The scripture reading comes from Philippians chapter 1, starting in verse 18b.
Please follow along on the screen or your Bible.
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 at all be 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 shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard-pressed
between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 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 in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause
to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again. This is the word of God.
Thank you, Kathy, for reading the passage. Sounds so much better when you read it than when I say it
in my head. Good morning again. My name is Oscar. I'm one of the leaders here at Watermark, and it's
really a privilege to be sharing the message with everyone today. Let me pray for us.
Father God, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, just pray that you have your way over the next 30 or so minutes,
God, that your spirit would help me with clarity of thoughts and speech, that the message would be
clear and concise. And I pray for all of us listening, tuning in, that our hearts would be soft and
accepting of your word, God, and I just pray that it would fall on fertile soil. Help us to see this
incredible Jesus that Paul loved, to see the beauty of Christ so much more clearly. Have your way,
God, today. In Jesus' name. Amen. When I was young, my ambition was to be a professional tennis player.
From the age of 11 years old, I spent probably up to 25 hours a week on the court training, in the gym,
and on weekends playing tennis tournaments. My parents spent an enormous amount of time,
energy, and money on my tennis. I didn't have much of a social life when I was a teenager. In fact,
if you ask me now, what did teenagers do in the 90s? I actually have no idea. I didn't do any of those
things. Our ambition drives us to do many things. Our ambition drives us to work hard, to make sacrifices,
to change our behavior because we think it would benefit us long term. Our ambition pushes us to
persevere in the face of adversity because we have a vision, a goal, or a prize that we are striving
towards. For some of us, maybe our ambition is to make money and retire. Perhaps if you are a university
student, your ambition is to graduate, find a good job, and make a name for yourself in the world.
Or maybe your ambition is to get married and have a family. As we continue our sermon series on the
book of Philippians, in today's passage, we'll look at Paul's ambition. Paul lays out his life school
very clearly. In verse 20, he says, it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not at all be
ashamed, but that with full courage, now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life
or by death. If Paul had a mission statement, this would be it. This was his reason to exist, that Jesus
Christ would be honored in his body, in life, and in death. The word honored can be translated as
exalted, i.e. lifted high, or magnified, i.e. made big. In a word, Paul's ambition was that the name of
Jesus would be glorified, glorified through him. He deeply desired that all who knew him, from the
disciples that he planted at those churches, to the prison officials who guarded him day and night,
that they would see through Paul a glimpse of the beauty, the kindness, as well as the sovereignty and
majesty of Jesus. And how did Paul go about doing this? How did he glorify the name of Jesus?
Jesus by doing two things, by loving Jesus and by loving those around him. Sounds simple, but if we're
honest, they're both pretty difficult to execute. And so, Christ-centered ambition, if we were to define it,
is to glorify the name of Jesus Christ through loving him and loving others. And this morning, we'll
try to unpack these verses and see what that looks like in Paul's life and in our lives.
Now, if you look again at the end of verse 20, Paul desired that Christ would be honored in my body,
whether by life or by death. And then in verse 21, he follows it up by saying,
for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. In Paul's life, we can pretty easily imagine how he
glorified Jesus. He spent all of his time spreading the gospel. He suffered for the sake of Jesus. And
he did all of this joyfully, not out of guilt or compulsion, but because he had a deep love for his
Lord Jesus. But then he says this interesting thing in verse 21. He says, and to die is gain.
How does dying glorify the name of Jesus? How would he be able to preach the gospel if he died?
Well, let's read on to see what Paul says about his own death. In verse 23, he says, I'm hard pressed
between the two, i.e. living and dying. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far
better. Now, is Paul saying that he desired death because his life of suffering and persecution were
too much to bear and therefore death would be a release? Or is he saying that he desired death
because he believed that in heaven, in paradise, he'd be able to experience all those worldly carnal
pleasures that he gave up to be in ministry for most of his life? Well, of course, Paul is not saying
either of these things. Paul said, to die is gain because in death, he would finally be face to face
with Jesus Christ, the one he loved and the one he adored above everything else he had ever experienced
in the world. Can you sense Paul's deep love, adoration and desire for Jesus?
And so for the Christian, one way that Jesus is glorified is when we love him so much
that we consider death as gain because we gain Christ.
Now, let's not kid ourselves here. This is extremely challenging. I myself have been preparing this
sermon for a little while now and this idea that death is gain is still very difficult for me to swallow
because by definition, in death, we are forced to give up all that we deem as good and valuable,
fun and exciting. Goodbye to all those worldly ambitions. No more retirement, playing golf and tennis
every day. No more beach vacations in Thailand or Vietnam, which I personally love.
Your shoe or watch collection, they will return to dust. No more marriages. No more having children.
But Paul says to die is gain because in heaven, there is something infinitely greater than any of the
greatest experiences or relationships that this world has to offer. So now the question is,
what did Paul see or experience that gave him such an incredible level of conviction in and love for Jesus?
Well, it's because Paul experienced Jesus. He had an intimate relationship with his Lord. He knew Jesus.
Now, I'm sure Paul experienced Jesus in many ways. Let me just highlight two ways. First, he experienced
the grace of Jesus. In your Bible, if you turn back a few books from Philippians to the book of Acts,
in Acts chapter 7, there's a story about the stoning of a man named Stephen who was a disciple of Jesus.
Paul was there at the stoning of Stephen, but not defending Stephen, but actually persecuting him,
encouraging his murder. Paul was a murderer. By any objective measure before he came to know Jesus,
he was a terrible person. But upon repenting and giving his life to Jesus, he experienced the wonderful
mercy and grace that only Jesus can offer. But Paul only experienced grace because he knew the depths
of his own sin. In 1 Timothy 15, Paul says, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am
the worst. The Bible's greatest evangelist, the man who wrote a lot of the New Testament, confessed,
I am the worst of sinners. But instead of moping around, feeling depressed and ashamed of his past sins,
Paul lists the eyes of his heart up to the risen Christ. He sees the scars on the hands and feet of Jesus,
and he rejoices knowing that his sins are not only forgiven, they're wiped from the face of the earth.
And not because of anything Paul did, but only because of what our Lord Jesus did on the cross when he gave his life for us.
That is grace, undeserved and unearned. And Paul experienced that.
And second, Paul experienced joy in Jesus. We know from last Sunday's sermon that Jeremy gave,
that Paul wrote Philippians from prison. And it wasn't, it was probably not a white collar,
nice prison with three hot meals a day and a big screen TV. It was probably a dank, dark, disgusting,
rat infested prison. And Paul was on death row throughout his life of ministry. Paul was beaten.
He was stoned. He was persecuted. He suffered tremendously. And yet, look how joyful he was all
the time. It's incredible when I think about it. Nothing, absolutely nothing can depress or bog him down.
If you look at this beginning of the passage in verse 18, Paul starts out with saying,
yes, and I will rejoice. He's rejoicing because the gospel is being preached,
even though some of those doing the preaching are doing so out of selfish ambition.
Now, Paul could have said, hey, let's stop those guys from preaching. Their intention is wrong.
After all, they were probably diluting Paul's own message while he was stuck in jail. But instead,
Paul sees God redeeming a bad situation for good. And for that, he rejoices.
Now, you and I, we can't escape suffering and challenges in this life. When one challenge goes away,
another comes. But what the life of Paul and the entire Bible shows us is that in Christ,
we can experience joy in all seasons. Now, most of us will probably not face the type of suffering that
Paul faced, although some of us might. But we all do suffer and struggle in our own ways, don't we?
For me, this season has been a particularly challenging time for my job and career.
If you didn't know, I don't work at Watermark. I've been working in finance for the past 15 or so years.
And just a few months ago, I was notified by my employer that I've been losing my job.
Now, if I'm honest, when I first got that call, I was pretty upset. I was angry. I was blaming
everything I possibly could. But then after speaking to my wife, Celeste, and praying with her,
and then doing the same with the Watermark elders and a number of other brothers in Christ,
honestly, the sense that I've been feeling in my heart is one of peace and joy.
Sometimes when I tell a friend that I've lost my job, they look at me like,
why aren't you more angry or anxious or upset?
You have three children to feed and educate in Hong Kong. Are you crazy?
Maybe I am crazy. But I can just be honest with you that I feel great.
I feel that God would take care of me because he's able to do immeasurably more than all I could
ever ask or imagine according to the power that is at work within us.
I've lost my place here. I'm sorry.
Excuse me.
When we suffer or lose something like a job or a boyfriend or girlfriend, or when we lose
control of our teenage child, our natural response is to worry. But what the Bible teaches us is to
respond in a very different way by running to Jesus and experiencing his joy. How? By getting on
our knees in prayer. By asking our brothers and sisters in Christ to pray with us, to pray
for us, to intercede with God on our behalf.
Look at Paul. In verse 19, he writes,
through your prayers and the help of the spirit of Jesus Christ,
this, i.e. his time in jail,
will turn out for my deliverance.
Paul was a man of great faith, no doubt, but even Paul knew that
he needed the prayer coverage of the saints and the power of God's spirit to carry him through
his time in prison. I don't think suffering in jail was that easy for Paul. But he knew that joy
doesn't come simply from positive thinking. It can only come, deep joy can only come from the one who
created joy, and that is Jesus Christ.
So, what did Paul experience in Jesus that made him love him so much?
One, he experienced the grace of Jesus,
and two, he experienced joy in Jesus.
And part of Christ-centered ambition
is to glorify the name of Jesus
by loving him through experiencing his grace and joy,
as we've just said.
But it's also through loving our neighbors.
It's both upward to God and outward to those around us.
Although Paul desired to depart and to be with Jesus,
he knew God was calling him to remain in this world for some time,
to love and care for the church,
to love and care for his disciples and anyone else
that he met along the way.
In verse 24,
Paul says,
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 in the faith.
Ever said to yourself,
I want to help my spouse,
my CG member,
or my friend have more joy in Jesus?
Ever thought about that?
Well, Paul did.
He was ambitious about spreading joy.
He himself had this deep sense of joy rooted in Christ
and his joy was highly contagious
because he rejoiced in all circumstances,
even in prison.
And that was a great encouragement to the church.
But Paul was also intentional about spreading joy.
And he did this by serving others,
putting their needs above his own.
Paul prayed for the church.
He visited the church.
He wrote them letters.
Paul prayed for the church.
While in jail.
He loved others and wanted those around him
to receive the joy that he experienced.
But loving others is not always convenient.
In the midst of being persecuted in prison,
Paul didn't just look inward at himself,
which he could have.
He was in a tough spot.
Instead, he looked outward at those around him
and said,
God has called me to help you receive the grace and joy
that I have experienced.
Perhaps some of us think that before we can care for a Christian,
before we can share the gospel to our friend,
that we need to have our lives perfectly sorted first,
that we need to have a stable job and income,
or to have sent our kids off to university,
before we have the mental and physical capacity to care for another person.
But Paul is teaching us in this passage actually the exact opposite.
In the midst of suffering,
in the midst of huge uncertainty,
in all seasons,
God is calling us to glorify his name through loving others.
Paul's life was messy.
Our lives are messy.
My life is incredibly messy.
But it's exactly when your life is a mess
that God can use you and I most effectively,
because then it's not our glory,
it's his glory.
Now, I don't mean to pretend that we don't have pain or suffering,
particularly in this time of coronavirus,
what's happening in our city of Hong Kong.
But what I do believe very strongly
is that as we struggle and wrestle through our challenges that we face,
God actually wants to bless us with his joy.
And if we can come to a place
where in the midst of our struggles,
we rejoice in God,
and we can care for somebody else,
man, that is an incredible way
of glorifying in the name of Jesus,
is it not?
But there's also often a cost
when we love others.
Paul said,
my desire is to depart and be with Christ,
for that is far better.
Counterintuitively,
Paul actually preferred death over life
because in death,
he'd be in the presence of his beloved Jesus.
But he submits to God's authority
to remain in the flesh
because he knew that God would be able to bless others through him.
And Paul can freely submit to God's will
for his very existence,
despite the cost to him,
because he saw Jesus as the ultimate example
of one who surrendered.
In Philippians 2,
which we will study next Sunday,
Paul writes that Jesus,
who is equal to the majesty in heaven
in all respects,
he gave up his sovereignty,
becoming just a man.
And if that wasn't enough,
Jesus gave his very life
as he suffered on that cross
for you and I,
the truest,
purest,
ultimate example
of sacrifice
and submission.
And so for us,
at times,
God calls us to love others
despite the risk
and the cost.
I think of my wife,
Celeste.
A few months ago,
she was chatting with her boss
and the topic of faith
and religion
came up.
And Celeste quickly decided
to share her testimony
of how she fell in love
with Jesus.
Now,
was that risky
to share her faith
in her workplace
with her boss?
Possibly.
But was it worth it
to magnify,
to make Jesus known
in her workplace?
Absolutely.
And how about for some of us
who are married?
Sometimes between husband and wife,
when we fight with each other,
there's really no right or wrong.
And yet we get so frustrated
and angry.
How about instead of trying
to rack our brains
to figure out why I'm right
and why my spouse is wrong,
we can actually approach our spouse
and say,
Honey,
I'm sorry.
Sorry I made you upset and angry.
Can you forgive me?
Can we pray together?
How about in our community groups?
There are conflicts
in our community groups,
right,
if we're honest.
But how about
when we have a conflict?
Instead of approaching it
with the mentality of
I'm right and you're wrong,
we can approach it and say,
Hey,
I made some mistakes.
You approach that person,
you say,
Hey,
I've wronged you.
I confess.
Will you forgive me?
You see,
humbling ourselves
and apologizing
is costly
because,
well,
it hurts our pride.
But in Jesus,
we don't apologize
out of fear,
but actually
out of a deep sense
of security,
knowing that Jesus
will honor
our sacrifice
and our humility
because he was the one
who humbled himself
on that cross
to a far greater extent
than we will ever
comprehend.
And when
we share the gospel
with someone
despite the risk,
and when
we apologize
and reconcile
despite the cost,
when we encourage,
care for,
and pray for someone
and help them see
the beauty of Jesus
despite the inconvenience,
but help them see
the joy
that you have
and receive joy,
man,
we actually ourselves
experience joy
in Jesus.
We help someone
receive joy
and then we receive joy
in return.
this is how
the ecosystem
of the gospel works.
So now we've seen
how Christ-centered ambition
is to glorify
the name of Jesus Christ
through loving him
and loving other people.
But what about
our other ambitions?
Can Christ-centered ambition
coexist
with my other ambitions
such as
having a good career
or raising a family?
Well,
it's really a matter
of priorities.
At work
is our sole
and most important
ambition
to make money
or
can we work hard
because
we honor God
with our work
but our priority,
what is most important
to us
is that at work
we build meaningful
relationships
such that we can
ultimately
share the gospel
with our colleagues.
And with our kids
is our main ambition
for them to
get good grades
and to go
to a good university
to find a name
for themselves
in the world.
Or is the beauty
of Jesus
so precious
to us
as parents
that above all
we prioritize
our children's
spiritual life
over their
academic life
by actually
spending time
teaching them
about the love
of Jesus.
Or in relationships,
do we only
build relationships
that can benefit us?
Or do we
prayerfully
and intentionally
look to
invest in
relationships
through hospitality
or discipleship
or through
sharing the gospel?
God calls us,
Watermark,
to be a people
who put the gospel
ambition
above our own ambition
because Jesus
is the prize
that we strive
towards
and glorifying
him
is our goal.
because at the
end of the day,
worldly ambition,
stuff that we
are striving for
every day,
it will never
satisfy us
like Jesus can.
Look at Paul.
I imagine that
he was a pretty
ambitious guy.
Prior to meeting
Jesus,
he was moving up
that religious ladder
pretty quickly.
But after meeting
Christ,
Paul said,
whatever was
to my profit,
I now consider
loss,
nothing
for the sake
of Christ.
What happened?
He experienced
Jesus.
He met Jesus,
he experienced
Jesus and soon
realized his
worldly ambitions
would never
satisfy him
like Jesus
could.
And I think
if we're honest,
most of us
would say the
same thing.
If our ambition
is to make
money,
to make a lot
of money,
once we get
to that number
we think will
make us happy,
it never does.
We always
want more.
If our ambition
is to set up
our lives
to have as much
comfort and
pleasure as we
possibly can,
we'll never get
there because
there are always
diminishing returns
in worldly
pleasure.
Once you eat
at a one
Michelin star
restaurant,
you go to
the two
Michelin star
and then the
three.
Pretty soon
you'll have to
make ten
Michelin star
restaurants and
even those
will never
satisfy the
most experienced
palate.
because as
C.S.
Lewis famously
said,
if we find
ourselves with
a desire that
nothing in this
world can
satisfy,
the most
probable
explanation is
that we were
made for
another world.
No ambition
in this world
can truly
satisfy our
souls except
the creator
himself,
Jesus Christ.
the world
will say to
you,
be ambitious,
prove yourself
to me,
accomplish more,
look better,
and then I
will love
you.
What does
Jesus say?
Jesus says,
you have nothing
to prove to
me,
I already
know you,
I forged
you in your
mother's womb,
I know you
better than
anyone else
does,
and I love
you.
The world
says have
goals,
work harder,
do more,
sacrifice,
and then
you'll be
happy.
Jesus says,
come to
me,
all those
who are
burdened,
burnt out,
worried and
anxious about
their future
because of all
this uncertainty,
and Jesus
says,
come to
me,
and in
me you
will find
rest,
and peace,
and joy,
and everlasting
satisfaction.
You and I
were created
to know
this Jesus.
We were
created to
experience
Jesus,
to experience
the joy
and grace
of Jesus.
But to
know Jesus
and to
experience
him,
we must
prioritize
him in
our lives.
When I
played
tennis,
I missed
so many
school events
because I
was off
playing a
tennis
tournament.
In fact,
I even
missed my
college
graduation
ceremony.
But I
believed it
was totally
worth it
because I
love
tennis.
I put
it above
most
things in
my
life.
In the
same way,
if we
want to
experience
Jesus,
if we
want to
experience
his grace
and joy
and satisfaction
in him,
we need to
prioritize him
in our
lives.
Our love
for Jesus
grows day
by day
as we
meditate on
his word,
as we
pray and
fast,
as we
spend time
sharing our
lives with
our
community.
In
tennis,
it took
me years
and hitting
thousands
of tennis
balls before
I was good
enough to
play in
university.
And in
our faith,
it does
take time
as well.
And every
time we
experience a
little bit
of the joy
of Christ,
a little bit
of the grace
of Christ,
every time we
wake up and
we pray and
we're satisfied
in him,
it's like we
put a brick
down and
then brick
by brick
until those
bricks become
a tower.
And that is
how our
love for
our beloved
Jesus grows,
but we
must prioritize
him.
Let me
close here.
The world
is constantly
telling us
to be
ambitious
for
ourselves,
to glorify
ourselves,
but that is
the way to
lose everything
both in
this life
and the
next.
As this
passage from
Philippians
teaches us,
Christ-centered
ambition is to
glorify the
great name
of Jesus
Christ above
all things
through loving
him and
through loving
those, loving
people around
us.
It's the greatest
commandment to
love the Lord
your God with
all your heart,
soul, mind,
and strength,
and to love our
neighbors as
ourselves.
And as we
prioritize Jesus
in our lives,
we experience him
more and we
grow to love
him more.
We experience
more of his
grace and
joy and
become more
satisfied in
him and less
satisfied in
the stuff of
the world.
And as his
love sinks
deeper into
our hearts,
like Paul,
we are compelled
to love those
around us.
It'll be
inconvenient,
it'll be risky
and costly
at times,
but for the
glory of the
name of Jesus,
it'll be worth
it.
Watermark,
may our
greatest ambition
be to glorify
the name of
Jesus Christ
in our city
and in our
world.
Let's pray.
Father,
Jesus,
Holy Spirit,
thank you for
your word,
which is so
powerful.
It changes
hearts,
it impacts
lives,
it turns
dead people
into life,
sleepy Christians
to those that
are alive and
on fire for
you.
God,
as we
continue to
meditate on
your word,
not what I've
said,
but your word,
Father,
your Holy
Scripture,
I pray,
God,
that you
would do
an amazing
work in
us,
Father.
Help us
to love
Jesus,
to see him,
God,
as Paul did,
to love
Jesus with
an undying
love,
Father,
and to
experience
joy in
him,
to experience
more of
his grace,
to be more
satisfied in
him,
such that
the stuff
that we're
pursuing in
this world,
all our
worldly ambitions
would fade
away,
God.
Come,
Lord Jesus,
help us,
Father.
And I pray,
God,
as that happens
in our lives,
Lord,
we'd be a
church that
would sacrificially
love others,
God,
despite the
cost,
the risk,
the inconvenience,
and all those
things.
Help us,
God,
to do so,
not because
we feel
guilty,
but because
we love
you so much,
we want
this good
news to
reach everyone,
God,
that we know,
Father.
Lord,
may you be
glorified in
our city,
in our world.
We love
you.
Pray this in
your name.
Amen.