Lesson One • Reach
Devotion #2: Gospel Perspective
Pastor Kyle Wendel
“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.” Philippians 1:12-13
Could you imagine being imprisoned for the cause of Christ? I know I have pondered this question before. What would my attitude be if I was thrown in prison for following and preaching about Jesus?
I love looking at Paul’s life and being amazed at his attitude and perspective. This is a guy who has truly suffered for the cause of Christ. At one time he was completely against all Christians. He was a Pharisee who hunted the believers down to stop them. God gets the attention of Paul in his life and completely transforms him. However, God did not promise Paul an easy life by any means. God instead promised Paul a life of suffering for His name’s sake. Acts 9:16 says, “For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
I greatly admire Paul and his journey. Paul went through an incredible amount of persecution, imprisonment, and was eventually martyred. I love Paul’s attitude through it all. We do not see him complaining, but instead counting it joy as an opportunity to suffer for the Lord.
Paul was a guy who was all about the Gospel and proclaiming the Gospel in his life. He would not stop proclaiming Christ in his life. He could not be stopped. If you came his way, he was preaching about Jesus. He was threatened to be thrown in jail for preaching Jesus, but he did not care. He was thrown in prison for it. Yet, he used the opportunity in prison to continue to proclaim Jesus to the other prisoners and write letters to the churches. Once he got out, you would find him proclaiming Jesus. There was no stopping this man who was all about telling people about the Good News found in Jesus Christ. Paul even goes on to say in Philippians 1:21, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” No matter what, Paul was going to live for Christ. If you wanted to kill him, he said that would be gain because he would then be in Heaven with his Creator and it would be known that he died for the Gospel to go forward. This man was all about the Gospel and there was no stopping him.
Philippians 1:12-13 says, “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.”
Again, we look at this passage and see Paul’s attitude and perspective. He does not want others to be discouraged that he is imprisoned. He wants the Christians to see that his being imprisoned is serving the Gospel and allowing it to advance. The entire “Imperial Guard” now knows he is in prison because of Christ! God is using him to get the Gospel out! What an incredible attitude and perspective to have. I pray to have this same view in my life. I want it in all aspects even if my life comes to the point where this type of persecution would be a reality.
So, how do we have this perspective in our lives today? We all face hardships in our lives. We all have people that may look down on us for following Christ. Work may be harder by being a Christian. Just know that we are called to be the light of the world and to show Jesus in everything we do. Count it as an opportunity to suffer in any way for the sake of the Gospel and the cause of Christ!