To Live Is Christ to Die Is Gain

by Matt Chandler

With the slave girl, the gospel gets at her heart when Paul engages her spiritually. In both instances, the Holy Spirit grants new birth and repentance, of course, but the deliverance of the gospel takes on the context of the personal need.

In these incredible instances, the gospel defies race, defies class, defies status, and even defies aptitude.

Paul says to the Philippians that to live a life worthy of the gospel means standing together as one, striving in one mind for what’s ahead.

So what does it look like to live a life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ? It looks like walking with, loving with, and doing life with those who are different from you. What binds you together is Christ. It looks like striving together to make Christ known. What motivates you is Christ. And it looks like standing with courage against all oppressors, natural or supernatural. What secures you is Christ. To live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Not easy. But simple.

And when godly fear humbles us, God in His mercy will exalt us.

They nail Him with metal that He created to a tree that He spoke into existence. And He is able to stop it at

any moment.

Always remember the gospel, so you won’t forget that God will not expect something of you that He won’t both empower you to obey and forgive you for not obeying.

Always, always, always seek the cross. It is there that we see our example for service and sacrifice to others. It is there that we get the power to serve and sacrifice for others. And it is there that we receive forgiveness when we fail in serving and sacrificing for others.

If there really is a creator God who all of us have offended, but who despite that offense covered that offense, removing it for us so that we would have right standing before Him, wouldn’t that be the greatest news in the history of the universe?

I think we

often misunderstand our faith and put all the weight on our conversion, with very little expectation for what comes afterward.

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.

It is the difference between obeying to be accepted and obeying because we are accepted.

The further into grace we go, the more we will actually understand this. Works are not grace, but works are not incompatible with grace.

The three means of gospel centeredness Paul highlights are these: engaging in discipleship, remembering our citizenship, and anticipating heaven.

I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. But that personal relationship with Christ was never meant to play out in the privacy of my own mind and heart.

We keep evangelizing each other.

However you can, identify mature followers who can help you follow Jesus more closely. Get as close to them as you can, as close as they’ll let you.

In any event, one way Paul says to “hold true” to the gospel is to start training in how to apply the gospel to everyday life by engaging in a discipleship relationship.

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.

When we go outside of Him to determine the substance of our identities, we actually engage in idolatry.

For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. (Phil. 3:18–20)

We are people who have been united to Christ. We are hidden with Him in God (Col. 3:3). We are seated with Him in the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6). Christian, remember your citizenship. Remember who you are.

Because of Christ’s work, we have been rescued from the idolatry of earthly things. Our God is the one true God, and in Him we have total satisfaction and eternal security.

That is where our heart ought to be. But we are not there. And yet, we are. Let us wait for that day, expectantly and eagerly. Let us fix our eyes on heaven, where our citizenship is held securely, where we are presently united to Christ in spirit. Only let us hold true to what we have already attained. And we will yet attain it.

Where people see in a church anger, dissention, inability to reconcile, and the holding of grudges, they do not see Christ as beautiful.

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.

Love is not simply something that we feel. It encompasses our affections, yes. It gets expressed in emotional ways, yes. But the Bible tells us that real love “rejoices with the truth” (1 Cor. 13:6).

true contentment is not in any way related to circumstances. True contentment is tuned to the deeper reality of the gospel and God’s kingdom.