With God Things Don’t Just Happen

‘But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places.’ Philippians 1:12,13

How would we persuade the Queen to attend a gospel meeting? We could send her a letter of invitation. But one of her secretaries would read it and politely reply, ‘Her Majesty regrets she has a previous engagement and is unable to accept your kind invitation’.

We could try a more direct approach and walk through the gates of Buckingham Palace. Rumour has it the guards carry unloaded rifles but we would still find ourselves looking at the wrong end of a bayonet! On reflection, its actually quite a difficult task we have set ourselves.

Imagine how much more difficult it would have been for 1st century Christians to interest the Roman Emperor in the message of the gospel. In fact, the chance of it happening was very remote indeed. But then, Christians don’t believe in chance – do they? Certainly Paul did not believe in it. The phrase ‘which happened’ unto me in the KJV was inserted by the translators. Paul was clear in his mind that he did not just ‘happen’ to be in prison. How could he when he had already taught the Philippians about the God who began a good work in them and would perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ?

No, as Paul reflected on his prison sentence, he came to see that if the Emperor would not come to the gospel preacher, the gospel preacher must go to the Emperor! And already Paul’s daily conduct and witness in the prison had made an impression on the elite Praetorian Guard and the gospel was beginning to reach Caesar’s palace.

I have been reflecting on people I meet on my daily journey to the office. Every day I meet the car park attendant, the subway ticket clerk, the newspaper vendor, and best of all, the espresso bar staff. Surely it must just be by chance that I meet them every day? Could it be that we have made ‘the furtherance of the gospel’ into something very complicated, involving preachers, billboards, invitations, meetings, and big events when all along God just wants us to bring the gospel to people in our circle of influence.

The Lord Jesus spoke twice about sparrows in His ministry.  In Luke chapter 12, He reminded His audience that five sparrows are sold for two farthings – buy four and get one free! But that worthless sparrow is not ‘forgotten before God’. However, in the context of our verse in Philippians, it is interesting to note that He spoke in Matthew chapter 10 about the sparrow that falls to the ground. Men variously misquote what He said next: ‘without your Father knowing’, ‘without your Father noticing’ etc. The Lord simply said, ‘without your Father’. Even the fall of the sparrow to the ground is not by chance, not part of the circle of life, but the very moment is decided by the Father for His purpose and for His glory. With our God, things don’t just ‘happen‘.

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This article is part of the “Fridays in Philippians” series of synchroblogs.