FOR TO ME, TO LIVE IS CHRIST, TO DIE IS GAIN
1. If we could interview anyone…
- I wouldn’t have chosen Paul b/c intimidation. Now I see him as a man who loved J.
- Tell us about yourself, Paul?
- Can you tell us your favorite HS story?
- What were some of your toughest times?
- How would you sum up all of your life? “For to me to live is Christ…”
2. Wouldn’t that be a great interview?
- not a multiplicity of things… it wasn’t “life is about 3 things” ONE THING
- Could you say that w/o feeling like a hypocrite? Everything else we draw life from.
- Most of us couldn’t… but wouldn’t you want to… “My life is about 1 thing.”
3. City Slickers.
- Ad Exec vacations with friends 1x/yr. COFFEE grinder causes stampeed
- Curley (Jack Palance)… grizzly, strong, confident. “You’re gonna come w/ me!”
- “What is the meaning of life?” “Your finger is the meaning of life?”
- “No, 1 thing… one thing is the meaning of life” “What things” For you to find out.
4. Jesus says a similar thing in Lk 10. Mary/Martha
- Mary sits at Jesus feet while Martha prepare food
- “ Martha… you are worried about so many things… but only 1 thing is necessary.”
5. This passage shows what that 1 thing is… sitting at the feet of Jesus, in the presence of God.
- Martha wasn’t so off… she invited Him and was serving him. We need to serve too
- She was a worker 1st, lover 2nd. Jesus wanted to switch that and show that only the lover part is truly necessary… the worker part would follow. Mary would have eventually given Jesus a cup of coffee!
- Jesus is the center of all of life… Col says: For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
- Even the Bible itself has Jesus at its center.
o Lk 24… all scripture points to Him & all promises find fulfillment in Him.
o ADAM, Abraham (the ram),
o Joseph… betrayed, thrown in pit, rose to be king, redeemed his brothers
o MOSES… Saves his people from enemy. Jesus b/c the Passover lamb + saves
o Matthew starts genealogy: “Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham”
o Whole Bible & all of life finds its center, meaning, purpose in Jesus.
6. John refers to Jesus as “LIFE” 36x in his books (rez & life, way,truth,life, bread of life)
- Bread of life, Poor sharing bread. Pick off floor, kiss it, farewell bite, face up
- If we believe, as Paul did, that Jesus is the center of life… then we need to center our lives around that Life… in His presence.
- This is what God created us for… Adam & Eve
- Find our rest in His presence.
7. The heartbeat of this church… that we be a place that God looks forward to coming…
- That we value being in the God’s presence more than anything else
- A church that is lover 1st, worker 2nd
- We wouldn’t be a church that just knows about 1 thing, but rather LIVES for 1 thing.
8. To Live is _______ and to die is __________
- Money leave it all behind
- Fame to be forgotten
- To be happy loose it all
- A clean house no more cleaning
- How would you fill in the blanks?
- To live is CHRIST… to be in His presence… in communion with Him… and to die… is even more of His presence. Paul can’t loose!
9. How would Jesus fill in the blanks? To live in the Father’s presence.
- Jesus had perfect communion thru eternity & earthly ministry
- This was broken only once… SET THE STAGE: Good Friday
- Passover morning (Passover week celebrates freedom from Egyptian slavery
o priests prepare unblemished Passover lamb for its sacrifice.
o later, at 3:00pm shofars would blow and the lamb would be killed.
o Goat not sacrificed in temple but taken outside of city
o represented transfer of sins… and that their sins were taken away.
- We read in Mat. 27, from noon till 3pm darkness covered the land.
o In one moment, sins of humanity… yours & mine fell on back. All the horror.
o Worse than this, far worse than nails in feet/hands… His communion w/ Father was broken… Father turned His face on Jesus.
o Nearing 3:00pm, Jesus cries out, “My God, Why have you forsaken me?” But he knew it b/c of our sin.
- At 3:00, very moment the priests were blowing Shofar and sacrificing the lamb for the forgiveness of sins, the perfect Lamb of God died.
o Jesus b/c the scapegoat for our sins.
- Good Friday: only b/c of the immensity of the sacrifice, the depth of love Jesus must have toward us in paying such a high price.
- WHY DID HE PAY THIS HIGH PRICE… to save us, yes. But ultimately to sit in His presence.
11. What difference did it make on Paul’s life?
- If it weren’t for Jesus, Paul’s place in history different. Only good in him is Jesus!
- saw everything through the lens of knowing Jesus more intimately & abiding in His presence and leading others into intimacy and His presence.
- That is why, in the midst of suffering, he could rejoice.
- That is why all things do work together for good
- Phil 4 “For I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances” autarkos
o Contentment springs from a readiness to accept whatever God gives… where a thorn in the flesh, a whole Island coming to Christ, or his own execution.
o contentment = self-sufficiency. He is twisting it to mean God-sufficiency
o joy & contentment can be constant, but they come only as we abide
- Such a singular focus doesn’t make Paul “other-worldly” or superhuman… He is simply a man who has made Jesus the center of his life.
12. What difference would it make on our lives?
- It would change our perspective on suffering.
- Won’t go away but be able to remain in His joy & peace.
- We would learn to love ourselves—hear from the Father what He thinks about us. So many hate their bodies, feel unlovable… God feels differently. *Spoke w/ anorexic
- We would experience God’s mercy and grace more profoundly, which will allow us to more readily extend mercy and grace to others.
- We would learn to hear from God… for the little things. He has stuff to tell us!
- Our view of death will change… To Die is Gain.
13. What difference would it make to us as a church is we lived our lives this way?
- We’d be a church w/o masks… we come as people who have tried to live life the other way and it didn’t work!
- Paul chose to “stay on” for the “furtherance and joy of their faith”. That is what motivated Paul to continue on in this life… that more people would enter into His joy.
- As we make the Father’s presence our passion (not trying to be holy), this church will be a place where people find joy and peace.
14. To Die is Gain.
- Paul said “I am hard pressed in both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ… for that is very much better”.
- We only focused on 1st part of Paul’s statement… TO LIVE IS CHRIST.
- Paul’s passion was to be with Jesus... and to know Him more: “I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…”
- Whether in this life or the next… Paul’s passion centered on Jesus.
- I think we will see dying as gain only to the degree that we see that to live is Christ.
- “death” refers to “departing”: 3 meanings… ALL 3 REFLECT PAUL’s MEANING
o used in military by soldiers when they took down their tents and moved on
o political term describing setting free of a prisoner
o farming term meaning to “unyoke the oxen”
Looking back, it is an amazing this… at the same the priests were in the temple praying for the Messiah to come, as they did through each Passover season since the time of Moses, a man was passing them by riding on the back of a donkey.
He came that we might have life. In John 17, Jesus prays, “And this is life eternal, that they might know You the only true God.” To live is walk in the Garden with Him in intimacy.
