1. "If it varies with circumstances, it isn't contentment. You could get everything you want in life and still be unhappy. It happens all the time. Music megastars, billionaires, Super Bowl winners. At times they seem to speak with one voice saying, this isn't it. Whatever you're looking for, even all this is not going to do it for you."

2. "Paul was like a Trojan horse for the gospel. If the Roman Empire thought that they could keep Paul quiet about Christ by locking him up, they had a whole other thing coming. You can shut Paul up in prison, but even that can't shut his mouth."

3. "Brothers and sisters, when it came to talking about Jesus, the Apostle Paul had no off switch and neither should we."

4. "Even when he turns to talk about himself, he cares far more about the progress the gospel is making among believers and unbelievers. Paul cares very little about how Paul is doing and he cares very much about how the gospel is doing."

5. "Whenever you try to make much of Christ, the temptation to make much of self lies close at hand. In every effort you make to glorify God, sinful desire for selfish glory can tail you as close as your own shadow."

6. "The gospel has so coated Paul's heart with love that these attacks just roll right off. They can't stick. They can't get in. They can't get through the layer of love for the glory of Christ that is protecting Paul's heart against any kind of bitterness or self-pity. You can't offend someone whose heart is so full of love for Christ that it leaves no room for self."

7. "Jesus' obsession is the only obsession that gives you everything when circumstances give you nothing. Jesus' obsession is the only obsession that can give you a happiness that is completely independent of circumstances."

8. "For a Christian, death is only a butler who opens the door to your eternal dwelling with God."

9. "In Paul's heart, the only thing competing with his love for the Philippians was his even greater desire to be with Christ."

10. "When winter comes to your life and it strips away the happy covering of favorable circumstances, what will you then see? Like those trees, you'll see what you're made of. And you'll see what was there all along, but that was covered by something else."

Observation Questions

1. In Philippians 1:12-13, what two results does Paul report have come from his imprisonment, and how did the imperial guard come to know about the cause of his chains?

2. According to verses 15-17, what are the two different sets of motives Paul identifies among those who preach Christ, and how does he describe each group?

3. What is Paul's response in verse 18 to the reality that some preach Christ from envy, rivalry, and selfish ambition rather than from pure motives?

4. In verse 21, how does Paul summarize his view of both living and dying, and what does he say death will mean for him?

5. According to verses 23-24, what two options is Paul "hard pressed between," and what does he say about each option—which is "far better" and which is "more necessary"?

6. In verses 25-26, what does Paul say he is convinced will happen, and what purpose does he give for remaining and continuing with the Philippians?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does Paul view his imprisonment as something that has "really served to advance the gospel" (v. 12) rather than as an obstacle to his ministry? What does this reveal about how he evaluates his circumstances?

2. How does Paul's statement "to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (v. 21) explain his ability to be indifferent about whether he lives or dies? What must be true about someone's relationship with Christ for this statement to be genuine?

3. What does Paul's reaction to rival preachers (vv. 15-18) teach us about the difference between caring about the gospel's advancement and caring about our own reputation or recognition?

4. In verse 20, Paul expresses confidence that "Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death." How does this expectation connect to his description of his "eager expectation and hope" that he will not be ashamed? What would it look like for Paul to be "ashamed"?

5. Paul says that remaining in the flesh is "more necessary" for the Philippians' sake (v. 24), even though departing to be with Christ is "far better" for him personally (v. 23). What does this tension reveal about the relationship between personal spiritual desires and sacrificial service to others?

Application Questions

1. Paul filtered his difficult circumstances through the lens of gospel advancement rather than personal comfort. What current frustration, limitation, or hardship in your life could you begin to view as an opportunity for the gospel to advance? What would change if you adopted Paul's perspective?

2. Paul's boldness in evangelism while imprisoned inspired other believers to speak more boldly about Christ. Who in your life has modeled faithful witness to Christ in difficult circumstances, and how might your own faithfulness—even in small ways—encourage others to be bolder in sharing the gospel?

3. Paul rejoiced that Christ was preached even by those with impure motives who wanted to harm him. Is there a Christian, church, or ministry that you have been critical of or competitive toward? How might focusing on Christ being proclaimed help you rejoice rather than criticize?

4. If you had to honestly complete the sentence "For me to live is _ and to die is _," what would fill those blanks based on how you actually live day to day? What specific step could you take this week to move closer to being able to say with integrity, "For me to live is Christ"?

5. Paul was willing to delay what he most wanted (being with Christ) in order to serve others for their "progress and joy in the faith" (v. 25). What personal preference, comfort, or desire might God be calling you to set aside in order to serve the spiritual growth of others in your church or community?

Additional Bible Reading

1. 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 — Paul describes how suffering and affliction serve to display God's power and advance eternal purposes, reinforcing the theme that difficult circumstances can be means of grace.

2. Acts 16:16-34 — This account of Paul and Silas singing hymns while imprisoned in Philippi demonstrates the same boldness and joy amid persecution that Paul describes in this letter to the Philippians.

3. Romans 8:28-39 — Paul explains how God works all things for the good of those who love Him and that nothing can separate believers from Christ's love, supporting his confidence that imprisonment serves his salvation.

4. 2 Timothy 4:6-8 — Near the end of his life, Paul again expresses readiness to depart and confidence in his eternal reward, echoing his statements about death being gain.

5. Psalm 16:5-11 — David confesses that the Lord is his portion and that fullness of joy is found in God's presence, providing the Old Testament foundation for Paul's desire to depart and be with Christ.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Problem of Blaming Unhappiness on Circumstances

II. Introduction to Paul's Circumstances in Philippians 1:12-26

III. The Gospel Empowers Boldness Amid Persecution (vv. 12-14)

IV. The Gospel Empowers Rejoicing Amid Rivalry (vv. 15-18)

V. The Gospel Empowers Consecration Amid Consequences (vv. 18b-21)

VI. The Gospel Empowers Self-Forgetful Service Amid More Appealing Options (vv. 22-26)

VII. What Will You Hold On To When Everything Gets Stripped Away?

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Detailed Sermon Outline

We've all done it. You've done it. I've certainly done it. You may be doing it right now. What's it?

Blaming your unhappiness on your circumstances.

Nothing could be easier. If you go looking for external reasons to explain why you're not satisfied with your lot in life, you'll always find them.

There's always something out there that can plausibly explain what's wrong in here. My job is just so tedious. Or my job's so overwhelming.

My spouse is so demanding. Or my spouse is so distant. I'm so busy or I'm so bored. We spend so much of our lives striving to control our circumstances in order to try to craft our circumstances in the hope that once we get them just right, the payoff will be contentment, enjoyment, satisfaction, happiness. But here's the problem.

If it varies with circumstances, it isn't contentment.

You could get everything you want in life and still be unhappy. It happens all the time. Music megastars, billionaires, Super Bowl winners. At times they seem to speak with one voice saying, this isn't it. Whatever you're looking for, even all this is not going to do it for you.

We can all think of people who have it all but it's still not enough.

But have you ever met someone who seemed to have nothing and yet they were happier, fuller, more satisfied than someone who seemed to have everything? Can such a person exist? If they do exist, how'd they get to be that way?

This morning we return to Paul's letter to the Philippians, looking at chapter 1, verses 12 to 26. You can find it on page 980 of the Bibles in the pews. If you don't have a Bible, you can easily read. You can feel free to take that one home with you. We'd be delighted for that to be a gift to you.

Several weeks ago we studied Paul's opening thanksgiving and prayer in the first 11 verses of this letter. In those verses we saw that all Christians are bound together by our shared identity in Christ, partnership in Christ, and progress in Christ. In our passage for this morning, the focus shifts to Paul's circumstances. What's happening to him there in prison in Rome? How's he doing?

How have these hard circumstances affected him? Paul's writing to let the Philippians know about all that.

Please follow along as I read the passage. I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed.

And in that I rejoice.

Yes, and I will rejoice. For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance, 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. For to me, To live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.

I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again. In this whole passage, Paul does something that's very common in any ancient Greco-Roman letter.

He tells the recipients about his circumstances. That phrase in verse 12, what has happened to me, could be more literally translated as my circumstances or the stuff about me.

This is the first main section of the letter. It introduces key themes and concerns And in it, Paul models for the Philippians and for us how the gospel enables us to respond to adversity. As he writes, Paul is probably in his third straight year of imprisonment in multiple locations. He's physically chained to a rotating cast of imperial guards in Rome. He's needy, vulnerable and exposed.

He's basically under house arrest. So how has all that affected him? Strangely, it really hasn't. If anything, Paul's imprisonment has given him all the more reasons to rejoice and he wants us to rejoice with him and to rejoice in what he rejoices in. In a sentence, here's what Paul teaches us in Philippians 1: Verses 12 to 26.

When circumstances give you nothing, the gospel gives you everything. When circumstances give you nothing, the gospel gives you everything. To unpack that as we walk through the passage, we're going to consider four supernatural fruits that the gospel empowers amid hard circumstances. The gospel empowers, point one, boldness amid persecution. Boldness amid persecution.

We see this in verses 12 to 14. Look again at those verses.

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. So that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment are much more bold to speak the word without fear. In verse 12, Paul says that his imprisonment has really served to advance the gospel because that's the opposite of what you would expect. You'd think that being locked up would put a damper on Paul's evangelistic efforts, and impact.

But the reverse is true. In verses 13 and 14, Paul articulates two results of his imprisonment and how he conducted himself in his imprisonment. The first in verse 13 is that the whole imperial guard or praetorian guard has come to know that Paul is imprisoned for Christ's sake. In Paul's day, the praetorian guard numbered about 9,000. So even if we account for a little bit of natural hyperbole here, how did that many soldiers come to know the cause of Paul's imprisonment?

Well, at any given time, one of them would be chained to him as his direct supervisor, as it were. And that soldier stationed at him would be regularly rotated. So Paul clearly evangelized each of his prison guards. That's how they got to know that his imprisonment was for Christ. And then it doesn't take too much imagination to see how if one guard and another and another and another hear this strange man's story, they would start to tell others about this bizarre prisoner who's in chains because of his belief in some Nazarene rabbi who he says was raised from the dead and that's what Paul's doing here.

So Paul evangelized his guards and it seems his guards spread the word from there. Paul was like a Trojan horse for the gospel. If the Roman Empire thought that they could keep Paul quiet about Christ by locking him up, they had a whole other thing coming. You can shut Paul up in prison, but even that can't shut his mouth. My least favorite kind of children's toy is the electronic kind that makes loud, repetitive noises.

My even least favorite kind within that subset of toys is the kind where you can't find the off switch, and where even after you turn it off, it just continues its noises for some indeterminate time.

It seems like sometimes I spend half my life walking around trying to turn off those toys. Brothers and sisters, when it came to talking about Jesus, the Apostle Paul had no off switch and neither should we.

That brings us to verse 14. Most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. That little phrase, speak the word wherever it shows up in the New Testament, refers to evangelism. It always means telling others about Jesus. And Paul's saying that his evangelistic ministry, in the midst of his imprisonment, made the believers in Rome into bolder evangelists.

That's what he means by most of the brothers. He's in Rome, he's talking about Christians in Rome, these Christians hear about what Paul's getting up to in prison and they become more bold evangelists as a result. He's talking about a majority, most of the brothers, a majority of the Christians in Rome being boosted in their evangelism by his example. So Paul is assuming that every Christian should evangelize. He's not talking about church leaders.

He's not talking about apostolic coworkers. He's talking about rank and file Christians throughout Rome becoming bolder evangelists. He takes it for granted that it's every Christian's responsibility to share the gospel. And he's reporting on how his one measly little example is echoing and encouraging so many believers to do so much more. Paul's proclamation of Christ, even amid persecution, catalyzed the Roman Christians' commitment to proclaim Christ, even though they faced the same consequences as Paul as a result.

When I was young, one of my favorite pastimes was skateboarding. I don't think I was ever as good a skater as Isaac Adams was. For that matter, I was never as good a skater as Alberto Hakkez still is. True story. Give Alberto a skateboard and ask him to do a kickflip and watch him nail it.

But I managed to land a few decent tricks in my day, back in my teens. One rite of passage for street skateboarding is learning how to ollie over a staircase. Right? Four or five, six stairs for a nice, modest-sized one. You go as fast as you can, you get your board off the ground, you keep your feet on the board and you land on the far side of the staircase.

Now, the problem with doing that is you have to stay absolutely committed to have any hope of making it at all. If you get up into the air and you have a change of heart, you rethink your course in life, you can kick the board away, but you'll have no chance of landing it. But if you stay committed and you keep your feet glued to the board, the problem with that is, you run the risk of a much harder landing if anything goes wrong because you can't brace yourself. Strangely though, if you commit and then you fall and you slam into the concrete, this weird thing happens sometimes where it's like, you know what? That's the worst that can happen.

I'll try it again. And you commit and you stick it. Sometimes the worst slam leads to the next completion.

Here's what Paul's doing in Rome. His imprisonment showed the Roman believers, as it were, what's the worst that can happen? You can wind up in prison like Paul and you can keep sharing the gospel. Paul wasn't bothered by the worst happening to him. It didn't even slow him down.

Even though Paul had slammed into the concrete of Roman imprisonment, he just kept sticking every single evangelistic opportunity the Lord gave him. Paul's boldness amid painful consequences emboldened these other believers to risk the same consequences. Why would Paul do this? Why would he keep jabbering on about Jesus even when he's sitting in prison because of Jesus? It's because Jesus gave everything for him.

We all have rebelled against God. And we deserve a lot worse sentence from God than house arrest. We've all turned away from him. We've all earned his just condemnation. His eternal wrath is all that we deserve.

But God is infinitely merciful. God is overflowing in loving kindness and God's loving kindness overflow toward us in his sending his son to earth to save us. O come, O come, Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel. That's talking about the coming of Christ. He came the first time to deliver us from sin's penalty.

He died on the cross to pay the price that all of our sins have earned. And he rose from the dead to triumph over death and to grant all who believe in him to trample down death forever. He ascended into heaven. He sits at God's right hand and now he summons, he commands all people everywhere to repent of sin and trust in him. So if you've never turned from sin and trusted in Jesus, trust in him today.

He gave everything in order for you to gain everything in him. And so Paul found it easy to give away everything because Christ had given up everything for him. That's what the Roman believers saw in Paul's example. It wasn't that somehow Paul had a magic spiritual force field around him and, well, God will protect us and keep us from the consequences and we'll still keep our jobs and we'll still keep all our property and we'll still keep all our standing. No.

They saw Paul gladly paying consequences. They saw him gladly suffering for Christ and with Christ. And they said, We can do that too because of what Christ has given us.

I mentioned a few minutes ago that this whole section from verses 12 to 26 focuses on Paul's circumstances, which is a totally normal thing to do, in that kind of letter and really in any letter. But the weird thing about this update from Paul about Paul is that it's not actually about Paul. As soon as he starts talking about the stuff about me, he pivots to the progress of the gospel. Even when he turns to talk about himself, he cares far more about the progress the gospel is making among believers and unbelievers. Paul cares very little about how Paul is doing and he cares very much about how the gospel is doing.

Paul's consuming passion was that more people would come to know Christ. And he's laying that passion bare for us to see, not in order to impress us, not in order for us to put Paul up on a pedestal and say, wow, how impressive, how amazing, how incredible, good for him. None of us could ever be like that. No, it's just the opposite. He's setting us an example.

In this, deliberately, he's telling us how he filters his circumstances through the lens of the progress of the gospel so that we would do that too. Consider two verses later in Philippians that we'll get to over the course of the next few months. Philippians 3:17, Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

Watch Paul evangelize and watch those Roman believers who start to evangelize more because Paul's evangelizing. Watch and learn and do the same. Or in Philippians 4:9, what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me practice these things and the God of peace will be with you.

Paul's telling us about his circumstances to lay bare a heart that is set on Christ, to show you what it looks like to be stuck there in prison but with a heart still totally devoted to Jesus. He's laying bare his heart so that we'll be drawn to it and try to cultivate by God's power through his spirit to try to cultivate a heart like that.

So make Paul's passion your passion. Pray for the advance of the gospel from your own lips to others. Pray that God would make you such a bold evangelist that others would take heart and grow more bold because of your example. But Paul didn't just face opposition from Rome, he also faced opposition even from other Christians. So point two, rejoicing amid rivalry.

The gospel empowers rejoicing amid rivalry. We see this in verses 15 to 18.

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

Now, we don't know exactly who these preachers who are preaching from envy and rivalry were. Some people suspect that they're false teachers like those who show up in Galatia but that doesn't fit with how Paul describes them because he says they're preaching Christ and he rejoices in that proclamation. He wouldn't say that about false teachers. So somehow they're preaching a true gospel but from false motives. That's the key here.

Somehow these other believers were preaching Christ in such a way that it would make trouble for Paul and try to advance themselves. Paul says in verse 15, They were preaching from envy and rivalry. And in verse 17, from selfish ambition. If you find it hard to imagine how someone could preach Christ from envy, rivalry, and selfish ambition, you could imagine a church where the senior pastor would require a departing staff member to sign a contract with a non-compete clause. Prohibiting him from pastoring any church within 75 miles of the church he's leaving.

As one commentator put it, the robe of Christian ministry cloaks many a shameless idolatry.

Whenever you try to make much of Christ, the temptation to make much of self lies close at hand. Envy and rivalry can so easily infect your relationships with friends and family. Envy and rivalry can so easily infect the church and your motives for however you serve in the church. Whenever you do something that glorifies Christ, there's a temptation to try to keep a little piece of that glory pie for yourself.

If every, excuse me, in every effort, you make to glorify God. Sinful desire for selfish glory can tail you as close as your own shadow.

There's a wild grass that originated in tropical Asia and has conquered the world. It's the world's worst weed, the most detrimental to farming the world over. It's commonly called cockspur or barnyard grass. It first started to spread widely because it adapted to look exactly like growing rice stalks. And it had to be weeded constantly by hand.

You can't machine remove the weeds because they look so similar to the rice. You have to get in and look at each individual stalk. And individual plants of cockspur can produce up to 40,000 seeds per year.

Boy, if that isn't a description of how our own selfish motives can mimic and hide among good desires to glorify Christ and help others come to know Him. Brothers and sisters, if you want to serve Christ and help others come to know Christ, you have to constantly stoop to the slow, painstaking work of uprooting sinful motives for selfish glory one by one. Otherwise, those sinful motives will spread proliferate, and choke out spiritual fruit.

So how can you proclaim Christ and build up Christ's people in a way that gives all glory to Christ? Here are a few encouragements. Pray for God's help before, during, and after any ministry effort. And in addition to asking for help from God, ask for help from others. Gladly receive help from others and gratefully honor and acknowledge help from others.

So for example, if you ever find my sermon outlines clarifying or helpful, you should know they are regularly improved by the skillful, selfless service of Mark Feather. Sometimes also Ben Lacy, thank you, Ben. Sometimes even our pastoral interns. But Mark Feather typically does the most to improve my sermons before they get to you. I would thank Mark personally, but he's preaching at Parker Moore's Church in Georgia, so you all can thank him for me the next time you see him.

It's easy to understand why there are rivalries in sports. If the other team wins, your team loses. But rivalry should have no place between Christians, no place between churches, no place between gospel preachers. Who loses when Christ is proclaimed? Only Satan.

That's how Paul saw things. That's what he says in verse 18. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Paul's verdict on these rivals is, who cares?

Paul doesn't care about these others' efforts to somehow damage his status. They tried to make it personal, and Paul refused to take it personally. Their ulterior motives may be trying to hurt Paul, but they're only hurting themselves. Paul doesn't care. All he cares about is that more people are hearing the name of Christ.

So instead of being discouraged or trying to get even, Paul rejoices. The gospel has so coated Paul's heart with love that these attacks just roll right off. They can't stick. They can't get in. They can't get through the layer of love for the glory of Christ that is protecting Paul's heart against any kind of bitterness or self-pity.

You can't offend someone whose heart is so full of love for Christ that it leaves no room for self.

Brothers and sisters, members of CHBC, rejoice that Christ is preached more than you rejoice in who is preaching him.

One way you all do that so well is by listening attentively to the word regardless of who's preaching from this pulpit. You all do that so well and I praise God for that. So be eager to maximize the ways you can pursue fellowship, partnership, and friendship with other Christians and churches. Even where we don't agree about everything. Be eager to celebrate God's work in and through other Christians and churches.

Even when they don't belong to the same tribe or camp. One that don't wear all the same labels or even have all the same convictions. Rejoice that Christ is preached no matter who preaches him.

Verses 12 to 18 have showed us Paul's reasons for rejoicing in the present. From the tail end of verse 18 through verse 26, Paul tells us his reasons to rejoice as he looks to the future.

Point three: Consecration amid consequences. The gospel empowers consecration amid consequences.

Paul shows us this fruit of Christ's work in his heart from the tail end of verse 18: through verse 21. We'll pick up at the very end of verse 18. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance.

So Paul rejoices not only because the gospel is being preached, but because he himself is being saved. That's the point of the phrase, this will turn out for my deliverance. The word translated deliverance is the Greek word that's normally translated salvation. So I think Paul is saying that even this imprisonment is ordained for him as a means of grace. It's part of the pathway the Lord's ordained for him to walk on his way to heaven.

This imprisonment is a means of strengthening and proving his faith. It's a means of demonstrating perseverance. So the question is, how will Paul's imprisonment bring about these spiritual goods? He tells us in verse 19, it's through the Philippians' prayers which the Spirit of Christ himself will answer.

Paul is implicitly thanking them for praying for him and encouraging them to pray for him. They're 800 miles away and he's stuck in prison. They might think there's little they could do for him besides sending financial supports. But Paul wants their prayers far more than he wants their money. Their prayers can do far more for Paul than even their money can.

And then Paul tells us more about what he expects in the near future, continuing in verses 19 and 20. Excuse me, pick up at verse 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. Here Paul is confidently looking forward to remaining confident in Christ. That phrase full courage is telling.

It translates a Greek word that always describes bold or frank speech. So it always refers not merely to an attitude of confidence, but to how that confidence manifests itself in confident words. Christ will be honored by Paul's body and chiefly by his mouth. As Paul continues to mouth off about what Christ has done for him, and for all who trust in him. When I first started studying this passage, I did not expect it to be so relentlessly focused on evangelism.

But when Paul looks forward to his own future, what he's fundamentally looking forward to in the near term is more evangelism. Remaining confident in Christ and confidently telling others about Christ, that's what he's excited about. And that's whether he lives or dies. If he lives, he gets to keep on preaching Christ. And if he dies, his death itself will bear utter, final, eloquent testimony that Christ is Paul's supreme treasure.

Paul is absolutely set on magnifying Christ, making much of Christ, showing others that Christ is his supreme value. What he sits looser to is whether he lives or dies. For Paul, proclaiming and magnifying Christ is the big thing and the thing that's much smaller is life or death. How can Paul say that? Verse 21 tells us, For to me, to live is Christ.

And to die is gain. Look at those words as I read them again. Verse 21, For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If you're looking for one verse that sums up Paul's life and that should sum up yours, you could do no better than this one. Paul is saying that Christ is the source of his life, Christ is the greatest good in his life, and Christ is the goal of everything he does in life.

And because Christ is everything to him, death itself is gain because by dying, Paul will gain the joy of Christ's presence forever. Sometimes when I'm preparing a sermon, the hardest work involved is understanding what the passage means or figuring out how to apply it to our life today in circumstances that may be very different from when it was written. Ecclesiastes was full of that. But here, in this verse, no such difficulties. No such work required.

It's short, simple, plain, utterly transparent. Christ is everything to Paul and that means even death is better than whatever God has for him down here. So what's hard about this verse? What's hard about preaching this to you is seeing how different my heart is from Paul's. Seeing how far short my heart falls from being able to say without hesitation or qualification, For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Can you say that with Paul? Is that one sentence the motto of your life?

Is that the deepest desire of your heart? Is that the magnet pulling your heart on, no matter what comes? To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Imagine for a moment that you were required to drink a truth serum, like people have to do in spy movies. And after you drink that truth serum, you are unable to tell anything but the naked truth about yourself. Drink that serum, then fill in the two blanks in this verse. For me to live is what? And to die is what?

There's no way around it. This verse is about an obsession. Paul is obsessed with Jesus the Messiah. And every obsession is only as good as its object. So this verse confronts us with a question: what is worth being this obsessed about?

What can possibly deserve to be a one-word definition of your life?

If you're here today and you're not a believer in Jesus, we're glad you're here. You're very welcome at all of our services. I'd be delighted to talk to you at this door afterward. I'd especially encourage you to come back for our Lessons in Carol service next Sunday night, as Ben mentioned. I just want to clarify, I just want to underscore for you that this is exactly what Christians claim about Jesus.

He, and he alone, deserves to be the one-word definition of everyone's life. He really is that good. He really is that infinitely full. I know that Christians rarely live up to the full worth of Christ. We fall short in so many ways, but this is exactly what we mean to do.

This is exactly what we are all about. We mean to be this obsessed with Jesus and we think you should be too.

Jesus' obsession is the only obsession that gives you everything when circumstances give you nothing. Jesus' obsession is the only obsession that can give you a happiness that is completely independent of circumstances. Jesus is the only object of obsession who will always and only give you more than you could possibly ever give to him.

In verses 19 to 21, we see that what the gospel worked in Paul was consecration amid consequences. Consecration is an extremely religious word but it's worth scrubbing off and keeping in circulation.

It means total devotion being given completely over to God's service. In other words, consecration is holy obsession. And as for consequences, the stakes for Paul were life and death, but he wasn't too invested in the outcome. Like Paul, What you should care about far more than whether you live or die is devoting your whole self, body and soul, heart and mind, words and actions to the Savior who loves you and gave himself for you. That brings us to a fourth point: self-forgetful service.

Amid more appealing options, the gospel empowers self-forgetful service amid more appealing options.

We see this in the inner monologue that Paul lets us overhear in verses 22 to 26. Look first at verses 22 and 23. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two.

My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

In these verses, Paul is considering the two possible outcomes of his imprisonment. He's either going to be cleared of charges and released, or condemned and executed. So when he talks about living in the flesh, remaining in the flesh, he means what will happen if he's released. And when he says, which I shall choose, he's not contemplating an actual choice. He's not entertaining the possibility of suicide or anything like that.

Instead, he's simply describing an inward dilemma. He's pointing out the two directions that his heart is torn in. And one direction is heaven. Verse 23, My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. So what will heaven mean for Paul and for every believer?

It'll mean being with Christ and being satisfied in his presence. As David confesses in Psalm 16:11, In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. That's why Paul says to depart and be with Christ is far better. Far better.

Being with Christ is better than the best earthly pleasure or prize. Being with Christ is far better than anything this world has to offer. Being with Christ is better than the most rewarding work or the most satisfying rest you could ever experience down here. If you struggle to confess far better with Paul, then pray that God would make you hungrier for heaven than you are for any earthly pleasure or reward.

Note Paul's confidence that death will mean being immediately ushered into the presence of Christ. He's not unsure of his fate. He anticipates no lag, no delay, No waiting period, say the word and he's there. Paul's confidence here leaves no room whatsoever for purgatory. It's not founded on anything special to him as an apostle.

He's talking about what it means to be in Christ. To be in Christ is to know that at death, you will be with him. As Thomas Brooks has said, For a believer in Christ, death is a bridge that leads to the paradise of God. For a Christian, death is only a butler who opens the door to your eternal dwelling with God.

In Exodus 33:20, God warns Moses, you, cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live. Reflecting on these verses, Augustine replied, then Lord, let me die that I may see your face. If you're a Christian, how do you view your own death? Does the thought of it undo you? Does it make you squirm?

Does it make your stomach turn?

How you view your own death is one of the surest tests of the health and strength of your faith.

So, as far as Paul's personal preference is concerned, he'd rather be with Christ right now. If you're just asking Paul what would be better for him, execution that ushers him into Christ's presence would do nicely.

But there's another direction Paul's heart is torn in. Verses 24 to 26 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again. Paul's saying that if he gets released from prison, he can get back to work. Back in verse 22, he says that to remain in the flesh means fruitful labor.

And here he says that he could visit the Philippians again and work with them for their progress and joy in the faith. That little phrase, progress and joy in the faith, is so sweet. It's the whole point of having a church together, to help each other progress in the faith and thereby have joy in the faith. It's the goal of all of our elders ministry among you. It's what we've just set Andy Jones apart to do, to work with you for your progress and joy in the faith.

It's what we should all be doing as we devote ourselves to Christ, as we devote ourselves to helping each other follow Christ. That's what we're about as a church, helping each other progress and therefore progress in joy in Jesus. If you're here as a visitor and you're shopping for a church, you could reduce your shopping list to this phrase, progress and joy, in the faith. Find a church that's devoted to doing that for you and then you join and devote yourself to doing that for all the members of that church. In verse 26, Paul says that if he's released, his renewed ministry among the Philippians will give them even more reasons to boast in Jesus.

Progress, joy, boasting in Christ. That's what it will mean for them. If Paul stays on a little longer down here. And so, ultimately, Paul prefers what's better for them even though it's worse for him. He prefers self-forgetful service over a more appealing option.

So in verse 25, Paul says he's convinced of this. We don't know exactly how but somehow Paul knows that he's soon going to be released. In Paul's heart, the only thing competing with his love for the Philippians was his even greater desire to be with Christ. So what about you? What in your heart competes with the desire to serve others and build them up in Christ?

What are your more appealing options?

If God has appointed opportunities for you to serve others and forget yourself, what desires compete with that service? Is it leisure, ease, entertainment, rather being served by others? What desires of your own heart make it hard to die to yourself and put others' progress and joy in Christ above any personal priority of yours? Paul was content for God to loan him for a little while longer to the Philippians and others in order to serve their holiness and happiness in Christ. He knew that soon enough God would call his number and he would have what he most wanted forever.

In some ways, our whole passage from verse 12 to verse 26 is a list of items that, surprisingly, Paul does not care about. He clearly doesn't care much about being in prison. He cares far more about the advance of the gospel through his imprisonment. He doesn't care about the threat of further harm or reprisal of making things worse for himself since he just keeps on preaching in Christ when he's already been imprisoned for Christ. He doesn't care that people are trying to preach the gospel in order to get one up on him.

He's happy for Christ to be made much of whatever people make of Paul. He doesn't care whether he's going to live or die because he's going to glorify Christ either way. And he doesn't care even about getting what he most wants and being with Christ if it means God can use him however God decides. He's content to submit to God's choice of how he can be useful and when and to whom? Paul doesn't care about his own freedom or prestige.

He doesn't care about whether he lives or dies. Why? I mean, today, there'd be all sorts of psychological diagnoses about how he's unstable. There's some type of derangement going on here. But it's not that at all.

Paul doesn't care about all this because he cares far more about knowing Christ and making him known. He cares far more about how Christ can use him to help more people come to know him. All Paul cares about is Christ. Christ is his life. Christ is his one hope in life and death.

Is he yours?

Some trees look ugly in winter.

Without their leaves, they look shrunken, shriveled.

But this Thursday, at our elders' retreat, Nick Gardner and I took a walk out on a boardwalk into the Choptank River in Cambridge, Maryland. It was sunset. We turned around and looked at the shoreline, and there against a pale blue sky, stark, Black, backlit were these outlines of gorgeous ash trees, thick trunks, tapered boughs, twigs spreading like fingertips bunching out. It was gorgeous. It was arresting.

It made me look at trees differently for the last four days. It was beautiful. What had happened was that winter cold had stripped away those trees' bushy summer coating and revealed the glorious design that was there all along.

When winter comes to your life and it strips away the happy covering of favorable circumstances, what will you then see?

Like those trees, you'll see what you're made of. And you'll see what was there all along, but that was covered by something else.

What will you hold on to when everything gets stripped away?

What can you still hope in when all other hopes fail?

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we praise you for your powerful grace in sending Jesus to die for us, sending your spirit to live in us, and sustaining us through hardship and trials. Father, we pray that we would all be able to confess with the Apostle Paul that to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. We pray that we would all be able to confess with Paul that to depart and be with Christ is far better. Pray that you would do that work in us so that your gospel would advance through us. We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.