To Live is Christ

BY D. JAMES KENNEDY

Philippians 1:21

The text for this message Philippians 1:21 is a verse of rare beauty. It is like a precious diamond, the effulgence of whose radiance dazzles the mind. It is like a drop of pure distilled essence, the bouquet of whose fragrance fills all our heart.

I would like to examine this verse with you and hope that as a result of this study you, like the Apostle Paul, will be able to honestly declare before God, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

There are three primary words to consider: "me", "live" and "Christ". The two carbon electrodes in an arc lamp, when brought together, produce a light of intense brightness. And so, when the "me" and the "Christ" are brought together they produce a brilliant light, which the Bible calls "life". The Scripture says, "In him

[Christ] was life; and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4). The "me" and the "Christ" are the only two things that produce anything worthy of the name of "life."

No substitution. All too often, however, we tend to change one of those electrodes from "Christ" to "pleasure". "For me to live is pleasure," cry a whole host and myriad of voices nowadays. And a great many, many others say, "For me, to live is money" or "For me, to live is fame." These people spend most of their waking hours and their energy and thoughts trying to gain wealth or to get to the top of the ladder.

Most of them fail to reach their goals if only because they always want just a little bit more. As a result, they end up in frustration. But even those who somehow have made it find themselves saying, "Is this all there is?" Like many who have risen to the pinnacle of success, they discover that for them life is not worth living, and they end up taking their own lives.

No, if we want to live the abundant life that God wants His children to live, then there is no substitute for Christ. This is especially true when we take into consideration the second part of the statementto die is gain.

You see, unless you come to the point where you can say, "For me to live is Christ," you will never be able to say, "For me to die is gain." Death will inevitably be an unutterable loss and tragedy.

TO LIVE IS CHRIST

What specifically did Paul mean when he declared that for him to live is Christ?

Parent of new life. To start with, Christ was the parent of the new, spiritual and immortal life that he had. Every true believer must begin by becoming born again.

In an interview with a newspaper reporter, I was asked my opinion of the so-called "born-again" type of Christians. I got the distinct impression that he, like so many other people, thought that "born again" Christians are some sort of sect! I told him that indeed was not the case. I told him that as far as I knew, there were no other kind of Christians in the world but "born again" Christians.

Christ came to give us a second birth. In that midnight interview with Nicodemus, He said, "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again" (John 3:7). There is no question about the matter. Jesus said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). It could not have been stated more forcefully. We must be born again.

My friend, can you say that Jesus Christ is the great divine parent of a new life that you have received? Can you say that you have been made over again by His Spirit so that the life you live is the life of Christ and that for you to live is Christ? If not, for you to die will not be gain.

But the good news is that you can still experience that new transforming life by trusting in Christ. The day of grace is still open.

So, if you do not know for sure that you have eternal life, I urge you this very day to bow your head and humbly and sincerely ask the Lord Jesus to come into your life. Only after you have become saved will you be able to say, "For me to live is Christ because He is the heavenly parent of my new spiritual life."

Exemplar of life's pattern. When Paul said that for him to live is Christ, he was declaring that Christ was also the model of the life that he was to live; that the Lord Jesus had shown him what that life is like by His own life pattern.

Peter also speaks of the fact that Christ has left us an example in I Peter 2:21. The Greek word he uses for "example" is the one used in Greek schools for teaching students to write the alphabet. The teacher would write out the alphabet on one line and the student would try to copy it as closely as possible on the line below. And it is in this sense that Christ is our Exemplar. We need to imitate the pattern of righteous living that He has set forth before us.

To follow His example, we must spend time in His Word daily, ever desirous of seeking His will and obeying His commands. If we are going to be changed into the image of Jesus Christ, we must let that Word thoroughly soak into our lives.

Source of divine power. Thirdly, "For me to live is Christ" means that I depend on the power of Christ to enable me to live a life like His. If we trust in Him and lean on Him, He will give us a new power to overcome sin and live a life that is pleasing to God. How vast that power is, and yet how often we Christians fail to draw on it.

During the Depression, there was a family who lived on a small farm in Texas. The drought was upon the land and the crops were very meager. For years, they barely eked out a subsistence living. Sometimes their meal consisted of nothing but watery cabbage soup. Besides the lack of food, they were beset by acute anguish and anxiety. They constantly worried about what the future would bring.

Then one day an oil company came by and made some explorations. They drilled and discovered a huge reservoir of oil underneath this family's land. Overnight they were multimillionaires. But the interesting thing is: the oil was there all of the time! The family just did not know it nor did they call upon it.

If you have trusted in Christ, there is a great reservoir of power available to you by faith. Paul knew that power when he told the Philippians, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (4:13). By recognizing your weakness and by drawing on this strength of Christ, you, too, can say, "For me to live is Christ."

Giver of godly passion. Fourthly, Christ's passion for the lost was the passion of Paul. Jesus came into the world to save sinners and that had become the great passion of Paul as well.

Romans 5:5 says, "God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Does that heartbeat of Christ beat within your bosom? Can you say that what you are concerned for day after day is the salvation, the eternal redemption, of lost men and women?

Unless you come to the point where you can say, "For me to live is Christ," you will never be able to say, "For 

I am afraid some of you have spoken to no one about Christ this week, just as you spoke to no one last week, or last month, or last year. Indeed, some of you may have lived a whole life as a churchgoer and yet not one single soul is alive in the kingdom of God because of your having shared with them the glorious Gospel. You cannot possibly say, "For me to live is Christ," because Christ's passion and Christ's purpose are totally foreign to you.

TO DIE IS GAIN

"For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." If Christ is the parent, the pattern, the power, and the passion of our lives, indeed, to die will be nought but gain. For if "to live is Christ," then "to die" is simply more of Christ and greater blessings as we come to meet Him face to face and experience that joy of which this world has never conceived.

Case history. In 1970 a motion picture called "Like A Mighty Army" was made about this church. Phyllis Robinson, a beautiful young lady, portrayed my wife in that film. During the filming we had the opportunity to share the gospel with her, and she invited Christ to come into her life to become her Lord and Savior. She has been walking with Him since.

Several years ago, she was stricken with peritonitis. The doctors thought she was going to die. In fact, clinically, she did die for a number of minutes; her heart stopped. When she was resuscitated she reported that she had found herself in Heaven! She said the amazing thing was the joy that seemed to permeate every pore of her body and it suffused the muscles and filled the very marrow of her bones until finally it penetrated into every single cell of her being.

She was so filled with ecstasy, she said, that all of the riches in this world and even her own child, would not have been sufficient inducement for her to come back, had
she been given the choice. Because she had seen what eye hath not seen, ear had not heard, nor has ever entered into the mind of manthat which God has prepared for them that love Him and trust in His Son.

Unspeakable gain. My friend, if for you to live is Christ, then for you to die is unspeakable gain. What a glory that will be to enter into that land where that slack-jawed skull never smiles into the windows of the homes of the redeemed, of the immortal ones. You will know a joy you have never known in this life. Where there has been the dimness of tears, there will shine forth the brightness of a holy joy.

You will be rejoined to all the believers whom you have loved and restored to all that you have lost. You will stand plumed in the crest of triumph, full in the undimmed blaze of Emmanuel's smile. You will walk through the meadows of flowers that never fade; alongside of rivers whose waters forever sparkle; near fountains whose spray is crystal diamonds; through bowers whose leaves are never seared; and through gardens whose fragrance never surfeits.

Face to face. You will walk with the Lord Himself in that day beside those rivers which go laughing on their way, and those fountains which dance in the mellow day. You will think back on Calvary and recall in memory's eye the Victim on that bloody Cross. But you will now lift up your eyes upon the Victor's blazing crown and you will know what no eye hath seen or ear hath heard, in senses heightened beyond anything you have dreamed of.

You will see colors never before seen in this world, and hear sounds and harmonies never before perceived.

You will break forth in hallelujahs and Hosannas to Him that cometh in the name of the Highest, to Him who is the Conqueror of death, to Him who is the giver of immortal life. My friends, you will then, and only then, know in full the meaning of our text: "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." o

Dr. D. James Kennedy is pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, 5555 North Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308.

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