Do You Fear Death?

Philippians as a Prison Epistle and the Joy of Paul

Thank you for watching Coffee with a Calvinist. My name is Keith Foskey, and I am a Calvinist. Today, we're going to be beginning our look at Philippians, and so I want to invite you to turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter 1.

Now, in Philippians chapter 1, there is a lot of information, so, and as always, we only get to look at a little bit because this is a short podcast, a daily podcast to accompany your morning coffee. And so, I just want to make a few preliminary comments.

Now, Philippians is what's known as a prison epistle. That means we believe Paul wrote this from prison based on some of what he said, based on what we know about the life of the Apostle Paul, and internal and external evidence point to the fact that this would be what we would call a prison epistle.

And what's interesting about that is that Paul wrote this from prison, and yet Philippians is, by and far, one of the most joyous books of the New Testament. In fact, the word joy is used, I believe, five times, and I think the word rejoice is used nine times.

And rejoice, of course, is expressing joy, and so this is a book that seems to be almost counterintuitive. When someone's in jail, when someone's suffering, that's not a time when a lot of people would say rejoice or take joy.

And yet, that's what we see in the Apostle Paul. Someone whose circumstance did not dictate his condition when it came to his joy. And so, what I want to look at today, in chapter 1, of course, there's the typical preliminary remarks when he announces himself and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ.

He announces this as to all the saints in Christ, Jesus Christ, who are at Philippi, and the part that I want to focus on is later in the first chapter, very, very familiar verse when he says, beginning at the end of verse 18, he says, So, what do we have here?

To Live Is Christ and To Die Is Gain

We have the Apostle Paul talking about the fact that this is, in fact, a time where his life is threatened. He is in prison, and he is in a situation where he could end up losing his life for the gospel.

And we know that the Apostle Paul had several times in his life where his life was, in fact, threatened. We know that he was stoned. We know that he was left for dead. We know that there were times when he was in situations of great threat because of the gospel.

And he says that this is one of those times, and yet, at the same time, he says, that's okay. He says, because if I live, I live for Christ. And if I die, that's gain for me. To live is Christ, meaning to live is to live for Christ, or to die is gain.

And that's really what I want the subject of today's podcast to be about. How is it that we could see death as gain? How can the believer come to a point where we see death as gain? I want to say this, and I think that most people probably have a similar sentiment.

When I think about the reality of death, it can be somewhat overwhelming. To think about the fact that I'm going to die one day, and everyone I know is going to die one day. We're all going to die at some point.

Nobody lives forever. And as they say, the ultimate rule is the two great certainties in life are death and taxes. And I know that one day, I'm not going to be in this life anymore. But I also know that this life is not all that there is.

There is a life that comes after this life. Not everybody believes that. In fact, there's a growing contingency in the world of people, a growing community of people in the world who believe that this life is all that there is, and that there is nothing that comes after this life, and that this life essentially is this is it.

And you've probably seen the t-shirts that say YOLO, which is You Only Live Once. And a few years ago in a sermon, I said, you know what, I want to change that. I want to make shirts that say YOLF, Y-O-L-F.

And YOLF stands for You Only Live Forever. Because people who say you only live once, when they say that, they're talking about this life, and what they're missing in that is they're missing the fact that this life, even though it ends, your spirit goes on living and will live forever.

And a lot of people live only for this life without considering the fact that eternity is what really matters. And I've heard a lot of people try to describe eternity. I've heard people try to describe eternity.

We think about the song Amazing Grace. When we've been there 10 ,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we'll have no less days to sing his praise than when we first begun. We can't imagine that. We can't understand what eternity will be like.

We can't understand. But at the same time, we also can't understand not existing. Now that we exist, the idea that one day we wouldn't exist is hard, too, because the Bible says God has set eternity in our hearts.

And so there is an expectation of something that comes after this life. And so we come to this great situation where most people, most, as I said, there are some who don't, but most people believe in some form of an afterlife.

The Promise of Eternal Life in Christ

But Christians are promised an afterlife. Christians are promised. Jesus said, let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. And if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

And when I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you unto myself. That where I am, you may be also. That was Jesus' promise to believers. And Thomas said, well, how do we know how to get there?

How do we know the way? And Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me. That's John 14, 1 through 6. And the promise there is for believers. There's a promise of an afterlife.

And Jesus said, if it were not so, I would have told you. If it were not so, I would have told you. I repeat that because of the emphasis. That's Jesus' way of saying, I'm not lying to you. I am telling you the truth.

Jesus told us that there's a life to come. He said that for those who believe on him, those who trust in his sacrifice, those who believe in what he has done, the afterlife that we have to look forward to is wonderful.

But for those who don't trust in Christ, for those who are condemned in their sins, and the Bible says for those who don't believe, they're condemned already. Why? Because they're sinners. Those who don't trust in Christ, they're going to experience forever apart from the grace of God, under the full wrath of God, in a place called hell.

And so there, everybody's going to live forever. The question is, are you going to live forever in heaven? Or are you going to live forever in hell? When Paul wrote this, he said, you know what? It's good that I stay here because I have ministry work to do.

But at the same time, it's hard for me to decide which is better. Because if I stay here, I can do ministry work, which is good. And to live as Christ. But to die is gain. If I depart, I get to be with Jesus.

How much better is that? I really think that believers have lost that sense of the better. You know, what are we here for? If we are believers in Jesus Christ, we are here to do the things that Christ has called us to do.

Fathers, we've been called to minister to our families, to pastor our families, to preach to our families, to provide and protect our families, provide for and protect. Mothers are called to nurture and to make the home a place for the children and for the husband, to comfort and to help and to serve alongside and to be one with the husband.

The two become one flesh and they minister together with their family to the children and the goal of life is to glorify God and to glorify Christ in everything. And I'm grateful for every day that I have.

I'm grateful for every day that I get to minister to my family. I'm grateful for every day that I get to minister to my church. But at the same time, it's gonna be better when I'm with Christ. It's gonna be better to be with him, but I can't understand that now.

I really can't imagine it and so it's hard for me to understand how much better it's ultimately going to be. And that's why, as I said, this is where I think we should all want to get. We should all want to get, as believers, we should all want to get to where we can say, along with the Apostle Paul, for me to live as Christ and to die as gain.

Meaning for me to live my life is lived for Christ. And if I die, that's a gain. So many times we weep at death and death is sad. Death is separation in this life and for those who are left behind, it's tremendously sad.

But for those who are going on to glory, for those who are going to be with Christ, it's a gain. It's a blessing. But it's hard to see death as a blessing in that sense. Because death is our great enemy and we know that death is something that is the result of sin.

But help us, I think that this passage helps us to understand something about death that is often overlooked in the life of the believer, that death is gain for the believer. Because the sting of death cannot hurt us anymore.

The sting of condemnation cannot touch us. For those who are in Christ Jesus, there is now therefore no condemnation. Romans chapter 8 verse 1. Therefore at death we have the promise of being with Christ.

So it's either be on earth and live for Christ or die and be with Christ. We really can't lose. We either can live in this life and live for the Savior or we die and we live with the Savior. Either way, the Christian is a winner in life or in death.

And that's how a man who is in a dirty, uncomfortable, cold probably in the winter and hot in the summer, prison cell, eating probably some pretty unappetizing food and probably malnourished, him, the Apostle Paul in that prison cell, can talk about joy and rejoicing.

Because he knows that this life is not all there is. And if he lives in this life, he's gonna live for Christ. And if he dies, he's gonna be given the greatest gift of all. He's going to be in the arms of his Savior.

Do we see life and death that way? It's a difficulty. It's not easy. But that's the blessing of being a believer, is growing day by day in that understanding and that maturity that allows us to be able to say, for me to live as Christ and to die is gain.

I hope that today has been an encouragement to you, especially in a time right now when there is so much distress all around the world. Just remember this, no matter what happens in the world, if we live, we live for Christ.

And if we die, we live with Christ. We cannot lose because he has won the victory for us. Again, I want to thank you for watching. If you have enjoyed this study, know that we do this study every morning at 630.

It comes out on Facebook and YouTube. And if you would benefit us by going ahead and hitting the like button, comment, subscribe, and share, it would be a great help and we would appreciate it. Again, thank you for watching Coffee with a Calvinist.

My name is Keith Foskey and I have been your Calvinist.