My Utmost for His Highest

Intro

If you are familiar with the name Oswald Chambers, it is likely because of his daily devotional book “My Utmost for His Highest”. If you aren’t familiar with the name, that is really of no grand surprise, because he was not a particularly well known individual. For the majority of his life, Chambers lived in relative obscurity, and was never a highly sought after speaker or author. He died young at the age of 43. He was a minister, he founded a small Bible College to train missionaries, and at the end of his life he was serving as a chaplain in World War I.

It was here where he had appendicitis. He initially refused to go to the hospital because he didn’t want to take up a bed that might be needed for an wounded soldier. He eventually went in for an emergency appendectomy, and he would die a month later from complications from the procedure.

Chambers life was a short one, and we likely would not know about him at all if it weren’t for his wife. After his death, his wife, who had diligently taken notes from all of his sermons and lectures, ended up publishing a total of 30 books from those notes. The most well-known of these is “My Utmost For His Highest, a book arranged into a daily devotional taken from Chambers sermons and lectures. It was first published in 1927 and has never been out of print since and it has been acclaimed as the best-selling most beloved daily devotional book of all time with over 13 million copies sold. The title is taken from a quote from the book from one of his sermons: “Shut out every consideration and keep yourself before God for this one thing only—My Utmost For His Highest”

Though he lived a short life, those who knew him testified to the fact that Chambers lives his life in keep with the title of that book: My utmost for His highest.

Why am I talking about this?

Here was a man who would be lost to our knowledge in history if not for his wife carefully taking notes and publishing them after his death. In many ways, his life was largely unremarkable. He didn’t lead a movement. He wasn’t famous or influential while he lived. He was simply a man who sought to live out the title of the book even in obscurity: My utmost for His highest. He desired to live for Christ, no matter of the cost.

We know about him because of His wife’s work, but there are countless other men and women in history who have lived with the same passion albeit in obscurity. No fame. No bright lights. Just lives lived in humble obedience to God for His honor, praise, and glory.

The line “My Utmost for His Highest” comes from a sermon from Chambers as he was preaching on the text that we are to examine today. Turn with me to Philippians chapter 1.

Chambers strove to live to honor Christ, and he took his inspiration from the apostle Paul with the words “Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life…or by death.

We’ve been working through this book chapter by chapter and verse by verse, seeing how it is that we can have divine joy for our earthly journey. Though Paul was sitting in prison as he wrote, though the church he was writing to was suffering for their faith, one of the main themes through the book is that of Joy. We have seen how joy is found in the bonds of loving Christian community, how Paul chooses to see the sovereign hand of God at work even in his adversity, and today we will see the relentless goal of living for Christ, regardless of the earth outcome.

Read with me

Philippians 1:19–26 ESV

19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

Proposition: Christ is magnified when we live for Him, regardless of earthly outcome or present trial.

Interrogative: How is this accomplished? How do we magnify Christ in this life? I’ve got a three point outline for you today:

1. It is accomplish through the Spirit’s Word

2. It is accomplished regardless of earthly result

3. It is accomplished as we work to bless others

Accomplished through the Spirit’s work - 19-20

In verses 18-20, we find the Spirit at work in three distinct ways: through the prayers of others, directly, and by giving a proper perspective

1. The Spirit’s work through the prayers of others

Philippians 1:18b (ESV)

18bYes, and I will rejoice,

Philippians 1:19 ESV

19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance,

The last part of verse 18 like goes with the next paragrpah, and many Bibles lay it out that way. Paul continues to express his Joy and giving additional reasons for His joy. He was joyful that Christ was being proclaimed, even it was by people who thought that they were gaining an advantage over him while he was prison. Now he rejoices because he is confident that the Spirit as at work, and we see that work first in the prayers of God’s people.

First we see that prayers make a difference. Paul’s confidence is tied to knowing that the Philippians were praying for Him.

I don’t know what your prayer lives look like, but do you ever get discouraged regarding prayer? Do you wonder if your prayers make a difference? Do you think perhaps God isn’t listening?

We would do well to seek out a biblical understand of the purpose of prayer. Pray is not intended to be spiritual equivalent of a vending machine, where you put the correct input in and out comes whatever you ordered. God is not some magic genie who exists to give you whatever you want.

The concept of name it-claim it is not a biblical one. Paul himself was denied in his prayers when He asked God to end some affliction of his in 2 Cor 12. God can and does say no.

What then is the purpose of prayer? If we were to take the time to trace the concept of prayer through the Scriptures, we would find that God is a sovereign God. He is in control. He does whatever He pleases. As a result, the question might be raised: Why then do we pray? If God is ultimately in control, which He is, why pray?

The answer to this is that God is not merely sovereign over the ends, but also the means. And God has designed to accomplish His purposes through the prayers of His people. When we wrestle in prayer, we really are making a difference, because God has sovereignly purposed it to be so.

And this is encouraging! Prayer makes a difference! and Paul says here in this text that he is confident of a particular result as a direct result of the prayers of the Philippians.

It is important to pray for others and it should be an encouragement to you when you hear of others praying for you. Paul rejoiced over the prayers of the church, and can I ask of you this same thing, that you pray for me. Pray that I may be a humble man. Pray that I will study God’s word and rightly divide it. Pray that Christ would be honored in my body, in life or in death. Pray that I myself would be a man of prayer.

Paul rejoiced that the church was praying for Him, and God was using those prayers to accomplish his purposes. The Spirit was working through prayers.

2. The Spirit’s direct work

Paul says I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Your translation may say “provision or supply of the Spirit” and that is a better translation. The concept is that of provision for something that is lacking. Here Paul identifies that God will accomplish his purposes, through the direct work of the Spirit of Christ.

I think of

Luke 11:13 ESV

13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

We want to be filled with the Spirit as Eph 5:18 says, and walking with the Spirit (Gal 5:16) in order to not gratify the desires of the flesh. The provision of the Spirit helps us as we labor on in this life.

And this is an inescapable reality:

We are incapable on living a life honoring to Christ apart from the work of the Spirit. [REPEAT]

I don’t know about you, but I’ve tried. It doesn’t work out too well. If you think you can overcome sin, walk in consistent obedience to the Lord, and bear much fruit apart from the work of the Spirit, you’ve got another thing coming. And it’s obvious when I’m trying to do that, because I’m neglecting disciplines of prayer, Bible study, and fellowship with God’s people. Neglect those things and its a sure sign you’re attempting to work in your own power and not the Spirit’s.

The Scriptures say that if anyone thinks he stands, take heed, lest he fall. We need the Spirit to be working within us, and Paul here expresses his confidence in the end result on the basis of the Spirit’s work, not his own.

Now, what is it that is result of the prayers and the work of Spirit?

“This will result in my deliverance”

Now, you’ll have to bear with me for a few moments as we wrestle with the understanding of this word. The word “deliverance” in the ESV and NASB is translated as “Salvation” in the CSB and the KJV. So what is Paul talking about? Why the different translation?

The issue is that word that Paul uses here is the word that is usually translated as “salvation” in other places meaning what we would normally think of: saved from our sins unto eternal life.

Therefore, some scholars think that Paul is thinking about his final salvation: when he dies, he knows that he will be ultimately saved. The obvious problem with this understanding is the context puts a high emphasis on Paul’s current circumstances that will directly lead to his salvation. But we know that Paul, having placed his trust in Christ, is guaranteed his salvation and his present circumstances have nothing to do with that.

A second option is that Paul means to communicate the idea of deliverance, i.e. that through the prayers of the people and the work of the Spirit, Paul will be set free from prison. Though we often attach a theological significance to the word “salvation” the Greek word itself, irrespective of its context, doesn’t inherently carry those theological connotations. Saved…saved from what? This word has been used both in the New Testament and in other contemporary literature to communicate the idea of temporal deliverance from some present peril. And so, there are some scholars who believe that Paul meant to communicate that Paul believed he would be released from prison, and thus his statement. This understanding is further supported by Paul seemingly confident of his release, mentioning that he will come to the Philippians again in vs 26.

But there is a problem with this idea as well: on what basis did Paul believe he would be released? It certainly wasn’t direct revelation from God, since we know He wasn’t released, but was executed in Rome. If he was so confident, why does he speak so much about his own death that may result from his court trial? If this was speaking about being freed from prison, how could Paul have been so mistaken and have had such misplaced confidence? He presents this result as a done deal: he says “I know that this will lead to my deliverance through your prayers...” This option has many holes in it as well.

There is a third possible interpretation, and it is this: Paul himself defines what he means by deliverance here in this passage, and it’s not his salvation in Christ nor release from prison. But rather that he will be delivered from shame and will honor Christ in life and in death. Notice the first word of vs 20: depending on your translation, you might have “as it is, or according to”. Paul connecting the idea of deliverance with his expectation and hope that Christ will be honored. He defines the deliverance as being free from shame and that he will honor Christ., whether he is released and lives, or whether he dies and enters into eternity.

This third is the position I take, because it is the most natural and straightforward understanding of the passage.

Why did I work through that with you? I did so because I want you to see the importance of the context when determining the meaning of a passage. Words have meaning in context. It’s easy to make the mistake of examining a word, looking it up in a dictionary, and concluding that whatever entry you like the best is what the word means. No. Words have what is called a semantic range, and can mean different things based on context. If I say trunk, what am I talking about? Swim trunks, tree trunk, car trunk, suitcase, elephant? Only the context will reveal what I intended to communicate. Such is the case here. We can look up the Greek word “Soterion” and wrongly conclude that Paul is talking about his final salvation. But the context demands a different understanding, and so we must keep it in its context. This is a fundamental principle of Bible study: Context is King.

Now, let’s return to the flow of Paul’s thought here. We are examining how Paul seeks to honor Christ in life and death. We first notice that it is accomplished through the Spirit’s Work. The Spirit work’s through prayer, He is directly at work, and now he is as work producing the proper perspective:

3. The Spirit’s work in your Mindset

Philippians 1:20 ESV

20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

This is the result of prayers and work of the Spirit in Paul’s life: That Paul will have no reason to be ashamed.

Paul says his conscience is clear. He is not worried what the trial will reveal. There is nothing about his actions that will bring shame upon his head. He is confidence that Christ will be honored in his body, whether by lie or by death.

The spirit has been at work in the apostle Paul. It has produced in him a confidence that supernatural. It has brought about a proper perspective: I want to live to for Christ, even if that means I die.

That word for honored: Christ will be honored. It speaks of magnifying Christ. We could translate it as “Christ will be praised as great” Paul lived for the glory of Christ. Come what may to the apostle Paul, it did not matter, so long as Christ was magnified. My utmost for His highest.

So the Spirit was working to bring about a proper perspective, that Christ can be honored, regardless of earthly result, which Paul goes on to expand in verses 21-24:

How is the glory of Christ accomplished in our lives? It is accomplished through the work of the Spirit,

Secondly, it is accomplished regardless o earthly result.

Accomplished regardless of earthly result - 21-24

Philippians 1:21–24 ESV

21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.

Paul identifies these two options for how Christ might be glorified in him:

1. To live is Christ, fruitful labor, necessary benefit to others

2. To die is gain, and is better

For the believer, dying is gain. We don’t have to fear death, we don’t have to worry about where we will be. If you have repented of your sin and trusted wholly in Christ alone for your salvation, death is gain, and it is far better! It’s not just a little better, but it is far better! That’s what Paul says here!

But I must confess to you, I have often been in conversations with fellow believers who love to quote Paul here about how death is far better because it mean being with Christ, speaking as though the choice would be an easy one: let’s get outta dodge and go home to be with Christ. But in so doing, they fail to see Paul’s genuine dilemma. It’s not an easy choice for Paul. It’s not like he’s hoping to die. In fact, we find just the opposite here. He says I can’t tell you what I would choose!

He says, sure dying would be great! His him personally, that would be the end! He’d be with Christ! That’d be better....for him.

But to remain in the flesh he says in verse 22 it means fruitful labor. In vs 24 he says it is necessary for him to live for benefit of others.

So Paul is stressing this idea that, hey whether I live or I die, Christ will be honored. If I die, that’s better for me, because I’ll be with my savior, Praise God, Hallelujah. But if I live, I have more opportunity to bless and serve others, so Christ will be honored in me by life or by death.

Do you have an escapist mentality? Do you have an unbalanced mindset that has you itching to be free of this life as quickly as possible? Are you just biding your time until the day that God takes you home, either through death or rapture? You may be missing you. Paul says he was so conflicted he didn’t know what he would choose, and yet we act like its an easy choice! It ought not to be. To live is Christ! To remain in the flesh is fruitful labor!

We need to restore a balance to our thinking in this area. Christ is to be honored in our lives, whether we live or we die. While acknowledging the potential of death, Paul seems to be focused on what he can do in this life to honor Christ now.

A life of honoring Christ is accomplished through the Spirit’s work. When the spirit is working we have a proper and balenced perspective:

A life of honoring Christ is accomplished regardless of earthly result.

A life of honoring Christ is accomplished through living to bless others.

Accomplished through blessing others - 25-26

Philippians 1:25–26 ESV

25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

Paul does seem to think that he is going to be released and see the Philippians again, and he anticipates the ongoing ministry he desires to have among them if that is to be the case. He identifies three things that of how he desires to bless others

1. Works for their progress of faith

He wants to see them progress in the faith. He wants to see them grow in maturity. Colossians 1 comes to mind:

Colossians 1:28 ESV

28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

This is what Paul wanted for the church. Maturity.

We’re growing a garden right now for the first time. It’s a new experience for us, but we look forward to harvesting from it. But it takes work. In order to bring the plants to maturity, I must tend and work the garden. I have to pull weeds, water, and feed the plants. But I work for the progress an maturity of the plants, trusting that God will do His work in cuasing the plants to grow.

So too Paul desires to see the church grow to maturity, to progress in the faith. To learn more of God’s Word, to be bearing much fruit.

2. Works for their Joy in the Faith

These two ideas are connected. When we progress in the faith, we will have joy!

As we have said, one of the main themes of this book is that of joy, and here it is once again. Though both Paul and the Philippians are suffering, he desires that they be a people of joy as they progress in the faith. To live is Christ! I can honor Christ in my body on this earth by seeking to help others progress in the faith and be joyful!

Finally, he wants them to glory, or to boast, in Christ

3. Works for their glory in Christ

Philippians 1:26 ESV

26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

The Greek construction is difficult here, and as a result, no too translations render it the same way. But no matter how it’s translated, the emphasis is on the Philippians glorying in Christ. Paul says if I am to remain in the flesh, this will only mean that Christ will be further glorified because you will glory in Christ, you will boast in what He has done, you will rejoice over his actions.

Our presence with others should lead others to glory in Christ. Though the temptation is to make everything about him, Paul consistently directs the attention to Christ, that he might receive the praise, honor and glory.

So what does a life lived to honor Christ look like? How can we live our utmost for His highest?

It is accomplished through the Spirits Work, who gives us a proper perspective

It is accomplished regardless of earthly result: to live is Christ, and to die is gain

It is accomplished as we live to bless others, working for their progress and joy in the faith and the glory of Christ.

Let’s pray.