Preached March 25, 2012
from
Philippians 1:19-26

Theme: A resolve to let Christ be magnified in our bodies—whether by life or by death—leads to joy.

(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been studying together from the apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians—which, as I’ve been suggesting, is the New Testament’s instruction book on how to have prevailing joy. Specifically, we’ve been focusing in on Paul’s own example of joy. He wrote this remarkable letter while in a Roman prison cell—suffering for the cause of the gospel of Jesus Christ without knowing for certain whether he would be released or put to death. And yet, he experienced a joy in Jesus Christ that prevailed over the difficult trial of his imprisonment.

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Now; we need to remember that the joy that Paul was experiencing was, ultimately, a gift of God’s grace. It was not something he produced for himself. Paul was a man who was yielded to the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit, and who allowed the Spirit to produce His fruit in him. You remember what Paul wrote about the ‘fruit of the Spirit’; don’t you? In Galatians 5:22-23, he wrote,

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Among the nine aspects of the Spirit’s fruit that Paul mentioned is “joy”—a prevailing joy that was the experience of Jesus Christ Himself as He walked upon this earth. And that is why Paul could have joy while in the midst of the difficult trial of his imprisonment. There could be no other explanation for it, really. Given Paul’s circumstances, it was a joy that only the Holy Spirit could have produced in someone who had been redeemed through faith in Jesus Christ. I believe Paul would want us to remember that; and to—likewise—make sure that we yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit as He produces the fruit of joy in us.

But these first few paragraphs of Paul’s letter have been very important for us to study together; because they show us that there were also certain things that Paul himself did to advance that divine grace of joy. For example, as we saw last week, Paul was very careful to look for the sovereign hand of God at work in his trial; and to focus his attention on the remarkable things that God was doing in it to advance the cause of Christ.

In verses 12-18, Paul wrote to the Philippian believers and told them;

But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice” (Philippians 1:12-18).

Paul was careful to keep his eyes on the good that God was bringing to pass through his trial. That’s why he could say, “and in this I rejoice . . .” Just think, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, how much more joyful we would be in our own times of trial if we would learn to do what Paul did, and look carefully and intentionally for the good things that the sovereign God is bringing about through our trials, and to keep those good things in our focus, and to say, “and in this I rejoice!”

But do you notice that Paul not only said that he rejoiced in the present circumstances, but also that he “will rejoice”? This forward-looking resolve to rejoice points to something else that Paul did. And while the previous resolve had to do with Paul’s focus on what God was doing in the world around him through his trial, this next resolve had to do with his focus on what God was doing in himself.

Paul goes on to say—in words that have been a comfort to countless suffering Christians throughout the last twenty centuries;

For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again (vv. 19-26).

I agree with what one commentator wrote about this passage—that it was “one of the apostle’s finest moments”¹. But I believe it’s much more than that. I believe that it’s an example—preserved for us by the Holy Spirit—of the kind of resolve of hope and expectation that will enable you and me to experience prevailing joy in our own times of trial. It’s a resolve to allow Jesus Christ to be magnified in our bodies—whether through our dying for Him, or being allowed to live on and serve His purposes. It’s a resolve of heart submits wholly to God’s will, and that says, “All for Jesus—by life or death; however He wishes.”

“Christ . . . magnified in my body, whether by life or by death”—that covers all possible circumstances. And so, the result of sincerely making that resolve our own—from the heart, through a pure faith in Jesus Christ, and in the enabling power of the Holy Spirit—is a joy that prevails over any trial on earth that we could possibly undergo bodily.

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Now; a couple of important things need to be said about this. First of all, the joy that is the result of this resolve can only belong to someone who has entered into personal, saving relationship by faith with the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s something that can only be experienced by someone who has ceased to trust in their own works of righteousness, has placed their trust for salvation in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for them, and who hopes in the righteousness of Jesus Christ alone for favor before God.

The reason I say this is because there have been many people in history who have given their bodies over to suffering for the the cause of Jesus Christ—or who have even laid down their lives for His cause; but who did so as an act of religious “works” in an attempt to earn God’s favor. And that was not something that Paul did.

Later on in this letter, Paul wrote about how he used to attempt to earn God’s favor through his own power—that is, by all the good works of religious devotion that he had done. But the time came when he completely rejected his reliance on such things, repented of his trust in his own works of righteousness to earn God’s favor, and trusted in the righteousness of Jesus Christ alone. He wrote;

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:7-11).

We must never attempt to yield our bodies over to the service of Jesus Christ apart from having, first, received the gift of the salvation of our souls by faith in Christ. We must make sure that we stand before God—as Paul did—on the basis of the righteousness of Christ alone. Otherwise, the giving of our bodies over to magnify Christ is nothing more than an attempt to earn God’s favor by our good works. And that’s something that will not only fail to lead us to joy, but will in fact—if not repented of—eventually lead us to eternal loss.

And another thing that needs to be said about Paul’s resolve—having been made as it was in the context of a complete trust in the grace of God through Jesus Christ alone—is that it wasn’t something that just came naturally to him. Paul didn’t just passively fall into such an attitude. He had to grow in it, and had to make progress in it, and had to mature into it. We can see a hint of this from something else he said later in this letter. In 4:11-13, Paul wrote to the Philippians about some of the material needs that they were meeting for him; and he told them,

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:11-13).

I am very grateful that he said “I have learned . . .” In fact, he eludes to the progress of “learning” twice in those words. I believe that Paul’s resolve to magnify Christ in his body—whether by life or death—was something was developed in him progressively and over time. And that’s good news. Very few of us in Christ are mature enough to yield ourselves to God’s purposes in the way Paul did. But it was something that even Paul himself—by God’s grace—had grown into. And the same will be true for you and me.

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So then; let’s look a little closer at this passage; and see how it was that this resolve took shape in Paul—and how it led to a prevailing joy in the midst of his trial of imprisonment.

First, notice that Paul had set his heart on . . .

1. AN EARNEST EXPECTATION (vv. 19-21).

As he sat in a prison cell, writing this letter, he wrote; “For I know that this”—that is, the trial of his imprisonment—”will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ . . .” (v. 19) One way or the other, he knew that he would be delivered from his imprisonment.

And he was assured of this deliverance because of two things. The first thing was of the prayer of his brothers and sisters in Christ for him. The prayers of God’s people once resulted in his fellow apostle Peter being released from prison. An angel actually came to Peter’s prison cell, caused his chains to fall off, opened the prison doors, led him out to the street and sent him on his way. Do you remember how the Christians were gathered together to pray for Peter’s release from prison—and were utterly shocked to find him knocking on the door?² Paul had no doubt that God could do that for him too—in response to the prayer of his Philippian brethren—if He so chose.

But the other thing that assured Paul of his ultimate deliverance was “the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ”. When Paul became a believer, God placed the very Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ Himself into him; thus sealing Paul forever as belonging to Jesus, and assuring that Paul that he could not in any way fail to be in Jesus’ presence in glory one day. This is true of all who are redeemed by faith in Jesus Christ. As Paul wrote elsewhere, the Spirit is

. . . the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:13b-14).

If I may put it this way; Paul was absolutely assured that he would be delivered one way or the other—either through his release from prison in God’s answer to the faithful prayer of his brothers and sisters, or through death by execution and his entry afterwards into the glorious presence of the One who sealed him for Himself by “the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ”. Either way, he would be delivered!

And the reason we know that he meant deliverance either by life or by death was because he said that this confidence was “according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death” (v. 20). Not only did he trust confidently that he would be delivered one way or the other; but he fully expected—and was assured with a sure and certain hope—that he would be delivered in such a way as Jesus Christ would be testified to and glorified in him whether by the deliverance of a prison release, or by the deliverance through execution. This would happen with “all boldness”; so that, whether by the public event of his release, or the public event of his execution, no one would fail to see Christ glorified in what happened. And Paul was assured that Christ had glorified Himself in Paul’s bodily sufferings in the past, and would do so even in his present situation.

This earnest expectation—that no matter what happened to Paul, Jesus would be glorified in his body, whether through life or through death—was why he could then say, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” If he was released and his body lived, he would live in that body for Christ and advance His glory. And if he was executed and his body was put to death, his spirit would immediately ascend to heaven where he would enjoy the eternal bliss of the presence of his wonderful Savior. To live meant Christ; and to die meant to gain even more of Christ! And having that as his “earnest expectation” resulted in a prevailing joy that could endure through any circumstance he could experience on earth.

By the way, dear brothers and sisters; can you say what Paul said?— “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain”? For many of us, it’s more like, “For me, to live is Christ, and also to enjoy a comfortable life-style while I’m at it”; or “For me, to live is Christ, and to be free to go where I want to go and do whatever I want to do.” But Paul couldn’t say those things while in a prison cell. He had all those options taken away from him. And yet, he had joy. That was because, for him, the greatest joy of all was one that could not be taken away from him by any circumstance in this world—the prospect of being with Christ forever. As he wrote in Romans 8:35-39;

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;

We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39).

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Now; that brings us to something else that was true of Paul in this resolve that led him to experience joy. And surprising as it may be, it was . . .

2. A PERSONAL INDECISION (vv. 22-24).

If the choice were put to him—whether to be released and live, or to be executed and die—he wouldn’t be able to decide which to choose. He went on to write;

But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you (vv. 22-24).

The prospect of execution didn’t sound so bad to him. And it wasn’t because he despaired of life and wanted to see his misery come to an end. That couldn’t be the case, because he also loved his Philippian brothers and sisters; and recognized that living would result in more fruit for his labors toward them. Rather, the prospect of execution didn’t bother him because he truly loved Jesus with all the fullness of his being; and to depart and be with Him was “far better”. To be with Jesus was his great “gain”.

But he also recognized that there was a need for him to live on and serve his dear brothers and sisters in Philippi. He loved Jesus and longed to be with Him; but he also loved his brothers and sisters, and longed to serve them and see them grow in Christ. He looked forward to the ultimate reward of his labors; but he also wanted to have more fruit in those labors with respect to the Philippians. He felt “hard-pressed between the two”; because there were definite benefits to either way things could go. You almost get a sense that he was glad that the decision wasn’t his to make!

And I suggest to you, dear brothers and sisters, that if we’re in that state of personal indecision too—if we seek that Jesus Christ be glorified in our body whether through life or death; and we can’t decide which would be better—we too will grow to experience the prevailing joy that Paul experienced. If we submit to our Lord and Master’s desire, if He so chooses, to glorify Himself in the death of our body, then we will enter into His presence and enjoy eternal bliss with Him forever—looking beyond even then to the day when He will resurrect that body body from the grave in a glory that is like His own! Or if we submit to His will, if He so chooses, to glorify Himself in the ongoing life of our body—even if that life is a life of service and labor, or even a life of suffering and trial—this will result in more fruitfulness for our labors that will bless others and will rebound to our own eternal reward!

If there was ever a time to use that otherwise worn-out old phrase “win/win”, it would be this one!

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Now; there’s a very important progression to recognize in all this. If Paul held to the earnest expectation that Jesus Christ would be magnified in his body—whether by life for by death; and if he was so submitted to Christ’s will that he could rejoice in either living for Christ (which meant more fruitfulness for his labors), or dying for Him (which would be “gain”); then he would accept going on to live in and serve—and do so joyfully.

I don’t want to be irreverent in suggesting this; but let’s suppose you were to turn to the Lord—in a very ‘spiritual’ frame of mind—and declare, “Lord Jesus; I love You so much I would do anything for You. Lord; I would even dare to die for You.” What if He then responded by saying,

“You’d really do anything for Me? Even die for Me?”

“Oh yes, Lord! I would do anything—even die for You!”

“Really? Anything up to the point of even laying down your life for Me?”

“Yes, Lord! Even up to the point of dying for you.”

“Anything? Up to that point?”

“Oh yes; I . . . eh . . . Wait a minute. Just what are You getting at, Lord?”

“You said, ‘Anything.’ Did you really mean that? Because I have many things I would like you to do for Me. They would require that you ‘live’ in order to do them.”

“Well; I was just thinking mostly of dying for You, Lord. Can you be more specific? I mean; I don’t know if I’m really ready to actually ‘do’ things.”

You see; it may be a bit easy to say that we would “die” for the Lord. But Paul was so submitted to the Lord’s will that he was prepared not only to allow Jesus to be magnified in his body by death, but also to allow Him to be magnified by his going on to live and serve His purposes. If we are genuinely prepared to die joyfully for our Savior, then we would be just as prepared to live joyfully for Him; and to do gladly for Him anything that He might call us to do short of dying. For Paul, to die in Christ was such “gain” that he was willing to also—just as sincerely—say, “For me, to live is Christ . . .!”

We see this, I believe, in verses 25-26; where we find that his ‘earnest expectation’ led to a ‘personal indecision’, which—in turn—lead to . . .

3. A PRESENT CONFIDENCE (vv. 25-26).

He wrote;

And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again (vv. 25-26).

The “this” that he was confident of was the confidence that Christ would be magnified in his body either by life or by death. And whichever way the Lord chose to bring about that glory was fine with him. As it turned out, the Lord wanted him to live on and serve; and to glorify Him through his life.

That’s why he could have such prevailing joy even in a prison cell. And that’s why we can too, in our own times of trial.

Gordon D. Fee, Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, NICNT (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995), p. 127.

See Acts 12:5-19.