Philippians 1:18-26 – To Die Is Gain

Text: Philippians 1:18-26
Title: To Die Is Gain
Date: December 4th, 2022
Location: Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, Washington

¹⁸ What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. ¹⁹ For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, ²⁰ 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. 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. ²⁵ And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith; ²⁶ That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.

Prayer

Father we thank you for the comfort of Holy Scripture, and we ask now that as Your Word is preached, we would receive it by faith, not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, for we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.

Introduction

Last week we saw in our text that God sometimes builds His Kingdom using wicked and depraved instruments.

• That is to say, God sometimes uses fallible preachers with sinful and mixed motives, to accomplish a singular and infallible purpose.
• If you remember the historical context: Paul is in prison in Rome. He is waiting for his trial. Andthere are certain men who have became bold in their preaching of Christ, but who were preaching out of envy and strife, seeking to “add afflictions to Paul’s chains” (Phil. 1:16).
  • And yet despite this evil intent, Paul is rejoicing, he is rejoicing because the gospel is being preached and Christ is being made known throughout the Empire, even amongst Nero’s household.
  • And so what these sinful men intend for evil, God uses to extend His kingdom.
  • And so we pick up this morning in verses 18-26, and having already looked at what motivates other preachers, here we are given a glimpse at what drives and motivates Paul. What is the internal motivation of the Apostle?
• You’ll notice that our passage this morning begins and ends with joy.
  • In verse 18, Paul rejoices because Christ is preached.
  • And in verse 26, Paul wants the Philippians to rejoice as well. The whole purpose of Paul’s ministry is the joy of Christians. Pastors are in the business of serious joy. That is our aim as a ministers of the God who is joy.
• We might say that if the Apostle John was the apostle of love, Paul is the apostle of joy.
  • Joy is a constant theme in Paul’s letters, with Philippians being the most joy-filled letter of them all. Philippians is a sort of school for Christian joy.
  • Have you ever wondered how Paul could say things like “Rejoice always, and again I say rejoice,” and actually do it? Well here in our text we come to the source, the fountain, the wellspring from which joy is constantly overflowing in the Apostle, and if we can discover this hidden source and trace it to its depths, perhaps joy can overflow in us as well.
  • So what is this fountain of joy? That is the question before us this morning.

Starting in verses 19-20, Paul says,

¹⁹ For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, ²⁰ 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.

• Paul begins by saying that the prayers of the Philippians are one of the means that God uses to bring about his salvation.
  • There is debate here about whether salvation refers to Paul being released from prison, OR to his eternal salvation, it’s also possible that both are in view.
  • But given the verses that follow, and this mention of the “supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,” I believe eternal salvation is the primary focus.
  • And so the sense of this verse is that God uses the prayers of the church, to build up the faith of its ministers so that they finish their race with joy.
  • Paul says something similar to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:24. Seeing the suffering ahead of him, Paul says,“But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”
  • Paul needs the prayers of the church to give him boldness to testify.
• If you read Paul’s other letters, you will notice that he often asks the churches to pray for him. He says this in Romans 15:30-31, “Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; ³¹ That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea.”
  • Likewise in Ephesians 6:19-20, he says, “Pray for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
  • Apostles need prayer just like everyone else. And in fact they need more prayer because there is a lot more opposition, there is more spiritual warfare for those on the front lines. And so Paul tells the Philippians, that he is confident that through their prayers, and the supply of the Holy Spirt, he will attain to salvation.
  • So your prayers are important, they are necessary, there’s a reason why we pray so much in the worship service, because this is how we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers of darkness. Paul is thankful for these prayers.
• We see also that there are echoes here in verses 19-20 of some famous passages in the Old Testament. Words that were spoken by a man who like Paul, suffered immensely in the body. Can you guess what those passages might be?
• Who was the most righteous sufferer in the Old Testament? (kids this is the chocolate question today)
  • Job.
• Job is a long book, there are 42 chapters, and right at the center of this book, is a section that Paul certainly knew by heart.
• This is Job 19:25-27. See if you can find some of the parallels with our passage:

 ²⁵ For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;
²⁶ And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God,
²⁷Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!

• This is one of the most explicit references in the Old Testament to the resurrection of the body. And it was this hope of future resurrection, and seeing God in the flesh, that sustained Job through his sufferings.
• And so Paul, who knew Scripture better than anyone else, almost certainly has this text in mind as he finds himself in a similar situation to Job. Who was Job?
  • Job was an Edomite king. Job’s fellow counsellors start to turn on him when God strikes him down. They want Job to fall on his sword, take the blame, they want him to be the scapegoat for all the bad things that have happened.
    • And in a similar way, Paul finds himself in prison with competing narratives going around, fellow preachers are circling like vultures, gunning to take his position. And while there are afflictions in Paul’s body, and afflictions in his heart from fellow brethren, Paul shares the same hope as Job:
    • That my redeemer lives, that this shall turn to my salvation.
    • That in my flesh I shall see God, that Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. Mine eyes shall behold Him, and not another. “How my heart yearns within me!”
      • This is the language of longing in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
  • What kept Job going, and what kept Paul going, was hope in the resurrection. And this is made even more clear by a direct quote in verse 19 from another place in Job.
    • Job 13:15-16 says, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him…He also shall be my salvation: For an hypocrite shall not come before him.”
    • That line “He also shall be my salvation” is identical in the Greek LXX (τοῦτό μοι ἀποβήσεται εἰς σωτηρίαν) to what Paul says here” “This shall turn to my salvation.”
    • And so Paul is drawing on Job as he suffers this Roman imprisonment. And he is finding nourishment, encouragement, and joy in the Scriptures. This is one of the streams that supplies Paul’s fountain of joy.
  • Paul knew that “though He slay me, He also shall be my salvation.” The same God who lays me in the dust, shall also raise me up.
  • Few men have ever suffered like Job or Paul. And yet we find in them this flame of hope, hope in God, and more specifically hope in the resurrection of the dead. Do you have this hope?
  • This is the fountain of Paul’s overflowing joy. And it is punctuated in the famous words of the next verse.

Verse 21 says,

²¹ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

• What does this mean? What does it mean “to live is Christ.”
  • Think about it this way. What is the difference between a dead body and a living body? One moves, and one doesn’t.
  • Motion or movement is the essential nature of life.
  • And so to live is Christ means that Christ is the one who moves you. The Spirit of Christ dwells within you, Christ animates you.
    • This is why James can say, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26).
    • Or how Paul can say in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
  • When Paul says, “for to me to live is Christ,” he means that the thing that gets him out of bed every morning is Jesus. The thing that keeps him preaching despite the stonings and imprisonment, and constant danger, is Jesus. Jesus moves Paul. And so as long as Paul lives, Jesus will be the animating principle and reason for everything.
• And I so ask you this morning, what moves you?
  • For the world, “to live is mammon,” “To live is self,” “to live is to do whatever I want.” Those are the things that move the world, it’s what they are living for.
  • But this should not be so for the Christian. So what moves you?
    • Can you say with the Apostle, that to live is Christ? Or are there many other competing principles of motion within you?
    • Thomas Aquinas says, “it is by his affections that man is moved towards anything.” And so what affections are moving you?
  • Paul says in Colossians 3:2-4, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. ³ For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”
  • So how do you live to Christ? You set your affections on heavenly things.
    • And when you do this it puts everything else in perspective, even and especially death.
• This is how Paul can say in the next breath that “to die is gain.”
  • For the Christian who has already been baptized into Christ’s death, death changes from our mortal enemy to our entrance into glory.
  • When you’ve already died and died in Christ, you cannot ever die again. Your body may go into the ground but in that moment of death, your person, your consciousness, your soul (you!) enter immediately into the presence of God.
  • And so Paul gives us in the following verses, one of the great insights into what theologians call “the intermediate state,” or what is more commonly know as, “going to heaven when you die.” Verses 22-24 are great proof text for this reality.

Verses 22-24

²² But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I know 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.

• The key phrase there is “to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.”
  • It is far better to be rid of this mortal body and to be in heaven with Christ. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:6-8, “So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. ⁷ For we walk by faith, not by sight. ⁸ We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”
  • So there is a real tension we should all feel between being at home in this body vs. being out of the body but present with the Lord. And here in our Philippians text, Paul says it’s far better to depart and be with Christ. However, that is not Paul’s ultimate hope. And this is why theologians call heaven the “intermediate state.”
  • Because being out of your body in heaven is just temporary. The final destination of all men is the resurrection of the body, either a resurrection unto eternal life in the new heavens and new earth, OR resurrection unto judgment and being cast into the lake of fire.
  • So as much as it better to depart this body and be with Christ, it is even better to receive your resurrection body and as Job says, “In my flesh I shall see God.”
• So to live in this body is to live for Christ. And to depart from this body to be with Christ in heaven, that intermediate state. But the final destination and the focus of Paul’s hope is the resurrection of the body on the last day, when heaven and earth are reunited forever.
• So that is the theology in the background here, and it creates in Paul a certain tension. A tension between:
  • Love for God vs. love for the Philippians
  • Kingdom work vs. kingdom rest
  • Fruitful labor for Christ vs. departing to be with Christ
• This is the kind of holy tension that God’s love should create in you.
• Do you feel this? Do you feel pulled in one direction to be free from this valley of tears and sorrow and death, to finally have rest and be with Christ, while at the same time being pulled to remain to stay for your family, your friends, your grandchildren, and to do good for them while you can. Are you torn between the two?
• None of us knows when God will call us home, but while we are here, God wants us to run our course with joy. He wants us to magnify Christ, whether by life or by death. And so Paul says in these final verses…

Verses 25-26

²⁵ And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith; ²⁶ That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.

• Why does Paul remain in the body? For the Philippians joy.
• He says in effect, as much as I would love to see Christ, I want to get out of prison so I can see you again.
  • The logic of the Apostle runs something like this:
    • It is far better to be with Christ, but we will be with Christ in glory forever, and in that sense, heaven can wait. In the scope of eternity, 80 years here is the blink of an eye. And so the time we have here is incredibly brief, and this is our only opportunity to bring people with us.
  • And so use whatever time God has given you here such that you will have good stories to tell around the heavenly bonfire.
  • Don’t get to heaven without any good stories to tell. However hard and impossible things might seem in the moment, look ahead to when you can look back, and tell the story of how God delivered you, how He came thru, How he provided at the last minute, and how your faith grew strong despite insurmountable odds.
  • Don’t get to heaven without any good stories to tell.

Conclusion

If you are not a Christian, or if you are unsure about where you’re gonna go when you die, hear now this simple truth: Christ died for sinners. And He rose again so that all who trust in Him can be forgiven and live with Him in His kingdom forever. That is the Christian hope, and I invite you to make that your hope as well.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.