The Deepest Reasons

“the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, rather than from pure motives,” Philippians 1:16

The Deepest Reasons

Pure motives – There is a tension in Scripture.  It is the tension between behavior and motive.  God is more interested in the “why” than He is in the “what” and this creates a great but invisible divide.  On the one hand, we observe the outward actions of people.  We draw conclusions based on those actions.  Rightly or wrongly, we rely on perceived reality to tell us about deeper motivation.  And sometimes we can be unpleasantly disappointed or deceived.  In fact, sin counts on our reliance on perceived reality in order to draw us into its trap.  That’s why we must always remember that what God says is true, is true even if we do not see it as true at the moment.

God operates on a different reality.  There is no gap between perception and truth in His view.  He is never fooled.  He looks first at the motive, then at the behavior.  He looks for alignment.  But the first message here is that even when men operate with selfish motives, God’s purposes still get done.  Paul tells us that while some preached the gospel for selfish reasons, God’s purpose was accomplished.  Even selfish men cannot thwart Him.

The Greek words are ouk hagnos.  They are literally, “not free of impurity”.  God revealed to Paul that these men preached with impure motivations.  Paul might never have known that without God’s revelation.  But Paul did know this:  his motivation was pure.  That’s the second message in these words.  God and I must come to terms about my motivation.  He and I are the only ones who know for sure.

We are all tempted to be Great Pretenders.  The culture of the church pushes us to be spiritual smiley faces.  It promotes a certain lifestyle, a particular language, a code of behavior.  And often we pretend in order to fit in.  But that’s not The Way.  The Way is first about my heart motives.  The Way recognizes struggle, conflict, despair, remorse, envy, greed, jealousy, disobedience.  The Way is the path of human beings coming to terms with ouk hagnos, one step at a time.  The Way is about taking my deepest motives and delivering them to God.  I want Psalm 139:23 and 24, not Hosea 2:3.