in nothing will he be put to shame.

In All Boldness [παρρησίᾳ]

Rejoice in the gospel despite personal circumstances; this will turn out for my salvation according to my eager expectation and hope. The content of my hope? That in nothing will I be ashamed, but in all boldness, as always, even now, Chirst will be magnified.

Boldness, in the sense of speaking plainly, openly, frankly; confidence. This is a different word for boldness than the one in verse 14; there it is more the sense of courageous daring.

In Acts 4:13, the religious leaders were astonished at the boldness of Peter and John, who were uneducated common men, but men who had been with Jesus. What did this boldness/plainness/confidence look like?

Acts 4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

They shot straight, laid it on the table, told it like it was. They were bold, plain, confident. When the religious leaders warned them ‘not to speak or teach at all in the mane of Jesus’

Acts 4:19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

They spoke this way because they were ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’. Jesus told his disciples:

Mark 13:11 And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.

After Peter and John were released, they gathered with the believers and praised God and prayed:

Acts 4:29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, ... 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Filled with the Spirit they spoke with confidence; so they prayed for confidence, and they were filled with the Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with confidence and clarity. In Ephesians 6:19, Paul asks for prayer ‘that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel’, and in the last verse of the book of Acts we read of Paul in Rome that he was:

Acts 28:31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

Theses words ‘boldness’ and ‘shame’ are contrasted in 1 John 2:28

1 John 2:28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

Magnifying Christ

Paul is eagerly expectant that he will be ashamed in nothing, but in all boldness as always so even now; nothing, all, always, now. Paul’s language is extreme, but not exaggerated. But his focus is not on his own confidence or boldness, it is on Christ. The object of his eager expectation and hope is Christ. Christ is the center of his thoughts, his hopes, his desires. Christ is the focus of all his attention, of all his confidence, of all his boldness. His overarching desire is that Christ be magnified.

[μεγαλυνθήσεται] means to be made or declared or seen to be great, exceeding, high, large, mighty. Christ is great, worthy of worship. Paul’s aim was that Christ be perceived to be what in reality he is. A megaphone isn’t meant to change the message; it amplifies the message so that more people can hear it. A telescope doesn’t make the moon bigger; the magnification is meant to allow us to see it as it is more clearly. Paul’s eager expectation and hope was aimed at Christ being put on display, seen for who he truly is in all his magnificence and glory.

In My Body

And there was a specific place that Paul desired Christ to be magnified. ‘In my body.’ The body is where we live and how we relate to one another. In Christianity, the body is important. Our bodies are members of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, bought with a price, and we are to glorify God in our bodies (1Cor.6:15,19-20). Our bodies are a battleground, and we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies (Rom.6:12). Our bodies are given resurrection life by the Spirit who lives in us (Rom.8:11). Our bodies will one day be redeemed (Rom.8:23), so we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice (Rom.12:1).

Whether Through Life or Through Death

There are two states in which the body exists, and Paul desires to magnify Christ in his body whichever state it is in; alive or dead. None of us get out of here alive, and someone in a Roman prison is more keenly aware of the fact of his own mortality. But his eager expectation and hope is that Christ be magnified in his body through his life or through his death. Life is Christ, described here as ‘fruitful labor’ (v.22). As he puts it in Galatians

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Life for the believer is Christ; it is Christ living in me, me living by faith, in complete dependence on Christ, Christ being magnified in my body. Death, being present with Christ, being like him because we see him as he is (1Jn.3:2), is better by far.

Is your life Christ? Are you living in dependence on Christ? Would others say Christ is living in you? Is what comes out of your mouth Christ? Is your primary overarching aim to magnify Christ? Is this your eager expectation and hope?

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2023.09.24 Sermon Notes

Philippians 1:20-21; Magnifying Christ

eager expectation -turning away from other interests and stretching the head in the direction of the thing desired

Romans 8:18-22

and hope -a settled assurance that God will fulfill his promises

Romans 8:23-25; Titus 1:2-3

in nothing ashamed -those who hope in God will not be put to shame

2 Peter 4:16; 1 John 2:28; Romans 9:33; Psalm 69:6-9; Romans 5:2-5

in all boldness; -speaking plainly, openly, frankly; confidence

Holy Spirit empowered boldness

Acts 4:8-20; Mark 13:11; Acts 4:29, 31; Ephesians 6:19; Acts 28:31; 1 John 2:28

magnifying Christ -that Christ would be perceived as he is

2 Peter 4:16; Romans 5:2; 1 Corinthians 9:20; Acts 4:12

in my body

-temple of the Holy Spirit; 1 Corinthians 6:15, 19-20

-battleground; Romans 6:12

-given resurrection life by the Spirit; Romans 8:11

-redemption of our bodies; Romans 8:23

-present bodies a living sacrifice; Romans 12:1

through life (Christ) or through death (gain)

Galatians 2:20; 1 John 3:2

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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org