To Stay or not to Stay, That is the Question
Philippians 1:21-24
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not.
23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.
I was driving down the road the other day when this verse of scripture came to my mind.
As I began to think about these words of the Apostle Paul, I got a little inspired!
As we all know Paul was a great Christian leader taking a vital part in the establishment of the early church.
Paul saw many victories and successes, but he also experienced a lot of disappointments and failures.
His ministry played a vital role in the propulsion of the early church, giving the church encouragement, edification and spiritual direction and supervision.
He endured numerous conflicts and oppositions because of the gospel of Jesus Christ in which he preached so passionately.
You see, Paul had an encounter with Jesus Christ! He had a clear and precise understanding of who Jesus was. He understood the purpose for which Jesus came to earth to do.
So his ministry was important and essential to the early church.
They needed his spiritual discernment and sensitivity to help the church push forward.
So here in our text Paul is writing to the Philippians with a bit of indecisiveness.
He can’t make up his mind what he wants to do!
He says, “I find myself in a unique situation here. I have a burning desire to depart and be with Christ, but at the same time I know I am needed here.”
You see, Paul knew that to depart from this earth was to be immediately with the Lord.
2 Cor. 5:8, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”
Paul was persuaded beyond all doubt that when his life ended he would be walking the streets of gold in glory land.
In 2 Timothy 4:8 Paul writes, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
Paul had no doubt that to be absent from this body was to be present with Lord.
Paul had seen this place called the third heaven in 2 Cor. Chapter 12.
Paul says he was caught up into the third heaven and heard unspeakable words that were unlawful for him to utter, or words that were so holy that he could not speak them on earth.
You see there are three heavens, there is the first heaven, or the aerial, including the clouds and the atmosphere, the heavens above us, until we come to the stars.
(2.) The starry heavens--the heavens in which the sun, moon, and stars appear to be situated.
(3.) The heavens beyond the stars. That heaven was supposed to be the residence of God, of angels, and of holy spirits. It was this upper heaven, the dwelling-place of God, to which Paul was taken, and whose wonders he was permitted to behold--this region where God dwelt, where Christ was seated at the right hand of the Father, and where the spirits of the just were assembled.
No wonder Paul had a desire to depart, which he said is far better.
Oh church, if we could get this into our spirits today!
To understand what Paul is unfolding here!
You see Paul lived a life of beneficial value to God.
He looked forward to being in heaven with Christ where there is no more sorrow, no more pain, no more struggles, no more battles, no more persecutions, no more trials, no more tribulations, no more troubles, no more sickness, and no more death!
But he knew that until God called him to enter into that rest, he had an obligation to live for Christ down here.
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain,” he said.
Commentator Phillip Doddridge wrote concerning our passage text, “For I am, as it were, borne two different ways, having, on the one hand, a more earnest I desire, out of regard to my own immediate happiness, to be unbound; to weigh anchor, as it were and quitting these mortal shores, set sail for that happy world where I shall be immediately with Christ, which is better, beyond all comparison and expression than a longer abode here would be, were I to regard only my own immediate comfort and happiness.”
In other words, all of us who are saved and homesick for heaven have a desire, out of regard for our own happiness, to be free from this world’s sorrows and cares;
To be free from the heartaches and disappointments of this world.
To be in a place where there is no sorrow, no pain, no tears, no sickness, no disabilities, no poverty, no trials, no temptations, no tribulations, and no burdens or worry.
And oh, how wonderful that would be. It would be far better than this old world!
In writing concerning our scripture text, Adam Clarke the commentator wrote:
“It appears to be a metaphor taken from the commander of a vessel, in a foreign port, who feels a strong desire , to set sail, and get to his own country and family; but this desire is counterbalanced by a conviction that the general interests of the voyage may be best answered by his longer stay in the port where his vessel now rides; for he is not in dock, he is not aground, but rides at anchor in the port, and may any hour weigh and be gone. Such was the condition of the apostle: he was not at home, but although he was abroad it was on his employer's business; he wishes to return, and is cleared out and ready to set sail, but he has not received his last orders from his owner, and whatever desire he may feel to be at home he will faithfully wait till his final orders arrive.”
I want you to notice the last phraseology here, “ but he has not received his last orders from his owner, and whatever desire he may feel to be at home he will faithfully wait till his final orders arrive.”
Praise God! Yes my friend, if we truly love God, we have a heartfelt desire to depart and be with the Lord.
But no matter how homesick we may be, we must faithfully work and wait till we get our call to go home.
You may ask, “What are you saying, preacher?”
I am saying my friend, until then I will keep on singing, keep on working, keep on witnessing, keep on preaching, keep on living, keep on shouting, and keep on praying.
It’s like that old song, Until Then:
But until then my heart will go on singing
Until then with joy I’ll carry on
Until the day my eyes behold that city
Until the day God calls me home
Church, listen, you and I are needed down here right now!
Why do you think you are still hanging around?
Why do you think you are still able to walk, talk, sing, testify, pray, witness, and be a blessing?
It’s because God still needs you down here!
So, let’s get busy doing what we are supposed to be doing!
Let’s quit sitting around waiting for the train, when there is so many souls going down the drain!
Some of us think we are retired from God’s work!
Some of us think we have put our time in!
Some of us think we can rest and wait for Jesus to come get us.
But God still needs you!! And when He don’t need you anymore he will call you home.
Oh yeah, I have a desire to depart! Oh yeah, I know it would be far better for ME!
No more burdens to bear, no more sickness, no more pain, no more taxes, no more Obama!!!!!!!
But until then I will keep on singing
Until then with joy I will carry on
Until the day my eyes behold that city
Until the day God calls me home.
Paul was saying, “Yeah, I sure would like to go be with Jesus, to behold his face, to sit down beside the river and life, to walk on those streets of gold, to have a little talk with Moses, David and Elijah, but I’m still needed down here, so until then I will keep on singing, and working, and praying, and witnessing, and preaching, and testifying.
Listen, now is no time to quit! Now is no time to give up!
Now is no time to throw in the towel!
Now is no time to walk out like Demas did!
Yeah, I want to go to heaven! Yeah, I want to walk the streets of gold that we preach and sing about.
Yeah I want that mansion just over the hilltop!
Yeah, I want to be free from all my worries and anxieties.
But until then…………..until then………….until then, I’m going to keep on working.
We are facing a brand new year. We know not what 2010 will hold.
With troubles on every hand, wars across the globe, fears and anxieties abound, nothing seems certain anymore.
The year 2010 may bring heartaches for some of us.
It may bring sickness for some of us.
Some of us may experience disappointments and sorrow.
But we will carry on until Jesus calls us home.
We will keep the faith until the crown we wear.
We will finish our course that is set before us.
When someday we can say with Paul,
“ I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
I challenge you this morning to work harder than you have ever worked in 2010!
I challenge you to win somebody to the Lord in 2010.
I challenge you to have a desire to see the Lord, but be content with serving Him until He calls you home.
You see, we have not been cleared to go home yet!
We have not been given our orders to withdraw from combat.
So let’s fight the good fight of faith, let’s keep the faith, let’s finish our course.
