To Live is Christ, To Die is Gain

Christ Will Get His Honor

Philippians 1:19–20 ESV

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

Job 13:16 ESV

This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him.

There’s a direct link between Paul and Job. Paul is quoting Job here, from the LXX.

If you don’t know the story of Job, no sweat, here’s a crash-course.

Job is a good guy, follows God. Satan gets God’s permission to take everything away from Job, and tells God that Job will then curse God. God says, no, not Job. So Job undergoes many trials, losing many of his children, and losing his livelihood, getting afflicted with sores, all kinds of bad stuff happens to him. But he doesn’t know that Satan is afflicting him in these ways. That’s behind the curtain.

So what happens is his “buddies” all surround him and try to come up with reasons why all these awful things are happening to him. That’s pretty much the majority of the book of Job. Job gets afflicted, and here come ol’ Buster and George ready to tell him why he’s such a bad guy, and why he needs to stop doing whatever it is he’s doing so that he’ll stop getting afflicted in these ways. I don’t know what’s worse. All these bad things happening to Job or the people he calls friends. I mean, I’m telling you, these guys are horrible friends.

So this time around, these dudes are telling Job that he’s got some kind of secret sin that’s causing him to receive all these horrible things. What’s Job’s response? This is huge to understanding where Paul is coming from: He goes before God, because he knows he hasn’t done anything of the sort that his friends are talking about. So Job says that entering before God, before whom no sin can enter, will result in Job’s salvation, deliverance, rescue, or vindication.

Now it’s the same thing with Paul. All of these things that are happening to Paul.. His imprisonment and his rivals are simply things that will result in his deliverance. Paul is looking to that final day when he sits before the Lord in judgment and the Lord finds him faithful. And so, too, all who are found in Christ will be found vindicated because we stayed faithful in the midst of trials. It’s not the trials themselves that save us, but the faithfulness of the Holy Spirit to carry us through those trials.

You see, trials are what separates faithful believers from false converts. The false convert will fall away when trials come. The faithful believer will stand firm unto the end. This is the kind of reality that Paul is speaking of in this text.

Now… What’s it gonna take for this to be realized through Paul?

He offers two qualifiers. The prayers of the church; AKA: accountability, prayer, and community, hello! and the Spirit of Jesus Christ. It’s going to take both the church body and the Holy Spirit for Paul to receive this final deliverance.

The other option, Paul points out, is that he would “be ashamed.” This would have that same eternal connotation as we saw earlier. The alternative is for Paul to “be ashamed,” by being found as unworthy to Christ. To be a vessel by which Christ’s glory is not shown.

But notice earlier in the sentence… “It is my eager expectation and hope...” This is a New Testament way of saying “I’m super confident about this.”

So what is he sure of? Again, that he would not be ashamed, but that Christ will be honored by Paul during his time here on earth. Whether through his living or his dying. Paul’s assuredness on this subject, again, is not because he’s so great, but because this is the way of Christ.

And listen, believer, you can be sure Christ will get his honor and glory. As surely as the sun rises every day, Christ will receive his glory. As surely as there are fish in the sea… As sure as you can assure… Christ will receive honor and glory. This is a theological truth that makes up the foundation of what the Bible has to say about God.

It’s true, and Paul is so assured of it because Paul knows that he doesn’t sit in the center of Christ’s plans. Paul is merely a tool. Therefore, Christ can use whatever means he wants to get his glory.

You ever seen Forrest Gump? There’s a particular scene where Forrest is in Boot Camp, and his friend, Bubba is talking about shrimp. “Shrimp is the fruit of the sea.” You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. There's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich.

Kind of like Bubba and his cooking shrimp, Christ will get His honor. And He’s got an infinite amount of ways He can get that honor, just like Bubba and his shrimp.

And then he goes on to explain what that would look like in this next verse, which is what the passage centers around…

To Live is Christ

Philippians 1:21 ESV

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Philippians 1:22 ESV

If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.

Philippians 1:24–26 ESV

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

Two reasons Paul points to living being Christ. The first is that He will be able to continue the work before him that Christ has set out for him. So to live is Christ means that he will be doing the work of Christ. This is what v. 22 tells us. What is the work of Christ?

V. 24: “For your progress and joy in the faith.” That’s the reason Paul continues on. That’s why he lives. To build up the faith of those around him.

Christians, we have to pause right here and do a heart check. Is this why we live? Do we live so that the progress and joy of those around us would abound? Do we orient our lives to where the people around us are built up in Christ?

If not, where do we start? A few ways you can get started in building up the people around you in Christ:

Join a Sunday School class or small group Bible Study.

Go get coffee and ask these words right here: “How is your walk with Jesus?” And watch the conversation unfold right there.

Go to a more seasoned Christian and ask them to disciple you. And hey, if they’re a part of this church, that seasoned Christian may come to me and say, “Uhhhh, what do I do?” And at that point I’ll teach them to teach you.

*Live in Light of Eternity*

To Die is Gain

Philippians 1:21 ESV

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Philippians 1:23 ESV

I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

Now see, this part just throws us for a loop. Understand what Paul is saying when he says to die is gain… He is saying that he would CHOOSE death! CHOOSE it! Like, he looks forward to death. “My desire...”

It’s safe to say that Paul had a different worldview than some of us. Do you look forward to the day when you depart and enter into eternity with Christ? These days, you don’t hear enough anymore of people talking about Heaven. Heaven is just kind of an afterthought in much of Christianity today. Why is that? Shouldn’t Heaven be the goal? I think it’s because we take it for granted. Heaven is the supreme treasure of our faith! Why? BECAUSE JESUS IS THERE! And not only is He there, it is where His presence is most concentrated. Do you desire to be with Christ? Yes or no?

As a Christian, if you desire to be with Christ, then it follows that you anticipate Heaven.

Here’s the deal. All too often WE DO NOT. We don’t give ourselves to Christ so much so that we look forward to Heaven. But I think we often miss the beauty of Heaven because we seek to build up and amass wealth and treasure on EARTH, instead of amassing treasure and wealth IN HEAVEN. The questions we ask on a daily basis are too often, “How much money is in my bank account?” “What can I do to get ahead at work?” “Whose gossip can I figure out and tell today?” “What’s my favorite celebrity doing?” “How many followers do I have?” “How can I spend the maximum amount of time pursuing comfort and entertainment today?”

Our focus on these questions causes us to inordinately care more about what we can gain in this life instead of life in eternity. It is as though we do not truly believe that there is a better life to come. Instead, we can affirm and SAY that we believe that there is a Heaven out there for us, but as far as living as though there is, and looking at death as though there is? Do we truly believe?

If we really believed “To die is gain,” would we spend so much time trying to make our earthly lives better, or would we perhaps look to build up the people around us in their walks with Christ?

So how can we live as though dying is gain?

Make time for Christ. You know, something I’ve learned over the years is that if you truly love someone or something, you’ll make time for it. Everybody finds time for things they really want to do. So, Christian, if you truly love Christ and His Church, you’ll make time for them. If you don’t want to make time for Christ, START making time for Christ. Some people call this, “Fake it till you make it.” I think that’s a damaging thought here. I like to say, “Start, and let your heart catch up.”

Give generously to the cause of Christ. Your possessions are a major distraction from the mission of Christ. See, the truth is, we’re all on mission. The question is whether we’re on mission for us, or if we’re on mission for Christ.

Find fulfillment in Christ. I read something just this morning that changed the trajectory of my sermon… About the age that we live in in our country. You know, there was a day when Billy Graham won countless people to Christ. In those days, we lived in a moral age. Everyone was striving to be a good, moral person, whether they knew Jesus or not. These days, it seems that a lot of people would just like to get by without fear and anxiety. To these people, they need to know, yes, sin is crouching at your door, yes, you need to repent of your sin and follow Christ… But they also need to know that Christ is fulfilling. The effects that sin has wrought on our postmodern age is that it has hung truth on a thread, and caused everyone to question it. And you see the effects EVERYWHERE. People have no firm foundation, people question whether what they’re doing really matters, and all I can say is that Christ IS the foundation you seek. He IS the fulfillment that your heart requires and desires.

When you trust Him, Death is gain.