We are exhorted by the Apostle Paul to give attention
to the reading of the Word of God. I invite you
to open your Bible with me and look at Philippians
chapter 1 as we begin reading in verse 12 through
the end of the chapter. I'm reading from the
NIV. Now I want you to know, brothers, that what
has happened to me has really served to advance
the Gospel. As a result, it has become clear
throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone
else that I am in chains for Christ. Because
of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord
have been encouraged to speak the Word of God
more courageously and fearlessly. It is true
that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry,
but others out of goodwill. The latter do so
in love, knowing that I am put here. for the
defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ
out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing
that they can stir up trouble for me while I
am in chains. But what does that matter? The
important thing is that in every way, whether
from false motives or true, Christ is preached.
Because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue
to rejoice for I know that through your prayers
and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ
what has happened to me will turn out for my
deliverance. 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 as 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. Whatever happens, conduct yourselves
in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then,
whether I come and see you or only hear about
you in my absence, I will know that you stand
firm in one spirit, contending as one man for
the faith of the gospel, without being frightened
in any way by those who oppose you. This is a
sign to them that they will be destroyed, but
that you will be saved, and that by God. For
it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ,
not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer
for Him. Since you are going through the same
struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still
have. One of Job's counselors observed, man is
born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
Job himself offered, man born of woman is a few
days and full of trouble. Gladly we can say that
troubles usually pass, to be followed by periods
of respite. But no life, and I mean no life,
is free from the gales and the waves of trouble,
be they physical, emotional, spiritual, material,
or whatever. Any aspect of life is vulnerable
to affliction. But Christians have a resource
in the storms of adversity. That resource is
our relationship to God through Jesus Christ.
And we realize the strength of the anchor when
we feel the stress of the storm. The joy of the
Lord can be discovered in the midst of adversity.
One secret to finding that joy of the Lord in
adversity is to develop and cultivate a prayerful
heart. Thus, we can experience the joy of a prayerful
heart. That's the kind of heart that Paul discloses
in chapter 1, verses 1 through 11. But there
is another secret to finding joy in your adversity,
and that is to see your circumstances from God's
perspective. That viewpoint will liberate you
to find joy in whatever circumstances you may
be living at any moment. To find joy in your
adversity. Learn to see your circumstances from
God's perspective. I believe that in the text
we've read this morning, God's perspective is
summed up in three ideas. They are, to live is
Christ. To die is gain. To suffer... is honor.
If you and I could just get a hold of those ideas
and write them on our hearts and learn to see
our circumstances through those lenses, we would
gain God's perspective on our circumstances.
And we would find joy in that perspective. To
live is Christ. Dr. Homer Kent has said the very
essence of Paul's present life was Christ. And
all that this entailed, from the theological
fact that Paul was identified with Christ in
a vital spiritual union, issued far -reaching
practical implications. Christ had become for
him the motive of his actions, the goal of his
life and ministry, the source of his strength.
For me to live is Christ." The essence of life
to the Apostle Paul was to glorify Jesus Christ.
He could not separate his daily routine from
his union with Christ. That vital union with
Christ, that he was in Christ, that he was one
with Christ, impacted everything about the Apostle
Paul. Stuart Briscoe has remarked, Paul was convinced
things could only happen to him if God permitted,
that God would not allow meaningless things to
happen. And as he looked for the divine purpose
in all that took place, he had discovered that
things happened to him, in order that things
could happen in him. and things happened in him
so that things could happen through him." That's
a great insight. You and I need to be reminded
that our lives are being sovereignly guided by
God. All of our circumstances, even those that
we foolishly bring upon ourselves, can be used
by God to advance His purposes. We need to get
a hold of that. That the very essence of life
in this world for the Christian is Jesus Christ.
What an honor that God should be so vitally concerned
with you and me. He would see that every circumstance
of our lives would ultimately be for the good.
Romans 8 .28. That it would advance his purposes.
Paul knew that truth. And as a result of it,
he said, my circumstances, my adversity extends
the gospel to New Territory. He says, I am in
chains. And his situation was that he was under
arrest. He had been now for three years, basically
incarcerated. Most of that time in Caesarea,
in Palestine, but now he has gone by ship to
Rome and there he's responsible to rent his own
home while he's a prisoner. And guarding him
24 hours a day is the elite guard of Caesar,
the Praetorian Guard. Two of them are assigned
to him for four hour shifts. One is chained to
one hand, another is chained to the other hand.
Paul says, in my chains, the Gospel has been
extended into the very household of Caesar. Do
you see his joy in that? He says, for me, even
these circumstances, living is Jesus Christ,
and God is involved in my circumstances and is
extending the gospel into unreached territory.
Who can imagine that Nero, the man of questionable
sanity, who became such a great persecutor of
both Jews and Christians? that in the household
of this very man, his elite guard, there would
be those who'd be converted to faith in Jesus
Christ because God assigned Paul to be chained
to them. And you can just imagine, when they
got shackled up together in those chains, they
knew what was coming. Paul says, you know why
I'm here? No? Why are you here? I'm in chains
for Christ. For who? And he takes off. Or they
get chained to Paul and he says to them, have
you come to that place in your spiritual pilgrimage
where you know for certain if you die tonight
you'd go to heaven? Or a word something like
that. You see, Paul saw his circumstances being
used by God. They weren't fun circumstances.
They were hard. Nonetheless, he says, for me
living as Christ, even in this adversity, our
circumstances too can extend the gospel to new
territory. I don't know what your adversity is
today, but can you get that lens in focus? God's
using your adversity for some purpose. It may
be to extend the gospel where it's not been before.
And then Paul was able to see that God was using
his circumstances to encourage others to faithfulness.
He says, around me there are those who are now
more bold, more courageous and fearless to speak
the gospel because of my adversity. Can you see
God using your circumstances that way? changing
the lives of others around you so that they will,
because of you, be more faithful, be more bold,
be more courageous for Christ. If you can, then
you're getting into focus this lens that to live
is Christ. That's God's perspective. And Paul
was able to see that his adversity enabled him
to see what was really important in life. He
says there are some who are preaching Christ
sincerely. They've sort of taken up my place
because I'm chained. He says there are others
who are preaching Christ in this city who are
doing so with impure motives. Somehow they think
they're going to trouble to my life. Paul may
be talking about some, it's hard to imagine this,
but some who may have been jealous of Paul. And
their real motive was that Paul couldn't be out
there on the center stage and now they could
be. Paul says, what do I care? The important
thing is that Jesus Christ is being preached.
You see, his circumstances help Paul to see what
was truly important. It wasn't his situation.
It wasn't whether others had the good motives
or the bad motives. It was that God's purpose
is being accomplished. Christ is being proclaimed.
Our circumstances, too, can enable us to see
what really matters. Too often in our circumstances,
especially in adversity, We get focused on our
difficulties to the point that we lose sight
of what's important in life Paul says here's
what's important Christ being preached to me
to live as Christ And Paul was able to say quite
transparently that his adversity was energy to
him He was being energized to an even greater
devotion to Christ. He says, I am trusting God
that like has been true in the past so it will
be true now, Christ will be exalted in my body
whether it means that I will go on living or
I am martyred in Rome. If you and I can get a
hold of God's perspective. in our circumstances,
it will energize us to greater devotion as well.
So will you ask God to give you His perspective
in your circumstances? Will you ask Him to help
you to learn to see that for you to live is Christ?
That's the important issue. To believe that.
You must see that God will allow nothing meaningless
to happen to you. That everything that comes
to you, like Briscoe said, comes to you so that
God can do something in you and then do something
through you. For me to live is Christ. If you
and I can get a hold of that perspective and
that idea, it will transform our attitudes about
our circumstances. and produce joy in our lives.
The second idea that I see here is in the second
half of that verse. Paul says, to me to live
is Christ, to die is gain. There are some people,
very secular people in our world today who would
agree with that. There was a doctor on trial
in Michigan for assisting the suicide. of two
women. He would agree with this. To die is gain,
especially when you're in pain and suffering.
And there are those who take their own lives
and who say, well, it's better for me to die
than to live with this guilt or this anguish,
this pain that I have to be in. And so they might
think that they understand what it means when
Paul says, to die is gain. But they totally missed
the point. That is not what Paul meant. Paul
is not saying this because he would escape his
problems. He doesn't mean to die is gained because
then I'll be out of these chains. That's not
what he means. He is saying this because to die
for him as a Christian meant that he would experience
glory. What does it mean to die? Undoubtedly,
most of us here have experienced death of someone
significant in our lives. And we have stood beside
that bed, or we have wept beside that casket.
We have hugged our family and friends at the
grave site. And we're overwhelmed by this whole
idea of death. What does it mean to die? Paul
tells us here what it means to die for the Christian.
He says it means to depart. Do you notice his
language? It means to depart, he says. The word
was used in that day to break up a camp. To depart.
To break up camp. Or it was used for the loosing
of the moorings of a ship so that the ship could
go out to sea where it belonged. To depart. It
means to unloose. It is used in the Bible in
Acts 16 verse 26, interestingly, in Paul's very
experience in Philippi of a prisoner being freed
from his chains. Paul says death for the Christian
means to depart. But he doesn't stop there. He
says, and to be with Christ. It's not merely
leaving, it's arriving. It's like stepping through
a door. When you leave here this morning, you
will step through a door and in one step, you
will leave this worship center and go into the
hallway. You leave and arrive with one action.
And that is exactly what Paul is saying. To die
for the Christian means to depart this world
and to arrive in the next one That fast. Paul
is not talking about reincarnation. That's a
lie of the devil. There is no such thing as reincarnation.
To depart does not mean to go into oblivion or
to nothingness. To depart and to be with Christ
does not mean to go to purgatory. To depart and
be with Christ does not mean that one experiences
soul sleep or unconsciousness until the future
resurrection. Not at all. He is saying that to
depart from this world means to be with Christ
and aware of it. And so he says in 2 Corinthians
chapter 5 and verse 8 that death for the believer
means to be absent from the body and to be at
home. with the Lord." That was the phrase that
we chose to put on my mother's tombstone. After
it gives her name and the dates of her birth
and death, it says, at home with her Lord. That's
what death is for the Christian. And Paul says,
for me to die is gain. But Paul, what is death's
result? Well, he says it's better by far. It's
better by far to die. Paul does something unusual
here. He brings together an expression technically
found only here in the New Testament. He finds
three comparatives and crunches them together.
Literally, he says, which is more excellent to
a greater extent by much. It's terrible English.
And that's why it's translated a little differently
for us. But Paul is saying there is no way to
describe to you how much better it is to be in
glory with Christ. Dying at the hands of Rome
was no tragedy in Paul's eyes. He saw it through
God's eyes. this whole situation. He had God's
perspective on it. If he were to die, he would
only support the very witness that he had been
giving. He could die a martyr's death and know
that his mission was accomplished, that mission
of preaching Jesus Christ to the world. He had
God's perspective on it. He says, for me, living
is Christ. God is at work in my life in every
circumstance I go through. God is using that
for some good purpose to advance the Gospel,
to minister to others, to grow me. God's working.
And he says, to die, that's even better. He says,
that's gain. If you and I can assume that death
is the worst circumstance that could ever befall
us, And if we believe, as the Scriptures say,
that death is better than this life, then in
the midst of every adversity, you and I can find
joy. Because the worst that can ever happen to
us, if we look at death that way, will only bring
us eternal gain. That's why someone who is not
afraid of death, like Paul. is the most potent
force in the world. Armies cannot stand up against
people who believe what Paul says here. That
death is gain. The two ideas that we've looked
at that help us to understand God's perspective
about our circumstances are that to live as Christ
and to die as gain, the third idea is to suffer
as honor. Now the assumption here is that our
suffering is as a Christian. That is for the
sake of Christ, that we are suffering in some
manner due to the will of God in our lives. Paul
says, in essence here, we can count on opposition.
There will be adversity in life. Suffering is
certain to occur. We must anticipate that. But
even as we count on it, we must conduct ourselves
worthily. And he tells us how to do that. We
are to conduct ourselves with dignity, verse
27. He says, live as citizens of God's kingdom.
When Paul uses that expression in verse 27. conduct
yourselves in a worthy manner. He uses a word
that would have just turned on lights and whistles
to the Philippians because they lived in the
city of Philippi which was a Roman colony. There
were not many of those in the Roman Empire. It
was intended to be a little Rome, a Roman miniature,
and to be a citizen of one of those colonies.
was a mark of great dignity. Paul says, now you
live as a citizen, not merely a Philippi, that's
small stuff. Live as a citizen of God's kingdom.
Conduct yourself with dignity as a child of God
in the midst of your suffering. Understand that
to suffer for Christ is honor. And he says, conduct
yourself with unity. Verse 27. Note the oneness
in that verse. Stand in one spirit with one soul,
striving together. Striving together is a word,
sun -ath -le -o. Do you hear any word in there
that sounds familiar? Ath -le -o. It's our word
for athlete. Paul is using the picture of an
athletic team, and he says, you is a body of
people. As you're suffering for Christ, work
together like a team. Don't pull apart. Be a
team. And suffer. Conduct yourself in your suffering.
In unity. And he says, conduct yourself with
intrepidity. Be courageous. Be fearless. Be brave
in the face of your problems. Look at verse 28,
the first part of the verse, without being frightened
in any way by those who oppose you. That doesn't
happen naturally. You and I can experience that
in the power of God's Spirit. A supernatural
courage. Paul says to suffer is honor. conduct
yourself as one who is a citizen of the Kingdom
of God. And he says consider the suffering you
experience as a gracious gift from God. Verse
29, it has been graciously granted to you on
Christ's behalf not only to believe on Him, but
to suffer for Him. We would rather talk about
the gift of salvation. Paul says there's the
gift of suffering too. They come together. And
both of them are granted by God to us by grace.
But in this world we can't experience salvation
by believing on Jesus Christ. And in this world
we will suffer for Christ. And that is God's
gracious gift to us. What an honor and a privilege.
You and I will find joy in our adversity if we
understand that suffering in God's will is an
honor He bestows upon us. Is that the way you
see your life and your circumstances this morning?
Are you able to look at your problems in your
family? Your problems in your marriage? Your
problems in your relationships at work, your
problems with your job, your problems inside
yourself, are you able to gain God's perspective
on those? To live is Christ. To die is gain.
To suffer is honor. As you and I can put those
lenses into focus in our lives, we will see our
adversity. from God's perspective and we will
have joy. But how do you gain that? How can we
really do this? We are built so that we like
to have four steps to it. And if we do those
four things, it'll happen just like that. And
that's not the way this works. You and I gain
God's perspective in this book. by getting to
know Him as He reveals Himself to us in the Word.
How do you know what I think? Or how do I know
what you think? The answer is we have to get
to know each other. And if we're going to gain
God's perspective on our particular problems,
we need to go to the Word of God and get to know
God. And we can find that joy that God promises
us in this world. John and Betty Stam served
Jesus Christ in China as missionaries. Actually,
they had met when they were each in Bible school,
and as singles, they went to China. But about
a year after going there, they saw each other
again, fell in love, and got married on the mission
field. They were only in their mid -20s, and
God had just given them a newly married couple
a little baby when war broke out in China. And
the two of them, actually the three of them,
were caught up in that war, were taken prisoner
and held. One of the Chinese who was helping
them at the time was able to hide the little
girl, the little baby. But John and Betty Stam
were taken one morning in early December of 1934.
She was 28, he was 27. They were forced to kneel
and they were beheaded in China for the cause
of Christ. Interestingly, their niece attends
our church. when she's in the cities? Ruth Jordan?
John and Betty Stams' martyrdom for the cause
of Jesus Christ shook the world in the 30s. And
as a result of that, Dr. Will Houghton, who was
the president of the Bible School where they
went, wrote a hymn in memory of them. It's entitled,
By Life or By Death. And it's based on the text
that we've used this morning. The words go like
this. So this is life, this world, with all its
pleasures, struggles and tears, a smile, a frown,
a sigh. Friendship so true and love of kin and
neighbor, sometimes tis hard to live, always
to die. The world moves on. So rapidly the living,
the forms of those who disappear, replace. And
each one dreams that he will be enduring. How
soon that one becomes the missing face. In life
or death, and life is surely flying, the crib
and coffin carved from the self -same tree. In
life or death, and death so soon is coming, Escape,
I cannot, there is no place to flee. But thou,
O God, hast life that is eternal. That life is
mine, a gift through thy dear Son. Help me to
feel its flush and pulse, supernal. Assurance
of the morn, when life is done. Help me to know
the value of these hours. Help me the folly of
all waste to see. Help me to trust the Christ
who bore my sorrows, and thus to yield for life
or death to thee. In all my days, be glorified,
Lord Jesus. In all my ways, guide me with thine
own eye. Just when and as thou wilt, use me.
Lord Jesus. And then for me, it is Christ to
live or die. How are you looking at your circumstances?
If you're prospering, there may be the temptation
to boast, to be self -indulgent, to say I deserved
this. But what is God's perspective of your prosperity?
What ought your response to it to be? How would
God have you to handle it? What should you do
with it? And if you're suffering today, there
may be the temptation to be resentful or bitter.
You may be confused or worried. But what is God's
perspective? To find out, seek the Lord. It may
be instead of seeking the Lord, you've been running
from Him, avoiding God, or resisting Him. Today
it's time to stop, to turn around and seek Him,
and say, God, in whatever circumstance I am.
Show me to live life from your perspective. Let's
pray together. Sing with me this chorus. Turn
your eyes upon Jesus Look full in His wonderful
face And the things of earth will grow strangely
dim In the light of His glory and grace. Friend,
have you been resisting God? Running from God?
Today, will you give Him your anxieties and your
cares? I hope you will. We're going to take time
to sing a verse of a final song in just a moment,
and when we do, I want to invite you, if you'd
like to pray with someone, if today you want
to seek the Lord and you need someone to kneel
with you, I invite you to come as we close the
service. Father God, give us your perspective.
Even upon this invitation time, give us your
perspective. And may living be Christ for every
one of us. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.