To Live is Christ, to Die is Gain
By: C. Mason Davis
Former President Harry Truman reportedly told a story about a man in a deep coma who was mistakenly sent to a funeral home. Waking up in a coffin, the man questioned his predicament, saying, "If I'm alive, why am I in a casket? And, if I'm dead, why do I have to go to the bathroom?"
Today’s Scripture
Philippians 1:20-26; “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. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 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: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 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, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.”
There are many things to be thankful for in life, but even if there were only two, they would be the two ways of life being, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” To be alive in the Lord Jesus Christ is cause for great thanksgiving, and even greater cause is to know that what lies beyond this life is something even better. 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.
You could summarize what it means to be a Christian, the entirety of the Christian life, with those two statements. If you have your roots deep in those two realities of life and death, then nothing can shake you.
Living in Christ then to gain by dying are the only two options. I'm either alive in Christ, or I'm dead and have departed this world and gone to be with Christ, and either way, it's wonderful. Romans 14:8; “For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.” Paul saw life as something that's bursting with joy. Later on, he says to the Philippians, rejoice in the Lord always. This is the guy who sang in the Philippian jail, rejoicing always because he knew that his life was fruitful labor. He knew that Christ was his life and he loved being alive. And even then he said, but to die is gain. Philippians 3:7-8; “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” Then I'll be closer to Christ than I've ever been.
If we don't have that kind of courage and that kind of joy, then it's probable that we still have a lot of growing to do in understanding and embracing the reality of these two statements. If for me is not Christ, if my life is not all wrapped up in the Lord Jesus Christ, then I'm not going to have the joy and contentment and courage that the Paul wrote about. And if I'm not so sure that death is gain, if I dread leaving this life, if I can't imagine that there's something better beyond this, I hope that I'll be healthy to a good old age.
We can be hoping for things in this life, but not looking forward to what lies beyond. Then we're going to be chronically scared of dying. We're going to spend most of our living worrying about dying. If you're not ready to die, you're not really ready to live. And so we need to hear what God is saying to us, the reality of living with Christ and dying as gain. To live is Christ.
And when I live and when I act, I'm living by His life and I'm acting by His actions. Right at the very beginning of Philippians, Paul says that “he who began a good work in you will carry it to completion until the day of Christ.” And then near the very end of Philippians, Paul says, “my God will meet all of your needs according to His riches, the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.”
If you have any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship in the Spirit, if any tenderness in the passion, then make my joy complete by having the same mind being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Have this mindset in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing. Taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself unto death, even death on a cross.
And therefore, God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that's above every name, the name of Jesus. And every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now have that mind. You've already got Christ in you.
And how is that? Well, because He's in you. And when He's in you, the more you’ll shine. And instead of being a griper and a grumbler and a complainer, you instead are shining with the light of contentment and joy in the Lord Jesus Christ. So live His life, act by His action, think His thoughts, shine His light because Christ is in you, the hope of glory.
And why is it so important that He remain in the body? Well, He says, so that I can help your progress in the faith and your joy in the faith. And so that your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow because I'm still here and I'm blessing you.
Another reason you're here is so that you can bring joy to others and bring blessing to others and help them in their progress in the faith and help them in their growth. Otherwise you're just taking up air.
We are here to a life that is to live is Christ. There is one other we're not ready. We're not ready to say or believe that dying is gain. We're not ready to be with Him in eternity because we're still not with Him here in this life. But if we do have Christ and He has us, then we’re ready to live or die.
If you have children, you're here to bless them. If you have parents, you're here to bless them. If there are people in your circle of friends, look at the ways you can bless them. If there are enemies, look at the way you can pray for them and bless them. But God's purpose is so that you can help people come to know Jesus. You get joy from bringing joy to others.
Not having a righteousness of my own, but that which comes through faith in Jesus Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. So He is the one who knows that it is not His goodness that makes Him right in God's sight. It is the goodness of Jesus credited to Him. The righteousness that's from God is by faith. But He doesn't stop there.
That when God takes our sins and nails them to the cross of Jesus and takes Jesus' goodness and credits all of His righteousness to us, then we are completely right with God forever. You receive Christ justifying righteousness if you're united to Him. Without Christ, you're not justified by faith either because you don't have Him.
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything by praise and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And I want to be like Christ in bringing light and joy to others. And if He's using me in that way, if it's fruitful labor, then I'm going to be content. 2 Corinthians 5:9; “Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.”
If I'm to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me.
And it's hard to have that attitude unless you know the second part of it as well; that to die is gain, that Jesus has got me, that I can glorify Him in my body whether I'm alive or whether I'm dead. Either way, I want what's going to glorify Him the most. If Him leaving me in this life and on this planet and in this body is what's going to advance His cause and bring Him the most glory, then so be it.
If Him taking me out of this life is what is going to most glorify Him, then so be it. But either way, to live is Christ, to die is gain, and I want Christ to be glorified in my body whether by life or by death. The Bible says that to depart and be with Christ is better by far. To be with Christ, to be aware of Him, to be in His presence.
The fact that I could be gone tomorrow, the fact that you could be gone tomorrow, the fact that I won't have a chance to do more to show love to somebody once I'm taken out of this world, the fact that they won't be there to receive it if God takes them out of this world means that we've got to make our lives count right now in the relationships that we have.
Heaven gains a human soul when a person who follows Jesus Christ goes to be with him in glory. If not, well, then hell it is. Although nobody thinks their own balance would be that bad. But the Bible teaches that without Christ, hell is the only other option. And there won’t be any gain with this option.
You remember what Jesus said to that criminal who was crucified next to him, who pleaded for his forgiveness and said, Lord, remember me when you come in your kingdom. Jesus said, today you will be with me in paradise. That's his promise. And that's what the apostle Paul is echoing in Philippians. He says to depart and be with Christ.
He will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing. I'm not making these things up, I'm just quoting, okay? These are the things that God says in his holy word.
And so there are going to be joys there beyond earthly words. The apostle Paul had a bit of an advantage on us, I think. I won't call it an unfair advantage because he had to go through a lot.
So he just said to die is gain. And so we can be confident that if we're absent from the body, we're at home with the Lord and it is better to be that way. And we need to take God's word for it.
It's just, you're caught up in what you can see around you never in the life of Christ or what is beyond you. When Christ redeems you from that, then you're brought into the stage when you're alive. And to live is Christ and it's fruitful labor and it's peace and joy in the Lord.
It is knowing the love that surpasses knowledge. The peace that surpasses understanding. The joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Even if I'm there for a while without a body, I'm still at least there as a soul or spirit in his presence. But that's not the final stage. The final stage is when Jesus comes again and brings heaven to earth and the earth is made new and the earth becomes God's dwelling place, which is to say it becomes heaven.
And so in the meantime, what do we do? We make it our goal to please him, whether at home in the body or away from it. 2 Corinthians 5:6-8; “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” That's the goal. He said, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
If we live, we live to the Lord. If we die, we die to the Lord. Whether we live therefore or die, we belong to the Lord.
There's only two situations in which Jesus has to be everything. When you're alive and when you're dead. To live is Christ, to die is gain. And it is my prayer for all of us that we learn and live for Christ either way. Amen!
