The Church of Eleven22 - S01 E86 - To Live is Christ

Episode Date: September 16, 2020

Hey, church family, grab your Bible. It is Devo time. We're going to continue in the book of Philippians. We're just going to pick right up where we left off. So it's chapter 1, verse 18, the second half of verse 18. I'm going ahead and read 18. He said, what then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth,

Christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice. That people were preaching so that Paul would get in more trouble. And he's saying, as long as they're preaching in the gospel, I don't care where they preach. Then he goes on to say, yes, and I will rejoice. Now, he is going to talk about rejoicing over and over and over and over again, again. What most of us do is we look for our satisfaction, our contentment, our comfort, our happiness, in our temporary circumstances.

From prison, he is saying that he will rejoice, and again, I'll say it, I will rejoice. For the reason that I'm going to rejoice, here's why. For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance. This here is prison. Now, something's really important here. There's no one on the planet that believes in the sovereignty of God more than the Apostle Paul. Paul writes things like God is at work in all things for the good of those that love him

are called according to his purpose for those whom he for knew he predestined and those whom he predestined he called and those who he called he justified those who he justified he will also glorify okay he is a big big sovereign guy god is in charge kind of guy and yet look right here what he says he says i know that through your prayers and the help of the spirit of jesus christ this will turn out for my deliverance in other words paul says prayer changes things prayer changes things. Prayer matters. We live in a day right now

one where everything is political. And when something happens, there will be some other famous Christian people like sports people and politicians and stuff like that. And they will say things like our thoughts and our prayers are with you.

And then there's another segment of people that say, we don't need your prayers. We need help. I'm telling you, prayer is help. Nothing changes without prayer. Prayer's not doing nothing. Prayer is the beginning of everything. This is what Paul says, that through your prayers, somehow, I don't know how it works, because we have sovereign God. Somehow the Bible in Romans chapter 8 says that the spirit of God when we don't know what to pray helps us pray. So God initiates prayer in us that if we don't pray these prayers, then somehow God

does not get to work. And yet we don't tell God what to do. He is all. always the initiator, and yet somehow prayer is an essential and vital component to God's activity on this planet. He says, 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. And he says, verse 21, it's a very, very famous verse. Paul in prison says, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Can you imagine the amount of freedom that Paul is living with? I mean, Paul is in prison, and he's saying I got two options here, okay?

Two options. And I pray that God will be glorified for the rest of my life, whether the rest of my life is a couple of minutes, a couple of days, or several decades. For to me, to live is Christ. Here's what that means. if God lets me live if I never make it out of this prison or if I do make it out of this prison and I get to come see you

and I get to keep preaching and keep planting churches praise God because for me to live is not about my life. For me to live is Christ he's going to say in Galatians 220 I am crucified with Christ is no longer I who live but Christ who lives with me in other words if God gives me a couple more decades on this planet I am going to do

everything that I can do to lead people to Christ to live is Christ. But what if they kill you, Paul? Then I'm going to say, thank you very much. Cause to die is gain. Because above everything else I want is I want to be with Jesus in heaven. You see, listen, there is nobody in heaven right now

wishing that they were back here on earth. There is not one person in heaven going, God, I wish I could, you know, go back and have to shelter at home and wear a mask and I wish I could go back and see negative campaign ads, you know, the good old days of earth. No, that is not happening at all. To die is gain.

That it would be better to be in his presence, his unadulterated, unfiltered presence for one second than it would be to live a thousand years anywhere else. Think about how slippery Paul is to the grasps of this world trying to get its fingers, its claws in him. You see, so many of us, so many of us, we let this world grab on to us. Like this world shakes a little power, a little money, a little sex in our face, and then we can immediately take our eyes off of what Christ has in store for us forever,

and we can just get bogged down in the muck and the mire of this world. Not Paul? Paul says to live as Christ, to die his gain. That's the freest man who's ever lived. He goes on to say, if I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which shall I choose? I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and to 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 calls to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again. What Paul is saying, can you imagine living this kind of life? Well, let me ask you, what are your plans for the rest of your life? Is your plan for the rest of your life?

Can you say what Paul says to live is Christ? Or have you filled in that last part of that sentence with something else? Like when you think the rest of your life, you mostly just think about you. Think about your retirement and your vacation. You think about where you're going to go and what you're going to do and how you are going to fill your days with things that are all about you. Well, if that is the case, then you can't say to live as Christ. You have to say to live as me.

And the problem is, if you live your life for you at the end of it, all you'll have is you. And if you live your life or just the temporary things of this world, you realize that ultimately everything that we work for is just can be. right? I mean whether it's a big house or a small house it's all just kindling it's gonna be burn up one day whether it's really nice handmade furniture or its IKEA sticks put together it's all just kindling right can you imagine the freedom that it would look like in our lives if we says if we said to live is Christ that when we look to our future we didn't think about our future in

terms of what we get but if we look towards our future in terms of the difference that we could make in the kingdom of God. You know what happens when we live that way? Freedom. The chains fall off. The pressures go away. The worries dissipate and disappear. The stress of trying to keep up is gone.

Verse 27, he says, Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. So that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. Paul makes it very, very clear throughout all of his writings that we are saved by faith and not by works. And yet he also makes it clear that when we are saved by faith,

then the way that our life works out should be completely different. The way he says it here is, only let your manner of life be worthy of the God. gospel of Christ. What does that mean? That means if you're saved, act like it. If Jesus laid down his life to purchase you and redeem you and give you a right standing before God, then your life should look like you have been purchased by Jesus. If Jesus is your master, then our lives should look like we are his servant. One of my favorite illustrations of this is, uh, from one of the greatest movies ever, saving Private Ryan.

And I've used this illustration a million times, but I think it'll help us, especially the men in the group. If you'll remember, they find Ryan, they're trying to get him to a safe place, and they're going over this bridge, and the captain that has led the charge to rescue Private Ryan, hides Private Ryan behind a car, and then he gets all shot up,

played by Tom Hanks. So the Tom Hanks character kneels down to Private Ryan, and Private Ryan has done nothing to deserve being plucked out of this war. Private Ryan has done nothing to save himself, but somebody else has laid down his life so that Private Ryan will be saved, and the Tom Hanks character looks at Private Ryan and says these words, earn it. Earn it. Now, to be clear, you cannot earn a gift. You can't.

So what the Tom Hanks character is saying, he is not. saying if you earn it then I'll save you he's already saved he's already rescued it essentially what he's saying is don't waste my life I am laying down my life for you how dare you waste my life and then when you get to the end of the movie it makes me cry every time I see it private Ryan is now an old man he's a grandparent and he's there with his children and he's there with his grandchildren and they've gone back to Normandy and they go to the grave of the captain

that laid down his life so that Private Ryan would live and he kneels down by the grave of this man and he begins to get all choked up and he looked at his wife and he just asked this question. He says, was I a good man? And then he says this words, tell me I was a good man and then he just loses it. And basically what he's saying, actually he's wrestling

with the fundamental question in the heart of every man, do I have what it takes? And what he is saying is, did I live up to my promise that I gave? Did I walk in a manner worthy of the man that laid down his life for me? Did I waste my life or did I earn it? Paul is saying, if you know Christ,

only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ so that whether I come and see you or I am absent, I may hear of you, that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ

you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had, and now here that I still have. He says, walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that means unity among believers. And that also means you live in a world where you have an enemy. Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but you and I have an enemy. The enemy that prowls around like a roaring lion seeking one to devour, therefore be unified in the body so that you don't get plething blood.

plucked off by this roaring lion, and do not be surprised when you suffer for the name of Christ. But when you suffer, like Paul suffered, he did not primarily focus on his own suffering. He primarily focused on his suffering but sovereign Savior. And in him, he could say, he could say, to live as Christ, to die his game. Let's pray. Jesus, we love you because you love us first. And God, I thank you that you sent your son on a rescue mission to come and pluck us out of an eternal war and to bring us, to transfer us into the gospel of life.

And Lord, I pray, I pray that we would not take that gospel for granted. That our lives, the way that we live, that we would walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. From this day, until the day we meet you face to face. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.