The apostle Paul was sitting
in prison; we’re not sure where—maybe in Rome.
He was writing a letter to
some dear friends in the Greek city of Philippi.
It seems that he had only
visited Philippi once, but he had found a few people hungry to know God and had
left a thriving community of faithful Christian believers there.
When they heard that he was
in prison and in need, they had sent him a gift of money, and they had even
sent one of their members, a man named Epaphroditus, to serve him while he was
imprisoned.
Paul begins his letter by
telling them his pleasure in remembering these friends so far away and assuring
them he thanks God for all of them and continues to pray for them.
He writes, “This is my prayer for you that your love
may overflow more and more in all knowledge and full insight, to help you to
determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and
blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through
Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God” (1:9-11).
Later on in the letter he
makes this declaration of his purpose
in life: vv20-21: “It is my eager
expectation and hope that I shall 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. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (vv20-21).
I. When he says that his
eager expectation and hope is that he will not be at all ashamed, he is
declaring his intention to be faithful to the end, no matter what happens.
A. He will not be ashamed
because he will not have reason to ever look back with regret on missed
opportunities.
We know that Paul was always
bold—so bold that many times he was arrested.
He had been whipped several
times with the standard 39 lashes.
He had been imprisoned on
several occasions before now.
Once he was stoned and left
for dead.
But he never gave up.
He was determined to live
faithfully, no matter the cost. And his sufferings weren’t over when he wrote
this letter.
Eventually he would give his
life to seal his testimony.
B. When he says that the aim
of his life: that “now and always Christ
may be honored in my body, whether by life or by death,” the word
translated here “honored” is the Greek word megalunō, which means “to magnify,” “to enlarge.”
We see that word in Mary’s
song in Luke: “My soul magnifies the
Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior.”
How might Christ be
magnified in our lives?
Christ may be magnified by
how we handle adversity—does sorrow
or pain make us bitter…complaining…despondent?
Or does adversity make us
hold tighter to God? In trouble can we find strength in God to be cheerful and
trusting?
How can Christ be magnified
in our relationships? When we are courteous, helpful, sympathetic, generous—Christ is magnified in our
relationships.
Christ can be magnified in
what we talk about. Does anything in your conversation
reflect your love for God? Do you
ever mention your faith?
Paul’s desire was that when
people looked at him they would think of the greatness of Jesus.
Sometimes we want to impress
others.
Some of us wonder about the
impression we make on others.
We want them to think: “She
is nice,” or “he is smart,” or “she is pretty,” or he is “talented.”
Paul wanted people to look
at him and say, “Jesus is wonderful!”
II. We have talked about
verse 20. Now we go on to the next sentence. Paul writes, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
A. Here is what I think Paul
means when he says, “For me to live is Christ...”
Paul is a man in love. He is
so in love with Jesus that his life revolves around Christ.
I have known people whose
life revolved around music. They might say, “For me, to live is music.”
I have known people whose
life revolved around business. They might say, “For me, to live is business.”
I have known people whose
life revolved around learning. They might say, “For me, to live is learning.”
I have known people whose
life revolved around travel. They might say, “For me, to live is travel.”
I have known people whose
life revolved—for a time, at least—around a sweetheart. A girl might say, “For
me to live, is Johnny,” or a boy may say, ”For me to live is Carolyn.”
For Paul, Jesus is always in
the front of his mind.
Paul wants his whole life to
magnify Jesus, to make Christ so attractive to other people so that others will
want to know him as he does.
That is why Paul was willing
to endure hunger, danger, persecution, and pain to bring the gospel of
salvation to as many places as possible.
It always costs something to
follow Jesus. And it is a price true believers are willing to pay, because of
our love for him.
B. Paul says, “For me to
live is Christ,” and then he adds, “and
to die is gain.”
For an unbeliever death is great
loss.
A woman I knew in a nursing
home told me once: “I don’t know how people can live without God.” I don’t
either. Especially when we get old. How can you live without hope?
For the one who lives for
the pleasures of this life, death means the end—the loss of everything, or every
hope or expectation.
But death for the believer
is gain because death is the doorway we pass through to be with our Savior.
He continues: “If it is to be life in the flesh, that
means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard
pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is
far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account” (vv22-24)
Paul says that the only
reason he is content to remain in his body on earth is that that means greater
usefulness for those he served.
Paul had such a vision of
the joy of heaven and the pleasure of being with Jesus and the saints and
angels in glory that he longed to depart and be with Christ.
Some of us have had this
experience. We’ve had enough of the tribulations of earth. We long to be free.
The older I get, the more
real heaven becomes.
Imagine yourself in the Holy
City, the New Jerusalem, sitting on the green grass beside the river of the
water of life.
Imagine yourself with your
dear ones—and with the saints and angels.
Imagine the time when every
tear will be wiped away and death will be no more.
And especially, imagine
yourself finally meeting Jesus and seeing him face to face.
We used to have a record we
played on our Victrola when I was a child. An evangelist named Gypsy Smith sang
“The Glory Song.” It was a scratchy old record, but we played it many times. It
went like this:
When all my
labors and trials are o’er,
And I am safe
on that beautiful shore,
Just to be
near the dear Lord I adore
Will through
the ages be glory for me.
O that will be
glory for me,
Glory for me,
glory for me;
When by his
grace I shall look on his face,
That will be
glory, be glory for me.
CONCLUSION
When Paul wrote these words
he was assured that he had yet more work to do.
It appears that he did live
at least a few more years.
For us, it may be that most
of our work is over.
We can look back on lives
touched for Jesus, on others we have blessed.
Jesus promised that there
will be rewards for faithful service.
If we have been faithful in
the trust Jesus gave us, we can look forward to his words: “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your
master.”
God means for us to look
forward with joy to our resurrection life with Jesus.
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