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Now let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig.
Some people are known more for what they are against rather than what they are for. You never quite know what they're for. You just know they're against a lot. That's strife. They exist to slam others, and they were slamming Paul the Apostle.
I have a colleague in the ministry who I've known for years, I respect, and he was. Speaking about and answering questions that you Young ministers were asking him about the ministry, and they said, What is the most difficult experience you've ever had in ministry? And he said, Well, there are two. Number one is when people who know truth. Walk away from it.
When somebody who should know better, there are Christians who've been exposed to truth, been exposed to the word, bring their Bibles, read along, suddenly one day they, for whatever reason, walk away completely from living for Christ. He said, but the second, and he was speaking about. Ministers who were coming against him. He said, Those who live. to attack others in the ministry.
It's like they falsely accuse and they live just to stir up trouble.
So, envy and strife. We do not know how this strife was expressed. We can only suppose Maybe there was a group of people saying, well, you know, Paul the Apostle, there must be sin in his life, that's why he's in jail. Because God would be more faithful and not allow him to be in prison unless something is wrong with him. Or maybe they were saying, well, Paul hasn't tapped into the victorious.
Holy Spirit-filled life. If he did, if he had, then he wouldn't be in prison. He'd be free like we have. like we are. But we do know they were jealous, and we do know they were contentious.
Something else they were, they were selfish. If you go down to verse 16, he amplifies it further. He says, the former. That is the first group, the guys against him. The former preach Christ from selfish Ambition.
Very interesting term. It is a political term. that speaks about a politician canvassing for office. Using negative campaigns, putting other people down. to make himself look better to promote himself.
So here's a group of people. Putting Paul down. to puff themselves up like a politician might do in a negative campaign ad. They got some perverted pleasure. By slamming Paul so that they could make other people think they are much better.
This is not new in the New Testament. We know that John the Apostle. Spoke about a guy named Diotrephes. If you know your Bible, 3 John verse 9, that little letter toward the end of the New Testament. He says, Diotrephes loves.
to have the preeminence. He loves to have the preeminence. In other words, he wants to dominate people. He's a control freak. Diatrephes loves to have the preeminence among them.
Keep this in mind.
Next time you hear gossip. And there are there are unfortunately too many people even in the church who love to spread gossip. When you hear gossip, somebody's ego is being exalted. It's usually shared because I know this and you don't, and I'm concerned. An ego is being exalted as that information is being divulged.
Yeah. A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package. and selfish ambition. Was part and parcel of what was wrong with these people. They were selfish.
So they're jealous, they're contentious, they're selfish. Paul mentions them. Not by name, he doesn't want to make too much out of it, he doesn't want to be self-serving, but he mentions what they did. But there's a fourth thing. They were malicious.
Notice In verse 16, the former preached Christ from selfish ambition. Not sincerely, now watch this, supposing or hoping. to add affliction to my chains.
Now, Paul is revealing their motivation. They're doing all this. They are this way. They're pushing me down to pull themselves up. And here's why.
They want to add Affliction to my bonds. What does that mean? The word affliction is a common New Testament word, philipsis. Philipsis is a word that means pressure or trial. But it literally means an irritation.
It means friction. It is the irritation caused by the rubbing of an object over another object.
Now notice it says, Paul says they want to add Affliction or irritation to my Chains. For two years, Paul was In chains. I know you've heard that. I know we've read that. We've discussed that.
But I just want you to think of what that means. That means for two years. Paul couldn't take a potty break. Alone. He had no freedom.
He had no isolation. He had no privacy. He couldn't eat a meal. Alone. He couldn't have a conversation.
In that rented house in Rome for two years, he was chained. To a guard. That means there was a shackle around his wrist with a chain attached to the shackle of another soldier who only occupied that place for a few hours at a time. But Paul, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, two years, he had a chain. That means that that shackle would irritate his skin and his bones.
And scabs would develop and it would bleed and It would thicken, etc. You get the picture.
So he says, the reason these people are this way toward me is they want to add to the irritation that I already have in my chains. That is their motivation. They don't want to evangelize the lost. They don't want to feed the flock. They're not really concerned for the church, even though they're saying, Well, I'm saying this about Paul because I'm really concerned for the church.
Paul said, that's not the truth. The truth is, they have one motivation: they want to add irritation to my already. Irritable situation of being in chains.
Now please Understand again. These are preachers. Paul says they preach Christ. They are Christians, they are Christian preachers. They are not antichrist.
But they are anti-Paul. And they are anti-Paul with a vengeance. And I can't think of a worse reason to preach a message than that. I can't think of a worse motivation to write a book or have a blog site than that. Let's just make life hard for Paul the Apostle.
You know, sort of like scorpions. You know that if you leave scorpions together alone, they'll kill themselves and eat themselves? A guy did an experiment with 100 scorpions in a huge glass jar. In a few days, only 14 survived. They had killed the others and were eating them.
Yeah. There was even a pregnant scorpion in that jar that killed and started eating her young as soon as they were born. One of those babies escaped on the mother's back and eventually killed her. Any leader who has led anything. Even Christian leaders in Christian churches know that every church, every group.
has the Tate family among them. Every church has the tates. There's old man Dick. Tate. Who wants to run everything?
while Uncle Ro Tate tries to change everything. Their sister Agitate stirs up plenty of trouble with help from her husband Iritate. And whenever new projects are suggested, Hezette and his wife Vejate. Want to wait till next year. Then there's an imitate.
who wants our church to be like all the others, devastate. Provides the voice of doom while Potentate wants to be a big shot. And of course, there's the black sheep of the family. Amputate. Who has completely cut himself off from every church?
Anybody who's a leader knows those people exist, so what do you do? I suggest you do what Paul does. You don't spend all your time worried about them. You pivot. Yes, you identify the troublemakers, but then you ratify the truth makers.
And notice what Paul says in verse 15.
Some Indeed. Preach Christ from envy and strife. And Some I want to go ah, Feels better already. He's pivoting here, and some also from good will. Verse 17 further describes them.
But the latter out of love. knowing that I am appointed for the defence. of the gospel. This is the silver lining in the dark cloud of contention, and Paul has found it. Yes, in any group, there's going to be irritate and agitate and vegetate, but there's also going to be advocate.
and celebrate And you want to find those people. And here's what Paul does. He says, yeah, there are some. Like this, but then there are some like that. You see, rather than just focusing on the smudge.
That is on the white linen garment. Paul says, Yeah, but there's a lot of white linen garment around that smudge. It's not all a smudge. There is a smudge, I grant you that. I can identify the troublemakers, but there's a lot of others who are not like that.
That's part of the strategy. starve the problem. and feed the solution. Find those who love you, who love the work of God in you, and run with them. Ratify them, encourage them, empower them, build with them.
And just keep running ahead of the irritates and the agitates and the amputates. Their voice will diminish as you go further ahead. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heidzig. As 2025 comes to a close, generous support from friends like you is vital to keep Connect with Skip Heitzk strong in the year ahead, so more people can hear God's word and find real hope in Jesus. Your year-end gift today helps reach even more hearts with verse-by-verse teaching and resources that connect people with God's love.
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Now let's get back to today's teaching.
Now, I'm going to share something with you that'll probably be shocking to you. Did you know? That Paul The Apostle Probably lost his life. As a result Of troublemaking Christians. in Rome.
I want that to settle on your hearts. Paul probably lost his life. Because of the trouble caused by troublemaking Christians. in Rome. You say, no, wait a minute, I always heard.
That It was Caesar Nero that killed Paul the Apostle, beheaded him. That's true. Here's the problem. We have very little information about the death of Paul from early church records. They're very silent on it.
We just have a snippet here or there. But it would seem like the envy, the jealousy of many Christians in Rome, Denounced Paul before Caesar Nero, which added the weight to the death sentence. You say, well, how do you know that?
Well, there are several sources I've discovered, but I'm going to share two with you. One comes from Second Timothy chapter one. A guy by the name of Onesiferus. How's that for a name? Don't name your son Onisiferus, though he was a good guy.
It'll be hard in school. Onisiferous. came to visit Paul while he was in Rome in prison. The problem is, once he gets to Rome, it seems like nobody will tell. him where Paul the Apostle is.
They don't want to tell them. Maybe they don't know, or maybe they don't want to tell them, but listen to what it says. 2 Timothy chapter 1, Paul writes, May the Lord show special kindness to Onisiphorus and all his family, because he often visited and encouraged me. He was never ashamed of me because I was in prison. When he came to Rome.
He searched everywhere until He found me.
So he came to Rome. Nobody told him where Paul was, even though he kept open house for two years. People came and visited him, and he influenced church leaders, we are told. But he had to search for him. until they could find him.
And Paul made a special note. He wasn't ashamed of me being in prison. which indicates some work. They saw this as a defeat and embarrassment. But then a second source Comes from a letter that was found from 90 AD written by a man named Clement of Rome to the church at Corinth.
And in the book in the letter from Clement. Clement addresses jealousy and envy among God's people that have led to the destruction, death, or trouble caused by other. of God's people. And he gives seven examples of that through history, and one of the examples is Paul. Clement writes this, and I quote: by reason of jealousy and strife.
Paul, by his example, pointed out the prize of patient endurance. And when he had borne his testimony before the rulers, he departed from this world. and went to heaven. The point Clement makes is that envy among Christians somehow helped bring the execution. Brought on by Caesar Nero.
If you still have further doubts, you have only to read 2 Timothy 4. It's the end of Paul's life, it's right before he died. Paul says this: listen to Paul. At my first defence no one stood with me. But all forsook me.
That breaks my heart to just read that. This is Paul, the stinking apostle. At my first offense, nobody stood with me. Everybody forsook me. But then he quickly adds, but the Lord stood with me.
He was utterly alone. in terms of human fellowship at that point.
So Paul identifies the troublemakers. Tells us that they are jealous, contentious, selfish, malicious. But then he pivots and ratifies the truth makers. But here's the third part of this strategy and the best of all magnify The true message. Look at verse 18.
Look at how Paul answers this. He says, What then? You know what that means? That little question, what then? You know how we would translate that?
So what?
So what?
What does it matter? What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense, They're pretending to be pure in their motives, but they're not in pretense, or in truth. Christ is preached. And in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.
Man, you cannot stop this dude. He is in jail. He has been in jail. He will be in jail for a total of two years. He will be released, brought back into prison.
He will be executed. He is in jail. He is persecuted by unbelievers. He is picked on by believers. And he goes, so what?
And then He says, I rejoice. You know. I don't know how many of us would have the courage to say, you know, there's a lot of people that are against me, and then say, so what? Most of us would write shame on them. Don't they know that I am the great Paul the Apostle, who had a vision of the living Christ, who will write 13 New Testament books?
Don't they know who I am? He goes.
So what?
I Rejoice and will rejoice, almost like this defiant, I'm not going to let anybody steal my joy. An amazing reaction. An amazing reaction. Okay.
Now, I don't want you to think in looking at this Because a lot of people do think this. That Paul Came to a point where he was just this stone statue of a man, impervious to the criticisms of others. He just. Rolled off his back. I don't believe that.
He was a person. With emotions and heart and feelings, and he was wounded very deeply by these people.
Well, what he is saying is, I'm not going to let mean people rob me of joy. In fact, I have found cause and reason to rejoice, and that is this: the message of the gospel. Even when preached with bad motives, they're preaching the right message. Right message, wrong motives. I'm not going to worry about the motives.
That's between them and God. I'm going to worry about the message, and that is the gospel.
Now, here's the great truth. The great truth in all of this can be boiled down to the irreducible minimum, which is this: the power is in the message, not in the messenger. The power is in the message, not in the messenger. If somebody tampers with the message, go at them. If people tamper with the messenger, ignore them.
Now, let's just talk about that for a moment. If people mess and tamper with the message, go at them. Paul did. Paul wrote to the Galatians and he says, I'm noticing people among you are preaching a different gospel. A different gospel than one that is the true gospel.
And he goes, I want you to know if we or an angel from heaven preach to you any other gospel than the one you have received, let him be cursed below the lowest hell. How's that for confrontation?
So, you mess with the message, I'm going to come at you. You mess with a messenger. I'm going to ignore you. What then? So what?
What does it matter? I rejoice that the message. is being preached.
So Paul has his comrades. Those are partners in the gospel. He rejoices because of them. But Paul has his critics. Detractors of Paul.
He rejoices in spite of them. Why? Because they're brothers, that's why. Simple as that. They're brothers.
Yes, they're ornery. Yes, they're stupid. Yes, they're. Irritating, but they're brothers. They're brothers in Christ.
So Paul is saying, I'm not called to defend myself, I'm called to defend the gospel. I'm not called to protect myself. I'm called to proclaim the gospel.
Now I want to close on A couple of thoughts. We often make too much. Over what? divides us. And not enough over what unites us.
I know, I know we have to use discernment. I know we have to be careful about what the truth is, the true gospel, like Galatians chapter 1. But sometimes I fear. That we are known more for what we're against than what we're for. And some people actually like being that way.
They like being known for what they're against, and they are known for what they're against. But sometimes I think we make too much of it. Here's the truth. God reserves the right to use people who disagree with you. Newsflash.
God reserves the right to use people who disagree with you. There's people who disagree with you on the rapture. There's people who disagree with me on the rapture or spiritual gifts or a number of things that aren't the real crux, crucial matters of the gospel. Death, burial, resurrection, vicarious atonement, all that central stuff.
So what?
I began with talking about denominations and changing light bulbs. Let me tell you a true story about denominations. In the late 1700s, John Wesley, you know John Wesley, one of the great leaders in England at the time. Wesley was concerned because there were so many denominations springing up. And this always bothers people who study church history because.
You know, the church history is a history of people not getting along and dividing.
So somebody in the group doesn't like the group and leaves the group and starts their own group. And as their group grows, somebody in that group doesn't like that group and they start another group. And that group grows and somebody in that group may get together with the first group and start another group. Those are denominations.
Well, this bothered him.
So one night, John Wesley goes to bed, has a dream, and in his dream, he is ushered to the gates of hell. And in his dream, he asked the question. Are there any Presbyterians here? And the answer comes back, yes. There are.
He's shocked. He goes, Are there any Baptists here? He goes, Yes, there are. Are there any Methodists? Are there any Episcopalians?
Yes, yes, yes.
Well, he's troubled by this. And immediately in his dream, he's now ushered to the gates of heaven, and he asks the same set of questions. Are there any Presbyterians here? No, was the answer. Are there any Baptists?
No. Are any Methodists? No. Any Episcopalians? No.
And he said, no. Who then is inside? And this answer came back: there are only Christians here. There are only Christians here. You don't get to heaven by being a Presbyterian, a Baptist, a Methodist, an Episcopalian, a Calvaryite.
But by trust in Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. Period. And you are a Christian. If you believe that, And that message has changed your life. Yeah.
Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before you go, don't miss your opportunity to request the Daily God Journal, along with the companion digital devotional, the Daily God Book. These resources are our thanks for your generous year-end gift of $50 or more to help Connect with Skip-Heitzig finish 2025 strong and reach more people with the truth of God's Word in the year ahead. Call 800-922-1888 or go to connectwithskip.com slash offer. Thanks for spending time with us today, and we'll see you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig.
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