To Live is Christ!
Php 1:19-26
(19) for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.
(20) I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
(21) For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
(22) 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!
(23) I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;
(24) but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.
(25) Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith,
(26) so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.
EOLS: God calls us to live in Him, where Jesus is exalted and our joy overflows to others .
The big points: Pray, Live, Expect, Joy
Recently I saw advertised on a church sign “keep your eyes on Heaven in Two Thousand Eleven.” While that makes a rhyme and slogan, I want to tell you who are born again; those of you whose priority is Christ…Don’t do that!
Heaven is wonderful, and Heaven is real. One day when Christ returns to this earth we will all be changed and the New Heaven and Earth revealed. Right now we believe that those who have departed in Christ are in His presence experiencing joy in Heaven, and that we will be reunited with them one day. Thank God for that Blessed Hope!
But right here, right now, we’ve got a lot of work to do. We haven’t finished what God has called us to do. I don’t want to go to Heaven until then. I’m looking forward to some things!
Paul, writing from prison in Rome to the saints at Philippi was facing the possibility of his own death, and it could happen soon. Looking back we know that these words were written some four to six years before he would be called upon to give his life for his faith, consigned to beheading on Nero’s chopping block. But in his mind he knew it was close, and it could happen any day.
Writing from a prison cell, probably in Rome, He writes to people who are worried that he won’t live through this, and he himself begins to ponder his own life and the possible imminence of his death. Remember that he writes by the Holy Spirit in this letter that has been preserved for our teaching.
Paul grapples with the issues surrounding his pending death. Should he just consign himself to it? Or should he actively battle against it and anticipate productive life ahead?
I hear folks around me at times going on and on about how bad the world has become. Some people are even hesitant to have children because the way society is going. What gets my goad is when I hear Christians becoming afraid of the year 2012 because of some alleged ancient Mayan prophecy! You’ll hear me talk about that foolishness from time to time (and now may well be a good time!)
Dear friends, God has called us to do one thing on this earth, and that is to LIVE. He has called us to occupy this territory until Christ comes again. We are to be influencers and redeemers of the culture, we are to lead. Every day of our lives is important and we have a reason to be here until the time that God does call us home.
God never calls us to give up. Paul discovers in his writing that it would be selfish to give up and give in to defeat. It would be great gain for him to die and be with Christ, but he would leave spiritual children behind who needed him desperately at that time.
When you give up, you’re thinking of no one but yourself. Look around, someone is depending on you. Someone is looking to you to lead them by your example, to teach them, to be with them. Someone needs the joy that you can provide.
Let’s take a look at this passage and see how the Apostle Paul, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit thought about his circumstances. He was imprisoned at Rome, and facing martyrdom. Yet he writes an epistle that still teaches and encourages our hearts this day.
PRAY!
Prayers of Deliverance (verse 19)
Prayers in the Holy Spirit
Praying in Adversity
Praying in Faith
Prayer is the difference-maker. Paul has been encouraged by the prayers of the saints, and knows their power by the Holy Spirit. The prayers of the people seem to be inextricably linked to the help He is receiving from the Holy Spirit. James says:
“The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 1:6b)
So in a very real sense, when we pray for someone going through adversity, we have the warrant to ask the Holy Spirit to go to work on their behalf.
When you pray, allow the Holy Spirit to empower your words, and agree with His will. The Holy Spirit is God. He will “lead you into all truth” and he functions as our advocate. When we discover a sense of cooperation with the Holy Spirit in our prayers, then we will see amazing results. People who we are praying for will know that something is going on!
No situation is hopeless. Pray in health and in sickness, in good times and in adversity. Believe something will happen. God honors our faith. Faith is the key to God’s heart.
There is no such thing as a hopeless situation for the Christian. When it seems that the options have run out, keep believing and keep praying. Your prayers may be what is upholding someone whose back is up against the wall.
Anytime I think about a hopeless situation, I remember one of my favorite television and movie characters, Admiral James Tiberius Kirk. In the Star Trek story he is remembered for his time as a cadet at Star Fleet Academy as being the only student to ever defeat the “Kobiashi Maru” scenario; a simulated computer model which would present the student with a no-win situation to test their nerves and their management of a ship that was destined to go down.
Kirk beat the scenario…by re-programming the computer. His reason “there is no such thing as a no-win situation.”
We have access to the source code! God is the one who decides when and if it’s over.
An old king of India condemned a man to the gallows. When the king had finished reading the sentence, the condemned man said: ‘You are a wise man, Your Majesty, and curious about everything that your subjects do. You respect gurus, sages, snake-charmers and fakirs. Well, when I was a child, my grandfather taught me how to make a white horse fly. Since there is no one else in the whole kingdom who knows how to do this, my life should be spared.’
The king immediately ordered a white horse to be brought.
‘I need to spend two years with this animal,’ said the condemned man.
‘All right, you will have two years,’ replied the king, already somewhat suspicious. ‘But if this horse does not learn to fly, you will be hanged.’
Overjoyed, the man left with the horse. When he reached his house, he found his whole family in tears.
‘Are you mad?’ they all cried. ‘Since when has anyone in this house known how to make a horse fly?’
‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘First of all, no one has ever tried to teach a horse to fly, and the horse might well learn. Secondly, the king is already very old and he might die in the next two years. Thirdly, the horse might die and then I’ll be given another two years to teach the new horse – not to mention the possibility of revolutions, coups d’état and general amnesties. And even if everything remains exactly as it is, I will still have gained two years of life with which I can do anything I like. Does that seem little to you?’
EXPECT!
Eager toward Expectation (verse 20, 22)
The Power of Hope
Expecting the Best
Fruitful in Labor
Paul goes on to speak about this “eager expectation” that is rising up in him. How could a man in chains, quite possibly facing his own martyrdom be eagerly expecting anything other than a grizzly death at the hands of some of the most brutal people on the face of the earth?
What is he expecting, and how does he come to expect anything other than suffering and death?
God has shown Paul one of the great truths of the Christian life; a key to victory and a principle which will
Paul has learned the power of Hope and Expectation. A little bit later he spoke of it just months before his death as he wrote to his protégé Timotheus.
2Ti 1:12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.
We have struck gold here. I could preach through the entire Bible on this issue of expecting, because it’s all part of our faith. If we learn to cooperate with the Holy Spirit; to pray in Him and Him through us, then we will begin to “eagerly expect” great things even in the most dire, seemingly hopeless circumstance.
Eph 6:13
(13) Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
LIVE!
Living is Christ (verse 21)
Christ in Me
I in Christ
Unashamed to proclaim
Col 1:26-27
(26) the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.
(27) To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
It’s a mystery Paul says, and it’s been, and continues to be revealed. That Christ is in me, and I am in Christ.
I in Christ prepares me for Heaven. Christ in me prepares me for this world!
We’ll be there next week in chapter four, but to set it up today, just know that it’s coming:
Php 4:12-13
(12) I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
(13) I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
JOY!
Overflowing of Joy (verse 26)
Progress in Faith
Faith is a journey, a road. We are continuously making progress on a daily basis; ever increasing faith.
2Th 1:3
(3) We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.
Eph 4:13
(13) until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
Rom 1:16-17
(16) For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
(17) For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
As faith progresses, so does the joy that it produces.
Joy in Me
Neh 8:9-10
(9) And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law.
(10) Then he said to them, "Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord.
And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
Overflows to You
The joy of the Lord is my strength, so that I may be strong to lift the weaker ones. There are those who I can lift by my influence and the overflowing joy that results from my faith.
Joy is contagious! When others see my joy, and when they are uplifted and “infected” by it…God is glorified. It makes Him very, very happy!
Do you remember a time when you were able to be used by God to lift someone’s spirit and heavy heart? There is nothing like it (a personal story if time allows).
Get out of yourself. You can have joy in the middle of the storm, in the face of the most dire circumstances!
You may not have a lot of money to give, and you may not be physically or otherwise able to do the “radical” things, but this is one thing that anyone who has breath can do.
So, God glorifies Himself toward the creatures also in two ways: 1. By appearing to ... their understanding. 2. In communicating Himself to their hearts, and in their rejoicing and delighting in, and enjoying, the manifestations which He makes of Himself ... God is glorified not only in His glory being seen, but by [His glory] being rejoiced in.
When those who see it, see it for what it is, God is glorified. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it.
His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and by the heart. (J. Edwards)
Practical Points
Forget the bad things behind-regret has no place in the victorious life
Every day is a gift-embrace it and seek God’s plan for that day
Speak your expectation, make some good plans…this is a powerful thing!
Enjoy the thoughts of future in Heaven, but live here now. We will have all of eternity in Heaven. We’ve only got a few more days here.
Get some joy! What’s your reason for living?
Choose it, practice it, show it to people, someone needs it (Whatever he/she has I want some!) God really, really loves this!
It ain’t over till it’s over!
