Tuesday, February 8, 2011

30.1.11 - To Live is Christ, to Die is Gain.

Sermon preached at Calvin 30/1/11 Ken Williams
Philippians 1:18b-26
• I want to begin by asking you a question. Well, actually it is several questions. How important is your life? How much do you personally value your own life?

• Just take a moment and ponder the question.

• Ready for a challenge? Right – Philippians ch.1 – Paul is in a Roman prison and he is writing to the church in Philippi.

• Now we are looking at the verses v.18b through to v.26. Now this passage is pretty tight, compact – full of theological content. It becomes easier if we break it into two parts.

• READ (vv.18b – 20)

• In this first part, Paul states his conviction that whatever the future holds for him, he will not be deprived of his joy, it does not matter whether he lives, it does not matter whether he dies - because Christ will be exalted, will be lifted up in him.

• Paul was living his life for Jesus and nothing else really mattered.

• In the second part, Paul provides the reason for this unusual perspective and states what he believes the outcome of his circumstances will be.

• READ (vv.21-26).

• Living in comfort-conscious New Zealand we are not exempt from the implicit rebuke of Paul’s attitude toward death. Reread vv.21-22.

• It will be a rare believer who can read this passage, grapple with it seriously, and come away satisfied that he or she is following Paul’s example.

• He is committed to the extent that his own life is of secondary consequence.

• Paul speaks of his own affairs only as they touch on the progress of the gospel – his own life, his circumstances and situation were secondary to the progress of the gospel – can any of us honestly say the same.

• Paul is a hugely challenging character to us.

• Can we really say – my life doesn’t matter! It is Christ that counts!

• Let’s think about the words of a song that we sing here sometimes – I lay my life down at your feet. (One Way)

• I think Paul could have sung this song – to me it is a very challenging song – but are we always completely honest as we sing the words.

• We sing it with passion and enthusiasm – but are we really willing to lay down our life – I think it is a great song, but it really is challenging, hugely challenging.

• So are many of our songs and maybe we sing through them, without really reflecting on the implications.

• Our culture - This culture of the Western world, with its elevation of personal freedom and individual rights above virtually every other ideal, doesn’t provide a friendly environment for the development of the notions that Paul expresses here.

• This passage should challenge us, should make us feel uncomfortable – we are products of the culture of the Western world and we have to resist the temptation to soften the impact of this passage.

The Choice to Live

• Paul states something in here that can easily go unnoticed in our culture.

 • He genuinely considers his choice to live, rather than to die, to be the more difficult and sacrificial choice.

• We live in a culture that thinks of physical death with such dread that society’s highest goal is the postponement of death as long as possible.

• We don’t talk about death, we shun it, we push it away – we all know it is coming – but we don’t talk about it.

• SO... for us who are products of such a society, we will inevitably find Paul’s notion that remaining alive is a sacrifice and death a gain, difficult to understand.

• To live or to die, Paul hopes for the outcome that, in his opinion, will most clearly advance the preaching of Christ.

 • This can only strike us as strange in the modern church, if we have allowed the comforts of our present existence to steal the place of Christ in our lives as our chief priority.

• If we are to let this passage speak to us on its own terms, we will need to stare Paul’s astonishing indifference toward death, squarely in the face and ask ourselves whether our attitude toward death imitates his.

• Along with the Philippians in times past, we need to look to Paul as a model.

• Christ is more important than life itself to him, and the joy and progress of his fellow Christians more important than departing to be with Christ.

Our Attitude Towards Life and Death

 • It has been observed that death is an embarrassment to modern Western culture.

• Prior to the first half of the 20th century, when extended families often lived near each other and even in the same house with one another, it was not uncommon for children to observe death firsthand and to learn to cope with it from older family members around them.

• Today, however, people die in hospitals or resthomes more frequently than homes, bodies are quickly removed from hospital to morgue, and the embalmers art rapidly restores the body to a lifelike appearance.

• Our way of coping with death seems to be to deny its existence.

• Paul, however, faced death with the same firm resolve that marked his approach to life, for both death and life to him meant service to Christ, and service to Christ was his primary goal.

• Perhaps more than at any other time in history, the church needs to adopt Paul’s perspective on life and death.

• With most people in the world around us refusing to talk about the subject of death, out of stark terror, and with the philosophers who do speak of it often claiming that the notion of life after death is only wishful thinking, it is tempting for the believer to live as if there were nothing beyond the grave.

• But this can only cause us to clutch our material possessions more tightly for the security they can give and keep us from risking our lives in the service of God.

• Are we prepared to give our all, our everything for God or... when it comes down to it – do we put a higher priority on other things – our reputation, our status, our security, our finances, our comfort, our time.

• Iran is a country where many Christians have learned Paul’s perspective on death.

• Maybe like Paul, they can provide an example for us in the West... Read section from Commentary on Philippians p.89

• The test of faith that Paul experienced nearly two thousand years ago is repeated in the modern church today.

• We in the West are insulated from it, but it remains a reality for believers who live under anti-Christian totalitarian regimes.

• Now the reality is most of us here, will never have to physically die for our faith. But that is the depth of faith and attitude that Jesus wants us to grow into.

• So what sort of faith is this?

• It is the sort of faith that produces a passion within us.

• It is the sort of faith that says I will do whatever it takes to obey my God.

• It is the sort of faith that says I am not afraid of failure.

• It is the sort of faith that says I will not care what anyone else says or thinks.

• It is the sort of faith that says I will refuse to be ashamed by the comments and criticisms of others.

• Because the faith, the attitude, the mindset, that Jesus wants me to have is faith that says I will do whatever it takes to follow my God.

• To live is Christ, to die is gain.

















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