Philippians 1:12-24 But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; 13 so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; 14 and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: 16 the one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: 17 but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. 18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. 19 For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 20 according to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: 24 nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.

Who Are You Living For?

What are you living for? Some people are just marking time. They are not living – they are just surviving. Life is a gift from God, and every day should be lived on purpose with God.

I don’t believe that the year 2020 is an accident, or that it is a coincidence that the Covid-19 virus has consumed us as a nation this year. The numbers 20/20, separated with a slash, are a measure of vision. As a little child my vision – that is, my eyesight – was very poor. I am legally blind without my glasses. But with eyeglasses my sight is 20/20, which is clear and normal vision for a human.

The year 2020 has been a vision check for our nation. Too many people do not have 20/20 vision, and even more have poor spiritual vision. As this year began with the Coronavirus, we went into a shutdown in nearly every state. Suddenly people heard something they always knew. We all will one day cease to be on this earth. That is the nature of life. No one lives forever on this earth. No one. Those who are Christians believe what Jesus told us:

John 11:25-26 … Jesus said … I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Everyone physically dies. We have known this forever. But we do not place the truth in perspective in our lives. Everyone dies – but we think it will always be someone else. When we pass someone on the highway we are but 2 feet from death. If that person approaching you is texting and distracted, nothing stops them from coming into your lane and abruptly into your life. The Bible tells us:

Hebrews 9:27 … it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

We all have an appointment with death. We do not know when that is, but we know that it is coming. The writer of Hebrews went on to say:

Hebrews 9:28 … so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many …

Death is coming. Staying at home will not stop that. Death is inevitable. Hiding out in a basement will not correct that. We all have an appointment with death. However, if you have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, He has promised that your soul will continue on into eternity with Him.

Life Without Christ Is Not Life At All

Life with Christ is a daily challenge, but life without Christ is a life without purpose. The Apostle Paul was imprisoned for preaching the Gospel of Jesus. The world does not like the Gospel of Jesus. The worlds loves a modified gospel (little ‘g’) of jesus (little ‘j’), but not the true Gospel. The True Gospel says that we are to REPENT:

Acts 2:38 Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

REPENT means to turn away from the world. BELIEVE means to turn toward Jesus. The Apostles preached to both Jews and Gentiles:

Acts 20:21 … repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Christ is a person who has been saved on purpose by God. A Christian is a person who has purpose because of God. The Christian is in the world, but not part of the world. The thought that a Christian can be saved, then go back to living his or her life without regard to the Lord, is utterly foreign to the Scripture. We who are Christians love everyone, and share the Gospel of Christ with everyone.

But we are not part of this world.

The stepbrother of Jesus wrote:

James 4:4 … know ye not that the friendship of the world is {to be the enemy of} God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Christians are members of Christ’s Kingdom. We are citizens of Heaven FIRST and FOREMOST. We live for and in God, and to the glory of Christ. Jesus warned us that living as Christians would bring us the animosity of the world. Jesus said:

Luke 6:22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.

This is the place that Paul was at. He had been living his life on purpose, serving the Kingdom of God while here on this earth. Every Christian is called to this place of service. We are to be “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:20). Jesus saved us, and left us in this world so that we can lead others to Jesus. But doing this comes at a price.

Philippians 1:12-13 But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; 13 so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;

Paul has been captured by the Roman Empire, and is on his way to meet with Caesar Nero. Paul was imprisoned between two guards, and headed toward a certain death. Death was coming, rapidly coming for Paul. But Paul was not complaining. Why? Because Paul realized that each day is a gift from God. Paul realized that he was at peace with God because of his faith in Christ. When Paul looked at his impending death he was not frightened, but exhilarated! He said:

the things which happened unto me have fallen out
rather unto the furtherance of the gospel

What were the “things” that Paul faced? He didn’t name them, but I can guarantee they were not good. Paul suffered. He suffered terribly. In another place Paul wrote:

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10 always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

Paul was not discouraged, but encouraged. His spiritual vision was 20/20. He was not focused on comfort and safety, but on glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul knew that living for Jesus would alienate him from the world he once knew, but he wanted others to enjoy the life in Christ that he had. Paul said, in effect:

“There is a purpose in my bondage, and that that the Gospel of the Kingdom be spread throughout Rome”.

Was Paul going to be beheaded? Yes! But before he died, Paul would be able to spread of Christ in the innermost Palace of Rome. Gentiles who never heard of Jesus would hear of Him Who died for us all. Paul lived his life on mission for the Master. Beloved, we who are saved are to do the same. We are not to spend our days watching the television, dreading the boogie man we call the Coronavirus. No! The trials that have come on this country, on the Church, and on the Christian have come not because some leader, either Democratic or republican, failed to protect us. No! The trials that have come are here for the furtherance of the Gospel. The Apostle said:

Philippians 1:14-15 … and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will:

As Paul looked confidently to the Lord to fulfill His purpose in him, believers around Paul were emboldened by his example. Christian, others are watching you. Look up! Paul’s willingness to stand up for Christ even when the state was against him caused other preachers to stand up. Some of these preachers were false teachers whereas others were sincere lovers of the Lord. Nonetheless this did not discourage Paul. He said:

Philippians 1:16-18 … one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: 17 but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. 18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.

Paul was not concerned of the motives of the other preachers. He was just happy and blessed that Jesus was being preached. God told Ananias when Paul was knocked down on the Damascus Road:

Acts 9:15 … Go thy way: for {Paul} is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: 16 for I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.

Philippians 1:19-21 I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 20 according to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain

God had a purpose for Paul’s life, just as He has a purpose for yours. Paul kept his eyes on the Lord, and on the purpose that God had for him.

The More You Live On Purpose For God,
The Less You Worry About Death

Illustrate Where is your focus? I have always been somewhat afraid of heights. This is interesting, because I am an Air Force retiree, and was often exposed to heights. Our electronic system had a piece of equipment that was in the tail section, some 40 feet off of the ground. To reach it, you had to use a B-21 lift, which was a hydraulic platform made of extruded steel. I always dreaded having to change out this part, as I had to be 40 feet in the air on a lift that wobbled and swayed in the breeze. Do you know how I got through it? I focused on the mission at hand, and rested in the assurance that the lift was more than adequate to keep me in the air.

Paul focused on the Christian mission. The Christian is to live FOR CHRIST. We who are saved belong to God.

1 Corinthians 6:20 … ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

We who are saved are the prized purchased possessions of God. The Holy Spirit of God lives in us. We are not our own. We are to live for the Lord Who saved us. If we live, we are Christ’s. But if we die, it is all good, for it is nothing but gain!

The purposeless life is the miserable life. The lock-downs that we have gone through with the Coronavirus have actually done more harm, than good. David Deavel a senior contributor the The Imaginative Conservative notes:

“Dr. Mike deBoisblanc of John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, California, told reporters that suicide had vastly increased. “We’ve never seen numbers like this, in such a short period of time,” he said. “I mean we’ve seen a year’s worth of suicide attempts in the last four weeks.”[5] Two months later, in a webinar for the Buck Institute, CDC Director Robert Redfield told listeners that when it came to high school students, “We’re seeing, sadly, far greater suicides now than we are deaths from COVID. We’re seeing far greater deaths from drug overdose that are above excess that we had as background than we are seeing the deaths from COVID.”[6]

The Washington Post, one of the cheerleaders of shutdowns, reported in July that suspected overdoses jumped nationally by 18% in March, 29% in April, and 42% in May of this year. The Post noted that the reasons for the spike include not only the joblessness and isolation that were created but also the fact that “many treatment centers, drug courts and recovery programs have been forced to close or significantly scale back during shutdowns. With plunging revenue for services and little financial relief from the government, some now teeter on the brink of financial collapse.”[7] Economist Charles Steele has suggested the excess deaths this year due to suicide and overdose could be over 70,000.[8]”

{5} Amy Hollyfield, “Suicides on the rise amid stay-at-home order, Bay Area medical professionals say” (May 2020).

{6} COVID Webinar Series at https://www.buckinstitute.org/covid-webinar-series-transcript-robert-redfield-md/

{7} William Wan and Heather Long, “‘Cries for help’: Drug overdoses are soaring during the coronavirus pandemic,” The Washington Post (July 2020).

{8} Michael Austin, “Study: 111,000 Children Will Starve to Death Because of Economic Shutdowns,” The Western Journal (July 2020).

The Apostle did not spend his time worrying about what might be, but instead focused on what God promised. The Apostle John, martyred by exile to the Island of Patmos, declared:

1 John 2:22-25 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. 23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: [but] he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. 24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.

God promised those who received Christ as Savior and Lord that we have eternal life. The Apostle Paul told the disciple Titus:

Titus 1:2-3 … in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; 3 but hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior;

What God has said is true, is true. Let us keep our focus on our Jesus, and our minds dwell on His purpose in us. King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived according to Scripture, said:

Ecclesiastes 7:1 A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.

We can all understand why a “good name” would be valuable. If people do not trust your character, you won’t get far in this life. But how can the day of one’s death be BETTER than the day of one’s birth? It is because, if you know the Lord Jesus as Savior, death is a promotion, not a demotion.

Philippians 1:22-24 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: 24 nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.

Paul was not concerned about dying. He actually couldn’t wait to get Heaven where our Lord is. Paul would have understood that old hymn we often insincerely sing:

This world is not my home

I’m just a-passing through

My treasures are laid up

Somewhere beyond the blue.

The angels beckon me

From heaven’s open door

And I can’t feel at home

In this world anymore.

Oh Lord, you know

I have no friend like you

If heaven’s not my home

Then Lord what will I do?

The angels beckon me

From heaven’s open door

And I can’t feel at home

In this world anymore.

When I was in the Air Force, the hardest assignment I ever had was to spend 14 months in Kunsan, Korea. It was hard because I had to be separated from my family that whole time. One thing kept me going throughout that tedious tour. My wife sent recordings every week, sounds from home. I kept my focus on home, until the day I was home.

Christian, where is your focus? Where is your home? The life you live now is so very temporal. “What is your life? It is a vapor, a fog that vanishes with the rising of the sun” (James 4:14). This life is fleeting. The next life is eternal. Keep your eyes on the eternal. Keep your eyes on Jesus. The Apostle ends with these words, and so do I:

Philippians 1:27-30 Only let your {way of life} be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; 28 and in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. 29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; 30 having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

Do not be afraid, Pilgrim. We are on the road home. Let us look to Jesus! May God touch your hearts with His Word and His Spirit. Amen and Amen.