Philippians 1:20-26
The Life Well Spent
When we arrive to verses 19-26, we see that there is a change in Paul’s writing. Last week we see in verses 12-18 he is speaking of past and current events: he has been under arrest, everyone has become aware he is in chains for Christ, other preachers have risen up, and he is rejoicing – current events.
In our passage this week we see Paul’s focus shift to the future, and he focuses on himself. He begins to share his thoughts on his own future. Remember Paul is under house arrest in Rome and is waiting to stand trial before Caesar. He knows he’s only got two outcomes from this trial: Freedom or Death. And we see him contrast these two outcomes in our passage this morning: his life or his death; he lives or he dies; he goes on living or he departs this life.
But it is not the outcome of the trial that is Paul’s point; it is the outcome of his life. Paul is saying that regardless of what happens to him, whether life or death, he is confident that his life will count for Christ. He sees himself as a man that cannot lose. In his mind, this is a win-win situation - regardless of the outcome of the trial; regardless of whether he “remains in the body” or whether he dies. His life, he knows will be well spent for Jesus Christ.
Is your life well spent? Do you have the same confidence that you are spending your life in a way that counts for Christ? To put it another way, is your life worth Christ? The only life worth living is a life lived for Jesus Christ.
Today, I want to identify from our passage 4 marks of a life well spent. We can have the same confidence as Paul that our lives are being well spent if these 4 traits are evident in our life. They are: Magnify Christ, Mimic Christ, Manifest the Fruit of Christ, and Make others better in Christ.
Number 1: Magnify Christ. The first mark of a life well spent is one that Magnifies Christ (v. 20)
“I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but, will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.”
“Exalted” is the Greek word, “Megaluno” and it means to magnify, or to enlarge. When we magnify something, we enlarge our view of it – not the actual size of something, but, our view of that something. It becomes more visible to us. A good example of this is a telescope.
A telescope is a device that has the ability to make faraway objects appear much closer. The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990 and was a revolutionary step in astronomy. It orbits the earth taking pictures deep into the universe and then sending them back to NASA for further study of the galaxies. It is said that the farthest the Hubble has seen so far is about 10-15 billion light-years away. The Hubble has allowed for us to see things we couldn’t see before by bringing the image closer to us. It has made what we were unable to see before, able to be seen because of magnification.
That’s the concept here with exalting Christ in our bodies. Paul is saying that Christ will be exalted in his body, meaning Christ will be magnified in his body for all to see. Where the unbelieving world is distant from Christ as the farthest galaxies are from us now, the image of Christ is being brought closer to their very eyes in the person of Paul. Where the unbelieving world is unable to see the glorious light and splendor of Jesus Christ because of its unbelief, the image of Christ is being enlarged and seen in the person of Paul. “Imitate me because I imitate Christ” he says to the believers in Corinth. He was an imitation of Christ. Are you an imitation of Jesus Christ? Is He a distant and almost un-seeable part of your life? Or, is He magnified in your life so that He is visible to others in you?
To exalt Christ in our bodies, or, to magnify Him, is something we should be confident is happening in our lives. In other words, it’s not something that we just strive for, but, magnifying the Lord Jesus Christ is something we are sure is happening in us. Paul says he “eagerly expects and hopes ” that Christ will be exalted in his body. The Greek word here is very unique and it means to stretch your head. You stretch your head because you are trying to catch a look at something you anticipate is going to happen.
A good example is a race car track. I went with a buddy a couple years back to the time trials for the Indianapolis 500. We sat on the straightaway right at the finishing line. We could hear each car as it was out on turn 2 far away (couldn’t see it), then on turn 3 (still couldn’t see it), then as it approached turn 4 the sound of the engine was getting louder and louder and we would stand up and stretch our necks to see over the crowds and try to see the car come out of turn 4 and into view. We knew the car was coming and we eagerly wanted to see it coming out of turn 4 and into the straightaway where the noise would be so loud my ears bled and I thought it was cool.
Another example is waiting for food at a restaurant. Annie and I like to go out every once and a while and ever since she’s been pregnant I notice there’s less attention being paid to what I’m saying while we wait for our food. I could be giving her the points to the upcoming sermon for that week – which I know she counts a huge privilege. But, every time a server comes out of the kitchen with a tray she begins to do what Paul says where she stretches her head to see, as if she’s anticipating it’s our food. She is eagerly expecting and hoping it’s our food.
Do you know that your life magnifies Christ? Do you have that kind of certainty Paul says that now as always Christ will be exalted, be enlarged, be brought into view so that His person and all that He is can be clearly seen? Paul says in Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Christ lives in him to live out from him a life to God and not to sin. Paul says this in Romans 6, “The death [Christ] died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
We have been crucified with Christ and we died to sin. We no longer live in sin, but, we live in Christ Jesus and He lives in us. We live our lives now to God with us in Christ and Christ in us.
What is in a man will come out of a man – if Christ is in you He will come out of you. He will be made known through you; He will be magnified out of you; He will be more and more visible in your life so that it is less and less of you people know and more and more of Christ people know. When magnification means to enlarge, Christ is enlarging his territory over your life so that people will know His life in you. It is by the power of His Spirit in you that this happens and that’s why we can be confident like Paul that Christ will be exalted, because what is happening is happening to us and through us, not because of us. The first trait of a life well spent is one that is magnifying Christ.
The Life Well Spent
When we arrive to verses 19-26, we see that there is a change in Paul’s writing. Last week we see in verses 12-18 he is speaking of past and current events: he has been under arrest, everyone has become aware he is in chains for Christ, other preachers have risen up, and he is rejoicing – current events.
In our passage this week we see Paul’s focus shift to the future, and he focuses on himself. He begins to share his thoughts on his own future. Remember Paul is under house arrest in Rome and is waiting to stand trial before Caesar. He knows he’s only got two outcomes from this trial: Freedom or Death. And we see him contrast these two outcomes in our passage this morning: his life or his death; he lives or he dies; he goes on living or he departs this life.
But it is not the outcome of the trial that is Paul’s point; it is the outcome of his life. Paul is saying that regardless of what happens to him, whether life or death, he is confident that his life will count for Christ. He sees himself as a man that cannot lose. In his mind, this is a win-win situation - regardless of the outcome of the trial; regardless of whether he “remains in the body” or whether he dies. His life, he knows will be well spent for Jesus Christ.
Is your life well spent? Do you have the same confidence that you are spending your life in a way that counts for Christ? To put it another way, is your life worth Christ? The only life worth living is a life lived for Jesus Christ.
Today, I want to identify from our passage 4 marks of a life well spent. We can have the same confidence as Paul that our lives are being well spent if these 4 traits are evident in our life. They are: Magnify Christ, Mimic Christ, Manifest the Fruit of Christ, and Make others better in Christ.
Number 1: Magnify Christ. The first mark of a life well spent is one that Magnifies Christ (v. 20)
“I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but, will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.”
“Exalted” is the Greek word, “Megaluno” and it means to magnify, or to enlarge. When we magnify something, we enlarge our view of it – not the actual size of something, but, our view of that something. It becomes more visible to us. A good example of this is a telescope.
A telescope is a device that has the ability to make faraway objects appear much closer. The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990 and was a revolutionary step in astronomy. It orbits the earth taking pictures deep into the universe and then sending them back to NASA for further study of the galaxies. It is said that the farthest the Hubble has seen so far is about 10-15 billion light-years away. The Hubble has allowed for us to see things we couldn’t see before by bringing the image closer to us. It has made what we were unable to see before, able to be seen because of magnification.
That’s the concept here with exalting Christ in our bodies. Paul is saying that Christ will be exalted in his body, meaning Christ will be magnified in his body for all to see. Where the unbelieving world is distant from Christ as the farthest galaxies are from us now, the image of Christ is being brought closer to their very eyes in the person of Paul. Where the unbelieving world is unable to see the glorious light and splendor of Jesus Christ because of its unbelief, the image of Christ is being enlarged and seen in the person of Paul. “Imitate me because I imitate Christ” he says to the believers in Corinth. He was an imitation of Christ. Are you an imitation of Jesus Christ? Is He a distant and almost un-seeable part of your life? Or, is He magnified in your life so that He is visible to others in you?
To exalt Christ in our bodies, or, to magnify Him, is something we should be confident is happening in our lives. In other words, it’s not something that we just strive for, but, magnifying the Lord Jesus Christ is something we are sure is happening in us. Paul says he “eagerly expects and hopes ” that Christ will be exalted in his body. The Greek word here is very unique and it means to stretch your head. You stretch your head because you are trying to catch a look at something you anticipate is going to happen.
A good example is a race car track. I went with a buddy a couple years back to the time trials for the Indianapolis 500. We sat on the straightaway right at the finishing line. We could hear each car as it was out on turn 2 far away (couldn’t see it), then on turn 3 (still couldn’t see it), then as it approached turn 4 the sound of the engine was getting louder and louder and we would stand up and stretch our necks to see over the crowds and try to see the car come out of turn 4 and into view. We knew the car was coming and we eagerly wanted to see it coming out of turn 4 and into the straightaway where the noise would be so loud my ears bled and I thought it was cool.
Another example is waiting for food at a restaurant. Annie and I like to go out every once and a while and ever since she’s been pregnant I notice there’s less attention being paid to what I’m saying while we wait for our food. I could be giving her the points to the upcoming sermon for that week – which I know she counts a huge privilege. But, every time a server comes out of the kitchen with a tray she begins to do what Paul says where she stretches her head to see, as if she’s anticipating it’s our food. She is eagerly expecting and hoping it’s our food.
Do you know that your life magnifies Christ? Do you have that kind of certainty Paul says that now as always Christ will be exalted, be enlarged, be brought into view so that His person and all that He is can be clearly seen? Paul says in Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Christ lives in him to live out from him a life to God and not to sin. Paul says this in Romans 6, “The death [Christ] died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
We have been crucified with Christ and we died to sin. We no longer live in sin, but, we live in Christ Jesus and He lives in us. We live our lives now to God with us in Christ and Christ in us.
What is in a man will come out of a man – if Christ is in you He will come out of you. He will be made known through you; He will be magnified out of you; He will be more and more visible in your life so that it is less and less of you people know and more and more of Christ people know. When magnification means to enlarge, Christ is enlarging his territory over your life so that people will know His life in you. It is by the power of His Spirit in you that this happens and that’s why we can be confident like Paul that Christ will be exalted, because what is happening is happening to us and through us, not because of us. The first trait of a life well spent is one that is magnifying Christ.
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