Word of Salvation – Vol.48 No.43 – November 2003

 

A Question of Life or Death

Sermon by Rev J Westendorp

Text: Philippians 1:21-26

Scripture Readings:  1 Kings 19:1-18; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10

Suggested Hymns:  BoW 249; 159; 116a; 511

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let me begin by telling you about a lady who had reached the end of the road. The family had been notified that no further medical efforts were to be made. It seemed inevitable that this 88 year old would not live to see another day. But she was ready to face her Maker because she was at peace with God. So I read with her those wonderful words from Revelation 21 where it says that all things will be made new and it will be a life without mourning or crying or pain. While fighting for every breath, she made it clear that she longed to go to that place.

Twenty-four hours later she was much stronger than she had been for some days. I was there when the doctor told her that she would probably recover. There was a look of disappointment on her face as she absorbed the news. She really did want to die and leave this life behind.

I don’t want to be morbid but I do want to ask: Are you ready to face death that way? I know, you’re going to say, that’s not fair! You were talking about an elderly lady for whom life had become a burden. But me? I’ve got so much to live for! Your question is unfair!

Okay! But imagine that you’re with our defence forces in the Middle East during the Iraq war. And you’re staring down the gun barrel of an enemy soldier. Are you ready to step into eternity? Or imagine that on the way home from church today you are involved in a car accident, and a fatality takes place and you are the fatality. Are you confident about your eternal destiny?

I ask the question because some of us are petrified at the thought of dying. And our text this morning has the power to take away your fears. Paul, writing to the Christians at Philippi, has made a bold statement in verse 20 that Christ would be exalted in his body either by life or by death. And now in our text he explains what he means.

1. The difficult choice

Paul says: “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” So he tells us what life means for him. It means Christ, and serving Him. He also states what death means to him. There is something to gain by it. But then he adds that he finds it hard which of those two to choose. Verse 22 says: “Yet what shall I choose? I do not know? I am torn between the two.” Even worse, he adds that his preference is to go and be with Christ.

At first glance this almost reads like Paul’s death wish. Maybe it’s like the situation of that Old Testament prophet Elijah when he was depressed. So depressed that he pleads with God to take his life. It seems, then, that things must have been really bad for Paul! Keep in mind that at this point he is a prisoner and has been for five years.

But if we say that, then we are going to have a problem. There is an undercurrent of joy and rejoicing that runs through the whole of this letter. We do not get the impression that Paul was depressed like Elijah was. This man writes in this same letter: “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say it, rejoice!” Paul is not being pessimistic, he is simply being realistic. He’s a prisoner, he’s in chains, there’s another court case looming. His judge is an emperor who is becoming increasingly anti-Christian.

And the outcome of it all might well be death, although release is still possible. Both options are very real. Paul does not know which way things will go for him. So he weighs up both possibilities. On the one hand – to have life and to be set free again. On the other hand – to be put to death and to become a martyr for his faith.

Paul makes it clear that he find that a very difficult choice. If I had a choice in it, he says, then I’m not sure what I would choose. I am torn between the two. Quite literally, Paul says – I have reached an impasse. I’m like a traveller going through a steep gorge. On either side of me in that narrow gorge is a wall of sheer rock. So I can’t turn to the right and I can’t turn to the left. All I can do is press straight on. It’s a very strong figure of speech – being torn between two difficult options. Paul wants to show us how hard he finds it to decide between life and death.

Something in us says that this is not normal! What would you opt for if you were given a choice today? Life? Or death? Which would you prefer? Most of us would not find that a difficult choice at all. Imagine stopping people on the street and giving them that choice. How many would feel as though they were in a gorge unable to turn either way?

Okay, a few people may be, but not many. Only a few would jump at the option of choosing death. Elijah had already decided in that direction. Depressed and suicidal people would find that an easy choice. But a great majority would not opt for death. Surely it is perfectly natural to choose life. God made us for life and there is something in us that wants to keep living. Most of us find it difficult to relate to this choice Paul struggles with.

It may help us understand Paul’s dilemma if we look at it this way. Paul is torn between two things that both have a strong attraction. There is something in both options that appeals to Paul. Imagine for a moment a husband and a wife who love each other dearly. And they have two lovely children, very young children. One is at kindy and the other has just started school. And these parents love their children very much too. But now the husband has to go interstate for a time for his work. After a few weeks away from home he phones his wife one night. He says, “Darling, I’m sorry but I’ve got to stay another week. Look, I’ve scraped together enough money for a plane ticket. Why don’t you come over and spend the last week here with me?”

Is a mother like that going to find it easy to make a choice? She loves her husband, so she’d love to take the next flight. But she loves her children and they need her and she can’t take them. That mother is going to say, “I really don’t know what to choose. I’m torn between the two, going or staying.”

In a sense, that is exactly Paul’s dilemma. Paul has a deep love for the Lord Jesus Christ. He would love, as it were, to take the next plane to heaven to be with His Saviour. But Paul also has a deep love for his spiritual children. They need Him and he’s still able to do so much for them yet. He does not know which way to choose. So he leaves the decision with God, either way is okay by Paul. And after all, it’s not really Paul’s decision to make anyway.

2. The possibility of death

But now notice that Paul does go on to express a personal preference. His deepest desire is to depart and to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s a little like that woman in our illustration. She may well conclude that she really cannot go. She loves her children and they really need her. So she decides to stay. Yet that woman may also say – but my deepest longing is to go and be with my man. I’ve decided to stay but I would dearly love to go.

Paul cannot choose. He is torn two ways. But deep, deep down there is an earnest desire to be with Christ. However, let me stress again that this is not a death wish on Paul’s part. It is not that he is sick and tired of living. This is the big difference between Paul and Elijah. Elijah was terribly discouraged. And we can understand that. Many people who have suffered too much – folk for whom it is all becoming too much – they are tired of life. But that is not Paul’s situation. There’s no hint of depression or pessimism.

That makes it all the more strange to note how Paul talks about death. He is not tired of living, yet he speaks of death as gain. Death is to my advantage, it is profitable for me.

I don’t often hear people talk that way about their final demise. And I must confess I don’t usually think of my death in those terms. You and I are much more likely to think of death in terms of our life here on this earth coming to an end. Death is when we finally lose hold on everything that we’ve worked for. Death is the last enemy that robs us of everything that we hold dear in life.

So most people would consider it unnatural to talk about death as something we gain from. And that is just the point – this is gospel perspective. We can only begin to talk that way when God has touched our lives, when the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection is embraced by us. Because then it really is like that woman in our illustration. Leaving to go to that other place means a more perfect relationship. In fact ‘home’ is really there where the Lord Jesus has prepared a place for us. It’s being with Him who has made us His forever. It means a situation of total rejoicing with no more pain or sadness.

That is the richness of the good news that Christianity proclaims. When God touches our lives with the love of Jesus then even death is gain. It is something that will benefit me immensely.

Well, okay, Paul is not thinking here of what often accompanies death. Sometimes there is a lot of pain and suffering involved in it. In that sense death will also continue to be the ‘last enemy’. And to face that last enemy we do need God’s strength and grace.

But the actual fact of death itself? Paul says – death, for me as a believer, is better by far. Because death is not annihilation, nor an endless sleep of the soul, nor reincarnation. Instead, it means being in the wonderful presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. In a place where there will be no more tears or sadness, grief or suffering.

So Paul does give a personal preference in that difficult choice he faces. “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.”

As Paul expresses his preference, his language is rich and meaningful. The word for ‘depart’ quite literally means, ‘To strike camp’. To pull out the tent pegs, fold up the canvas, pack up the gear and go. Breaking up camp in order to head for home.

That has the idea that home here is only temporary in any case. It’s like living in a tent ready to move on at a moment’s notice. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul uses the same language. He says: “We know that if this earthly tent we live in is destroyed we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven.” Here Paul says that deep down his preference is to strike camp and go home. Home, where Jesus is preparing a place for him. This present life in the body is not permanent. It is temporary.

If you went camping last summer then departing for home was a good reminder of our text. Leaving this life is like striking camp and going home. And you need to ask yourself today whether you are ready to do that. Do you have that sort of outlook on life and on death? Are you ready to strike camp and head for home?

3. The situation of living

If Paul seems to have a strange attitude to death, then look at his attitude to life. Paul says that for him to live is Christ. In other words, if you were to ask Paul, “Hey Paul, what is life really all about?”, then Paul would have answered that it is all about the Lord Jesus Christ. And again that doesn’t seem natural to our world.

There is the retired person who spends every waking hour in the garden. Life for her is the garden. And people say that she lives for her garden and if that’s what she likes, good for her! There is the young man for whom soccer is all important. Soccer dominates his life. Life is soccer. And generally people will admire his dedication and commitment to the game. Or there is the girl who just lives for her music. Music is her life. She can’t imagine life without music. And again, people will say with admiration that she is so dedicated to her music.

But let someone admit that they read the Bible daily; that they go to church twice on Sundays and say grace at mealtimes; that their highest goal is helping and serving others for Christ’s sake – and people will look at you as though you’ve just come down from Mars.

As long as people say, sport is my life! Or, work is my life! Or, music is my life! Then all is fine. Nobody will take offence. But say to someone: My life is Christ. For me to live is Christ! In other words, my life is committed and dedicated entirely to Jesus! Then they’re likely to ask you – What are you? Some kind of fanatic? A religious nut?!

This is Paul’s attitude to life, an attitude that we ought to find also among ourselves. What is it that life is all about for you? A nice house? Fast cars? Weekends at the pub? What does it mean for you to really live? Sport? Travel? Success in business? If that’s what life is for you, then for you death will be a great loss. It will not be gain. It will be the loss of everything that you hold dear.

It is not for nothing that Paul puts ‘life’ first and then ‘death’. Your attitude to death is shaped by your attitude to life. And it’s really only possible to say, “For me to die is gain”, when you have also said, “For me to live is Christ.”

Our life needs to be totally wrapped up in the life of Jesus Christ. Christians believe that they have been crucified with Christ and raised with Him. So our life is totally dominated and controlled by the life of Jesus. Or, as Paul says in Galatians 2:20 – “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

The good news about Jesus Christ is a life-changing force in the lives of God’s people. For me to live is Christ. Or as the hymn-writer put it: Jesus is all the world to me, my life, my joy, my all. And if that is what life is for us, then death will be gain. Because it will simply usher us into His wonderful presence.

Paul then also seriously considers this other possibility. The possibility that he will not be put to death but released. And then he adds that this option will be much better for the Philippians. His staying alive in the body will be to their spiritual advantage. It will mean gain for them. Paul’s continuing work among them will bring progress and joy in their faith.

In other words: Paul does not want to look only at his own gain. He doesn’t want to be selfish and have the Lord take him to glory. Sure, that’s his deepest personal preference. But if he is to stay alive and be released that will not just be so that Paul himself can go on enjoying life. Rather his life in the body will be for the purpose of serving the church community.

Life is Christ, and if that is so, then life has a purpose. It is not to be lived for self-gratification but in service of Jesus Christ. To live in Christ is living to serve Jesus by serving others – using our gifts to build up the church body in its progress and joy in the faith.

Actually Paul sees a double goal in being released. On the one hand it will mean being able to continue his work among them. He sees the possibility of many years of fruitful labour among them. On the other hand, it will also bring joy and confidence in God’s power. Paul actually believes that he will be released, he is convinced of that. And that will bring about much joy on the part of these Christians. Rejoicing in Jesus and in His power in setting Paul free.

So let me come back to my original question: Are you afraid to die? If you are, then it may well be because you haven’t yet learned what life is all about. What is life really all about for you? Is it about unselfish service to the cause of Christ? Can you really say: For me to live is Christ? If you can say ‘Christ is my life’, then you will also be able to say, ‘For me death is gain’.

Amen.