Proclaiming Christ is what matters

As we saw below, the apostle Paul was in jail for Jesus. But he believed that God was bigger than any restriction placed upon him by other people. He took the opportunity to share his faith with the soldiers who guarded him. His life had been totally changed by meeting the risen Lord Jesus. As a result, the most important thing in his life was telling other people about Jesus.

Some people tried to make his situation in prison worse. They told others about Jesus to create trouble for him. Others shared their faith out of a genuine concern that people might come to know Christ. Paul didn’t care what their motives were. He just wanted the message about Jesus spread far and wide. He put it like this,

“But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is proclaimed. And because of this I rejoice.” (Philippians 1:18)

As a school student I met a mixture of people who claimed to be Christian. Some of them I admired. Others I couldn’t stand, they annoyed and aggravated me by their behaviour. But looking back God used them all. In different ways they challenged me to think about the place of Jesus in my life. So I’ve come to realise that the message about Jesus is more powerful than the imperfect human beings who share it. That’s good news!

Has an imperfect messenger stopped you considering the message about Christ? Look beyond the messenger to the person of Jesus. Have you been reluctant to let other people know you follow Christ because you aren’t perfect? Be encouraged, God works through weak and frail human beings like you and I.

Paul had discovered that encountering Jesus could change an angry hate-filled person into a loving and forgiving person. He wanted other people to experience the same kind of transformation. Chains couldn’t stop its power and neither could wrongly motivated messengers.

The message about Jesus is divinely powerful. Have you considered it seriously? Are you sharing it openly?