The second trait of a life well spent in Christ is to Mimic Christ (v. 21)
“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
To live means your living. It is that for which you have set your aim on living; that for which you have set your heart upon to live and die for. Whatever it is we say “For me, to live is _______”, that is the something or someone that we will never part with for anything. As Charles Spurgeon says, “To believers, Jesus is the one pearl of great price for whom we are willing to part with all that we have.” “To live is Christ” is to live all of life all for Christ. There is nothing I hold back from Christ, all I am and all I have is surrendered to Him. He is totally worthy of all of me so that all of Him may dwell in all of me. All my life is all Christ. I have died. I am no longer. I exist not. Christ and Christ alone exists in and out from me
Many people - and possibly some here today - would say that to live is me. Life is lived by me and for me - not Christ. But, there is only one worthy life well spent, and that is the life that is Christ. Paul is saying his life, his living, is not him self, but a totally other person – the person who gave Paul life by giving His own - the person of Jesus Christ. To live is not to live for a something, but, a someone.
The basis and example for Paul to live Christ is that Christ lived the Father. In other words, Jesus Christ did not live His life for His own purpose, but, for the Father’s purpose. He says in John 6:38, “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” Jesus Christ’s life was a perfect display of obedience to the will of someone else – God the Father. In Matthew 26:39 we see the sorrow of his crucifixion pressing on Him, and yet despite the suffering He was about to face He continued to keep His will perfectly conformed and confined to the will of the Father and chose to go forward with our salvation. Matthew says, “Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet, not as I will, but as you will.’”
Jesus Christ spent His life perfectly in God’s will living for Him. If Jesus Christ were writing verse 21 of our passage this morning, He might say, “For me, to live is the Father”. All that Christ’s life was, was the Father’s life. Or to say it another way, in Christ’s life was the Fathers life. Jesus says this in John 14, “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me ….”
Therefore, because Christ’s life was the Father’s life, then Paul’s life was Christ’s life in him. Let me say it this way: The Father’s life was in Christ and that life is in each believer being lived out. Because of God’s life in us we live no longer for our self, or our own life, but, we now are alive in Christ and living Him. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:15, “And [Christ] died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” Jesus Christ gave up His life so that we could have not our life, but, His life. He died. We live. His life was given up in His body so that His life could be taken up in our bodies. Now, all that is our life is to manifest the life and person of Jesus Christ. To know your life is to know Christ’s life, and to know Christ’s life is to know the Father’s life.
Notice too the connection between what it is to live, and what it is to die for Paul. If he lives Christ, then to die is gain. Christ is what he counts as being alive and worth being alive for. It is his Lord which makes life worth living.
If however he lives anything else, then to die is loss. There is no substitute for Christ. There is nothing else that makes life worth living, and nothing else that makes death worth dying. He says later in Philippians 3:7, “Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” No material possession, no fat stock portfolio, no activity, no person, no position, no purpose in this life is worthy to replace Christ as your life – no thing on earth made to be your life can mean gain for you in dying - except for Him who came from heaven to the earth.
The confidence of a life well spent on Christ is the gain that is waiting for you in dying. In a life that mimics Christ – in a life that is Christ – there is the confidence that life has been worthily invested. Life in Christ means gain in death – and it is the promise to all those for whom living means Christ.
“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
To live means your living. It is that for which you have set your aim on living; that for which you have set your heart upon to live and die for. Whatever it is we say “For me, to live is _______”, that is the something or someone that we will never part with for anything. As Charles Spurgeon says, “To believers, Jesus is the one pearl of great price for whom we are willing to part with all that we have.” “To live is Christ” is to live all of life all for Christ. There is nothing I hold back from Christ, all I am and all I have is surrendered to Him. He is totally worthy of all of me so that all of Him may dwell in all of me. All my life is all Christ. I have died. I am no longer. I exist not. Christ and Christ alone exists in and out from me
Many people - and possibly some here today - would say that to live is me. Life is lived by me and for me - not Christ. But, there is only one worthy life well spent, and that is the life that is Christ. Paul is saying his life, his living, is not him self, but a totally other person – the person who gave Paul life by giving His own - the person of Jesus Christ. To live is not to live for a something, but, a someone.
The basis and example for Paul to live Christ is that Christ lived the Father. In other words, Jesus Christ did not live His life for His own purpose, but, for the Father’s purpose. He says in John 6:38, “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” Jesus Christ’s life was a perfect display of obedience to the will of someone else – God the Father. In Matthew 26:39 we see the sorrow of his crucifixion pressing on Him, and yet despite the suffering He was about to face He continued to keep His will perfectly conformed and confined to the will of the Father and chose to go forward with our salvation. Matthew says, “Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet, not as I will, but as you will.’”
Jesus Christ spent His life perfectly in God’s will living for Him. If Jesus Christ were writing verse 21 of our passage this morning, He might say, “For me, to live is the Father”. All that Christ’s life was, was the Father’s life. Or to say it another way, in Christ’s life was the Fathers life. Jesus says this in John 14, “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me ….”
Therefore, because Christ’s life was the Father’s life, then Paul’s life was Christ’s life in him. Let me say it this way: The Father’s life was in Christ and that life is in each believer being lived out. Because of God’s life in us we live no longer for our self, or our own life, but, we now are alive in Christ and living Him. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:15, “And [Christ] died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” Jesus Christ gave up His life so that we could have not our life, but, His life. He died. We live. His life was given up in His body so that His life could be taken up in our bodies. Now, all that is our life is to manifest the life and person of Jesus Christ. To know your life is to know Christ’s life, and to know Christ’s life is to know the Father’s life.
Notice too the connection between what it is to live, and what it is to die for Paul. If he lives Christ, then to die is gain. Christ is what he counts as being alive and worth being alive for. It is his Lord which makes life worth living.
If however he lives anything else, then to die is loss. There is no substitute for Christ. There is nothing else that makes life worth living, and nothing else that makes death worth dying. He says later in Philippians 3:7, “Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” No material possession, no fat stock portfolio, no activity, no person, no position, no purpose in this life is worthy to replace Christ as your life – no thing on earth made to be your life can mean gain for you in dying - except for Him who came from heaven to the earth.
The confidence of a life well spent on Christ is the gain that is waiting for you in dying. In a life that mimics Christ – in a life that is Christ – there is the confidence that life has been worthily invested. Life in Christ means gain in death – and it is the promise to all those for whom living means Christ.
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