In the last few years, I’ve spent a lot of time in prison.
In 2023 a man from my church was incarcerated, and I visited him weekly. As a result, my church joined the rotation of churches leading worship services for inmates at the prison. Our team leads worship about once per month. Our county prison looks like a castle, but inside it is mostly dingy block walls in an aging building that is mostly not air conditioned. But perhaps prisons don’t need air conditioning? Needless to say, my experience in our county prison has given me a sense of life in prison.
Likewise, in Philippians 1, the Apostle Paul gives us a view of his life on house arrest in Rome, and he says a very odd thing, that Christ is exalted in this. Though his circumstances are awful, Paul rejoices in the great opportunities the chains brought him. Read Philippians 1:18b–26, and see for yourself.
How does Paul avoid an unhealthy focus on chains? Rejoicing. Midway through verse 18, Paul writes “I will keep on rejoicing”…it’s almost as if he is saying, “Oh I’m not done rejoicing. I got all kinds of rejoicing yet to go. I’ve got more material you haven’t seen yet. I’m on a roll here folks!” In this post, I mentioned the previous verses in which Paul describes why he was joyful even though he was in chains on house arrest.
But what more does he have to rejoice about? In verses 18b-19, he rejoices that the Philippians’ prayers will lead to his deliverance.
The word the New International Version of the Bible translates as deliverance is the same word that is much more commonly translated as salvation. Paul also mentions the phrase “help given by the Holy Spirit” which carries the idea of “to make available whatever is necessary to help or supply the needs of someone”[1] It is a rich provision. It is as if Paul is saying, “I am going to be delivered, saved; my chains are coming off!”
Why? Because his friends are praying, and because of the rich provision of the Holy Spirit. Paul rejoices in that he has friends who love him in Philippi, friends who are praying for him, and he rejoices in the rich provision of the Holy Spirit. He is saying to them, “I will keep on rejoicing because I know that I will have salvation from these chains because you are behind me, supporting me in prayer, and more than that, I have the rich provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ supplying my needs, helping me, sustaining me.” Have praying, caring friends is a wonderful gift. Even when we are struggling, knowing that people are praying for us can cause us to rejoice.
But that’s not the end of it. Jump to verse 24 where Paul continues discussing revealing his thoughts about his chains. In verses 24–26 he rejoices that his deliverance will lead to the Philippians’ development.
Paul describes a process that causes him to rejoice again. Notice the connection between prayers > deliverance > development. His friends pray. He gets delivered. Then he has opportunity to see them further developed. That causes him to rejoice!
Paul’s attitude is one of rejoicing because his focus is not about him and his chains. He rejoices because his focus is on Jesus and what Jesus is doing despite his chains.
The process Paul describes was true for my seminary professor Dave Dorsey. He was sick for a long time. Many people, for decades, prayed for his healing. Dr. Dorsey continued teaching through his suffering. Though God did not heal him, God delivered him enough to continue ministry. Dr. Dorsey had opportunities to continue teaching men and women the Old Testament, and he wrote books and articles, thus investing in and developing many people. See the Prayer>Deliverance>Development? It was not the deliverance Dr. Dorsey and so many wanted. He eventually passed away, not of old age, but his impact and legacy remains.
That’s Paul’s first point about how we can rejoice in the midst of suffering: prayer can lead to deliverance and development of people. It might not lead to the deliverance we want, but it might. Either way, God can work in and through us no matter the circumstance, and that can lead us to rejoice.
Paul continues, digging deeper into this theme with his second point: Honor Christ with our body.
In verse 20, Paul says he “eagerly expects or desires.” This phrase has a picture to it, the craning of the neck. Think about being in a crowd where you want to see to the front. Maybe it’s the beginning of a concert, and you’re in general admission, standing on the floor, and you want to see the band come on stage. But the people in front of you are kinda tall, so you get on your tip toes and strain your neck eagerly desiring to have a look. That’s the emotion of Paul here. He is eager!
Then in the middle of verse 20, notice the contrast Paul makes between “ashamed” and “courage”: “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.” Paul moves from the negative of “shame” to the positive that “at all times, Christ will be highly honored in his body”. This is his eager desire. This is what he is craning his neck out to see, that in his life Christ will be honored in his body. Our English translators have a hard time pinning down the word “exalted” that the NIV uses. Some translators use our words “magnified” “esteemed” or “extolled.”
The word Paul uses means “to make large.” You go to a fast food restaurant and order a large fries, and you think to yourself, “Their large is not very large. I’m really hungry for fries.” So you super size it. That’s what Paul is getting at here when he says that “Christ will be exalted in my body.” He wants Christ to be super sized in his life and actions.
In the spiritual realm, Paul is showing respect to God based on who God is. Paul is saying, “I’m going to use my body so all will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God is large. I will make him large. I will supersize him so you all can see him.”
How about you? Do you super-size God with your actions? No matter if you how you might be struggling, what can you do to make it clear to all around you that you want to honor God with your life?
In Philippians 1:18b-26, we have seen Paul teach two ways to rejoice in the midst of suffering. First, the sequence of pray>deliverance>development. Second, by eagerly super-sizing God. How you can do apply these to your life?
[1]Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament : Based on Semantic Domains, electronic ed. of the 2nd edition. (New York: United Bible societies, 1996, c1989), 1:460.
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