In his comment on Philippians 1.12-14 Gordon Fee writes:
“Those who are fully alive because of the gospel, who in Paul’s language have nothing yet possess everything (2 Cor 6:10), exist as a constant threat to those whose minds are on merely earthly things. Leave Paul alone and he and his companions will be those who have turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6); put him in prison and he turns Caesar’s elite upside down (Phil 1:13), not to mention Caesar’s very household (4:22)….Here is a person not just making the best of his circumstances but actually turning them around for the glory of God. No wonder joy abounds.”
Gordon D. Fee, Philippians, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series, 58.
In today’s church there is a lot of arguing over the meaning of the gospel. Sometimes it must transcend words toward practices that display what we mean by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. In the life of Paul it seems like it would leave us nearly speechless except, “Oh, look! There it is!”
the archives near Emmaus 
I completely agree with you Brian – we’re all arguing about what the gospel is and yet little evangelism goes on and fewer and fewer are entering the Kingdom. When I think our lives are transformed by the gospel things will be different.
I want to modify that a bit if I can – when our hearts and lives are transformed by Christ and him crucified (and of course risen) then things will be different. This is not to say people’s lives haven’t been transformed but I tend to think that trans-formation is an ongoing process and at the same time, bickering over what “the gospel” is concerns me that for many the transformation has slowed down if not altogether stopped. I hope that makes sense.
Brian,
I think it is often the case that we get caught up in the secondary issues related to the gospel to he detriment of it’s actualization in our lives! One thing that has come to concern me with the recent trend to get back to the gospel is that it is inevitable that he gospel itself become a prelude to other hobby horses like we have seen take place amongst the so called Gospel Coalition. I hardly see the gospel but rather a neo-fundamentalism amongst them (at least in their publications like their blogs).
Brian, this is something to really consider.