Let me introduce you to the story of a great man.  These are his words, “My first night on the campus,” he said, “a student came to see me.  The student said, ‘I’ve come to welcome you here and to tell you that if there’s anything I can do for you to make your stay here more pleasant, I want to do it.’  Then he asked me where I went to church, and I told him I was a Catholic.  He said, ‘Well, I can tell you where the Catholic Church is, but it’s not easy to find.  It’s quite a distance away, let me draw you a map.’  So he made an outline of the way I was to get to the church.  When I awoke on Sunday, it was raining.  It was my first day on the campus, and since it was raining so heavily, I decided not to go to church.  Since especially it would probably be hard to find.  Then there came a knock on the door, and I opened it.  There stood the student I had met the day before.  His raincoat was dripping wet, and on his arm he had two umbrellas.  He said, ‘I thought you might have a hard time finding your church, especially in the rain.  I’ll walk along with you and show you where it is.’  As I dressed, I wondered what kind of fellow he was.  As we walked along in the rain, with the two umbrellas, I said to myself, if this fellow is so concerned with my religion, I ought to know something about him.  So I asked, ‘Where do you go to church?’  ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘my church is just around the corner.’  ‘Suppose we go to your church today,’ I said, ‘and we’ll go to my church next Sunday.’  I went to his church, and that was it.  It became my church.  After four years, I felt that it was not law for me, but the ministry.  So I went to DrewUniversity and was ordained a minister and received an appointment to a church back in my native country, and it all happened because of a fellow with an umbrella.  Well that’s a part of the story, and the fellow from whom I was hearing it, was Bishop Valencius.  Then retired Bishop of the UnitedMethodistChurch, who had such a long and fruitful ministry in the Philippines. 

I thought of his story when I began to ponder our scripture lesson today from Philippians.  Paul is in prison and is soon to face trial.  His friends are worried about him because they know all to well that death may be Rome’s judgment against him.  But Paul has risen above any anxiety about death and his prison confinement and suffering.  The driving passion of his life made everything else, even imprisonment and possible death, pale in impact.  What was that passion?  There it is in verse 12.  ‘I am made confident in the Lord because of my imprisonment and am much more bold to speak the word without fear.’  ‘So, what then matters - only this – that in every way, whether by pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed.’  Verses 12 and 18.  Paul knew something that you and I need to know, and in this whole section, especially in that 18th verse, Paul laid down, perhaps inadvertently, three great principles.  We can proclaim the gospel anywhere.  We are to proclaim the gospel everywhere.  When the gospel is proclaimed, the spirit guarantees the harvest.  Let’s examine these principles for our own edification and challenge.  For as Christians, we are proclaimers of the gospel. 

I. We Can Proclaim the Gospel Anywhere.

The first principle is this – we can proclaim the gospel anywhere.  Paul was in prison, but he did not allow this to hinder his missionary work.  In fact, his imprisonment had turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.  That’s what he says in the text.  My imprisonment has turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.  Paul portrayed the results of his imprisonment, thus proving that the gospel can be proclaimed anywhere.  Verse 13 shows the impact his witness has upon those outside the Christian community.  He witnessed to the soldiers who guarded him, through them the word spread to the whole Praetorian Guard that he was imprisoned, not because he was a criminal, but because he was a Christian.  And while in verse 13 the impact of those outside the Christian community is shown, in verse 14, the impact upon those within the Christian community is shown.  Because Paul remained faithful to Christ, and continued to witness joyfully despite the awfulness of his circumstance, the other Christians in Rome were much more bold to proclaim the word without fear.  That’s what it says in verse 14.  They were much more bold to proclaim the word without fear.  So we can proclaim the gospel anywhere. 

There’s a story about the old evangelist, Billy Sunday, which illustrates this.  He was in New York City preaching a revival and he had a day off, so he thought he’d see the sights.  He went down to the EmpireStateBuilding, and got on the crowded elevator taking sightseers to the roof.  They all stood there in the elevator as people do in elevators, not saying a word, eyes forward.  Finally, someone broke the silence and said, I wonder if the elevator cable broke, would we go up or down?  That’s all Billy Sunday needed.  He was off and running.  It depends upon the way you’ve been living, he said.  And he preached a sermon right there, calling for a decision in the elevator.  Now don’t miss the point I’m making.  I’m not holding Billy Sunday up as a model.  I’m simply saying that the principle is valid for all of us.  The circumstances of our lives may determine how we share the gospel, but it doesn’t determine whether we share the gospel.  Do you get it?  The circumstances of our life may determine how we share the gospel, but not whether we share it.  We can proclaim the gospel anywhere.

Look again at Paul.  Paul’s witness in prison had an impact on those outside the Christian community.  He witnessed to the soldiers who guarded him.  Through them, the word spread to all the people around the prison, that Paul was in prison not because he was a criminal, but because he was one of these new kind of people that people had begun to hear about.  He was a Christian.  And that witness won some of them to Christ.  It was also true that his witness had great impact upon those within the Christian community.  Listen again to verse 14 – most of the brethren in the Lord have been made confident in him because of my imprisonment and are much more bold to speak the word of God without fear.  Mark this down.  The fruits of our proclaiming the gospel are not only in the winning of persons to Christ, but the encouragement we give others to be bold in their Christian living and witnessing.  Now this has special meaning for a congregation like ours.  All of us cannot be involved in the same ministry and witness, but we can encourage and support other persons in their particular calling, and in a sense their ministry can be our ministry.  I want you to know this – the tone and the direction and the quality of my ministry is affected by your response, your encouragement and support.  That is, not only as I minister to you and this community, it is so when I minister in other places.  The integrity and power of my ministry is intimately connected with the spiritual life of this congregation and our corporate mission and ministry.  Do you understand what I am saying?  When I minister in Virginia or New York or Florida or Ohio, what I do and say there will be affected and powerful only as it is a reflection or an extension of my ministry here with you at ChristChurch, and I want you to know that I feel that deeply, the proof of the pudding.  The proof of the pudding is in our life together, in our daily ministry.

II. We Are to Proclaim the Gospel Everywhere.

And that leads me to the second principle.  Not only can we proclaim the gospel anywhere – we are to proclaim the gospel everywhere.  Whether through Paul, a prisoner, or the guards, or the servants in Caesar’s household, or the ordinary citizens of Rome, the gospel was to be proclaimed everywhere.  I remember an experience I had a couple of years ago in Bloomington, Illinois.  It was at once frustrating and funny, sad and satisfying.  I had finished some lectures and went to the airport to catch a plane to Chicago to connect to Nashville.  It was a commuter run, and I’m always a bit nervous about those.  When I arrived at the airport in Bloomington, I discovered that there was no flight, it had been cancelled, thus my frustration.  There were two other persons in the terminal – one trying to get to Chicago, as I was – the other, completely bewildered and dejected.  The bewildered and dejected one was a fellow from Germany who spoke broken English, and he was trying to get to Bloomington, Indiana.  Now you’ll find this hard to believe, but the people who ticketed him from Germany sent him to Bloomington, Indiana, instead of Bloomington, Illinois, where he wanted to go.  Now this was the sad thing – he was trying to get to Bloomington, Indiana, because his brother teaching in the university there, was dying of cancer. 

Can you imagine the trauma, the frustration, the helpless anger – in a strange land, getting off at a strange place where you knew no one and stuck?  Wanting desperately to get to a dying brother, but no plane for another six hours?  The other person in the terminal was a mammoth man, who looked like he was out of place, but he would have looked out of place wherever he was.  It’s amazing how sympathy grows in such a setting, and how friendly you can become with strangers, and how productive you could be if you maintained some degree of calm and clear headedness.  This mammoth man, would you believe his name was John, had concluded that we had no choice, there was really only one alternative – if we would do so quickly, we could rent a car, drive to Chicago, get there in time for me to make my connection, which was a close one, and he would have plenty of time to make his.  Given that idea, it seemed to me that our German friend could get from Chicago to Bloomington, Indiana, far easier than he could get there from where he was.  It took a bit of doing to communicate that, but we did, and the three of us were soon on our way.  As I settled down into the backseat, John driving, and our German guest beside him in the front, I was almost instantly confronted with the thought that I ought to share some sort of Christian witness, especially to the German who was so depressed.  How would I do it?  I didn’t want to come off as a preacher, I wanted to be natural and I wanted to communicate authentic caring. 

While I was mulling it over in my mind, trying to devise a strategic entree, communication was already going on up front.  It wasn’t free flowing and it wasn’t easy, but this fellow who looked like he didn’t belong anywhere, was coming through with real concern for Hans, our German friend.  And soon I heard him talking about his church, his Christian friends, and how in the past two years, the Christian life had taken on deep meaning, and had sustained him through a recent, very sickness crisis.  The witness was clear, and Hans received it.  Now there was no conversion in the car that day, so far as I know.  But the gospel was proclaimed, not by this preacher, but by a layperson who had experienced new life and was willing to share it.  John got me to my airline, assured me he had time to check in the car and help Hans find a plane to the right Bloomington.  We quickly exchanged address cards, John took a double breath when he saw that I was the editor of the Upper Room, because he was a Methodist, and it was obvious that he knew that publication well.  I noted that he was the president of a silo construction company, which I later learned was the second largest of its kind in the world.  But both of us knew those credentials didn’t matter.  What mattered was what had happened in the car.  We are to proclaim the gospel everywhere.

III. The Spirit Guarantees the Harvest.

Then there is the final principle to which we must hold to as proclaimers of gospel.  The spirit guarantees the harvest.  The spirit guarantees the harvest.  Paul’s presence in Rome, his imprisonment and his proclamation of the gospel affected people; interestingly, the Christians, in various ways.  The members of the church might have taken Paul’s imprisonment as a signal for them to stay quiet, to do nothing that would attract the attention of the authorities.  This may have been the case with a few, but most of them gained courage and confidence and began proclaiming the word with fresh vigor.  Paul’s honesty is so refreshing.  He recognized and recorded the fact that some Christians were prompted by good will toward him and were challenged to be faithful, as he was.  Others were interested in success for its own sake.  Jealous of Paul, they were determined to show that they could be successful and that the church could prosper without him.  How human the church then, as now - there was strife and envy.  As disappointed in that as Paul was, he was undaunted in his belief that even confused and impure motives do not annul the power of the gospel.  Listen again to verses 15-18.  Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will.  The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.  The former proclaim Christ out of partisanship, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.  What then, only that in everyway, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed – and in that, I rejoice.  Paul was certain that when Christ is proclaimed, the spirit guarantees the increase. 

Let me catalogue some witnesses.  Two letters came to me this week – one from Mississippi, the other from here in Memphis, from persons whose names I do not know.  They wrote to tell that they have heard the gospel proclaimed on our radio program and that the gospel had changed their life, and they wanted to express their appreciation for ChristChurch.  Since 1978, when I visited China, I’ve been praying for the Chinese.  Over one billion people live in China.  About a month ago, I received a letter from Thailand, asking permission to translate the workbook of Living Prayer into Chinese.  I’m praying now that that expression of the gospel will not only bless the Christians in Taiwan, but will get to mainland China and bring a harvest.  One other witness.  Two of the persons who impressed deeply on my visit to the Soviet Union and East Germany were Gerta and Gunther Herring.  Gunther is the superintendent of the Methodist church in East Berlin.  They’re serving Christ and being loyal to the will of God as they perceive it under very trying circumstances.  I received a Christmas not from them, it read – “Dear Maxie, we wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and peace on earth.  Our lessons, they have a little thing similar to the Upper Room that comes from West Germany in a kind of underground sort of way, our lessons in the year 1983 emphasizes Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:9.  How blessed are the peacemakers, God shall call them his sons.  This is a promise,” Gunther wrote, “a hope, and a duty for us.  Let us work on it in the name of Jesus Christ.  Love, Gerta and Gunther.”  When a word like that comes out of such an oppressive situation, as East Berlin, you have to take note.  There is nothing shallow or superficial about it.  Gerta and Gunther can work for a promise of peace, and they can continue to hope, despite the signs that would spell despair and hopelessness, because they know it is the spirit who guarantees the harvest.  They know that we’re not called to be successful, we’re called to be faithful.  Don’t forget it.  When the gospel is proclaimed, the spirit guarantees the harvest. 

So I close.  As Christians, we are proclaimers of the gospel.  As such, we must remember three principles.  One, we can proclaim the gospel anywhere.  Two, we are to proclaim the gospel everywhere.  And three, when the gospel is proclaimed, the spirit guarantees the harvest.  When we remember and practice these principles, we share in the most exciting of all ventures, and the results and the rewards will be great.  Here is a final illustration of the results and the rewards.  The American Red Cross was gathering supplies – medicine, clothing, food, and the like – for the suffering people of Biafra.  Inside one of the boxes that showed up at the collection depot was a letter – it said, “We have recently been converted and because of our conversion, we want to try to help.  We want ever need these again, can you use them for something?”  Inside the box, with that letter, were several Ku Klux Klan sheets.  So those sheets were cut down into strips and eventually used to bandage the wounds of black persons in Africa.  It could hardly be more dramatic, could it?  From symbols of hatred to bandages of love, because someone had proclaimed the gospel, and someone had responded, and the spirit guaranteed the harvest.  Don’t you want to be a part of an enterprise like that?  I do.