To Live is Christ, to Die is Gain

Amen.

Well, thank you so much to everyone who's participated so far in our service.

I hope it's been encouraging to you.

It's been encouraging to me as I've sat there and listened to just tale after tale of God's faithfulness.

And just when you thought you'd seen everything from Fraser, a video link.

I mean, I'd love to tell you I had the Apostle Paul video link here, but I don't.

If you have Philippians chapter 1 open in front of you, it's going to be so helpful.

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

So, Philippians chapter 1 verses 12 to 26 that Margo so helpfully read for us is where we're going to be this morning.

Philippians 1:12–26

But to get us thinking as we kick off, I thought we'd play a little game called Whose Motto Is It Anyway?

So I'm going to put some mottos on the screen and I want to see if anybody out there can guess whose mottos these are.

So here's the first one.

Live each day as if it were your last.

Any idea?

So it's Steve Jobs.

Next one.

Think big and get the job done.

Mr. Trump.

Above all, to thine own self be true.

Now, maybe some of the old English might give it away there.

Anybody?

It's Shakespeare.

I'm not as cultured as you are, so I'm sticking to the good ones.

No matter what happens in life, be good to people would be Taylor Swift.

And then lastly, the one that has been in my head for the last little while and I can't seem to get it out is this one.

No right, no wrong.

The rules for me.

I'm free.

Anybody?

Anybody?

So this is Elsa from Frozen.

I can't get it out of my head.

I wonder if you have a motto in life.

A way that you understand the world, a principle that you live by.

Because this morning, what we're going to see is we're going to see a man with a motto.

If your Bible's there, then look at verse 21 of, sorry, verse 21 of chapter 1.

Here is the Apostle Paul.

The man whose life has been flipped upside down and turned inside out by the risen Jesus Christ.

In verse 21, we see his motto in life.

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

This is the way he understands the world.

This is the principle that he lives by.

Now just before we dive into the passage this morning, I want you to think about that motto.

Maybe here this morning and you wouldn't call yourself a Christian.

Well, can I say how welcome you are?

I love that you're here.

I just challenge you this morning to think about your own life.

What motto do you try and live by?

As you hear the Apostle Paul this morning, I want you to ask yourself,

why does this man live and why does he think like this?

Maybe you're here this morning and you would call yourself a Christian.

Well, the challenge to you this morning is to assess your life according to this man's motto.

And so in the time that we have left this morning, I just want us to see how this motto has shaped Paul.

Because I think in these verses we see that it shaped him in four different ways.

Now remember Paul isn't sitting in his armchair with his pipe and slippers thinking philosophical thoughts.

As he pens his motto, we saw a few weeks ago, didn't we, that he's in prison.

And you'll notice it, if you've got the text there, that he uses the word chains.

Or if you've got an ESV, it's imprisonment.

He uses it three times in those preceding four verses.

And he wants the Philippians to know something.

That's how he opens it here, verse 12, to know something.

To know that despite his chains, not only has he not abandoned that motto,

but actually he's seeing the truth of it living right out, playing right out in front of him.

And here's the first way that this motto has shaped Paul, verses 12 to 14.

It's shaped his attitudes.

Notice the little phrase that he uses halfway through verse 16,

which I think is the key to understanding what is going on here.

What does he write?

I am put here.

I am put here.

Now remember when I was growing up, one of my favorite computer games to play was called Theme Hospital.

The game, you literally constructed your own hospital.

You hired your own staff.

And whenever you used to survey your hospital,

and whenever there was a sick patient at this side of your hospital,

sometimes it had a bloaty head, if you remember the game,

what you would do is you would survey the hospital,

and you would find a doctor,

and you would put the mouse on the doctor.

Remember those things called mouses?

And you would drag the doctor,

and you would put him next to the patient.

Because you wanted him to do a job.

Well, I'm reminded here, as I read these words of Paul,

I'm reminded of Theme Hospital.

Because Paul is saying that he's not just caught a bad break.

He's not suffering from a case of nice guys finish last.

This is God working out his divine purposes in Paul's life.

Paul has been put here in this prison by God.

And so Paul says,

Dear Philippians,

know that me being in prison is not hindering the gospel.

Actually, God is using this to advance the spread of the gospel.

Now, how does that work?

Well, Paul tells us how.

In fact, he gives us two hows,

if you see them in the verses there.

Firstly, verse 13.

Because Paul has been put here,

the whole imperial guard have heard about Jesus.

Now, try and use your imaginations this morning.

Picture this scene.

Paul is under house arrest.

He's under the supervision of,

and he's most likely chained to,

a Roman soldier.

Now, does Paul strike you as the kind of guy,

as he was chained to this soldier,

who would be speaking to him about the weather?

Do you not think that Paul savored,

and he seized the opportunity to tell that guard about Jesus Christ?

And when that guard finished his shift,

which commentators will tell us,

it was about four hours long,

before it rotated round,

and another guard came along,

do you not think Paul seized and savored and rejoiced

in yet another opportunity to tell another guard about Jesus?

And on and on this went until the whole imperial guard has heard about the risen Jesus Christ.

Now, picture these soldiers.

They're on their lunch break,

and they're asking each other,

what do you make of this guy?

This little man with his big ideas?

I cannot fathom it.

He's in prison,

not because he's done anything wrong.

He's in prison because he believes in a man.

You see, here is Paul.

What is he doing?

He's not just grinning and bearing the circumstances that have come his way in life.

Here is Paul turning those circumstances around for the glory of God.

And to see how God is at work here,

to see how he's at work,

bigger picture,

these Roman soldiers are never going to come to an evangelistic event put on by Rome Evangelical Church.

Never going to darken the door of a church.

So they will not come to Paul.

What does God do?

Okay.

Paul,

I'll put you there with them.

What a wonderful truth to be reminded of this morning when it comes to God's sovereign logic in evangelism.

Just think about your own life for a minute.

Where does God put you?

Who in his divine sovereignty and in his divine purposes has he put in your life,

in your office,

in your class,

in your camp,

in your street,

in your team,

where has God placed you for his glory?

Second thing Paul wants the Philippians to know,

verse 14,

is that because of his example in prison,

the other brothers have become more bold to speak about Jesus Christ.

So presumably as they've watched Paul go for it,

they have dared to preach the gospel.

Great word there if you've got it there.

Dare.

My prayer this week for my own life was,

Lord,

would you help me to dare more?

So I want you to know,

Philippians,

I want you to know that me being here in chains is not game over.

It's game on.

Do you see how his motto has shaped his attitudes?

Secondly,

verses 15 to 18,

it shaped his ambition.

Paul's clearly heard that there are some people out there who are preaching the same message as him,

preaching Christ,

but they're doing so with skewed motives.

So certain individuals are seeking to take advantage of his current predicament in prison,

looking to make themselves known,

looking to make themselves look great,

and seizing the opportunity with Paul off the scene to make themselves look big,

rather than being occupied with making Christ look big.

And Paul says,

that attitude,

those motives,

that ambition,

is ugly.

I don't know if you saw it in the news this week,

I'd be very impressed if anyone did.

There's a football team down in London called Wickham Wanderers,

and they've just released their new goalkeeping talk for the season.

So distractingly ugly,

that it's meant to put opposition strikers off.

Paul is saying that there's people walking about,

and by the way they're behaving,

they may well be preaching Christ,

but as they do that,

it's almost like they're walking around clothed in that Wickham Wanderers goalie top.

You,

by the way you live,

Philippians,

you,

clothe yourself in the exact opposite.

By your speech,

by your conduct,

by your way of life,

don't put people off.

As you make Jesus known,

draw people to him by living in a way which makes him look beautifully attractive.

That's the mindset that you've got to adopt.

It's incredible,

actually,

the more you get to grips with what Paul is saying in this letter,

how often he comes back to this theme of mindset,

to think differently.

We'll see it so beautifully drawn out next week as we come to chapter 2.

Paul says to them,

your mindset is to be that of Christ,

of humility,

of love.

No room for envy,

no room for rivalry,

no room for quarreling.

Your life's marked by humility and love.

Your ambition in life as God's people is not to make yourself known,

like these people.

You live and I live to make Christ known.

That's what matters to Paul.

And I think it's a sobering reminder at this point,

isn't it,

that as Christians,

we can have all the right words

and serve in the church,

even,

in all the right ways,

but completely miss the point.

That we serve Christ with bitterness brewing in our hearts,

that we preach Jesus with resentment lurking.

So it's a reminder this morning to be checking our own hearts for our motives.

Don Carson,

he writes this,

really powerful words,

all of us would be wiser

if we would resolve

never to put people down

except on our prayer list.

Paul's motto,

which has shaped his ambition in life,

second half of verse 18,

to verse 21.

Thirdly,

it's shaped his approach in life.

Paul rejoices in what he knows.

Do you see that?

In what he knows.

What does he know?

Well,

we saw it last week with Tim,

if you remember,

that we saw what Paul was praying for these Philippians.

Well,

here he rejoices because he knows

that they are praying for him.

They are praying for him.

And you see the wonderful little truth for us here

that's embedded in these verses.

Here are this little house church in Philippi,

meeting in Lydia's house.

This little church,

what are they doing?

They are on their knees

before God,

pleading for their brother,

Paul.

You can picture it,

can't you?

What are they praying?

What are they asking?

Lord,

would you protect our brother?

Lord,

would you strengthen our brother?

Lord,

would you be so gracious to our brother?

Lord,

would you give Paul the,

by your spirit,

living in him,

would you give him the words to say

when he gets the chance to speak about you?

Father,

would you put good people around Paul

who can encourage him

as he continues on in the faith?

Here is this little church

wrestling in prayer

for their brother who's in chains.

And I must say,

I've been really struck

and encouraged this week

by the vulnerability

that Paul shows here in prayer.

Particularly,

I think,

when contrasted

with what he's just penned

about the worldly ambitions of others.

Now,

I don't know about you,

but I always find it

baffling,

is that the right word,

to read that Paul

asks others to pray for him.

Because in my mind,

if ever there was a guy

who I kind of think

would be okay

without prayer

for evangelism,

then it's Paul.

But no,

says Paul,

I need your prayers,

dear Philippians.

They strengthen me.

They are so precious to me

to know that you're praying for me.

Thank you so much for them

and please would you keep them coming.

Maybe something for all of us

to do off the back of this morning

is to ask somebody here,

before you go,

maybe just one person,

how you can be praying for them this week.

And then flip it around.

Why don't you try and tell one person

how they can be praying for you

this week.

I find it so,

in my own life,

I find it so encouraging

to know

that people are praying for me.

You know,

when our little girl Grace

was in hospital,

the prayers of the people

in this church family,

the texts that you sent us,

the emails that you sent us,

the phone calls,

they were so precious to us.

We're working to make it a feature

of our monthly prayer meetings

when we gather together

on a Wednesday

to pray for other churches

in the city.

On Wednesday night,

just gone,

we were praying

for the new church plant

out at Esk Valley.

And I just emailed my friend Tom,

the minister there,

during the weekend

and said,

how can we be praying for you?

And he just sent a list

of things to pray for.

But his first line was just,

thank you so much.

Those prayers mean so much to us.

As we've heard this morning,

we were celebrating 50 years

of God's faithfulness

to this church family.

That's quite incredible

when you think about it.

Not the weird great,

but he's great.

50 years.

Well,

let's strive as a church family

to ensure that prayer

remains very much part

of the fabric of this church.

and part of the very core DNA

of who we are.

And let's keep striving

to come to our great God

in prayer.

Charles Spurgeon,

prayer pulls the rope below

and the great bell rings

in the ears of God above.

But some scarcely stir the bell.

Others give but an occasional

pluck at the rope.

But he who wins with heaven

is the man who grasps

that rope boldly

and pulls continually

with all his might.

Friends,

as we journey on

whatever happens to us,

let's commit ourselves

to being a church family

who pulls that rope.

Our great God.

You see,

Paul knows that he's not embarked

on a solo mission for Jesus.

He knows that mission for Christ

is a spirit-empowered team pursuit.

And what a joy for him

to know that these Philippians,

even though they are miles away from him,

are spending themselves

in praying for him,

asking,

you see it there,

that he might be delivered.

Delivered from prison,

delivered at the end of his life.

Paul's probably got both in his mind.

And in that,

he rejoices.

And you see what he wants,

verse 20,

for Jesus to be exalted.

Now, what does that mean?

Well, it means that Paul

is devoting himself

to being a walking

and talking telescope.

His life is about

making Christ look bigger.

And how will Christ be exalted

in Paul?

Do you see what he says?

In my body.

Paul's logic there

must be reflecting on the Jesus

who has literally given his body

for Paul.

The Jesus who died

to save this wretch of a sinner

who previously cursed

his very name

and lived to destroy his people.

Paul now turns and says,

that Christ,

that Christ,

I'm giving myself

the totality of myself

for his cause.

There's a famous story told

of a pig and a chicken

standing in a field

and a bus passes them.

And on the side of the bus

is the picture,

just picture of eggs and bacon.

The slogan underneath reads,

eggs and bacon,

the great British breakfast.

And the chicken turns to the pig

and says,

look pig,

we're going to be famous.

And the pig turns back

to the chicken and says,

true,

but for you to be famous

you only need to make

a small contribution.

For me,

well I need to give my whole life.

Here is Paul.

Giving his whole life for Christ.

The lyrics that

Isaac Watts penned

all those years ago,

love so amazing,

so divine,

demands my soul,

my life,

my all.

Paul's motto has shaped

his approach.

And fourthly and lastly

at verses 22 to 26,

he's shaped his aim.

As he contemplates life,

he's torn

to die and,

do you see how he's torn here?

To die and to go

and be with the Lord.

How does he describe it?

End of verse 23.

Far better.

He wants to,

he longs to be

with his Savior.

But he also wants to see

these Philippians

progress in the faith,

be filled with that

inexpressible joy

that comes through

knowing Jesus Christ.

See how it's win-win for him?

He can't lose here.

For him,

it's not about choosing life

or choosing death.

Life is about choosing Christ.

Now again,

call me weird,

but I was

trying to get inside the passage

when I preach.

Trying to picture myself

as one of Paul's guards

this week.

It seems to me

that Paul must have been

one of the most

irritating men

that they could ever

have looked after

in their whole time

as a guard.

Imagine the conversation,

Paul,

would you stop talking

about Jesus?

And he looks at them

and says,

no,

because for me

to live is Christ.

Okay,

if you don't stop

talking about Jesus,

we'll kill you.

Well,

that's great.

Because for me

to die is gain.

What do you do

with this guy?

How irritating

and yet,

do you see the point?

How attractive is this?

I asked you at the start

to think about

your own life motto

and think about

Paul's motto for life.

Here is a man in chains,

but think about it.

Here is a man in chains

and yet,

here is the most free man

I think I've ever come across.

This isn't always

look on the bright side of life.

This is not hakuna matata.

Here is a man

fully convinced

that Jesus Christ

is more precious

and more trustworthy

than anything else

in his life.

And as I've reflected on it

in my own life this week

and as I've pondered

his motto,

I've found myself

and I hope you found yourself

this morning as well

coming up well short of that.

How often do we

just get caught up

in longing for

and living for

the temporary things

of this world?

How often do we

as the psalmist

would say in Psalm 1,

how often do we

just chase chaff?

Living for that dream home,

living for the kids

to get into that school,

living for the new car,

living for that holiday,

living for that iPhone 7.

Guess what happens

after the iPhone 7?

There's an iPhone 8.

Living for that

retirement package,

living for that holiday

in the south of Spain.

Do you see how

Paul's motto this morning

calls us back

to living lives

that matter

for the glory

of Jesus Christ.

What is life

all about for Paul?

It's about living

for Christ,

to know him,

to know forgiveness,

to know sins

paid for

and sins

cancelled,

to know life

through this man

and living

to make him

known.

So here is Paul

this morning

saying to us

very clearly

through Philippians

that there is no better

and no freer way

to live

than to adopt

this as your motto.

And of course

there's no secret

to this.

If I want to see

the world

like Paul sees

the world,

then I need to see

Jesus Christ

like he sees

Jesus Christ.

The secret

every day

is to turn

my eyes

upon Jesus

and to look

full in his

wonderful face

and the things

of earth

will grow

strangely dim

in light

of his

glory

and grace.

As we close

I was reminded

of the great story

of Jim Elliot

the American

missionary

who in 1956

takes the gospel

to an unreached

tribe in Ecuador

and he and his

four traveling

companions

tragically martyred

by the people

there and Jim

famously penned

in his journal

his life motto

that he is no fool

who gives what he

cannot keep

to gain that

which he cannot

lose.

Great motto.

Great motto.

A famous motto.

You google Jim Elliot

you will get

literally thousands

probably even

hundreds of thousands

of hits.

He was even on

the BBC News

recently

as he commemorated

his death

but if you google

his brother

Bert Elliot

you get

70 hits.

Bert was asked

how he dealt

with living

in the shadow

his famous brother

the Christian

himself

and he said

this

and we'll close

with this

some wonderful

wonderful words

he says

in the kingdom

of God

there is

a great need

for streaking

meteors

that's his brother

Jim

streaking meteors

but the reality

is most of us

won't be that

we will instead

be faint stars

husbands and fathers

wives and mothers

we will be

accountants

and teachers

businessmen

and students

we will go through

life

day after day

doing very much

the same thing

as we did yesterday

but the important

thing for us

to remember

is that we

are needed

there is a

great need

for people

willing to chase

the little donkeys

of life

not because

it's exciting

because they

believe in

the constant

presence

and purposes

of God

there is a

great need

for people

willing to

stand in the

midst of the

boring

convinced

that there is

no such thing

as ordinary

when you follow

an extraordinary

God

now I love

that quote

because that is

the story for

most of us

here this morning

isn't it

most of us

are not going

to be streaking

meteors

none of us

are going to

have our

names in

lights

none of us

are going to

have thousands

hundreds of

thousands of

hits on

Google

we are

these everyday

people that

he's talking

about

but everyday

people whom

God has

called to

make this

motto our

own

and to bring

this motto

that we've seen

in Philippians

with us

into the

everyday

not because

we are

great

but because

Christ

is great

as for me

says Paul

I have made

it my

life's

refrain

that to

live

is

Christ

and to

die

is

gain

let's

pray

together

so

father

thank you

for this

morning

and thank

you just

for the

wonderful

reminder

that this

is not

about us

it's

about

you

your

faithfulness

your

grace

your

steadfast

love

that

endures

forever

so

lord

by your

grace

and by

your

spirit

living

in us

would you

help us

this week

in our

lives

to know

the joy

of Paul's

motto

that we've

seen here

and may

it be

our

mindset

that to

live

is Christ

and to

die

is gain

and it's

in Jesus

wonderful

and precious

name that

we pray

these things

amen