thing to think about, but it is important. And it's incredible how quickly and easily our thoughts and our emotions and all of those things can get so twisted and corrupted and distorted in unbiblical ways about life and about death. if we're not careful to consistently and regularly go back to the word to be corrected. I'll give you an example. Back in 2008, there was a song that hit number one on the Billboard US Hot Country Songs chart, recorded by Kenny Chesney. Some of you might remember this. The title of the song was Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven. And the refrain for the song was, everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to go now. And now, the theological issues with this song are numerous. But in one of the last choruses, the song states this. Everybody want to go to heaven. It beats the other place. There ain't no doubt. Everybody want to go to heaven, but nobody want to go now. In other words, it's kind of like we're saying, well, I mean, it's better than the alternative, right? Now, kind of in direct contrast to this, Puritan pastor Richard Baxter wrote this. He said, there is a great deal of difference between the desires of heaven in a sanctified man and in unsanctified. The believer prizes it above earth, and he'd rather be with God than here. But to the ungodly, nothing seems more desirable than this world. And therefore he only chooses heaven before hell, but not before earth. And therefore shall he not have it upon such a choice. In other words, the only reason that they would choose heaven is that it's a better alternative, like we just said, than hell. But it's not the most desirable, which is life here on earth now. It's a fascinating statement. I've never heard it said that way before. The preference of place to be for the non-believer, and I'm afraid so often those of us who claim to be believers, at least functionally, we behave this way, is that first it's this life, then heaven, and then hell. And so like we said earlier, we have to constantly go back to scripture to have our minds and our thoughts and our hearts corrected about this. And when we look at scripture, the question that we must ask is ultimately how does scripture speak about these things, right? Because we know our responsibility, is to conform our perspective of life and death to the truth of what scripture says on life and death. It's what we must do. And we see the Apostle Paul here writing on these subjects in Philippians chapter one. Look with me, please, we'll start at verse 21 and go to 26. There we read, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose, I cannot tell. I'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, the cause of my coming to you again. And so from this text, we're gonna look at two main points this morning that we draw from this. And the first one that we're gonna look at this morning is as believers, we know that our life is Christ. Our life is Christ. And there's actually a couple of different ways that scripture teaches us that we live in Christ. The first one is that is our identity, it's who we are, it's our our being. Christ is in us and we are in him, we're united together in this this mysterious union where God considered the sins of all who would believe as being the sins of Christ as he suffered and died for them on the cross. And he therefore considers the perfect righteousness and obedience of Jesus to be the perfect righteousness and obedience of those who believe. And therefore, believers are seen by God. They're not according to our works, but according to the works of His Son, imputed to us or considered to be ours. And therefore, we're accepted by and have fellowship with Him now and forevermore. And so just to give you a few examples of how scripture speaks this way. In John 15, Jesus said, I'm the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides, whoever lives in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Romans chapter eight, but if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life. because of righteousness. Colossians chapter 3, if you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God, when Christ is who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Galatians chapter two, I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Just incredible, beautiful, glorious, theological truth that we see about believers who are alive in Christ. And that's one aspect of how scripture talks about this and what it means that our life is Christ. It's our identity, it's who we are. But there's another aspect as well, and kind of note how this, how it works and how scripture speaks about this. We see that it's because we as believers live in Christ as our identity, we are therefore to live in Christ as our manner of life. Because of our identity is to be our manner of life. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, he says, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. In other words, we live in a way that the life of Christ might be seen in us. In Colossians 2, Paul writes, therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. The word walk here, it's a figure of speech, meaning how you live. You are believers, now live as Christ. All over the New Testament, it's this idea that now your identity is Christ, so live like it. Right, that's the whole, Paul's whole flow of logic in Romans chapter six. He tells his readers, you've been crucified with Christ and raised with him. You're a new creation in him. That's your identity, so then live that way. He writes, so you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passion. It's a reality of who you are now as a born-again believer in the Lord Jesus. Now live that way. So we have these two aspects that we see of having Christ as our life. It's our identity and the way that we live, our manner of life. And as we look at Philippians chapter one this morning, it seems that here in this specific context, Paul is referring to the lap. It's how we live. Because we are in him, we are to live in him. And we can see some details of this, of what he means as we examine this text. So first we see in verse 20. Paul mentions that Christ is to be honored in his person, whether in life or in death. So to live in Christ is to honor Christ. Other translations say exalt or magnify, to make him look as great and as glorious as he actually is. so that when others see him, they would be in awe of him and reverence who he is and worship. We see more aspects here of what this means as we continue through this text. In verse 22, Paul mentions that as we live out in our manner of life, that Christ is our life, it means that we will strive in fruitful labor. fruitful labor. And the word translated labor here is the meaning of our daily, regular, consistent work. It's what we do. We bear fruit for Christ. In one of his commentaries, Pastor John McArthur, he gives what to me was a very helpful summary of what fruit means in the New Testament. So I wanted to share it with you this morning and perhaps it'll be helpful for you to kind of understand exactly what we're talking about when we say the word fruit. So one of the things that kind of first comes to mind when we mentioned fruit in scripture is fruit of the Spirit, mentioned in Galatians chapter 5, right? These are character traits that will be found in the life of believers. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness. self-control. And so we ask ourselves, are these things present in our lives? Can we evaluate our own souls and our attitudes and our actions and say that these things are there and that they're increasing in our lives as we live, as we mature, as we are sanctified? It's one aspect of what it means to bear fruit. Another place that fruit is mentioned in the New Testament is that of praises offered to God. We see it in Hebrews chapter 13. So the words from our lips, our thankfulness to him in song and in prayer, and as we discuss him in daily conversation with other people, Are we praising Him in that way? Another way that fruit is mentioned in the New Testament is that of sacrificial love. Sacrificial love for another. In the context here of Romans 15, it's a financial sacrifice that believers are making to provide for the needs of someone else. And that's one way we sacrifice. We sacrificially give. There are other ways we sacrifice, too, with time and with abilities, with energy. We give to serve others to the point of where it hurts to do so, bearing fruit. Also, converts. referred to as fruit. Here Paul mentioned he mentioned the idea of coming to Rome and preaching the gospel in order to reap a harvest of fruit among the people. And of course we know there we don't convert anyone ourselves right but we long to see the fruit that that God as he uses our faithfulness he brings about the converts. And he changes the sinner's heart. And so we see that as fruit. And lastly, God honoring behavior. Godly behavior in general. We see obedience to him. Obedience to his word is fruit. to Him. And so we see as we live in Christ that our lives are to be about laboring and bearing this fruit for Christ. We also see in this text that living is Christ. It means serving others for their progress for their joy in the faith. We see it in verse 25 where Paul speaks of doing this for the believers there in Philippi. Progress and joy. Another quote here from Richard Baxter. He said that we have greater work here to do than mere securing our own salvation. We're members of the world and church. We must labor to do good to many. We are trusted with our master's talents for his service in our places to do our best to propagate his truth and grace in church and to bring home souls and to honor his cause and edify his flock and further the salvation of as many as we can. All this is to be done on earth if we will secure the end of all. heaven. Progress in the faith. So we see that our lives are not to be, it's not this one and done kind of thing. Our spiritual lives are not stationary. They grow, they mature, they develop. Believers should not be at the same level as of Christian maturity today as they were five years ago, or something is very wrong. And as we mature ourselves, we're working so that others may mature in their faith as well. Because with this maturity and with this progress we read here comes unspeakable joy in him. It means knowing him more, fellowshipping with him more, to be closer to the one that our souls love and cherish as believers, to live as Christ. And so we think about where does this progress that we've talked about, where does it take place for us? It takes place in the home. Right? Primarily, we want to serve our spouse. We want to lead our children in ways that lead to their progress in the faith. We talk of Christ in our daily conversations. We lead them in the spiritual disciplines of reading the word and prayer and fasting and others. We model repentance in front of them when we sin against the Lord and against them. All of those things and many more. We make the priority of our lives as parents doing this in our home that they may progress in the faith. It's a big deal because we know that as husbands and fathers we will stand before the Lord and we will give an account of how we have stewarded our families in the faith. So in our homes, also, as an outgrowth of that, as kind of an overflow of that, then we seek to work for the progress, the faith of those in our local church bodies by serving together, by teaching, by mentoring, by working alongside others, by living as an example within the local body for others to see. As we do that, we work so that there's progress and there's joy in this Christian life. The last sub-point we'll look at here this morning is in verse 26. And that's, by living out our life in Christ, we give cause for others to glory in Christ. The word for glory here could be translated exalt or to boast. It's kind of a positive type of pride. And the boasting here is not in oneself or our own accomplishments, but in Christ, in his person, in his works. And in this context, we read that while the believers there in Philippi will glory in Christ, it's because of Paul's release from prison. He will return to them because of this testimony of what God has done in Paul's life. They will glory in Christ. It's incredible when we have this experience in our lives as believers, when we hear a loved one. that recounts to us these incredible works that God has done, and it leads us to just glory in Him. Maybe it's a testimony of somebody being healed from sickness, or it's restoration of a marriage, or salvation of someone you've been praying diligently for. All these things in our lives that when we see these things occur, Then we hear these things in the lives of fellow believers that causes us to make much of Christ. It's a great part of living in Christ. He is our life. Through these specific examples we've seen in our text this morning, but also in others as well. And I'll share a quote with you here from Pastor John MacArthur. He states this about the phrase, to live is Christ. In verse 21, he says, he simply means living is Christ. Life is summed up as Christ. I'm filled with Christ. I'm occupied with Christ. I trust Christ, love Christ, hope in Christ, obey Christ, preach Christ, follow Christ. Fellowship with Christ. Christ is the center of my life. It's all Christ. Christ and Christ alone is my inspiration, my direction, my meaning, my purpose. Consumed, dominated by Christ. Again, as believers. we know that our life is Christ. And looking at verse 21 this morning, discerning minds have probably figured out that if we have two points, and our first one is that our life is Christ, our second is, as believers we know that our death is gain. This may sound kind of almost counterintuitive, right? It goes against kind of what we naturally think. I mean, we even talk about death many times, right, as loss of life. But here Paul says that it is indeed gain. And we see this, first of all, it's gain personally. And we see it in verse 23, Paul writes, my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. Now many times I think we're quick to think of, when we hear the phrase death as gain, we're quick to think of it as a means of relief, right, from the pain, from the sadness, the suffering, the brokenness of the world in which we live. And that's true, it's absolutely true. When we think about the reality of what scripture says about the new heavens and the new earth, and we're encouraged by those words in Revelation 21, he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And there's this sense in which there's solace in this fact that there'll be rest, right, from all of these things that the world contains because of the presence of sin. It'll be over, it'll be done. But there's another aspect of this perhaps we don't often think as much about. Not only do we lose the presence of sin in them, but we gain the presence of Christ. We just read from verse four of Revelation 21 on the absence of tears and death and pain. But if we look at the verse directly before it, this is what we read. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God. That is the primary greatness of heaven. It is the presence of the Lord. To be with Christ, as we read in verse 23 here. And it makes sense, if he is Lord of our lives, here and now, if he's the one that we've spent our whole lives longing for, we long to see him, to fellowship with him, If he's the one that, as believers, our hearts desire and crave to be with, then to be able not only to commune with him in prayer, but to have those desires and longings fulfilled and brought to fruition and to actually be in his presence. What an amazing reality it will be for all eternity. That's gain. It's gain for us as believers. There's a second way, this morning, that we can consider that death is gain. That's gain for the kingdom. Especially the case when it's a death for Christ, or a death because the person is a believer. Paul referred to this in verse 20, here where he mentions that Christ being honored in his body by life or by death. It's a testimony to the value and the beauty of Christ that believers would see their faithfulness to him as more valuable than their physical lives. We think of the words of Paul to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20 where he said, but I don't account my life of any value, nor is it precious to myself if only I may finish my course in ministry that I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. the Lord uses these deaths as gain. It's like Joseph said in Genesis, what man meant for evil, God meant for good. As we read about, as we hear about sacrifice and the faithfulness of these men and women of faith down through history, it has an impact on us. I know for me, personally, I can tell you one of the quotes that so often struck at my heart, especially as we were preparing to leave for Mongolia and thinking through all those thoughts and emotions and wrestling through all of that, was Jim Elliot. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. And there's definitely a sense in which the death of that young man and the death of those that were with him, incredibly sad, incredibly sad. But also by the death of that young man, by the biographies written about him, the publishing of his journals, who knows how many lives have been impacted and encouraged and inspired for the kingdom of God. So as strange as it is to say it this way, there's a very profound sense in which it was gay. To live is Christ, and to die is gay. I can imagine this morning as I was thinking through this. For a non-believer, hearing these words, it must sound very strange. Paul writes about it sounding like foolishness. I mean, why give your life, why live your life for someone else? How is death game? How do we respond to this? And I think I would go back and I would respond by saying this. This Christ that we have been talking about this morning, that is our life, we also know is God, right? The agent of creation. Through Him, all things were created. All things by Him, through Him, and for Him. Colossians tells us. It also tells us He's the one that sustains all things. He keeps it going. It holds together. My head. And yet, it was this Creator, it's Sustainer Christ, who in the fullness of time took on flesh to himself and was born into the world he created. Totally, completely without sin. No corruption in him at all. His obedience to God the Father was perfect. And yet we know that this perfect, sinless Christ, God the Son in the flesh, creator and sustainer of all things, was hated. He was falsely accused. He was mocked and ridiculed. He was beaten. And ultimately, he was crucified and killed. not as a result of the sins that he had committed or wrong that he had done, but for the sins of others. We also know this Christ that did not remain dead in the grave, but gloriously rose to life on the third day and ascended to heaven. where he is now seated at the right hand of God the Father. And it is in this gospel, this good news that hope and salvation are found. And we know that as human beings, each one of us is responsible to respond to this good news. And so the way of salvation is to respond to this gospel with repentance and faith. Repentance is rejection of, it's turning away from the sin that we once loved and treasured. Faith, placing our trust in Jesus Christ for salvation, and in doing these things we may be saved. And in doing this and then living life in this Christ brings the greatest joy and the peace and the hope that we could ever experience. Not just here and now in this life, but in the life to come forever. And so that's what I would respond to those who are non-believers who don't understand what we've been saying. And if there's any kind of inkling in your heart this morning, any conviction of sin and drawing by the Spirit of God, then I would urge you, please, this morning, respond to this gospel. Come and speak to someone. share with them that we might be able to walk with you through that. We began this morning with some song lyrics, and so we're gonna end with some song lyrics as well. These are a little different. These words, it's in a song recorded by Keith and Kristen Getty, drawing from the first question of the Heidelberg Catechism, and this is what it says. What is our hope in life and death? Christ alone, Christ alone. What is our only confidence? That our souls to him belong. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for This morning, this time we've had to spend in your word, Lord, this glorious gospel, this Christ who we've focused on. This morning, Lord, we pray that, Lord, as we know in our minds that the fact that our identity is in Christ, Lord, may we seek in our manner of life to live that out. Father, we thank you this morning for this opportunity that we've had to worship together. Father, now I pray by your spirit. Lord, as your word has been preached, you might convict. Lord, you might encourage and admonish. Lord, may your will be done as we sang this morning. In Jesus' name, amen.