Philippians 1:21-30

I am not going to lie, preparing for this week’s sermon has been an adventure. I have been all over the place on where I was going. As you know by now, Jon, Shad and myself together are preaching consecutively through Philippians. So I have known for a couple weeks what passage I would be covering, and each time I would collect my thoughts and the theme of my sermon would change. There are so many themes in any given passage that you can go in many different directions. But I was excited for this passage. The opening verse is well known. I would venture a guess that most in here have heard it before. Let us pray and then we will get into it.

Philippians 1:21–30 (NASB 2020)

21For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

22But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose.

23But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;

24yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sakes.

25Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith,

26so that your pride in Christ Jesus may be abundant because of me by my coming to you again.

27Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

28and in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and this too, from God.

29For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer on His behalf,

30experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

How we live as Christians will affect those who are around us!

            The question is how will we live our lives? Are you a glass half full person or a glass half empty one? I am a glass half full person; my wife would say that I am a glass half empty. She gets irritated with because when she has these big ideas on remodeling or landscaping the yard I tell her all the reasons we should not do it, and because I usually disagree with her, I am labeled a pessimist. In life we are often presented with options. Do I take this job or do I take that job. Just recently I had to decide if I should take a ministerial residency and put a little more faith in Jesus or continue to work on the farm while I was in school. Reflecting now this decision seems obvious, but most of us and especially me are wired to lean into what we know. I definitely prefer to stay in my comfort zone, to take the path that I know. The comfort knowing that I will be able to support my family.

            Paul has his own dilemma, in v. 21, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Paul makes this statement and then explains what he means by it the next two verses. If he lives, he is to have fruitful labor, but if he dies, he will be with Christ, and there is nothing better than that. The best part of being a Christian is this, spending all of eternity with Jesus. A commentator said this about Paul “the happiest man in Rome was in Jail” Paul, in jail, had more joy than every other person in Rome. His joy came from Jesus. If there is nothing better, then why does Paul even consider staying here, is not the choice an obvious one? In fact, it is not an easy choice.  He says in v. 22 “I do not know what I will choose.” WHY? Remember Paul is in jail. He has was run out of almost every town he has visited. In 2 Cor 11:24-27 Paul says this:

Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent adrift at sea. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

            Paul suffered through all these things, and he still had a desire to be on this earth! Because it is necessary for their sake. He had work left to do here. As long as Paul was alive, he was going to be useful for Jesus. As long as he was here, he was able to spread the gospel and encourage other believers.

            My second point is if this was Paul’s purpose, what is ours? If Paul was to remain here on earth to “continue with you all in your progress and joy in faith” (v. 25), do you think that should be our purpose as well? And what does that mean? It is the fruitful labor that Paul talks about in v. 22. As I was studying this passage, one of my first observations was fruitful labor. Jesus tells us in Matthew 12:33 that a tree is either good and bears good fruit, or bad and bears bad fruit. Obviously, we should want to bear good fruit. The greatest fruit we can bear is Matthew 28: 19-20:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

            The great commission, Jesus’ last commandment before He ascended into heaven. Our greatest asset as Christians is Jesus. The hope we have for eternal life is the greatest thing we possess. The good news of the gospel is not something we should keep to ourselves. Remember Paul is in jail while he is writing this letter. But Paul is not head down feeling sorry for himself, NO, Paul is writing to encourage the Philippians. Paul wants them to continue to grow in their faith. Paul is hoping to see them again. The reason he believes he will remain on earth so he will be able to visit them. And that his visiting will help their growth in Christ. It is most likely the people of this church did not get to meet Jesus when He was on the earth. However, the had Paul, and while he was no Jesus, he was the closest a man could be to what Jesus was. No man’s faith and knowledge of Scripture rivals what Paul’s was. Paul says in 1 Corinthains 11, to “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” The way that Paul modeled Jesus, we should model him. We use the Bible as our standard of following Jesus but remember the people Paul is writing to did not have the New Testament, they were not able to read about the life and events of Christ like we can. But they did have the apostles and what Paul is saying is that his teachings came from Jesus and he is modeling Christianity as commanded by Christ, and that we should use him as our model to follow Christ. Paul goes on in Philippians 1:27:

Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

            Paul tells them that no matter if he comes, they need live their lives worthy of the gospel, they need to conduct their lives like good Christians. One, because he will hear about them and he will have joy knowing they are remaining faithful, but second because people comment on how we conduct our lives. They will notice if we are living as a Christian should. They will talk. How we live our lives is a way to show the gospel. Do we conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel? Do you stand out? Are you living your life apart from the world? Christianity and the world do not go together. The world does not want Jesus, the devil does not want Jesus, the flesh does not want Jesus. There is a daily struggle that all Christians must face. Jesus commands us to be salt and light. Matthew 5, Salt is used to enhance taste, and if salt is tasteless what is it good for? If we are not enhancing Jesus, if we are not adding to the faith, what good are we? Likewise, we are to be the light of the world. Think of a lighthouse. Back before GPS there were lighthouses along the coasts of the oceans. Those lighthouses had a light that would shine at night, and they guided ships in the darkness. Our world is like this darkness; we are supposed to be that guiding light. Our light is to show this world Jesus.

             My last point is how we live our lives everyday matters. Working on our farm we have 10 or so employees, all of them have been there for at least 7 years. I have been working there much longer; I have also only been a Christian for around 10 years. About 5 years I began living my life in a very different way. Even though I was a Christian, I was not a very good, but I came to the realization that God wanted more, and as I start living differently my coworkers noticed the change. The problem was they did not know why I changed. I never really talked about Jesus or my faith with them. There will come a point where we need to tell them why we have changed. If we are not saying that Jesus changed our lives how will anyone know what caused this change? Keep this in mind. If you want to change your community, if you want to add to the kingdom, you need to share where you get your hope from. Christians we are promised of eternal life, like Paul said verse 23, that when we depart from this world we are immediately in the presence of Jesus. If that is our hope, why would we not share it? I will be honest; I would love it if everyone here went out and proclaimed the gospel to 5 non-believers this week. But I also know that it is not easy. I still struggle with this; gospel conversations are not always easy. I still remember many times I missed an opportunity. I have found these conversations are easier with people I have a relationship with people that I have come along side. Keep it simple, Jesus came to the earth to die for our sins, He was resurrected three days later conquering death, restoring us into a relationship with God.

            Why is talking about God hard? Well one reason is that people react hostile to the gospel. As Paul says in verse 29 and 30:

For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer on His behalf, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

            We will experience some kind of suffering because of our faith. Jesus said in John 15:20:

Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well;

            Remember what I said earlier about Paul’s beatings in 2 Corinthians. He certainly suffered. You cannot go against the world and have smooth sailing. Again, I go back to Paul as an example. In spite of his circumstances, he still praised God. During our struggles that is when we need to lean more on Jesus. I know that can be easier said than done. But I have lived through some struggles. My nephew died unexpected 5 ½ years ago, then one year later my brother committed suicide. My faith was certainly tested. So many questions, and most of them are still unanswered. Yet somehow, I came through with a stronger faith. Those deaths were the catalyst for me being up here today. If I have said many times that speaking in front of people is one of my biggest fears, I am not sure if I have shared this with you or not. Speaking does not come naturally to me. But there were so many things I wanted to say as my family was going through these tough times. When my nephew died, I was unable to say anything. When my brother died, I was able to get up and not only share some of my stories about my brother, but I was able to share the gospel. All of this to say that sometimes in our suffering we can get some good out of it.

            The thing we need to remember is to have the faith of Paul, that when we are struggling our hope is in Christ. When we are being persecuted, our hope is in Christ. If we are facing death, our hope is in Christ. IF we fully surrender, if we put all of our trust in Jesus, we have nothing to worry about. That no matter what life looks like on earth, Jesus is still on His throne, and one day we will enjoy paradise with Him.