ers were given greater boldness to witness. Even though these people preached Christ out of unworthy motives such as envy, strife and partisanship, God got the glory (1:15-22). They were jealous of Paul. They could not allow to him the spiritual triumphs which God had given to his ministry. Can you imagine anyone being envious of another who was in jail? Such was true with these men. Their entire outlook was characterized with strife. Their primary efforts were directed toward promoting their own particular interests and goals rather than the entire interest of the Church of Jesus Christ. Such was the deplorable situation. We need to examine our own lives today to see if any of these same attitudes have crept into our hearts as well. It is so easy to have this happen. It is not difficult to find contemporary examples of these problems in our hour. Do you know of any churches torn by jeal ousy? Some people are quick to tell you, "Oh, my preacher is bet ter than yours." While that may exhibit great loyalty, it certainly does not help the body of Christ any! Each man has his own gifts. One may not be as good a speak er as the other, but the Holy Spirit may have endowed him with abil ities not realized by the other. We must be very careful to avoid the problem of strife. It is a fact that partisanship will bear bitter fruit to the one who is involved. The witness of the church is hurt while unbelievers are kept from coming to Christ. Yet, in it all, we are to rejoice if Jesus Christ is being preached and souls are being saved, even if it is done by those with lesser motives Page 53
ers in Rome moved from fear to boldness as the result of his ex ample. They learned to testify de spite insurmountable odds. Many of us today are shy, hesitant to say anything by way of a witness. All such hardships should serve to draw us closer to the Saviour. In stead of complaining we should cultivate the habit of looking on the bright side of things. Do not let your suffering drive you away from Christ. Instead, allow Him to have the supremacy in your expe riences and your life. ATTITUDES OF THE HEART Things were never easy for the Apostle Paul following his conver sion. There were untold hardships and privations such as we could never imagine today! In an attempt to make the early church some thing it never was, many people have spoken about the “good old days" of its first century. Such ref erence generally is really an escape from reality and the problems of our own day. There is hardly a problem in the church today that did not exist in some form during Paul's time. People were divisive and filled with carnality. Yet, he referred to them as saints. Such patterns exist in our own relation ship for man has always been, since Adam, a base sinner, needing the constant forgiveness and strength of Cod to move ahead. In writing to the believers at Philippi from the city of Rome where he was in prison, Paul tes tified that even seeming difficul ties and misfortunes had served to promote the Gospel. Men and women, even from the court of Caesar, had come to Christ. Even though some preached the Gospel in contention with Paul (1:15) oth
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