Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Philippians 1:19-26.
In Philippians 1:21 the apostle Paul makes this great statement while imprisoned in Rome, not knowing whether he would live or die: “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
What is he saying? If I live, I will live for Christ. I will live
the rest of my days loving and serving Christ (cf. Gal 2:20).
If I die, however, I will be absent from the body and present with
the Lord (2 Cor 5:8). I will be with Christ, and I will no longer be in his
sin-sick world. I will not so much have lost my life, but I will have gained
even more of Christ.
This is, for the apostle, a win-win scenario. Heads I win, tails I
win.
Now we should not, however, think that Paul had some kind of glib
attitude toward death. He knew that the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). He
knew that death had a sting. He knew that to die by execution would hold terror
for him, humanly speaking. But when it was over, he’d have great gain.
He also knew that his death would bring great sorrow and pain, especially
to his dear loved ones in the Lord. Recall Paul’s parting with the Ephesian
elders in Acts 20:36-38, as they knelt in prayer, through tears, thinking they
would not see each other again face to face on this side of the kingdom.
Partings in death can be very sorrowful. In September 1542, Martin
Luther’s precious 13 year-old daughter lay dying of the plague. He said to her,
“Magdalene, my dear little daughter, would you like to stay here with your
father, or would you willingly go to your Father yonder?” She answered,
“Darling father, as God wills.” And soon she died in Luther’s arms. At her
funeral Luther said:
Darling Lena, you will rise and
shine like a stat, yea, like the sun… I am happy in spirit, but the flesh is
sorrowful and will not be content, the parting grieves me beyond measure… I
have sent a saint to heaven (as cited in Peter Barnes, Pain of a Particular
Kind, 32-33).
In Philippians
1:23-24 Paul describes his sense of being hoisted upon the horns of this
dilemma, feeling as though he was being pulled or torn in two directions: “For
I am in a strait betwixt the two….” (v. 23a).
First,
he had a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which would be far better (v.
23b). All the struggling and suffering and the pain would be over. Many a godly
saint has been on the sick bed which has become a death bed and felt this pull.
It would be so much better to be with Christ!
Second,
however, he knew that to abide in the flesh [in this present life] would be
more needful for the saints at Philippi and for so many other brethren who had
profited so much from Paul’s apostolic ministry (v. 24).
This
is Paul’s dilemma, and one day it might be ours as well.
What do we gain spiritually from this passage? We are spurred on
and encouraged in the faith to have the same mind in serving the Lord Jesus
Christ as the apostle Paul had.
Many of us, in our younger years, had an older brother or sister
whom we idolized and wished to follow. The older sibling was so smart, so good
in sports, so dashing and self-assured. We wanted to be like him.
The apostle Paul appears to us here in Philippians as our older and
so-much-more mature brother in the faith. We want to be like Paul.
Are we in this life? Our calling is to serve Christ and to be a
blessing to his people, to advance them in the gospel and in joy (Phil 1:25).
Are we being called out of this life? What awaits is something far
better.
Let us then declare with Paul, “For me to live is Christ, and to
die is gain.”
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