To Live Is Christ, To Die Is Gain

Introduction

To live is Christ and to die is gain: preaching on Philippians 1:19-30, Revd. Mark Fletcher shows why Paul could face suffering for Christ without fear. Christ is the captain of our souls, guiding us through the storms, and Paul calls us to live a life worthy of the gospel, standing firm in one spirit as a church together.

You will know, I’m sure, that one of the iconic things about London is its great double-decker buses, these huge red vehicles that trundle around the city. And they’ll often have advertisements posted on the side of them. And a few years ago, there was an advert on those buses, paid for by some secular society, that said this: There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life. You can imagine that it sparked massive debate. You might remember it. It was the sort of height of the new atheist thing. But people pointed out that the problem with that wasn’t the first part, there’s probably no God, interesting as that is. It’s the second part. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life. Because to suggest that the reason people don’t simply enjoy their life isn’t because of money struggles or work or conflict or relationship breakdown or struggles with mental health or addiction or grief or isolation, but because they’re worried there might be a God, is an idea so crass, so simplistic and utterly lacking in empathy that you worry about how much actual experience of life whoever wrote that had had. No. Life is beautiful. But it can also be very, very hard. And we live in troubled times in our world, and this is a season where so many that we love are going through difficult times. And what faith offers us is not simple answers, but it offers us a solemn and profound response rooted in the compassion and empathy of a God who shares in our suffering. Just as the real test of the seaworthiness of a boat is not how it sails on a calm, sunny day, but how it carries us through the storms, so the real test of any philosophy of life is how it carries us through times of crisis. And of course, the remarkable thing about the Christian faith is that it is tried and tested, and it has sustained countless generations of people through literally the worst of times. And the passage that is in front of us is precious. It is like a diamond formed under intense heat and pressure. But what emerges is something pure and beautiful and of everlasting value. You know the context of this, of course. Paul is in prison in Rome. He’s hopeful, but he is aware that he may never be released. Human life is very cheap in the ancient world and justice is hard to come by. To verse 20, he says, I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now, as always, Christ will be exalted in my body. Can you hear just under the surface the way that Paul is wrestling with his fears and the peril of the situation that he finds himself, the unknown of the future? And what matters to him most of all is that whatever happens, he will honour Christ. But also note the absence of any sort of simplistic idea that God is there to make life easy for us. The purposes of God go by way of the storm, not around it. God works not in the avoidance of hardship, but like the heroes of old, by giving us courage to go through it and bringing good out of it. Of course, the ultimate example of that is the cross of Christ. There is no greater expression of the purposes of God, no one more central to the plans of God. And the victory of Christ is won not by triumph over his enemies, but by way of rejection and injustice and suffering and even death. And if that is how God works in the big picture of things, then we shouldn’t be surprised when we see echoes of that in our own story. And in these circumstances, Paul is able to utter one of the great expressions of faith. Verse 21, he says, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Isn’t that stunning? There is a clarity to this that perhaps we don’t get to see most of the time in the busyness and the muddle of our lives. But in times of darkness, the light shines more clearly than ever. And Paul knows that when Christ is all we have, then we discover that Christ is all we need. It is Jesus who is our guide through the storms, our strength and our consolation. It is he who goes before us, he who gives hope and meaning to our struggles, the one who makes sense of our lives, of our joys and our sorrows.

I think I’m conscious that we need to be a little careful with this verse. It is a verse to be inspired by, not a measure to judge ourselves by. We may not be able to express this with the clarity that Paul does; we’re not all Saint Paul. But it is essential to recognise that the Christian faith has been tried to the uttermost and proven trustworthy. And that means that even for the worst that can happen, it is not something to fear. It might just be that one of the greatest impacts of the Christian faith is that because of the resurrection of Christ, death itself has lost its sting. We don’t need to be afraid. It is not the end. It’s just a new beginning. Do you know the lovely scene in The Lord of the Rings when poor Pippin is caught up in some dreadful battle and he thinks it’s all over and he says to Gandalf, Is this the end? And Gandalf says, End? Death isn’t the end. The journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path, one that we must all take. And the grey rain curtains of this world roll back and it all turns to silver glass. And then you see it, white shores and beyond a far green country under a swift sunrise.

It’s a profound thing of which we speak. To live is Christ and to die is gain.

How then do we live in the light of that? Because something that profound should and does change everything. And Paul answers that question in verse 27. He says, therefore, live your lives in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Live your lives in a manner worthy of the gospel. But what does that mean? My tendency, I don’t know about you, is always to think in quite individualistic terms, but that isn’t primarily what Paul is saying, because he explains in the next sentence. He says, stand firm in the one spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened. Do you hear what he’s saying? A life worthy of the gospel is the way that we live and love and serve together. The way we give ourselves away in love for the sake of one another. Church isn’t just a nice Sunday activity. It is a community of faith and togetherness, of grace and love. It is a place where we find strength in our fears and inspiration for the journey. Being church together is the wisdom of God for all of us. Life is hard. You know that to be true. Don’t try and do it alone. And we need church more than ever right now, and there is a part for each of you to play in that.

And then finally, look at the dignity that is given to our suffering. Verse 29, for it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him. This is astonishing. Your suffering, your struggles, your tears have eternal significance. They are never meaningless. They take their place in the work of God’s redemption of this world. They matter profoundly. God sees them all and uses them all. And so how are we to live? We are to face life and struggles and hardships and suffering and injustice with hope and with faith and with courage and perseverance. Take nothing away from how hard life can be. We should have no naivety about suffering. We should weep with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn, and yet through it all we can rejoice, for God is bringing good out of evil and even life out of death. This life is not some serene voyage over calm seas. It is a great journey through the wild oceans, buffeted by storms, and faith has been the consolation of countless people throughout the ages, in the face of struggles and hardship and even death. But if Christ is the master of our fates, the captain of our souls, then we need not fear, for he will bring us through the storms and will guide us safely home. Amen.