A CHRISTIAN'S PERSPECTIVE
The Church that Grows and Lives • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
-{Philippians 1}
-Today I want us to consider our perspective about life—what do we think life is all about? What is most important in our life? What are our values?
-As I ask those questions, most of us will answer in our hearts what we think the right answers ought to be. We have been schooled enough to give the right “churchy”, spiritual answers, but are they actually a reflection of the truth—do they reflect the reality of our lives?
-I bring this up because American Christians have become so enamored with the world that it is the things of the world that drives us, it is the values of the world that set our course in life, it is the riches and comforts of the world that we desire the most. The world and everything in it determines who we are rather than God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Word. And even for us good ole conservative, Bible-believing Christians, it is the world that determines how we think about certain things.
-I’ll give a silly example of some weird, messed-up thinking that I have had in life. For those who don’t know, I am a huge science-fiction, fantasy nerd, and I especially love Star Wars because that’s what I grew up with. Well, 12 years ago Disney bought Lucasfilm and announced they were going to make a sequel trilogy to the Star Wars films. And here’s the messed up thinking—in my brain I was thinking: Lord, this is a completely selfish, but I really would rather You didn’t return or don’t let me die before I see the sequel trilogy because I want to see what they do with it. I didn’t really mean it, and yet I also kind of meant it. Of course, then the sequel trilogy came out and then I was like—Lord, never mind, after seeing those movies I really wished you had returned instead.
-I know it’s a silly, harmless example, but think about the thought process in that. What did I value? The things of this world. What were my priorities? The things of this world. What was seemingly most important to me? The things of this world. Now, do your own self-reflection and where are you at? Let’s face it, we look at so many of the issues of life from the perspective of the world, and that is not what we Christians are called to.
-In the passage we are looking at today, Paul is in prison, but Paul writes that it doesn’t matter what your circumstances are, there is one right way for a Christian to look at life—there is a proper perspective. The proper perspective is that Christ is the focus, the center, and the motivation of everything we do. So, as we read and study this passage, I want us to internalize this proper Christian perspective in every part of our lives—and that perspective is that life is all about Christ no matter the circumstances we find ourselves in.
Philippians 1:18–26 (ESV)
18 ...Yes, and I will rejoice,
19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance,
20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.
23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith,
26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.
-{pray}
-What does Paul say demonstrates that you have a proper perspective? What demonstrates that Christ is the focus/center/motivation of my life? I want to highlight 3 ways Paul says demonstrates you have the proper perspective for a Christian. First, I have a proper perspective when:
1) Honoring Christ is my ultimate goal (vv. 19-20)
1) Honoring Christ is my ultimate goal (vv. 19-20)
-Looking at Philippians, Paul was not in the best of circumstances, and yet his circumstances were not the focus of his life. In fact, as you read this epistle, he viewed his circumstances in light of what it meant toward what is most important—Christ and the gospel.
-Consider the passage that is right before this one. The Philippians know that he is imprisoned, but Paul didn’t want them to worry about how those circumstances affected him—what Paul wanted to highlight is how his imprisonment affected the gospel message of salvation in Jesus Christ. And he was pleased to report that his imprisonment actually helped the gospel message, not hindered it.
-He highlighted two ways in which the gospel was helped. First, unbelievers were hearing and receiving the gospel message. And then second, the church in Rome was becoming more bold in proclaiming the Word of the gospel. To Paul, that was what was most important. In fact, he mentions that some were preaching Christ out of envy while others preached Christ out of good will. Either way, Paul rejoiced that the gospel message of Jesus’ death and resurrection was making its way to the people. That’s what was most important—that the trail was being blazed for the gospel to make its way to the people.
-Then in today’s passage he highlights his perspective on his circumstances, and ultimately his whole life. He says that he rejoices because (in v. 19) the prayers of the Philippian church and the supply of the Holy Spirit given by Christ is seeing him through, and it will eventually lead to his deliverance. But he doesn’t necessarily say how he was going to be delivered. When you read this passage, Paul was thinking in light of eternity—one way or another he was going to be delivered.
-And he knew this because (in v. 20) God will not let him be put to shame—God will faithfully see Paul through what he was going through so that the ultimate goal of the Christian would be fulfilled in Him. And what is that ultimate goal? Paul says in v. 20 that in spite of his circumstances, he expected that he would be bold and courageous and not falter from the goal. And that goal is that Christ would be honored in his body either by life or by death. That would be Paul’s deliverance—being faithful to the goal of honoring Christ no matter how things turned out. He would honor Christ if kept alive, and he had the hope that his death would honor Christ. Either way, Christ is honored.
-This is such a different way of looking at life for us. In our minds, the only way for Paul to be delivered is to be released from prison—that is deliverance, getting out of your bad circumstances. In our minds, the only deliverance we want is from physical pain, from financial pressures, from relational stresses, and whatever other earthly category we might think of. But Paul says that deliverance comes when God faithfully upholds us so that we can boldly honor Christ in our bodies no matter what the outcome might be. That’s my goal—Christ is honored in my body either by the way I live or by the way I die. Paul put it another way:
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
-My body and my life are not my body and my life. They are Christ’s body and Christ’s life. My body and my life are tools to be used by Christ to gain glory and honor on this earth. My body and my life are not tools to advance MY own agenda. My body and my life are not tools to make MY dreams come true. My ultimate goal is to honor Christ no matter the outcome of what I’m going through. Christ is most honored when my life is spent loving others and serving others, most especially in the spread and propagation of the gospel message—telling others about the saving works of Jesus. That’s what my body and life are for on this earth.
-Think of the tools in your toolbox. You have a project of needing to fix a door in your house. That is what you want your tools to be used to accomplish. But when you go to get your tools to do what you, their master, want them to do, they each have their own projects they want to work on instead. The hammer wants to hang some pictures. The screwdriver wants to build a shed. What would honor you most is for them to accomplish your will through them. That ought to be their goal.
-And our goal is that in whatever way possible in our life, Christ is honored in our body. We demonstrate a true, Christian perspective of life when that is our ultimate goal. This then leads to the next demonstration where, secondly, Paul teaches that we have a proper perspective when:
2) Christ is the filter of my worldview (vv. 21-24)
2) Christ is the filter of my worldview (vv. 21-24)
-Our worldview is, obviously, the way we view the world. It is the way we think about reality that leads us to act the way we act, say what we say, and make the decisions we make. Everybody has a certain way that they approach life. We could say that it is the filter through which we see the world and then react to the world. It is the perspective that we take on in our interaction with the world.
-For example, if you wore sunglasses that were blue, then everything would look blue to you. If you wore sunglasses that were green, then everything would look green to you. Whatever your worldview is taints the way you see reality around you. Muslims look at the world through their Muslim worldview. Hindus look at the world through their Hindu worldview.
-And all those other worldviews are different and in conflict with a Christian worldview because Christians look at the world differently from everybody else. But what is that worldview? Our worldview is determined by Christ. We view reality through Christ. What we really think about life is determined by Christ—not by the world, not by our own opinions or desires. And Paul describes that for us in our passage.
-He sums it up for us in v. 21:
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
-I look at the world and my own life through the worldview that Christ is my life. I am not living my life for me, Christ is living His life through me. As Paul stated it elsewhere:
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
-And when your living is Christ, it affects the way you view your life and the world. Paul mentions a distinct Christian perspective that come from filtering our worldview through Christ that is so different from the world. And that is, we have a different perspective on death. For the Christian, death is not something to be feared, but is something to actually be embraced if not looked forward to. And after I said that, our natural reaction to that statement is to recoil—that just sounds wrong in our ears.
-But what does Paul say, looking at the topic through the filter of Christ. He says in v. 21 that to die is gain. And then in v. 23 he says that he has a desire to depart and be with Christ because that is far better. It literally says at the end of v. 23 that death is much more better. He couldn’t pile enough words to tell us how death is actually the best option. Now, he’s not talking about suicide or anything like that. But, he is talking about how Christians should view death.
-How in the world could Paul say that? Because he was convinced that God would bring him into Christ’s heavenly presence. As Paul wrote elsewhere:
8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
-Paul knew that from the moment he took his last breath he would be ushered into the presence of Jesus Christ. This goes against any theology or philosophy that might say that a person’s soul sleeps until the resurrection or that you have to take a detour to another place before you get to heaven (like, maybe, purgatory that doesn’t exist). If you are a Christian, you go right to the Lord.
-And, why is that better? Well, have you looked at the world lately? Have you seen the evil that goes on? There is no evil in the full presence of Jesus. Or, have you gotten sick or do you hurt? There is no more sickness and pain in the full presence of Jesus. Have you wrestled with besetting sin in your life? There is no sin in the full presence of Jesus. Have you suffered loss? Whoever is in Christ is restored to us.
-But the natural human reaction to death is fear and trepidation—and that is actually the right perspective to have if you don’t have Christ. You see, we innately know that there is something wrong with the world and something wrong with us, and that death will usher us into an eternal destiny that we might not want to face.
-You see, all of humanity is at odds with their Creator. Our first forefathers rebelled against the Creator God and received a sinful nature that ends in spiritual and physical death. That nature is passed along to every generation, which then leads all of us to rebel and sin against the Creator God. God is just and holy and perfect and must be true to Himself and hand out justice to every rebel, which is every human, including you and me. And if we die in that unholy, natural, rebellious state we will be condemned to God’s wrathful justice for all eternity.
-But God so loved the humans He created in His image, He made a way for His justice to be satisfied and humanity’s sins to be forgiven. Jesus Christ, God the Son, took on a full human form, died on the cross to satisfy God’s justice on our behalf, and then rose again from the dead. Christ took our sin and gave us His righteousness so that whoever believes in Him is given eternal life. And when God the Father looks at the Christian, He sees them in His perfect Son.
-When someone who has never believed in Jesus dies, they better be in fear because they face justice. When someone who has believed in Jesus dies, they have nothing to fear because Jesus took care of their sin, and they will forever be with Christ. And that’s just one way we filter life issues through Christ. There are thousands of ways that a Christian worldview is different from every other worldview—but this has the most impact on a person’s present life and eternity. We filter our view of death through Christ. And we then filter every other detail of life through Christ as well—our views of church, finances, family, marriage, politics, everything gets filtered through Christ. Having a Christian perspective is to filter our worldview through Christ.
-Finally, and quickly, Paul teaches that I have a proper perspective when:
3) Ministry for Christ is my life purpose (vv. 25-26)
3) Ministry for Christ is my life purpose (vv. 25-26)
-Paul shares the struggle he has—he knows that to die and be with Christ is far better. However, he also knows that God has a purpose for him on this earth. To live is Christ, and living for Christ means living for the ministry that God has equipped him for. He says in v. 22 that if he is to remain and live in the flesh, that’s an OK thing too because it means fruitful labor in his ministry to the church in the name of Jesus.
-Paul’s desire is to go be with Christ, but he also recognizes that for the sake of Christ he might need to remain on earth a little while longer because the church needs him—in v. 24 he recognizes that to remain alive is more necessary for the church. For the church to grow and mature and to fulfill its own mission of spreading the gospel entails that Paul would need to stick around for a while longer. Paul is willing to surrender his own desires so that the the ministry Christ called him to would continue.
-In vv. 25-26, Paul is convinced that he will get out of prison eventually and return to the ministry God has for him. This did not come by vision or any supernatural revelation, but it was his own conviction that he would probably be released by Caesar once his case could be made. And this is probably the case. Most likely, the imprisonment Paul refers to is what is recorded for us at the end of the Book of Acts. Although there is no conclusion to the story there, church history says that Paul was released because at that time there was not any widespread persecution of the church. Years later he would be imprisoned again and he would be martyred under Nero, and 2 Timothy seems to elude to this time.
-But Paul says in v. 25 that he is convinced that he will remain on the earth so that he can help the church progress in their faith. And in v. 26 he says that this fact will give them ample reason to glory or boast in Jesus Christ. Paul’s eventual return to ministry would cause the church to glorify and praise Christ.
-But, the point is that Paul was willing to give up his own dreams and wishes and desires so that Christ, who was his life, would continue the ministry through him. Yes, Paul really wanted to be rid of this world of pain and trials and troubles—but he also knew that Christ’s will for him was more important than his own will for himself. When Christ is your life, you set aside your own wants and desires for the sake of whatever it is Christ called you to—whatever your ministry is. It might be a ministry to your family. It might be a ministry to your church. It might be a ministry to your community. If you are in Christ, you have been called to a ministry, and that calling is more important than anything else you want. And, you actually find you have more joy in living for Christ than in anything else.
-We could say that Paul was willing to delay his ultimate gratification for the sake of ministry for Christ. That’s not something we like at all. When we want something we want it and we want it now and we want lots of it. You know kids cannot delay gratification, even if there would be a bigger reward if they did—they want it now. But even if its a good desire, maybe even a godly desire, the calling of Christ on our life is even bigger than that. This calling comes first because it is literally what we were made for—Christ created us for this purpose (whatever it might be—it’s different for each of us).
Conclusion
Conclusion
-This perspective is so different from the world. The perspective of the world is carnal, selfish, but we’re called to something greater—eternal. But with a Christian perspective our ultimate goal is to honor God in our bodies, Christ is the filter through which we look at the world, and we find our purpose and calling in our ministry for Christ. And so, I want to conclude with some questions I want you to think about this week:
How can Christ be most honored in my present circumstances?
How can Christ be most honored in my present circumstances?
-Is it your eager expectation and hope that Christ would be honored in your body in the midst of your life right now?
What decisions and choices would most honor Christ?
What decisions and choices would most honor Christ?
-In my life’s journey, is it the filter of Christ through which I look to see where He would have me go? Am I making decisions based on a Christian worldview?
What areas of my life are not submitted to the purpose of honoring Christ?
What areas of my life are not submitted to the purpose of honoring Christ?
-Where am I allowing my desires to hold more sway than my calling in Christ?
-Christian, come to the altar and wrestle with these questions.
-But if you’re not a Christian, and death and the judgment that comes with it is fearful in your eye, come forward and believe in Jesus and never be afraid of death again because you have a Savior...