In Tiger Of The Snows Tenzig Norgay is a fanatic for mountain
climbing. He and a British companion were going to climb Mt.
Everest. His wife did not share his enthusiasm, and she felt he was
obsessed. "You are a dare devil," she said, "And you care nothing
about what your death would do to me or the children." He
responded, "Of course I care...but this is my work-my life." She
said, "But you are crazy. You will kill yourself on this mountain.
You will die." "All right," he said, "I will die!" For to him, to live
was to climb Mt. Everest. His life revolved around that mountain,
and it was better to die than not to climb it.
This is the kind of fanaticism that gives us our adventurers and
heroes. You have to be something of a fanatic to be spectacular at
anything. In sports, in music, in art, in education of all kinds, and in
business, the best are people who are obsessed with their field of
expertise. Show me the half-hearted heroes; show me the goof-off
gold metal holders; show me the lackadaisical super successes in any
realm of human endeavor, and I'll change my tune. But until then
I'll face this reality-fanatics are the winners.
The explorers, trailblazers, pioneers, and prophets of history
have always been called fanatics. But before we leap on this
fanatical band wagon, we need to see the other side. Fanaticism is
also the curse of history as well as the source of great blessings.
Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin were also fanatics, as were most of the
tyrants of history. So we see that fanaticism works for evil as well as
for good. So the value of fanaticism is determined by the cause. If
you are fanatical for an evil cause, you will be successfully evil. If
you are fanatical for a superficial cause, you will be successfully
superficial. If you are fanatical for a good cause, you will be
successfully good.
This makes Paul the supreme fanatic, for in Phil. 1:21 he sums up
his life in this simple statement, "For to me-to live is Christ and to
die is gain." This is the ultimate fanaticism, for it is an all out
commitment to the highest cause. Paul's point is that when your life
is devoted to the highest you can't lose, for even if you die it is not
loss, but gain. Fanaticism for Christ is the only perfect fanaticism,
for it is the only fanaticism that is a no lose situation.
History is filled with religious fanatics who did not please God,
but brought His wrath down on them. Jesus blasted the Pharisees
for being religious fanatics in Matt. 23. Listen to just one of the 7
woes in that chapter. In verse 15 Jesus said, "Woe to you, teachers
of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and
sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him
twice as much a son of hell as you are." Religious fanatics are the
worst, and they make earth a part of hell. Paul was one of these
Pharisee fanatics. He persecuted Jews who loved Jesus. He
imprisoned them and killed them in his zeal for his religious
convictions. For him to live was the law. This led him to be a cruel
and violent man. This is a test of the valued or vicious fanatic. The
vicious fanatic will bring horror to others, but the valued fanatic will
bring healing and help to others. Paul hurt people by his
pre-Christian fanaticism, but when he came to Christ, he became a
fanatic who brought life and health everywhere he went.
Paul meant by this statement, "For me to live is Christ," that his
life would be an extension of the life of Christ. He will use me as an
instrument to keep doing in this world what He did when He walked
this earth in the flesh. He will give life and health, and be merciful
in aiding all who cross His path. For me to live is Christ means my
body is His body, subject to His Spirit, and doing what He would do
in the same situation. That is the beautiful fanaticism that God
wants to see in each of our lives. This is radically different from
being a religious fanatic, and one who is obnoxious because you are
obsessed with trying to force everybody to buy into your agenda.
Even your Christian friends do not like this kind of offensive
fanaticism. It is one part of the body trying to get all the other parts
to conform to it. This is offensive because it is counter to God's will
which is for the body to be diverse with many gifts. And eye that
wants all members to be eyes is trying to play God, and trying to
create all Christians in his image.
History is full of Christians falling for this trick of the devil. The
Catholic church for centuries thought that salvation was impossible
without submission to the Pope. Finally, their theologians came to
admit, it was possible for Protestants to be saved. But some fanatics
like Leonard Feeney, a Catholic scholar and leader in the 1940's and
50's refuse to except the change. He went back to the 1492 doctrine
that nobody outside the Catholic church could have eternal life. He
was dismissed from his Jesuit order, and no longer permitted to
teach at Boston College. Did he let this stop him? Not at all. He
held a rally at Notre Dame denouncing the Protestants they had on
their football team. He was offensive to everybody; even the church
he sought to exalt. He had his convictions, and he stood fast
regardless of the cost to himself. This is usually a noble virtue to be
admired, but in a fanatic it can be a curse.
Religious fanatics have done every vile and vicious thing men are
capable of doing, and all in the name of standing for their
convictions. They forget the crucial teaching of Paul that even if
they give up everything, and lay down their life, if they have not
love, they are nothing, and they gain nothing. A fanatic, even if he is
right, is a fool if he does not have a fanatical love to go along with his
convictions. You can be 100% right, and biblical in your
convictions, and still be 100% out of the will of God, if your
dominant motive is not love. Christians mistakenly think that being
right is all that matters, but they are wrong. People often reject the
truth of God because those promoting it are unloving people.
Christian fanatics often forget love because it slows you down. Love
has to move with caution, patience, and tolerance, and that rubs a
fanatic the wrong way. So they put love on the back burner, and
fight evil with evil. They think the short cut is justified because their
cause is good.
Such misguided fanatics may be totally sincere, but they are
wrong, for whatever is not Christlike is wrong for the Christian. A
fanatic that is not loving is not a Christian fanatic, even if they are
Christians. Their fanaticism is evil, even if they are good Christian
people. A Christian who is a fanatic is only a Christian fanatic if his
fanaticism is Christlike, as was the case with Paul. Ask Paul what
the meaning of life is, and he will say, "Christ is the meaning of my
life." Life means Christ to me. I live to serve Him.
I eat to have energy to do His will. I sleep to feel good to be a better
tool for Him to use. I do all that I do in life as a means to be more
effective for Christ.
That is fanaticism, but it is beautiful, for Paul is ready to do
anything for people. If you are a non-believer, he will heal you, pray
for you, share the Gospel with you, and anything else that Jesus
would do. If you are a brother in Christ, he will help you bear your
burden, give counsel to guide you, go out of his way to do anything
to encourage you, just as Jesus would do. Why? Because, for him to
live was Christ. His life mirrored the life of Jesus, and the Spirit of
Jesus. If he died, he would do that like Jesus also, with full
assurance that he would be raised into the presence of God, and gain
reward beyond anything this life could offer. To die was gain, and
so he could live free of the fear of death, for it would only be a
promotion.
The two statements of Paul are linked so that the second is only
true because of the first. If your priority is different, so will your
prospects be different in death. If you say for example, "For me to
live is cash," then you cannot say, and to die is gain, for you loose
your cash in death. You do not benefit from it any longer. So what
fits is, for me to live is cash, and to die is pain. Death is a threat to
your meaning of life. The same is true with any other priority. For
me to live as country, and to die is pain, for you lose country in
death. For me to live is sports, and to die is pain, for you lose that
love in death. We could go on and on, for if the meaning of your life
is not something that can survive death, it is not an adequate
meaning. Paul found the only meaning in life that is eternal, and
that is why he could say, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is
gain." Death does not rob him of Christ, for it joins him to Christ
instead.
The great challenge of the Christian life is to see how all of life
can be linked to Christ, so that all your loves, interests, and desires
can be a part of the total package so you can say with Paul, "For me
to live is Christ." This ultimate meaning will give meaning to
everything tied into it. But if you say, "for me to live is_______(fill in
the blank with anything but Christ), you have a problem with
idolatry. If you put in self, you are a self-centered person, and all of
life will revolve around you, and you will not be Christlike. Hitler is
a good example of the self-centered life. He was rejected at art
school for lack of talent. But in his sickly mind he felt he was a good
artist. He painted some pictures, and took them to an art museum to
have them exhibited. The committee looked them over, and turned
him down. He felt is was a conspiracy, and he got the name of the
five member committee. He learned that three of them were Jews.
That is when he decided he would get even with the Jews, for they
were his enemies.
When he came to power he destroyed that art museum, and he
had a new one built costing millions of dollars. He was so
self-centered he had to have his way no matter what, and millions of
Jews died because some dared to stand in his way. Christ was
dethroned, and self was enthroned. Every man in history who does
this becomes an anti-Christ. Hitler filled in the most important
blank in life with a bad choice, and said, "For me to live is self." It
is a one word test to fill in the blank. If you get it wrong, you flunk
the school of life. If you get it right, you pass, and move on to a
higher life, for then, death is gain. The meaning of life is really very
simple. It is a one blank fill in, and what you put there determines
your destiny.
In contrast to Hitler who put self in the blank, listen to the great
Spurgeon as he fills in the blank. "I have now concentrated all my
prayers into one, and that one prayer is this, that I may die to self,
and live wholly to Him. It seems to me to be the highest stage of
man, to have no wish, no thought, no desire but Christ..." It is one
thing to trust in Christ as your Savior, and to acknowledge Him as
your Lord, but quite another to say, "For me to live is Christ." In
the one we take Him into our lives, and we become part of the family
of God. In the other, we give Him our life as a tool He can use to be
present in the world. We are a tool He can fill with His Spirit, and
use as He used His earthly body to minister to a lost world. You are
only saved once, but this surrender of your life for Christ to live in
and through you, needs to be done often, for self keeps on striving to
take it back everyday. This is a great battle in spiritual warfare.
Who is going to get your body, mind, and the resources they
control-the self or the Savior?
The reason Bible reading and devotions often become boring
routine for Christians is because they do not see that everyday is a
battle to fill in the blank properly. Because we do not consciously
settle it each day that, "For me to live is Christ," we go off into any
one day and the reality isFor me to live is self.
For me to live is things.
For me to live is revenge.
For me to live is ______. Fill in the blank with many other issues.
The alternatives are legion, and the point is, the purpose for all
we do as Christians in Christian education, Bible study, worship,
devotions, and Christian fellowship, is to help us to keep filling in
the blank with, "For me to live is Christ." Paul had no idea how
many days he would be alive in this world, but he wanted everyone
of them to be a day that counted for Christ. J. C. Levator wrote a
poem that represents a prayer we know Paul would gladly pray
daily.
O Jesus Christ, grow Thou in me,
And all things else recede.
My heart be daily nearer Thee,
From sin be daily freed.
More of Thy glory see,
Thou holy, wise, and true.
I would Thy loving image be,
Enjoy, and sorrow too.
The battle of the blank can only be won if we see it is a constant
temptation to replace Christ in that blank. The life of St. Patrick is
a great illustration of this. At 17 he and some companions were
having fun at the beach when they were kidnapped by a group of
Irish thugs. They were taken to their ship and carried away in
chains to Ireland. They were sold as slaves, and for 6 years he
endured the unspeakable horrors of slavery. He was filled with
hatred and bitterness, but at the same time he remembered his
Christian teaching, and he surrendered his whole being to Christ.
He made a sensational escape, and got back to the continent. For 20
years he tried to figure out how to get revenge on the Irish for the
hell they put him through.
For 20 years he fought the battle of the blank. He wanted to fill it
in as, for me to live is revenge. But the Holy Spirit within him kept
saying, forgive and go back to these pathetic people with the Gospel.
His youth passed, and he became a mature man, and a leader in the
church. At length he became a bishop, and Ireland was a part of his
territory. He had to make up his mind on the blank in relation to
Ireland. Would it be revenge, or the redeemer. St. Patrick was one
of the most famous missionaries of all time because he made the
choice-for me to live is Christ. He went to Ireland with a passion to
share Christ with those people he once hated. His zeal led to a
revival, and Christianity spread like wildfire. Irish missionaries
were sent out over the world making Ireland the most missionary
nation on earth at that time. St. Patrick became the Apostle of
Ireland. The place that was once his hell became his heaven on
earth. He had won the battle of the blank.
St Patrick is best known for this poem he wore on his
breastplate. It is an expansion of our text.
Christ be with me, Christ within me;
Christ behind me, Christ before me;
Christ beside me, Christ to win me.
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me.
Christ in quite, Christ in danger.
Christ in hearts of all who love me.
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
Multitudes will be singing the praises of Christ forever because
he won the battle of the blank, and filled it in as Paul did-for me to
live is Christ. Now Paul had many pleasures as well as pains, and
abundant blessings as well as burdens. He could enjoy a good
sporting event as well as the next man. He could relish a good pot
luck as much as anybody. Paul loved life, and would not put a
damper on the Christians need for enjoyment and escape. The point
is, these are not the goals of life, or the purpose of life. These are the
perks, and fringe benefits. Their primary value is in making it a
greater joy to live for Christ. But when all of life's fringe benefits
become the center of life, they crowd out Christ, and lead to
disillusionment. We see this in the poem by Dorothy Parker.
There's little in taking and giving,
There's little in water and wine,
This living, this living, this living
Was never a project of mine.
Oh, hard as the struggle, and sparse is
The gain of one at the top,
For art is a form of catharsis,
And love is a permanent flop,
And work is the province of cattle,
And rest's for a clam in a shell,
So I'm thinking of throwing the battle-
Would you kindly direct me to hell?
Look for example at the life of Earnest Hemingway. His was the
playboy philosophy which said, for me to live is pleasure. God is not
opposed to pleasure. He is the one who made it possible by the way
He made our nervous system, and at His right hand there will be
pleasures for evermore. God is pro-pleasure. But like any value,
when you make it your goal, it becomes an idol, and a rival with the
true God. In other words, anything you chose to fill in the blank
that is not, for me to live is Christ is in essence, for me to live is not
Christ. Any good thing can become a rival to Christ when it takes
His place in the blank. It was so for Hemingway. He became a
symbol of worldliness. It was wine, women, and song, with emphasis
on the wine and women. His immoral life did not hinder his fame.
He won both Nobel and Pulitzer prizes. Playboy magazine in 1956
said, "Sin has paid off for Hemingway.
Ten years later after several attempted suicides, he succeeded
with a rifle, and we see playboy was right. Sin had pain off for
Hemmingway, for the wages of sin is death, and he was paid in full
for his choices in the battle of the blank. For me to live is sin was his
choice, and he was rewarded accordingly. There is no escaping the
evidence of history. The choice you make to fill in the blank at the
end of that sentence, for me to live is _______, is the most destiny
deciding choice we make in life. May God help us to fill it in as Paul
did, and be fanatics for Jesus.
