Introduction: The Defining Question of Your Existence
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, if you were to stop a hundred people on the streets of Manila today and ask them one question, "What do you live for?", imagine the answers you might get. You might meet a young professional, working 80 hours a week, sacrificing sleep, sacrificing health. For him, "to live is promotion." You might meet a loving mother, whose every thought and action revolves around her children. For her, "to live is my family." You might meet someone captivated by the endless scroll of social media, chasing 'likes' and fleeting fame. For them, "to live is approval." Others might say money, security, comfort, or just making it to the weekend.
Every single person has a philosophy of life. They have something that gets them out of bed in the morning. They have a center of gravity, a sun around which the planets of their life revolve. We all fill in the blank in the sentence: "For to me to live is ___."
But today, we turn our attention to a man who gives an answer that shatters every earthly-minded paradigm. The Apostle Paul, a man who is not writing from a position of comfort, but from the harsh reality of a Roman prison. Let's paint the picture. He is not in a minimum-security facility with a library and a cafeteria. He is likely in a cold, damp cell, perhaps chained to a Roman guard, awaiting a verdict from Caesar's court that could mean his execution.
From this place of uncertainty, suffering, and imminent danger, Paul does not write a letter of despair. He does not complain. Instead, he pens a love letter to his dear partners in the gospel, the church at Philippi, and he makes one of the most powerful declarations in all of Scripture. He boils down his entire existence, his past, his present, and his future, into ten simple words: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
This is not a clever motto; it is the spiritual DNA of a mature believer. It is the secret to joy in sorrow, peace in turmoil, and courage in the face of death. This morning, let's dig deeper into this treasure chest, to understand the two sides of this divine coin, and to see how this truth can set us free.
Part I: "For to me to live is Christ"
This first clause is the foundation for everything. "For to me to live is Christ." What a statement! Let's explore its three-fold meaning.
1. Christ is the Source of our Life
Before Paul could say "to live is Christ," he had to be made alive by Christ. Remember Paul's life before his conversion. He was Saul of Tarsus, a religious zealot, a man who thought he was living for God but was, in reality, spiritually dead. As Ephesians 2:1 says, he was "dead in trespasses and sins." Then, on the road to Damascus, he had an encounter with the resurrected Lord Jesus. In that blinding moment, everything changed. He was given new life, spiritual life. He was, as 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, a "new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
Think of a lightbulb. A lightbulb is designed to give light. It has the filament, the glass, the structure-but it is dark and useless on its own. It has no life in itself. Only when it is screwed into the socket and connected to the power source does it fulfill its purpose. We, my friends, are the lightbulb. Before salvation, we are disconnected, dark, lifeless. Christ is the power source. The moment we are saved, we are connected to Him, and His life flows into us and through us. To say "to live is Christ" is to first declare, "I have no life of my own. My very spiritual existence, my breath, my hope, comes solely from Him."
2. Christ is the Substance of our Life
This is where the rubber meets the road for us today. For Paul, Christ wasn't just the start of his life; He was the very substance of it. Christ was the operating system that ran every program. He was the theme of the book, found on every single page.
This is a radical idea. It means that Christ is not meant to be one part of our life. He is not just our "Sunday life." He is our Monday-morning-stuck-in-traffic life. He is our Tuesday-afternoon-dealing-with-a-difficult-client life. He is our Friday-night-deciding-what-entertainment-to-watch life. He is our handling-of-finances life, our raising-our-childrenlife, our forgiving-those-who-hurt-us life.
What does this practically look like? It means that when you are at your job, your goal is not merely to earn a paycheck, but to work with integrity, excellence, and honesty "as to the Lord, and not unto men" (Colossians 3:23). When you are interacting with your family, your goal is not just to keep the peace, but to show the love, grace, andorgiveness of Christ. When you are faced with a decision, big or small, the question is no longer "What do I want?" but "What would most honor Christ?"
His teachings become our wisdom. His commands become our guide. His character becomes our pattern. His mission becomes our passion. He is the substance, the very fabric, of our moment-by-moment existence.
3. Christ is the Goal of our Life
Source, substance, and finally, goal. If Christ is the source and substance of our life, it logically follows that He must also be the goal.
Paul's ambition was not to build a great reputation for himself, but to magnify the reputation of Christ. He says it in the preceding verse: "According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death" (Philippians 1:20).
To magnify something is to make it appear larger than it is. ut you cannot make God appear larger than He is. So what does this mean? It's like looking at the stars. With the naked eye, they are tiny specks of light. But through a powerful telescope, you see their immense size, their fiery glory. The telescope doesn't make the star bigger, but it reveals its true, magnificent greatness to the observer.
Paul is saying, "My life-my body-is a telescope. And my one goal is that when people look through my life, they see the true, magnificent greatness of Jesus." Whether he lives or dies, the goal is the same: make Christ look great. That is the supreme ambition of the Christian.
Part II: "And to die is gain"
Now we arrive at the phrase that turns the world's wisdom on its head. "And to die is gain."
Let us be honest. Death is not our friend. The Bible calls it "the last enemy" (1 Corinthians 15:26). It brings separation and sorrow. When His friend Lazarus died, Jesus wept. Christianity does not call us to be unfeeling robots who do not grieve. The sting of death is real.
So how, in the face of this enemy, can Paul declare with such confidence that to die is gain? The world says death is the ultimate loss. You lose your life, your possessions, your relationships, your future. But Paul says, "No, you have the accounting wrong. For the one whose life is Christ, death is not a liability; it is the ultimate asset. It is pure profit."
How?
1. Gain is Final Freedom from a Fallen World
First, to die is gain because it means we are permanently freed from the presence of sin and the curse of suffering. As long as we are in these bodies, we are at war. We fight against the desires of the flesh, the temptations of the world, and the schemes of the devil.
We live in bodies that ache, that get sick, that fail us. We live in a world that is groaning-we see it in the headlines, we see it in the hospitals, we sometimes see it in our own homes.
But death, for the believer, is the final ceasefire. It is the end of the war. It is the laying down of a heavy burden. Revelation 21:4 gives us this glorious snapshot of our future: "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."
Imagine! No more struggling with that besetting sin. No more anxiety about the future. No more pain. No more grief. That, my friends, is gain.
2. Gain is Full Fellowship with our Glorious Lord
This is the heart of the matter. The ultimate gain is not just freedom from something bad, but promotion to Someone wonderful. It is going from living for Christ to being with Christ.
Paul understood this tension. In the verses that follow, he says he is "in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better" (Philippians 1:23). Notice his language: "far better." As good as it is to live for Christ on earth, to be with Him in heaven is exponentially, immeasurably, infinitely better.
Think of it like this. Imagine you have a loved one living overseas for many years. You talk on the phone, you exchange messages, you see them on a video call. You love them, and the connection is real. But then comes the day you go to the airport. The plane lands, the doors open, and you see them walk out. All the phone calls and video chats in the world cannot compare to that moment of embrace, of being in their presence.
Our relationship with Jesus on earth is like that long-distance communication. It's real,it's precious, we cherish it. But death, for the believer, is that moment at the airport. It is the closing of the distance. It is seeing face-to-face the one who bore our sins on the cross. It is falling at the feet of the King of Kings. It is not just gain; it is glory.
It is important to see that Paul is not suicidal. He doesn't have a death wish. He says, "Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you" (v. 24). He knows that if he lives, he can continue to help the Philippians grow in their faith. His personal desire is heaven, but his pastoral duty is earth. The decision is based entirely on what will bring most glory to Christ and most good to His church. What freedom!
Conclusion: The Believer's Unlosable Proposition
So here is Paul in his prison cell, looking at the two possible outcomes.
1. The judge says, "You live." Paul says, "Wonderful! That means more time to serve Christ and glorify Him on earth. I win."
2. The judge says, "You die." Paul says, "Even better! That means I go to be with Christ in glory. I win."
Heads, I win. Tails, I win. This is the believer's ultimate win-win scenario. When your life is defined by Philippians 1:21, you cannot lose. Worldly success cannot puff you up, because your life is Christ. Worldly failure cannot destroy you, because your life is Christ. The fear of death cannot paralyze you, because you know that to die is gain. It is the most secure, liberating, and joy-filled way to live.
So I bring the question back to you, one last time. How do you fill in the blank? "For to me to live is ___."
To the believer, I exhort you: Do not settle for a compartmentalized faith. Plead with God to make this verse the reality of your heart. This week, pick one area of your life-your finances, your relationships, your free time-and consciously ask, "How can I make Christ the source, substance, and goal of this area?" Let this verse be the anchor for your soul in the storms of life.
To the one who may be here without Christ: I ask you with all love, what is your equation? "To live is my career, and to die is... to lose it all?" "To live is pleasure, and to die is... for it all to end?" If your life is for anything in this world, death will always be loss. But it does not have to be this way. The reason Paul could say "to live is Christ" is because Christ died for Paul. He died for you. He took the penalty for your sin upon Himself on the cross, so that by trusting in Him, you could be forgiven and receive His life. Turn to Him today.
Trust Him. And you will be able to exchange the equation of loss for the divine equation of eternal gain.
