To Die Is Gain Series

Technicolor Joy: Philippians 1:21-26

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

5-28-2023

Death is gain?

Andrew Chong was a beloved doctor and elder at his church. He was in surgery and the doctor came out and told the family that there was nothing that they could do. The family was encouraged to come in and say goodbye.

Dr. Chong couldn’t speak and was in pain but motioned for a pen and paper. With trembling hands, he wrote the word “for.” Everyone knew exactly what he was writing. It took a while but word by word he wrote “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” By the time he finished, the whole room was filled with joy!

Horatio Spafford’s three daughters drowned after the ship they were on heading to America sank in the Atlantic Ocean.

His wife telegraphed, “Saved alone.”

He boarded a ship to go meet his wife. When they came to the place where his daughters died, he asked the ship captain to stop and he wrote these words:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know

It is well, it is well, with my soul. ?

Tim Keller was one of our generation's most winsome witnesses for Christ. Founding pastor of Redeemer Church in NYC. Author of multiple books, including several that we use as textbooks at Moody.

He died last week. His son told us his last words were “There is no downside for me leaving. Not in the slightest. See you all soon.

Were these people super Christians? Did they have their head in the sand? Were they robots?

Do you have that kind of perspective about your death? How can we look at death as simply a door of destiny?

Review

Last week, we looked at the reasons for Paul’s joy, confidence, hope, and ultimate aim.

If you weren’t here, you can always watch it on YouTube, our Facebook page, Twitter, or our website.

Paul writes:

 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

We looked at the first part of the verse last week and will study the second part this morning.

What are you living for? No, really. What is the ultimate aim of your life?

How would you fill in that verse?

An inscription from a Roman soldier was unearthed that read,

“To laugh, to hunt, to go to the baths, to party, that is life.”

Danny Rojos, the eternally happy Mexican soccer player on Ted Lasso, repeats his mantra multiple times in the series, “Futbol is Life!”

For to me, to live is wealth. Then to die is to lose it all.

For to me, to live is fame. Then to die is to be forgotten.

For to me to live is partying. Then to die means the party is over.

For Paul, as he wrote in Colossians, Christ is his life.?

Paul wrote the Galatians of this truth:

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (Gal 2:20) 

Dr. Ligon Duncan writes, “Our first and central aim in Christ being our life is to know, glorify, and enjoy him forever.”

How can we do that? He gives three ways:

When Christ is our life, we will purpose to know as much about Christ as possible.

When Christ is our life, we will desire to be like Jesus.

* When Christ is our life, we will make Him known to others.

Turn in your Bibles to Philippians 1:21.

Prayer.

Dilemma

If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two.

As Paul looks forward to his impending trial, he finds himself between a rock and a hard place.

Paul is wrestling with a dilemma. He is now thinking out loud to help the Philippians understand his frame of mind.

When he wrote that, to a Christian, death is gain, he triggered this inner struggle in his soul over what would be the best outcome for him.

If he is set free and lives, that means his work isn’t done and he will continue planting churches and sharing Christ.

If is executed, then he will get to be where he most wanted to be - with Christ in glory.

It’s interesting that he is confused about his choice. Did Paul have a choice in the matter? He really didn’t.

God hadn’t let him in on what was going to happen to him.

What he is saying is that if he had the choice, what would his personal preference be?

He was torn between the two options. This word means to be “pressed between.” It’s a picture of being pressed in a huge crowd or walking through a very narrow canyon.