Sermon Tone Analysis
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and PRAY...
I believe life is all about choices.
Think about it.
You chose to get out of bed this morning.
You chose to wear certain clothes.
You chose when to leave your house.
You chose the route you took to get here.
All kinds of choices.
Most of the time, these choices are practically automatic.
If we see a giant pothole in the road, we will almost automatically decide not to damage our car by driving through it.
We will try to move, or at least slow down.
It's an easy choice.
But there are other choices in life that are not quite so easy.
Choices that may leave us wondering if we made the right decision.
Often times they only way to know which choice is the best choice is to wait and see how things work out.
But can we predict which has the better outcome?
I submit to you we can, and I will tell you how after we work through Paul's dilemma of which is best.
Paul plays a little game of which is better in these verses.
Some of those were easier than others, weren't they?
Why is that?
Well, because in some cases both are good.
I mean which is better, a chocolate bar or chocolate cake, who cares?
Just pass the chocolate, right?
But if you have to choose, which is it?
That struggle is the same kind of struggle we see today.
In fact, Paul is going to answer the question of which is better, in regard to the church at Philippi.
This is a simple either-or kind of choice that is before Paul.
But I am getting ahead of myself.
Which is better, a chocolate bar or chocolate cake, who cares?
Just pass the chocolate, right?
But if you have to choose, which is it?
That struggle is the same kind of struggle we see today.
In fact, Paul is going to answer the question of which is better, in regard to the church at Philippi.
This is a simple either-or kind of choice that is before Paul.
But I am getting ahead of myself.
Let me remind you of the context.
The book of the Bible we call Philippians is actually a personal letter from the Apostle Paul to the church at the city of Philippi.
Philippi is an important city on the Egnation Way, a major trade route between Rome and Asia.
Because it was such a vital city to trade, Rome stationed military retirees (and some active duty) there to protect their interests.
The Romans did what they always did when they took over a city, they made the inhabitants their slaves.
So, we have Greek slaves and Roman soldiers together with influences from Asia that the trade route would have brought in.
It was a diverse city.
And Paul, from the contents of this letter, loved that church.
And I'm not talking about a building, but the people that made up the Christian church at Philippi.
This letter is laid out in a typical way, with Paul applying theological significance to the format.
For example, He has gone from thanking the generic Greek gods of the day, to thanking the one true God for His work in the church.
We are currently in a section of the letter where Paul is addressing the faithfulness of the church.
Last week we looked at 3 direct ways we can help one another in our mission to make disciples.
We need to pray for the Spirit's help of deliverance.
We need to pray for the Spirit's help of courage.
And we need to pray for the Spirit's help in exalting Christ.
As Paul thinks about his upcoming sentence and whether or not he might die, he enters into a sort of debate with himself over which is better, to die, or to live.
We are almost reading Paul's very thoughts here as he argues with himself.
So let's look at which is better, to live or to die.
First, Paul looks at what it means to die.
1.1.
Paul says to die is gain.
What does he mean by that?
He explains there in verse 23.
To die is to be in the presence of Christ!
Paul said a very similar thing in
1.2.
In summary, to be out our body is to be with the LORD.
And if I can chase a rabbit real quick here, this completely disproves the nonsense of ghosts being people who are somehow trapped here on this world to atone for their past.
The Scripture is clear.
When we depart, we are with God.
And that is Paul's point in Philippians as well.
Think about it the way Paul is arguing it.
As we saw last week, he wants Christ to be exalted whether he lives or dies.
Which reminds him that he could very well get the death penalty from Caesar.
But that doesn't cause Paul any anguish about dying.
Rather, then he thinks what would it be like if I died?
And you can hear him say, “I'd be with my LORD!
AWESOME!” Dying is not a fear for Paul, it is a reason to rejoice.
As he said in , Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Therefore encourage each other with these words.
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1.2.
In summary, to be out our body is to be with the LORD.
And if I can chase a rabbit real quick here, this completely disproves the nonsense of ghosts being people who are somehow trapped here on this world to atone for their past.
The Scripture is clear.
When we depart, we are with God.
And that is Paul's point in Philippians as well.
Think about it the way Paul is arguing it.
As we saw last week, he wants Christ to be exalted whether he lives or dies.
Which reminds him that he could very well get the death penalty from Caesar.
But that doesn't cause Paul any anguish about dying.
Rather, then he thinks what would it be like if I died?
And you can hear him say, “I'd be with my LORD!
AWESOME!” Dying is not a fear for Paul, it is a reason to rejoice.
As he said in
1.3.
For the believer in Jesus, death is not a fear, it is a rejoicing.
It is not a heartbreak, but a rejoicing.
Jesus conquered death.
We have no reason to fear it.
In fact, if we look at Paul's words right here, we see that he says death is gain.
And that word translated “gain” can also be translated “advantage”.
It is better for me to die!
That is Paul's point.
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