Today I was challenged by Philippians 1:21 and thought I’d pass along the conviction via a quick exposition of this passage…  

 

Philippians 1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”   

 

“For to me” – Paul is making a personal statement.  This is the kind of thing that can only be decided personally.  So the following words must be viewed through a lens of personal responsibility, in other words, “what will I do?”  I challenge you to consider how your life would complete this phrase, “for to me…”  

 

“to live” – this is the daily living.  Oddly this is not a picture of Paul’s whole life at once, this is about the day in day out, moment by moment living that goes on in life.  It is life viewed through the consecutive moments.  With the phrase “to live…” Paul is setting up a definition or explanation of what it means “to live.”   

 

“is Christ” – Paul does not beat around the bush, his personal decision is to live, moment by moment identified with Christ to the point of defining his entire being.  “To live is Christ…” Paul points to Jesus and specifically Christ (defined as the sent one or anointed one).  I don’t think the use of Christ vs. the proper name Jesus is accidental.  Christ marked Jesus’ mission as Savior.  Paul is aligning and defining his life by the mission and redemptive work of Jesus, the Christ.  What is the surpassing definition of your life?  What so often happens is a compartmentalization of the “Christ” part and as long as He stays in His box everything will be fine.  Remember Paul is not making a statement about his entire life at once, what would it look like if you made Christ your life for the next 15 minutes or the rest of the day?  

 

“and” – Here I go expounding on a conjunction! “And,” well, it does what everyone know it does; it associated two things together either in some kinds of combination or sequence.  Paul is defining his life by two parts, the living and the dying.  

 

“to die” – Paul does not shy away from the inevitable future of all mortals.  He knew he would die one day. To add this phrase would supply a contrast to the definition of living already given.   

 

“is gain” – Again Paul uses “is” to clarify the state of being that will come with his death.  It would be certain gain. Paul shows great confidence that his death would represent “gain.”  No longer did he view death as an end or a hopeless unknown.  Paul was sure death would be gain.  How do you view death? Is your death a fearful concept?  Paul’s certainty of death being gain  must have empowered his life being Christ.  Maybe our struggles to live for Christ in this life is hard because we aren’t really sure if death is gain.  Perhaps, we feel the need to reverse Paul’s words, “for to me, to live is gain and to die is Christ.”    I hope this makes sense. AS

 

 

Proverbs 20:24

"A man's steps are directed by the LORD.       

How then can anyone understand his own way?"

 

"What will you be when you grow up?" "What is your career path?"  "What is your 5-year plan?"  In light of Proverbs 20:24 these questions seem a bit presumptuous.  I think we all want to know where life is headed and I believe that we should be diligent in planning and preparing for what is ahead.  However, this proverb lets us in to some key truths of our life path that we must deal with as we make our way into the future.  

 

1. God holds all the answers.  YES – He knows where your life is headed and is actually directing your steps.  We should understand this “directing” work as both His “allowing work” through the upholding of the universe and literally giving you air to breathe and a mind to think and His “guiding work” through the Holy Spirit’s active leadership in our lives giving us the path and plans as needed in our lives.

 

2. We do not know what is best for us.  This is a tough admission in our world.  We like to think we know ourselves so well and can determine with accuracy what is the best plan for our lives.  Part of living a life of dependence on God’s Spirit is admitting I don’t know.  This is why we must be careful about announcing what we “will do one day” or what we “will never do.”  God has a funny way of making fools out of men.

 

3. Not knowing is NO excuse.  Too many Christians today are paralyzed in making decisions.  This truth in Proverbs does not exempt us from the necessity of good decision-making in life.   In this life God primarily uses the mechanism of your decision-making to bring His will about in your life. Sure, on occasion He can and does dramatically interrupt your plans but most often uses good old-fashioned choices…so make some!

 

4. We must engage God’s directing work.  God is actively guiding and directing us. We must engage Him in this process.  As we learn to live in “active dependence” we will learn to discern His guidance and discover His direction.  Along the way mistakes and mixing our desires with God’s direction will inevitably happen.  Don’t let these set-backs discourage you, simply engage Him again. Ideas for engaging the Holy Spirit’s leading…

 

- Daily resign the command of your life.  Tell the Lord that it is Him you are following and submit to His leadership.

 

- Make plans, but hold them loosely.  Don’t simply “wing it,” make a plan for your day as well as your future.  As you discover God’s direction freely adjust your plans or celebrate the confirmation and keep moving along.

 

- Pray diligently about what you already know!  Too often we in seeking God’s will we come with a “blank sheet of paper.”  Instead we should pray about and commit to those things we already know are His will.  Trust me – you will have little time for much else!  I strongly suggest reading Matthew 28:19-20 (the Great Commission) and Mark 12:28-31 (the Great Commandment) as a starting point.

 

- Dream big.  Bring your dreams to the Lord.  Pray about them. Ask God to direct or re-direct your thinking but don’t be afraid to dream.  Sometimes our dreaming reflects our spiritual gifts that God uses in and through our lives.  

 

I hope this helps you know how to live for God today.  I hope it clarifies the coming together of our decision-making and God’s directing in your life.  I hope it makes sense. AS

This week I received an email from a friend asking what I thought about Bay Area Fellowship’s (a thriving church in Corpus Christi, TX.) Easter promo.  From their website this is the promo for Easter Sunday…

 

"YOU are the next winner of The Ultimate Giveaway! That's right...With nearly $1 MILLION in prizes and giveaways, this Easter, everyone will win something at Bay Area Fellowship! And, wait...that's not all. Each service we're giving away FREE FLATSCREENS, LAPTOPS...and CARS!!! Be here beginning April 1 (and...no, this is no April Fool's joke). This is the real deal! No tricks, strings or fine print! Show up and let Bay Area Fellowship bless YOU this Easter!" http://www.bayareafellowship.com/

 

This church is promising to giveaway a million dollars in prizes and giveaways in conjunction with their new sermon series by the same name.  In an interview the pastor, Bil Cornelius, stated this giveaway is designed to help people see how great the gift of Heaven is.  If you love winning a car or new guitar just imagine how wonderful heaven is!

 

A part of me (a marketing major in college) loves the creativity and applaud the “out-of-the-box” thinking.  However, this is a situation where I have to draw a line.  So I have prepared the 5 reasons why I disagree with Bay Area Fellowship’s “Ultimate Giveaway.”

 

1. The gospel needs NO help.  It would be easy for any Christian who loves people and longs to see in a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ to want to sweeten the deal of Salvation.  The problem is any attempt to “sweeten” it actually results in damage to the very Gospel we promote.  The gospel needs NO help.  We must remember that the Word of God is “living and active;” it actually carries power and does not need a “spoon full of sugar” to attract takers.  We must fight hard to preach a complete Gospel.  Especially as we approach Easter we should consider the brutal death of Jesus on the cross not only as securing a place in heaven but as a picture of the life we are to live here.  As Paul writes in Philippians 1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”  Yes we “gain” when we die, but THIS life is Christ…the suffering servant…the one who lays does His life for others.  Is this the Gospel we preach?

 

2. The tail of creativity wagging the dog of mission.  I am a creative guy, I love the out-of-box thinking which is partly why I am intrigued by this campaign.  However, “out-of-box” thinking is not the mandate of the Church.  Jesus, in Matthew 28:19-20 says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."  Creativity must not overshadow the mission we are on.  A good question is, “does this idea make the gospel message more clear or more confusing?” I must say giving away $40,000 cars could send mixed signals.

 

3. Misleading Salvation.  True, salvation is FREE and given to us by God through Jesus Christ.  However, this salvation we are given is clearly one that includes a life that denies self and even suffers for the cause of Christ. I find it very misleading to link salvation with the material things of this world.  Jesus on more than one occasion spoke of giving away possessions in order to follow Him.  This does not mean material things are sinful but they can easily become the idols of our lives and true believers (at least in America) MUST face the materialism question at some point.  Are we willing to let go of the material things we have simply because we dare not risk idolatry in our hearts?

 

4. A HUGE missed opportunity. I want to be careful here because I know we can all point fingers on virtually any church’s use of resources.  The easy and frankly hypocritical criticism is “those dollars should be spent differently!”  Every church and for that matter every person cannot stand with this kind of subjective response.  However, I would propose that “The Ultimate Giveaway” missed a possible HUGE opportunity…the poor.  I can only imagine the radical impact that this church could have made if a million dollars were invested in the surrounding communities in need.  Again, our church spends money that could be criticized as well, nevertheless we should all consider opportunities to invest in our immediate needy communities.

 

5. The message of the Church is Christ. In 1 Corinthians 2:2 Paul writes, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”  Although I feel I have made this point clear by now, I must dedicate special attention to it. The church must not emphasize any benefit of salvation, any experience, any feeling or emotion to the exclusion of or in competition with the good news of Christ and Him crucified.  Everything hangs on Jesus.  I pray we all and especially Bay Area Fellowship considers this passage as we head into Easter this weekend.  Call me old-fashioned or traditional or irrelevant (all terms that make me cringe)…when we lift him up HE will draw all men unto himself.

 

To close…I am not against Bay Area Fellowship – I simply feel this move is over the line.  I hope many people trust Jesus as Lord and Savior this weekend in Corpus Christi.  I hope I’m wrong about “The Ultimate Giveaway” stunt.  I hope I will watch my own life and message closely.  I hope this makes sense.  AS

 

Jeremiah 23:5-6

5 "The days are coming," declares the LORD,       
"when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch,       
a King who will reign wisely       
and do what is just and right in the land.    

6 In his days Judah will be saved       
and Israel will live in safety.       
This is the name by which he will be called:       
The LORD Our Righteousness.

I’m really starting to dig the Old Testament prophets! In Jeremiah 23:5-6 the prophet Jeremiah talks about a King that would come and bring salvation and safety to God’s people. When we turn to the New Testament we find out that God did in fact fulfill that promise by sending His only Son, Jesus. Today, we stand on the accomplished side of God’s promise!   

Jeremiah refers to this King as “The Lord Our Righteousness.” I love this name. I think it is good for us to consider some of the lesser-known and lesser-used names for Jesus to help us remember the nature of who He is and what He has done. Jesus is “The Lord,” meaning He is our leader and master and we live to serve Him. He is also “Our Righteousness” meaning He serves as our righteousness before God. This is a huge concept. This radically turns nearly every world religion on its head – being “good enough” on our own is not required to be right with God.  We have a Savior who IS our Righteousness!   

This truth needs to live in the front of our minds. In our daily relationship with God we must be reminded that there is NO righteousness on our own. If we claim that we are followers of Jesus then we have given up our attempts at self-righteousness and depend fully on “The Lord Our Righteousness.”  The convicting part of this truth is that every attempt at self-righteousness is an arrogant denial of Jesus as Lord.  Self-righteousness says, “I don’t need you, Jesus – I’ll please God on my own.”  We need a fresh reminder of how poor we are apart from Christ and rich we are when we rest in Him. I pray today that we will live in complete dependence on Jesus, “The Lord Our Righteousness.”  

I hope this makes sense. AS

Proverbs 24:19-20 

Do not fret because of evil men      
or be envious of the wicked,  

for the evil man has no future hope,       

and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.

 

I think if we are honest we all “envy the wicked” some.  Believing and following God is so much opposed to the value system of the culture we live in. It is easy to find people who have no concern for God yet live comfortable and seemingly blesses, peaceful lives.  In this proverb we are warned not to fret because of evil men.  If you aren’t used to reading the Old Testament you might miss the point here.  The word “evil” is not simply a term used for those involved in awful acts of sinful violence.  “Evil” can refer to anyone who does not carry a life-changing belief in God.  The writer uses terms that intentionally polarize all people into either a “for” or “against” category.  I think this is very helpful for you and me.  We need to see our lives as “for” or “against” God.   

 

The direct point here is the contrast of Hope.  Instead of looking around and becoming envious of those apart from God we choose to find our hope in Him.  Those without God have no hope.  Their hope is purely related to what can be achieved here in this life.  This is far from true for the believer.  Our hope is not in this life; our hope is founded in the saving grace of Jesus who has secured for us an eternal hope not limited to what can be achieved here.  That is our reason for not fretting.  We can take life as it comes knowing that this life is not the end all be all. This is not to say we wont have stress or trouble.  That would be foolish to purport.  However, because we have an eternal hope we can face the temporary struggles of life with confidence that things will get better, if not in this life for sure the life to come.  

 

Finally, this passage should cause our hearts to break for those who have no hope.  This should light a fire of compassion and evangelism in us to share the hope we have in Christ.  Those without God will have their “lamp snuffed out.”  This is a picture of their eternal life. People are not randomly sent people to Hell. Those who have decided to place their hope in what this world offers are simply given what they have chosen.  The devastating part of all this is that many will not know until it is too late.  My prayer today is that Christians everywhere are filled with compassion for the “evil” that have no eternal hope.  Let us share the hope we have in Jesus.  Let us not be stingy with hope.  

 

I hope this makes sense. AS