Message for THE LORD'S DAY EVENING, March 6, 2016 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister MESSAGE 4 in Philippians Sermon Series (Living The Joy-Filled Life) The Joy of Having The Right Perspective Philippians 1:19-26 (NKJV) Tonight as we continue our series of messages from Paul's letter to the Philippians please turn with me in your Bibles to Philippians chapter one. And let's read verses 19-26. Philippians 1:19-26 (NKJV) 19 For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 20 according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. 25 And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, 26 that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again.
I N T R O D U C T I O N ILLUSTRATION A young man came to W.E. Gladstone when he was Prime Minister of England and said, Mr. Gladstone, I would appreciate your giving me a few minutes in which I might lay before you my plans for the future. First, I would like to study law. WHAT THEN? asked Gladstone. Then, Sir, I would like to gain entrance to the Bar of England. WHAT THEN? asked Gladstone. Then Sir, I hope to have a place in Parliament, in the House of Lords. WHAT THEN? asked Gladstone. Then I hope to great things for Britain. WHAT THEN? asked Gladstone. Then, Sir, I hope to retire and take life easy. WHAT THEN? asked Gladstone. Well, then Mr. Gladstone, I suppose I will die. YES, YOUNG MAN, AND WHAT THEN? The young man hesitated, and then said, I never thought any further than that, Sir. Looking at the young man sternly, Gladstone said, Young man, you are a FOOL! Go home and think life through. (As told by Leonard Griffith, This Is Living pp. 48,49 Abingdon Press, Nashville, TN) Just like that young man, whether you realize it or not, you have a philosophy of life. You may not be able to articulate your life philosophy in words, but none-the-less, you have a life philosophy.
In our scripture text, the apostle Paul gives us the greatest life philosophy of all. In fact, this should be the life philosophy of every true Christian. What is this great life philosophy? Listen closely... For me to live is CHRIST,, and to die is gain. (Repeat) In this one brief statement, Paul is revealing the proper perspective we as Christians should have when it comes to life and death. And as you are going to see, it is a win-win situation regardless. First, let's consider... I. The Proper Christian Perspective On Life: For Me To LIVE is CHRIST (v.21a) 1. Let's bring this down on a personal level. Let's take out the word Christ for just a moment. And think what response would be to this statement: For me to live is (BLANK) For me to live is ME? For me to live is MONEY? For me to live is my POSESSIONS? For me to live is my FAMILY? For me to live is my JOB? For me to live is HUNTING and FISHING? For me to live is SHOPPING and BARGAIN HUNTING? 2. What is that one thing that is right in the very center of your life...that one thing your whole life revolves around...that one thing you live for...that one thing that brings you the most joy and satisfaction?
3. For the apostle Paul that one thing was CHRIST! For me to live is CHRIST! 4. He didn't say For me to live is CHRIST plus money...or CHRIST plus material things...or CHRIST plus pleasure. He said, For me to live is CHRIST...PERIOD! 5. It is interesting that in the original Greek there are actually no verbs in Paul's statement: It simply reads: Living Christ,, Dying Gain. Living Christ,, Dying gain. 6. Paul is saying I live to SERVE Christ. I live to COMMUNE with Christ. I live to LOVE Christ. Christ is the first thing I think about when I wake up and He is the last thing I think about when I go to bed at night. 7. Paul's whole life was wrapped up in Christ. Paul lived to HONOR Christ...and PLEASE Christ...and GLORIFY Christ. I believe before Paul did something he would always ask himself, Will my ACTIONS honor Christ? I believe before Paul ever said something, he would ask himself, Will my WORDS honor Christ? 8. It has been said that some people eat...sleep...and breathe football. I believe the apostle Paul ate...slept and breathed Jesus Christ. In other words, his whole life was totally CONSUMED with Jesus. While other people talked about the weather, or about farming, or about buying and selling in the market place, the apostle Paul talked about JESUS. He PREACHED and TAUGHT Jesus everywhere he went. PAUL'S LIFE WAS JESUS! For me to live is Christ
9. Do you see why Paul could be JOYFUL when he was in prison...and JOYFUL when he was stoned and left for dead in Lystra...and JOYFUL when he was ship- wrecked on the Isle of Malta...and JOYFUL whether he had food or didn't? 10. Because Paul LIVED FOR CHRIST and not himself, he could be JOYFUL no matter what happened to him. 11. I think all of us would love to be able to say, as Paul did, For me to live is Christ... but we know in our hearts we fall woefully short, don't we? We know in our hearts that Christ is deserving of every ounce of passionate love and worship we can give Him, don't we? And yet we still hold back giving Christ our very all. 12. While you and I may never reach the degree of total surrender Paul reached, there are some practical things we can and must do if we are to truly LIVE FOR CHRIST. (A) First, to Live Christ we must seek to KNOW HIM. I think a lot of Christians know alot about Jesus but they don't truly know Him and there is a big difference. For example, there are people you know personally and there are people you know about but you don't know them personally.
To know about Jesus means to know the facts and the stories about Jesus. But to know Jesus means to know Him personally. It means to spend time with Him...and to love Him...and to talk to Him...and to know His will...and to know what pleases Him. (B) Second, to LIVE CHRIST means we will want to LIVE LIKE Him. I John 2:6 (NKJV) He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk as He walked. ANALOGY: You know when you see someone who looks like someone else you know you say, Boy, they remind me of so and so. People ought to be able to look at us and say, Boy they remind me of Jesus. While none of us can live a perfect life as Jesus did, our STEPS should be pointed in the same DIRECTION as those of Jesus. Our conduct, our behavior, our character, and our attitudes should resemble Christ. To LIVE CHRIST means we will seek to KNOW CHRIST and we will want to LIVE LIKE CHRIST.
(C) And thirdly, to LIVE CHRIST means we will want to SHARE CHRIST with others. Remember when you first fell in love how you couldn't stop talking about your beloved? You brought their name up in every conversation. My beloved said this. My beloved said that. My beloved did this. My beloved did that. You just couldn't stop talking about them. You were in love and you wanted the whole world to know it! Shouldn't the whole world know we are in love with Christ? Shouldn't we want others to love Christ the way we love Him? 13. Charles Haddon Spurgeon once wrote: Paul's words, For me to live is Christ mean more than most people think. They imply that the aim and end of his life was Christ. His life itself attempted to embody Jesus. Jesus was his every breath, the soul of his soul...the heart of his heart...the life of his life. Can you say, as a professing Christian, that you live up to this idea? Can you honestly say that for you to live is CHRIST? After giving us the Proper Christian Perspective on Life, Paul now gives us...
II. The Proper Christian Perspective On Death: And To DIE is GAIN (v.21b) 1. As Paul sits in prison, he knows that any day his life could be taken away from him. He knows he is innocent, but he also knows Nero, the wicked emperor is on the throne and he could command his death just like that, was Paul worried or fearful? NO! 2. Look again at verses 21-26... PHILIPPIANS 1:21-26 (NKJV) 21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. 25 And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, 26 that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again. 3. From Paul's perspective he was in a WIN-WIN situation. If it was the Lord's will that he be set free from prison and go on living, he would rejoice in the opportunity to continue preaching and teaching the gospel...and winning lost souls to Christ...and establishing more Churches.
4. But if he DIED, that would be OK too! In fact, in verse 23 Paul is saying, If it were up to me, I would prefer to DIE, than to go on living in this world. To DIE is far better! To DIE is GAIN! 5. If God were to give you the choice of living or dying, how many of you would choose to die? When you meet a black hearse on the highway transporting a lifeless corpse to the cemetery, how many of you think, Boy, I would like to trade places with that guy? When you take a walk through a cemetery, how many of you think, Man, I can't wait until I'm six feet under? 6. No, we don't like to talk about death. We don't even like to think about death. When we think about death we think of what we will lose. -We will have to say goodbye to our mate, and our children, and grandchildren, and all our friends. -We'll have to say goodbye to all our hopes, and dreams, and plans. -We'll have to leave all of our earthly possessions behind. From an earthly perspective, DEATH means LOSS...LOSS and more LOSS!
7. But from a Christian perspective, To die is GAIN. The question is: What do we GAIN when we die? (A) Death delivers us into the presence of JESUS CHRIST. Notice again what Paul says in verse 23, For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with CHRIST, which is far better. II Corinthians 5:8 (NKJV) We are confident, yes, well- pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the LORD. (B) Death also delivers us to our eternal HOME. Listen again to that scripture I just read from II Corinthians 5:8 in the New International Version: We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. You see, death for us is not a venture into the great unknown, death means going home. (C) Death also delivers us from SIN and TEMPTATION. Revelation 21:27 (NKJV) But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. One of the things that makes life so difficult here is that we are constantly under attack from Satan. There isn't a day goes by but what Satan doesn't tempt us to do something, say something, or think something sinful. Once we die, Satan will never be able to attack us or tempt us again!
(D) Death also delivers us from SUFFERING. Revelation 21:4 (NKJV) And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. No matter how good life is here, we still have to deal with aches and pains and soreness, and sickness and disease; and we must endure the deaths of loved ones and friends and family pets. To leave a world where these things are common to go to a place where we will never experience any of these things ever again is certainly A GAIN isn't it? (E) And of course, death also delivers us into the COMPANY of Christian loved ones and friends who have gone before us. Remember that wonderful promise in I Thessalonians 4:13,14 (NKJV)? But I do not want you to be ignorant brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so GOD will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. Have you ever thought about this? We lose our loved ones for a time, but then we GAIN them back forever and ever! That sounds like a huge GAIN to me, doesn't it to you? 8. You see, Paul wasn't delusional when he said, For to me, to live is CHRIST, and to die is gain. He was simply letting us look at LIFE and DEATH from an eternal perspective.
C O N C L U S I O N You may not be familiar with the name FANNY CROSBY, but you are certainly familiar with her works. Fanny Crosby was born March 24, 1820 in Putnam County, New York. At just six weeks of age, Fanny Crosby was treated by an incompetent doctor and was blinded for the rest of her life. Despite her blindness, Fanny Crosby became the most prolific hymnwriter in history, with over 8,000 hymns to her credit, including such greats as Blessed Assurance, To God Be The Glory, Near The Cross, and Christ the Lord is Risen Today. Once someone asked Fanny Crosby if she were given a choice between blindness and sight, which would she choose. She said, I would gladly choose blindness over sight, because the first face I would ever see would be that of my Savior. Fanny Crosby knew The Joy of Having The Right Perspective. For to me, to live is CHRIST,, and to die is GAIN.