“Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: the one do it of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel; but the other proclaim Christ of faction, not sincerely, thinking to raise up affliction for me in my bonds. What then? only that in every way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and therein I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.” (Philippians 1:15–18, ASV)
When the Lord saved me, I was part of an organization that promoted good relationships between fathers and daughters. Those in the group saw the change in my life and one person in particular noticed. He was a Christian man who attended a Baptist church. In time I asked to hear his story. He indicated that he was saved reading a Watchtower from the Jehovah’s Witnesses. This kind of puzzled me. He said that they had come by and dropped off this magazine and he browsed through it and saw something about Jesus in it. He then went to a Baptist church where he heard the gospel message and was saved.
I thought my friends experience was unusual. This is because I knew enough of the Jehovah’s Witnesses theology to know that they did not believe the doctrine of the Trinity, that faith plus works were essential for salvation, among other departures from orthodox biblical teachings. I guess the point is this. The Lord can use some interesting means to bring people to Jesus.
Paul here wrote about this. He stated that some preach the gospel with good motives and others with ulterior ones. The thing with my friend is an extreme situation. Only rarely will someone be reached through a group that preaches things that are clearly not presented in the Scriptures. However, it can happen.
While those that come to our door from the Watchtower Society likely come with sincere motives, in a way their motives are insincere since their message is not pure. The deny the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.
Yet, there are many who do come with a variety of other insincere motives. Some preach for money or prestige. Again, these motives are insincere. While they may be preaching the truth of the gospel, the motives of their hearts are insincere. Paul’s main point here was that if people preached the truth of the word of God he would rejoice even if their motives were not right.
So, with regards to my friend and his introduction to Christ through the Watchtower, we can hardly rejoice in those who teach a misleading doctrine. However, I can rejoice that the Lord drew him from a false teaching to Himself in a strange and unusual way.
Renewing the Heart 