Right Perspective on Life and Death

Would y'all stand? And we just want to welcome you this morning to Calvary Chapel. And just welcome those who are online with us. Those media choices you have out there to join us. And we want to thank you for joining us. And we ask that, Lord, you would bless all who are participating in our service this morning. That we would look to you. That we would trust you, Lord.

That we would just allow you to move on our hearts by your Holy Spirit. May we be obedient to you, Lord. May we consider you in all that we do. May you be glorified, Lord. We praise you. We thank you. And by faith, we come to you this morning, Lord. I lift up any that might be discouraged that you'd encourage them this morning, Lord. And just bless our time, we ask, Lord.

Lord, we do. We come this morning, Lord. We are coming. We are coming this morning, Lord. We'd ask for your blessing on our time. We look to you, the author and finisher of our faith, Lord. Oh, Lord, may our hearts be focused towards you right now, Lord. As our minds may wonder as they do, Lord. Distractions, oh my. Oh, that our hearts would be focused on you.

You're worthy of that, Lord.

Keeper of the star.

Lord of time and space.

Praise the Lord, Lord. Is that what that means? Hallelujah, Jesus. Hallelujah, Jesus. Hallelujah, Jesus. We give you praise. We thank you, Lord. In spite of the trip I took us on, we sang the song. And, Lord, I just pray that you would just continue to bless this time, Lord. In our weakness, you're made strong in spite of us, Lord. We give you praise in Jesus' name.

About the fact that you actually breathe life into us. You made us alive in you. We're different than the other creation in that we are given life directly from you, Lord. And, of course, when we were born into sin, we were spiritually dead. But, oh, when we came to you, we became spiritually alive again. And we thank you so much for that, Lord. And, Father, we thank you, Lord, that you just love us, Lord, through it all.

The hard times, the good times, the strained times, you are with us. And you're working in us, Lord. We thank you. God is good. Amen. God is good. Oh, Father, bless now as we continue in our service. As Pastor Ryan comes up to teach your word, just anoint it by the power of your Holy Spirit. And, oh, bless that end of the hall down there where the youngsters are going to be learning from the teachers.

Anoint them to bring it forth with your power, too, Lord. And be glorified. Give those youngsters listening ears and eyes to see and hearts to perceive. We pray that for us today. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's have some fellowship. If you could begin to... Locate your seat. Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements here as soon as Randy gets his coffee.

Hey, listen, I get it. That's not a problem. There's important things, and then there's coffee. Okay. Over on the left-hand side of your bulletin... Oh, welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm really glad that you're here this morning. Over on the left-hand side of your bulletin are the things going on throughout the week. A couple of things that you need to know about that.

First of all is that this Thursday is the start of the Bible study. That Glenn and Sandra are going to be leading at their house starting at 7 o'clock. Going to meet every second and fourth Thursdays of the month. And if you have questions, you can talk to Glenn afterwards. Also, there's two things going on this evening. This is the first Sunday of the month, so it's our day for intercessory prayer.

So if you're interested in that, join us at 6 o'clock for that. And then also, if you are of the college age, we have our Bible study tonight at 6.30. And then, ladies, there is a... A women's breakfast coming up this Saturday the 10th at 8 o'clock a.m. at Daisy Maeve's. So take note of that. Those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced.

And for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 124. Psalm 124. Looking at the New American Standard for this part of the service just so that we can sound the same. If you need a copy of the New American Standard, it should be one in a row around you. And as you are turning... Turning to Psalm 124, if you are able, please stand with me in the honor of the reading of God's Word.

The odd verses, if you will follow along with Glenn, and the even verses. Psalm 124, a song of a sense of David. Had it not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say... Had it not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us... Then they would have swallowed us alive when their anger was kindled against us. Waters would have engulfed us.

The stream would have swept over our soul. Blessed be the Lord who has not given... Oh, excuse me. Then the raging waters would have swept over our soul. Blessed be the Lord who has not given us to be torn by their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper. The snare is broken and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.

And Father, we do... Praise you that you are our help. Lord, you are the one place where we can find hope. And so, Lord, as we spend time in your Word this morning, may we look more clearly to you and see you more clearly today. And Father, bless our time that we spend in your Word. May your Holy Spirit minister to us as you see fit. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated.

And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of Philippians chapter 1.

Philippians chapter 1.

The title of this morning's message is... The Right Perspective, part 2. In particular, the right perspective on life and death. The right perspective on life and death. I watched a series here recently called Band of Brothers. Pretty interesting series. It's about World War II. In particular, a particular company within the division of the 151st Airborne during World War II.

I have to be honest with you and say, I cannot just be like, Hey, you should go. Watch this because there's a lot of violence and profanity in it. However, it's men at war. What do you expect? But it is a pretty good show. And as I was watching this show, there was one particular line that stuck out to me. You see, there were two men. One was a very fearful young soldier.

As a matter of fact, so fearful that when they... He was a paratrooper, of course. So when they landed there in Normandy, he just hid in a ditch for a long time. And he was talking to another of his comrades, a lieutenant, who was not scared of anything, or at least didn't appear to be scared of anything. And actually a man that everybody feared. And he was confessing to him the great fear that he had.

And this lieutenant, who was feared by all, looked at this scared young soldier, and this is what he said. He says, Now that line kind of resonated in my mind as I was studying for today. All week long as I've been reading over this, that line's been kind of resonating with me. And while that's a little bit of a fatalistic thought, it is a little bit of the idea that Jesus gave to us in Matthew chapter 16, verse 25.

Because in Matthew chapter 16, verse 25, Jesus said this, For whoever desires to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. In other words, once you realize that your life is already hidden in Christ with God, you can function properly as a soldier of Jesus Christ. Because you already... You already know where you're going.

And you already know who you are. Well, that's kind of what Paul deals with in chapter 1, verses 19 through 26, as he gives us the proper perspective on life and death. So starting in verse 19 of chapter 1, it says this, For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance, through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to death, or put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me, and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is far much better, or that is very much better. Yet to remain on earth is more necessary for your sake. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus, through my coming to you again.

Now we had said that each chapter in the book of Philippians taught us a lesson about joy, because that is the key. That is the theme of the book. The lesson that we are learning in chapter one is that joy comes from having the right perspective. Last week we talked about the right perspective on trials. We said that trials allow the furthering of the spread of the gospel,

or it clears a path for the spread of the gospel. We said that trials produce an increased focus on Christ, that trials give boldness to the brethren around us, because as they see us living for Christ in the midst of the trial, it gives them boldness. It gives them boldness to continue to do the same thing, and that trials produce a singleness of purpose that Christ is being preached. That last phrase, that last point that we made is what segues into the message today, because Paul said there's two types of people out preaching the gospel right now.

There are those who preach the gospel out of selfish ambition, seeking to build their own kingdom, and there are those who are preaching Christ out of the proper motives, seeking to build the kingdom of God. Neither one of those faze me. The one thing that I, I pay attention to is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is being preached, and in this I rejoice, for I know that this will turn out for the deliverance, or for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Holy Spirit. Now, as we segue into this next section, there's four things that he's going to teach us, four lessons about having the right perspective on life and death.

Lesson number one, we are to live with an expectation, an expectation of glorifying Christ. We are to live with an expectation of glorifying Christ. Notice what it says in verses 19 and 20. For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life, or by death.

As we begin this point about understanding that we are to live with an expectation of exalting Christ, Paul started off by saying something. He says, I know that this, the preaching of the gospel, whether it's for good motives or bad motives, I know that this will work out for my deliverance. Now, remember, Paul's in prison at this point in time. And so what he's saying is, I know that the things that are happening are ultimately going to work out for my deliverance.

Now, that word deliverance is also translated salvation because it, it comes from the Greek word soterion, which is where we get the word salvation from. But here's the thing that we have to ask ourselves. What kind of deliverance is Paul talking about here? I don't know that Paul necessarily means that he's going to be delivered from prison. I don't know that he's saying that his salvation is from prison.

After all, he seems to have this expectation that death could be somewhat imminent for him. So when he says this will work out for my deliverance, what does he mean if he doesn't mean being delivered from prison? Well, I think another translation, the Amplified Bible translation, lends a little bit of help. In our understanding, because in the Amplified translation, it says, I know that this will work out for my deliverance and my spiritual well-being.

Now that gives us a whole other picture of what salvation can look like for the believer in Jesus Christ. You see, we have already been saved, but now we're in the process of being delivered. We're in the process of seeing spiritual well-being be being produced by the things that we are going through in our lives. Because no matter what's happening, my spirit can still be strong.

No matter the circumstances that I'm living through in life, my spirit can still be strong. Why can my spirit still be strong no matter what circumstances are going on in life? Well, Paul gives us a little indication here when he says, through your prayers and through the provision of the spirit of Jesus Christ. It's funny, we come to that word prayer again, don't we?

We've come to that quite a few times when we've been in this book of Philippians in the short amount of time that we've been there. It would almost indicate to us that prayer is perhaps one of the most important things that we can do in our lives. Paul is saying, I know that no matter what's going on around me, I can still experience spiritual well-being. I can still experience deliverance because I know that there are people praying for me.

I will make the point again, you can be in ministry anywhere in the city, anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world at any point in time simply by joining in prayer, simply by praying for the needs of those that are around you. It's as if you are chained with them. After all, that's what we're told in the book of Hebrews. Remember those who are imprisoned as if you are chained with them.

Why? Because when I go before the Lord in prayer for somebody that's in a bad situation, it's as if I'm joining arms with them in their particular situation, supporting them through prayer. And not only that, as I am praying for them and as the Holy Spirit is at work interpreting those prayers, the Holy Spirit is supplied for them in an even greater fashion. Amen.

He says, hey, I know it's going to work out for my spiritual well-being because you're praying and God's faithful with His Holy Spirit. He says, because I have an earnest expectation. He says, in accordance with my earnest expectation. The earnest expectation and hope that He will not be put to shame but that with boldness He will continue to exalt Christ. That phrase, earnest expectation,

again, in the Greek construction is kind of an interesting word. It's not used real often in Greek literature. As a matter of fact, it's mainly used in biblical literature. But the idea of earnest expectation is of someone who is craning their neck looking for something that they are hoping to see. Let me give you the perfect illustration. Perhaps as a small child, someone said,

I'm going to take you to an amusement park. I will be there around five o'clock in the evening and we will drive over to Silver Dollar City and it'll be the greatest experience you've ever had. And with all of the anticipation in the world, you sit by the window looking for every car that goes by, craning your neck to see which car goes by that's going to be your ride to the amusement park that you're so excited to see. That's the idea behind what he says when he says earnest expectation.

Only what's Paul's earnest expectation? His earnest expectation, what he is longing for and waiting for the most is that he will be able to exalt Jesus Christ. Because that's the greatest expectation he has in his life. That's the greatest desire that he has in his life is to exalt Christ. That word, exalted, again in the Greek is kind of an interesting word.

The word exalted means, let me find my spot in my notes here. The word exalted means to be magnified, to be made great, to be declared or to be made known. Paul says, my greatest expectation, the thing I am waiting for and longing for the most is that I will make the name of Christ great, that I will make the name of Christ known everywhere around me, that he will be, that he will be exalted and that he will be glorified by two things. Number one, by Paul's life.

Do you know that you can live a life that will constantly bring glory to Jesus Christ? That people will see the way that you live your life and Jesus Christ will ultimately be exalted because of the way that you live your life. I'm going to use another sports analogy because I find a lot of them because I really like sports. I told this story to the kids out at the Dexter, FCA this week when I was talking about a similar thing about how God uses everything in our lives for his glory and for our benefit.

And it's the story of a quarterback that used to play ball for the Texas Longhorns. Now, I do not like the Texas Longhorns. As a matter of fact, I usually want to see anyone win besides them. However, I always liked this quarterback. His name's Colt McCoy. He was a quarterback for them quite some time back now, probably one of the best quarterbacks, top five best quarterbacks

that Texas had ever had, at least as far as records are concerned. His senior year, he won the Heisman Trophy. And Colt McCoy was going places. And believe it or not, he was a very strong, and still is, a very strong believer in Jesus Christ. Well, Texas had made it to the national championship game to play the only team that I maybe like less than Texas, and that's Alabama.

They were going to play Alabama in the national championship game. And everybody felt pretty good about Texas's chances to beat them. And so the game starts and everything's looking great. Texas is moving the ball. Everything's looking really good. And somewhere towards the end of the first quarter, beginning of second quarter, I can't remember, it was somewhere in that general range,

Colt McCoy went down with a shoulder injury. He landed awkwardly on his shoulder and he had to be taken out of the game. As a matter of fact, he had lost all feeling in his right arm because of a pinched nerve and he was not able to come back and play the rest of the game because if you can't feel your arm, it's pretty hard to throw a ball. And so he was taken out of the game.

Texas narrowly lost the game with a backup quarterback. But that's not the part I want you to pay attention to. What I want you to pay attention to is maybe one of the best post-game interviews that I've ever seen. I've ever seen in my entire life. Usually when a quarterback gets interviewed after a game, it's because they won. And you have no problem believing

that they can give glory to Jesus Christ at that point in time if they have any inkling of faith. They'll say, I'd like to thank God or I'd like to thank Jesus. He gave me the ability to play this game and the ability to win. We always expect winners to do that. But they interviewed Colt McCoy because he was taken out of the game. And she said, what was it like

to not be able to play your very last game, the national championship game? And man, he just stopped. He was just speechless. He was like, I don't even know what to say. I mean, I love this game. I love this sport. I've given everything to it. And to not be able to play, he just started to kind of shake his head. And then he stopped. And he said, but you know what?

I'm standing firm on the rock of Jesus Christ. And whether I play football or don't play football, nothing will change about who I am in Christ. And I remember watching that and thinking, that's the greatest post-game interview I've ever seen. Everybody gives glory to God when they win. It's a whole other thing to be able to give glory to God when you lose.

An article was written 10 years later and they interviewed him. And they asked him about that moment because that post-game interview became kind of famous. And he said, you know, the fascinating thing was I did not know that Jesus was really the most important thing to me until that point in time. Until everything that I had been working my entire life to get to was taken away.

And I realized at that point in time, you can take away everything. You can strip me of everything else and leave me with only Jesus. And that's more than enough. You see, that's a man who is living his life to glorify Christ. That's a man who is exalting Christ in everything that he does. And my friends, we need to realize something. Your life is intended to bring glory to Christ.

And the only way that you can live according to the right perspective is if you are living your life, not for yourself, but you are living your life to glorify Christ because all of you is wrapped up in all of him. And now everything that takes place, in your life is to bring glory to him, not to build your own kingdom. But not only did Paul say, I want to bring glory to Christ. I want to exalt Christ.

I want to make Christ known through my life. He says, even if it means I have to make him known through my death, even if I have to make him known through my death. You know, there was a missionary went down to South America. His name was Jim Elliott. Jim Elliott was a missionary to the Aka Indians. And there's a great quote by Jim Elliott. He says, he is no fool

who gives what he cannot keep to earn what he can never lose. And he was speaking of serving Jesus Christ. It's a fascinating quote, fascinating character. He goes down to serve these, these, the Aka Indians down in South America and he ends up getting killed. And you think, oh my gosh, what a tragic thing that he lost his life in the service to Christ. But you know what?

His death brought glory to Christ. You know how his death brought glory to Christ? Well, you see, he and several of the other men were killed and their wives went back. Their wives went back and they began to die. And they began to die. And they began to die. And they began ministering to those exact same Indians that had killed their husbands. And now a man

whose life was meant to bring glory to Christ brought even more glory to Christ through his death. You see, brothers and sisters, as a believer in Jesus Christ, whether you live or whether you die, we're to bring glory to the name of Christ. And we are to live with the expectation of exalting Christ, of glorifying Christ in everything that we do. The second thing that we learn about having the right perspective on life and death is that we must understand.

We must live with the understanding of the purpose of life. To live with the understanding of the purpose of life. Notice what it says in verse 21. It says, For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. It's a short little verse, but it carries so much power with it. It's a short little verse, but it carries so much power with it. It's a short verse, but it carries so much energy with it.

Everybody wants to know the same thing. What is the purpose of life? Why am I here? What am I on this earth for? Usually, as a little kid, you don't think too much about it. As a teenager, you're pretty sure that your purpose in life is to bless everybody else with your presence. But once you get into college and a little bit later, you're like, man, why am I actually here?

What is my goal in life? Surely there must be something to this. And everybody wants to know, but everybody usually has the wrong idea. You see, some people will tell you that the point of life is to bring pleasure to yourself. You should live to gratify yourself. Make yourself happy. If it feels good, do it. After all, life is short. Play hard, right? Life is short.

Do what makes you happy. Do what brings you joy in life. And that's not really a good philosophy to live by. Some people will tell you that your purpose in life is to make the world a better place. To, to add something to this world. To make the world better than when you left it. To, to see if you can't help the environment, help the people, whatever it is.

To leave the world better than you found to make the world a better place. Some people will tell you that the goal of life is to make as much money as you possibly can so that you can leave it to the people that are behind you. And I would tell you that all of those philosophies, they're not really good. As a matter of fact, I want to tell you something. This is going to be a harsh one to hear.

You're not going to make the world a better place. Nobody's going to make the world a better place. You know how I know that? Because I've read the Bible. And the Bible tells us that the world's not going to get any better. As a matter of fact, the world's going to keep getting worse. Actually, the exact words that are used are in the last, in the last days,

things will wax worse and worse. Because nobody's going to make the world a better place because this world is so stained by sin that the only thing that we can do is reach as many people as we can because Jesus is going to judge the world. And so if those things aren't our goal, if those things aren't our purpose, what is our purpose? Well, our purpose is to make comes in the person of Jesus Christ.

It is to know and to serve Jesus. And Paul had learned that one thing because he said, for me, to live is Christ. Let me read this to you in some other translations that I found to be kind of interesting. They're really simple because it's a short verse. The J.B. Phillips translates it like this. Living means simply Christ. The New Living Translation says this,

living means living for Christ. But once again, my favorite was the Amplified because it, it brought the most color to it. It says, to live is Christ. He is my source of joy and my reason to live. He is my source of joy and he is my reason to live. It really all goes back to the very beginning. It all goes back to why God originally put Adam and Eve in the garden, right?

Do you remember what God did with Adam and Eve in the garden? God showed up every day with Adam and Eve in the garden and he was walked with them. Why? Because God wanted someone to share himself with. You know, a question I used to ask myself a lot, two questions actually, more than that, the main two that deal with what we're talking about now. A question I used to ask

myself a lot is, why did God create us? Why was God like, hey, let's make people, right? Like for some of you, I know that he made you because you're good looking or you're talented and then there's people like me and God's like, hey, I needed a project, right? I don't know why. Why did God create people? Well, it brought me to a second question. Why do we keep

reproducing tiny people? Now listen, that's not a question that we ask too often in this church, clearly, but why do we keep reproducing tiny people? And I remember my early 20s, I was like, why are we doing this? Why do we keep having kids? Don't look at me like I'm selfish. It gets better, okay? I change my mind eventually, but I was like, why do we keep doing this?

And I will never forget the very first time that I held my niece. I held her in my arms just the day that she was born and it's like God said, that's why. That's why I called her and I created you and that's why you keep having kids. It's not because of what you can do for them, not because of what they can do for you, but because you need someone to share yourself with.

And I wanted someone to share myself with. And my view of it entirely changed. And I realized that God created us not because he needed us. God created us because he wanted us. He wanted to spend time with us. He wanted someone to share all of the goodness that he is, all of the goodness of the love and the grace that he is. He wanted someone to pour all of that goodness into.

And that's why he created you. Therefore, if you want to know your purpose in life, you have to understand that your purpose in life is Christ because he's the one who created you. He's the one who made you and he is the purpose for which you were created. A couple of verses I want you to write down. I don't want you to turn there. I just want you to write them down.

First one is Colossians 3, verse 4. Give us a little bit of illumination. On Paul's thoughts on this. Colossians 3, verse 4 says this. And when Christ, who is our life, appears, we will be with him. Isn't that great? Christ, who is our life? He is not only the source, but the purpose of our life. And then Galatians 2.20. You might write in the margin of your Bible.

Galatians 2.20 says this. I have been crucified with Christ and it's no longer I who live, but it's Christ who lives in me. You see, when we understand that knowing and serving Christ is our purpose, it absolutely reverses our thought process on everything. It changes the way we look at all of life because now all of a sudden we start looking at all of life as being something that reveals the glory of God, something that brings me closer to my purpose and not the mundane doldrums of life.

We start realizing that the heavens declare the glory of God, which can I say, the past couple of days, the heavens have declared the glory of God. Thursday morning, I was driving out to Dexter to do FCA out there and it was really early and the sun was coming up and I have never seen so many vibrant pink, orange, and purple colors because of the way that the sun was coming up and the way that it was hitting the clouds. I nearly wrecked my car trying to take a picture of it because I don't multitask very well. That's not the point.

Point is, I was amazed at the glory of God because I realized that my purpose is knowing God and serving God. I don't look at the skylight and say, wow, those are really pretty pictures. I look at the skylight and say, the heavens declared the glory of God. And then I don't know how many of you, although it's all over social media, I don't know how you missed it.

If you missed it, where you been? There was the most beautiful rainbow last night. I'm not really a rainbow chaser. I'm not someone who's just like, wow, we got to find the end of that rainbow. But last night, we were on our way to dinner and I was kind of like, hmm, maybe we should see if we can figure out where the rainbow starts because you could so clearly see

what looked like a spotlight coming out of the ground, sending a rainbow across the sky. And you look at that and you go, because that's what my God can do. That's the creative nature of God because the heavens declared the glory of God. You know why I can look at and say that? Because I realized that I've been created with a purpose and the purpose is to glorify

the God of creation. And all of a sudden, when I start looking at my purpose and saying, for me to live is Christ, it changes everything. I don't know, some of you adults, I don't know how well you liked school growing up. I hated it. I'm now helping with homework. I still hate it, right? And so I'm just like, oh, why are we doing this? But I have to maintain

a good attitude about it because I have to make sure my girls have a good attitude about it. But here's the fact of the matter. This really is something that I've learned. There is nothing that you learn in school that if your purpose of life is Jesus Christ, doesn't ultimately draw you closer to Jesus Christ. Ryan, that's dumb. No, it's not. Once you think about something,

math, the subject I hated more than anything else in the world, it declares to us the order of God. You ever paid attention to that? I hated math growing up. But now I look at it, even though I still don't understand it, I'm like, whew, that's pretty amazing. I'm like, I still go, but that shows the order of God. Science is the same way. Science shows not only

the order of God, but the creativity of God. And then some of you have to take literature classes. We all hated literature class growing up, right? If you're a lit teacher in here, I don't see my lit teacher in here. I can't get yelled at by her today. But none of us really liked literature. But do you realize that literature teaches us about the creativity of God?

It shows us just how creative of a God he is. And then there's history. You ever notice what they call history now? What they call history? What do they call it? Go ahead, shout it out. Social studies. You know why they call it social studies? Because history is the story of God. History is the story of God throughout all time. And his story of redemption that's woven throughout

all of history. History sounded a little bit too much like his story. That's my philosophy. And so they said, we can't have that. Let's call it social studies. And all of those things, if your purpose is Christ, ultimately lead you to a deeper understanding of Christ. And so, if we are to have the proper perspective on life, number one, we need to live with an expectation

of glorifying Christ. Number two, we need to understand the purpose of life. Number three, we need to understand the reality of death. Notice what it says in verse 21 again. For me to live as Christ and to die is gain. If I'm to live alone in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me. And I don't know which to choose, but I am hard-pressed from both directions,

having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better. Yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.

The number one fear of all the fears that people have in the world, the number one fear is death. The number two fear is not taxes, it's public speaking. I think taxes is somewhere around number five, unless you're Willie Nelson and then it was actually number one. But the number one fear is death, right? Everybody's scared of it. Matter of fact, sometime if you're bored

and you're like, hey, I need to fall asleep or freak myself out, I want to look up something to read. Google fear of death and you would be amazed at all of the articles that pop up about the fear of death. As a matter of fact, I read through one last night. I won't bore you with the details of it, but it was called Why Are People Afraid to Die? The Top Eight Reasons.

And it was kind of interesting to read that. And most people are scared of death, which is why what Paul says here is so revolutionary. It's so different from the way anybody else thinks because he says to die is gain. What does he mean by that? Well, first of all, death for Paul would mean he was no longer held down by the physical illnesses of this world.

Death means you're no longer held down by the physical illnesses of this world. Do you remember Paul had a thorn in the throat? Most people felt like it was a physical ailment. And he prayed to the Lord three times that that thorn would be removed. And do you remember what God told him? He said, My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in your weakness.

Meaning that that never went away for Paul. He always dealt with that. And so death for him would mean he wouldn't have to deal with that physical illness anymore. Not only that, he bore in his body all the scars of what it was like to die. And he said, I'm not going to die. I'm not going to die. I'm not going to die. I'm not going to die. I'm not going to die.

I'm not going to die. I'm not going to die. That's what it was to be a preacher of Jesus Christ in a time when people didn't like preachers of Jesus Christ. He bore in his body all of those scars and all of the wounds. He wouldn't have to deal with the physical illnesses of the world anymore. To die is gain because he also wouldn't have to deal with the sins of the flesh anymore.

He didn't have to deal with the spiritual battle any longer. It would be done. It would be gone. He would no longer have to say, Oh, wretched man that I am, who will free me from this body of death? Because it'd be dealt with. Number three, to die is gain because he would no longer be battling persecution. He could stand up and say, Jesus is alive and they wouldn't club him

in the back, right? He wouldn't have to deal with that anymore. But the last thing, which I think is at the heart of all of those other three things, is that death would mean he was in the presence of God. Death would mean that he was in the presence of God. To depart and to die and to be with Christ, which is very much better. I really like lyrics to songs.

There's a couple of songs that have stuck out to me about this. One is by a group called Waterdeep. Waterdeep's gotten a little bit weird, but some of the, they were weird in the beginning, but their songs have some pretty good lyrics. And one of their songs said this, dying's underrated. It's a ticket to the feast. The one we're all invited to from the greatest to the least.

But the song that really stuck out to me, and I went back and listened to it, this week is by Rich Mullins. If you don't ever listen to any music by Rich Mullins, you should start listening to some music by Rich Mullins. It's very 1994, but man, the lyrics are so good. That guy, that guy didn't write cheesy Christian songs. He wrote deep Christian songs, songs that make you sit and thank.

Anyway, one of the songs said this. He says, when I leave, I want to go out like Elijah with a whirlwind to fuel my chariot of fire. And when I look back on the stars, it'll be like a candlelight in Central Park. And it won't break my heart to say goodbye. You see, that's a proper perspective on death. Interestingly enough, I didn't look it up. I would be fascinated to know

how long it was between him writing that song and him dying in a car crash, how close together those two things were. But isn't it kind of interesting that as believers in Jesus Christ, we eventually start to go, you know, this earth, it doesn't really hold that much for me anymore. It doesn't really hold too much for me anymore because I'm looking to a heavenly home. I'm looking to something that's so much better.

But the problem with most of us is that most of us have a wrong view of the reality of death. We view death as an end. I heard somebody say this. I think it was Levi Lusko. He said, we view death as an end and we view heaven as a consolation prize. And we forget that heaven was always the goal. Eternity with Christ was always the goal. It's not the prize for taking second.

And I found that to be a fascinating perspective. And sometimes when we look at it, we look at this, we go to die is gain. That doesn't make any sense to me. But when we think about it, whoever's gone is no longer held down by the things of this earth. You know why most of us fear death so much? Because we're too tied to this earth. Because the things of this earth,

whether we want to admit it or not, are the most important things to us. Our wealth means too much to us. Our things mean too much to us. People mean too much to us. Our possessions mean too much to us. And we're too tied to this earth. We're too tied to our reputations. Instead of saying everything of this earth, everything of this earth, is going to pass away.

Because listen, everything of this earth is going to pass away. Let me tell you what I mean. Go over to 2 Corinthians. I want you to turn there. I had them put up there 2 Corinthians 5, but I actually want you to go to 2 Corinthians 4, starting in verse 16. It's my fault, not his.

2 Corinthians 4, verse 16. It says, Therefore, therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is, being renewed day by day. For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. When we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen

are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that in the earthly, for we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from which we can see from God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. For indeed, in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from above, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed, while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.

Now he who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage and knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight, we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Isn't that great? We're always looking at the things right now that are temporary, but we have to gain a view that is eternal because the things that are temporary are just that, they're temporary and they're passing away.

We need a view that takes us into eternity, a view that says that to be absent from the body is to be present with God because that is the proper understanding of the reality of death. Go back to Philippians chapter 1. Number four. So we've seen that to have proper perspective, number one, we have to live with the expectation of glorifying Christ. Number two,

we have to understand the purpose of life, number three, we have to understand the reality of death, and number four, we need to have a heart to serve others. We need to have a heart to serve others. Notice what he says in verse 22. If I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me, and I do not know which to choose, but I am hard pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that's very much better than to remain on in the flesh as more necessary, for your sake.

Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again. Paul says, if I remain in the flesh, in other words, if I remain in this body, it's going to mean fruitful labor for you. It's going to mean fruitful labor for you. It's going to mean fruitful labor for me.

And Paul presents to us this point. Paul's at the point in his life where he's done with planet Earth. He's done with the top side of planet Earth because he's over it. He's over the persecution. He's over the pain, both physical and emotional and spiritual. He's over the battle. He's done. And he's ready to go home. As a matter of fact, by this point in time

in his life, the things that he faced are more than any of us will probably ever face in our entire lives. He said, it's my greatest desire to just go home to be with the Lord. I'm ready to let loose of this place. But that may not be the best thing for me and it may not be the best thing for you. Basically, Paul says, I'm willing to lay aside what I want so that I can serve

in the way that God wants. Brothers and sisters, we call that dying to self. We call that dying to self. And if we are to live with the courage and the direct perspective on both death and life, then we need to have a heart to serve others that says, I know what I want, but I also know what's best. That's why Paul prayed for the Philippian people that they would be able

to have the knowledge and discernment to know what is the most excellent thing. That they would know what is the best thing. Because right now in the world that we live in, everybody's telling you the same thing. You do what's good for you. You do what's right for you. And Jesus is telling us the exact opposite. He says, you die to what you want and start doing what's right

for others. Because we are to live for the people that are around us. We are to serve the people that are around us. Because it's more fruitful for them. And ultimately, it's more fruitful for me. He says, it's my ultimate desire to go home. But I'm willing to stick around. I'm willing to stick around to serve people. Matter of fact, the battle was so great

inside of him. Did you notice what he says in verse 23? He says, but I am hard pressed from both directions. Can I be honest and say I prefer the old King James translation at this particular point in time? Because in the old King James translation it says, I am in a straight betwixt the two. I'm here to tell you right now, nothing presents in my mind a battle that I'm having

between two thoughts than to say, I am in a straight betwixt the two. As a matter of fact, I try to use that as often as I can when I have a decision to make. It usually annoys my wife and so I use it just a little bit more at that point in time. I'm like, oh, I'm in a straight betwixt the two. She's like, just say you can't decide. I'm like, fine, I'm in a straight

betwixt the two. That's the place where Paul is right now. He's like, oh my gosh, I want so badly to go home. I can taste it. As a matter of fact, we know according to 2 Corinthians that he had had a vision of heaven. He goes, but I also have to serve. I don't know what I'm going to do. You know what's great in points like that? It's not his choice anyway because his life

is in God's hands. The only thing that's our choice is what will my attitude be? And I think that's what he's saying. What kind of an attitude am I going to have? He said, I know what's going to take place and I'll be happy to come see you again. I'll be happy to come spend time with you again because I know that that's ultimately what's best. Brothers and sisters,

we have to live with the right kind of perspective, the right kind of perspective on life and the right kind of perspective on death. But much like last week, I want to remind you that what Paul just told us here is sometimes an unattainable thought. Would you agree with that? It's hard to get to the point where we can say for me to live as Christ, it's my one reason for living and for me to die, that's gain because I know that I'm going home to be with Jesus.

How do we get to a point, how did Paul get to the point where he could say that? How did Paul get to the point where he could say for me to live as Christ and for me to die is gain? Paul didn't just land on this one day. He wasn't just like, hey, I should make sure that I have the right attitude. I bet the right attitude is for me to make sure that I'm living only for Christ

and I'm willing to die to go home to be with him. No, he didn't land there. He worked his way there through experience because God had taught him things along the way. Remember that verse, those verses that we read out of 2 Corinthians where he said to be absent from the body is to be present with God. Do you know when 2 Corinthians was written? 2 Corinthians was written

somewhere between three to five years before Paul was taken to jail. Three to five years before he wrote this letter. You know what took place in between that time? Well, he went back to Jerusalem and was arrested and when he was arrested he was about to stand trial and do you know what happened when he was arrested in Jerusalem and was about to stand trial?

An angel of the Lord appeared to him while he was in prison. Do you know what the angel of the Lord told him? He said, Paul, don't be afraid because as you are witnessing for me here in Jerusalem so you will do for me in Rome. Now, I want you to realize something. Many commentators believe Paul had already died once by this point in time. That the time when he was in Lystra

when they stoned him and he was drug outside of the city and left for dead that that's when he was taken up into the third heaven and that he actually died and that Christ raised him from the dead and yet here he is facing it again with everything he'd gone through in his life and he still found himself scared. Do you know how I know that he was scared when he was in prison? Because an angel showed up and said, wait for it, don't be afraid. Paul, get to this place in a prison cell in Philippi where he can say, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

I'll tell you, there's two things. Number one, he had an abiding relationship with Jesus. Hey Ryan, that's what you said last week. I know, I don't come up with new messages, okay? Because the Bible just keeps saying the same thing over and over again so do I. He had an abiding relationship with Jesus. You know what that tells me? It tells me that he went to Jesus a lot and said,

I'm scared. I'm scared because of the things that I'm going through and I don't know what to do right now. And because of that abiding relationship with Jesus Christ in the midst of his fear, in the midst of everything that was going on, Jesus was always ministering to him. Matter of fact, when he left Jerusalem after he appealed to Caesar, he said, no, no, I'm not going to stand trial before any of you people anymore.

I'm going to Caesar. And he appealed to Caesar and so he was on a ship on his way to Rome and when he was on a ship on the way to Rome, there was a great storm that came up and the great storm lasted for days and everyone was pretty sure that they were going to die and you know what happened when Paul was on that ship on his way to Rome in the middle of a great storm, an angel of the Lord showed up to him to talk to him. You know what the angel of the Lord told him? Can you guess?

Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Nothing of this ship is going to be lost or none of the men are going to be lost, only the ship. Don't be afraid. You're going to make it to Rome. Why? Because he had an abiding relationship with Jesus Christ in the middle of what was about to be a shipwreck. He probably said, I'm scared. And so God ministered to him. Friends,

you cannot replace your abiding relationship with Jesus Christ because it is the one place where you will find hope and peace in the midst of all of the other storms that go on in your life to where you too can gain the right perspective about life and death. The perspective that your life is wrapped up in Christ and whether you live, it'll be to glorify him or whether you die, it'll be to glorify him. Either way, Jesus is your purpose. But you know what?

There's a second thing that Paul did. Paul had the encouragement of fellow believers. He had the encouragement of fellow believers. You know how I know that? So in the book of Acts, anybody know who wrote the book of Acts? Shout it out if you do. Luke. Luke. Luke wrote the book of Acts. Wrote the book of Luke that bore his name and the companion to that was the book of Acts.

Do you know that there comes a point in time in Acts when Acts begins to be written in the first person? He starts writing as if he were there and everybody believes it's because Luke actually was there. You know one of those places where it's written in the first person? When that shipwreck was taking place. He said we. In other words, Luke was with him. You know what I think?

Can't prove it scripturally, but basically, it's not the kind of man Paul was. I have no problem saying this with great force. I think Paul, every now and then, went to Luke and said, dude, we got to pray because I'm scared. I'm scared of what's going on right now. And I felt like God told me we're supposed to make it to Rome, but I'm starting to question now

because this thing feels like it's about to wreck. And Luke said, well, let's pray. And they went to the Lord together. Do you know what happened when Paul got to Rome? He met with brothers and sisters in Christ. Do you know who was with Paul when he's writing this letter? Timothy. Timothy. Do you know who else was with Paul when he was writing this letter?

Epaphroditus, the pastor of Philippi. You see, he had other people who were encouraging him. He had other people to process these things with. He had other people to work through these things with. And my friends, I want you to know something. When you're going through the things of life, when you're facing life or when you're facing death, you've got to talk to somebody.

You've got to have somebody along with you. Your abiding relationship with Jesus Christ is key, but coupled with that is the fellowship of other believers. And you have to let other people in on what's going on in your life. And you have to let so that they can continue to encourage you, so that they can continue to process things with you. Because there's something

mysterious or something spiritual that happens when you process through life with a fellow believer in Jesus Christ. Because when two or three are gathered together in my name, I am right there in the midst of them. And Jesus is right there in the midst of those conversations and he's ministering to both of you through it. Friends, we've all been through stuff right?

And when I go through stuff, the best thing I can do is process through it with somebody. Sometimes processing through it means sharing every thought I have in my head and for me, sometimes processing through it just like we talked about last week is just sitting there quiet. Whatever it is, you need the fellowship of the body of Christ because we're a family. We're a family.

And that's how we gain the right perspective on life and death. Amen. Go ahead and bring the kids in. I think I saw some of them. This morning's Communion Sunday. So if your kids out there, could you just turn around and snag them if they're on their way in so that we can do communion together.

And kids,

just to see a tiny people.

All right. Welcome in here, kids. So this morning is Communion Sunday. So before we hand out the elements, I want to spend just a couple of minutes talking about communion. If I can go in, I'm going to invite the worship team to come on up. So Scripture tells us that on that last great night of the feast, meaning the feast of Passover, that Jesus, the last one that Jesus celebrated

with his disciples, Jesus took the bread. Now, I've shared this before, but I always think it's kind of interesting to share it. The bread that they would have used is pretty interesting. It's matzah bread. And there were three really cool things about the bread. Number one, because it goes back to the Passover in the Old Testament, the bread was unleavened.

Leaven in Scripture is almost always synonymous with sin. So if you will, the bread was pure, just like Jesus Christ himself was sinless. The second thing to pay attention to about the bread, if you look at a piece of matzah bread, is there's all these stripes that go all the way across it. And so the bread is striped, which is kind of interesting because we're told in the book of Isaiah, chapter 53, that by his stripes, we are healed.

The third thing that's interesting about the bread is that all of the bread is cut. All across those stripes are little piercings and the bread is pierced. And so Jesus holds up this bread that is pure and that is pierced and that is striped just like him. And he takes the bread and he breaks it. He says, this is my body, which is broken for you. Take and eat.

Because it was symbolic of the body of Jesus Christ that was broken for us. And we know that every time we partake of the little cracker that you have in this cup, we declare to the world that Jesus' body was broken for me. That I was healed through his stripes and that he was pierced for my transgressions. And then Jesus took the cup. There were several different cups

that were passed around to everybody at Passover. And the last cup was called the cup of redemption. And so Jesus held up that last cup, that cup of redemption. He says, this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. Take and drink. And so they drank and they drank of this cup because it speaks of the blood of Jesus Christ that is shed for us.

And we are told that it is the blood of Jesus Christ that's enough to cover our sins. And we're told that every time we do this, every time we partake in this feast, this meal, that we declare the death of Jesus Christ. We declare that the one place of unity that we have with him and the one place of unity that we have with each other as a family is the death of Jesus Christ. And so we're told to do so in a worthy manner.

So the first thing I would tell you to do so in a worthy manner this morning is that you need to be a child. You need to be a child of God. You need to be born again in order to partake in this meal. So if you're here this morning and you've never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I would encourage you maybe don't take the meal unless first of all you put your faith in him.

Matter of fact, there's warnings in scripture about it. Here's the cool thing. If you're here this morning and you're sitting here going, man, somebody drug me to church this morning. I didn't really want to come here. I didn't want to listen to the bearded bald guy on the stage talk. But man, I think Jesus is trying to get a hold of my heart. I want you to know something.

All you got to do is confess to the Lord that you're a sinner and accept that he's your Savior. Put your faith in him and you too are a part of the family of God. And you can partake with this with all the blessings, all of the benefits of being a member of the body of Christ. But if you're here this morning and you're a believer in Jesus Christ, the way that we partake of it in a worthy manner is to make sure that our hearts are clean before the Lord.

Sin separates us from God. It doesn't break our salvation, but it breaks our fellowship. And so we need to confess those sins to the Lord. And so as the worship team sings the last song, the ushers are going to come down and hand out the elements. And as they do so, I would just ask that you would ask the Lord to search your heart to see if there's things that need to be cleared up

between you and him. To see if there's business that needs to be done. Because brothers and sisters, as a family, we're here to do family business. Amen? So if I could have the ushers come down as you receive your elements, if you would please stand and then we'll all partake together. Would you bow with me? Father, we come to you. And Lord, I thank you for your body

that was broken for us. Lord, for taking the nails and the stripes. Lord, for burying in your own body on the tree all of our sin. Lord, I thank you for your blood that was shed. Lord, your blood that flowed from your heart when you were born. Lord, your blood that's enough to cover all of our sin. Lord, your blood that's never failed me yet. And Lord, I thank you

for the sacrifice that you made for us on the cross to make us right with you. And so Father, may we always keep in mind the freedom that we have because of the sacrifice that was made. In Jesus' name. Amen. Let's partake.

And if you'd bow with me one last time, Lord, we come to you and I praise you for your word, your word that's a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. And Lord, I just ask that you would continue to do your work in our hearts as we go out from this place. Lord, may we seek to have a deeper relationship with you. And we just praise you, Father, in Jesus' name.

Amen. Be blessed.