WWUTT 008 To Live Is Christ (Philippians 1:18-26)

In Philippians 121, the Apostle Paul writes, For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

To live is great, because we get to worship God with our whole lives and give Him glory. To die is even better, because we're done with this life and go to be with our

Lord in glory, when we understand the text. Welcome to When We Understand The Text.

My name is Pastor Gabe, and I hope that yesterday's broadcast made some sense. Or it had some structure to it, anyway.

We were talking about praying for one another, and we jumped around to all different kinds of scriptures. So I hope that that had some organization to it, and you were able to take something away from that.

This is one of the reasons why I like the five -point Friday idea, coming around to Friday and drawing out five points to summarize everything that we looked at over the course of the week, so we can add some structure to some things that are otherwise probably all over the place.

But basically, the Apostle Paul was asking the Philippians to pray for him, pray for his deliverance, and that he would return to them soon.

And we were looking at that and drawing from that ways that we can pray for one another as the body of Christ.

How do we pray for each other? Well, we pray that one another would be delivered from trials, and not in such a way that we don't experience trials, but that we would remain steadfast in the faith, that we learn and grow through those experiences in sanctification.

We also pray for one another in such a way that our brothers and sisters in Christ would be repentant and would return to the path of righteousness.

We lift up prayer requests for our fellow Christians, and we also pray for one another in such a way that we weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.

And so that's just some of the suggestions in terms of how we pray for one another that we drew from yesterday's text.

We're going to be in Philippians 1, verses 18 through 26 again today. I think we'll finish up this section today, and maybe actually get to finish chapter one tomorrow.

Then we're going to take another question from a viewer, and this one is concerning bacon. All right, we're talking about bacon in this broadcast, but let's get to the text.

Before we do that, why don't we come together for a word of prayer? Our great God, we love your word.

I pray that the desire for this word in our hearts is like that of David when he would lay in his bed just glorifying in God's law.

Oh, Lord, how I love your law. I meditate on it day and night. And so let that be for us as well.

We commit our minds to it in our waking hours in such a way that it gives us peace even while we are sleeping.

And I pray that as we come to this text today, we understand what it means to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Let there be nothing in this life that we are clinging to in such a way that it takes our focus away from heaven.

Let our eyes always be toward the eternal, the things that we are looking forward to in glory with Christ Jesus.

Let there be nothing in this world that would cause us to reluctantly have to let go.

Our treasure is in heaven. For where our treasure is, there our heart will be also.

Teach us these things today, Lord, as we come to your text. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Philippians 1, beginning in verse 18.

In every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

Yes, and I will rejoice. Paul says, 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 at all be ashamed, but that with full courage, now as always,

Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. And here's our theme verse for today.

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 shall I choose, I cannot tell. I'm 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 on your account. Convinced of this,

I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again.

So Paul hits that double praise there at the beginning of this section. In that, I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice.

That theme of joy that we see permeating this letter, and I hope that as we are studying these things together, it is filling you up with joy.

You are walking away from our study all the more glad for the things that God has given to us.

Folks, there is never a reason to not be thankful. Paul said to the Thessalonians, this is God's will for you, that you be thankful in all circumstances in Christ Jesus.

That's what God's will is for us. We need to be thankful in all things. And if you're struggling today to find something to be thankful for, thank

God that he didn't snatch the life right out of you while you were sleeping last night, because that's what we deserve.

We don't deserve to live one more day. What we deserve is death because of our sin.

But it's in Christ Jesus, our Lord, that we have received forgiveness of sin. We have received grace, though we didn't deserve it.

And yet Christ's righteousness is now upon us. So let us be filled with thanksgiving to such a degree that we live our lives in such a way that shows his glory, joy in the

Lord, thankfulness in the salvation that we have that comes only through Christ Jesus, our

Lord. Be thankful. Be thankful every day. Paul rejoicing, though he's in chains, though he's under house arrest in Rome, the

Philippians having sent an offering to him to help him with his ministry there. He says, in all circumstances,

I rejoice, even though he's been persecuted for the gospel, even though there are some that even try to cause rivalry with him.

He's rejoicing, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance.

And what does that mean? We mentioned this a little bit yesterday. First of all, Paul is confident that he is going to finish the race strong.

He's going to come to the end of his life having remained steadfast in the faith. But also, as he speaks about here, he thinks that he's going to be delivered from prison.

He thinks that through their prayers and the help of the Spirit, he'll be delivered from the place that he is in under house arrest in Rome and be able to return to the

Philippians and rejoice with them once again, teaching them and spending time with them. It is my eager expectation, he says in verse 20, and hope that I will not at all be ashamed, but with full courage.

Now, as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

See, that's another way that we can be praying for one another. As we summarize the lesson yesterday, how can we pray for each other?

We pray for confidence. We pray for boldness, that a person might be able to speak the word of God without shrinking back, without any fear of condemnation by anyone in the world.

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, as Paul wrote to the Romans. And so let us be courageous and pray for one another that we stand strong in our declaration of our faith.

Christ will be honored in my body, Paul says, by your prayers, by the power of the Spirit. And he will be honored in my body, whether it is through my life or it is through my death.

Paul wants to live for Christ in such a way that he gives all glory to God so that even when he dies,

God continues to be glorified by the testimony that is shared about what Paul did in his lifetime.

Verse 21, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

So with his whole life, Paul means to give glory to God. With everything that he is, with everything that he does, he gives glory to God in such a way so that even when he dies, he is a testament to the deliverance of the

Lord Jesus Christ. There will be joy among the brothers and sisters in Christ when

Paul passes from this life into the next because they know that Paul has gone to be with the Lord in glory.

And that gives the brothers and sisters in Christ hope. It gives us hope even now. We're talking 2 ,000 years later.

And yet we know there is going to come a day for those of us who are in Christ where we will leave this life behind, we will go be with our

Lord in glory, and we'll get to be with the Apostle Paul. How about that? Now, ultimately, our greatest joy is that we go to be with God.

That's what we should be looking forward to. Our focus should always be on Christ. And in everything that we do, we give glory to him.

In 1 Corinthians 10, the Apostle Paul told the Corinthians, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.

Basically, Paul is saying this, in even the most menial tasks, the things that you wouldn't think would be significant at all in terms of worship, you do those things to the glory of God.

Have you ever thought about how incredible that is? That whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, you do it all to the glory of God?

Eating to God's glory? Drinking to God's glory? Driving your car to God's glory?

Have you thought about how you do that? First of all, you need to stop having road rage at the guy in front of you in the left lane, all right?

Or getting mad at a stoplight just because it turns red right when you're coming up on it. That's a tough one for me, okay?

I'm preaching to myself on that one. We need to experience joy in the Lord in all things.

We need to give glory to God in all things. We drive our cars to the glory of God. We love our spouse to the glory of God.

Wives, love your husbands. Husbands, love your wives. Parents, we love our kids to the glory of God.

We love our siblings to the glory of God. Folks, we go to church to the glory of God.

We don't go to church to hang out with our friends, although that's a great thing. We don't go to church because we like the music, although it's good if there's good music in the church.

There should be some good music in the church. We don't go to church just because the pastor is a great speaker.

And by the way, when I first became a pastor, that was something that I told my congregation. I said to them, don't vote for me for this position just because I'm a great speaker.

I know that I have that solid radio voice. I got that from my dad. But I had to tell my congregation, don't be voting for me just because you think

I sound good. You vote for me for this position. You attend church. You be joyful to receive this teaching because you know it comes from the word of God.

It really should not matter what kind of voice it's being delivered in. In fact, we know from the

Apostle Paul, this is 2 Corinthians 10. The Apostle Paul was a meek guy, and the Corinthians were actually kind of disappointed.

Paul shows up, and they're like, this is him? He says such weighty things in his letter, and man, he's not really all that great a speaker at all.

So Paul did not have that charismatic presence. Jonathan Edwards is another one, great preacher in the history of the church.

But he's one who did not have a booming presence or a great voice at all. I understand that Abraham Lincoln also didn't have a booming voice.

So it's not about the voice. It's not about the presentation. It's not about the charisma, though we as Americans very easily get sucked in by charisma.

Look at the success of people like Joel Esteem, for example. I want to be careful as I say this, but his voice annoys me.

I don't know if his voice annoys me because it's just his voice, or if it's because I know that he's teaching falsely.

And so every time I hear his mouth open up, it just grates on me. And hopefully that's the spirit that is in my life that makes me detest what it is that he is saying.

But we can't be drawn to a person simply by charisma. It all has to be weighed according to the

Word of God. So anyway, that was coming back to saying we go to church even to God's glory. We don't go to church just because it's filled with great speakers.

We don't go to church because the architecture is nice. We go to church. We worship with brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.

We sing the songs that we sing that give glory to God. We do all of this for His glory. We listen to the teaching of His Word and fill up our hearts with it to the glory of God.

Everything that you do, folks, whether you eat or drink, whether you put on clothes in the morning, which

I prefer that you do, when you put on clothes in the morning, whatever it is that you do, in all things, as you're breathing, whatever you put your eyes toward, whatever you put your hands to work on, in all of these things, give glory to God in all of it.

All things to the glory of God so that in your life, to live is

Christ. Everything in your life is to give glory to Christ, is to imitate

Christ, is to follow exactly in the way that He showed us to live.

As we'll read as we go on in Philippians 2 .5, Let your mind be like that of Christ Jesus.

To live is to give all full glory to Christ. And so when we die, it is gain.

And we look forward to that day when the Lord calls us home. It is not for us to decide when we die.

We do not hold our lives in our own hands. God holds our life.

As Job said, the days of man are numbered and God is the one who numbers them.

And so we need to be submissive to His sovereign will. But when we die, having given our whole lives to Christ, that is gain.

We go to be with our Lord Christ in heaven. And we need to be careful about the things that we cling to on this earth.

Because if we cling to something so much, we will want that thing more than to go and be with our

Lord. It will actually be a sorrow for us to have to let go of the things of this world in order to go be with our

Lord Christ. And that's not the way that it should be. There's a great song that was written by Rich Mullins. I love

Rich Mullins. He is, in my opinion, one of the greatest contemporary Christian songwriters that ever lived.

Second maybe to only Keith Green. I love Keith Green as well. But Rich Mullins, no matter what you think about his theology, he nonetheless was very poetic in the ways that he considered scripture.

And he wrote a song called Elijah, one of my all -time favorite songs. And in the chorus of the song, he says,

When I leave, I'm going to go out like Elijah, With a whirlwind to fuel my chariot of fire.

And when I look back on this star, It'll be like a candlelight in Central Park, And it won't break my heart to say goodbye.

And I want to have my heart and my eyes so fixated on heaven that when it's time for the

Lord to call me home, it will not break my heart to say goodbye to this world. I think of my grandmother as I'm talking about these things.

My eyes are filling with tears. But I think of my grandmother who passed away last year at the age of 83.

She is somebody who was so ready to go home and be with her Lord. And if there is anybody that I am sure is in glory with Christ Jesus, it is my grandmother.

She was so faithful to God, had this testimony, living as Christ. I mean, if you're looking for an example for that, you would look for it in my grandmother.

I would go through, as I was a little kid, I would go through the Hardee's drive -through with her. I was born in South Carolina.

A lot more Hardee's around in that area than where I live in Kansas right now. But anyway, I'd go through the Hardee's drive -through with her early in the morning if she's going to get her biscuits.

And she would pull up to the window, and the lady would ask for payment. And my grandmother looks at her and says,

Here you go, ma 'am. Hey, do you know Jesus? You know, there was just no shame in this woman. She just wanted to share

Jesus with everybody. She lived like Christ. For her to live as Christ.

She emulated that. And so for her to die was gain. She was so looking forward to the day when she could go home and be with her

Lord. And I am certain that she is there. By contrast, there's a pastor friend of mine who a member of his congregation had been diagnosed with cancer and actually just had a few weeks to live.

And when he went to go visit her, she was in tears and said she was not ready to leave. And he tried as hard as he could to disciple her and prepare her heart to go home.

But she just was clinging to this world so much. And I know that to this day it continues to grieve that pastor because he doesn't know for sure whether she actually went to heaven or not.

Because he did not see in that woman any desire to go and be there. And my heart breaks reading about circumstances like that.

Let us prepare our minds and our hearts now for glory. Always focused on our

Lord Jesus Christ. So that when we die, we know with confidence we are gaining. We are not losing anything.

We are gaining. Going to be with our Lord Christ. The Apostle Paul says, If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.

Yet which shall I 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 on your account. What kind of giving attitude is that in the life of the

Apostle Paul? I want to be here because I know that I can help to encourage you.

Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and your joy in the faith.

So that in me, you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again.

The Apostle Paul already knows when I die, that's gain. You know what? I want to remain with you and continue to teach you that so that you are also prepared for when you die, you know that you will gain and be with the

Lord Christ in glory. What a great discipleship that we see there in that text as Paul is talking to the

Philippians. Lord, as we wrap up our study of this text here in this moment, I pray that we continue to focus our eyes entirely heavenward on Christ Jesus, living our whole lives for the

Lord, a glory to God. We are filled with thanksgiving, knowing that we have been rescued from death by Christ Jesus so that all who are in him get to live eternal in heaven with our

Lord. Continue to fill us with this hope. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

We get to our question here, and this actually is more of a criticism than a question, but it has to do with our video entitled,

Bacon in the Bible, and here is that video. There's a brand of teaching out there claiming that the dietary laws of the

Old Testament still apply, so pork is still forbidden. That's right, bacon is an abomination to the

Lord, as well as throwing a shrimp on the barbie. But the Apostle Paul said to the Colossians, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink.

Also related to food, he wrote, do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil, for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the

Holy Spirit. And we can go one better than that. In Mark 7, Jesus said, do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart, but his stomach, and is expelled?

Then the parenthetical reference, thus he declared all foods clean. The purpose of the ceremonial laws was to make us aware of our sin and show

God's holiness, so we might be cleansed and have fellowship with God. But that law has been fulfilled in Christ, who is our fellowship with God.

This idea that there are certain foods we're to stay away from lest we defile ourselves, this is exactly the kind of teaching

Paul told Titus to silence. The Bible says it is those with a weak conscience who think it's unholy to eat such foods.

But we're also to be considerate of one another. Again in Romans 14, let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

If our eating something would cause a brother or sister to stumble, then don't eat it. But if you like bacon, eat it, to the glory of God, when we understand the text.

Our question then comes from Hillary in Savannah, Georgia. She says, Dear Watch, I watched your video on bacon in the

Bible and am convicted to have to contact you about it. The Bible says that pigs are not food.

Jesus says over and over in the New Testament that he has not come to do away with the law, but instead to bring spiritual insight to it.

For example, the idea of adultery is a heart issue and not just a physical act. I totally understand your thinking, though.

I once felt the same way, and it was only after much studying and prayer that I could receive the truth.

I pray that the Lord will show you that his word does not become void, but only the method of sacrifice has changed.

Either way, our grace is in Jesus. Peace to you, my friends. Well, thank you, Hillary. I know that wasn't a question.

It was more of a criticism, but I'd like to offer a response to this and communicate to you truly what

God's word does say about it. The Bible is not silent on the matter, nor is it unclear.

I want to do this carefully, though, because, as it said in the video, we should not quarrel over this. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't talk about it at all.

We should be adults about it. But there is no reason why over this subject we should become divisive.

As we read in Romans 14 .1, don't quarrel over opinions. One person believes that he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.

Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

First of all, Hillary, you say that the Bible says that pigs are not food. Truthfully, the

Bible says nothing of the sort. Leviticus 11 specifies which animals are clean and which ones are not.

And all of this had to do with ceremonial cleanliness. The rules were not, this animal is food, but this one isn't.

Every animal is food. This goes back to Genesis 9, when Noah and his family and the animals left the ark.

In verses 2 through 3, God said, The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea.

Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you.

And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. Going on into verse 4, But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

In other words, you can't eat a still -living animal, which is what the pagans did. They believed that you could eat this animal and by drinking its blood, you would be absorbing its spiritual essence or something like that.

But again, otherwise, every animal is food. Secondly, Jesus does not say over and over in the

New Testament that he's not come to do away with the law. Matthew, Luke, and John all record only one occasion, the most notable of which is

Matthew 5, 17, where Jesus says, Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

He only has to say that once. I just don't want you to get this impression that it's something that he said over and over again.

Third, you say that Jesus says over and over in the New Testament that he has not come to do away with the law, but instead to bring spiritual insight to it.

No, do not be confused. Fulfilling the law doesn't mean bringing spiritual insight.

This is Jesus saying very straightforward. Look, guys, the whole law is about me.

All the prophets were talking about me. I am the fulfillment of the law and the prophets.

Moses spoke of me. And if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. That's John 5, 46.

Jesus fulfills the law not only in the things it predicted about Christ, the predictions and prophecies that we see, but also in its sacrificial system, which looked forward to his great sacrifice on the cross.

When Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God, this did not replace the Old Testament, but is rather fulfilled in Jesus' life and ministry.

Where Israel failed at keeping the law, Jesus succeeded because he was perfect. And Christ declared all foods clean.

That's Mark 7, 19. And this is not the only place in Scripture that we read that, by the way. There's the vision that Peter had in Acts 10.

And it was through Peter's vision that, once again, God declared all foods clean. What God has made clean do not call common.

And we see that in verse 15. In the next chapter, Peter recalled his vision and said it again. And so then, as we're in Romans 14 here, the apostle

Paul writes that every food is clean. That's in verse 20. But it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.

That's what the verse goes on to say. So, if you don't want to eat bacon, if you think it's unclean, then don't eat bacon.

But you can't tell someone else not to eat bacon because all foods are clean. Now then, for those of us who eat bacon, myself included, don't be jerks about it.

Enjoy it as you want to. But if it bothers someone, don't eat it. Don't quarrel about it.

Eat your BLT at home, okay? It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.

Romans 14, 21. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.

But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

So, if you believe in your heart that eating bacon is a sin and you eat it, even though the Bible says it's not a sin, you've sinned.

Because you've gone against what you believed in your heart was the law of God. So don't be a rebel and go eat bacon just because I said go eat bacon.

Let everyone be fully convinced in his own mind. Hillary, I thank you for your criticism. But Christ who fulfills the law and the whole law, not just part of it, every part of the law he fulfilled, not just concerning sacrifices, because the whole law was a testament to Christ.

Christ who fulfills the law declared all foods clean. Therefore, I challenge you, do not condemn someone else because they would eat bacon.

Guys, if you've got a question that you would like to submit, please go to our website www .utt .com.

You will see the email link there on the top right side of the page, right under where it has our latest podcast episode.

And be sure to tell somebody else about this broadcast. Join me again tomorrow as we will finish up Philippians chapter 1.

Thank you so much for being with me as we have studied the scriptures together. God bless. You've been listening to When We Understand the

Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. Pastor Gabe wrote a book for a Bible study at our church that has since been taught on two continents.

It's a study through the book of 1 Corinthians entitled To the Core. Great for a group study or for personal use.

It is available only in paperback and you can find it on our website www .utt .com.

Be sure to let someone else know about our program. We'll resume our study of Philippians tomorrow rejoicing to hear