Philippians 1:12-18 Study Guide: The Advance of the Gospel

Community Group Study Guide —The Advance of the Gospel  

Philippians 1:12-18

Study Information:

If you’ve been a fan of a sport you know the joy when a season ends with your team deep in the playoffs or winning a championship. Success if great, but even the best team doesn’t win a championship every year and in fact many teams have seasons of poor performance after success. Often this happens because players have aged, injuries pile up or money has run out or been mismanaged. Yet, there is hope for bad seasons of and that is called the “Draft.” If your team was especially bad then you get an especially good pick in the draft that can change the trajectory of the next few years. It was the terrible seasons that leads to the picks of Lebron James, Tim Duncan, Peyton Manning or Joe Burrow and that can make the bad season worth it for the fans. Sometimes a setback leads to a win. 

We have something better than draft picks in sports. We have a God who often shines his light brightest in the darkness of hardship and can do surprising work in difficult seasons. Paul’s situation in the book of Philippians looked like a loss for many people on the outside, but Paul’s heart was motivated to show grateful joy as he recounts to the Philippians how the gospel advanced through his hardship. For the Christian, the loss becomes a win and God often uses the setback to bring us out of a place of fear and into a place of joy filled faith. 

What Has Happened Has Advanced the Gospel

Philippians 1:12-13

Paul’s situation looked pretty dire from the outside. His first “setback” was his imprisonment. This arrest started as a house arrest in Rome where he had the opportunity to teach various groups who came to visit but at some point it turned and he was now stuck to a praetorian guard day after day in confinement. Paul also did not know if his imprisonment would turn out for his release or his execution (Philippians 1:20-21). On the surface this looked like a loss as one of the most prominent church planters and preachers of the gospel was now confined in Rome. Yet Paul did not see his situation that way and wanted the Philippians to know that what happened to him actually advanced the gospel (Philippians 1:12). 

Through Paul’s imprisonment God brought him to a place that the gospel would never reach otherwise. The idea of the gospel spreading in and among those around Caesar is incredible and God caused that to happen through Paul’s imprisonment! Paul wrote to the Philippians that it had become known to the whole imperial guard that his imprisonment was for Christ (Philippians 1:13). The imperial guard (or praetorian guard) was an elite group of 9-10,000 soldiers who were a police keeping force in Rome and personally protected the emperor. Paul was there as a prisoner who appealed to caesar and had a guard chained to him 24 hours a day. The guards rotated duty every four hours and that gave Paul an opportunity to talk to a captive audience about why he was waiting trial. This kind of gospel witness would have been impossible to orchestrate outside of God’s providence. 

Finally, think about the Philippian jailer reading this! He previously came to faith when Paul and Silas were under his custody in the Philippian jail in Acts 16 and how God is doing a similar work in Rome.

Courageous Preaching

Philippians 1:14

The effect of Paul’s imprisonment on the church was largely positive. As the word about Paul’s boldness spread so too did the boldness of the church grow and many were much more bold to speak without fear (Philippians 1:14). This courage without fear is reminiscent of Peter and John in the book of Acts who were persecuted by the Jewish leaders for preaching the gospel and healing a paralyzed man. When Peter and John were released the church gathered together to sing a hymn about God’s sovereign power and prayed for more boldness! Sometimes what we need in times of fear is the example of someone who has been bold, and even in the face of persecution like imprisonment, are able to see the good that God accomplishes through it all. 

It is worth considering where God has placed you and how you can be bold to speak about Jesus in that setting. Likewise, who are the examples around you who you look to for courage? God has given us many godly examples and we can take heart by how he has worked in and through them. 

Envy and Rivalry vs. Good Will

Philippians 1:15-18

The second “set back” that made Paul’s situation look so dire were the haters who were trying to gain from Paul’s “loss.” Some Christians in the church took joy from Paul’s imprisonment and used it as an opportunity for their own personal advancement (Philippians 1:15). Paul said that some heard of this imprisonment and were motivated to preach the gospel out of envy, selfish ambition and a desire to afflict Paul. Likely what this meant is that they saw in Paul’s imprisonment an opportunity to fill the hole that was left behind. His loss could become their gain and they were eager to make their name big and used the gospel as an opportunity to do that with Paul out of the way. There can be tribalism in the church and an “us against them” mentality where certain groups try to compete for prominence and when one group suffers the other rejoices and attempts to gain. This does not honor Christ and is rooted in Envy which Thomas Aquinas called “a sorrow for another’s good.” Rivalry and envy exists when you became sad or angered over how someone else prospered and desire for their loss. They thought of Paul as unfavored by God and their envy over how God had used Paul pushed them to preach out of rivalry rather than a motive of good will or love. 

Paul’s looked at the situation with the ability to see how God was using even their bad motives for good. He wrote that “whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice (Philippians 1:18).” Im not sure how many of us would have that same outlook! What many saw as a loss, Paul saw as a win because he had a radical trust that God would use it all for the advance of the gospel. 

What is your motive to share about Christ? Are you motivated by envy and rivalry, good will or are you afraid? This passage teaches us that God uses our circumstances to give us opportunity to share about Christ and that we can either be encouraged by the bold example of others to share the gospel without fear or we can get caught up in envy and rivalry. 

At your community group:

Take 15-20 minutes to share about how God has been at work in your life, prayer concerns and pray for one another.

How did God speak to you through the scripture and the sermon this week? 

Discussion Questions:

Read Philippians 1:12-18

What about Paul’s situation would be seen as a discouragement or loss from the outside world? How was Paul’s situation really a win for the gospel and the church? 

What are some ways God uses godly example around us to embolden us to have courage and faith?

How did people react to Paul’s imprisonment and what does preaching Christ from envy or rivalry look like? 

God puts us all into a variety of circumstances and situations. Where does he have you right now where you can share Christ and point to the goodness of God?