Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Death in our culture is viewed as the ultimate loss, and to a point, rightly so.

It is definitely a loss if you have unforgiven sin.

It is what most people fear the most and run away from.

But death is inevitable.

Death outside of Christ leads to eternal despair but for the Christian, as the Apostle Paul indicates in this passage, is seen as gain.

(Verses giving perspective on death in Christ)

The Christian faith is so foreign to

Possession of Christ is the possession of Hope (a noun v. 20).

The hope, assurance, and courage we have in Christ transcends, or goes beyond, any and all of life's circumstances.

Hope in Life and Death (V.

1:19-26)

One of the theme’s of the book of Philippians is joy and has been our focus.

And at first glance it seems ironic to us because of Paul’s circumstances.

Paul is imprisoned in Rome.

The Apostle Paul endured trial after trial and persecution after persecution.

But nothing his adversaries could throw at him would steal his joy.

The joy that Paul has is rooted in Christ.

It is because of the hope he has and the hope that Paul has is based on what he knows to be true.

The hope that Paul has is based on what he knows to be true.

In verse 19 Paul says he knows that this will turn out for his deliverance.

He knows, again this is the basis of his hope.

Definition

Hope n. — a reasonable and confident expectation of a future event.

Biblical hope is not a wish, it is a confident expectation.

Eager Anticipation n. - an intensely desired expectation with a high confidence of fulfillment

HOPE—one of the three main elements of Christian character (1 Cor.

13:13).

It is joined to faith and love, and is opposed to seeing or possessing (Rom.

8:24; 1 John 3:2).

“Hope is an essential and fundamental element of Christian life, so essential indeed, that, like faith and love, it can itself designate the essence of Christianity (1 Pet.

3:15; Heb.

10:23).

In it the whole glory of the Christian vocation is centred (Eph.

1:18; 4:4).”

Unbelievers are without this hope (Eph.

2:12; 1 Thess.

4:13).

Christ is the actual object of the believer’s hope, because it is in his second coming that the hope of glory will be fulfilled (1 Tim.

1:1; Col. 1:27; Titus 2:13).

It is spoken of as “lively”, i.e., a living, hope, a hope not frail and perishable, but having a perennial life (1 Pet.

1:3).

In Rom.

5:2 the “hope” spoken of is probably objective, i.e., “the hope set before us,” namely, eternal life (comp.

12:12).

In 1 John 3:3 the expression “hope in him” ought rather to be, as in the Revised Version, “hope on him,” i.e., a hope based on God.

HOPE—one of the three main elements of Christian character (1 Cor.

13:13).

It is joined to faith and love, and is opposed to seeing or possessing (Rom.

8:24; 1 John 3:2).

“Hope is an essential and fundamental element of Christian life, so essential indeed, that, like faith and love, it can itself designate the essence of Christianity (1 Pet.

3:15; Heb.

10:23).

In it the whole glory of the Christian vocation is centred (Eph.

1:18; 4:4).”

Unbelievers are without this hope (Eph.

2:12; 1 Thess.

4:13).

Christ is the actual object of the believer’s hope, because it is in his second coming that the hope of glory will be fulfilled (1 Tim.

1:1; Col. 1:27; Titus 2:13).

It is spoken of as “lively”, i.e., a living, hope, a hope not frail and perishable, but having a perennial life (1 Pet.

1:3).

In Rom.

5:2 the “hope” spoken of is probably objective, i.e., “the hope set before us,” namely, eternal life (comp.

12:12).

In 1 John 3:3 the expression “hope in him” ought rather to be, as in the Revised Version, “hope on him,” i.e., a hope based on God.

Biblical hope is not a wish, it is a confident expectation.

A wish is merely a want or desire but isn’t’ founded upon confidence or assurance.

We may say “Oh I hope that my team wins the Super Bowl” but that wouldn’t be an example of Biblical Hope.

Paul rejoices knowing he will be delivered.

He eagerly expects and hopes, or is confident in, God's promises both now and in the future.

Whether he lives or dies matters little as it relates to his joy and hope.

He see's Christ as Supreme and gain.

"Deliverance" is from the basic Greek term for salvation.

But it can also be rendered "well- being" or "escape," which presents four possible interpretations:1) it refers to Paul's ultimate salvation; 2) it alludes to his deliverance from threatened execution; 3) he would finally be vindicated by the emperor's ruling; or 4) Paul is talking about his eventual release from prison.

Whatever Paul's precise meaning, he was certain he would be freed from his temporary distress

- John MacArthur Study Bible ESV

In verse 25 Paul does say “Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all...”

To me I believe Paul believed he would either be our of prison soon or at least not be executed for time but he does go back and forth a bit ie.

“Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.”

Paul also states in v 19 that his deliverance would come through the prayers of the Philippians and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

If you recall Paul was miraculously delivered out of prison before, or rather a jail, the Philippian jail ().

There’s no doubt both he and the Philippians knew this.

In verse 20 Paul says “it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed”.

Eager expectation and hope are used here almost synonymously.

Again biblical hope is an assured, anticipated, desire based on God’s promises.

And his assurance is that he won’t be ashamed, humiliated or embarrassed because Christ will be honored in Paul’s body, whether in life or death.

My translation says ‘Honored’ but others render the word differently.

The NASB uses exalted and the KJV uses magnified.

g3170.

μεγαλύνω megalynō; from 3173; to make (or declare) great, i. e. increase or (figuratively) extol:— enlarge, magnify, shew great.

AV (8)- magnify 5, enlarge 2, show great 1;

to make great, magnify metaph.

to make conspicuous to deem or declare great to esteem highly, to extol, laud, celebrate to get glory and praise

What Paul is saying is that whether he lives or dies Christ will be seen as glorious.

This was Paul’s aim in life, to make Jesus greatness known.

Question: Does the way we live our life influence how others see Christ?

Question: What does it mean to magnify Christ?

SF “How is Christ ‘honored’ in our lives?

.. Whenever it becomes clear that we count Christ greater than ourselves, He is honored.

Paul was here simply following the example of John the baptist who said of Jesus, ‘He must increase, but I must decrease’ (John 3:30)

Death as Gain (V.

1:21)

Here in verse 21 we have a profound statement by Paul “to live is Christ and to die is gain”

I think we can pretty much all agree on what Paul means by saying that ‘to die is gain’(depart and be with Christ, V. 23b) but what do you think he means by ‘to live is Christ’?

I believe the living or remaining (V.

24) is associated with Christ’s earthly ministry as one of sacrificial service for the benefit of others.

Paul exhorts them to have this same mind in chapter 2 and to consider others more significant than themselves.

But going back to Paul’s states of ‘to die is gain’.

This is opposite of how the world thinks.

The world seeks to profit (or gain) the world and lose their sole.

;36

The Christian motives for living, and dying, are vastly different from the worlds.

The world seeks personal gain at the expense of others, not for the benefit of others, and counts dying as loss.

Paul see’s living as profitable to God and His kingdom and a benefit to others and that they may ‘have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus.’