The thought that Paul began at the beginning of this paragraph, which we looked at last week, is continued in the remainder of this passage. Last week, we saw his thoughts about those who preach from pure motives. In this passage, he turns to those whose motives are wrong.

You can see it for yourself in Philippians 1:17-18b:

Paul addressed those who preach from pure motives at the beginning of this passage. His attention now turns to those who have the wrong motives for preaching. These people are probably those who are jealous of Paul’s leadership and authority, wanting to hold such positions themselves. It is worth noting again that Paul does not condemn these people for preaching incorrect doctrine. He only addresses their motives.

These teachers and preachers were placing their own egos and their desire for recognition above the message of the gospel. They were preaching the truth, but they were doing it for the wrong reasons.

It seems as if they were doing as much as possible to stir up trouble for Paul, in whatever way that they could. Just how they were doing this is not clear. It may be that they were intentionally preaching to stir up the community, knowing that Paul was in prison. This could adversely affect his legal standing, and cause serious problems.

However, Paul’s perspective is not what they expect. Instead of attempting to stop them, Paul finds encouragement in what they are doing. After all, either way, the gospel is being preached!

Some find this astounding, knowing that Paul was very vocal and severe in his approach to similar situations, such as in Galatia and Corinth. But one major difference must be remembered. In this case, the message was not the problem; only the motives were. People were hearing the gospel message, regardless of the reasons it was being preached.

Truth is truth, and regardless of the motives, Paul maintained an attitude of joy because of it. And, in an indirect way, he instructs the Philippian believers to do the same.

This has direct implications in our society. Too often, we hold the view that those who attempt to minister must be “vetted” in some way by the leadership of the local church in order to serve. We often question the motives of people who want to serve.

But, here, the lesson is that if the message is preached correctly, the motives aren’t as big of an issue. Perhaps we need to let go of our pride, which causes us to act as if only the leadership can do anything, and deploy the church to do ministry, preach the gospel, and reach the lost.

After all, that’s how it was supposed to be from the beginning.

And for that, we can rejoice.

Question: How do you release people to do ministry in your church? Do you get hung up on motives? You can leave a comment by clicking here.