Continual Joy in Life and in Death

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The pastor came into the intensive care lounge to comfort the son as he impatiently waited for his mother to recover from a heart attack and then a challenging heart operation. The son was ready to let his widowed mother go to heaven. She had been a faithful Christian all her life. He was struggling to see her live and he would be responsible for watching over her  in the weeks and months ahead. Then the Pastor shared the words of the apostle Paul and all his concerns and worries were put into the proper perspective. “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”  That young son was me in about the year 1986. It was then and ever since then that I came to cherish the words of our text. I pray that you may in the next few minutes consider carefully the proper perspective on life and death as you:            Gratefully Cling to the Continual Joy in Life and in Death

Paul’s confidence that Christ would be glorified through him was not just an overconfident boast. He based it on the Philippians’ prayers for him and the help that the Holy Spirit would give.  Paul was confident that the Holy Spirit would be with him to supply him with all that was necessary for glorifying Christ. Jesus had promised the original disciples that when they were hauled before earthly judges, the Spirit would be with them to put the right words into their mouths. Christ would be glorified as a result of his testimony, so Paul could say that his imprisonment and trial and everything connected with it would turn out victoriously for him—even if he would be condemned and put to death. But even that grim prospect could not diminish the apostle’s joy, for he knew that the Spirit would use either his life or his death to glorify Christ. If Paul lived, if he was acquitted and released, he would continue his apostolic labors and do and suffer even more for Christ. If he died, he would go to the Lord with an unshaken faith and a song in his heart.

My dear friends as we discover the key to Paul’s attitude discover that the Lord has done many of the same things he did for Paul for you. The apostle’s great desire to glorify Christ in living and dying is beautifully summarized in the familiar words of verse 21. These words have been described as Paul’s “magnificent obsession.” “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” From the dramatic moment on the Damascus road when Paul came to know the risen and glorified Christ to his anxious days as a prisoner for Christ in the world capital, all of Paul’s life and living was for Christ. By grace he had been made a new creature in Christ. In Baptism he had put on Christ. Daily he lived in the knowledge that his sins were covered with Christ’s righteousness. He drew his strength for living from Christ. His constant desire was to know Christ more deeply and to serve him more completely. Paul regarded himself as a slave of Christ with no will of his own, totally submissive to his master’s will. Christ was the secret, the source, the summary of the apostle’s life. Christ filled his life with joy and enabled him to effectively communicate that joy to others.

If a believer’s life is Christ, then it naturally follows that “to die is gain.” Throughout their earthly lives, you and I as believers are united with Christ by faith, but our oneness with Christ, our knowledge of him and service to him, are imperfect, blurred, and clouded by sin. At the moment of our physical death, all that will change for the better. What we as believers possess spiritually by faith here on earth we will have by sight in eternity. In eternal life we will see Christ face-to-face and glorify him with perfect service, adoration, and joy. As Paul saw it, death was gain, for death would bring more of him to Christ and more of Christ to him. If Christ was being glorified in the apostle’s life on earth, how much more would Christ be glorified through Paul’s perfect worship and service in eternity.

Yet, Paul says, if the choice between living and dying were left strictly up to him, he would have a hard time making a decision. Like every believer who truly knows and loves the Savior, Paul had an intense desire to depart from this life and to be with Christ. Eternal life with Christ, Paul says, is better than life here on earth. Despite the obvious advantages death would bring to him, however, Paul also felt hard pressed by another consideration. “It is more necessary for you,” he tells the Philippians, “that I remain in the body.” The apostle was aware of the fact that the Philippians, as well as many of the other recently converted Christians, still needed him. Paul recognized that the choice of whether he lived or died was not up to him. The Lord would make that choice for him. If it was God’s plan for him to forego for a time the glories of heaven so that he could continue to live and labor for the gospel, Paul would not only accept it but would rejoice in it, because Christ would continue to be glorified through his apostolic work.

Paul’s eloquent and joy-filled words in this section express the attitude every Christian ought to take toward both living and dying. For a Christian, life is Christ. Real living is impossible apart from Christ. The great goal of every Christian’s life ought to be to serve and glorify Christ. If Christ is truly our life, our obsession with him and our joy in him will be evident in everything we do. Our thinking and planning will all be centered in him, and our words and actions will constantly testify of our commitment to him who has made us new spiritual creatures through faith in him. Living such a life and reflecting such a commitment is not always easy. There are many hindrances and enemies, including the sinful nature within us that wants us to live only for ourselves. Like Paul, though, we can find the strength to live for Christ in what the Holy Spirit supplies us through the means of grace. We can confidently pray for the Spirit’s rich supply. As we grow daily in grace and knowledge and living faith, we can make the words of Paul’s confession our own: “For to me, to live is Christ.” In such living alone can we find real satisfaction and joy.

We can also learn much from a consideration of the apostle’s attitude toward death. The apostle did not go to pieces at the prospect of death. He was not so attached to this life that he regarded death as an unwelcome intruder. For the apostle, death was gain, a personal advantage, because he knew it would mean passing from a troublesome life marred by sin to a perfect existence with the Savior. Paul was ready to go and be with the Savior at any time. Yet, if it was the Savior’s will for him to live and work on, he would gladly do that, until the Savior called him.

The apostle’s view of death avoids two extremes: an undue attachment to this impermanent life and an impatient desire for death. The former is a danger for Christians at any age. The latter can be a danger especially for suffering or aged Christians. A suffering Christian may humbly beseech the Lord to deliver him from his troubles, but not every wish to die is a pious wish. If it flows simply from a desire to escape the obligations of life or to be relieved of its burdens, it is only selfishness. Sometimes a whining desire to die is nothing less than an impatient complaint against God. In the apostle’s words, though, we note no impatience, no complaint, only a joyful willingness to glorify Christ in life or death, at the time and under the circumstances that please the Lord. This is an attitude worthy of imitation by every Christian.

When the gospel enters human hearts and joins sinful human beings to Christ by faith, it changes people’s lives. It moves and empowers human beings, who previously had lived only for themselves, to live in love to God and to their fellow men. Paul urges the Philippians here to show what the gospel has done for them and in them by living lives that will bring honor to God and will glorify the Lord whom the gospel proclaims. Believers who exercise citizenship worthy of the gospel will take a firm stand on the gospel. They will hold fast to the gospel teachings they have received and will not compromise with error. They will live in harmony with one another, struggling side by side to defend and promote the gospel in a hostile world.

Our constant aim, as Christians too, is to exercise our citizenship in a manner worthy of the gospel, to reflect in our lives the gracious work that the Holy Spirit, through the gospel, has accomplished in us. If that is truly our aim, and if we daily and consciously seek the Spirit’s help to accomplish it, then our lives also will be characterized by firm loyalty to the gospel, by harmony with one another, and by fearlessness in the face of powerful enemies. Their ultimate instigator is Satan, and their common aim is to silence the gospel and blunt its impact in the world.

Fighting the battle of the Christian faith we can constantly be encouraged by the realization that we are fighting the very same battle that faithful believers like the apostle Paul and the Philippians have fought.Many years ago when I heard these words written by the Apostle Paul from the pastor I was encouraged to trust the Lord that he would provide for my mother and for myself in taking care of her. Paul’s words remind us to  Gratefully Cling to the Continual Joy in Life and in Death. Rejoice in the Lord! Again I say Rejoice!