For Me to Live Is Christ

In one paragraph

The sermon worked through Philippians 1:12-26, with the preacher returning from a family trip to Spain and picking up where Van had left off the previous week. The central thread was Paul's account of his imprisonment and what he made of it, and the preacher kept coming back to the idea that circumstances that look like setbacks can serve the forward progress of the gospel. Paul opens this section...

Read together

1. Revelation 22 quoted at opening to invite worship: 'Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life.'
2. Psalm 23 quoted briefly before the offering prayer: 'surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.'
3. Acts 16:31 cited when recounting the Philippian jailer's conversion: 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.'
4. Philippians 1:1-2 read as the greeting of the letter, introducing Paul and Timothy as bond servants to the saints in Philippi.
5. Philippians 1:3-7 read as Paul's thanksgiving and expression of longing for the Philippians, noting their participation in the gospel.
6. Philippians 1:6 used to make the point that God who began a good work will complete it, and believers are not unfinished DIY projects.
7. Philippians 1:9-11 read as Paul's prayer that the Philippians overflow in knowledge and discernment, filled with the fruit of righteousness through Christ.
8. Philippians 1:12 the main text anchor: 'my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel.'
9. Philippians 1:13 Paul's imprisonment becoming known throughout the Praetorian Guard as being in the cause of Christ.
10. Philippians 1:14 most brothers and sisters, trusting in the Lord because of Paul's imprisonment, gained courage to speak the word of God without fear.
11. Philippians 1:15-17 some preach Christ from envy and strife, others from goodwill and love, examined through a chiastic structure.
12. Philippians 1:18 Paul's conclusion that whether in pretense or truth Christ is proclaimed, and in this he rejoices.
13. Philippians 1:19 Paul's confidence in his deliverance through the prayers of the Philippians and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
14. Philippians 1:20 Paul's eager expectation that Christ will be exalted in his body whether by life or by death.
15. Philippians 1:21 the famous statement 'for to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.'
16. Philippians 1:22-24 Paul hard pressed between desiring to depart and be with Christ or remaining in the flesh for the Philippians' sake.
17. Philippians 1:25-26 Paul convinced he will remain for the Philippians' progress and joy in the faith, and their boasting in Christ Jesus.

What was said

• When you catch yourself anxious this week, stop and look for something specific to be grateful for, the way the sermon connected gratitude-searching to how God redeems suffering.
• If you have been avoiding talking about your faith because of fear, let Paul's example in prison prompt you to say one true thing about Jesus to someone around you this week.
• Pay attention to your own motives when you share the gospel or serve at church, and ask yourself honestly whether it is coming from love or from something self-serving.
• Instead of spending energy criticizing how another church or Christian is doing things, redirect that attention to your own theology and how you are actually living it out.
• Attend Revival to Rodeo before it ends Monday, since the sermon pointed to it as a direct way to be part of the advance of the gospel to people who do not normally come to church.

Talk about it

1. The preacher said Paul's daily prayer as a Pharisee included thanking God he was not a Gentile, a slave, or a woman, and then the first three converts in Philippi were exactly those people. Where have you seen God quietly changing someone's assumptions about who the gospel is for, including your own?
2. The preacher said Paul's attitude about being in prison gave other believers courage to speak the word without fear. Can you think of a time when watching someone else handle a hard situation well changed how you faced something yourself?
3. Paul says some people were preaching Christ out of envy and selfish ambition, and his response was basically, either way Christ is being proclaimed and I rejoice. How easy or hard is it for you to get to that place, and what gets in the way?
4. The preacher drew a contrast between Paul and Hamlet, saying Paul chose to remain in life not for his own sake but for the progress and joy of others in the gospel. What does it look like practically for someone in this congregation to make that same kind of other-focused choice right now?
5. The preacher mentioned a pattern he had read about in art history, where an artist's horizon line drops lower and lower over a lifetime, leaving more sky, and he connected that to Paul boasting less in himself and more in Christ as the years went on. Where do you see yourself on that kind of progression, and what tends to push the horizon line back up?