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It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. \xa0The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. (Philippians 1:15-18)

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Paul says an odd thing here.\xa0 How is it that someone can preach Christ out of false motives and a sinful heart, and yet for it to be a cause for rejoicing?\xa0 This runs against the grain of our cultural sensibilities.

In a world that\u2019s become significantly polarized over the last decade, we are accustomed to operating on a one-strike-your-out policy.\xa0 Any celebrity, social media personality, or leader that gets one thing wrong is cancelled and banished from polite society.\xa0 Increasingly, this has happened in our own world of relationships too.\xa0 There has been much estrangement within families over politics, pandemic, and church life these past few years.\xa0 We\u2019ve operated on basis that says: \u201cif you believe x, y, or z, I cannot associate with you lest I become tainted.\u201d\xa0 It is eerily similar to the Old Testament world of Kosher laws where clean and unclean things were clearly separated.\xa0 It was believed that contact with an unclean thing would make you unclean too.\xa0 So it goes with our polarized world and cancel culture reflexes.\xa0

Of course, the world is not so black and white in the offline world of embodied relationships.\xa0 You can try to cancel someone: but you\u2019ll see them again at church, at school, in the store, at community events.\xa0 They still exist.\xa0 And you do too.\xa0 The difference is that you\u2019re both estranged now, carrying hurts and hates that gnaw at your soul.\xa0

In Christ, this world of Old Testament estrangement was transformed.\xa0 Ken Baily put it this way: the law stated that the clean becomes unclean upon contact.\xa0 Jesus taught and lived a different principle: that the clean can restore the unclean\u2014and again, all it takes is contact.\xa0 Jesus\u2019 world is one where redemption, healing, forgiveness, grace, and mercy are possible.\xa0 Where dividing walls of hostility are knocked down.\xa0 Where people are reconciled together. \xa0It is a world where our lives and actions, our sin and impure motives no longer have the final say about who we are.\xa0 Jesus does.\xa0

So whether from pure motives or false, out of goodwill or selfishness\u2014if Jesus is there, so is the good news.\xa0 Because, as John puts it in 1 John 4:4,\u201cthe one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.\u201d\xa0

In my young life as a pastor, I have already quite personally encountered those who preach Christ out of selfish ambition supposing that they can stir up trouble for me.\xa0 Christ calls me to (die to myself and) love them anyway\u2014trusting not in their motives, but in the work of Christ in their hearts, in their life, and in their churches\u2014even through their preaching.\xa0 As God declares of his word in Isaiah 55:11:\xa0\u201cIt will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.\u201d\xa0 No Christian then\u2014preacher or otherwise\u2014can so quickly be dismissed if we recognize Christ within them\u2014even if we otherwise might wish to dismiss them.\xa0 Even if all the world tells us we should.

Jesus works more surprisingly and abundantly and in more places than our own categories and tolerances allow.\xa0 Jesus works in your heart too.\xa0 Will you let him call you beloved?\xa0 Will you let him call your estranged friend or relative the same?\xa0 Will you let him teach you how to forgive and love again?\xa0 I pray you do so that together with Paul, you too might rejoice.

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