Christ is Greater

Introduction

Humans will do remarkable things to live.

In 1993 a man was fishing in Colorado and got his leg pinned under a boulder.

There was snow in the forecast, and he did not have a phone or coat on him. He knew the storm was coming, so in an attempt to survive, he used his flannel as a tourniquet and cut his leg off at the knee joint with his fishing knife in order to survive.

In 2003 a man was hiking in Utah and a boulder fell on his right arm. He did everything he could to get free, but no one found him for 5 days.

So on the 6th day, he cut his arm off with a dull muti tool.

Exasted and dehydrated he rappelled down a 60 foot cliff and talked 8 miles in the dessert before finding a family who aided him to his rescue.

So again, humans will do remarkable things to survive,

But the big question is, what do you live for?

Paul is going to say to live is Christ.

But what do we live for?

Let’s pray then jump right into the sermon

Christ is Worth more than my Circumstances (vv. 18b-23)

We are all going through something. Maybe something good, but also some of us something bad.

As we dive into this passage we are going to see that Christ is greater than what we are going through as we examine Paul’s life.

Philippians 1:18–23 CSB

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice because I know this will lead to my salvation through your prayers and help from the Spirit of Jesus Christ. My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all courage, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me; and I don’t know which one I should choose. I am torn between the two. I long to depart and be with Christ—which is far better—

Okay, yall are going to get tired of me saying it, but I promise you will remember it for the rest of your lives.

Paul is writing from…

Prison.

He was spreading the Gospel, Christianity was gaining traction and they arrested Paul.

So Paul is waiting….

With him being a Roman citizen he has rights and gets a court case, so he is waiting until his trial.

Where he knows he will either be set free or he will be killed.

These are the circumstances that he is in, but

Our Circumstances do not control our joy.

Joy is rooted in Jesus.

When life is hard, people find it hard to find that joy.

The thing is they are looking in the wrong spot.

In this day and age we have more depression than ever before.

But people look to things that will bring them pleasure, that will bring them satisfaction, that will make the pain go away.

And what I am not saying is that you cannot be depressed as a Christian, or you should never be sad as a Christian,

but what I am saying is that we have this Hope in Jesus that allows us to rejoice in suffering.

In the middle of the depression, we still have Jesus to be anchored to in the midst of those emotions.

yall

Happiness is based on your happenings.

What is happening in your life will drive your happiness, this joy is found only in Christ.

We rejoice in what we treasure.

We have to treasure Jesus above all else.

So when we rejoice even in our sufferings, it shows that our treasure is not in this world, but in Christ.

Because

Christ gives meaning to our lives.

Paul says to live is Christ.

What he means is Christ completely defines the meaning of life.

Christ is not just part of Paul’s life, Christ is the center of Paul’s life.

so he is wrestling with how he wants his future to play out.

He is going to trial.

So he is saying if they let me go and I do not die, I am going to do all I can for Christ.

For him living meant he was still going to do all he can to make the good news of Jesus known to everyone.

Paul knows that it is Christ that drives his everything.

Look at what Paul says in Galatians.

Galatians 2:20 CSB

I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

So Paul says if I am living, it is only Christ.

If they let Paul go he is:

doing more missionary work,

He will plant more churches

He will visit more churches and check on them.

He will Travel around the world and share the gospel.

but with this…

people are going to bring him suffering with him sharing this message.

People are going to reject the message.

They might get violent,

Paul had already seen what the other side of an angry mob with stones looks like,

so he makes this comment and says “to die is gain.”

What in the world does that mean?

Paul knows that in this trial there is the chance that they kill him.

Yet this does not scare Paul.

He is actually wrestling back and forth between which one he wants to happen.

Does he want to die? Or does he want to live?

The question that you might be thinking is why would he possibly want to die?

And why does he call dying gain?

Because he knows that all death does is put him face to face with Jesus.

Christ removes the fear of death.

Paul can say Christ is more than my circumstances because even if they execute me, Christ still wins.

Death would mean no more sin.

No more suffering.

and he would be face to face with Jesus.

What I want you to know is Paul is not tired of life, he has so much joy in life, but he is full of his love for Jesus and he wants to see him.

so he is not afraid of being killed.

This makes Paul unstoppable.

They say hey we want to kill you, he says great you just threatened me with heaven.

They say fine, then you live and he says great I get fruitful work of sharing Jesus with others.

Then they are like we will make you suffer, then he will quote Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.”

but ultimately we are going to see that Paul wants to live, for the sake of the Gospel.

because although seeing Jesus face to face would be better, and heaven would be comfortable, he was not done with Paul.

Christ is Worth more than my Personal Comfort (vv. 24-26)

Philippians 1:24–26 CSB

but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. Since I am persuaded of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that, because of my coming to you again, your boasting in Christ Jesus may abound.

Paul desire for heaven, but as you know we do not always get what we want.

He loves Jesus so much that being with Him is better, but he also loves people so much he wants to stay.

I want to stop for a second because what this message can sound like is death and heaven is better, and while that is true I want to pause and talk about sucide.

Paul is not saying that we should seek death.

Paul is not talking about things that are in his control.

He is seeking God and saying I am being faithfully to Christ and if they kill me for that, then that will be gain.

He is not:

Trying to escape,

Hating his life,

or taking control of when he is going to die

He is trusting in God,

And he knows that life is a gift while he is here.

So he says it is necessary for you that I remain…

If you are still here God has a purpose for you.

But it shows us

Our desires does not always line up with God’s plan.

Paul says after this that he knows he is going to remain.

Paul did not say how he knew, if God told him, or whatever the case may be, but he says that the Philippians need him.

Paul is so commited to help these people grow that he puts aside himself and is people first.

He looks at others needs before his own.

Paul knew that serving the people that he was discipling was important

and he knew that them losing a Spiritual anchor could have been catastrophic for them.

But they were not done maturing.

He knew they still needed teaching

They still needed encouragement,

and they still needed him.

so he knew that the Lord was not done with him and he was going to live.

How often do we do this though?

Most of the time we think about ourselves.

We live in a me first society.

Life is centered around us.

What is my truth?

Where we are the consumers to everything and WE want stuff now.

But we are supposed to think about others.

When we care for others, it opens up so many doors to the Gospel.

So my question is how are you serving others?

Think about Paul, he is saying that if he was gone the Philippians would have felt it.

And this isn’t a pride thing, but they respected and supported Paul so much because of him taking the time and effort to pour into them.

So let me ask you this.

If you disappeared or moved away, would people know?

Not because you are popular, but because of how you love and serve. Because you encourage, or because you just show up for people.

Would people at school miss you for the way you treated them, would people in your neighborhood, or the people at church realize you were gone and wish you were still there for how you were serving others first?

Paul says thats why I am going to stay, so that I can keep pointing the people who depend on me closer to Christ.

because that is what Paul said he would do.

He said if I am going to live, then I will keep on in my fruitful labor.

So this is what Paul is doing.

we need to do the same.

Live so your life echos in eternity through others.

For us to do this, we have to be Christ first.

Do not just go through the motions.

You can come here and not grow.

You can go to school and not be a witness.

You can coast through this life reading a couple pages of your Bible here and there, call yourself a Christian, but that is not putting Christ first.

To make an impact like Paul does we have to point others to Christ.

Show them how to bear fruit by the way that you bear it in your own lives.

because as Christians, we are called to bear fruit.

but that can be scary…

Christ is Worth more than my Fear (vv. 27-30)

Philippians 1:27–30 CSB

Just one thing: As citizens of heaven, live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, in one accord, contending together for the faith of the gospel, not being frightened in any way by your opponents. This is a sign of destruction for them, but of your salvation—and this is from God. For it has been granted to you on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, since you are engaged in the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I have.

Paul says here, if you are saved, then you are a citizen of heaven.

He does on to say because of that, we need to live like it.

This going back to being all in for Christ.

because

Believers belong to a greater Kingdom

Citizenship and identity go hand in here.

And we can find our identity in so many things.

In school,

Friends,

Band,

sports,

but we have a greater identity and that is one that is in Christ.

so we are told how to be a citizen of heaven.

We are to

Live for the gospel

stand firm in the Spirit

Contend together for the sake of the gospel.

We are to live for Christ and with one another.

So we need to know that

There are no solo-citizens in the Kingdom of heaven.

There is no such thing as a one person nation.

You cannot say that it is just me and Jesus, I do not need anyone else.

Thats not citizenship, that isolation.

This is why Paul says to stand firm together.

This wordage is of stand firm would have made them think of a soldier refusing to break rank.

Someone in war who would hold their ground in battle.

They would have fought together.

They would have suffered together.

This is why we need a team.

We need people around us, who are pointing us to the gospel.

because when we have this we are told not to fear.

Things in this life can be frightening.

I totally get it.

Fear of saying the wrong thing and making someone mad.

Fear of not fitting in.

Fear of being labeled too religious.

Fear of hard conversations.

Fear of failure.

Fear of others looking down on you.

But verse 28 says Philippians 1:28 “not being frightened in any way by your opponents. This is a sign of destruction for them, but of your salvation—and this is from God.”

Christians uniting together drives away fear.

Fear shrinks in the presence of God.

God does not promise that life will be easy, but he promises that he will never leave us.

Paul connects Exodus 14 to this passage.

The Israelites are fleeing from Egypt they cross the red sea and the Egyptians are killed.

We see that God saves his people, out of Egypt.

And God still saves his people.

Because of this we can live without fear, knowing that because we are God’s people he will not leave us.

This does not mean that sufferings are not going to happen, but we have Christ to keep our eyes on.

Like we saw with Paul, even if following Christ gets us killed, we still get to see Jesus face to face.

Conclusion

So what do we do with this?

We know that no matter what we are walking though, we can find joy in Jesus.

No matter if things do not go our way, we know that God has a plan that is greater than our own.

And we know that we are not to fear because Christ saves his people and we do not have to go through trials alone because we have community to stand firm with.

but for all of this we have to be able to answer the question, what do we live for?

To be able to truly do all these things, we must be living for Jesus.

So ask your self how can I live more for Jesus this week.