“It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. 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. But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.”
Have you ever been in that place where you feel like you are working harder and facing more hardship than everyone else, yet they seem to get all the glory? Paul would have every right to complain about how hard his ministry is and how people seem to keep hating him. Well, haters be hating and preachers be preaching whether they have the right motives or not. Doesn’t matter to Paul, if the Gospel is spread in the process he’s not keeping score.
I warned you that Philippians is all about attitude adjustment. If I were in prison knowing I had a call on my life to preach and other people were out there stealing all my thunder, I would most definitely not take it well. We don’t know what kind of wrestle Paul may have had to do to get to this place, but he sees it all as a part of the mission. He has no rivals because he’s unwilling to participate in petty rivalries.
Paul makes a deliberate choice to rejoice in the midst of persecution. It’s not just the non-believers that are against him — it’s the bad-attitude Christians! But God can spread the Gospel through anybody, pure motives or not. What we can learn from Paul here is how to align our perspective with God’s. Paul’s mission wasn’t about himself. It was about telling people about Jesus. Therefore, if other people are talking about Jesus too then the mission is working. One way we can tell if we are off-mission is when it becomes all about us. Jealousy when others have success or an inner pity-party may be signs that your mission is more about you than it is about Jesus.