Knocking It Down the Fairway

“I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the Gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ” (Philippians 1:12-13).

I grew up on the golf course. My parents put a club in my hand from a very early age. As a child (and many times as an alleged adult), I would get frustrated when I would mishit my drive. I expected to grip and rip it like Jack Nicklaus 300 yards down the fairway. Too many times, my ball happily skipped down the fairway about 100 feet, burning worms along the way. It’s NOT the shot I expected to hit. It’s NOT the shot I wanted to hit. I would stomp my feet and slam my driver into the ground. That’s when my mom simply ask, “Is your ball closer to the hole? Then go hit it again.” While I would grumble about my performance, she wanted me to focus on my progress. She knew that knocking the ball down the fairway was the most important thing.

While I’m pretty sure Paul didn’t have golf in mind when he wrote his friends back in Philippi, he’s certain that God is using him to advance the Gospel forward. He’s getting closer and closer to the goal. The apostle knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that people in Rome are hearing the life-saving message of Jesus even though he’s behind bars (v12-13). The man from Tarsus has dreamed of hitting the big time in the capital of the Roman Empire for quite a while. He wrote to believers in Rome that preaching the Gospel there was on his bucket list (Rom 1:10-15; 15:22-23, 28-29,32). 

I’m not sure if Paul pictured himself doing the Billy Graham thing to a packed house at the Colosseum. That would be the equivalent of ripping a monster drive down the center of the fairway. But God had other plans for the former Pharisee. Ludicrous plans. Instead, the Lord puts Paul in prison to transform Rome from the inside out. That’s seems like the equivalent of pulling out a sand wedge on the tee box of a par 5 and then hitting it toward another hole but eventually making an eagle. Doesn’t. Make. Sense. It’s NOT what Paul expected. But it IS ultimately what he wanted. Miraculously God used his imprisonment to knock the Gospel down the fairway. 

So where am I getting this crazy comparison of the spread of the Good News with golf? From a cellblock in Rome, Paul writes the Philippian church how “what has happened to me has served to advance the Gospel” (v12). When translators of the ESV use “advance,” the apostle drops the Greek word prokope. It means progress, promotion, forward movement, or to ultimately make things better. The term literally describes the process of beating something forward. An act of force to smack an object closer to the goal. Knocking it down the field. Paul never saw it coming, but he knows now that God has sovereignly used his prison bid to knock the Gospel down the fairway.

If you’re a golf fan, you’ll remember Bubba Watson’s ridiculous shot out of the pine trees in a playoff to win the Masters in 2012. The dude was dead in the water. Actually, he was snookered behind a a wall of tree trunks and azalea bushes. Ironically, golfers call this no-win situation “jail.” That’s when Bubba pulls off one of his sports’ most memorable shots to win one its most memorable tournaments. Paul is LITERALLY in jail. He doesn’t seem to have a shot. The Gospel would seem to be snookered behind bars. But Jesus specializes in just these situations. In a move that makes Bubba’s sick hook with a gap wedge look easy, God goes to work in the Roman prison. Suddenly, the message of Christ is spreading like wildfire “throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest” (v13). The apostle isn’t one bit shy about telling anyone who will listen that “my imprisonment is for Christ” (v13). He tells fellow prisoners about Jesus. He tells the guards about Jesus. God uses Paul to pull off a miracle shot when there was no shot. He doesn’t just knock the Gospel down the fairway, He knocks right next to the hole! No golf clap here. The gallery is going WILD!!

So what crazy shot is God about to hit with the Gospel in your life? Do you feel like you’ve shanked your life in the trees? Duck hooked your drive out-of-bounds? Sliced your three-wood into a pot bunker? Just when you think you’re out of it is when Jesus does His best work. This idea is incredibly personal for me. I threw everything I had planting a church. I was a small group leader, worship leader, and elder. Despite the efforts of some incredible people, it crashed and burned. This happened not once, not twice, but three times. The wreckage of three failed church plants are in my rearview mirror. I figured I was done. If I was playing golf, this was time to tear up the scorecard and sell my clubs.

But that’s just when Christ cranks one of His miracle recovery shots that He’s known for. Just when I thought my days in ministry were behind me, He leads me and my family to an amazing church and places me in a position of servant leadership. What I thought was the end was really the beginning. Jesus makes sure that absolutely nothing is wasted! He uses it all! What a fantastic reminder that whatever we face or endure is to move the Gospel closer to His goal. He uses everything for His glory. He’s going to promote His awesome name around the world. Jesus will use every club in His bag to make sure everyone knows about our incredibly gracious God and Savior. And here’s the crazy thing. It’s not only for His glory but our good (Rom 8:28). 

Think you’ve got no shot? Think you’re snookered behind a tree? Think it's time to sell your clubs and give up golf? Jesus is going to use everything in your life to advance the Gospel. He won’t waste a thing. He won’t waste a single tear. He won’t waste one bit of heartbreak. He’ll use it all to knock the Gospel down the fairway. In the words of Bruno Mars, “Don’t believe? Just watch!”