Partners in Progress

Introduction

Do you have a motto to live by?

My dad, when I was very young, taught me the Yorkshireman's motto. This is a real thing – you can google it: "Ear all, see all, say nowt; Eyt all, sup all, pay nowt; And if ivver tha does owt fer nowt – Allus do it fer thissen."

Now, as mottos go, I'm not convinced that's the best one to live by, though it will save you a bob or two! The Scouts, of course, have "Be Prepared," which is a bit better. But most of the things in life that hit you are things you could never have prepared for.

This morning I want to give you a better one. It's not mine – it's the Apostle Paul's. And he wrote it as he shared his heart with his partners in the Gospel, the Philippians, as he agonised over what was to happen to him as he struggled under house arrest in Rome, awaiting trial and possible execution for his witness to Jesus.

The motto was this: "To live is Christ, to die is gain."

Now, whether he actually had it as his life's motto we don't know, but it would certainly fit. It even alliterates and rhymes in the original language: To live is Christos, to die is kerdos (gain). But what's important isn't the catchiness; it's the content.

And I want to be up front this morning. My goal is that by the end of the morning you and I will share Paul's outlook on life – or at least begin to share Paul's perspective, his motto in life.

It might be you're here and this sounds crazy. Well, I hope by the end it sounds even crazier, because this is totally radical when you think it through! Crazy, but true. Crazy, but totally worth living for.

And if you're here and you've been there, done that, got the t-shirt – perhaps literally! – I hope you'll understand just how radical, revolutionary, life-changing those words are if they were actually lived out by us.

But Paul doesn't start there in our section. He starts instead with that major theme of the letter: rejoicing! But rejoicing in what? He's under arrest, after all! Let's see.

Our first point of three this morning…

Rejoice (v18b-22)

Paul, as he sits in his prison cell, or under house arrest, rejoices here because he is confident of his deliverance. But Paul sees deliverance a bit different from what you or I might think deliverance is here.

I would be thinking deliverance from prison, or deliverance from a death sentence. Some translations even put it that way: "This will work out for my release," or "my being set free from prison." But if you read the text carefully, that isn't what Paul is saying at all.

As far as Paul is concerned, deliverance can happen whether he lives or dies. The word there actually is salvation. Paul believes this will lead to salvation. And for him, that means not having any reason to be ashamed on judgement day, but instead to have done what he was supposed to – testified to the truth of the Gospel.

Paul speaks about this the same way in 2 Timothy. Paul speaks about being attacked by a man called Alexander when he was preaching the Gospel:

2 Timothy 4:16-18 (ESV): "At my first defence no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen."

What does it mean for Paul to be rescued from the lion's mouth? Not that he not be attacked, but that he was able to fully proclaim the message! He's more bothered about his sermon than his safety.

He tells you that the Lord will rescue him from every evil deed, but he's said in the same letter that now, at the end of his second imprisonment in Rome, he fully expects to die. His race is finished. His fight is over. Being rescued for Paul is making it safely into Christ's heavenly kingdom still trusting in Jesus, still going as a Christian.

Death could still mean deliverance for Paul, if he has nothing to be ashamed of on that day – if he didn't give in preaching the message.

What Paul rejoices in here is what he rejoiced in for the Philippians earlier in the chapter: that he who began a good work in him will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus. That he will keep going until the end, whatever the end might be.

But Paul gives us insight here into the means. What will it be that sees him make it to the end? Two things: one is man's part, the other God's.

The human means is their prayers for him. Do you see that? Verse 19: "through your prayers." When Paul makes it to the end, he can look back and see how the Philippians' prayers kept him going – how God answered their prayers and sustained Paul in response to their pleas. And I think we can take it that that means that's what they were praying for: not for his deliverance from prison (though they may have prayed that), but for his continued perseverance in preaching the Gospel. We saw how they were partners in prayer – what he was praying for them, they were no doubt praying for him.

Do we pray that way?

The other means, though, is from God's side, though perhaps in response to the Philippians' prayer: the help of the Spirit of Christ. It's the Holy Spirit being referred to here, him proceeding from both the Father and the Son. But, as we'll see, it's significant that the Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. After all, Paul's going to say "to live is Christ." Christ sums up this man's life!

God himself, though, will help Paul persevere with fresh supplies of the Spirit's power, so that Paul will be able to endure under suffering – will be able to go even to the executioner still trusting in Jesus if it comes to that. That would not be a loss, but a victory, a deliverance.

But Paul doesn't know how it's going to go. He doesn't know exactly what will happen. And Paul in the letter speaks out loud, so to speak. He mulls over what might happen, almost as though he has a choice in it.

Actually, he models exactly what we were talking about a couple of weeks ago back in verses 9-11: seeking to glorify and honour God by choosing what's best, that we might stand faultless on the day of Christ. If you think about it, that's what Paul is doing here – using his knowledge and discernment to approve what's best, what will honour God and show love to others.

So what does his knowledge and discernment tell him?

To Die is Gain (v21-23)

Paul views his own death as gain.

Now, Paul is no glass-half-empty, pessimistic, "life would be better if I were dead" kinda guy. He's no Eeyore, but nor was he a Tigger. I think here, though, he's trying to be sober-minded and think through his situation. He's kinda doing what we saw a couple of weeks ago – using his renewed mind and the wisdom God has given him to discern what he should do. He's sorta taking us through his thinking process: How can I do what's best? How can I choose what's most excellent? (verse 10)

And his answer might come as a surprise or a shock to most. He says in verse 23 that to be with Christ would be far better. That is what he desires. That's what he wants.

I've walked with some wonderful godly saints through their last days on Earth. They would talk of their longing to be with Jesus. I think that can be, humanly speaking, easier closer to the end when your body is in agony – when the prospect of living is the prospect of pain.

But Paul here was probably only in his fifties, early sixties at a push. He was not, physically speaking, near the end of his life. It's maybe possible that he's in pain – I mean, the guy was beaten up a lot! But we've no evidence for that. He doesn't mention it in his letters, only perhaps some eye trouble.

No, Paul isn't saying life is hard so he wishes he was with Jesus. He's saying being with Jesus would be better in any circumstances. He's looking forward to that time when he would see Jesus face to face again – when he can spend eternity with him, unhindered by his own sin, in perfect fellowship with Jesus.

This man is so Jesus-obsessed that to be "with Christ" is what he longs for. Notice he doesn't say "I'm longing to be in heaven" or "I'm longing to be in paradise." What's gain in death for him is not a place, however perfect, but a person: Jesus. Heaven wouldn't be heaven for Paul without Jesus.

Would it be for us?

Jesus is so wonderful that to be with Jesus is by definition the best thing that any of us could hope for. Even if that means death for Paul, he doesn't care, so long as he ends up with Jesus. Paul can think of even death as gain if it means that he gains unhindered access to Christ.

For many of us, I think we tend to think of death as the worst-case scenario. But it's not, as Paul has already explained! For the Christian, death is gain! We get to be with Christ!

Let me give you a true story to illustrate. In 1999, Roy Pontoh was a fifteen-year-old Christian from Indonesia. He attended a Bible camp with other mostly Christian children and teenagers at a university on the island of Ambon, Indonesia. When the camp was over, cars came to take the children back to their homes. But there were not enough cars to hold the young people. Men went to a nearby village to rent additional transportation to take the rest home. On the way to the village, the men were attacked by a Muslim mob. Two of the men were stabbed to death. Two men escaped with their lives. The same mob reached the university and found many of the teenagers who were hiding.

Roy Pontoh was forced out of his hiding place and made to stand before the mob. "Renounce your Jesus, or we will kill you!" they threatened. Roy was terribly frightened. Though trembling, he answered, "I am a soldier of Christ!" At this, one of the Muslim attackers swung a sword at Roy's stomach. The sword hit the Bible Roy held, and ripped into it, knocking it out of his hand. The man's next swing sliced open Roy's stomach. His last word was "Jesus." (Story taken from Jesus Freaks, DC Talk & The Voice of the Martyrs, 1999)

To die is gain. What he experienced was awful, but he endured to the end. He kept going. He honoured Jesus with his body by death, as he died at the hands of others for his faith. He is now with Christ, which is far better.

Most of us will not share Roy's dramatic experience. But still, our enduring to the end and dying well can bring glory to Christ. It is gain.

But the gain here in the passage would be Paul's, not the Philippians'. If Paul dies here, he gets to be with Jesus, but the Philippians will have to carry on in this life without Paul. They will lose their partner in the Gospel. And so Paul has some more thinking to do.

Which he does in our last point…

To Live is Christ (v22, 24-26)

His option is to live. But Paul does not say "to live is gain," as though both options are equal – as though both options are the same and he doesn't really care.

No, he says "to live is Christ!" And I think this is possibly one of the most misunderstood parts of the letter, if not the New Testament.

"To live is Christ." It sounds so inspirational. It sounds so rousing. And it is. Paul is saying his life is summed up in one word: Christ. And that is a challenge for us in itself. Is that our lives? Could we sum up our lives as Christ?

There's a Tim Hughes song people used to sing a few years ago (I actually find it quite annoying, but it makes the point I want to make): "God in my living, There in my breathing, God in my waking, God in my sleeping, God in my resting, There in my working, God in my thinking, God in my speaking."

I remember me and some of my friends at Christian Union would leave not quite remembering the words and we'd be singing "God in my breakfast..." But that was Christ for Paul. Christ in his living, Christ in his sleeping, Christ in his resting, Christ in his thinking. Christ was his everything. His life was summed up by Christ.

But I think we need to stop and think what Paul actually means in the context of Philippians. So often this verse is ripped out of the context of Philippians to stick on a poster or a banner. But this is written as part of a whole letter.

Who is Christ in Philippians? He is not the great transcendent firstborn of creation of Colossians. He is not the Great High Priest of Hebrews. He is not the one with eyes of fire and feet of burnished bronze, like in Revelation. No, again and again in Philippians, Christ is the humble one who made himself nothing, the servant, the slave.

Philippians 2:6-8 (ESV): "who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

Yes, Paul goes on to speak of him being exalted to the highest place after, but he wants the Philippians' lives to be shaped by Christ's obedience and humility. And Christ being risen means he is our master. And we are his servants, his slaves even, as Paul calls himself right back at the beginning of the chapter.

To live is Christ, then, for Paul means a life of service and sacrifice, modelled after Christ – ministry in the midst of the mess, just like Jesus did.

That is backed up by verse 22, which follows straight on. Life for Paul would mean work, labour. Fruitful work, but work nonetheless. Staying alive would mean effort for Paul – would mean continuing on in his missionary and ministry endeavours. And this Paul deems more necessary at the moment than leaving and being with Christ.

Being with Christ might be better, but what does Christ want him to do? He wants him to carry on the work. He wants him to keep working, keep sacrificing, keep modelling the Christian life to the Philippians. Keep his Christ-obsessed focus.

That's what Paul means by "to live is Christ": to carry on Christ's work, for Christ's sake, in Christ's power.

So Paul is convinced that he will indeed stay around – his trial won't end in execution. Not because that would be the worst thing, but because God still had work for him to do.

Are you not in heaven yet? It's because God still has work for you to do! He's not finished with you down here yet – however old or young you are!

When his work was finished, then he would depart and be with Christ. Then he would be in the far better place – with Christ. Till then, his life is Christ, working for his glory and his fame across the globe, and working with believers for (verse 25) their progress and their joy.

I wonder if you've ever thought of church leaders being there to increase your joy? The fact you may not have probably means we're not very good at it! I can testify to times this week when I have probably done precisely the opposite. But I really am trying!

Church leaders, though, are there to increase others' joy in Christ – to work towards that. Not just to increase your Bible knowledge, not just to challenge or correct you, but to see you enjoy Christ more. And it is a partnership. Some people are not willing to have their joy in Christ increased – they resist. "Christians should be miserable! Miserableness is next to godliness! Any joy should remain way deep down in your heart and never, ever reach your face or your demeanour!"

Leaders, ministers can work towards it, but in the end, it takes two to tango – three, really, as joy is a gift of the Spirit.

Joy increases, though, as the Spirit helps us understand through the Word all that God has done for us in Christ, as he opens up the truths of Scripture that are there to bring us joy! And actually, all of us can be involved in that as we speak the truth in love to one another, not just ministers or leaders.

Even what we think of as the negative side is really there for our joy. As we are convicted of our sin and our need for repentance, what God is really doing is removing the barriers to our joy in Christ. Sin makes us miserable, so anything that gets us away from our sin is working for our joy!

Paul gives up his better option of being with Christ to work for their joy by helping them turn from sin and turn to Christ.

But it's not just joy; it's progress too. He's already actually used that word already in this chapter. It's there in verse 12:

Philippians 1:12 (ESV): "I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel."

That word "advance" is the same word as "progress" in our verse 25. We understand the idea, don't we? It's something going forth, advancing, progressing, developing, growing. God is leaving Paul there to help them grow, progress, advance in the Gospel.

As we said a couple of weeks ago, that doesn't mean moving away from the Gospel. "Yeah, the Gospel's that bit for non-Christians. Jesus is for sinners, Moses is for believers." No, the Gospel of Jesus is what we delve further into – what we deepen in, what we put our roots down in and grow. Progress is becoming more Gospel-focused, not less! Progress is understanding our sinfulness, and therefore God's gracefulness, even more.

It's maturing in Christ. Becoming more like him. Serving more like him. Loving more like him. Christ in their thoughts. Christ in their hearts. Christ in their relationships.

The end product is that Paul wants them to say, like him, "to live is Christ, to die is gain!"

I think we're supposed to understand that they kind of do. But Paul is sharing his heart with them in the hope that their hearts will catch the rhythm even better – that it will resonate and grow within them.

Does it resonate with us? With you? To live is Christ?

For us, like Paul though, this will mean labour now. To be with Christ now would be wonderful and better. Paul says to himself, "Wouldn't it be lovely to be now with Christ in paradise?" But Paul decides that to remain and minister to the Philippians trumps even that.

Why? Because it would be better for them, and therefore the best option.

So often we focus on what's best for us. "What do I get out of doing this?" But Paul's Christ-focus means that, like Christ, he's more thinking of others. He's doing what he will ask them to do at the beginning of chapter 2: putting others' interests above his own – namely theirs.

He's doing what he commends Timothy for later in chapter 2: putting the interests of Jesus Christ before his own. Timothy cares more about the Gospel and the Kingdom than he does about himself and his own welfare. And it means that he is able to love the Philippians unselfishly and wholeheartedly for Christ's sake.

It means the Philippians can rejoice in Christ when they see Paul (verse 26) because it is Christ's character that Paul is showing. It is Christ's work that he is doing.

If we really want to live out "to live is Christ," then it means we need to be putting the interests of others before our own – like Christ did. It means putting Christ's interests above our own – as Paul did, as Timothy did. It means serving others. It means working for the joy and progress of others.

Are we doing that?

And if that sounds like giving up the rights to your own life, in a sense that's right. Remember, Paul views himself as Jesus's slave.

That same Jesus who said to his disciples:

Mark 10:44 (ESV): "and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all."

Who said after washing their feet:

John 13:14: "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet."

The work of a slave. But he went there himself! Who served us, who stooped low and died for us on the cross.

It's only in the light of that that we would dare to presume to serve him. He first served us. He first loved us. He first died for us, that we might die to self for him. In the light of the cross, this kind of service takes its true perspective, where we understand what is truly best.

So often we're so wound up in our own lives that we miss what we're actually here for, what God wants us to do.

Let me finish with another story – whose motto for life could be "to live is Christ, to die is gain." It's a snapshot of a real person (name changed though).

Daisy is a single woman, a secondary school teacher. After she's finished marking and lesson planning, she spends her evenings preparing for the midweek church kids' group and the youth group on a Saturday. She heads up the committee for the youth group because no one else was willing. She spends a good chunk of her summer holidays on Beach Missions, where she often does the cooking, as well as quite a bit of the storytelling and the planning. She's always taking younger Christians under her wing and bringing them along. Over the Easter holidays she often does Christian Answer down in London. At home she's recently taken in a troubled family member who, for various reasons, is no longer able to live at home. He is not the easiest! When young people from the church go to university, she writes to them repeatedly, checking in that they're doing OK. She hosts a home group at her house, which is always a mess, but there's always somewhere to sit! On a Saturday she often sleeps in after 12 because she's so exhausted by the end of the week!

To live is Christ.

I could multiply those stories out. I could have used many here, but then you'd know who they were! Everyone's circumstances are different, though. But surely with Paul we would want to say "to live is Christ. Christ is my life!"

What a motto that would be! Well, let's follow the example of the Philippians and pray for this and ask for the help of the Holy Spirit to make this a reality in our lives.