In Every Way
Transcript of the fourth sermon from the series on the book of Philippians. The sermon is titled “To Live Is Christ,” and comes from Philippians 1:18-26.
You can listen here.
Philippians 1:18-26
Yes, and I will rejoice, 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.
// Introduction
Do you ever have to encourage yourself? You know, like giving yourself a personal pep talk? Maybe you’re finishing up a big research paper. You’re just a few pages away, short on sleep, and you’re telling yourself, “don’t fall asleep; you can finish this!” Or you’re at a friends house and they made something gross for dinner but you’ve got to be polite and finish your plate and your thinking, “Just a couple more bites; get through it!” Sometimes a little personal pep talk helps get you through it.
The end of verse 18 feels a little bit like Paul’s personal pep talk. “Yes, and I will rejoice.” He just got done talking about how he was rejoicing in Christ being proclaimed even if it came at his expense. That’s a painful thing to say and he’s not moving into much happier territory. It’s easy to understand him needing a little pep talk. He reminds himself, “I’m rejoicing!” Almost like picking himself up so he can keep on going. Which he does. He keeps on going in verse 19…
// Delight in Deliverance (18-20)
“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.
Check out the delight in deliverance here. Pauls says, “I will rejoice.” Why? If you get to the heart of the sentence, it comes back to his deliverance. Paul is rejoicing because of his deliverance. But what is his deliverance and how does he get it? And what is he being delivered from?
He’s being delivered from 2 things here: 1st is the current situation he’s in. He’s wrongly imprisoned. He wants to be set free from his physical prison. The 2nd is deliverance from his sinful nature. Verse 20 makes it clear that he wants to honor Christ in life and death. The things that might cause him to shame or to dishonor Christ come from his flesh. It’s sin. In some ways, this is even the greater prison. The prison of the sinful nature. We can’t escape the flesh. But our great hope is that God will not only free us from our flesh, but more than that, He will perfect it!
But how does God deliver him? He actually tells us two things here:
God delivers through prayers:
We see this in Jesus’ example. In Matthew 5 He says to love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you. Why pray for the ones that persecute you? For their deliverance. That they could be set free from the bondage of sin. Jesus teaches us to be people who petition God for the sake of others. Because if we’re supposed to pray for our enemies, how much more should we be praying for our brothers and sisters? But Jesus doesn’t just say it, He does it!
On the cross He prays, “”Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” There He is praying for those who persecute Him. He’s literally praying for their deliverance! Forgive them!
So when Paul is relying on the power of prayer to deliver him, he’s just leaning on the example of Jesus. Like we should. We have this high privilege of prayer! What a blessing that we get to tap into the depths of the love and mercy and power of almighty God. We get to pray and rely on the prayers of our church for our deliverance.
God delivers through help of the Holy Spirit
Jesus taught us that the Holy Spirit is the Helper. That’s an important role for the Holy Spirit. That’s what He says in John 14: 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
This passage makes me ask, “what does that mean?” What does it mean for the Holy Spirit to help me? To be with me? What does Paul mean?
We get a little bit more clarity and a beautiful connection in Romans 8
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
This is Paul’s deliverance. The Holy Spirit helps by giving life to his mortal body. That’s what the Holy Spirit does for us. He gives life.
Later in chapter 8, we also read this:
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
The Holy Spirit knows we are weak. We fail and don’t know or don’t want God’s will. Or even if we do, we don’t know how to ask for it. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us.
In both ways, through prayer and the help of the Holy Spirit, Paul is aiming for one thing in his deliverance, to honor God! In verse 20 he says, “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.”
Paul’s definition of success – the thing that he has an eager expectation for, that he hopes for, that he has full courage in – his definition of success is that Christ would be honored in his body!
In life or death. He keeps that thought going in verse 21…
// Desire Christ (21-23)
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.
If we learn nothing else from Paul here, we learn to Desire Christ (21-23)
We should desire Christ so much that we can say to live is Christ. The purpose of our every breath is Christ. Our blood flows towards knowing Christ and making Him known. And even our death is seen as a positive because our death gets us to Christ!
Verse 21 is a verse we need to spend some time with. I’d encourage each of you to take a few minutes to meditate on verse 21. “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” Can you internalize that and say that truly for yourself. If you’re being honest, is it to live is Christ for you? I know a lot of people that to live is work. Or to live is family.
And is to die gain? Or is to die fear? Or is to die loss? To answer these questions is to answer the question of what you desire.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
To live is Christ isn’t just a cliche, it’s a deep transformation. He’s crucified the old self. His life is completely wrapped up in Christ. He wants people to see Christ, not Paul. The focus is on God, not on man. To live is Christ.
“If I am to live 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.”
There’s the choice – fruitful labor for Christ or being with Christ.
What’s odd here is Paul’s framing of the issue as a choice. We don’t usually consider life or death a choice. It’s life always. If you’re here today and you’re not sure whether life is worth living, I want you to know that it is. And that it’s ok to talk to someone about what you’re feeling. Sometimes our culture or our pride keeps us from admitting when we feel weak or depressed. We want you to know that you’re in the midst of a group of people that love you and care about you and will not look at you differently just because you’re struggling with something in your life.
Paul is not in anyway advocating or contemplating suicide here. We have to understand Paul’s context. He’s writing as a man who has dealt with severe pain and torture. He’s naturally towards the end of his life and he’s facing execution.
It’s not a question of whether he should take his own life, it’s a question of whether he should continue fighting to keep it. In a lot of ways, it would be easier for Paul to stop fighting and just let the Romans or his poor health take its toll.
While Paul is actually lamenting the difficulty of his life, he’s also speaking rhetorically. Paul isn’t so much debating the end of his life here as much as he is making sure the Philippians know his desire is for Christ. It serves to remind them of what their desire should be but also to remind them that his love for them is rooted in Christ. Even better than being with them, it would be better for Paul to be with Christ!
“My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”
It’s far better to be with the One that came and died for our sins and rose again. The One that loves us better than we deserve. The One that ripped us from the grip of death and holds us in His life giving hands.
If you’re here today and you’re not a Christian – this is something I really want you to hear. Christ is not just salvation in this life, He is our hope and joy for eternity. If you feel let down by your failure, if you feel let down by success. Christ is far better!
// Develop Others (24-26)
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.
As much as Paul wants to be with Christ and so desires Him, He knows God gave him a purpose to Develop Others (24-26). He remains because it is more necessary for the progress and joy of the Philippians’ faith.
I love Paul’s certainty here. He’s convinced of it! He knows that God’s plan is for him to invest in those God put in his care. In fact, he’s so certain of it he’s calling it his purpose for life. He goes from “to live is Christ” to my reason for continuing to live is to help you advance and enjoy your faith.
How does Paul live for Christ, keep Jesus at the center, and labor fruitfully? He loves on, encourages, and mentors the people of this church.
Who has God put in your care? Who are you remaining for? Someone’s progress and joy in the faith needs your investment. God put Paul in people’s lives – He is putting you in people’s lives to drive them towards a righteous and joyful life!
We have a call to develop others in their walk with Christ like Paul does.
Hebrews 3:13
13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin
If we’re not encouraging each other towards Christ with the joy of Christ the door swings wide open to sin. For real, though, is there anything that steals and destroys joy in our lives more than sin does? Hebrews says it hardens us. And it does. It makes us cold and lifeless. But if we are encouraging each other and building each other up in the Gospel, it keeps us from sin and helps us progress in the faith.
Paul recognizes his purpose here. He knows what to do and why he’s doing it. His life has value because God’s given it value. And that’s true for all of us too! God’s given us value.
Our purpose – in life and death – is like Paul’s! Our purpose is to glorify God. We honor Him by rejoicing in Him, relying on Him, and building others up!
You have the opportunity to lay hold of your purpose!