Sermon Tone Analysis

Several weeks before Andrew Chong, a beloved physician and a former elder in the church I pastored for many years, passed away, he was taken to Northwestern Hospital in Chicago to have a stint cleared of blockage.

The procedure was invasive, and after some time the surgeon came out and indicated that he could not go on because there was too much bleeding.

He said, “You’d better get your family here.

He may not make it through the night.”

So all the children were rushed to Andrew’s bedside, where they gathered weeping and saying their good-byes.

Andrew had just come out of the anesthetic and was in intense pain and unable to speak.

Seeing his family’s distress, he made a curious motion with his finger, which they finally understood as a request for a pen.

Of late he had been unable to write in a straight line.

But now, very slowly and with intense deliberation, he wrote twelve words in a single column.

For to me

to live

is Christ

and

to die

is gain.

Andrew anchored the column with “Hallelujah.”

The writing of that last word took him a full minute as he made sure he spelled it correctly (always the precise surgeon).

And then he spoke: “Nothing has changed.

Nothing has changed.”

Now we come to the verse that is central not only to Philippians but to Paul’s life and it is the one that should be central to ours:

It cannot be escaped that Paul is consumed with passion for Christ and the Good News.

His every waking moment is devoted to Jesus, though he is clear that he is a forgiven sinner.

His prior life also was with great zeal persecuting the Church and when he met Christ on the Damascus Road he converted his energies towards the Gospel instead.

Let’s experiment with this verse: For me to live is…?

What will we fill the blank with?

For me to live is work?

For me to live is rest?

For me to live is play games?

For me to live is to study?

For me to live is Coronation St? For me to live is family?

For me to live is entertainment?

For me to live is gardening?

For me to live is eating?

For me to live is DIY?

For me to live is fun?

For me to live is…blankety blank?

None of those things that I have mentioned are wrong…God has given us work, rest, studies, family, etc. but the key thing is has it substituted Christ?

What motivates us?

I am not saying that our every action has to be what is called a ‘sacred’ work for God, that we should be in the Church 24 hours a day unless that is what God calls you to.

Our lives belong to Christ for His blood redeemed us.

It is Christ in us.

Our lives are God’s.

We are all full time Christians no matter what activity we pursue.

And that is the key – we are not all called to full time pastoral positions – but every activity is done not for ourselves but for Christ.

This is a hard maxim to live by for we are easily distracted because we have not learned or grasped or easily forget the significance of all that Jesus has done for us.

It is for freedom that Christ set us free.

Yes, but not freedom of the kind that most people understand freedom – freedom to make our own choices, freedom to do what we want with little, if any, limitation.

That kind of freedom is actually slavery.

The freedom that Christ gives is one of being free to do what God wants of us – for Christ to live in us and through us.

This freedom gives us clear consciences, joy and peace.

Freedom to achieve all that God wants to do.

This is a life of fulfilment, life in all its fullness.

We are not called to a boring life.

No one can say that the life of Jesus was boring.

No one can say that the life of Paul was boring.

No one can say that Peter was boring or any of the disciples.

So, no one can say that our life should be boring simply because we are Christians not doing what the world wants of us.

This should not be said.

If it is said of us then why is that the case?

Not living boring lives does not equate to living easy lives.

For Paul, for him to live is Christ.

Christ.

And what is in a name?

We often see Christ as Jesus’ surname.

Christ means Anointed One.

In Hebrew it is the word ‘Messiah’.

So when Jews become Christians they are often referred to as Messianic Jews.

This doesn’t make a great deal of sense to us as it is not a common practice to anoint someone with oil – but it wasn’t common in the Old Testament either except to anoint one as a priest, a prophet or a king and was a sign of God’s calling upon them and their whole service was entirely to God.

Jesus is all three: prophet, priest and king.

He is the chosen one that the Jews were expecting but, on the whole, did not accept or recognise Him.

Even the very word Christian contains the word Christ.

Literally Christians means those that belong to Christ.

Some have said that we are in effect little anointed ones simply because Christ is resident in each one of us who are His.

Therefore we also ought to be imitators of Christ, to live for Him.

To die is gain, says Paul:

Many people consider this life to be all and end all.

When you die that is it – all over.

Euthanasia started in Holland when the pain of the patients was overwhelming but today palliative care can help to manage the majority of pain and so negates the need for euthanasia.

But there is still a movement for this but by ending a life here it may exacerbate their problems by making the suffering worse – for there is life beyond the grave.

When the Bible talks of death it is not the sudden removal of existence.

No, death in the bible is equal to separation.

When we die in this life we are separated from our bodies but we are still alive.

And either we go to be with Jesus which is why, for Paul to die is gain, for He is only going to the one whom he loves the most anyway or we go to be imprisoned in hell awaiting the final judgement and the lake of fire.

The second death that the Bible speaks of does not suddenly terminate lives either but is a further separation from God for all eternity where the suffering is never alleviated, it never ends and is indescribable.

Scripture seems to make clear there will also be different scales of punishment for the unrighteous but I would not want to be without Jesus no matter what – for He paid the punishment for us already if we have received Him.

The judgement seat of Christ where all believers will be judged and we will be rewarded for those things done that were in God’s will.

But even if we should not receive a reward, if all we have done is lived a selfish life since we became a believer we shall escape by the skin of our teeth.

Of course we just want to get to Heaven but having something to cast down at the feet of Jesus is a worthwhile ambition.

For those who have done well as Christians they will be given responsibilities and rewards greater than we could possibly imagine.

To die as a Christian is great gain for whilst we are here on earth we can cultivate a great relationship with God but still our selfish nature gets the better of us; but still we sin, but still this life has enormous troubles through which we are expected to be faithful.

In the next life there shall not be any trouble, any sin, and cause for concern and our relationship with God will be pure, excellent, enjoyable, free, and without any interruption.

Normally when people die we say they lost their life.

But Paul said to die is gain.

Gain, in the Greek doesn’t mean to lose anything but to acquire something, to possess something new.

For Paul he was going to gain Christ, is untold indestructible riches.

When we die as Christians we gain a life free from trouble, where we have eternal life and do not age or die, we gain a new home, and we gain final freedom from sin, from condemnation and we become like Christ.

Let’s make one thing clear; whether Paul was to die then or not, he was still going to die somewhen.

If he did not die at the hands of Caesar he would die of illness or old age.

This is true, of course, for all of us.

We cannot avoid the fact that even if we live reasonably healthily all our lives one day we are going to stop breathing.