Mount Isa Baptist Church

Why Go On Living?

The Apostle Paul is wrestling with the question of whether it would be better to go on living or to die.

In the passage we read: “20 Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death ... 22 Yet what shall l choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two – life or death”

It's a good thing to think about, but we need to realize that there is a right way and a wrong way to look at it. Paul's dilemma was which of two wonderful options would be better. This is an impossible decision! How many of you would like to be like Paul - struggling to figure out which would be better? Life or death, and you can't figure it out because both options, if we are like Paul, should be incredibly attractive. You can't wait for that day when you die and go to be with Jesus, but in the meantime, you are full of joy in this life. The Apostle Paul was a man dominated and driven by the Lord Jesus Christ. He had one purpose in life, and that was to glorify and exalt Jesus Christ in everything he did or said. His single passion was to glorify the Lord Jesus in life and in death. I wonder if I had to ask you what your one single passion is, what response I would get? Paul had developed a philosophy of life with Christ at the centre of it all. For Paul, life was Christ, and death was more of Christ. He found the Lord Jesus sufficient for every facet of life and knew He would be sufficient for the final act, which is death. By faith, he found Jesus Christ sufficient for living even in the most difficult circumstances he found himself in. Verse 21 begins “For to me” -- Paul is giving his personal testimony and philosophy of life. What Paul is saying, from the depth of his soul, from his inner-most-being, “Regardless of how anyone else is living, for me; regardless of what my friends are doing, for me. For me to live is Christ, whether anyone else lives for Christ, whether everyone else lives for Christ.” It does not matter either way. “Regardless of what the world says, regardless of what the circumstances are that threaten me, “for me to live is Christ.”” When he says, “to live” it is not referring to just a mere, empty, hollow existence, but for me to live, to truly live as God intended me to live, for me to live with singular purpose at the highest level, “for me to live is Christ.”. Jesus is the passion of my life. Jesus is the pursuit of my life. Jesus is the reason for my life. Paul is saying, “The sum and substance of my life is the Lord Jesus. The alpha and the omega and every letter in between, every moment of every day, the very essence of my being is Christ.” Paul's entire life and reason for living is summed up in this one word, “Christ.” Can you say that of ourselves? Is that your testimony?

But he goes on in the passage and says: “And to die is gain” - No philosophy of life is complete without an explanation of death. How we view death will affect how we live life. Because death for Paul meant a face-to-face relationship with Jesus Christ. That One who he had loved and served by faith would then be a total reality to his sight in glory. Paul is not looking primarily at the act of death but the result of the consequences of death. Death will usher us into the presence of Christ forever. Death for Paul simply meant more of Christ. For Christians, death is not an ending but a beginning. It is breaking camp and going home to be with Christ. Death sets us free and takes us home to be with Christ. Paul personally was torn between dying and gloriously possessing Christ or living and gloriously fact that he could continue bearing fruit for Christ. He says it is “gain”; it is “profit” for him. That should be the Christian attitude towards death. He says I want to depart and “BE WITH CHRIST” for THAT is MUCH, MORE, BETTER! See, it is JESUS HIMSELF who is the goal; it is the LORD who makes heaven “much, more, better.” Although Paul was torn between heaven and earth, he was content to serve wherever the Lord desired. He wanted his life to magnify

Christ, whether in life or death. Do we share that same desire? Do we strive to magnify the Lord Jesus Christ through our daily lives? Can we say here this morning, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain?”