Wednesday
Evening Bible Study
October 2, 2002
Introduction
Paul is writing to a church that was established in difficult times. Paul
himself is in the middle of a hugely difficult time.
And oddly enough, the theme of this little letter is “joy”.
This has been an interesting week for me. I had helped a couple renew their
wedding vows on Saturday. On Monday I did my first funeral. Today I did my
second funeral of the week. On Saturday I have another wedding.
It’s been an interesting time sandwiching the joyful events of life with
the realities of death.
In a way, you might think that these two types of events are completely
opposite of each other. But in an odd sort of way, they’re not all that
different.
I can’t help but see some interesting parallels in the passage ahead of us
tonight.
We ended last week with Paul talking about how he was anticipating that he
would be delivered from his current situation of being in chains. He knew he
would be delivered one way or another, and it would happen because of the
prayers of the Philippian saints as well as the help from the Holy Spirit.
(Phil 1:19-20 KJV) 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
to live – zao – to live, breathe, be among the
living (not lifeless, not dead); to enjoy real life; to have true life and
worthy of the name; active, blessed, endless in the kingdom of God; to live
i.e. pass life, in the manner of the living and acting. Present, active, infinitive;
to dzen (the actual Greek phrase)
- “the act of living” (Robertson)
to die – apothnesko – to
die; of the natural death of man; of the violent death of man or animals; to
perish by means of something
gain – kerdos – gain, advantage; Old word for
any gain or profit, interest on money
We’ll talk about the “gain” later on …
(Phil 1:21 NLT) For to me, living is for Christ, and
dying is even better.
(Phil 1:21 ICB) To me the only important thing about
living is Christ. And even death would be profit for me.
(Wuest) for, so far as I am concerned, to be living, both as to my
very existence and my experience, [that is] Christ, and to have died, that
would be a gain.
(Phil 1:21 Phillips) For living to me means simply
"Christ", and if I die I should merely gain more of him.
Lesson
What are you living for?
God’s desire is that we have the same kind of heart that Paul had. God’s
desire is that we learn to make Jesus the central focus of our life.
Sometimes we tend to make things be the center of our lives, like a new car
…
Illustration
Dumb and Dumber With Dynamite
A guy buys a brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee for $30,000, and has $400
monthly payments. He and a friend go duck hunting and of course, all the lakes
are frozen. These two Atomic Brains go to the lake with the guns, the dog, the
beer, and of course, the new vehicle.
They drive out onto the lake ice and get ready. Now, they want to make some
kind of a natural landing area for the ducks, something for the decoys to float
on. In order to make a hole large enough to look like something a wandering
duck would fly down and land on, it is going to take a little more effort than
an ice-hole drill.
Out of the back of the new Cherokee comes a stick of dynamite with a short,
40-second fuse. Now, these two Rocket Scientists do take into consideration
that if they place the stick of dynamite on the ice at a location far from
where they are standing (and the new Grand Cherokee), they take the risk for
slipping on the ice when they run from the burning fuse and possibly go up in
smoke with the resulting blast. So,... they decide to light this 40-second fuse
and throw the dynamite.
Remember a couple of paragraphs back when we mentioned the vehicle, the
beer, the guns, and the DOG?! Yes, .... The DOG; a highly trained black Labrador
retriever used for retrieving, especially THINGS THROWN BY THE OWNER. You
guessed it; the dog takes off at a high rate of doggy speed on the ice and
captures the stick of dynamite with the burning 40-second fuse about the time
it hits the ice.
The two men yell, scream, wave arms, holler, and wonder what to do now! The
dog, seemingly cheered on, keeps coming, tail a wagging thinking he is doing
great! One of the guys grabs one of the shotguns and shoots the dog. The shot
gun is loaded with “duck” shot, hardly big enough to stop a black lab. The dog
stops for a moment, slightly confused, but continues on... doing what he was
taught to do... retrieving “anything” thrown by his master. Another shot was
fired, and this time the dog, still standing, becomes REALLY confused and, of
course, scared, thinking these two Nobel Prize Winners have gone insane.
The dog takes off to find cover (with the now really short fuse burning on
the stick of dynamite)... and where does a dog find cover on a frozen lake? You
guessed it! UNDER the brand new Cherokee. BOOM!!! Dog and Cherokee are blown to
bits and sink to the bottom of the lake in a very large hole, leaving the two
candidates for co-leaders of the Known Universe standing there with this “I
can’t believe this happened” look on their faces.
The insurance company says that sinking a vehicle in a lake by illegal use
of explosives is not covered in their policy. The owner had yet to make the
FIRST of those $400-plus a month payments.
A pastor can even make the “stuff” in his church the things he lives for:
Illustration
Clarence Jordan, author of the “Cotton Patch” New
Testament translation and founder of the interracial Koinonia farm in Americus,
Georgia, was getting a
red-carpet tour of another minister’s church. With pride the minister pointed
to the rich, imported pews and luxurious decorations. As they stepped outside,
darkness was falling, and a spotlight shone on a huge cross atop the steeple. “That
cross alone cost us ten thousand dollars,” the minister said with a satisfied
smile. “You got cheated,” said Jordan.
“Times were when Christians could get them for free.”
God’s desire is that we learn to make Jesus be the center of our life. He’s
the one we ought to be living for.
Illustration
The surest sign that God has done a work of grace in my
heart is that I love Jesus Christ best: not weakly and faintly, not
intellectually, but passionately, personally and devotedly, overwhelming every
other love of my life.
-- Oswald Chambers,
from Been There Done That..., Ed Young, Broadman, 1994, p. 225.
:22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I
shall choose I wot not.
fruit – karpos – fruit;
that which originates or comes from something, an effect, result
labour – ergon – business,
employment, that which any one is occupied; that which one undertakes to do,
enterprise, undertaking; any product whatever, any thing accomplished by hand,
art, industry, or mind; an act, deed, thing done: the idea of working is emphasised
in opp. to that which is less than work
I shall choose – haireomai –
to take for oneself, to prefer, choose; to choose by vote, elect to office
I wot – gnorizo – to make
known; to become known, be recognised; to know, to gain knowledge of, have thorough
knowledge of; in earlier Greek it means “to gain a knowledge of” or “have
thorough knowledge of”
(Phil 1:22 NASB) But if I am to live on in the
flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose.
Paul doesn’t know which to choose, life or death.
It’s kind of like going to Baskin Robbins and trying to choose which
ice-cream you’re going to have in that hot fudge sundae you’ve just
ordered. Shall I have the “Jamoca Almond
Fudge”, or the “Prailines and Cream”?
:23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be
with Christ; which is far better:
I am in a strait – sunecho – to hold together; to hold together with constraint, to
compress; to press together with the hand; to hold one’s ears, to shut the heavens
that it may not rain; to press on every side; of a besieged city; of a strait,
that forces a ship into a narrow channel; of a cattle squeeze, that pushing in
on each side, forcing the beast into a position where it cannot move so the farmer
can administer medication; to hold completely
a desire – epithumia –
desire, craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden, lust
to depart – analuo – to unloose (as threads), undo
again; to depart, break up, to depart from life, to return
far (1st word) –
polus – many, much, large
far (2nd word) –
mallon – more, to a greater degree,
rather; much, by far; rather, sooner; more willingly, more readily, sooner
better – kreisson – better
Lesson
At death, the believer goes to be
with the Lord.
Paul is saying that if he were to die, he would be leaving his body and
would be with Christ.
Paul writes to the Corinthians:
(2 Cor 5:8 KJV) We are
confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be
present with the Lord.
When a believer dies, their spirit is separated from their physical body.
Their body stays on earth, while their spirit goes immediately to be in the
presence of God.
Illustration
When Billy Graham’s maternal grandmother died, he said the
room seemed to fill with a heavenly light. “She sat up in bed and almost
laughingly said, “I see Jesus. He has His arms outstretched toward me. I see
Ben (her husband who had died some years earlier) and I see the angels.” She
slumped over, absent from the body but present with the Lord.
-- Billy Graham,
Angels: God's Secret Agents, Doubleday, 1975, p. 152.
At the Rapture, the bodies of believers who have already died will be
resurrected, and they will then have a new, glorious body. Immediately
afterward, those who are still alive on the earth will also be instantly
transformed to have their new bodies as well.
(1 Th 4:13-18 KJV) But I
would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
The New Testament often describes death for the believer
as “sleep”. The idea is that the body appears to be sleeping. In addition,
death for the Christian is about as harmless as taking a nap.
Our word “cemetery” comes from the Greek word koimeterion, which meant a “rest house
for strangers”. It was the word used to
describe the “inn” that Mary and Joseph could find no room in. The early Christians spoke of the place of
burial as a “resting place”.
J. Vernon McGee writes,
“What do we call sleeping places today? We call them
motels and hotels. You don’t weep, do you, when your loved ones write, “We’re
going to spend a week at the Hilton Hotel in San Francisco?”
We congratulate them and think it’s wonderful. We miss them if they’re close to
use and are going to be away from us, but they’re asleep up in the Hilton
Hotel. Well, that was the feeling of the early church. They took their loved
ones and put them out in the cemetery, in the ground, when they were asleep in
death, and called it the koimeterion.”
- J. Vernon McGee
Illustration
In Catherine Marshall’s book about her husband Peter, she
cites a touching story of a young terminally ill son asking his mother what
death was like, if it hurt. “Kenneth,” she said, “you remember when you were a
tiny boy how you used to play so hard all day that when night came you would be
too tired even to undress, and you would tumble into mother’s bed and fall
asleep? “That was not your bed—it was not where you belonged. “And you would
only stay there a little while. In the morning, much to your surprise, you
would wake up and find yourself in your own bed in your own room. “You were
there because someone had loved you and taken care of you. Your father had
come—with big strong arms—and carried you away. “Kenneth, death is just like
that. We just wake up some morning to find ourselves in the other room—our own
room where we belong—because the Lord Jesus loved us.” The lad’s shining,
trusting face looking up into hers told her that the point had gone home and
that there would be no more fear—only love and trust in his little heart as he
went to meet the Father in Heaven. He never questioned again. And several weeks
later he fell asleep just as she had said.
-- Catherine
Marshall, A Man Called Peter
{14} For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them
also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. {15} For this we say unto
you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming
of the Lord shall not prevent (precede)
them which are asleep. {16} For the Lord himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of
God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
The Rapture starts with those already dead receiving their
new bodies.
{17} Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be
with the Lord. {18} Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
After the dead receive their new bodies, we will be caught
up into the air and receive our new bodies as well. And we will be with Jesus forever. We will also be reunited with our loved ones
who have gone to be with Jesus before us.
Paul writes to the Corinthians:
(1 Cor 15:51-53
KJV) Behold, I show
you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, {52} In a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall
sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
{53} For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality.
Lesson
Being with Jesus is best
Illustration
The Sailor and the Lady
John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and
studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He
looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn’t, the girl
with the rose. His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida
library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the
words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft
handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. In the front of
the book, he discovered the previous owner’s name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With
time and effort he located her address. She lived in New
York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself
and inviting her to correspond. The next day he was shipped overseas for
service in World War II. During the next year and one month the two grew to
know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile
heart. A romance was budding. Blanchard requested a photograph, but she
refused. She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn’t matter what she looked
like. When the day finally came for him to return from Europe,
they scheduled their first meeting - 7:00 PM
at the Grand Central Station in New York.
“You’ll recognize me,” she wrote, “by the red rose I’ll be wearing on my
lapel.” So at 7:00 he was in the
station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he’d never
seen. I’ll let Mr. Blanchard tell you what happened: A young woman was coming
toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair lay back in curls from her
delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle
firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive. I
started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a
rose. As I moved, a small, provocative smile curved her lips. “Going my way,
sailor?” she murmured. Almost uncontrollably I made one step closer to her, and
then I saw Hollis Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A
woman well past 40, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more
than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes. The girl in the
green suit was walking quickly away. I felt as though I was split in two, so
keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the woman
whose spirit had truly companioned me and upheld my own. And there she stood. Her
pale, plump face was gentle and sensible; her gray eyes had a warm and kindly
twinkle. I did not hesitate. My fingers gripped the small worn blue leather
copy of the book that was to identify me to her. This would not be love, but it
would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a
friendship for which I had been and must ever be grateful. I squared my
shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while I
spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment. “I’m Lieutenant
John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me;
may I take you to dinner?” The woman’s face broadened into a tolerant smile. “I
don’t know what this is about, son,” she answered, “but the young lady in the
green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And
she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she
is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was
some kind of test!”
Heaven is where we will finally see Jesus face to face. We have read His letters. We have fallen in love with Him from
afar. And one day we shall see Him.
(Isa 25:8-9 KJV) He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord
GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall
he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. {9} And it
shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he
will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and
rejoice in his salvation.
Illustration
The Irish Presbyterian Amy Carmichael’s hope of
Heaven brightened during her long years as a semi-invalid until her death in
1951. A woman visited Amy, and during the course of the conversation, told Amy of
how her doctor had warned her, “Don’t even bend over suddenly, or you might die
on the spot.” Amy gave a tart and twinkling reply: “However do you resist the
temptation?”
:24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.
to abide – epimeno – to stay at or with, to tarry
still, still to abide, to continue, remain
the flesh – sarx – flesh
(the soft substance of the living body, which covers the bones and is permeated
with blood) of both man and beasts; the body
more needful – anagkaios – necessary; what one can not
do without, indispensable; connected by bonds of nature or friendship; what
ought according to the law of duty be done, what is required by the
circumstances
:25 And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with
you all for your furtherance and joy of faith;
this confidence – peitho –
persuade; be persuaded; to be persuaded, to suffer one’s self to be persuaded;
to be induced to believe: to have faith: in a thing; to trust, have confidence,
be confident
I know – eido – to see; to
know; to know of anything; to know, i.e. get knowledge of, understand,
perceive; of any fact; the force and meaning of something which has definite
meaning
I shall abide – meno – to remain, abide
continue – sumparameno (“with” + “alongside” + “to
abide”) – to abide together with; to continue to
live together
furtherance – prokope – progress, advancement
:26 That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my
coming to you again.
your rejoicing – kauchema – that of which one glories or
can glory, matter or ground of glorying; a glorying or boasting
may be more abundant – perisseuo
– to exceed a fixed number of measure, to be left over and above a certain
number or measure; to make to abound
coming – parousia –
presence; the coming, arrival, advent
Paul sees his staying alive as something that would be important for the
Philippians.
He wanted to see them grow in the Lord.
Lesson
Who else do you live for?
Jesus isn’t the only one we are living for.
There ought to be other people that we live for as well. This is our life, our ministry.
It may be our families. It may be
our spouse. It may be people you know at
work or in your neighborhood. It may be
a Sunday School class you teach.
God wants you to be a person who influences others to grow
in Jesus.
God has a job for you to do.