“Pioneer Advances” (Part One)

I was the pastor of 10 churches over a span of 48 years. I served in three of those churches full-time, and in the other seven I served as the interim pastor. When I read the opening verses of Philippians 1, it seems to me that the apostle Paul had an especially warm spot in his heart for this church. It seemed to be his favorite church. (If that’s true, then it is probably all right for me to have my favorite!)

The launching of this church plant was memorable. A midnight call to Macedonia (Acts 16:9) was followed by a trip across the Aegean by a team of four (Paul, Silas, Luke, and Timothy). A Sabbath prayer meeting immediately yielded spiritual fruit with the conversion of Lydia. This was the church that had sent Paul two love gifts, and now, years later, they selected Epaphroditus to bring a gift to him in Rome.

So Paul wrote a thank-you letter to the Philippian church, as missionaries do today. In 1:12-18, he gives an update on his situation in Rome. He was under house arrest, but God was still at work! This is an account of a pioneer advance. His influence for Christ, rather than being diminished, was being enlarged. His influence is described in three ways. Today, we will consider the first: Roman soldiers were coming to Christ (Phil. 1:12-13; 4:22).

Paul uses the Greek word prokope to describe what was happening, even while he was a prisoner. The word means to “cut a way forward.” Picture sweaty men with sharp machetes as they chop a new path through a jungle. The new path makes way for a new advance into unexplored territory. For Paul, the new territory was within the walls of Caesar’s palace. The imperial guard included 9,000 carefully selected soldiers. Many of those men were assigned to guard the Christian missionary, Paul. It is unlikely that you could be confined with Paul for hours at a time without hearing about Jesus. Paul, the captive, had a captive audience! Serious discussions led to conversions in the hired house and, by extension, to the soldiers’ families.

The passage prompts us to ask ourselves, “What pioneer advance does God want me to make in my place of service?”

On Wednesday, we will consider more evidence of Paul’s ministry in Rome.