Resurrect Your Courage

Philippians 1:18-26

Transcript

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 in your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and
continue with you all, be a progress in joy in the faith, so that in me you have
my ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again. Thank
you. Greetings from Pennsylvania, from Penn State country. It's great to be with
you. I serve with Disciple Makers Campus Ministry as the president of the
organization. We have chapters at about 28 campuses across Pennsylvania right
now, and our mission is to raise up effective disciple-making disciples of Jesus
Christ on college campuses. What that means is that we work with the boys and
girls who come into the university setting, and over the course of their time
there, we hope to see them grow into men and women of God who by the time they
graduate, they're dangerous because wherever they go, they know how to study the
Bible and teach it to others. They know how to mentor younger believers and help
make disciples to mentor them in Christ, and we want them to not be afraid of
what's in the culture around them, that they know how to engage the culture, win
people to Christ, show people who Jesus is so that wherever they go, they can
get involved in their churches, become leaders in their churches in society, and
continue advancing the kingdom of Christ to the ends of the earth. That's what
we're up to, and it's a real privilege for me to be here with you this morning.
It was great to be here for the weekend. Thanks for the invitation. Being in
campus ministry, we are now a few weeks past Easter, but we're just a few weeks
until graduation, and seasons like graduation are great opportunities, aren't
they, for some reflection, some consideration of the big picture of life and
death. I remember just a few days before my own college graduation, getting
together with a good friend of mine at my college where all of our schoolwork
was done, grades were in, we're just waiting for graduation, and we spent a lazy
afternoon together reflecting on our four years in college and even some of our
regrets. He was an engineer, and actually he regretted having basically locked
himself in a computer lab for four years, and he wished he had spent more time
with people. I would have loved to have made better use of my money and my time
through those years, but as we were reflecting, it was that kind of a season,
that kind of an opportunity, and so this morning, I invite you to join me. Would
you step back with me a bit and consider what is this all for? Why are we here?
What are we doing with ourselves? So why do you do what you do? What are your
biggest dreams, and what are some of your fears that make you feel the most
ashamed? Because if Jesus rose bodily from the dead three days after dying on a
Roman cross, that means it's now possible for you and me to see clearly what
life and death are all about. There is hope for your bodily resurrection on the
day of judgment to be like Jesus' bodily resurrection, and when that day comes,
that day of judgment and resurrection, do you want that to be a good day? But
even before that day comes, even now, Jesus can resurrect our sleepy lives so
that we live for Him. Have you been afraid of death? Have you been afraid to
take too many risks in life? And would you like to gain more clarity on your
life in this season? Would you like to resurrect your courage so life and death
aren't so scary anymore? Well, our passage this morning will help you to do just
that. In fact, the title of this sermon is Resurrect Your Courage. Resurrect
Your Courage. And as we take a look at this text in Philippians, we'll see that
this passage will help us to resurrect our courage in two ways. First, in verses
18 to 20, it will help us to rejoice that Christ is everything. Rejoice that
Christ is everything. And then in 21 to 26, we'll find two new perspectives.
Rejoice that Christ is everything, and we'll find two new perspectives. Let's
take a moment once more to ask God's blessing on our time in His Word. Our
Father in heaven, we are so grateful for Your Word and for Your Spirit, whom You
have promised to those who love the Lord Jesus. And we pray, Holy Spirit, that
You would please come and enlighten us and strengthen us, teach us from Your
Word, that we might step back and take a look at life and death and that our
courage may be resurrected even in anticipation of that bodily resurrection You
have in store for those who are Yours. Please help us now in this time, we ask
in Jesus' name. Amen. As you step back to get a bigger picture view of life and
death, the first thing to do is to rejoice that Christ is everything. Rejoice
that Christ is everything. We see this in verses 18 to 20. We see the author
Paul doing this right at the end of verse 18. He says, in that I rejoice, yes,
and I will rejoice. We ought to ask, what is he rejoicing about? And that's what
he says at the beginning of the verse. It's that in every way, whether in
pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed. Now, do you know what's going on
here in the letter of Philippians? In the paragraph right before this, Paul has
been talking about being in prison. And we know from other parts of the Bible
that Paul is in prison because some people thought he talked too much about
Jesus, and he tried to plant churches with the wrong kind of people. So they got
him incarcerated. And now that he's in prison, some other ministry leaders in
the area are trying to take advantage of Paul's situation. Many of them have
gone out preaching Christ in Paul's absence, and some of those people do it
because they love Jesus Christ, but others of them are doing it just to hurt
Paul. Maybe this is their chance to get some of his followers to join their
ministries instead. Or maybe they can get a better reputation than him. If it
were today, they would be looking to cash in on the book deals that Paul was
getting before, maybe get themselves invited to preach at the big conferences
because Paul's in prison now. He ain't preaching anywhere. Yet despite such envy
and rivalry, here in verse 18, Paul rejoices, and he rejoices because Christ is
proclaimed. And what's going on here is Paul is putting his money where his
mouth is. He's been preaching that Jesus Christ is Lord and that He Himself is a
sinner saved by God's sheer mercy. And it's at times like this when a preacher
finds out whether he really believes all that stuff he's been preaching. Like,
is Jesus really the Lord, or have I been making myself the Lord all this time?
Is Jesus really the King of Kings? Is He really the pearl of great price, or am
I just in this for myself and for my own self-respect? And so we see Paul's
heart coming out. He rejoices, verse 18, that Christ is proclaimed, and not only
that Christ is proclaimed, but going on to 19, he rejoices that this will turn
out for my deliverance. He says that the Philippian Christians have been praying
there, beginning 19, I know through your prayers, they've been praying for His
deliverance, and the Spirit of Jesus Christ will help Him to be delivered. But
what does He mean? What is His deliverance? What is this thing that they're
praying for that the Spirit will help with that Paul's anticipating? How can
these things, and even the proclamation of Jesus Christ by rivals and the
prayers of a small church, how can these things deliver Him from anything? What
is this deliverance He's looking for? Is it a deliverance out of prison? Yeah,
sort of. Down in 26, we heard that He expects to get out of prison because He
wants them to have cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you
again. So yeah, He expects to be delivered from prison. That's part of it, but
that's not all of it. Because right before this in verse 17, the whole thing
about those rival preachers was that they were trying to afflict Paul in his
imprisonment. In other words, they're taking advantage of his incarceration so
they can suck up some of his ministry success for themselves. And maybe they can
even tarnish his name in the process. So really, He expects to be delivered from
that affliction. He wants to be delivered from the harm that envious preachers
are trying to cause Him. He wants to be delivered from prison. He wants to be
delivered from this harm people are trying to cause Him. But that's not all
either. Because right after our passage, in the very next section, He'll say in
verse 28 that when believers have enough courage to not be afraid of people who
are trying to hurt them, then their courage is itself a sign that the opponents
will be destroyed and the courageous person will be saved. It's a sign of their
destruction, but of your salvation. And that's the same Greek word that He's
using right there in verse 28, the word salvation. And in verse 19, it gets
translated as deliverance, same word, same thing. In other words, Paul is
saying, if you're strong enough and you're secure enough in Christ that you
don't care whether people are trying to soil your name, then your courage is
itself proof that the day when Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead,
that will be a very good day for you. Would you like the day of judgment to be a
good day for you? I sure hope so. That's what Paul wished for the Philippians at
the very beginning of the letter. Earlier in chapter 1, he was wanting them in
verse 10 to be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Paul wants judgment day
to be a good day for him. He wishes that for them. And now we see Paul has the
same expectation for himself. Judgment day is going to be a very good day. And
he fleshes this out further here in our text in verse 20, that he fully expects
not to be ashamed even while others are trying to shame him, but he will have
full courage now as always, while Christ is honored in his body, whether by life
or death, no matter whether Paul lives or dies, he wants full courage either way
while Christ is honored. So what Paul is going through is really hard. I can't
imagine it. We're so far removed from it. It's easy to just talk about, oh, Paul
in prison. But honestly, think about it. What if the secret police came and
arrested your pastor and put him in prison? Wouldn't you question whether maybe
he did something wrong? Maybe we're in the wrong place. There's all kinds of
ramifications of this. This is really hard. And on top of that, while he's in
prison and he can't defend himself, he's got people acting in the name of Jesus
Christ who are actively trying to wreck his ministry. And yet, because they are
still proclaiming Jesus Christ, Paul trusts that Jesus will save him from the
very pain that they are trying to inflict on him. And he expects the spirit of
Jesus to help him to live now with full courage. He's not cowering in fear
because people stopped coming to his church. He's not the kind of person who's
trembling with anxiety because someone said something bad about him on
Instagram. He's living in full courage that Christ will be honored in his body.
In other words, Paul has a profound grasp on the cosmic reality that Christ is
everything. Christ, Jesus Christ, is the subject of Paul's message. Jesus Christ
is the one who sends his spirit to rescue Paul from all this pain. Christ is the
one who will declare Paul not guilty at the final judgment. And Jesus Christ is
the one who gets the credit for all of these things regardless of whether Paul
lives or dies. For Paul, Christ is everything, and that's what drives his joy.
So what drives your joy? Really, I understand you're not in prison for Christ
like Paul is, but shouldn't our joy look similar no matter what our
circumstances? Does your spiritual stability rise and fall with your success in
school or in your career or in your home? Does your stability rise and fall with
the amount of affirmation you get from people you care about? Or does it rise or
fall with the quality of your love life or whatever else it might be? Now, it's
not wrong to want to get delivered out of a bad circumstance or to be delivered
from a bad name. Paul wants those things, but does your spiritual well-being
depend on it? Or does your joy follow from the fact that Jesus Christ is king?
He died and he rose from the dead, and hey, at least there's some people out
there talking about him. And when I meet him on the day of judgment, that's
going to be a very good day for me. Because I'm sorry to have to say this, but
the day of judgment will not be a good day for all of us. This deliverance from
judgment is possible only if Christ is everything for you. Apart from him, life
will still be full of shame and death and death will not be the same. And I'm
sorry to say this, but I'm sorry to say this, but we'll be full of exposure. If
you have no room for courage in Christ now because you're too busy honoring
yourself, then deliverance is not the word Jesus uses for you. He uses words
like condemnation, judgment, darkness, weeping, and unquenchable fire. Please,
if you haven't yet, turn to Jesus Christ. Pledge your allegiance to him. Because
when he is everything, there's reason for joy no matter what the circumstances
are, and your courage is without shame. And then your whole perspective on life
and death changes in dramatic ways because whatever you are facing, like Paul,
you know that it will turn out for your deliverance by the time that last day
comes. And you can expect that last day to be a very good day. So when you can
bank on such deliverance, when your hope is in Christ, Christ is everything, and
the day of Christ's return in the distant future is something you desire,
something you can't wait for, how will that impact your life right now in the
midst of all these hard things? How will that help you to endure your affliction
with courage? Well, when Christ is everything, that takes us to our second point
this morning. It enables you to find two new perspectives. You can find two new
perspectives in verses 21 through 26. That's what the rest of this passage is
about. Now that Christ fuels Paul's joy and that joy turns into courage under
fire, Paul talks about how that enables him to step back, to evaluate, take
stock, and he sees everything in a whole new way. In particular, his two new
perspectives are that dying ain't so scary, and therefore living ain't so scary
either. Will you find these new perspectives as well, if Christ is everything?
Verse 20 ends with Paul's acknowledgement that Christ will be honored whether he
lives or dies, and this launches him into one of the grandest reflections on
life and death in all the scripture. Verse 21 summarizes his two new
perspectives. To me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. What does that mean?
Let's talk about dying first. Let's talk about how dying ain't so scary anymore.
It's not scary because dying is gain. At death, Paul will finally gain. He will
achieve or acquire everything he's been waiting for. And what's that? What does
that mean? He clarifies it for us in verse 23. To depart, here's my desire, to
depart, that is to die, is far better. It's what he most desires. And why does
he desire it? It's because when that happens, it means he will be with Christ.
You see, Paul knows that life on planet earth is a lot like being engaged to be
married. And I am convinced that engagement is the absolute worst part of any
romantic relationship. It's the worst. For that reason, when I counsel couples,
I encourage them to have as short of an engagement as possible. Why is it the
worst? At least for those who want to honor Christ in their bodies, engagement
stinks because friendship is great. It's super fun. It's generally supportive.
We all need friends. We love it. Dating is exciting. It's this fresh new thing,
and it's, you know, the prospect of something special is just getting started,
getting to know your partners, like going on a treasure hunt. And you're working
together to figure out whether it's in your best interest to tie the knot. And
then when you're like, yeah, this is great, let's do it. And then you get
engaged. And now you want to be together. You have committed to being together
for the rest of your lives. But at the end of every glorious evening together,
you still have to say goodbye. See you next time. It's only once the vows have
been taken, the officiant has made the pronouncement that you can finally be
together from this day forward. This is why I think marriage is like death.
Because at the moment of death, you're no longer promised to Christ or engaged
to Christ. You get to go and be with Him for the rest of your life. Not even
death do us part anymore. No more saying goodbye. No more saying, Jesus, why are
you so far away? Jesus, why is this so hard? That's what Paul desires. And it's
far better than living in perpetual engagement. So is that what you desire? Do
you want to be with Christ? Because if not, please do a heart check. This is
what this whole thing is about. Do you want to go from here and be with Christ?
Now, please understand, I'm not encouraging anybody to take their life. That's
not what Paul's talking about at all. He does not desire death. He desires to be
with Christ. And since that can't happen until he dies, then he's ready to die
in whatever way most honors Christ and not Paul himself. The older I get, the
more commonly I find myself praying for Jesus to please just come back or just
take me to be with you so I don't have to worry about all this stuff down here
anymore. But how do you view death? Are you afraid to die? Do you hope to never
die? I mean, do you think maybe like some folks in the world out there that you
can avoid death with the right diet, with enough exercise, with the right
medical care? I have no problem with diets or with health care or with exercise.
Nobody should desire a miserable life or an excruciating death. Self-care really
helps to avoid such things. But when you gaze inevitably on your own death, when
you have those moments of sobriety when death suddenly becomes a real
possibility to you, like, oh, man, is this the day? Do you see, what do you see
when that happens? Do you see something worth fearing or something worth
embracing? Because fearing death will always make you less joyful in the Lord.
In the 19th century, a British missionary named James Calvert went to preach the
message of Christ to cannibals in the Fiji Islands. And Calvert's joy was driven
by the fact that Christ is everything. And because of that, it transformed his
perspective so that death wasn't so scary for him anymore. On the way to the
islands, the ship's captain tried to prevent him from going ashore, saying, you
will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such
savages. Calvert's response, we died before we came here. And he went and
preached the gospel. What will be your perspective on death the next time it
seems like a real possibility? Will your fear of death prevent you from doing
hard things for the sake of Christ, your joy? Don't you want something more out
of life? Don't you want unbelievable clarity and peace surrounding your death?
It can be yours if only Christ would be everything to you. Because when Christ
is everything, to die is gain. How does this apply? Maybe this week, you can
practice dying. I don't mean going and laying down on the train tracks or
anything like that, but I mean practicing the attitude you would like to do.
It's not about the attitude you would like to have toward death. Maybe look
around in the church and ask yourself, who in here seems like they're closer to
death than me? I won't call them old. Who seems closer to death, but they look
like they are preparing for it so well? Get some time with those people. Pray
with them. Hear their stories. Learn from Who is Jesus to you? How do you know?
Find a way for their joy in Christ in the face of death to soak into your own
heart. Find a way to believe that dying would be your gain. It would be to your
profit. But that's not all. Not only is death not so scary anymore, but if
Christ is everything, then life won't be so scary anymore either. This is the
first part of Paul's statement in verse 21. To live is Christ. So what on earth
does that mean? To live is Christ. We don't talk that way. So I'm glad he
expands on the idea for us in verse 22. He says, if I am to live in the flesh,
that means fruitful labor for me. So Paul, looking at his life, he sees a
vibrant and fulfilling life being a life of fruitful labor. And his labor,
remember, involves proclaiming Christ. He comes back to this in verse 25, where
if he does not get to depart and be with Christ, then he will remain and
continue with these people that he ministers to. And what's going to be his
fruitful labor of serving them? It is all of this, the end of verse 25, it's for
your progress and joy in the faith. So he says then in 26 that when he gets out
of prison and he goes to visit them again, they will have ample cause to glory
in Christ Jesus. So to live is Christ, for Paul means he gets to be with people,
he gets to encourage them so they make progress and joy in faith and they return
glory to Jesus Christ. There's this cycle, Jesus gives Paul life so he can go
and lay his life down for others and they make progress in faith and they return
glory back to Jesus Christ. So to live is Christ means that Paul sees his life
as being all about bringing people to Jesus so they might gain joy from Jesus
and then return honor and glory to Jesus. It's like Paul's life is an electrical
charge and other people are the electrons. His joy gets them excited and they
jump into a higher energy orbit giving honor to Christ. Now if you don't
understand that illustration, neither do I. But a graduate student in chemistry
told me it made sense. So there you go. When Christ is everything, life isn't so
scary anymore. Paul is not so worried about what people think of him. Are you
worried about what people think of you? Do your palms sweat or your knees knock
if you have to get in front of people? Or do you have bad dreams about friends
rejecting you or authority figures disapproving of you? And if you do, if that's
a concern of yours, is that a happy way to live? Does that improve your quality
of life? When you're afraid all the time of what's going to happen and what
people are doing, does that improve your life and make you look forward with
eagerness and joy to each new day? Young people, it's not fun to be laughed at
by classmates, is it? I mean, sometimes it's cool if you tell a joke and they
laugh. That feels great. But if you actually answer a question properly and
people laugh, that's kind of awful. But what if Jesus were with you? And what if
your courage to stand with Jesus gave other people in your class courage and joy
in Jesus as well? Would that be worth it to get laughed at a little bit so
others can come closer to Jesus? Do you all catch Paul's pathway to a fuller
life? It's when your anxiety is not for yourself, but it's in regard to others,
the progress of others in their faith. Your fuller life is when you live not
just to accumulate more stuff, but to help others find joy in Christ. It's when
your love for Christ leads other people to give glory to Christ. That's what he
means when he says to live is Christ. Did you think that living meant getting
good paid time off with a nice house, full retirement plan? Because according to
this text, truly living is serving in children's ministry or taking a meal to
someone in the church who's sick, telling friends and telling your own neighbors
that Jesus Christ is king. Maybe it means joining or starting a small group or
working at a Christian summer camp. It means being willing to take risks so that
others can find joy in Christ. So church, is your life filled with shame and
fear? If so, please take a closer look at it with me this morning. Could it be
that Jesus Christ is not yet everything for you? Paul says that to me, to live
is Christ. Do you say to me, to live is me? The resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead in the body makes it possible to live life without being so scared
of life. Life is too short to spend on our passions and pleasures. Jesus Christ
came to deliver us from all that. So would you live your life in light of the
resurrection of Jesus? Do so and it just might be life to your shamed and weary
soul. Because when Christ is everything, living and dying ain't so scary
anymore. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven. Lord, we are looking to Jesus. Please
help us see how needing much is pitiable and far from true wisdom. And it leads
to slavery. Lord, why do we bring it upon ourselves? Help us then to be free
from this grievous bondage. And when, Lord, will we lay hold on heaven and be
able to stand on that height? For a great thing is it that having cut all these
cords, we should be able to lay hold of the city which is above. Putting away
what does not matter, let us keep to what is necessary. Thus shall we lay hold
of eternal life through the grace and loving kindness of our resurrected Lord
Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Let's sing together.
Amen.