Kaleo San Diego Church > Sermons > For me to live is Christ

For me to live is Christ

Adriel Sanchez
Aug 8, 2010
Series: A Community of Unceasing Worship

I believe this passage; especially verse 21 is very familiar to Christians. “For me to live is Christ” is somewhat of a mantra among evangelicals. We can say things like, “I’m not living for the world! Yeah right! For me to live is Christ.” But it’s one of those things that we can say as Christians without really recognizing what we’re saying. Because of this, I want to go beneath the surface of this text and answer the question for you, what does it mean when Paul says, “For me to live is Christ,” and then, what does it mean for you and I?

It definitely sounds cool to say, “For me to live is Christ!” but what exactly does Christ life/living look like, and why is it even important? That’s what we’re going to determine this morning!

Context: In order to see Paul’s train of thought more clearly, let’s look at the context around our text. After an encouraging introduction to the Philippians in verses 1-11, Paul begins talking about his present situation, and it doesn’t sound like a good one. In fact, he’s in jail. But he has not been imprisoned because of a crime that he’s committed, he’s in prison because of the Gospel. He’s in prison because of Jesus. Therefore, in spite of these circumstances, Paul is stoked. He says in verses 12-13, “…My circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.” (v. 12b-13)

Because of Paul’s circumstances, people are encouraged and emboldened to proclaim the Gospel, but… he explains in just a couple of verses that not all of them are doing it for the right reasons. Some people are preaching the gospel out of envy and strife (v. 15) and some people are proclaiming Christ out of selfish ambition (v. 17). This however doesn’t dampen Paul’s Spirit; he says in verse 18 that he rejoices that Christ is being preached, that people are hearing about Jesus! You see, Paul’s goal is to make Christ known throughout the world. He is all about Christ being made famous regardless of the circumstances so he’s able to write, “I will not be put to shame in anything, but with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.” (v. 20)

It’s in light of this firm conviction that Paul has about the furtherance of the Gospel, and the exaltation of Christ, that he writes the text we have before us this morning. You could probably say that verse 21 is somewhat climactic and even comparative because he just finished talking about other people who when they preach Christ out of selfish ambition, for self-centered, self-exalting reasons… but Paul says in our text “For me to live is Christ…”

He’s emphatic about it, he’s saying this is what it means for me to live, this is what life is for me, it’s about Christ, it’s about Jesus. It’s not my own ambition, it’s not envy or strife, it’s Jesus. Jesus is what life is about for the apostle Paul and I want to give us a clear picture of what that looks like. What does someone’s life look like who is consumed by Jesus? “For me to live is Christ” is more than just a catchy phrase, it’s got depth, meaning, meat. It can be seen, it can be observed, and it can be demonstrated through the way we act.

So what does Paul mean when he says, “For me to live is Christ?” I want us to get the answer straight from the text. I want the Bible to speak to us and tell us what Christ life looks like, and I think there’s a sweet clue here that doesn’t require us to look far. “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. [Now check out what Paul says life looks like for him in the next verse (v. 22)] But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me…” So Paul is saying, if I’m going to live on this earth, it’s Christ, for me to live is Christ and if I am to live on in the flesh then that means that there will be fruitful labor taking place. There is a sense then in which, “For me to live is Christ” is connected to, or coupled with, labor. For Paul, living is Christ, and that displays itself through a laboriously fruitful life, a life of service.

It’s interesting to note that Paul says fruitful labor. Just about anyone can labor, but only God can cause us to labor fruitfully. There are those who labor in all sorts of ways. I know many people who labor very hard, who labor daily, but who labor in such a way that it’s not Christ Life Labor. My mother is one of the hardest working women I know. She raised my brother, my sister and I by herself and because she was a single parent she was forced to labor in an unnatural way. Now I am very grateful for her labor, and she was a great means of God’s grace in my life, but her labor was gospel-less because she’s not a believer, and therefore it was a Christ-less labor. Christians can also labor like this. Any labor that you’re able to do in your own strength and which does not depend upon Christ’s strength; will not end in a spiritually fruitful manner because spiritual fruit cannot be produced by fleshly strength.

Fruitful labor is that labor which is worked out or produced by the Spirit of God. It is a work of God’s Spirit, within God’s children, and I think that it’s safe to say that the kind of fruitful labor Paul is talking about, is Gospel Labor. The type of work Paul is describing to us in verse 22 is centered on and birthed out of the Gospel. Now this is easy to see in the book of Philippians. We just talked about the context of our passage, what came before our text, and you can see Paul’s labor is not just any labor, its Gospel labor. It’s purposed on the exaltation of Christ through the power and proclamation of the Gospel (that’s why he’s so stoked about the Gospel being preached regardless of the motives in verses 15-18). In just a few verses Paul says to the Philippians, “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together (do you hear the labor?) for the faith of the Gospel.” (v. 27)

I’m trying to argue that “For me to live is Christ” looks like fruitful Gospel labor. And so it would be good to ask ourselves this morning if that’s what our lives display. When we examine ourselves, can we see our lives marked by a laboring for the furtherance of the Gospel? I don’t mean just among non-Christians (although that is really important), but are we laboring to come into deeper Gospel waters as Christians, here in this place with one another? We’ve got to linger in the Gospel to be lavished upon by the Gospel, if we’re going to do Gospel labor. And if for us to live is Christ, then we must recognize that our lives will be marked by work for the Gospel.

So then, to live = Christ, a life in Christ, through Christ, the essence of which is Christ and that life = or looks like labor and that labor = fruitful Gospel labor. Now what this looks like practically will become even more clear as we continue on in our passage, Paul writes in verses 23-24, “But I am hard-pressed from both, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.”

Paul is torn you see, because If he dies, if he’s martyred for the sake of the Gospel, he gets to depart and be with Jesus. And if you know Jesus, you know that being with Jesus is better than being with anyone else. Paul is weighing in his mind, laboring for Jesus here on earth or living with Jesus in heaven, and its doubtless which one is better in Paul’s mind. He says being with Christ is “very much better.”

However, Paul is choosing what he says is not very much better. And it’s not that it’s not very much better because it’s no good. In fact, what he’s doing with his time on earth is the absolute best thing he could be doing with it. But when you compare anything with being with Jesus, standing with Him, or bowed down before Him, it all pales in comparison, nothing is better. It reminds me of the lyrics to this song we used to sing at the church I came to Christ in which started off by saying, “Down at your feet Oh Lord, is the most high place!” That’s why for Paul to die is gain because it means being with Jesus.

But…Paul chooses life and for Paul to live is Christ, which is ultimately more beneficial for the Philippian church. And because Paul is convinced of this, he can write in the next verse, “I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith.”

Remaining on in the flesh, continuing on this planet is more necessary for the sake of the Philippian church. So please keep following me here, for Paul to live is Christ and a Christ Life is a laborious and fruitful life in Gospel service which is beneficial to others, namely in this context the people of God, the church and the Philippians.

Gospel labor, you see, is external. It is others focused, namely the people of God. (1) For Paul to live is Christ, (2) for Paul to live is fruitful labor, (3) for Paul to live is more necessary for the Philippians, (4) for Paul to live means a working with and for the Philippians, which will help them progress, which will increase and strengthen their joy in the faith. Do you see how all of these are connected? Most people have an easy time saying, “For me to live is Christ!” but have a very difficult time saying, “For me to live is Gospel Labor which is spent on others!” My friends, as Jesus said, “These things ought not to be so.” Because if for us to live really is Christ – then our life will be consumed by those things which Christ is passionate about, and Christ is a good husband who is passionate about His bride, so to live=Christ=Gospel service to the bride of Christ.

Jesus loves His bride. “For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.” (v. 1:9) If you are filled with the affection of Christ, it will cause you to love that which He loves, and it gave Paul a longing for God’s people. Paul says later to the Philippians in 2:20, “For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare (why) for they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.” Paul is saying, “Why is no one concerned for your welfare? Because they aren’t looking after the interests of Christ.” But for Paul, to live is Christ and because of this Paul labors fruitfully in the Gospel towards the people of God.

Now I want to make another point here. This type of labor is life consuming; it will take everything you have. This is because the way Paul labored and in which we must labor is modeled after Christ. He’s the source the example. Spurgeon has a great quote on this; he explains some of what Paul is getting at here when he writes, “[The apostle meant] that the fashion of his life was Christ. I suppose that every man living has a model by which he endeavors to shape his life. When we start in life, we generally select some person, or persons, whose combined virtues shall be to us the mirror of perfection. "Now," says Paul, "if you ask me after what fashion I mould my life, and what is the model by which I would sculpture my being, I tell you, it is Christ. I have no fashion, no form, no model by which to shape my being, except the Lord Jesus Christ.” If Christ is to be our model, then we quickly realize that what has been set before us is not something we can formulate and forge through clever planning and a weekly gathering. It’s a lifestyle, it’s “for me to live is Christ.” And if to live is Christ then it will mean service, labor and a giving of ourselves that is modeled after how Christ served, labored and gave Himself. If we do that – it will cost us everything.

This is simply what Jesus calls His followers to though, right? Jesus said in the Gospels, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?” (Luke 9:23-25)

This is why “for me to live is Christ” is so important. Because if for me to live is Adriel, or for me to live is football, or for me to live is money or whatever, I’m in deep trouble. I will have forfeited my life. I may find that I have a pretty relaxing, pretty chill life and then realize in the end that I really had no life at all. That spiritually I was empty. Rather, our lives should be lost in Jesus.

Our lives should be so wrapped up in Jesus that we serve like He served. We’ve denied ourselves, we’ve abandoned self-love and embraced a deeper and more sustaining love. It’s Gospel love. So we ought to be able to say like the apostle Paul does in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me”

This is what it is to live the life of Christ, and it will be costly to our selfish natures. You might find yourself even now thinking, “Man there is no way I want to do what he’s talking about. Lose my identity? Be all about Jesus? Serve like he served?” But the sweet thing is, if you do what Christ is calling us to, if you labor in this way, it will be the best labor you could ever do here on earth. In fact, the labor is so good and necessary that the only thing that is better than it is being with Jesus in heaven. Are you partaking in this labor? Is this what your life looks like? Is for you to live, Christ? Don’t waste your life watching television all night; let yourself be poured out for God’s eternal purposes.

Maybe you’re thinking, “Yeah Adriel, Paul was an apostle.” For him to live was Christ, for me it’s the 9-5, it’s the family, it’s the girlfriend, it’s the Chargers. I’m no apostle; I’ve been called to something different. This type of radical life isn’t for me.” Listen to what Paul tells the Philippian church in the following chapters, “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.” (v. 3:17) and in verse 4:9, “The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” God, through the pen of the apostle Paul is calling all of us to be able to say, “For me to live is Christ!” and a true life for Christ looks like being about the things Jesus is about, and Jesus is about His people. Christ’s life was a life of external, radical service, and if for us to live is Christ then we too will live lives of external radical service. In just a few verses, Philippians 2:5-8, Paul says, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Jesus became obedient to the point of death upon the cross, a death which as Ephesians 5 says, was for His bride. And so now we too, get to follow in His footsteps and give our lives in Gospel labor to the people of God, and to those who are still outside of Christ.

Gospel: Now let me say this, what we’re being called to; what Paul is encouraging us to imitate him in, is impossible for us in our own strength. Anyone who says “For me to live is Christ!” but then operates in their own power has no idea about what it means to live like they claim to live, because operating in your own strength will never give you the capacity to do what God calls you to do.

This message has been especially sobering to me. I will openly admit that what we’re talking about here is something many of us, including myself, often fail in. As a young preacher there are many times when I’ll finish preaching a sermon, I’ll go home, I’ll sit down, and I’ll just want to weep because I think about all of the things I’ve said and how short I’ve often fallen from many of the things I’ve talked about so boldly. Let me confess to you guys now my struggle. I think about living a life for others, for people who I don’t care much for, for individuals who I don’t have a lot in common with and immediately a monstrous selfishness begins to start brewing within me. That is why it’s not a surprise to me that Paul could tell the Philippians in 2:21 that all seek their own, and not Christ’s interests, because to be interested in what Jesus is interested in, to live in such a way that we could say, “For me to live is Christ,” means doing something impossible. It means going against our very nature to be ahead of everyone else and to have the attitude in ourselves which was also in Christ Jesus – and that’s not natural. It’s spiritual, it’s supernatural.

What does this supernatural work look like? It looks like looking at Jesus and deriving our ability, our strength, not from within – but from without, from what He already did. For Paul to live is Christ, and that life was marked by Gospel labor towards others and Paul could do this because of the way Christ lived His life for others.

But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:25-28)

“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)

I think about later in John’s Gospel, where Jesus gets up from the Passover meal, lays aside His garment and girds Himself with a towel, and then begins to wash the disciples’ feet. Here’s God incarnate, doing the work of a slave. And when He’s all done He tells His disciples, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.” (John 13:12-15)

Do you see why to live as unto Christ means living a life spent laboring for others in the Gospel? Because when we live as unto Christ, we’re modeling our lives after His. We’re doing what He did, by His strength and through His work and so it’s literally all Christ. As we meditate on the fact that Christ came to serve sinful people, people who were uninterested in Him, people who did not respect Him, but were His enemies at birth, people who rebelled against Him, I believe the Spirit of God will begin to birth in us a supernatural affection for the Gospel and for others. So that what we’re called to do becomes less about what we do and more about what He’s already done.

Jesus laid down His life for you. We were like sheep, going astray, not caring about Him, not focused on Him but He searched for us like the amazingly beautiful shepherd that He is, and He’s found us here this morning. We were dirty, covered in sin and so He left paradise with the Father and came to earth, clothed in flesh so that He could be the sacrifice that was necessary to wash away our straying and our rebellion. He loved you with a love that was so potent, even though you were not worthy of being loved, you were His enemies. But, “God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

This is an all-consuming initiative taking a dividing walls breaking type of love. And since Christ’s life was characterized by this type of love, since this is what we see as we peer into the life of our Savior, then if we are to say alongside of the apostle Paul, “For me to live is Christ.” Then it means our lives will be characterized by this type of love as well, especially for the people of God.

I want to leave you with a poem, written by Charles Studd who labored his life away on the mission field. He wrote a poem to remind himself of the importance of living his life for and in Christ. The final verse reads:

“Only one life, yes only one,
Now let me say, “Thy will be done”;
And when at last I’ll hear the call,
I know I’ll say 'twas worth it all”;
Only one life, 'twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.