Living by Faith in a World Full of Fear
Preparing to Die by Learning to Live
Philippians chapters 1-4
Perhaps the greatest fear that humans will ever experience is the fear of death. It is that one experience for which we have no point of reference. Even though we read a lot about it and maybe have been close to those who’ve died, we don’t have the personal experience to prepare us for the experience of death.
However, it is incumbent upon us that we prepare to die. In fact, if you're not prepared to die, you're not prepared to live and as a child of God we really ought to be prepared to do both. We tell people all the time, “Get right with God, you may die.” Well, that's true, but you really ought to get right with God because you may live.
So this morning I want to deal with the fear of death by talking about how to live. The only way to prepare to die is to learn how to live, and to help us with that I want you to open your Bible to the Book of Philippians 1. And please keep them open as we’ll look at portions of every chapter before we finish.
Now, the Apostle Paul wrote the book of Philippians and when he wrote what I'm about to read, he was in prison and facing possible execution. He's not absolutely sure that he's going to be executed, but he thinks he may be, and so he's just running it through in his mind.
There is the strong possibility they may drag him out of jail and cut his head off, or they might be content to leave him in the cell or he might even be released. He doesn’t really know what’s going to happen. Maybe he’s going to die, maybe he’s not going to die. But he knew that he was facing something.
Now, keep that in mind as I read verse 21.
Now Paul said, I don't worry, whichever way it happens. It doesn't make any difference to me. He said, “I may live--if I live, wonderful. Christ is in me, I'll live for Him and through Him. But if I live, I’ll live for Christ.”
But he also said, “I may die. And if I do, that’s even better!”
So Paul said, “I can't lose. Heads I win, Tails I win. It doesn't make any difference. I am prepared to live or die.”
Now, to really make sense of what Paul is talking about here in verse 21, I think it important to understand the phrase, For to me, to live is Christ".
That’s the first thing we need to look at because we will never be prepared to die until we are prepared to live. So what does it mean “to live is Christ”?
Let me give you some things to help you understand the impact of that little four-word statement.
First of all, if to live is Christ that means
1. The Source of Life is Christ
Go back to chapter 1, verse 6
When the Lord God saved Paul, he began a good work in him. He didn't just do a good work on him, He did a good work in him. Before Paul was saved Paul didn't have life, he had existence.
Jesus said, "I've come that you might have life and that you might have it abundantly."
Now many of us don't know what life is because we don't know what death is. When Adam was in the Garden of Eden, God said to Adam, Adam, don't eat of the fruit of this tree, "for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die."
Well, Adam ate of the fruit of that tree, and what happened? He lived for hundreds of years. God said, “In the day you eat of it, you will surely die.”
And yet he existed for hundreds of years. What happened? Did God lie or make a mistake? No, he died. It just wasn’t a physical death. He died spiritually. His relationship with God died.
You see, God had lived in Adam; Adam was a temple of God, and when Adam sinned God moved out, and when God moved out the light moved out. The Bible says of our Lord, "In Him was life and the life was the light of man". So when the life went out the light went out, and when the light went out Adam was in darkness and in death and in depravity.
Now apply that to Paul. Before the Damascus Road experience where Paul met Jesus, he existed, but he didn’t live. He was spiritually dead. But when Paul got saved, the life of God filled his existence. The light came on!
And the same is true for you if you are a Christian. A lot of people don't understand what being saved is all about. They think being saved is getting man out of earth into heaven, but that's not being saved, that is the result of being saved.
Being saved is not getting man out of earth into heaven, it is getting God out of heaven into man.
And the only way that can happen is through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Therefore, Paul is saying that the source of life is Christ.
But not only was the source of his life Christ,
2. The Subject of Life is Christ
Chapter 1, verses 12-13
Paul is in prison and he's saying to them, Don't worry about me, everything’s fine, because I’m just where God wants me do be doing what God wants me to do.
He said, “You know, some people think it's a bad thing that I've been put in prison, but it's not a bad thing at all. In fact, it's a wonderful thing.”
How could he say that? Because Jesus was the subject of his life. Paul was in prison chained to a guard, but the real prisoner wasn’t Paul, it was the guard! He had to listen to Paul preach all the time! Some of you try to die because you have to listen to me for 30 or 40 minutes! You can’t get to the restaurant quick enough!
How would you like to be Paul’s guard where for hours he’d just brag on Jesus and sing and testify and give the glory to God? Paul said, "Being in jail has actually helped accelerate the spreading of the gospel!” He took it as an opportunity, because the
subject of his life was the Lord Jesus Christ.
Is the subject of your life the Lord Jesus Christ? Or can you keep quiet about the Lord Jesus Christ? I pray the time will never come to me when I can keep quiet about the Lord Jesus Christ.
I heard about a man who was playing the cello who just kept his finger in one spot on the neck all the time. Someone asked him why he didn’t move his hand up and down like other people. He said, “They're looking for it, I've found it.”
Paul was a guy just had one note, and that note was the Lord Jesus Christ. The source of life was Christ; the subject of life was Christ, and
3. The Standard of Life is Christ
chapter 3, verse 14
In other words, Christ is the goal in my life. He is the standard of my life. He is the one that I aim for.
The aim of our life is to be like Christ. Paul wanted everything in his life to be life Christ, and he realized he hadn’t arrived, that he wasn’t there yet, but that was his aim.
All around us we find the testimony of “used-to-be’s” and “also ran’s”. The newspapers and history books are full of those who at one time claimed to be followers of Jesus who were caught up in scandal or fell into sin. But I want you to know they are not my Savior. I do not look to them for my example. I thank God I have a Savior who is sinless. He will never fail me. He will never be caught in scandal. I will never be embarrassed to be His follower
I heard about a plantation owner back in the olden days that had a slave driving his carriage. They were traveling through the night and the man wanted to sleep.
As he was sleeping, out in the night sky, the old slave saw a meteor shower. He thought the stars themselves were falling from the sky!
It frightened him so badly he turned around and woke his master up and said, Master, wake up! Wake up! It's the end of the world.
The master said, “Why do you say it's the end of the world?” He said, “Look, the stars are falling.”
The old master pointed to the North Star and said, “Do you see that star?” He said, “You put your eyes on that one and drive on. If that one falls, wake me up.”
And I say to you, “Put your eyes on Jesus and you can rest.” He will not fall! He will not fail!
Paul said, "For to me to live is Christ." And I'm telling you that the source of his life was Jesus.
And I'm telling you, my dear friend, that the subject of his life was Jesus. And I am telling you that the standard of his life was Jesus.
And by the way,
4. The Song of His Life was Christ
chapter 4, verse 4
Do you rejoice in the Lord? You say, Well, Pastor, I do a lot of times, but you know I sometimes I have difficulty and I don't rejoice. Oh, is that right?
Well, bless your heart! Let’s talk about that. What kind of difficulty do you have? Are you in a prison waiting to have your head cut off? Is that your difficulty?
That's where Paul was when he wrote this. Paul wasn't in a motel somewhere when he wrote this. Paul wasn't on a vacation off at a fancy country club. He wasn’t even in a sanitary hospital or clinic.
Paul was in a dirty, varmint-infested prison waiting to be executed and he said, "Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice."
Now come all the way awake and listen real close: If you are always whining and crying about how bad everything is instead of trusting God and praising His name there is only one reason.
There's only one thing that can take the joy out of your life, not two, not three, not four, but one and it is sin, and it's only one kind of sin--it's your sin of unbelief. You just need to get a good healthy dose of the power and presence of God and that will cure your sour spirit.
Nothing or nobody can rob me of my joy except for me. What are you going to do to me that will cause me to lose my joy? Are you going to come up here and punch me in the nose for preaching about Jesus?
Go ahead, but all you’ll do is increase my joy because my Bible says, "When men persecute you and revile you and do all manner of evil, or say all manner of evil against you falsely for my name’s sake," do what? "Rejoice and be exceeding glad."
There's nothing that you can do to me that can take he joy out of my life.
You’ll also increase my joy because when I punch you back, I’m going to feel real good! The Bible says to turn the other cheek, so you get two shots, but it’s pretty vague on what to do after that!
There is no circumstance that can take the joy out of my life. Only my reaction to that circumstance can take the joy out of my life.
The song of Paul's life was the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then look down to chapter 4, verse 11 and you’ll see
5. The Satisfaction in His Life was Christ.
The word “content” here literally means self-contained. Some of you may have one of those big fancy motor homes. Those motor homes are advertised as being self-contained but that’s really not true. In fact, if you bought one believing that, you got suckered.
You're supposed to be able to get on the road and there's the water and the heat and the generator and everything is right there so you don’t have to stop and plug it in to anything.
But I’ve looked at those things. They are not self-contained at all, not completely, because after a while the supplies are depleted. You’ll have to stop and buy groceries and you’ll have to refill the gas tank on the generator and the water supply will be empty.
But Jesus is never depleted. The word “content” literally means to be self-contained to the point that you will never find yourself in a place where Jesus cannot satisfy every need you have.
That means no matter where you find yourself, no matter what the circumstances, Jesus is the satisfaction of your life.
Then
6. The Strength of His Life was Christ
chapter 4, verse 13
Now this verse gets used a lot, and it gets applied to virtually every demand that a Christian has on their life, and I think that is appropriate.
I think that’s what the presence of God in your life accomplishes. In fact, the context of the verse here in chapter 4 was the hardships of Paul’s life. Look back at verses 10-12
Paul is saying, Christ has made me equal to and victorious over everything that came along.
Now with that in mind, let me ask you a question, for what part of the Christian life do you need the most strength? What discipline requires more power than any other? I would suggest it is in resisting temptation.
And unfortunately, most of us do not take sin as seriously as we ought. We want to play around with it instead of fleeing from it.
But I want you to know Jesus Christ did not come to
save you from hell, he came to save you from sin.
Going to heaven and not going to hell is the by-product of being saved from sin, and if Jesus Christ doesn't have enough strength to keep you from sin, He doesn't have enough strength to keep you from hell and He doesn’t have enough strength to help you in life.
I am not talking about sinless perfection. We're not going to be sinlessly perfect until we get to heaven, but I am telling you that the Bible says sin shall not have dominion over you. The apostle Paul said, "For me to live is Christ." Not sin, Christ! The strength of his life was Christ. "I can do all things through
Christ which strengthens me."
Now walking hand in hand with that is the next thing. And that is
7. The Supply of His Life was Christ.
chapter 4, verse 19
Whatever I need I get from Christ. I like the old hymn, “Be not dismayed what’ere be tide, God will take care of you. Beneath His wings of love abide, God will take care of You.
Here's the Apostle Paul, he's in prison, but I'll tell you he had everything he needed in prison. And he said, "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
Do you know what's wrong with so many of us? We want things we don't need. We're trying to keep up with the Joneses. About the time we catch up, the Jones' refinance. Buying things with money we don't have to impress people we don't like.
"My God shall supply all your need according to His
riches in glory by Christ Jesus." The Apostle Paul
was saying, "The supply of my life is Christ."
I want to say something else. I thank God for Trinity Baptist Church. I thank you that you provide for my family and me through a salary and benefits. But I want to tell you something, and I'm not being cocky. You're not my supply, God is.
He may use you, and he does use you and I'm grateful, but in a very real sense, you don't pay me--you give your money to God and God pays me.
That's the reason I'm going to preach what God tells me, even if you fire me. Because I'll tell you something else, I believe the minister ought to be paid, but I would pay to preach the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. And if no church pays me, I'll get a job somewhere. God will pay me. God will take care of me. I'm not going to be dependent upon any church or anybody but Jesus Christ.
But do you understanding what I'm saying? I’m not dependent upon you or anybody but God. I believe a preacher must step in the pulpit, ready to stay the next twenty years or leave in the next twenty seconds. He ought to be God's man, preaching God's word, not dependent upon anybody or anything but Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul said, I'm not all wrapped up in worries, I'm not worried about it. Jesus Christ is the source of my life. Jesus Christ is the subject of my life. Jesus Christ is the standard of my life. Jesus Christ is the satisfaction of my life. Jesus Christ is the strength of my life. Jesus Christ is the source of my life. He will supply all my need.
Sometimes we want things we don't need. Sometimes we need things we don't want. My dad used to say, “You need a spanking.” He might have been right and probably was, but I don’t ever remember wanting one!
God knows what we need. And God meets our needs. Well, I’ve got to move on because that’s just half of the verse. But that’s some of what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, "For to me, to live is Christ."
But let's look at the other side because that’s really the focus. How do we deal with the fear of dying?
Let’s go back to Philippians 1:21-24 and look at it.
Paul says, "I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better." Now that literally means which is very much, very far better. That doesn't sound like it's good English, but they tell me it's good Greek. What that means is that he's piling up comparatives. He's saying it's really, really very far much better to be with Christ.
What we call death is not a tragedy, it's a blessing.
Zero in on the word “depart”. Let me tell you what that word means.
First, it was a sailor’s term.
When a ship would set sail, the departure of that ship is the word that the Apostle Paul used here. Now when a ship would go out of the harbor, people would stand in that harbor and they would watch that ship sail over the horizon. And from that viewpoint, they would say, “There she goes”.
But somewhere, there's another harbor and that ship appears on the horizon and they say, “Here she comes”.
Not unlike us, every time we stand at the cemetery and say, “He has gone, he's left us” on the other side they are saying, “Here he comes!”
I heard about two babies who were in the womb.
Their mothers are sitting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, and those two babies, from inside the womb began to talk. And they are talking about a third baby.
And they are very distressed about this third baby because his mom had gone to the delivery room and had given birth, and one of the babies says to the other, “Did you hear about Sam?” The other one says, “No.” The first says, “Yea, it’s sad. He passed on.”
That's just like when we say, Oh, so and so passed
on.
Listen, Paul said, I have a desire to depart!
Not only was it a nautical term,
it was a military term.
When soldiers would fold up their tent and move on to another campaign, the very taking down of the tent, the very folding up of the tent was the same word that is used here, to depart.
All of us are in a battle of one kind or another, and one of these days when the battle's over, we shall depart this temporary tent for an eternal home in the heaven’s not made with hands.
It was also a legal term.
It was used for the setting free of a prisoner. When a prisoner was released from jail, this same word was used, a departure.
Every one of us is wearing a chain of some kind. All of us know what it is to be hampered and hindered by this old body. But when we die, we're going to be free! We're going to be loosed from fear. We're going to be unshackled from lack of knowledge and sorrow. We’re going to depart!
It was also an agricultural term.
At the end of the day, the farmer would come in from the field and take the yoke from off the oxen and the word used to describe that process was this same word, depart.
That's what's going to happen one of these days when we go to heaven. We're going to have our burden lifted. We'll sing and shout and dance about and the Lamb will have the praise. And that's the reason Paul could say, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Now just in all honesty, I wouldn't mind dying right now at all. I don't necessarily want to die right now, because I love my wife and I love my children, and I've got some work I want to do.
And as far as I’m concerned, for me to remain and be with you is far better, and I'm not morbid about it. But if God said to me, Terry, come on home, I want to tell you, don't weep for me.
When you come to my funeral, I hope I--well, it's really not fair to invite you because I'll not be there and that would be impolite. But don't pull down the shades and sing some old gloomy song. Y'all have a good time, okay? Just have a good time. Eat some ribs and chocolate chip cookies!
I am looking forward to it, and I don't want you to feel sorry for me. I may die of a heart attack, an automobile wreck or something, I hope not, but who knows?
But listen, the apostle Paul said, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."
Like that ship, I'm sailing into another port. And like that soldier, I'm just going to pull up the tent pegs. And like that prisoner, I'm going to be set free. And like that oxen, I'm going to lay down my burden. I am going home to be with God.
But the only way I can really prepare to die is to learn how to live. Paul said, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
How would you finish that sentence? “For to me, to live is ________?
Money?
Pleasure?
Your business?
Family?
Ministry?
Now if you put down anything other than Christ, here's the way you have to finish the sentence, "For me to live is, whatever you put down there, and then to die is loss."
Whatever it is, if you didn't put Jesus, then ultimately you come out a loser. Nothing else is eternal. Nothing else will last.
If you live for money, you can't take it with you. Even if you could, it'd melt or burn up where some of you are going.
If you live for pleasure, to die is loss, because there are no fun and games in a Christ-less grave.
For me to live is family. One of these days, you're going to kiss them good-bye and go to hell.
You name it. If your answer is anything other than
Christ, you lose.
And the sad thing is you’ll never be prepared to die, because you never learned how to live.
The apostle Paul said, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." If I live, I'm living for Christ.
If I die, I'm going to Christ.
Let’s pray.
