What’s my motive?

Philippians 1:12-18a

¹² And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. ¹³ For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. ¹⁴ And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear.

¹⁵ It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. ¹⁶ They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. ¹⁷ Those 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. ¹⁸ But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice.

In our passage today we learn that some people were sharing the gospel to stir up trouble for Paul. Can you even imagine? Someone, a so-called Christian, telling someone else the good news that Jesus, who is in very nature God (see Phil 2:6), came to this earth and sacrificed Himself in the place of sinful mankind to offer the gift of forgiveness and eternal life, all to cause havoc for someone else? It’s unthinkable! In a cruel irony, these evangelists are committing a sin (their actions are anything but loving thy neighbour! See Matthew 22:39) with the very message of forgiveness for sin!

But what about me? Have I ever shared the gospel out of wrong motives? Have I blurted out the message of Jesus to a poor unsuspecting recipient just to appease my own sense of guilt or duty; to “tick the box” or feel good about myself? Paul graciously says God can still redeem these false attempts at evangelism but still. Surely there’s a better way.

There’s nothing like love to motivate us to share the gospel with friends, with family with loved ones, with strangers. Love for God says, “how is it, God, that you would love me so much that you would die for me? I will do whatever you want – my life is yours.” Love for others says, “I can’t bear the thought of my friend missing out on the most wonderful news in all history. That in Jesus there is love and hope and forgiveness and eternal life. I must tell them.”

Lord, please help me check my motives when it comes to sharing my faith. Break my heart for others the way your heart did for me. Amen

Written by B van Noppen