A Kingdom Perspective (Phil 1:21-27)

Intro

Turn in your Bibles to Phil Chapter 1. We’ll be in verses 21-27

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. 25 And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, 26 that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again.

Striving and Suffering for Christ

27 Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel

Pray

The year is 1865. The then sovereign kingdom of Hawaii has made a declaration. All people suspected of lepracy are to be examined and transported to the island of Molokai. Lepracy is an ancient, painful, contagous, and eventually deadly disease. This island is shaped much like a bowl, with high natural cliffs and treacherous seas surrounding. Those who were exiled to this island would have known, there was no escape from this natural prison. Amongst the cattle and the first 50 people being shuttled across stood a young and healthy minister, Father Damien.

You see Father Damien didn’t have lepracy. In fact he was in Hawaii almost on accident if not by God’s providence. Several years prior, his older brother was preparing to become a missionary to the natives of Hawaii. The funds were raised, the supplies purchased, and passage booked. When he unexpectedly fell ill, Father Damien took up the task. This young man, at 24 years old, with no medical knowledge, a little bit of carpentry skills, and not a dime to his name, had made a choice. In his own words, He said he would be a leper to lepers to gain all in Christ. Damien quickly learned some more construction skills. He led projects to build 2 chapels, secure fresh water, build an orphanage, and over 300 homes. In a society deemed dirty by the world, Damien changed bandages, hugged the hurting, and ate at the table of the hopeless. Frequintly, he wrote home of the harvest that was ripe for the taking. If only more would proclaim the Gospel. Known for his worn out priestly garments, compassion, and contagious laughter, Damien ministered for 13 years. After which he finally contracted the disease himself, becoming resident #2,886. This did not slow him down. Father Damien ministered for another 3 years before being called home to be with the Lord. In his last letter, to the older brother mentioned earlier, Father Damien said the following, “Having no doubts about the true nature of the disease, I am calm, resigned, and very happy in the midst of my people. God certainly knows what is best for my sanctification and I gladly repeat: ‘Thy will be done.’”

Father Damien was sold out for the Gospel. He did not care if lepracy took his life or if he continued to live his life serving on the island of Molokai. He, much like Paul, found a life worth living. And a death not to fear. Which brings us to verse 21

A Life worth Living (v21)

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain

Spurgeon found this to be an unfortunate translation. Not that it is inaccurate but it fails to capture the conotation in the greek. It is not as though Christ is only for us in this life. Nor is death our only gain Rather the verse should be read to say to live is to gain Christ. And to die is to gain Christ. The word “is” is not in the Greek. Scholars belive that Paul did that on purpose. Simply put, To Live Christ. To Die Christ. It consumes his entire being. For me, to live is Christ. Even if I stand alone, Paul declares, I will not waver. I have planted my flag. Nothing is worth more.

You see trusting our lives, and our deaths, to Christ is the safest place to be. Because we know, through the scriptures, that there is no one like our God . Exodus 15:11 says Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?” He is unique in being.

God is good. If I were to say to you that God is good, you would respond with.... And all the time......We love God’s goodness. It is also at the core of who He is . We must also come to love God’s holiness

To be holy means to be separate or other than. What is God separate from? Sin. You see there are things that God cannot do. He cannot sin. If God cannot sin, he cannot sin against you. If God cannot sin against you, then all that passes through the hand of God is for your good, and for God’s glory. Did you catch that? Everything that God does, is for your good, and for his glory. We don’t always believe that do we? There are tragedies in our life where we have no idea How God could use it for good or if he is even around. I may only be 24 years old. But I have seen tragedy, heartache, betrayal, and uncertainty. Often in Christ’s own people. As I look back, I still don’t see the reason for each hardship. Though some I do. Paul, as he pens these words, must be thinking about all the trials in his life. Is it all really gain? I mean think about it This guy was shipwrecked, at least twice, stoned, hunted down, bit by a poisonous snake, and he gave up all status he ever held. Now he sits under house arrest in Rome. A place that is at the center of the known world and a bastion for knowlege. Paul always dreamed of going to Rome, to that great city, to share the gospel. Being bound in chains is perhaps not how he imagined it.

Paul in Phil chapter 3 talks about all he gave up. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews. If anyone had reason to brag it was him. No one knew more, had a richer lineage, lived a more righteous life, lived a more qualified life than him. yet he concludes in chapter 3 verse 9 “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”

I don’t know most of you on a deep level. But if you have ever left your home you have felt pain. Look for God’s hand. Trace his presence in the hard things. And where you cannot see God’s hand, trust his character. For God’s kingdom shall outlast any temporary pain and doubt.

As we live our lives, let us say with Paul, I gain Christ. In hardship, Christ is there. In good times, Christ is there. Till the day we die, the effort of all our being is to conform into the image of Christ. Sanctification is the process by which we gain Christ. Now I must clarify something. When Paul says we gain Christ he is not talking about adding to our salvation. We do not become extra saved or super Christians by doing good deeds. It is simply that process by which we grow.

This is the secret to a life worth living. Christ. To know that every step along the way, the God of the universe is at my side. Moreover, when I come to die, I will awaken in His presence. So, which one is better? The question leads to a life held in tension.

A life in tension (v22-24)

 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.

Have you ever struggled to decide between two great choices? As someone who has spent a lot of time around teens, I run into this a lot. Now often this will be over something not all that important. Such as my parents are getting me a phone, do i get an iPhone or and android? You get whats in your parents budget, and you’ better be grateful. But sometimes its a more life altering decision. A student will come to me saying “I got into my top two colleges. Which do i pick?” And they will stress themselves to the point of tears over having to pick between two great choices.

But how can one be caught in the debate between living and dying? If someone were to ask you if you want to live or die, the obvious choice is to live. If you do not understand Paul’s persepctive, he can sound rather cryptic.

Mathew Henry’s commentary says this, “Death is a great loss to a carnal, worldly man, for he loses all his earthly comforts and all his hopes; but to a true believer it is gain, for it is the end of all his weakness and misery. It delivers him from all the evils of life, and brings him to possess the chief good. The apostle’s difficulty was not between living in this world and living in heaven; between these two there is no comparison; but between serving Christ in this world and enjoying him in another. Not between two evil things, but between two good things; living to Christ and being with him. See the power of faith and of Divine grace; it can make us willing to die. In this world we are compassed with sin; but when with Christ, we shall escape sin and temptation, sorrow and death, for ever. But those who have most reason to desire to depart, should be willing to remain in the world as long as God has any work for them to do. And the more unexpected mercies are before they come, the more of God will be seen in them.”

If you have lived for anything other than Christ, to die will not be gain. But it will be the loss of everything you hold dear. You take nothing with you. God is good. To be good, he must be just. There is no hope in this world. Our hope is only in the good news of Christ. That he lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died. I say this not to scare you, but to call you to repentence.

Paul was not salivating over the wedding feast. He did not dream of dancing on the streets of gold. The absence of pain did not even cross the mind of his broken and weary body. His brothers and sisters in Christ who had fallen asleep were not the ones he longed to see. It was Christ. Christ is the focus of Heaven. Christ was the focus of all Paul did.

But Paul understands this might not be the end for him. Perhaps his trial before Caesar will go in his favor. Or at the very least would drag on. He realizes that he has work to do. As the verse says, he believes his labor will be fruitful among them. So in Paul’s mind, if he doesn’t die, that’s great news, for there is much work to do. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” God had given Paul work to do. Therefore Paul could walk in confidence that he would accomplish all that he was called to do and would not die before it was completed. We as the readers know that this is not the end for Paul. He is released, lives for several more years and writes other letters which are in our bibles before being imprissoned a second time and dying in Rome..

This becomes a battle, or rather a tension between what is nessacary and what is better. It is nessacary for the church in phillipi, other ancient churches, and even for our instruction, that Paul toil on. Paul rejoices that this is the case. But he pulls no punches in verse 23, For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. The new king James must have been edited by an english teacher. Because in verse 23 we find a double superlative in the greek. when the verse says “which is far better” it is saying “very much better.” For those of you who don’t love grammar, like most people, this is not something you are allowed to do. It is like saying I am super extremely hungry. Only one of those words is required. This is not a typo made by Paul. Rather it is a tool used in greek to emphasize a point. So when He says it is very much better to be with Christ, it is indeed very much better. To be absent from the body is to present with the Lord.

We know this to be true greatest when we are with a loved one as they transition from this world to the next. There are great things in this world to enjoy. But if we’re honest, and turn on the new for a few minutes, this world is seriously messed up. Racial conflict, sickness, pain, war, homework, labor, and don’t even get me started on politics. Since the fall, things haven’t been according to God’s design. After times of struggling, we get peace knowing our loved ones have moved on. Just this Thursday, Pastor Tim Keller passed away. He said this, “There is no downside in me leaving, Not in the slightest”

So here we live in this temporal time of tension. Yearning to be with God yet seeking to do his will. We cannot know when God will call us home. So while we’re here, all of us have a job to do. We have a life to live together.

A life together (v25-26)

And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, 26 that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again.

Because Paul has not yet gone home to be with the Lord he knows that he still has work to do. His goal is to encourage these believers to grow in their faith, walk a godly life, and rejoice in Jesus Christ. He wants the church at Philipi to grasp this idea too. They must give up what is better to be in the trenches today. There are still people to reach with the gospel, children to raise up, good works to be done. He is calling on them to join him as coworkers for the Gospel. And Paul is going to guid them every step of the way. They will grow. And they will have joy. Don’t miss that, they will rejoice.

Look at the wording again in verse 25. The word order is important. The author says “all for your progress and joy of faith”

How much spiritual progress do you have when you are not joyful? When we are down in the dumbs feeling sorry for ourselves we rarely see ourselves reading our bibles or praying or serving or being godly people. In fact when we aren’t joyful, we tend to excuse our sin and let it run free. When I am angry over how someone has treated me I am never loving towards them. We can have sin or we can have joy. They cannot coexsist. Our sanctification is not a straight line. We stumble and fall often. But the Christian ought to be joyful. If you know the book of Philipians it is known as the book of Joy. All throughought it, Paul calls on his fellow believers to have joy. Phil 4:4 says Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

So most of the time we are supposed to be joyful. No! we are always to find joy. That joy is rooted in the finished work of Christ. As we work out our faith with fear and trembling we should see this growing more and more. The growing Christian is the joyful Christian.

This is easier said than done. Which is why Paul is encouraging them to do it together. So whether he is there to instruct them or not, they are growing. Christians must encourage and teach other believers how to walk a godly life. Otherwise, how else would they learn? Lets take a look at this principal in Titus chapter 2 “But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: 2 that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; 3 the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—4 that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children”

Once again Paul is the author here and he is instructing a young pastor, that is Titus, how to lead and act in a godly manner. Right off the bat there is this relationship of instruction. Then the men are supposed to teach other men how to act godly. Notice the list there in verse 2. These are areas where men may be more prone to wander which is why the instruction is needed. The same can be said about the list given for woman in verses 3 and 4. Woman ought to be teaching woman in the ways of godliness.

I dont care if you are an introvert, a lone wolf, or whatever you want to call it. You cannot be a Christian who lives in Isolation. That’s not how it works. I want you to take an honest look at your life. Do you have somebody who is pouring into you? if not, go and find someone. Is there anyone that you are leading? If not, go and find someone. We are a family as a church. Act like it and walk this life together. Only then will you see your life produce a bounty of fruit.

A life of fruit (v27)

Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel

Here we come to the application of our message. Now that I see Christ as the everything of my life, I should live differently.

The word here for conduct is a word rarely used in the Greek. It is understood to mean Conduct yourselves in the manner of a citizen. This phrase would have triggered a vivid picture in the minds of the original readers. You see the city of Philipi was free city. That means that anyone born there was concerned a natural born citizen of Rome. To be a citizen of Rome you didn’t pay taxes, you got to vote in certain things, you had legal rights that no one else had. Your citizenship affected your conduct. Not only that but many in the city of Philipi were retired soldiers given land as a reward for their service. To conduct one’s life as a citizen is to live with dignity and honor. But Paul is not writing them to take pride in their earthly nation. It is certainly our heavenly citizenship that Paul writes about. Well how does one live, or conduct themselves, as a citizen of heaven? Luckily Paul anticipates the question.

Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel

Our call to walk worthy is not a call to earn what God has freely gifted. For God’s standard is perfection and unto that no one can measure up. It is a call to live different. Live like you were somebody who was without hope but now rejoices in Christ. Live like someone who was lost but is now found. Live like someone who was dead and now lives. Paul is exhorting us to live as if we truly believe: To live, Christ. To Die, Christ.

How might your life be different if you truly embraced that? Would you trust God’s hand when you don’t understand? would you share the gospel even when its weird or difficult? would you live as a citizen of heaven before a citizen of this nation? What does that look like for you? Because it ought to be different. There is a world out there is literally going to hell. If all it knows of you is that lived a moral life than it is lost. It must know that you are Christ’s. We have good news. So share it.

Stand fast. This is another phrase the church in Philipi would have known. As mentioned before, many of them were retired from the roman military. To stand fast is to refuse to waver or flinch regardless of what threats may follow. I don’t know about you but my mind is drawn to a scene from the Lord of the Rings. In this scene, the armies of men are making a ferocious stand against the forces of evil attacking the nation of Gondor. They barricade the gate and prepare to battle. Gandalf, the mighty wizard says, You are soldiers of Gondor. No matter what comes through that gate, you will stand your ground. So they summon up all their might.

Are you prepared for a fight? I am a pessimist at heart but the world around us is not looking good. I’m not talking about winning a culture war. Will you say no to sin as it tempts you in ever new ways? As Jonathan Edwards said we must be killing sin, or it will be killing you. Will you stand up for the weak? Will you risk your reputation for the sake of Christ? America has been an anomaly in the life of the church. For our history has been one of persecution. And i fear those days may be returning.

The scene in the battle goes on. A great ugly cave troll batters down the gates and Gandalf does not double down on his resolve. Rather he yells “never mind!” and the soldiers flee. How often do we flee. How often have i thrown up my hands in defeat after I have looked a troll in the face despite the best of intentions. This is why the rest of the verse is so important.

with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel

We cannot walk this life alone. To be of one mind does not mean we are clones of one another. Rather we are on the same mission together with the same goals. Striving together is the same thing that colosseum competitors would have down. They work together as a team to accomplish the challenge. This word also speaks of friendship. As a teacher I have gotten to know our students who play sports. There are few bonds as strong as those who compete together. As teammates pick each other up, challenge each other to improve, and fill unique roles, so must we. For we are a family worhing to complete one task.

That task according to this verse is the furthering of the gospel. Yes we want to affect society in a positive manner. Take care of the sick, feed the hungry, fellowship with one another. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. So yes, whatever God has called you to do, do it. But none of these are primary. We are to be about the Gospel.

Closing

We have talked a lot around the Gospel. But as we close I want to talk about this good news. This world wasn’t always messed up. In the beginning, Genesis tells us that God created everything and it was good. Not only that but he created mankind to walk in relationship with him. For a time it was paradise. That is until our anscestors broke God’s one law. Today we call any breaking of God’s law sin. Our sin seperates us from God. That sin cannot be removed by good deeds. No matter how hard we try, we cannot earn our way back to God. But the story doesn’t end there. God sent his son Jesus to die on the cross as payment for our sins. The proof that Jesus was who he said he was and did what he said he would do lies in the resurrection. Our savior defeated death itself when he rose from the grave. This offer of forgiveness is open to everyone. Everyone who trusts in Christ alone can have a restored relationship with God. This new life starts now, and it goes on into eternity. Forever we get to enjoy the presence of our God.

This is the message that allows Paul to say: To Live, Christ. To die Christ.

Do you believe this? Maybe you’re sitting here and you’ve never trusted in Christ for salvation. Or maybe you just have some questions. I’m going to pray here in a minute and then we’ll close in song. if you would like to talk to someone, we’ll have some deacons in our prayer room who would love to speak with you. Maybe you are a Christian. But you know that you haven’t been living the way Paul exhorts us to. I want to encourage you to find someone to talk to as well. It is our job as believers to be there for each other.

Lets pray