If there were ever a poll taken
amongst God's people about Philippians 1, verse 21, where Paul says,
For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is far better. Or some translations say, gain.
If you were to ask people what that meant, I imagine as many
as there are hearts beating, there would probably be that
many faults as to what it means. In some sense I think it would
be that way because just as Paul says, to me, to live is Christ. So therefore to us, to each of
us individually, we could then know what it means for Christ
to be life, for us and our lives to be Christ, that our living
is Christ. It's a difficult thing in our
world, even amongst God's people, because I would also suggest
that maybe as a whole, because of how we believe and think and
feel and listen, we oftentimes would have to readily admit that
we're incorrectly considering what that might mean. But for
most people in the world, not the church, but for most people
in the world, they would not say, for me to live as Christ. As a matter of fact, if you ask
the question, what is the purpose of life? Very few people in this
world would even give Christ an option. Very few people in
this world would even consider Christ as an answer. Even in
so much as that he would not even be in the paragraph of explanation. Maybe the opening explicative.
Maybe the opening, hmm, I never thought about that. Jesus, let
me see. But other than giving him the
grand central stage of one's life, that's only found in the
lives of those who are called and redeemed by the gospel of
Christ. And as we look at Paul's life,
as we look at what he means internally and contextually with this phrase,
as we've already seen really what he's talking about, that
we will expound upon it a little bit more. Our hope today is that
each of us would evaluate our own hearts. that we would look
at our own lives in respect to the truth that Paul speaks here,
that to live is Christ, and to die is far better. To live is
Christ. And as we grow in our faith,
as we mature in our worship, as we grow in our understanding
of who God is, so that our hearts would be more in tune with affection
toward Him, and the things that He calls excellent, We would
evaluate every day these things that stand in the way of actually
being able to say to me, to live is Christ. Well I know that in
the context of churchmanship or congregationalism or Christendom,
we might all be a little puzzled. Well who would say that Christ
is not the purpose for living or that He is not their life.
Or Jesus Himself did say, I am the way and the truth and the
life. But this is not what Paul is trying to communicate here.
Paul is saying to me to live. The act of my living is Christ. The purpose of my living is Christ. My life is Christ's. You might say, well nobody would
dare disagree with that. But then yet, what is it that
we post in our cheerleading opportunities in our lives every moment? I've
often argued that every human being that ever breathed is an
apologist. And that every human being that
ever breathed is an evangelist. And here's how I know this is
true. There's not a day that goes by I do not see some bumper
sticker on the back of some car about some pride that one person
might have because their son is an army or their daughter
is navy or at least honor roll student. Or maybe if it's not
there, it's in the paper. Or maybe it's on their Facebook
page. Or maybe it's someplace posted. But people evangelize that which
is most dear to them. They share it. This is the good
news to us. My grandchild is born. There's
nothing wrong with that. But it's ironic to me that we
as a human race, we are evangelist in every aspect of our lives,
that which is dearest and most precious to us, yet when it comes
to the gospel of grace, we remain silent. The same thing is true
with defending that which is true. The very idea of being
an evangelist for the loves of our life show us that in the
answers of the world, we're really no difference when we ask, what
is life? For many people would say, life
is family. Life is career. Life is this
or that. Or, you know, life is being in
Christ and being successful. And here's how we define success.
Or life is being, you know, in the church, doing the things
that the church does. There's many answers that have
been given me, by me, through the years. Not to count that
which I've heard and experienced and witnessed. The world, and
sadly even many among the church, not necessarily saying that they
are the church, would argue that life in itself is ours for the
living. That it is for us, and that God
has put us in this life for us to have joy, and happiness, and
glory, and success, and wealth, and all of these things. And
while we could biblically argue that that is true, defining those
things, defining joy, defining happiness, defining success,
defining wealth, is much different for the Christian than it is
for the world. For the Christian, it is everything's going well,
I'm in good shape, I'm in good health, my bank account is full,
and I'm doing moral things in the world. Friends, let me give
you a sound bite that I give often. Jesus died on the cross
to save his church from morality. Jesus died on the cross to save
his church from the love of money. Jesus died on the cross to save
his church from the love of church. Keep yourself from idols, John
would say. And so when we start to really get apples and compare
them with apples, we realize we've really not seen a lot of
comparison in these things. I've heard many sermons on this
particular text, and I don't propose today that I'm going
to do any more justice than any other sermon that I've ever heard
on this particular text. But one thing is for sure, I
want to show you in the context what I believe Paul is talking
about. And most embarrassingly is that I'm going to have to
preach something twice. As we look at what Paul means by this
statement, he explains it in the next four chapters, the next
three chapters. He explains to live as Christ. He shows us what that looks like
in his life. He shows us what that looks like
in the life of the Christian. And in some sense, not necessarily
by command, though he does, but not necessarily, not only by
command, like he says, only let your manner of life be worthy
of the gospel of Christ, but also by just example of his own
heart, we begin to learn that the gospel should have that much
effect upon our lives. When Paul says that I count all
these things as garbage, as loss, as rubbish, in order that I may
gain and be found in Christ, It starts to make sense to me
that the life that we live is not about us. And the life that
we live, while we can have things go our way in the worldly sense,
friends, that's not a promise of God. It's a temporal, small,
minute sneeze of a blessing. Just the same blessing as when
everything goes wrong. Paul here, remember what he's
talking about. Remember the context in which
he speaks. The situation that he's in. Where
as he suffered in the prisons of Philippi, so in the same manner
he suffered in the prisons of Rome. He appealed to Caesar. This is review. And now he has
to wait for two years before he can be acquitted. He's being
mocked. He's being made little. He's
being ridiculed. He's being encouraged to just
leave this garbage alone. You know, all you have to do
is just come out from under this Christianity and they'll let
you go. And you can get back to the life
that you had. Look what you are letting go,
Paul. And you've changed your name to your Saul for crying
out loud. Look what you are doing for the
sake of this dead man raised to life, who you say is God. Look at what's happening to your
world. Even if you did believe this, could you just tone it
down a little bit so that you would be fruitful in ministry?
That's advice I've heard often in the last three and a half
years. Could you just tone down your preaching? Could you just
tone down the answers to these questions? Could you just tone
down this theological stance that you take? Could you just
tone down Could you preach a little bit about being a good man or
having fun or enjoying life with your family and get out of this
textual preaching? These are comments that have
been made to my face and not necessarily in this building
but out of this building and in this building. How do we do
that when we see the fullness of life in the gospel of Jesus
Christ? When we see that the power of God rests in the words
of Christ that is completely polarizing at every turn. There
is no north and south pole, it's all polarizing. The 360 degree
sphere of the gospel retracts everything. It pushes everything
away. It makes the world hate it. Except
that those in the world who did hate it are given a heart then
to love it. To see it as it is. Paul speaks
this way in the context of great suffering, in the context of
great persecution. And the world looking at him,
Paul, would say, you are not living. You are not living. You are in chains. But then Paul
will argue, I was in chains, but now I'm free. The gospel
is not bound. I am free. The gospel is free. I, therefore, am enslaved in
my flesh for the sake of Christ, just as I was enslaved for the
sake of Christ on the road to Damascus. See, that's the whole
thing that I think we miss in this. This sermon will have a
very philosophical feel to it. So we have to be very careful
that we just don't ponder on these feelings. We have to be
careful that we don't ponder on these theories. We have to
be careful that we don't ponder on what it means to me in a relativistic
way, but rather we ponder in that what did it mean to Paul
and then how do we prove it. And I believe for Paul, Paul,
when he says, I, to me, for me, to me, however your Bible says
it in verse 20, 21, for to me to live is Christ. So let's just think about that
for a minute. To live is Christ. Now if we think of it in the
way that it sounds and is written, that means if I'm living, Then
that is Christ. My life is Christ. The fact that I'm alive is Christ. He didn't say is because of Christ.
He didn't say is for Christ. But all of that can be combined
into that in the fullness of how Paul explains it, that his
entire living, the fullness of his being, every breath that
he takes, every thought that he has, every blink of his eye,
every pump of his heart, every ache of his body, every drop
of sweat, every tear of his flesh is Christ. The good and the great. and everything in between. Because
for Paul, even the harshest conditions was good. He says, I am in chain
for the sake of Christ. It is the gospel that has put
me here. It is good news that I suffer.
And so, I think the first and the foremost thing that we need
to understand about Paul's statement, to live is Christ, It's like He tells us, that I,
it is not I who live first, but Christ who lives within me. I
live this life by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave
Himself for me. So, first of all, I believe that
Paul is saying, to me, to live is Christ, is that the fullness
of everything that constitutes His existence in this physical
world. Everything. Everything is not His. It's all Christ's. Not only is
it Christ's possessive, but it is Christ in its expressiveness,
in its being, that Christ had ordered the fullness of all His
life. Therefore, the life that He lives
is a display of Christ's work. So where do you get this? You're
making this junk up. No, skip over to chapter 3. I don't want
to make anything up. I don't want to suppose anything
that the Bible contradicts. That's called heresy Paul says in verse 4 Though I
myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also Anyone else
thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh. I have more now.
Let's talk about what Paul understands about his flesh Paul says on
verse 5 of chapter 3. I was circumcised on the eighth
day according to the law and of the people of Israel, of the
tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law of Pharisee."
Now let's stop there for a moment. Now most of us think of the Pharisees
based on what we understand about first century Palestine. About
what the Pharisees had become. during the days of Jesus. But
the Pharisees were the first reformers of Israel. The Pharisees
came along after the Maccabean Revolt, after the fact that when,
I think it's Antipas, had sacrificed the pig and the Holy of Holies,
and that just, they fought wars. And then all of a sudden, what
happens is that Basically, the emperor concedes, he says, you
can have your temple back. I'm tired of fighting. But at
that time, the whole world was Hellenized. Everything was Greek. So even the worship of the temple
of Jews, of Israel, had a Greek flair to it, had a Greek smell
to it. You ever fried in your house,
fried some French fries? It stinks for weeks. I don't
matter, you can't sneak some french fry frying in the house.
Somebody comes home two days later, you've been frying in
here? It's everywhere. That's what happened. The Greek
culture had just influenced Israel in such a way that everything...
So the Pharisees were the people who said this, we have to reform. There's a group of zealots that
came after this freedom to worship again. They came back and said
to the people of Israel, we have created a party of reformers. We want our people to follow
the law of Moses and to worship as it was supposed to be back
in the day. So the Pharisees were the first
reformers of Israel. They were zealots. They loved
worship. They loved the Law of God. They
loved the Scripture. They loved Jehovah. But from
the point of that time in history to the point of this time in
history, the Pharisees, not only did they love it, but they became
an idol. That which they did not understand
because of the hardness of their heart became the ground rules
for their overburdened ruling for their wicked idolatry, for
their double standard, their hatred of people, while yet they
walked in the way of the law. Paul was of these Pharisees. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews. In other words, his pedigree,
he wasn't a wandering guy that sort of came into the faith and
like, I'm going to clean myself up. He started that way. His
heritage, started at birth. On the 8th
day, according to the law, he was circumcised because that's
what was required. He didn't come into the faith
at 12. Paul was one who had confidence
in the flesh. What Paul is saying is that I
have obeyed the law of God. And in that verse 6 of chapter
3, he says, I am blameless. See, these are hard words. And
when we get there, we're going to unpack that even more. But
what Paul is in essence saying is that he is blameless, just
like he says, in accordance with the laws of the Pharisees and
the precepts of Moses, and that he has followed them to the fullest
as a Jew. So therefore, you could have
followed Paul around, Saul, and you could have watched him live
his life, and you would have never seen him break those laws. So, if one could come and say
they have confidence in the flesh, Paul says he has confidence in
the flesh. But that is a contradiction to
what he says over in verse 21 of chapter 1. For to me to live
is Christ. And if we know anything about
what he says to the Romans, he says that the letter kills and
that there is no possibility for those who obey the law since
they are law breakers, period, by being in existence. Paul is first and foremost saying
that to live as Christ means, though he has confidence in the
flesh, that there is no hope in the flesh. And in reality,
and he says this other places, I have no confidence in the flesh.
There's no confidence in the flesh. So to live in Christ,
to live is Christ, if Christ is our life, that's what we should
have sang this morning. All I have is Christ. If Christ
is our life, then it means that our life that we live and the
effort that we put into doing that which glorifies God, even
when it's perfectly in line with what the Bible teaches, there
is no confidence in that life. We don't find our hope and our
justification based on our walking in righteousness. We don't have
our hat hung on the coat rack of eternal life because we've
neatly pressed the hat and put it up there. We don't have faith
in our faith. We place our faith fully not
in what we've done and not in what we do, but in everything
that Christ is. The life that Paul lived was
not his own. It belonged to Christ. So therefore, that everything
we saw Paul experience in this life, in this suffering, was
the work of Christ. Jesus argues this same idea to
Nicodemus in John 3. I'm going to John every day.
It's always back to John. But in John 3, Nicodemus, just
like Paul, was a Pharisee. Matter of fact, he was part of
the Sanhedrin as well. And Nicodemus confesses Jesus
as the one come from God, recognizes His power as divine. Jesus in
turn responds to him and says, You cannot see, nor can you enter
the kingdom of heaven, except you be born from heaven. The
Spirit of God which gives birth does it as He wills, as He pleases,
and He blows where He wishes. And if He does not blow on you,
Nicodemus, all the righteousness of your life, all the determination
and the confidence that you have as a religious person and as
a man who has followed after the Lord's heart, all of that
is nothing but darkness and it is wickedness and unless you
walk away from that and see me lifted up as a hope of your only
hope, as your only hope, then you will perish and you will
have condemnation remain on you. Because the darkness is what
people love, Jesus says. The condemnation is this. This
is the judgment, that people love the darkness rather than
the light. Why? Because their works were evil.
And they do not come to the light lest their works be exposed.
Now let's put that in context of what Jesus is saying in John
3 and what Paul is mentioning, or I believe alluding to, here
in Philippians 1. Jesus is saying to Nicodemus,
in all the spirituality of your entire life, If you start pushing
that into the door of self-righteousness, or into the door of being in
the Kingdom of God, or putting your hope in those things, He
says, you know what that is? That's love of darkness. That's
a love of darkness. And there is no hope in that.
And the only people who are not condemned are those who set aside
these things. Who say, these are nothing. My
walking, and my righteousness, and my holiness, and my morality,
and my Christianity, and my Judaism, and all the obedience that I've
ever mustered, all the prayers, all the covering of my head,
all the wearing of shoes, magic underwear, whatever else. Anything
that we call religion, and we place our hope and trust in it,
we fail to see that it is darkness. And Jesus says that our love
for that darkness condemns us already. But coming to the light,
who is Jesus Christ? And we know that through the
context of the New Testament, as it appears also to us in Genesis
1, that Jesus is the revelation of God in the fullest. Not only
is it there, but it's also in 1 John, it's also in John 1,
it's in Hebrews. We also see it in Colossians.
We see it then in Revelation. We see that Jesus is the fullness
of the glory of God. We see it in 2 Corinthians 4.
So that which was hidden, Paul said, has now been made known
through Jesus Christ, the fullness of all things. What the holiness
of God means, what God's requirements of holiness are, the fullness
of God's essence, His being, is revealed in Christ Jesus.
And that He is the light. The light has entered the world,
but people love the darkness rather than the light because
their works are evil. Friends, we need to stop thinking about
evil works as this malicious sinfulness. It's part of it,
but evil and dark works are inclusive of righteous acts that we think
credit us to something. The darkness includes religious
people. The darkness includes moral people. The darkness includes benevolent
people. That is darkness. Paul says to us in Philippians
3 that the full zeal of his blamelessness was darkness. So there's nothing
for him to boast in. Though he can boast in a worldly
way, in a fleshly way, he can boast in a secular way. But he
says in verse 7, but whatever gain I had. You see what I mean? That's irony, I blame him. Whatever
gain I had. Because I mean, the reader would
hear and say, Paul made some traction. Isn't that the whole
purpose of the writing to the Romans? The Romans are like,
how can we ever be like y'all? I mean, we've been worshiping
false gods for millennia. And then now we come to this
Christ and we expect to be on equal standing with Israel who
have been worshiping and pious and very zealous to do this. I mean, you don't even light
a candle on the Sabbath unless you stone somebody. I mean, that's
a hard staircase to climb and we're a thousand years behind
you guys. What are we going to do? Paul
says it's all nothing. He says, I count everything as
loss. What? Everything that he's ever
done. Everything that he's ever been.
Everything that he's ever hoped for. Everything that he ever
loved. He counted it as loss. Because of. He didn't trade it. Look at it. But whatever gain
I had, I counted it as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I
count everything as loss because... See? He throws it away because... He counts it as nothing because
of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord. So,
in this, Paul now argues that he is able to throw away all
that stuff which was so important. His whole life, from birth, before
he even knew what was happening, on the eighth day of his life,
he began to obey the law of God. And Paul says, because I know
Christ as my Lord, because I see Him for who He is, because I
see the everlasting worth of Christ, to me to live as Christ. And all this is garbage. For
His sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count
them as rubbish." It's not just His material stuff. This is His
standing. This is His name. This is His
person. Ultimately His life. Paul is
eager to lay it down. In order, I count them all as
loss and count them as garbage. In order that I might gain Christ
and be found in Him. To me, to live is Christ. In other words, I said it, this
will be the fourth time, Paul believes the life he lives is
Christ's life living. See, that sounds a little mysterious. But he argues it other places.
Are we, does Paul not argue to the Ephesians that the purpose
of the church is to display the manifold wisdom of God? How does
that work? The many, the multiplicity, the
magnificent, just the numerous avenues in which God's wisdom
is displayed in the lives of people who should have never
come to Christ, should have never been counted in Christ, should
have never understood Christ, should have never been told Christ,
and all these things. It is the wisdom of God displaying
to the powers of darkness that Christ has created a people to
the praise of His glorious grace. And therefore, all that we are
is nothing. Nothing. Back to John 3. Nicodemus is utterly confused.
Jesus even says, aren't you the teacher of all Israel? Yet you
don't understand these things. How can I explain to you spiritual
things if you cannot understand earthly things? Like wind and
birth and a snake being risen up. How can you not understand
these things? You're surely not going to see.
You must be born again. Those who. This is the judgment. The light has come into the world
and people love the darkness rather than the light, because
their works are evil like this zealous Pharisee. But all who
come to the light, they do not come lest their works be exposed.
So in this, I believe Paul then could hear the argument against
him. Look at this. Everything you've
ever done is up for grabs. Your entire life is on the line. Your reputation and everything
you've ever accomplished is about to be flushed. You need to get
off this Jesus kick. Can you hear that? Very similar
to some advice. If you just take off your website,
reformed. Just hide all those solas when
people walk in the door. Are you kidding me? Just kill me. And I'm not going
to make an idol out of solas. But I'm going to make an idol
out of Jesus Christ whose words are printed down there. Who point
to those things. No, we're not going to, I'm not
going to just, I don't care, Paul says, about my life, my
reputation, because what I am today is Christ's Word. Jesus
said it, but all who come to the light All who come to the
light do so that it may be clearly seen that their works have been
carried out by God. Now you look. So as Paul works
now and he's in chains and suffering and he suffered the loss of all
things, he says, now people can see Christ, not me. That's what
he's argued. We looked at that the last three
weeks to live is Christ. Christ. So I am not going to
throw away Christ. I'll throw away everything else.
To live is Christ. Everything that I'm doing now
is Christ. The way I'm suffering now is
Christ. This is Christ. I mean, He understood
this in such a way that I don't think you and I can grasp. And
as we go through the letter, we'll start to see a little bit,
and we'll kick our heels up, and then a year or two later
we'll go, oh wow, we see a little more. But Paul to the church
in Colossae, he says this, let's see if I can remember it. Now
I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh I am
filling up. Listen to these words, hard,
hard words. I am filling up what is lacking
in the suffering of Christ, of Christ. Matter of fact, it even
says it differently. I am filling up what is lacking
in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body. For your sake, he says. Now see,
that's a tall order in my book that Paul would dare come along
and say, oh my goodness, what I'm suffering right now, there's
some parts of Christ's suffering that's lacking and I'm filling
that up for you. But that's what he's saying.
He's not saying that Christ's suffering lacked anything, but
where is it? Where is it? How do we have a
picture of the gospel? How do we have eternal life in
Christ Jesus? Not, Jesus, friend of sinners,
loves you so much He's got you. Not, let's meet Jesus down the
road at a roller coaster. Not, let's come and just do something
to ask. He's standing at the door and
knocking. That's all contextual heresies. They're wrong. Jesus is not standing at the
door and knocking and hoping you open it. Jesus stands on
the throne of heaven commanding you to be holy. and we who are
not holy, we who are not found in Christ, are already condemned
because we fail to believe, we are not the believing ones and
the only Son of God. John 3, 17-18. So, Paul says that Christ is
not here. Peter argues the same stuff in
1 Peter to those Jews who are just losing it all for the sake
of Christ. Though you do not see Him, you
love Him. Though you don't see Him now,
you love Him. You have a joy that is inexpressible,
filled with glory. The outcome is the salvation
of your souls. In which angels look. Why? Because Christ is at work in
it. And they love Christ and they want to see what He's doing.
Christ is at work in Paul. And Christ, though He is not
visible with His people, His people make Him visible through
their suffering. They make Christ visible through
the good and the bad when Christ is their life rather than their
life being sort of held together by Jesus or Jesus is a part of
it. No, Jesus is life for us as the
church. This is hard to just really get. It's one of those things where
we have to fully trust that the Word sent by the Spirit will
come and grow in our hearts and our minds and plant in us in
such a way that we will see it. That we will embrace it. But
back to Paul. And Paul argues this, to live
is Christ. To live is Christ. He says then
in chapter 3, I have suffered the loss of all things and count
them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, none, and
be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the
law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness
from God that depends on faith. So there's two sermons in that
text, but for the sake of what Paul is saying, Paul is sure
that everything He is, this is a tall claim, and everything
He does, and everything He prays, and everything He writes, and
everything He preaches, is nothing but a reflection of Christ. You see that? So now it starts
to take a different turn. It's not just Christ in the midst,
it's Christ as, and then a reflection of Christ, and namely in that
righteousness. And that's why no matter what
you believe about the tense or the timing of Romans chapter
6, 7 and 8, Paul only could confess, no matter
when it was, because he's already said according to the law as
a Pharisee, blameless. The only thing that we could
know about Paul's sin is if he told us that which was internal. Covetousness. You might say,
well, there's a lot of debate as to what Paul's talking about
in his time. Whether it was before Christ,
or after Christ, or right now. I really don't want to get into
that. The point is, is that Paul is honestly considering everything
that he is and does, and thinks and says and prays. Every time
someone looks at him, they see Christ. Now that's scary. It's scary. Because we want to
internalize it in such a way that we say, oh, was he represented?
No. Paul then paints this as the picture of all Christians. Have this mind among you. Do
this. Walk in a manner worthy of the
gospel that you've been called. This is the life that you've
been empowered to live because I am confident of this, that
He who began a good work in you is certainly going to complete
it. He's going to keep you. Why does
John say the things he does in his first epistle? If you sin,
I write these things, beloved, dear children, that you may not
sin, but if you sin, not when you sin, if you sin, that you
have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. See,
a lot of theologians through history have taken these things
and said, we can be sinless. No, we can't be sinless. Paul
wasn't sinless, but Paul understood the fullness of Christ's work
in his life. Paul knew that every time he
got up every morning, when the feelings of despair may just
touch his ear. I mean, we're there. God never told us that, I mean,
if Jesus had feelings of despair, then Paul had feelings of despair. But he does not live in them.
He puts to death that man because Christ crucified him. So that
what I'm doing right now is the work of Christ. What I'm experiencing
right now is the work of Christ. Friends, there are so many lessons
there about the attributes of God, His sovereignty, The fullness
of His omnipotence and His omniscience over all things. But let's look at some other
ways. Paul already argued or claimed
that it is his eager expectation, verse 20 of chapter 1, and hope
that he would not at all be put to shame, or at all ashamed,
but that with full courage, now as always, that Christ would
be honored in his body, whether by life or by death. Paul knew that he would die. Paul knew that he would die.
He didn't know when, but he knew that he would die. And in every
sense, he figured that it would be by the hand of an emperor.
under the order of an emperor. I don't think Nero cut Paul's
head off, but it happened under his command. And Paul knew that
any given moment he could be sent to death. He could be sent
to death once he pleaded his case, once he preached the gospel
with boldness, once he preached to Caesar that he was not the
supreme reigning emperor. but yet he was subject to another,
a higher king, and his name was Jesus Christ. He knew that it
could cost him his life, but even up to that, do you ever
labor in fear and anguish over something that you have to accomplish,
or something that you're experiencing, or something that you know you've
got on your plate? You know, I think about surgery,
or dental work, or taxes, or something like that, or visit
from people that you, might be laborious. And we worry about it. Did Paul not have a greater need
for worry? Did Paul not have a greater need
for wrenching his hands, being in despair? Did Christ not have
a greater need, as in the Garden of Gethsemane, to just wallow
in His pity? But as Christ shows the fullness
of the Father, so then does Christ's body show the fullness of their
head. And there is no way for this
to take place except that we are daily devoted
as Christ is our life. Christ is our life. To live is Christ. It's not about
the yard, or the car, or the kids. As we do those things,
we do that as if it were Christ working in them. This is what
keeps us out of the philosophical mire that we see in Ecclesiastes. What do I mean by that? Solomon
had seen it all, knew it all, had it all, and he realized it
was a joke. By all calculations, historians
can say and archaeologists can say and anthropologists can say
that the wealth of Solomon, I'm just going to guess on this because
I can't remember, it's been years ago since I studied this, but
from some sense I believe it was this way, that the wealth
of Solomon in his day is greater than the world's net worth today.
How does that work? I don't know. So that in some
sense Solomon had all the wealth of the entire world. Now we know
that it wasn't true in his day, but you think about it. What
did they do there? There was no paper, no money.
I mean, if there was money, it was gold. It was a medal. It was precious. Lands. The Bible
said he was rich. Solomon said he had everything
that he could ever think of a thousand times over. Solomon had more
wives and then others who were not wives. And that God had given
him wisdom. I can argue or debate that he
wasn't as wise as he claimed to be, but the Bible said he
was full of wisdom, so he came then in that wisdom to realize
that all that he had and all that he was and all the power
that he yielded was worthless. And that's where we get Ecclesiastes.
It's all for nothing, it's garbage. If we don't rise and fall for
the glory of Christ, everything that we build is just garbage.
John would say it this way in his command, do not love the
world or the things of the world, the lust of the eyes, the pride
of life, the pride of possessions. Because the world and everything
in it is passing away and the love of the world is not from
God. So we push the love of God out
when we love the world. Friends, I don't know how to really grasp
it. But Paul was able to see it. Paul was able to be empowered in his thinking
with boldness, and I know how. He was empowered in such a way
that when these things tapped on his shoulder, this despair,
this doubt, this frustration, he could then pray. That's how
he overcame it. And others then would be pressed
to pray for him, and he would not yield to the flesh. He could
overcome it. And in the end, Paul knew that
the reason this was true is because his righteousness, the holiness,
his perfection was not his. He could not stand and say, well
see now, I've got confidence, so therefore I'm able to walk
this way. You know, you should just put
down those sins. He says these things, but he
doesn't say it as if then I should do it. or you should do it, but
that Christ is doing it. Christ has, not just is doing
it, but the way Paul writes in the Romans, Christ has done it.
Christ has done it. Christ has removed the power
of sin and the flesh from us. So that we find it active and
alive. What is it? That indwelling sin. You know
why it's there? Because we want it. Deep in the
core of our heart, we want it. We want it. We don't want to
let it go. And according to Scripture, It's unbelief. It's not a rejection
of the gospel, but it's unbelief. This particular moment in my
life, this particular issue that I'm dealing with, this particular
problem, this particular person, this, this, this, whatever it
might be, this desire, Christ isn't big enough for that. Christ
isn't satisfying enough for that. Christ isn't powerful enough
for that. The cross wasn't enough to give it. It gave me the lifeline,
but I've been holding on, being dragged by my foot. That's not
the way it works. And so I think when Paul is able
to stand this way, he devoted himself to the teachings of Christ,
and he taught the teachings of Christ in obedience to the command
of God, as we see not just to Paul, but all the apostles, then
all those who saw him as he ascended into the heavens. To teach others
to obey everything I've commanded you, that's called disciple making. That's called evangelism. That's
it. There's no even response required
except obedience. What is the primary thing that
Jesus even tells the people in Capernaum in John 6? What must
we do, they ask Him, to be doing the work of God? What must we
be doing to be busy about God's work? How can we give our lives
to the work of God? And Jesus says, this is the work
of God, that you believe in the Son whom He has sent. That's
the work. That particular text, however,
has gotten me thrown out of more churches than I've ever wanted
to count. Why? Because the darkness of righteousness,
as it is established in our flesh, is an idol that we hate to let
go of and say that it was fruitless. Our religion, man-made religion,
not a religion that Christ brings to righteousness. But our religiosity,
if you can bear with that, is something we love. We love our
babies. And anybody comes along and calls
them ugly, even if they're telling the truth. I've never met a mother
who thought their baby was ugly. Even if she agreed, don't call
it ugly, she'd get mad. And that's what happens. The
Bible comes in and calls our babies ugly. Jesus calls our
babies ugly. To live is Christ. How is it
that Paul had such confidence? How is it that Paul had such
confidence that the righteousness that he lived in, even in the
midst of suffering, it gave him joy? I mean, can you imagine
that? Can you imagine going to the doctor? I don't know if it
happened instantaneously like this, but can you imagine going
to the doctor and them saying, for a routine checkup, and they saying,
you know, you got a week to live. Man. Hallelujah. That's the best news I've heard
all day. That doctor would probably have you 10, 13 down to Georgia
Regional somewhere. I mean, they'd have locked you
up to help see if you were making it. But I mean, what if that
were the instantaneous response? This is the best thing I've ever
heard in my entire life. I think Paul is saying that,
because he says, to live is Christ, so that if I live with cancer
in my body, if I live in prison, or if I live in suffering, if
I live rejected, or if I live alone, or if I live unable to
walk, or if I live unable to see, or if I live under the death
of my loved ones, that is Christ living. It's Christ's life. I am depicting the life of Christ,
who left it all, as he'll soon argue, for the sake of those
who hated him, so that he could count them righteous. And not just to save them and
gather them up in a bag like a bunch of cats that are feral,
but change them so that they desire to walk in the way of
Christ, so that they desire to walk in holiness, so that they
see that every little mundane thing that we put our hands on
I'm going they and we, I know I'm changing tenses. But that
we look at it and we go, okay, this is stupid, this is a waste
of time, this is going nowhere for my life. But Christ is my
life, so therefore in this way, I can do this as unto Christ. For Christ is working this in
me. And so then what's the reward? What's the fruit? It's the fruit
of righteousness. I'm able to stand in this ridiculous
job that I hate because Christ gave it to me. Christ walked
me to it. God has authored it for me. So
what do I do? Do I curse and check a gift horse
in the mouth? Do I tell God to take that which
He said was good and I call it wicked? What do I do? No, I rejoice. I rejoice in these present sufferings. And in this suffering, I feel
what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ. People see my affliction
and they go, poor me, and I say, praise God, and they go, wow. And I think that finally, I know
it's not necessarily as organized as you'd like it to be, but finally,
when he says that to live is Christ, It centers on the righteousness
of faith, the righteousness of Christ, the righteousness of
God that comes or that depends upon faith. And in verse 10 of
chapter 3 says that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection
and I may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death,
that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from
the dead. Not that I have already obtained this, or am already
perfect. But I press on. I press on to
make it my own. Because Christ has made me His
own. Brothers, I do not consider that
I have made it on my own, but one thing I do. forgetting what
lies behind, and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on
toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in
Christ Jesus. God have mercy on us. Because I really believe, and
even in my own life, just as Paul says, I long to die. I long to die. Not in some macabre,
morbid, suicide-packed way, but I long to die because I know
that that which I am looking forward to here will stand before
me when I die. Paul knew that. To live is Christ,
so that all I am is a reflection of the living Christ. But when
I die, it's better because it's no longer a reflection, it's
reality. There is the essence of what
Paul is saying. When I think of 3.14, and I hear
him say, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward
call of God in Christ Jesus, I say, Lord have mercy, because
I consider all of the wasted moments of my days, where I'm
not pressing on to anything. The wasted interests, the wasted
purposes, the wasted pondering, the wasted conversations, the
worthlessness of just dealing with things that should just
be left alone. How are we to press? on toward the goal. Friends,
and I may be wrong, and as we study more Philippians, we may
have to add, make an addendum or a correction, but I know this
isn't incorrect. It just may not be exclusive.
How is it that we press? Here it is. It's going to make
you cringe. We are able to forget the past
and press on to the crown of righteousness and do all things
for the glory of God when we share in the sufferings of Christ. When things are good in our lives,
we don't make time for heavenly things. I'll be honest. So God, listen, in His gracious,
fatherly, disciplining mercy brings and allows suffering so
that we grow in righteousness. So that our lives, our beings,
our hearts, our eyes, ears, soul, affections, hands, everything
live and press to Christ. So that the call of the world
isn't louder than the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. So, to live is Christ. To die is gain. He goes on to say, if I am to
live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. What is that labor? You know
what that labor is? Suffering for the sake of others. Suffering so that those around
you would look and say, There's power in His life. There's
power in those people. Now let me leave you with this. It's very easy to internalize
this teaching in Philippians. And I don't think it would be
wrong to do so. But I believe this. I believe
that as much as I may internalize these truths, They are worthless
if it is not lived out amongst a body. A specific, I know you,
you know me, people. The church of Jesus Christ. And
that's why we gather here, not so that each of us can get our
little cookie to go home and nibble in our closet, but that
each of us can have the bread of the gospel empowering us to
live life together. How are we going to get up from
here and effectively strive to make life Christ? I think a good
way to start is to pray for discernment. and then pray for each other. And then God, in those prayers,
as He purposes, will drive us to a center. And we will grow. And God will be glorified, and
there will be no credit that we can take. We will say, yeah,
we did a whole bunch of stuff, but God brought us out of that
and brought us into this. But the righteousness of God
is not ours to obtain. by any work, by any effort, by
any hope in anything that we can do only through Christ who
is our life. Let's pray. Father, I do pray. Lord, many, many, many Over half of our families this
present day are suffering in some way that I know of. It is common unto man. Lord, purpose us to pray for
each other so that when reconciliation comes, when salvation comes,
when healing comes, when joy comes, We see Your work and we
praise You for Your grace. Father, help us to be attentive
in our study of Your Word. To hear Your Holy Spirit and
not ignore You. Lord, press hard upon us. that we might have an affection
for each other, an affection for worship, an affection for
the lost, an affection for studying Your Word, so that it produces
change, that it produces God-sized miracles inside our hearts. And Lord, I pray You would just
continue to grow us so that The world in which we live, no matter
how small or wide, would praise You. Or at the least, see us
praise You. That we would become nothing. That You might be exalted above
all things. We pray this in the name