To Live Is Christ

Recap

We’re continuing our study of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi. Paul used to be called Saul. He grew up in Tarsus and was a Roman citizen. He studied under the top Jewish rabbis. He was on track to becoming the most important Jewish theologian of his day. He was zealous toward God, he used to believe that Christians were trying to corrupt God’s faithful people, and they were wrong to think Jesus was the messiah. Then, in a miraculous meeting, Paul met Jesus and realised that rather than serving God, he was fighting against God. He surrendered himself to Christ, and spent the rest of his life telling people about Jesus and the good news that Jesus saves people from their sin. He wrote this letter from a prison in Rome, Italy in order to assure them he was okay, and to encourage them to continue growing in Christian maturity.

Theme: To Live Is Christ

The theme of this letter, and really of Paul’s whole life was to live is Christ. Jesus occupied all of Paul’s attention. He loved Jesus more than anything else at all. He wanted to honour Jesus in everything he did. As a mature Christian, he calls all of us to maturity in adopting this same theme! Nothing is greater than Jesus. To really, truly live in this life is Christ.

When we really think about Paul and his upbringing, his formative years, his incredible dedication to the Jewish way of life, the rabbinical system, the preservation of all Jewish theology, it’s protection from the Christian threat, the pride he had in his own history, Paul’s theme here is astounding. Later on in this letter he will talk about all the things that people held to be so greatly important and mentions his own bragging rights. Such as his Jewish nationalism, of being of the same tribe as King David, of all the things that the religious people, of his day valued above all, all of it, Paul considered dung.

To put it in perspective, imagine a pastor in the same way. Born in Holland, to two upstanding faithful Christian parents. Emigrated as a young teen, helped start a Christian Reformed Church. Was top of his class in everything, read the Bible every day, had read it five times all the way through before graduating college. Attended Calvin College. Attended Calvin Seminary, top of his class at both. Spoke English and Dutch fluently. Every church he served grew by hundreds. But in comparison to Christ Jesus, all of it is nothing, his education, his pedigree, his accomplishments, everything pales in comparison to Christ. It’s like holding up a faded barely recongisable picture alongside a brand new, freshly printed picture.

It’s like the song we sing, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace.” Anything, anything, good, great, awesome, amazing on earth is pale, insignificant, tasteless, nothing, compared to the awesomeness of Jesus. But the things that humans tend to elevate and value, status, popularity, pedigree, in contrast to Christ is poo. Yes, poo. Actually the Greek word most accurately translated is shit.

Look to Jesus. See his wonderful face, his incredible goodness, is total justice and loving sacrifice. There’s nothing on earth like him, nothing in the whole universe like him. Jesus is number 1. Knowing Jesus, being part of Christ, being a Christian is the most important thing period. It is more important than being CRC, it more important than being a dad, a husband, a mother, a child, a wife, a sibling, a cousin, an aunt, an uncle, an employee, a business owner, a farmer, a politician, a president, a teacher, a student, an actor, a rock star, whatever it is that our world celebrates and honours, Jesus is more, way more. If today, you really see Jesus, and that’s it, then you’ve seen the greatest person, greatest thing to see in the universe. It is greater than ascending the summit of Everest, greater than scoring the game winning goal of the Olympic Gold Medal game.

This is why Jesus could say without blushing, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple” (). Our love for Jesus must be so strong, so powerful, that in contrast our love for our families, ourselves would look like hatred.

And the craziest, coolest thing about Jesus is that he transforms all those things and makes them even more. So being a dad, being an uncle, being a sibling, a child, a mom, a wife, a husband, whatever, with Christ, now those things are infused with him, so we become even better people, we become what Christ created us to become!

Sometimes it’s hard for people to see Jesus, even people who have grown up in the church. Sometimes the true picture of Jesus is obscured by sin, sin we’re not even aware of, because we’ve had it for so long. Things like pride, accomplishment, duty, obligation hide Jesus from us. It makes me wonder, is something in the North American church, in this church, this congregation being lifted up over Jesus, above Jesus. It could be individual wills, corporate identity, something. I think there is something is saying, “being such and such is of greater value, greater importance, greater worth than simply living for Jesus.

To live is Christ, to die is gain. Death means giving up on all this life offers, offered, everything. All that we work for, all that we accomplish, all the wealth, health, stuff, all of it is gone, lost at the moment of death. This is why Paul thought his former life, his life apart from Christ was rubbish.

Paul wasn’t looking at what his life accumulated—apart from sharing the gospel and winning people to Christ—he was looking for what he’d gained: Christ himself. Paul’s heart broke for people, especially his own Jewish people who insisted on stubbornly rejecting Christ, for them, Paul was willing to give up his place in heaven if it meant they would be saved.

Could I say that? Could you? Could you say to Jesus, “If you would only save my next door neighbour, if it meant that the only way was for me to forfeit my place, then I ask you, Jesus, to do so.”

Death is loss to everything in this life except for one thing: what we did with this life in service to Christ. Let us strive hard in this life to do what Christ calls us to do, so that at the end he will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” Let us ask ourselves, “What do I need to let go to surrender to Jesus, to have the same attitude as Paul, “To live is Christ—Christ in me the hope of glory, Christ in me, working through me, reaching people through me.?” Holy Spirit, reveal these things to us, to me, so that I may surrender, and live Christ.

Rejoice Gospel Shared

Paul rejoiced in the gospel shared. It was the gospel that set Paul free. He understood that all this striving, all his attempt at being obedient on his own strength, not one bit of it was good enough. But the Gospel is this, Jesus offered what was good, perfect, essential. Jesus gives that to those who believe in him. So that, now, in Christ, we live Christ. We know that when we meet the Father in heaven, he will look at us and see Jesus!

The gospel is the great news of what Jesus has already done: fully paid for all our sin, by his life, his death, his resurrection and his ascension. Paul’s desire was to go and be with Jesus. But he had an equally strong desire to be used by Christ for the blessing of God’s people—through the sharing of the gospel! If Jesus was his sole focus, the gospel was his sole action. Hearing that the gospel was being shared caused him to rejoice!

Set Free

Paul anticipated that he would be set free to continue doing his gospel work. I can imagine him being somewhat sad to leave the prison, because of the gospel work he was doing, or rather, the lord was doing through him. The prison itself had become like a church. And yet, he knew being free would be better, he could travel, he could conduct more missionary journeys, he could go back and visit the churches he’d started.

He wanted them to know, he wants us to know that we are where we need to be for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of the ministry Christ has called us to do. But there’s a deeper aspect to this freedom. Paul was in prison, but he was totally free. Earthly bondage is nothing compared to spiritual bondage. Once he was free from that, he was truly free. That’s how he was able to handle prison. We need to believe that we are truly free in Christ.

Courage

Paul next addresses their need for courage. He doesn’t candy coat anything for them. He’s not painting a false reality. Persecution is coming. He faced it in Philippi, he faced it in Ephesus. He was living it in Rome. Christianity is turning everything on its head. As Christianity took hold in Ephesus, the idol makers saw a sharp drop in sales. People weren’t buying silver goods anymore, so they persecuted the Christians who were ruining their business.

It will happen again and again until Christ returns. We will face it, if we stay true to Scripture. People aren’t going to like what the Bible says, so they will try to stop us from saying it. But we don’t need to be afraid. We need to trust Christ. We need to stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the gospel, full of courage and strength.

Fruitful Work

This is the fruitful work we are to do. To contend as one man for the gospel. Nothing. Else. Matters. Music doesn’t matter. We could gather here every Sunday, with no instrumentation, just voices and still praise God. We could come with only prayers and hear a message, and still praise God. We could have this whole building destroyed in a flood, or tornado, or fire, and still come to the burned out remnants and praise God.

Max Lucado shared a great piece on the flooding in Texas. Things don’t matter, relationships matter, people matter. Have we forgotten that?

Let us let go of the things that so easily entangle us, let us grab hold of the one thing we’re called to do: share the Gospel.

Do we need a disaster here to help us focus on what’s important, or can we allow Christ to work in our hearts to remind us? When I think about past things like the comments about worship, about lights being left on or off, the reaction of some to the encouragement to move forward in the pews, the reaction by some to the moving of the library, the reaction by some to the name change, those reactions cause me to wonder, how does that celebrate God’s gifts? How do those attitudes promote the Gospel? Anger, bitterness, harsh words, critical words, don’t promote Christ, or glorify him. Such attitudes, words and behaviours tear apart Christ and his body.

We are living in a world flooded by darkness. These are the end times. People need to know about Jesus. But if we’re so busy talking about what we like or don’t like about temporary things, then how will they come to know about the ark? How will they be rescued from the water?

That’s the opposite of Christ’s attitude. That’s the opposite of Paul’s attitude. Paul would say, “You’re crazy, you’re wasting time arguing about bulletin layouts, lights, paint colours, signs, music, etc. and not paying any mind to the gospel. You’re more concerned with things of earth, things of self, than you are for Christ. Jesus himself might very well say, “Fine, since you’re honouring yourselves over and above me, I’m removing my lampstand from you.”

Fruitful work is gospel focused. Fruitful work is contending for the gospel as one person. Fruitful work is throwing off anything that encumbers us. Picture Usain Bolt, fastest sprinter in the world. Now imagine putting a back pack on him that weighs 100 pounds. How fast would he be able to run? If we are trying to run the race laid out before us by Christ, and we are still encumbered by sin, we’ll fail. Let’s let Christ take it off of us, so that we can really run!

Live for Jesus

To live is Christ. To die is gain. Live for Jesus. Die to self. Deny yourself. What can you do to demonstrate to Christ your sacrifice? What is the Holy Spirit asking you to surrender?

How can we, as a congregation demonstrate that we’re standing firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the gospel? Let’s trust in God to transform us from the inside out, repent and turn toward Him. Let’s walk instep with the Holy Spirit so as to glorify God in all that we do, and say!

To live is Christ, to die is gain! Amen.