The Script

¹⁵It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. ¹⁶They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. ¹⁷Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. ¹⁸But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. ¹⁹For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance. _{Philippians 1:15-19}

The Plot

When Paul was in prison, two types of men became embolden. Paul’s supporters and Paul’s detractors. A detractor is someone who attempts to belittle, devalue, and tear down the reputation of another. It’s hard to imagine a faithful man like Paul having to deal with such people, but he did. He was a holy, godly, powerful, successful, and blessed man - just the kind who threatens those with big egos and impure motives.

Paul’s detractors preached the gospel, but their purpose in doing so was to discredit, defame, accuse, criticize, and dishonor Paul. That’s what made their blood flow and got them up in the morning.

Even today, there are those, who preach the gospel but in Jesus name but because of their jealousy, they focus their whole lives on trying to discredit people who occupy places of blessing, such as evangelists, writers, pastors, teachers, and leaders of various ministries. Like Paul’s detractors, they compete with others by using slander, accusation, and criticism - anything to tear another down.

We should follow Paul’s example and while not condoning or excusing the behavior, be glad that God can use their message regardless of their motives.

Walk Through

1. Is Paul condoning false motives?
2. Why does Paul not care if people talk about Christ for the wrong reasons?
3. What are some things that we can do to make sure we serve with the right intentions?

Ad Lib

There is a fable of an eagle which could out fly another, and the other didn’t like it. The latter saw a sportsman one day, and said to him:

“I wish you would bring down that eagle.” The sportsman replied that he would if he only had some feathers to put into the arrow. So the eagle pulled one out of his wing. The arrow was shot, but didn’t quite reach the rival eagle; it was flying too high. The envious eagle pulled out more feathers, and kept pulling them out until he lost so many that he couldn’t fly, and then the sportsman turned around and killed him.