Where we look this morning at the text that God
wants to draw our attention to as we begin a
month of emphasis regarding our management of
life Philippians 1 21 a familiar verse and by
God's providence. It also happens to have been
the life verse of Donna Magnus For to me to live
as Christ writes Paul and to die is gain Complete
this sentence in your own mind. Life is, and
then fill in the blanks, life is what to you?
There would be some who would say life is doing
the best you can with what you've got. Others
would say life is realizing your self potential.
Someone else might say life is finding and loving
that special person who is your spouse. Others
would say, Life is raising my family and finally
getting to an empty nest. Others would say, no,
life is retiring and finally enjoying what you've
accumulated through your working years. How would
you complete that? Life is. The author of the
hymn, This Is My Father's World, Maltby Babcock,
said this. Life is what you are alive to. Life
is what you are alive to. In other words, life
is what excites you. Life to you is what motivates
you. Life is what turns you on. To the Apostle
Paul, life was Christ. The essence of being alive
to Paul was knowing Christ and then making him
known. In chapter 3, verse 10, he says, oh, that
I may know Him, that I may know Christ. In chapter
1 of Philippians, he says, Christ is proclaimed,
and in this I rejoice. What really turned the
apostle Paul on was knowing Jesus Christ and
then making Him known. Or as he summarizes it
in this verse, to live is Christ. Although he
faced the prospect of death by execution, death
which he personally desired, by the way, so that
he could go to be with Christ, which he saw as
far better, he nonetheless saw life, whatever
it brought, and however long it might last, as
an opportunity to serve Christ and His purpose
in the world. It seems to me that's a great perspective
for all of us to start the new year. And to start
this month, January, as we think about the management
of our lives. What I want to talk about this
morning is this, that life is Christ, as Paul
says, life is Christ knowing and serving him.
It seems to me that that's the biblical perspective,
however foreign it may sound, to our ears in
a world like ours. More commonly, we hear ideas
like this, life is a beach. or something that
sounds similar to that. Life is fun. Life is
pleasure. Life is entertainment. There are others
that say, no, life is self -actualization. Life
is about fulfilling my dreams. Then there are
those that say life is really about finding the
God within you and drawing upon your human potential
to achieve your goals. Well, thank God He has
delivered us from these deceptions. Yet, how
easily we lose sight ourselves of what life is
all about. Life is Christ. Knowing Him, serving
Him. Now, I make that claim based upon the suppositions
that seem to arise right out of Philippians.
These suppositions are what Paul based his life
upon, and we as well need to base our lives upon
these ideas. First of all, that God arranges
our lives by providence. Paul had been led to
Philippi in the first place by a vision. A man
from Macedonia said, come over and help us. And
Paul took that as God's direction, God's providential
direction, to go to Macedonia and to Philippi
and the other cities there. The Philippians then
had been saved. And God was at work in their
circumstances and in Paul's circumstances. You
see, life is a gift from God. God is the giver
of it. It is not an accident. Therefore, it is
not to be viewed or used carelessly. Life is
a gift. It is sacred. It is not merely a biological
product. Life is a gift from God. And the circumstances
of life are sovereignly provided for us. I think
of several respects in which life is providentially
provided. First of all, in respect to our ancestry.
Paul had been born a Jew in a family where he
was trained in the law. He grew up as a Pharisee.
And all of that was by God's providence to prepare
him to be the unique person that he was in God's
plan. Every one of us is the same. We are born
of the parents that we had. by God's design.
Some of you may not even have known your parents,
your biological parents. But the fact is that
God brought you into the world with the parents
that He designed for you. And following from
that, God designs for you by providence your
appearance. Yes, I'm sorry, He did. No, I'm not
sorry at all. Nor should you be. God made you
look just the way you look. He tinkered with
the genetics. So that at a certain age, if you're
like me, you begin to lose your hair, and you
begin to get wrinkles, and you look differently.
And all of us would change something, I suppose,
because we tend to compare ourselves with others.
The fact is that God has providentially given
us our appearance. And flowing from it as well
is the fact that God has providentially given
to us our abilities, those talents that we have
in life. And finally, our adversities. God providentially
arranges our adversities. Paul said from prison
here, as a matter of fact, that the things that
had happened to him had actually advanced the
gospel. And he was glad for that. He saw his
imprisonment as being an opportunity for the
gospel to even get into Caesar's household. Paul
was excited about the fact that God arranged
his life by providence. And you and I need to
be excited about that too. That what happens
to us is not an accident. What happens to us
is by God's design. We live under the care and
the oversight of a God who is committed to see
His purpose in us brought to completion. There's
a second idea that comes out of Philippians that
caused Paul to be able to say, life is Christ.
And it's this, that God saves us that we might
glorify and find delight in Him. Paul sees salvation
as a gift in verse 29. He says to you it has
been granted for Christ's sake to believe in
him Now he goes on to make another point, but
that's part of his point We have been given the
gift of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ Salvation
is a gift and God's ultimate purpose in that
is his own glory Through our acknowledgement
of Christ our bowing of the knee to him and declaring
with our tongue that he is Lord God's work in
us is His delight. It is His good pleasure to
work His will in our lives. Paul, in this book,
tells us how highly he values Christ. He says,
everything else is but dung compared to the knowledge
of Jesus Christ, my Lord. And he found great
delight in knowing Christ. And therefore, he
tells the Philippians who are suffering to rejoice
in the Lord. In fact, joy. may well be the theme
of Philippians, although it's a book about suffering.
Rejoice in the Lord. God saves us that we might
glorify Him and find delight in Him. When you
and I allow that idea to get down in our souls
where it belongs, then we're going to be able
to say, as Paul did, what really life is Christ.
To live is to know Him, to make Him known. There's
a third idea that Paul talks about in this book,
and that is that God entrusts us with the privilege
of managing life. God entrusts us with the privilege
of managing life. Now, life includes a lot of
things. It includes time. It includes talents.
It includes treasures. It includes influence.
It includes problems and disappointments. It
includes possibilities and opportunities, and
all of these Paul mentions in this book. I don't
have time to go into them this morning. But on
all the milieu of life, God entrusts us with
the privilege of being managers or stewards.
Everything about our lives is properly viewed
as a management issue. Christ gives us what He
knows that we can manage by His grace. if we
choose to do that. Now we can choose to do other
than that also. But God's plan for us is that
we learn to manage life under the Lordship of
Christ. And when we see our lives this way, then
we can say, as Paul did, life is Christ. And
the final idea I want to point to from Philippians
as the supposition that caused Paul to be able
to make this claim is that God rewards us for
being faithful. Paul looked forward to his future
reward from Christ. He says, I press on toward
the mark of the upward calling of Christ, of
God in Christ Jesus. That upward calling may
well refer to Paul being called forward to receive
his reward at the judgment seat of Christ. Paul
says, to me to live is Christ. But he says, to
die is gain. A gain is one's advantage. It is
one's profit. You invest a certain amount of
money, you sell the stock, and what you gain
is your profit. Paul says, I am seeing my life
as a stewardship. I am investing it. And one
day when I die, that's going to be my profit.
To die and to be with him is gain. He focused
his life so that he would receive the crown for
which he ran the race. God rewards us for being
faithful. And when we understand that, that it
makes a difference that we're faithful, we will
say with Paul, life is Christ. When we look through
the lens of Revelation, and we view life as Paul
did, then we're going to say with Paul that life
is knowing Jesus Christ and making Him known
to others. All the stuff that tends to absorb
our attention, all the stuff that happens to
us or that is incidental, just surrounds this
core purpose. The purpose of knowing Christ and
making Him known. The question I have for all
of us this morning is this, what is your life
about? What is your life about? Is it about Christ
or self? In his commentary on Philippians, Warren
Wiersbie says, life to some is money, and to
die for them is to leave it behind. For others,
life is fame. To die for them is to be forgotten.
For yet others, life is power, and to die for
them is to lose it all. But if we want to know
joy in every circumstance, and we want to see
the gospel advance, then we must say with conviction,
as did the apostle Paul, to me to live is Christ,
and to die is gain. What is life about for you,
friend? As we come to the Lord's table, what
we're saying by our actions is that life is Christ
and we're remembering Him in this cup and bread.
But is that the truth? Is that what life really
is to us? You know, that's an important thing
to reflect on. Because as we partake of this
bread and this cup, we don't want to be lying.
So let's open our hearts and be transparent before
God for just this moment, at least. And ask God
to show us what we're living for. And what it
is that really excites us. What it is that motivates
us and to recognize that that is what life really
is to us And let's confess where we need to confess
our sins Or Jesus All of us are caught up short
by what the apostle says in Philippians 1. We
live in a world that easily distracts us from
what life really ought to be about. And so we
humble ourselves before we partake of these elements.
And we confess our sins. We confess the wrong
motivations in our lives But at the same time
we purpose by your grace to live In such a way
that for us to live as Christ We partake of this
bread remembering that he gave himself for us
Gratefully we eat of it giving ourselves to you
We go wrong. Jesus said this is my body which
is for you eat it in remembrance of me We remember
you Lord Jesus and partake of this cup likewise
with gratitude Recognizing that it represents
the price that was paid for us Thank you, but
that by this blood we are reconciled and charged
with the management of life for the glory of
God. you Change my heart Jesus said, this cup
is the new covenant in my blood. Drink it as
often as you do in remembrance of me. For Christ's
sake, you have been forgiven. In Jesus Christ,
your sins are washed away, and you're as white
as snow. Isn't that something we can rejoice
in as we begin a new year? to know that we're
right with God. Everything else, God will provide
us, providentially, overseeing our circumstances
and caring for us. So let's trust Him for every
day. Let's allow Him to really change our hearts
deeply and to see life for what it needs to be,
what God calls it to be, Christ. Knowing Him,
Knowing Him more deeply, more intimately, more
personally, and making Him known to others. Thank
you for being in worship today. If you're visiting
with us, I want to invite you to come to the
reception area in the back. I'd like to greet
you personally. As soon as we're dismissed, find
your way there, and I'll look forward to a handshake
and finding out who you are. We've received the
Elder's Offering on Communion Sundays, and if
you wish to... Put something in the elders fund
for those who have needs in our church You may
do so by placing it in the box at the rear of
the church Now we have a right hand of fellowship
that we want to extend this morning to four people
who are present in our service And I think we
have an addition And that is Janet England and
her new daughter who has just arrived I don't
think that was her. And Cheryl, you come on up.
Cheryl, Huckle, Jan Dean, and Kim Friesen, the
four of you. But I just want to stop you a second
here and introduce to us your daughter. This
is Eliana Root, and she's from Guatemala. We
just came home New Year's Eve. Yeah. Isn't that
wonderful? We praise the Lord. That's an answer
to prayer, isn't it? Months and months in waiting.
God bless you. Why don't you stand right by the
Christmas tree where there's probably a little
more room? We welcome you into our church this
morning. God bless you, each one. Let's stand
together now. Let's pray. Father, we stand in
recognition of the Lordship of Jesus Christ as
we go from here. And we stand before you, declaring
that we desire our lives to be faithful stewardship.
That we want to manage our lives in such a way
that is consistent with your will for us and
your calling and it reflects faithfulness and
So may the Holy Spirit fill us this week and
use us for the glory of God So that our lives
will be Christ and If this is the week that we
should die that would be gained In Jesus name
Amen