Well, now we come to the preaching of God's Word, and we're going to pick up where we left off a couple weeks ago looking in the book of Timothy.
Excuse me, Timothy.
The book of Philippians, chapter 1, starting in verse 18 through 26.
So if you have your Bibles, you can turn there or look on the screen behind me.
As you turn there, I wonder, have you ever struggled with making a big decision?
Maybe you've been confident in the outcome that you want, but you don't exactly know how that's going to come to pass.
And so there's different strategies for making decisions.
Maybe you've done a pros and cons list before.
There's a lot of things to consider.
There's a lot of uncertainty.
So you write on one side of the paper all the considerations, a positive aspect of one consideration.
On the other side, you write the cons, why this may be a bad idea, something you want to avoid, something that's not ideal for you.
You may do this for a variety of situations, thinking about being an adult.
There's lots of these kind of decisions you have to make.
Maybe it's the purchase of a car.
You know your family needs a car, so how are you going to make this decision?
Are you going to get a smaller vehicle or a larger vehicle?
Are you going to get something that is maybe the color is important to you or the gas mileage is important to you?
Probably the price or if it's a used car, the mileage that's on the car is important.
Perhaps buying a house, you may consider the pros and cons of different choices that you have.
Maybe something that's close to the city center is important to you.
Or maybe you want new construction that's a little bit further out.
Maybe how many bedrooms it has or whether it has a garage or a garden.
All these things you may take into account.
Maybe if you're a student or youth, you think about the future for yourself.
Where you might go to university.
What you want your career to be.
There's a lot of uncertainty.
A lot of decisions to be made.
Where do you want to go to school?
Close to home or do you want to be far from family?
Are you going to study a particular subject that will lead to a certain career like a doctor or a nurse?
Or would you rather be a teacher or an engineer?
There's a lot of uncertainty in the decisions that we face on a daily basis.
And so that's what we see in our passage today.
This uncertainty that Paul faces with when he's faced with this big decision.
But it's not a decision about what house he's going to buy or his future at university.
It's something much more important.
It's his future regarding his life and death.
Because we see as Paul writes this letter, he's sitting under house arrest.
It remains certain.
There's a certainty that he knows as to his continued purpose.
That God may be honored in his life.
But he also is faced with great uncertainty.
Because he doesn't know what's going to happen to him.
He's awaiting trial in Rome.
What is the outcome of that trial going to be?
Is he going to be found innocent and released and receive his freedom?
Is he going to be convicted?
And sentenced to death?
What's going to happen to the church while he's in prison?
What happens to the church and the spread of the gospel if he is killed for his faith?
And so we see in this passage today this struggle that he has between what is certain and what is uncertain.
But even though there is uncertainty in his life, we see that there is great confidence.
That whatever happens in his life, that whatever happens in life and in death,
he is certain of this, that he will receive Christ's joy.
And that Christ will receive the glory.
And so that's what we're going to look at today as we turn to our passage in Philippians chapter 1,
picking up on verse 18, the second part of verse 18.
Follow along as I read.
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.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.
Yet which I should 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.
Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all
for your progress and joy and faith.
So that you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus
because of my coming to you again.
This is the Word of God.
Pray with me again.
God, we ask as we turn to the study of your Word
that you may grant us your wisdom.
That you may grant us not only understanding,
but the desire to apply these truths to our lives.
We ask, Lord, that this passage may convict us and encourage us,
that it also may provide comfort to us.
And, Lord, I pray that the words of my mouth
and the meditations of all of our hearts will be pleasing in your sight.
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Amen.
Well, as we've been going through the book of Philippians
during the month of June,
you may recognize how we've kind of very slowly moving through chapter 1.
We've kind of are coming out of the introduction.
And as we do, we start to see Paul's focus start to shift somewhat.
The subject of matter of what he's addressing is starting to move
because we know that he began by kind of looking at the past.
He's talked about the help that he's received from the church,
the struggle that he has endured.
And then he looks at the present,
what he is currently enduring in imprisonment
and how the gospel is continuing to go forth.
And now it's another pivot.
He's looking toward the future.
And so as we previously discussed,
the church at Philippi, they had great affection for Paul.
They were the first church to provide financial support to him in his ministry.
They had every desire to know how he is doing.
They're eager to get this letter from him,
to know his condition, the progress of the gospel.
And so with that, we know that there was great uncertainty
as to what was going to happen to Paul.
What was the outcome of his trial going to be?
Was he going to live?
Was he going to die?
What was going to happen to the spread of the gospel either way?
And so we see here in this passage that Paul is really trying to address a lot of their concerns.
And he does so not by merely focusing on his current circumstances,
but he focuses again on the advancement of the gospel.
He focuses on both the certainty that he has in that,
but also is vulnerable enough to express the uncertainty that he has with how that is going to come to pass.
And so that's what I want us to look at today as we look to Paul's future,
as Paul thinks into the future,
what is going to happen to him,
what is going to happen to the future of the church.
I want us to look at the certainty that Paul has in the result.
And I also want to look at the uncertainty in the root to that result.
And so let's first consider Paul's certainty in the result.
Look again at verse 19.
Yes, 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.
Now, if you remember from a couple of weeks ago,
Paul has just finished talking about the fact that he can rejoice in the spread of the gospel,
even when it's coming through envy and rivalry of other preachers.
And then he immediately follows up in the second part of verse 18 and on
with a second reason for having joy,
the reason being his deliverance.
This word in the Greek can also be translated as his salvation.
And so we see this joy that comes through Christ's word being proclaimed
and through the fact that he recognized that he is being saved.
And so it's not him actually being saved from his current circumstances.
We know there's great hardship that he's endured,
not only imprisonment, but before that,
beatings and floggings and stonings that he's been shipwrecked
and now is waiting trial at Rome.
So he's not necessarily addressing being saved from his current situation.
He has a much greater picture.
As he looks to the future, he's looking at the final judgment of Christ
and the salvation that comes to him there.
And so that's why he looks to the book of Job.
That's why we read those verses from Job 13.
If you're not familiar with the story of Job,
Job was a man who was a man of God in the Old Testament.
He had great material wealth,
great blessing of family and wealth and livestock.
And we see that Satan comes to God and says,
ask for permission to tempt Job.
Because he thinks that if you take all his things away,
Job is going to curse you and die.
And so God allows it.
And we see as a result, everything is taken away from him.
His children, his livestock, his servants, his wealth, his health.
And so even we see as he sits in misery,
his friends come to him.
And they want to give him comfort,
but instead they give him some bad counsel instead.
And they say, Job, look,
if all this bad stuff has happened to you,
you've obviously done something wrong.
You've obviously done something to anger God.
So you need to figure out what that is.
You need to apologize for your sin
so all this bad stuff will stop happening to you.
And Job responds with that passage that we read earlier.
He responds in a way that shows the wisdom that he has of God
to recognize that suffering can come,
and it's not always because of a form of punishment.
It can be a part of God's sovereign plan,
that his hope in God is not shaken,
regardless of what his circumstances are.
And so he says, as we read in verse 15,
though he slay me, yet I will hope in him.
I will surely defend my ways to his face.
Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance,
for no godless person would dare come before me.
And so this is the exact phrase that Paul uses here
when he says, this will turn out for my deliverance.
Paul recognizes that his suffering,
just like Job's, was not meaningless.
It was not a result of his own sin.
It wasn't punishment for that sin.
It was a part of God's plan in producing fruit in his life.
And so as a result, Paul is eager,
just like Job was, to go before Christ
on that final judgment day,
when he will give account before God,
when he is certain that he will be vindicated,
regardless of what happens in his current life,
regardless of the trial that he will face in Rome.
And so we see when Paul is talking about salvation,
the subject has come up several times already
in just these first few verses of chapter 1.
And we see when he talks about salvation,
it's just not a one-time act of Christ
in the past on our behalf.
It's salvation that is ongoing in process.
And so when we looked at verse 6 a few weeks ago,
it says that he who began a good work in you
will be faithful to bring it to completion
at the day of Jesus Christ.
And so what does that mean,
that our salvation is ongoing in nature?
Yes, as saints, we presently possess salvation.
But the full enjoyment of that salvation
lies in the future.
And so that's why Paul can say in Romans 13, 11,
he says salvation is nearer now
than when we first believed.
It's something that we look forward to,
the consummation of that salvation
when we experience the full enjoyment of Christ.
And so how does Paul say then in this passage
that deliverance, that salvation will occur?
He says, through your prayers
and the help of the Holy Spirit.
Now, we may think this seems weird.
If we're praying for salvation,
we may think, well, I have to pray myself
for my own salvation,
for my own help that comes from the Holy Spirit.
But Paul says, no, he's not focusing on his own prayer.
He's talking about the prayers
that he desires from the church at Philippi.
He's already voiced his prayers
for the church at Philippi a few verses ago.
And now he says, not only am I praying for you,
but I need you to pray for me.
And so through this,
we see that our faith is not individualistic in nature.
We are connected as the body of Christ to one another.
John Calvin said this,
he who depends for help on the prayers of the saints
relies on the promise of God.
And so God desires to hear our prayers,
not only the ones that we submit on our own behalf,
but the prayers that we pray for one another
because we see the result.
The result of these prayers
is that we receive the help of the Holy Spirit.
And so we see there's a direct link
between our prayers and the work of the Holy Spirit.
The presence of the Spirit in Paul's life
is supplied through the prayers of the Philippian church.
Both are instruments.
Both the prayer and the work of the Spirit
are instruments, are used
in order to bring about God's salvation.
And so that doesn't mean
that our prayers for others save them.
We don't rely on other people praying for us
that we can be saved and justified before the Father.
But it demonstrates our need
for the Holy Spirit in our lives,
that we can maintain our faith,
that we can grow like Christ.
That's why Paul gives the command later in Philippians
to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
So in order to do this,
we need to pray for the abundant supply
of the Spirit in our lives for that to happen.
Because it's the Spirit who empowers us
to persevere.
And so let us not grow complacent in our faith
to think there's nothing more we have to do.
Yes, we have been saved by the blood of Jesus.
But we are called,
after that justification,
to a life of sanctification,
to grow more and more like Christ.
So that should be our prayer,
not only for ourselves,
but our prayers for our brothers and sisters as well.
Paul's certainty continues in verse 20
when he says,
As it is my eager expectation and hope
that I will not be ashamed,
but that with full courage,
now as always,
Christ will be honored in my body,
whether by life or by death.
And so this word, eager anticipation,
in the Greek it really creates this word picture for us
of our turning our heads,
of kind of craning our necks to see something.
And so kids,
if you've ever been in a large crowd
and you want to see something,
there's people taller than you,
what do you have to do?
You kind of have to look up and around them
and between them to figure out what's going on.
You think of the story of Zacchaeus.
What did he have to do in order to see Jesus?
He had to climb a tree,
strain his neck to kind of see Jesus coming his way.
And so that's the idea that Paul is getting at here
at looking toward the future
with this eager anticipation.
And we see here that it's paired with hope.
Now in the English language,
we normally kind of just throw around that word hope
as just a kind of a means of wishing something good.
You know, I hope you have a good day.
I hope it doesn't rain today.
Well, that doesn't really,
it may not be grounded in reality,
it's just kind of a wish that we're expressing
to ourselves or to others.
But that's not how hope is used in this passage.
We see when Paul says hope,
he's looking forward with certainty,
having this reasonable confidence
that his hope will be fulfilled.
And so when we pair together
this eager anticipation and this hope,
we understand the longing that Paul has,
this desperate, unshakable expectation
that Paul has in the future.
And what's that expectation in?
What's that longing for?
It says that Christ will be honored in his body,
whether by life or by death.
And so that word honored,
it means to be magnified.
It means to be enlarged.
That's what we sang about in Psalm 34,
to magnify the Lord with me.
Let us exalt his name together.
And so when Paul,
when Paul is recognizing
others are looking to him for leadership,
others are looking for him for direction,
he doesn't want them to just see him.
He wants them to see Christ.
Just like John the Baptist,
when Christ was beginning his ministry,
some of John the Baptist's disciples
come to him and say,
hey, what's going on here?
I thought you were going to be a leader.
And what does John the Baptist say in response?
He must increase,
and I must decrease.
This is Paul's ultimate goal,
that Christ will be honored,
that Christ will be magnified in his body.
In any way possible,
in good times and in bad,
in suffering and in sickness,
in life and in death,
in all ways,
Paul wants Christ magnified in his body.
And this is the result that he is certain of.
This is the result that he strives for.
And so then that leads us to the second consideration.
If he is certain in the result that is to come,
he still experiences uncertainty in the root,
in the means for how that result is going to come about.
And so look in verse 21.
For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
If I am to live in the flesh,
that means fruitful labor for me.
Which yet I should choose,
I cannot tell.
I am hard pressed between the two.
So Paul here is certain about Christ's work.
And so the issues of life and death in his life,
they don't really threaten his faith whatsoever.
They don't tear down his confidence.
The uncertainty of this earthly faith,
it doesn't hinder him in any way.
Because he has been set free from the tyranny of fear,
of wondering what is going to happen to him,
how this is going to affect his physical body.
And so even though he doesn't experience fear,
we still see he has to wrestle with this uncertainty.
And he does so in a very open manner in this letter
that he presents to the church at Philippi.
And so as we examine this uncertainty,
we need to consider this phrase that he uses.
We've certainly heard this phrase
if you've been anywhere around the church
for any amount of time.
To live is Christ and to die is gain.
What in the world is Paul trying to say?
And so let's take that in two bits
to consider what does it mean to live as Christ.
And it may be worth thinking about first,
what does society,
what does the world around us think about life and living?
To the world, life is what people value most.
It's what we desire to protect,
desire to preserve above all else.
And so no one wants to die young.
Our desire for most people is to live
till you are a ripe old age
and at some point be able to die in your sleep.
And it's all that comes in between our birth and our death
that we are so concerned about,
seeking our own enjoyment,
seeking our own satisfaction and comfort.
We want a good job.
We want to make lots of money.
We want to be able to afford a nice house
and drive a nice car.
We want to have lots of friends.
We want an attractive spouse
and to make a family.
We want to be able to go on good holidays.
We want to avoid suffering and pain.
We want to make the most of every moment,
make great memories,
gain knowledge,
be kind.
The list goes on and on, right?
Right?
That's what the world thinks that life is meant for.
That's how we find fulfillment in life,
by these things.
But we only need to go back to the book of Ecclesiastes
in the Old Testament,
where we see the author of that book
talk about these pursuits.
And what does he say about them all?
He says they're all vanity.
They're all meaningless.
They have no value whatsoever.
It's like striving after the wind.
And so that's what Paul gets out here
in Philippians as well.
He speaks of the worthlessness
of all these pursuits
when compared to Christ.
If we look ahead to Philippians 3.8,
he says,
And so to Paul,
living is not about self
and personal satisfaction.
Living is about Christ.
We see over and over again
that Paul emphasizes this connection,
this personal connection
that we as believers have with Christ.
That's why when he uses this phrase
over and over again,
in Christ, in Christ,
we are in Christ.
In all his epistles,
we see this repeated.
We see it in various forms
when he talks about
we have fellowship with Christ,
that we are hidden in Christ,
that we are united with Christ,
that we are crucified with him,
raised with him,
made alive with him.
Over and over again,
Paul repeats this.
And so it's no different
when he's talking in general terms
about life as a whole.
He boils it down for us.
He doesn't even use
a preposition here.
There's actually no verb
in the Greek.
If you read it,
it just says,
To live Christ.
Our entire life
means Christ.
And so therefore,
knowing Christ
is our highest goal.
Gaining him
is worth
the loss of all else.
And so that's why
Paul can say
in Acts 24,
or 20-24,
I do not count
my life
of any value
nor as precious
to myself.
If only I may finish
my course in ministry
that I received
from the Lord Jesus
to testify
to the gospel
of the grace of God.
And so listen
to these words
of the Scottish theologian,
John Eady,
who summarizes
Paul's thoughts
like this.
He says,
when thinking about
what Paul means
by to live is Christ,
he says,
the preaching of Christ,
the business of my life,
the presence of Christ,
the cheer of my life,
the image of Christ,
the crown of my life,
the spirit of Christ,
the life of my life,
the love of Christ,
the power of my life,
the will of Christ,
the law of my life,
and the glory of Christ,
the end of my life.
Christ was the absorbing
element of Paul's life.
If he traveled,
it was on Christ's errand.
If he suffered,
it was in Christ's service.
When he spoke,
his theme was
Christ.
When he wrote,
Christ filled his letters.
And so we have to ask,
does that describe our lives?
Is Christ the very essence
of our lives?
Do we view worldly possessions
and pursuits
as meaningless
compared to gaining Christ?
We really need to answer
these questions.
We have to face these questions
even though they're difficult
because what we think
about life
has everything to do
with how we face death.
So what does Paul mean
when he says
that death is gain?
Charles Spurgeon,
who was a well-known minister
in England
in the 1800s,
he spoke a lot about this
and he says that
we fly like arrows
to that common target
of mankind,
the grave.
And so if death is inevitable
for all of us,
why is it such a fear
that the world has?
Well,
Spurgeon answers by saying this,
to an ungodly man to die
can never be a thing
to be desired
for what remains
to him after death.
His possessions
go from him
like birds
that have rested
for a little while
upon a field
but take to their wings
when travelers
clap their hands.
So all the worldlings' riches
must take to themselves
wings
and fly away.
And so if our lives
are preoccupied
with the collection
of these possessions
and pursuits,
then it's really understandable
to think why death
would want to be avoided
at all costs,
why the world
fears death.
Because it's the absence
of all security,
all that we've been trying
to build up in this world
for our own comfort,
for our own safety,
is stripped from us.
And so how then
can Paul say
that death is gain?
As we've discussed,
to live in Christ,
if that's our goal,
if that's our mindset
just like Paul says,
then we're striving
for sanctification
to become more
and more like Christ.
Our goal in life
brings us to abandon
all else
in order that we can
gain Christ.
And so if that is
our desire,
if that is our result
that we want,
that we can gain Christ,
then by that reasoning
death is ultimate gain
for us.
Because not only
are we striving
to be like Christ anymore,
we have Christ.
That's why Paul says
in 2 Corinthians,
to be absent from the body
is to be present
with the Lord.
This is what Paul wants
more than anything else.
When he's stating
his preferences
between whether he lives
and he dies,
what does he say
in verse 23?
My desire is to depart
and to be with Christ,
for that is far better.
If we go back to Spurgeon again,
he says this,
what a believer
loses of comfort here
is made up to him
a thousandfold
by the joys
of the hereafter.
He knows that for him
there is a crown
of triumph
and a palm of victory,
for him a harp
of ecstatic joy,
for him the robe
of immaculate purity,
for him a place
at the right hand of God,
even the Father,
in eternal security
and indescribable delight.
Therefore,
the Christian
not only regards death
as a necessity
through which he hopes
to be supported
as a patient
through a painful operation,
but he looks
for his departure
as an heir looks forward
to the day
of his majority,
as a bride anticipates
her wedding day.
And so is that our heart?
Certainly at some point
or another,
we've all considered
our own mortality.
Maybe we've had
some sort of close brush
with death before.
Maybe an accident
or an illness.
Maybe even just
our emotions
or a bad dream
that we've had
that we recognize
that death is imminent
in our lives
at some point in time.
And so in that moment,
is there fear
or do we stand ready
and eager even
to gain the personal presence
of the Lord?
Does the thought
of spending eternity
with the one true living God
give us that desire,
as Paul says,
to depart immediately
and be with him?
And Paul's not saying this
in such a way
to be morbid,
to think that he's going
to take his life
because he so wants
to be with Christ.
But he says this
as a means
of encouragement.
For as believers,
we have no fear
in death
because the result
of death
is Christ.
But although Paul
longs to be present
with the Lord,
we still see that
he faces this
internal struggle.
He has to choose
between life and death
and know that's not
his choice to make.
He's expressing,
what is my preference here?
What would I prefer?
If he's only thinking
about his own self-interest,
like he said,
he'd rather depart
and be with Christ.
But that's not
his own consideration here,
his only consideration.
He's also considering
the welfare of the church.
So if we go back
to verse 22,
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.
And so Paul here,
he's being very vulnerable.
He's giving this
behind-the-scenes look
into his own thought process.
Much like we talked
about at the beginning,
making this list
of pros and cons.
This is what kind of
Paul is doing
as he's fleshing out
his thoughts in this letter.
And we may think,
man, if I were to write a letter,
I may be a little more certain
about my own feelings
before I write a letter
to the church.
But we see Paul is,
like I said,
being vulnerable here.
He wants the church
to learn from his struggle,
from his own thought process
because as we've talked
about before,
there's a theme
that runs through Philippians.
We know that theme
of joy is there,
but there's also
this theme of unity.
unity that's needed
within the church.
And so Paul wants
the saints of the church
to follow his lead,
to put their interests aside
and consider the interests
of others,
to be able to love
and serve others
in such a way
as Christ would.
And so Paul is leading
by example here.
It's his desire,
ultimately,
to do what is best
for the church.
And so if his life
will result in fruitful labor
that will benefit the church,
this is what he wants.
And he says specifically
what these benefits
will be to his labor.
It says in verse 25,
Convinced of this,
I know that I will remain
and continue with you all
for your progress
and joy in the faith.
And so Paul's two desires then
are for the church's progress
and for their joy.
Again, Paul's making the point here
that our faith is not
some static thing.
We don't come to salvation
simply by praying a prayer
and then going back to living
just as our lives were before.
Faith, true faith,
is something that's dynamic.
It's something that changes.
We are compelled to grow
in our faith with Christ.
As we read the word,
as we hear the word preached,
as we spend time
learning from one another,
spending time in fellowship
and in service with one another,
we don't want to be
who we were
when we first came to Christ.
We want to see evidence
of his work in our lives.
And so I've helped coach
my son's football team
for the last couple years,
their school team,
and when we started,
there's just tons of boys
that show up.
And over time,
that number kind of
dwindles down a bit.
Boys decide
it may not be their sport.
They may decide
to do something else.
And it's really,
it's common.
The boys that stop playing
are usually the boys
that haven't made
any progress in the sport,
whether because they're really
not that athletic
or that football
is just not their thing.
They realize that
if I'm making progress,
I'm not having fun,
there's no joy in it,
it's more frustration
than anything else.
And so the same
is true of us.
We experience joy
when we grow
in our faith.
We don't want to be
baby Christians forever.
And it's not this joy
of self-satisfaction
to say,
look how much I've grown,
look how great I've become.
No, it's a joy
in recognizing
the evidence
of Christ's work
in our life.
And so as our faith progresses,
our joy should deepen.
And so in this letter,
I just want to make clear,
because we've talked a lot
in recent weeks
about suffering of Paul,
the suffering
that we should expect.
Now we talk about
adversity and death.
I don't want this
to overshadow
Paul's whole theme
of this letter.
This is known
as the epistle of joy.
Paul is starting
this passage
and ending this passage
with his own joy.
Joy that regardless
of his circumstances,
regardless of his suffering,
he is confident
in the work of Christ.
He is confident
in the joy
that will come
to the church
through his ministry.
And so his joy
isn't held captive
by the unknown.
It's not hindered
by the uncertainty
around him.
Regardless of life
or death,
we see here
that Paul
can find joy.
And so the same
is true for us.
Do we rejoice
in the Lord?
Can we rejoice
in the midst
of uncertainty?
Even though we don't know
how long we're going to live,
what we might suffer,
when we might die,
can we hold on
to the joy
of knowing that Christ
is at work
in our lives?
That we can experience
the full joy
of that salvation
when we are united
with Christ again.
that's what Paul
wants us to see
in this letter.
But it's really not
singularly focused
on joy
because that's not
how this passage
ends.
Joy is not the
ultimate end here.
It's the means
to something more.
And so if we look
at verse 25
and 26,
it says,
Notice again
this progression
in Paul's reasoning here.
Paul is willing
to keep on living
because he knows
that his life
is going to lead to fruit.
And he knows
that that fruit
is going to lead
to progress in the church.
And he knows
that progress
is going to lead to joy
and that joy
ultimately will lead
to the glory of God.
And so we see
that the glory of God
goes hand in hand
with our joy.
And so this is
a good thing for us
because I think
this is one of the things
that the outside world
mistakes about the church.
When they think
about Christians,
they may think of us
as unhappy law keepers
that just have to do
what we can
to please
a judgmental,
upset God.
But that's not
what Paul is saying here.
It's basically
that God's glory
comes through
our joy.
When we realize
that to live
is Christ
and to die
is gain,
there is no sacrifice
that we have to make.
We get to hold on
to that joy.
And it's that joy
that's part of
Paul's commitment
to the glory of God.
It is the underlying
reasoning
for the decisions
that he makes.
He wants to see
the glory of God.
And he knows
that that will be paired
with his own joy.
And so if you're here today,
maybe you're not
a believer.
Maybe you can't say
to live is Christ
and to die is gain.
I ask you simply,
what's holding you back?
What is keeping you
from Christ?
Is it the things
of this world,
possessions
and pursuits
that the world says
brings purpose?
Christ said,
Paul says very clearly here
that these are both
temporary and worthless
compared to knowing Christ.
And so there is no
greater pursuit,
there is no greater possession
than having Christ.
In a world full of uncertainty,
he is the one
who gives joy
and he is the one
who we hope in,
both in life
and in death.
And so this is a reminder too
for you,
brother and sister,
that although there is
certainty in the root,
the result is certain.
And so we can be confident
in the work of Christ.
We can delight
in the joy of Christ.
And we can long
for the glory of Christ.
Let's pray.
Oh God,
how we long
for your glory.
Surrounded by uncertainty
in our lives,
it's so easy
to take our vision
away from you.
To be concerned
about our own welfare
could be scared of death.
Oh God,
but may we know
that to live is Christ
and to die
is gain.
May Christ
be our ultimate desire.
May your glory
be our ultimate passion.
may we experience
your joy
in honoring you
with our bodies.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Now will you stand with me
for our final hymn,
Christ,
our hope
in life and death.
and now of the promise
the filling
of our man
and the
love
and the
il Go
in