Learning to Read the Unseen Headline

Media bias is a terrible thing. It is pretty obvious which candidate Fox News is pulling for. Likewise, everyone knows that CNN and the other mainstream media sources are phrasing things in such a way to ensure a win for Hilary Clinton. No matter what you are told we really don’t have many options for a “fair and balanced” news source. They are always going to be skewed by our perception.

But this is the reality of living in the fallen world. In fact, even if we had the best journalist in the world they likely do not have the eyes to see what is really going on. What the headline reads on earth is likely quite different than what the headline would read in heaven.

Consider the apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians. Paul was quite likely the greatest evangelist in the early church. His mission travels and church planting efforts spread the gospel all around the known world. As we read in Acts this started stirring up trouble for some local communities. Like in Ephesus when the gospel takes such a root that they had a bonfire of all their magic books. The local idol makers started losing money. And so they worked to shut down the apostle.

Paul was hated by the Jews and he the more he was known the more unpopular he became throughout the Roman Empire. He was a troublemaker. After that Ephesus riot the great evangelist was finally arrested.

What do you think would have appeared on the Jewish news site that morning?

TROUBLEMAKING CULT FOLLOWER FINALLY SLOWED BY AUTHORITIES

What about the Roman news sites?

JEWISH RABBLE ROUSER NOW CHANGED TO ROMAN GUARD

And from our perspective each of those leads would have seemed accurate. This is why the Philippians have written this letter to Paul. They wonder how Paul is doing and we get the hint they are curious about what this will mean for the advance of the gospel. Will this slow things down? Will this hinder kingdom growth? To which Paul responds:

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. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. (Philippians 1:12-14 ESV)

So the news headlines had the whole thing backwards. The heavenly press would have read something like that:

INFINITELY WISE GOD CHAINS ROME TO GREAT EVANGELIST

Paul was chained to a Roman guard. Rome was now chained to the apostle Paul. From the outside it looked like evil and darkness was winning, but in reality God was doing what he always does—advance His kingdom and promote His glory.

This is great news for us. God is on a mission and it will not be thwarted. Regardless of what the news headlines read, know that there is always another story taking place. It is a story which overrides all other stories, even though it is quite often the one playing in the background.

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I preached a similar point from Revelation 5 last Sunday. I’d be honored if you gave it a listen: The Mission of God

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