To Live Is Christ to Die Is Gain

by Matt Chandler

I would hate to be a girl in our culture today. Everything seems to revolve around external beauty—and add to that the nonsense the media is constantly communicating to our young girls.

My hope was that He would take those things from me. That’s certainly the message I had heard from the pulpit. And when I looked around our church, everybody looked very put together, like they all had it figured out.

The thing that confused me and wounded me for a long time, the thing that even soured me on the church for a while, was this: I felt like I was being taught that in my justification, total sanctification also occurred. I thought that in my salvation, my struggles would go away, and further, that if they weren’t removed, it somehow revealed I wasn’t actually new in Christ. But this is simply not true. Consider what Paul says in Philippians 3:12: “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”

How do you beat sin? We beat sin only by pressing into Jesus, knowing Him, and chasing Him. There is grace upon grace to be had in Him. So much grace, you can’t use it all up. If we broken people will come to Christ in faith, we will receive an infinite supply of grace. This is why we pursue Christ above all—because He is more than enough. He will always be enough.

When we embrace that security and freedom, then we end up pointing others to the only Source of healing and forgiveness. That source is not our self-improvement project, but the finished work of Christ on the cross and out of the tomb.

If you have a tendency to think that there’s no way you can chase Jesus like this, know Jesus like this, walk with Jesus like this, experience Jesus like this because you’ve done some awful thing or because you have some shady past or because you still struggle with sin, this text is calling you a liar. It refutes all of that kind of thinking, because it’s saying clearly that God rescues the dirty to the praise of His glorious grace. It’s the same gracious dynamic in place as when we saw God saying to the little harp-playing shepherd boy David, “You’re Mine.” To David the murderous adulterer: “You’re Mine.” To Moses the unqualified, stuttering murderer: “You’re Mine.” To Paul the murderer: “You’re Mine.” And in response, Paul becomes the man driven to basically say, “Surely my best efforts are garbage compared to this righteousness given to me totally of grace and promised to me before the beginning of time!” (Phil. 3:8, author’s translation).

Paul himself calls such thinking stupid. “Are you so foolish?” he asks in Galatians 3:3. “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” No, it is Spirit beginning to end. Which is why in Philippians 2:13, he says that it is God who is working in you the ability to work out your salvation.

can you see the overwhelming truth of God’s good news? Do you see that, compared to the infinitely perfect holiness of God, your righteousness is garbage? And do you realize that God loves you eternally to the point that He was willing to put His own holiness into action to forgive, save, and redeem you? In faith, not works, Christ’s perfect righteousness is considered yours. So let us join in with the men and women in Scripture and church history, and with creation itself, in groaning for this gracious God. Don’t stop. Keep pressing on. He has laid hold of you. And He will not let go. God help us, for the sake of His name.

Never be satisfied with where you are in the area of spiritual growth. Cultivate an insatiability for more of God by examining your weaknesses, beholding the perfection of Christ, and finding good examples of strengths you want to develop.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. (Phil. 3:12)

But it makes no sense to graduate on to an advanced class when we’ve never cleared the basics. In biblical terms, what we call the basics of Christianity—the gospel of Jesus Christ—is in reality both the beginner’s level and the advanced class!

We are in no less need of discipleship today. Despite all the information we have in everything from books to blogs, we still need to be trained by living examples, mentors in the faith who will serve us by walking with us. It’s our responsibility to find people we can disciple, and it’s our responsibility to be discipled.

Instead of defining ourselves based on what we do or don’t do, the gospel would have us remember what Christ has done. Therefore, the Christian’s identity is completely built on Him and on nothing else.

Why would Paul care if everybody’s getting along or not? The primary reason is this: he knows that a divided church is a terrible witness. Where people see in a church anger, dissention, inability to reconcile, and the holding of grudges, they do not see Christ as beautiful. So that would be the biggest reason. But where Paul goes next is rather curious. Another reason why he would urge the church to put its belief in grace into practice toward unity in fellowship with each other is because he knows that this produces joy. Sticking to our relational guns, holding grudges, giving people what they deserve—all of those things may give us a smug sense of satisfaction. But they cannot produce real, deep, abiding joy.

Every one of us knows that our whole world can unhinge with one phone call. Everything we understand about life and everything we take for granted as normal can change in a second. How do we rejoice in those moments? Thank God that He tells us. He doesn’t leave us hanging.

In Jeremiah 32, the prophet Jeremiah is in prison. I always like to talk about or write about people in prison or people about to die just so you’ll know that following Jesus doesn’t always end up with you being wealthy and healthy and everyone loving you. There’s a bit of that out there today, and I just want to continually point out that actually, in the Bible, it rarely, if ever, works that way. So here’s one of those cases. Jeremiah, like Paul centuries later, says everything God wants him to say. He has been obedient to all God asked him to do, and he finds himself imprisoned by his own countrymen. The Chaldeans are about to overthrow Jerusalem.

In fact, Jeremiah says that God actually breathed the stars out. How did the stars get into the heavens? God breathed. His breath. So the stars continually call our attention back to God’s “Godness” in creation. I don’t know what you read or what you dial into, but do you know that if the earth were spinning just a few miles an hour faster or slower, then life as we know it would be impossible? If the sun’s temperature were different in either direction, life on this planet would be next to impossible.

All these little things are God’s Godness made visible in creation.

That day when the ambulance disappeared out of my sight, knowing that God is God—that nothing is too difficult for Him, that His love and His sovereignty are real—was my foundation. When my heart and mind wanted to go to every plausible reason why despair made sense, the fact that nothing is too hard for God became my reason, my rationality.

This is why the mature Christian is reasonable. Because, as Paul says, “the Lord is near,” even in a desperate situation like the one I described. Because in that moment, here’s what I had at the ready: the knowledge that the God of the universe, the God who rescued and saved me, is not Himself powerless at all in that moment, is not at all surprised or shocked by that moment, is not reeling one bit or trying to figure out what to do in that moment.

He’s there. He knows. And on that day, the Lord was near, and my son’s life was not too difficult for Him to save. He could be trusted with my son. Reid was and is His. My wife is His. My daughters are His. I am His.

“Lord, help me rejoice in You in this moment. Because I know You are in control. I know You love me; I know You love my family. And I don’t understand what You’re doing, and I don’t know how things are going to work out. But help me to acknowledge that if I have You, I have everything.”

For some Christians, it is easy to find joy. For many others, finding happiness or joy is a herculean effort. If you are torn, fight tooth and nail for joy in God. The Bible indicates that joy is something we choose as much as it is something that happens to us. The Scriptures command us to rejoice throughout. One example is Paul’s urging in the emphatic Philippians 4:4…. But how do we do that? When the world seems to be crumbling around us, how do we choose joy? Still more, how are we to “be full”? It sounds as though the command is to do something that happens to us, to be active about something that is essentially passive. How is that possible? You can experience this filling by simply remaining open to the work of God. Only the Spirit can make your joy full, but you can stay open to this filling by creating conditions in your life that are best used by the Spirit.1

“[Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

This is not about being thankful for the loss. It is about being thankful for having had the gift. It’s about remembering that God is good and that He does good. That He gives and takes away and at all times His name is and should be blessed.

Most of us fall into sin because we buy into a lie and walk according to that lie instead of being able to readily identify, “That’s not true. This is true.”

Sometimes in the life of the mind, you battle image with image. To get one dishonorable image out of your head, you have to replace it with an honorable one. You can’t battle it with nothing, right?

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Phil. 4:11–13)

Do you see now how Philippians 4:13 is not about chasing your dreams, following your passion, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, accomplishing anything you want with God’s help? It is instead the testimony of those who have Christ and have found Him supremely valuable, joyous, and satisfying. In a life constantly marked by these extreme highs and lows, Paul has found the great constant security, the great centering hope: Jesus Christ Himself. Is there a more misquoted verse in the Bible than Philippians 4:13? I don’t think there is. I think people want to apply that to everything. A Christian businessman might say, “I’m going to be a CEO. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

When Paul says, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain,” he means it. If you want to kill me, I will be more than fine: I will get to be with Jesus. My death will be filled with Christ. And if you want to let me live, I will press on in mission. My life will be filled with Christ. If you want to torture me or imprison me or mock me, I will trust in God. My suffering will make me like Christ. I will see it as a sharing of His own suffering.

What Paul was able to do was enjoy the abundance for what it was, as a gift from God for a time, but contentment means being satisfied not with the gifts but with the Giver. And this makes all the difference. A failure to understand this distinction is why it is so hard for rich people to follow Jesus. Because money doesn’t satisfy—but so many of those with lots of wealth think they will reach contentment if they just get “more.” But “more” is a desire that never ends. This is why Gary Thomas calls contentment a “discipline.” It’s something that has to be recalled, practiced, put into effect in every circumstance.

True contentment is tuned to the deeper reality of the gospel and God’s kingdom.

Circumstances don’t matter. “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” The message of Philippians is that life is lived for Him, to Him, through Him, with Him, about Him, and in Him. That’s where Paul goes once again. As in Romans 16, he cannot help but exult, can’t help but sing! “To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Phil. 4:20). Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice. God is big enough, beautiful enough, strong enough, lovely enough, perfect enough, sustaining enough in any circumstance. Wherever you are, He is with you, always.