Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Well, if I haven't had the joy of meeting you yet, I'm the old pastor who's not tan.
[00:00:06] So good to meet you. My name is Brad, and I probably shouldn't have led out last week with the introduction of the cricket and the mention of all that wonderful wildlife in my office. Because I came into my office this morning and I still have my friendly cricket. But not just my friendly cricket.
[00:00:27] I also now have a frog in my office and a rooster.
[00:00:33] Friends, crickets and frogs are one thing, but like the shrill cry of a rooster when you're trying to focus and pray, that's a whole different matter. So whoever the prankster is on the third floor, you can leave the cricket, you can leave the frog. The rooster's gotta go. All right. Just gotta go.
[00:00:50] Well, with that important business out of the way, if you knew how the future would unfold, how would you live differently today?
[00:01:03] If you knew how the future would unfold, how would you live differently today?
[00:01:11] So, In August of 1945, over 2,000 Allied troops were held captive by the Japanese on the remote island of Borneo.
[00:01:21] And nearly all these allied captives, these POWs, they were starving, they were sick, they were crushed in spirit.
[00:01:30] But what they didn't know was that Emperor Hirohito had just surrendered. Word had yet to reach their remote camp until one day, leaflets from an Allied bomber overhead fell from the sky, announcing the glorious news that the Allied victory was sure and certain that the Japanese Empire had fallen and that the war was over.
[00:01:59] Now, because of the remote location, it would actually be weeks before Allied forces would actually get to that camp and free those prisoners.
[00:02:09] But, friends, knowledge that salvation was coming, knowledge that that deliverance was coming, well, that knowledge fundamentally changed all of those men.
[00:02:22] Emaciated men, began to dance and sing and celebrate. Those cowering in fear suddenly were filled with defiant courage.
[00:02:34] And nothing in their present circumstances had changed.
[00:02:38] They were still trapped behind barbed wire. They were still sick. They were still suffering.
[00:02:44] But again, knowing that salvation was coming, they now lived as entirely different men. They lived as changed men.
[00:02:54] Maybe it's like a student who buckles down, knowing that the exam is right around the corner. Or it's like the athlete who kind of dials in their training, knowing that race day is approaching, knowing the future ought to change how we think and live in the present.
[00:03:16] So, friend, what do you know about your future?
[00:03:21] And how should that change how you live today?
[00:03:27] Well, to help us consider these things, I want to invite you this morning to turn with me, if you will, and your copy of God's word to the book of Philippians. The book of Philippians. We're going to be in chapter one, verses, really, 18, B, the second half, verse 18 through verse 26. And if you don't happen to have a Bible with you, we actually provide red Bibles in the pews before you. And you can find our passage on page 980, I think page 980. Now, if you're just joining us, Paul is rotting away in a Roman prison.
[00:03:56] And so the Philippian Church, which Paul had helped to plant 10 years prior, well, they send a messenger named Epaphroditus to Paul. And in order to support Paul and try and encourage Paul while he's in prison.
[00:04:09] And Epaphroditus returns with this letter, the letter that we know is the letter of the Philippians.
[00:04:16] So you can imagine if Mike Griffiths, who's the old tan guy, right, if he led a missions team out onto the mission field. And then we didn't hear from him, totally lost contact.
[00:04:30] And then we got an email a month later where. Well, you can bet we'd be awfully eager to open up that email and get word of that group. It's the same here. It's the same for the Philippians. As they receive this letter, they're awfully eager to hear how their precious Paul is doing.
[00:04:47] And in verses 1 to 11, Paul opens by praying for the Philippian Church. And then in verses 12 to 18, we have the first news of Paul.
[00:04:57] And he refers to the past and all that happened, what landed him in prison and. And then to the present, how, in spite of all odds, Paul is able to rejoice because the Gospel, even while they are in prison, well, the Gospel continues to advance even among the imperial guard. Though Paul may be bound, the Gospel cannot be bound.
[00:05:22] And now we get to peer this morning a bit into the future.
[00:05:26] Into the future. So let's pick up chapter one, the second half of verse.
[00:05:31] And in most English Bibles, it should start a new paragraph, right? Or just the second half of verse 18.
[00:05:38] Yes, and I will rejoice, 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.
[00:06:04] For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
[00:06:11] If I am to live in the flesh, well, that means fruitful labor for me yet which I shall Choose, I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two.
[00:06:22] My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
[00:06:28] But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
[00:06:35] 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 Christ, because of my coming to you again.
[00:06:54] So in these verses, friends, we actually get to hear the very heartbeat of Paul.
[00:07:00] We get to really observe what makes Paul tick because he is certain of his future. Verses 18 to 20, that's actually changing the way he lives in the present. Verses 21 to 26, I think here's our simple main idea.
[00:07:17] Because your future is certain with Christ, live today for Christ.
[00:07:26] Because your future is certain with Christ, live today for Christ.
[00:07:33] And that sort of breakdown of that sentence will just be our outline this morning. Your future is certain with Christ. That'll be point one, then point to live today for Christ.
[00:07:43] So first, your future is certain with Christ. Your future is certain with Christ. This is really verses 18 to 20.
[00:07:52] And our verses notice open as they ended last week. And what is Paul doing? Paul's rejoicing, verse 18. Yes, and I will rejoice. It's not just what he's doing. He's committing to continue doing that into the future.
[00:08:07] And again, that's a remarkable thing if we think about it, because again, the man is rotting away in a prison cell.
[00:08:15] What could this man possibly have to rejoice in?
[00:08:19] Well, he rejoices because he's confident, verse 19, that this will turn out for my deliverance.
[00:08:28] And that immediately raises two questions, right? What's the this he's talking about? And what does Paul mean when he, when he speaks of deliverance?
[00:08:37] Well, the this that Paul's referencing is really just his present situation, his imprisonment there in Rome and his impending trial before the Roman tribunal.
[00:08:49] And the deliverance. Well, sometimes that word can be used to speak of a kind of physical deliverance. And in this case that would be his deliverance from prison.
[00:08:58] The challenge, I think, to looking at deliverance that way is that if deliverance really just refers to his personal safety, right, his deliverance from prison, then it's hard to understand how he gets this.
[00:09:12] If it ends in his death, which in verse 20 seems to be a possibility for Paul, right? He holds that out as a possibility. He prays that Christ would be honored in his body, whether by life or by death. So if it's physical deliverance, it's hard to make sense of how that reconciles with verse 20.
[00:09:30] You know, that word deliverance is also often translated in our Bibles simply as the word salvation. The word salvation, in which case Paul, and if you have the Christian standard Bible, for example, that's how they translate it, salvation. In which case, if we think of it that way, Paul could be referring in fact to his final salvation and his ultimate vindication before the Lord.
[00:09:55] And I think that's likely the meaning here. So when Paul speaks of deliverance, he's really speaking of his final salvation, his ultimate vindication before the Lord. Remember last week in bti, in Romans, we've seen how salvation, it can be talked of as a past thing, like we were saved, as a present thing, we are being saved. It can also be talked about in the Bible as a future thing, right? We will be saved. And again, that's the sense, I think here. Verse 19, in fact is actually a quote of Job 13:16.
[00:10:26] And Paul seems to be interpreting his own experience in light of Job's own experience.
[00:10:34] So just as Job had those friends, right, who let him down, well, so we saw last week how there were those in the Roman church that had let Paul down because they were preaching in fact to further afflict him, to cause him harm.
[00:10:50] And so when Job speaks of his salvation in job 13, he's speaking of his eternal destiny. That's what's in view in Job. And I think it's the same here. It's the same way the word is going to be later used in Philippians 1:28, right? Paul will say this is a sign of destruction for them, but of your salvation, again, same word. It's even similar to the idea that we read earlier, Natalie read earlier from Romans 5 of how our affliction won't finally lead to shame, but salvation for the believer.
[00:11:23] In other words, I think Paul's saying he's confident that the outcome of his trial, whether that outcome leads to exoneration, right, he's released, or whether it leads to his execution, either way, that outcome will ultimately lead to his salvation and his final vindication before God, the only tribunal that matters.
[00:11:46] Friends, that's massive confidence for Paul to have.
[00:11:49] Some might even say that kind of confidence would be like arrogant presumption.
[00:11:54] But there's no hint of that here. There's no arrogant presumption in Paul's voice. There's no brash self confidence. There's no self sufficiency here in Paul for notice the means of this salvation. How does it come to Paul? Verse 19, he says through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
[00:12:17] So there are both human means, the prayers, it seems, of these Philippians and divine means, the work of the Spirit of Christ and those together are working toward Paul's future salvation.
[00:12:29] And, friends, the divine means, I think most of us would understand, right, it's the Holy Spirit who does what, who seals us to Christ, that Holy Spirit, who then becomes the guarantee of our inheritance. Ephesians 1.
[00:12:42] And sometimes in Acts, we see how Christians are really empowered and filled with a distinct gift, if you will, of the Spirit, a distinct empowerment of the Spirit in order to what? To bear witness to Christ.
[00:12:56] And that's exactly what Paul's going to need if he's going to bear witness before this tribunal.
[00:13:01] But the human means, now, I think if we're honest, that's going to catch some of us off guard. You know, maybe if you're reading this passage carefully this week, you were wondering, well, what is this about these prayers? Through these prayers, is Paul saying that his final salvation and vindication will come in part through the prayers of these Philippians? Is that what Paul's saying?
[00:13:24] Friends, that's exactly what Paul's saying.
[00:13:27] That's exactly what he's saying.
[00:13:30] God ordains the means of our salvation as well as the end.
[00:13:36] And the prayers of his people are the means by which God accomplishes the preservation of his saints and their ultimate salvation.
[00:13:48] So, friend, never think that your prayers do not matter.
[00:13:53] Friends, your prayers hugely matter. I mean, consider how the prayers of these Philippians matter in Paul's life. They hugely matter.
[00:14:02] You know, sometimes I think when it comes to prayer, we can fall into, like, one of two ditches.
[00:14:06] And the first ditch is a kind of fatalism, right? God, we reason God's going to do what God's going to do.
[00:14:14] And if God already knows the end from the beginning, well, it's already set, it's already determined. And therefore, what does it matter if I pray or not?
[00:14:23] What does it matter? It's already determined. It's already set.
[00:14:27] Well, friends, it matters because prayer is one of the primary means by which God's sovereign purposes are accomplished.
[00:14:38] But, you know, I think there's another ditch, and that's the sort of subjectivism ditch, because many will talk about prayer as if prayer is really just about us.
[00:14:47] Prayer isn't so much about changing things, so much as about changing us.
[00:14:53] And so the value of prayer then is to come really to teach us how we maybe become more dependent upon God. And so we think about prayer really As a reflexive verb, it affects us not the object of our prayers, right? It's just about us.
[00:15:10] But just notice, Paul entirely rejects that notion. Entirely rejects it.
[00:15:16] The value of prayer is not to just teach us humility and dependence and patience. I mean, sure, it does those things, but it's not just about those things.
[00:15:26] Prayer doesn't just affect us.
[00:15:29] Prayer affects that which we pray for.
[00:15:33] And in that sense, it's like very much a non reflexive verb, right? It changes things. Prayer does.
[00:15:40] And friend, I want that to be an encouragement to you to pray.
[00:15:45] As I was reflecting this week, I was just so struck and so convicted about my prayer list. If this is true, my prayer life should look remarkably different.
[00:15:57] Circumstances seem impossible.
[00:15:59] Pray.
[00:16:01] A situation is absolutely beyond you. I mean, what else are you going to do?
[00:16:06] Pray.
[00:16:08] Pray for small things, pray for big things.
[00:16:11] Because prayer changes things.
[00:16:16] You know, sometimes visitors will comment on all the prayer in our services.
[00:16:22] And I get the distinct sense sometimes when they say that, that what they're also saying is maybe you all should leave a little bit more time for singing, you know, maybe more time for preaching. Of course, a preacher would think that, right?
[00:16:35] Or maybe just like we get out of service a little earlier.
[00:16:40] Well, perhaps we do pray a lot at UBC and Friends.
[00:16:46] Why not?
[00:16:48] Why not? I mean, Mike reminded us in quoting Calvin how prayer is in fact the chief exercise of our faith.
[00:16:56] And if we believe prayer changes things, why wouldn't we pray? And why would we be surprised that when hundreds of people gather to pray that God does stuff and he changes things and he works in our hearts and works in our lives.
[00:17:12] And this passage, therefore will kind of grate against as well some of our most cherished and beloved notions of personal and spiritual autonomy, where we assume we don't in fact need others to lead or to live the Christian life, right? What do we need? I just need my Bible and I need Spotify, right? If I got those two things, I got my Bible, I got the word, I got Spotify, I got music, I got sermons, I got everything I need. And that's how some of us seek to live the Christian life. And you think, yeah, I'm all set. And Paul would say to you, good luck, right? That is spiritual suicide if we hope to be pure and blameless at the day of Christ. Philippians 1:10. Friends, Paul is helping us see, we need the prayers of our brothers and sisters. We need them. Think about it. Even the Apostle Paul himself understood that his own sanctification, his own vindication could not take place in isolation from the Philippian church.
[00:18:13] Friends, if that was true for the Apostle Paul, how much more is that true for you and for me?
[00:18:21] As much as we might like to make our spiritual relationship with God purely a private and personal matter, friend, it's not and it never has been.
[00:18:33] We are desperately dependent upon the Spirit's power. Yes, and the prayers of God's people.
[00:18:42] So let that be an encouragement to you. If you're not a part of a church, let it be an encouragement for you to join a church.
[00:18:49] Otherwise, just ask yourself, who has promised, who has covenanted to regularly pray for you as Mike was praying earlier for members in our pastoral prayer Right to the members of ubc, Let this be an encouragement to revive that practice of praying through the directory. You know, every member's meeting, we print another one of these out. We send it out to you electronically. Is it in part so you can phone one another, phone numbers in here? Yes, it is for phoning. It's principally for praying so we can pray for one another, care for one another.
[00:19:24] And let it be an encouragement to gather, friends, to gather with us on Sunday nights like tonight as we pray with the body and as we pray for the body.
[00:19:34] Because it is through those prayers and the power of the Spirit that Paul expects verse 20.
[00:19:40] That he won't be ashamed.
[00:19:43] But then, in fact, with full courage now, as always, Christ, he says, will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
[00:19:53] Friends, how convicting again is Paul?
[00:19:56] How challenging is Paul?
[00:19:59] Remember, Paul's in prison. And why is he in prison? Because he preached Christ.
[00:20:04] And instead of Paul praying for release, instead of Paul praying for relief, which is likely what all of us would be doing.
[00:20:13] No, he repeatedly asks for the courage to continue to testify to Christ.
[00:20:20] He's like God, I know this preaching thing got me in prison in the first place. Give me the courage to continue.
[00:20:26] Give me the courage to continue to bear witness and testify.
[00:20:32] Paul wants Christ to be honored with his whole person.
[00:20:37] Friends, is that how you live, to honor Christ with all of your life, with all of you? Can we say this like, do we actually pray this for ourselves?
[00:20:49] I mean, how often is our prayer life filled with prayers for success, for relief, for circumstances to change, for things to finally go our way?
[00:21:00] How often instead do we pray? Above all else, Lord, may I honor Christ today with whatever comes? You know what may. Like, how often do we pray that?
[00:21:11] How often do we pray? Lord, help me to honor Christ in my frustrating job. Help me to honor Christ in this broken relationship. Help me to Honor Christ in this second rate marriage. Help me to honor Christ in the midst of my suffering and pain of my own body, Right? Even if nothing changes, God grant me the courage and the strength to honor Christ today in everything.
[00:21:33] Friends, that needs to mark our prayer life.
[00:21:37] And to do that requires a radically Christ oriented posture for our entire lives.
[00:21:45] And that is exactly what Paul is calling us to because he says that he's certain that that is actually what's going to turn out for our salvation.
[00:21:56] And so if our future is certain, then Paul's saying, all right, future certain. Second, live today for Christ.
[00:22:05] Right? If our future is certain with Christ, then Paul's going to say, secondly, live Christ. And that really gets at verses 21 through 26. And there's two sections here really. Verses 21 to 24. And there we find Paul's motivation. What's his motivation? To live today for Christ. Well, that motivation is 21 to 24. And then we get the application of that in verses 25 and 26. So you dutiful, careful note takers, two sub points, right? Living for Christ today. It's motivation than application. All right, so first the motivation.
[00:22:41] And here we come to perhaps the most quoted line in all of Philippians.
[00:22:46] And it's again one of the clearest windows into Paul's own heart. It's verse 21, this famous aphorism. For to me, Paul says, to live is.
[00:22:57] And I just want to stop right there. To live is.
[00:23:02] Well, I stopped there because each one of us every day has to decide how we're going to finish that sentence.
[00:23:11] For to me, to live is what?
[00:23:15] To live is pleasure.
[00:23:19] To live is fame.
[00:23:21] To live is wealth or money or beauty or power or popularity or ease.
[00:23:32] You know, to me, to live is just think what gets you most excited.
[00:23:37] So what gets you up in the morning, maybe. Where do you go to escape, right? To me, to live is what? Like to golf? I don't know. To garden, to hunt, to work, to play, to travel.
[00:23:51] Well, recognize that matters because how you finish that sentence, well, that thing will become the organizing principle of your own life, right? Alexander the Great. For him, to live was what? Conquest.
[00:24:04] Caesar. To live was power. Napoleon. To live was personal glory. Oscar Wilde. To live was beauty. Voltaire. To live was reason.
[00:24:14] Hemingway. To live as adventure. Karl Marx. To live as what Revolution? Gloria Steinem. To live as sexual liberation.
[00:24:23] But for Paul, to live is.
[00:24:26] He says Christ.
[00:24:28] To live is Christ.
[00:24:31] Christ was Paul's consuming passion. Christ was his meaning. Christ was his purpose. Christ got him up in the Morning. Christ governed his day, and Christ was in his thoughts and plans as he laid his head on his pillow at night.
[00:24:46] Galatians 2:20.
[00:24:48] He'll say, 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. Right to live, Paul says, is Christ for to me. That's what he says, right to me. To live is Christ, and to die, he says, is gain.
[00:25:12] And admittedly, that's of course, not how we think.
[00:25:16] Not naturally, not at all like living is gaining. That's how we think. Living is gaining. And in that sense, dying, right? Dying is deprivation. Dying is loss.
[00:25:27] And a nation that has catechized itself on notions of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness, right? Death. What is death? Death is the loss of those things. And in that sense, death is what must be avoided.
[00:25:40] And so what do we do? So many of us, with death, we just deny its existence.
[00:25:45] We seek to remove death from our homes.
[00:25:49] We seek to conceal death in our own bodies through injections or surgeries.
[00:25:54] We do all we can to deny death's existence. We even turn funerals into celebrations of life.
[00:26:03] And yet, for Paul, death is gain.
[00:26:08] Not because he has a death wish, not because Paul just glorified martyrdom, but because death, as Paul writes in verse 23, death, is to depart and to be with Christ.
[00:26:22] You know, that word for depart was often used of soldiers that were breaking up camp in the morning or a ship that was leaving port.
[00:26:31] So when Paul uses that word, Paul, I think, can feel the. The tent pegs of his own life begin to give way.
[00:26:41] He can feel the rope of his own life begin to loosen from the dock.
[00:26:47] And so for Paul, sudden death is sudden glory. It is to be with Christ.
[00:26:54] Now, listen, I've only taken one cruise in my entire life, and it was just over 25 years ago.
[00:27:00] And I recall flying all night, traveling all day to get there to this European port and dragging my suitcase down these hot and dusty streets in the summer, and then boarding this ship at night with the smell of sort of stale air and foul water and just a hint of diesel all lingering there as I walked onto the boat. Such a wonderful thought.
[00:27:26] Great scene.
[00:27:27] And then I just collapsed in bed as the ship began to leave port.
[00:27:34] But when I woke, friends, when I woke that next morning, all of a sudden, I was met with the bright Mediterranean sun and crisp, cool air and majestic cliffs and crashing waves upon these beautiful shores of Corfu. Greece. It was a remarkable sight. I awoke to a whole new world. I left that nasty port that. And I woke to that.
[00:28:01] Friends, that's a bit of what Paul's saying heaven's going to be like.
[00:28:05] We die in that nasty port and we awake to a glorious new morning, only it's not going to be some majestic Mediterranean coastline. It is going to be the glorious face of a Galilean carpenter. And that's what we get to enjoy.
[00:28:22] And in that moment, right, all that we've longed for, all we've hoped for, all we've dreamt of, that will be finally realized, because we will be with him.
[00:28:31] And the prize of heaven is now him. It's Christ.
[00:28:35] And that's what we gain.
[00:28:37] Heaven is not another daily round of golf finished like with a lobster roll and a beer, right? That's how sometimes, okay, that maybe. Maybe not here. Maybe that's New England, right? Maybe I'm just channeling my family, okay? We all have different visions, perhaps of heaven.
[00:28:52] And too often when we think about heaven, we talk about it as if heaven is just the best things in this life. And somehow we never mention Christ.
[00:29:03] And perhaps because somewhere in our own hearts, that's actually what we want. We just want more of this life.
[00:29:10] We're not actually interested necessarily in more of Christ because our hearts are still anchored here.
[00:29:17] But I want us to see Paul's heart is anchored in another port, Heaven. For Paul, it's not about pearly gates. It's not about streets of gold, and it's not being reunited with his old, lost, famous pet dog or whatever, right? That's not heaven for Paul, Heaven's about Christ.
[00:29:36] It's to behold Christ as he is and all of his glorious wonder and beauty and splendor.
[00:29:43] And so for Paul, notice death is no longer a tragedy. Death is a kind of triumph.
[00:29:49] The grave has now become a graduation into glory, in which case Paul can live with the liberating knowledge that the best day of his life will be the last day.
[00:30:05] Now, maybe you've come this morning and you're not a follower of Jesus Christ and you're listening to all this and it sounds glorious to you, but you have no idea how this could ever be yours.
[00:30:16] No idea how it could be yours. Like, you think about death and you fear death, and that's legitimate. The Bible calls death the last great enemy.
[00:30:25] The wonderful news that I have for you is that this Jesus is the same one who conquered death and he came and he lived for you and for me, he lived A perfect life.
[00:30:41] A life in absolute obedience to his Father. And that he died on a cross. He died as a sacrifice. He died as a substitute for all of those who would turn from sin and self love and who would look to him and repent and believe.
[00:30:57] Who would walk away from their former life and give themselves wholly to Him.
[00:31:03] Because this Jesus was the one who rose from the grave, who conquered sin and death. And so all who trust in what they can be washed, they can be cleansed, they can be forgiven, and they can be made citizens of a new country, a heavenly one where Christ dwells.
[00:31:21] In which case you, like Paul, can die with the liberating knowledge that the last day of your life on this earth in Christ in can be the best day. Cause the next day you wake with him and Christian. That's how Paul lived.
[00:31:40] That's how we're meant to live as believers. The challenge is precious. Few of us do live like that.
[00:31:45] But just imagine if we increasingly lived like Paul.
[00:31:50] To live is to serve Christ, to die to be with Christ. We just took that. Live to serve Christ, die to be with Christ.
[00:31:57] Imagine how things in our life would just begin to change now. The message is not my favorite Bible translation. It's really not even accurate to call it a translation. It's really a paraphrase. But sometimes, friends, it's helpful. And I was looking at the message as I was preparing the text this week, and I do appreciate how it captures Paul's heart here.
[00:32:20] Reading from the message.
[00:32:22] Alive I'm Christ's messenger. Dead I'm his bounty.
[00:32:27] Life versus even more life. I can't lose.
[00:32:32] All right, that's it. That captures it.
[00:32:35] Life versus even more life.
[00:32:39] I can't lose.
[00:32:42] Live for Christ.
[00:32:43] Die to be with Christ.
[00:32:45] Friends, that's the win, win scenario that Paul points.
[00:32:49] The very opposite of being caught between a rock and a hard place, right? That's where you don't want to be. Paul's like none of us are there, not in Christ. We got a win, win situation either way we go.
[00:32:59] And yet Paul's torn. Why? Again, not because he faces two equally bad options, but two equally glorious options.
[00:33:06] Live and serve Christ. What does Paul say? Verse 22. Well, that's fruitful labor for me.
[00:33:12] Die and be with Christ. Verse 23. Guess what? That's even better.
[00:33:17] Life versus more life. I can't live. Lose again. How might your life look any different if you actually believed and lived these verses out?
[00:33:28] How might your prayers be different?
[00:33:31] You know, a person once noted after a prayer meeting in A little country church.
[00:33:36] They noted that that church prayed harder to keep saved people out of heaven than lost people out of hell.
[00:33:44] Right? But that's not Paul. That's not how Paul's praying here.
[00:33:48] And think about it. How do you possibly threaten someone like this?
[00:33:53] How do you threaten someone like this?
[00:33:57] Paul, I'm gonna kill you.
[00:33:59] All right? I'll be with Christ.
[00:34:01] All right, Paul, we're gonna let you live. Great. I'll live and serve Christ. I'll preach Christ.
[00:34:07] Paul, we're gonna make you suffer.
[00:34:09] I'll suffer with Christ. My reward is with Christ. Like, what do you do with a guy like this?
[00:34:14] What would you do with Christians around the globe that actually live like this?
[00:34:19] There's nothing you can do to threaten someone with this kind of outlook, you know? John G. Paton was a 19th century Scottish missionary who went to the New Hebrides, an island chain in the South Pacific.
[00:34:36] And as he was preparing to leave, there was an aging Christian friend in his community who really feared for him and warned him, really pleading with him not to go to this dangerous place. And he said to Peyton, he said, you'll be eaten by cannibals, thinking that would finally get the man to stop.
[00:34:54] To which the young Peyton replied, Mr. Dixon, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave.
[00:35:04] They are to be eaten by worms.
[00:35:08] I confess to you that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by cannibals or eaten by worms.
[00:35:21] And in the great day, my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer.
[00:35:33] Right? You can't keep these people down.
[00:35:36] Live to serve Christ, die to be with Christ.
[00:35:41] When that is your motivation, friend, you cannot lose.
[00:35:46] All right, but how does that play itself out practically? What's the application of all this?
[00:35:51] Well, that's what brings us to the last two verses, verses 25 and 26. We've all heard that expression, like WWJD, you know, what would Jesus do? Think of 25 and 26 as sort of the WWPD. Like what would Paul do? Right? This is. We got his outlook on life. What would Paul do here now.
[00:36:09] Well, what does he do?
[00:36:11] Paul prizes the well being of other believers over his own.
[00:36:17] Well, that's what he's doing. He's prizing the well being of other believers over his own. He says, verse 24. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
[00:36:28] In Other words, for your sake.
[00:36:31] And then convinced of this, he says, verse 25, Paul will remain for your progress and joy in the faith.
[00:36:41] Now, that word progress there in verse 25, that word progress is the same word we saw last week when Paul talked about the advancement of the Gospel. That word for advancement, I think is at verse 12, maybe advancement. And then this word progress, it's the same word. It's the same word that's being spoken of. So in the same way Paul was about the gospel's progress in Rome, so that same principle he's concerned with now, the gospel's progress in this Philippian church.
[00:37:11] And he wants them to progress in the gospel. He wants their love to abound. And how does he want to abound? We thought earlier, right? Philippians 1:9. He wants their love to abound in all knowledge and all discernment. That's what Paul wants for them. That's what drives him.
[00:37:27] But notice, it's not just their progress in the faith, it's also their joy in the faith.
[00:37:34] Like, don't miss that either, because for some of us, if we're not careful, we just turn the Christian life into, like, how many Bible verses can we memorize?
[00:37:45] Christian life, that's a great thing to do. It's not just that the Christian life is not just putting sin to death. It's not just growing more and deeper in this spiritual discipline. Those are good and necessary things. But the Christian life is also about growing in joy, Growing in joy and in love of Christ, right? Joy for Christ, joy at the thought of being with Christ, joy to see Christ in us and Christ in you.
[00:38:17] Uvc, are we known for our progress and joy in the faith?
[00:38:25] I think most people would say, yeah, they've got that progress part kind of down.
[00:38:29] They listen to the prayers. It's like, what, did someone grab that of a theological textbook? Like, the progress stuff? Most of you are like, yeah, ubc, we got that down.
[00:38:38] But when they observe us, worship, when they observe us, live when observation would, they also say that we're marked by the joy of knowing Jesus.
[00:38:49] Friends, let's increasingly pray and work toward being a church that strives after both the progress and joy in the faith.
[00:38:58] That's what Paul wanted for these believers. That's what he would want for us.
[00:39:02] So that verse 26, in me, Paul writes, you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again.
[00:39:12] Now, admittedly, that's a bit awkwardly worded in English, but Paul's point is that he hopes they'll progress in their own joy as he returns to them and in his return that will cause them to give glory and praise and honor to Christ.
[00:39:29] Now, Paul's not absolutely certain he's going to return to them. We thought about that in verse 20. He's going to return and there's going to be some uncertainty again in chapter two. But he seems to think that he will return to them and he seems to think right that would most accord with God's plan that he would continue to be used for the progress and joy of their own faith.
[00:39:51] But again, notice the application.
[00:39:54] When faced with the option of living to serve Christ or dying to be with Christ, how does Paul make that decision?
[00:40:03] How does Paul choose?
[00:40:06] Well, he once again chooses the option that would most advance the Gospel, not which would most advance his own goals, not what would most advance Paul's own desires, his own comforts. He's like to die and be with Christ is better.
[00:40:23] Rather, he chooses that which would most advance and and what would most progress the faith and the spiritual well being and the good of other Christians and friends. That too should challenge us.
[00:40:37] Because so often we think about decisions that we have to make and we evaluate alternatives principally on the basis of how it affects us. Right? We're at the center of the calculus.
[00:40:50] Whether it's a job or whether it's a move or whether it's getting an advanced degree or whether it's adding another hobby to our list.
[00:40:59] And friends, it's not that we can never do that. Of course, when we make decisions we have to consider how they're going to affect us.
[00:41:05] But Paul would press us and say how also are you thinking about how those decisions will affect others?
[00:41:14] How are you weighing your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in your decisions?
[00:41:20] How are you weighing the good of your local church in your decisions?
[00:41:25] Do you take that promotion that requires longer hours?
[00:41:29] Do you buy that larger house with a longer commute?
[00:41:33] Do you accept entrance into that more prestigious program?
[00:41:37] Do you enroll your child in another traveling sports team? Do you change churches?
[00:41:43] Friends, none of those things in and of themselves are wrong.
[00:41:46] There may be good reasons to do all of those things, but as you choose Paul saying we have to apply this principle, how will my decision not only affect me, but how will it affect the progress and joy of the other Christians around me?
[00:42:04] That's the question.
[00:42:06] Paul's evaluation doesn't simply weigh his own well being, it weighs the well being of others.
[00:42:13] As he says, what's more necessary?
[00:42:16] And for him, what's more necessary trumps what is better for himself and friends. That too is always a necessary reminder in a me first culture that has turned self fulfillment into a kind of personal entitlement. It's a God to us.
[00:42:37] So ask like as you got big decisions. Will this decision I make, how will this affect my ability to continue discipling the people that I disciple?
[00:42:47] How will this decision possibly affect my ability to gather with the saints?
[00:42:53] Will it mean I have less time for others or more time for others? Those are some of the questions Paul's saying. Yeah, we got to be asking those questions as we make big decisions in our lives.
[00:43:04] You know, I opened with the story of those POWs on Borneo island, and nothing in their present circumstances changed.
[00:43:16] Knowledge that the war had been won and that someone was coming to rescue them, someone was coming to liberate them. Knowledge that salvation was certainly coming in the future.
[00:43:30] Well, that knowledge changed everything about how they lived in the present.
[00:43:36] Friends, it was no different for Paul, and it should be no different for you and for me.
[00:43:42] Paul knew the decisive battle had been won.
[00:43:45] Christ had conquered that great enemy, sin and death.
[00:43:48] And Christ is coming back for his people and he's coming to finally liberate and save them once and for all.
[00:43:56] So because your future is certain with Christ, live today for Christ.
[00:44:04] Live to serve Christ or live to die and be with Christ.
[00:44:10] Either way, you can't lose.
[00:44:15] Let's pray.
