The Christian Part 1

0:00Lord, You are my strong tower. Yes, You are my hiding place. And all to graph you, in who You are. Because it's with You I find my place. Welcome to this edition of Back to Basics with Pastor Brian Broderson. Paul's life was about Christ. His meaning, purpose, significance, joy, happiness, fulfillment was all wrapped up in Christ. Knowing Him, loving Him, pleasing Him, and serving Him. That's why we're alive, my friends. That's why we're here in this world. That's why we exist. Today on Back to Basics, Pastor Brian continues his study in the book of Philippians.

1:07Join us as Pastor Brian presents his teaching on Philippians 1 verses 12 through 30, and a message titled, The Christians motto. And now here's Pastor Brian. As we come today to verse 12, we move into the main content of the letter. And so what Paul does, he first of all shares some of the details concerning his current situation of imprisonment in Rome. So Paul writes this letter from prison in Rome. And he also includes his confidence that he will ultimately be set free. And then finally, he challenges them to stand fast and to strive together for the faith of the gospel. And right in the middle of that, there in verse 21, what Paul does really is he gives us his motto. And he expresses in a sense, this is just who he is and what he's about.

2:07Now, a motto is a short expression of a guiding principle. And so what is Paul's guiding principle? Well, he tells us there in verse 21, for to me to live as Christ and to die is gained. That's Paul's guiding principle for his life. And I might say that that ought to be the guiding principle for every single Christian. And Paul could say these things and he could have the sacrificial attitude because the guiding principle of his life was to live as Christ and to die as gain. You see that Paul was living for Christ. And listen, every person who claims to be a follower of Christ or claims to be a Christian, there's so much confusion over what a Christian is today. But let's just remember that here's what we're told in Scripture. You know, the word Christian is only used three times in the New Testament.

3:07And the first time it appears is an axe. And there in Acts, it's, I think it's chapter 11, it says this. It says, and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. But listen, and the disciples were first called Christians. You see, the Bible understands that and communicates that. A Christian is a disciple. A disciple is a follower of Jesus. So you know, we live in a time where it's almost like, you know, there's a mentality of, well, you can be a Christian, but you don't have to follow Jesus. No, that's wrong. If you're a Christian, you are a follower of Jesus. And that's what Paul was. He was a follower of Jesus. He was a disciple of Jesus. And he understood that life as a follower of Jesus was about Jesus.

4:07That everything in life came down to that one important thing. And that was a Lord. And let me say this. I think if we could just get a glimpse of the glory of Christ and who He is. If we could just have our understanding enlightened a little bit, you know, I think we would all realize that if we're living for anything, but Christ were fools. Because Christ is the only one worth living for. Now Paul says this. He says, and we're going to look at here at his motto. He says to live is Christ. Now we should all know this. Everyone lives for something or someone. And that someone can even be yourself. But every human being is driven by something. There's a master passion, check, pastor, check used to talk about what is the master passion of your life.

5:08Well, there is a master passion. There's a thing that drives you. There's a thing that you engage in this. You pursue this because you believe that happiness, peace, meaning, purpose, significance, contentment, fulfillment. You believe that it's through this thing, whatever it might be, you believe that this is what's going to bring that. And all people do this. All people have a commitment to something that they believe is going to satisfy what they sense as some sort of a void or emptiness. What people don't realize is that void in that emptiness, it's the desire for God. So you see, people don't realize that what I really need is God. So they pursue all of these other things. They pursue meaning, purpose, significance, through these other things. So whether it's a passion to be indulged, you know, why do people indulge in these desires of the flesh?

6:15Well, because they somehow think that this is going to be the thing that finally brings me satisfaction or fulfillment or meaning or purpose. So whether it's an indulgence of your passions or a possession to be acquired, a possession to be acquired. If I could only get this or if I could only get those things, and then I would be, and you know, we've all experiences, we know this by life, right? We know these kinds of things. That's what we do with human beings. We're trying to get this satisfaction. We're trying to find that purpose or that meaning. And so whether it's through, like I said, the, whether it's through the indulgence of a passion or the acquiring of a possession or the attaining of a position. If I could just get into this place, if I could just be in this crowd, if I could just be with these people, if I could just get that promotion, if I could just have this title added on to my name, then I would be fulfilled.

7:26Then I would be whole, then my identity would be complete. Guess what? No, it won't happen. It won't happen. You think it will and you keep pursuing it, but you know, here's what happens. That's your life. And then you just get older and older and older and then time to slipping because everything you thought, but it's not doing it. And then what? And you're running out of time. And you've tried all these things. But you see, here's the truth. None of those things will ever fulfill you. They can't. Because you were created by God and you were created for God until you come to know God and until Christ is your life, you've got nothing in the end. And you know, the sad possibility is that you just go on and on and on until you're finally on your deathbed and you've never reached it. And now you're at the end of the road. And there is no more time. And what do you do then?

8:28Well, Paul, who had his own experiences with these things, Paul came to a place of being able to say, for me to live is Christ. Christ is the purpose of life. Christ is the meaning of life. And listen, this is the beautiful thing. And many of you could just stand up and give a testimony about this reality. The beautiful thing is when you come to know Christ, this is the answer. This is where all of that stuff that you're longing for. That's where you will find it. Paul's life was about Christ. His meaning, purpose, significance, joy, happiness, fulfillment was all wrapped up in Christ, knowing him, loving him, pleasing him, and serving him. That's why we're alive, my friends. That's why we're here in this world to know, to love, to please, and to serve Christ. That's why we exist.

9:32And so Paul discovered that. And so again, for him, I'm in prison, but it's okay. The gospel is being advanced. I'm being slandered. It doesn't matter. The gospel is being advanced. I might die, but you know what? It doesn't even matter because to die is gain. What do I have to lose? If I keep on living, that's great, because I'll keep serving Christ. But if I die, that's even better. That's what Paul said. If I die, that's even better. Why? Because of course he knew to depart and be with Christ as far better. Isn't it true that when people die, people we love, people we know, we always have this... It's so pained by that. And yes, understandably. But we always have to remember that the pain is on our side of it, not on their side. We have to remember that for them, it's a better thing. To depart and be with Christ is better. Is it better? Of course, it's better. Why is it better? Well, it's gained, as Paul said,

10:43because we will be faced to face with the one who loved us and gave himself for us. We will be with the Lord. Can you imagine, think about this. Think about who the Lord is. Tonight, or I don't know, go outside, look at the stars, look at nature all around you, enjoy the creation, and then remember this, Jesus Christ made this. Jesus made this. Look in the mirror. And remember, wow, Jesus made this too. I maybe messed it up a little bit, but you know, he made it. But then just remember, we are going to behold the face of Him, the one who made us, and the one who loved us and gave himself for us. I remember reading the autobiography of Billy Graham, just as I am. And I remember at the end of that autobiography, I remember Billy said, and I think he was in his 80s when he wrote that.

11:44And remember, he lived to be just about a hundred. But he said in that autobiography, the one thing that he looked forward to was to be able to stand before Jesus, and to thank the one who loved him. And I remember when I read that, I was just like, wow, that is so powerful. It moved me emotionally. But that's why Paul said to die as gain. But secondly, it is gain because we are forever free from the suffering and misery of sin and death. That's what happens. We're forever free from that. And of course, this is the thing that spoils life, right? The suffering, the misery, which is all due to sin. But there is no suffering. There is no misery. It's all a faint memory. And ultimately to be wiped off out of the memory bank. But then also it's gained because we are forever reunited with our loved ones that have gone before us.

12:55And we're also brought together as one eternal family with all the saints of all the ages. Isn't that amazing? All the saints of all the ages will be brought together. You know, some of you probably have the same kind of experience, but you know, having been reading and studying and teaching the Bible now for many years, I feel like the people in the Bible are actually my friends. You know, there are people I know. Paul is like a good friend. You know, I know him so well. I know his thoughts. I know where he's been and what he's done. And then I think, well, you know, Paul is alive. He's just alive in a different dimension. And so is Moses. And so is Merriam, the sister of Moses. And so is Mary, the mother of Jesus. And you know, you think of all of these people. And then so are your friends, people that you have known and loved and you miss. But one day it's all going to be brought back together in a glorious reunion that will never, ever end.

13:59That's gain to to to to to die as gain. And then finally, yes, we should get excited about this stuff. And then finally, it's gain because we've entered into the very thing for which God created us in the first place. To live in and enjoy fully and forever the love and glory of the father, son and Holy Spirit. Now God help us to get this through our minds that this is why we are here. You see back in eternity past, God decided, God the father, son and Holy Spirit, that they were going to create human beings to live in an eternal love related to God. And then we have eternal love relationship with them to share in the love that they shared for all eternity as the triune God. God decided that we're going to we're going to create human beings. God of course knows everything.

15:05So he knows what's going to happen. He knows that there's going to be a rebellion against him. And he knows that in order to reconcile these human beings that he's going to create. And so God the son is the one who is going to come and become a human being to redeem human beings. And then all of this needs a stage. All of this needs a platform. So we're going to create a universe and we're going to create galaxies and we're going to create a solar system and we're going to create a planet. And that planet is going to be the home for these people that we will make and redeem so we can have a forever relationship with them. That's what happened. And we to die as gain because we enter into that. See, that's what we were made for. What we're doing here right now is not what we were ultimately made for.

16:07We are doing if we're living for Christ, we're doing what we were made for, but not ultimately there's something ahead of us. And it's so isn't it true that we always we just get bogged down here all the time. We just forget that we are on a journey. Paul never forgot that. Paul knew that and he kept that at the forefront of his mind. And so he could say for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. And so here's the question that I want to ask all of us today. The question is what is your motto? Truly what is your motto? What would you say? How would you fill in the blank to live is what? What would you have to put in there? And I say truly and sincerely because even though I think many of us, if not most of us in this room, are Christians.

17:13But the question is still this. What's what do we put in the blank for me to live? Is it really Christ? Am a Christian as a Christian? Am I doing what I'm really supposed to do as a follower of Jesus? Am I living for Him? Or would I have to put something else there? Would I have to say, well, if the truth be told, no, I'm not really living for Christ. Even though I believe in Christ, even though I know that Jesus is the Son of God in the Savior of the world, I know that. But no, I'm really not living for Him. I'm really living for this. And unfortunately, I think that's true across a large swath of Christian people today. I think there's a lot of people that would have to say, honestly, that I'm not living for Christ. But that's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to live for Christ. And remember, it's not like we're supposed to do it because God will beat you over the head if you don't do it.

18:14It's like we're supposed to do it because this is what we were made for. And all of these other things that we end up living for are things that will never get us what we think we're looking for. Only living for Christ will do that. So ask yourself the question to live as what? Is it Christ or something else? And then ask yourself this question. What is it to die? Can you say today, yes, to die as gain? Or would you perhaps say, well, to die would be a great loss? I would lose all of these things. I would lose my place in the pecking order. I would lose that opportunity that's going to come my way. If you see death as a loss, then you're looking at it the wrong way. Or maybe you see death, it's fear. It's not to depart and be with Christ as far better. It's, oh, no, to depart and be with Christ. That would be very fearful. Why is it fearful?

19:20Well, probably because I'm not really living for Christ. You see, Paul could say to die as gain because he could also say to live as Christ. That's how you are able to say to die as gain, to say to live as Christ. And then listen, this is not something that only an elite group of Christians can do. This is not something that you have to be some special category of Christian. This isn't something you have to be a pastor or a missionary. This is something that all of us are called to, to live for Christ, to live for Christ every day, to live for Christ in your personal life, to live for Christ in your family life, to live for Christ in your professional life, wherever you are, to live for Christ. That's what life is about. And God takes your life that you give to Him and He does wonderful things.

20:23You see, the thing is sometimes we think foolishly we think, well, you know, if I live for Christ, I'm going to miss out on this. You know, if I'm leaving for Christ, I'm not going to get to do that. Forget that stuff. That's a delusion. That's a deception. If you live for Christ, it's going to be the best life you could ever live. That's the reality. And when your life is over, it's going to be even better. So to live is Christ. And in just a moment, I'm going to appeal to two groups of people here. I'm going to appeal, first of all, to those of you that have never made a decision to live for Christ. I'm going to ask you to do that. And I'm going to do that in just a second. But I'm also going to make an appeal to those who have made that decision in the past, but you know today you're not living for Christ. Today's the day to start living for him again. I was reading a book this week. And the author was, he's a very well-known philosophy professor.

21:25And he was, he was talking about how he would do these seminars with these professional people, academic people and, you know, people who were just up in the business world and the corporate world and all of this stuff. And he would do these seminars with him. And one of the things he would ask them, he would ask them like, you know, how does Jesus Christ factor into your work world? Like, you know, how does Jesus help you? How does Jesus, you know, enable you and what you're doing? And he said, the irony was this. He said that most of them never thought to connect Jesus with anything but their religious world. And so he would challenge them and he'd say, well, wait a second. Jesus is according to Scripture in him or hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Do you need wisdom? Do you need knowledge in your profession? Yes, yes, we need that, they'd say. But so why don't you ever bring Jesus into that? Oh, well, you know, they just didn't think that way. Jesus is in the religious category over here. But you know, this is like serious stuff. This is business. And this is, you know, this is work.

22:35We, we, you know, we, we got to do this ourselves, right? No, wrong. We're called to bring Jesus into every, he's the Lord of everything. He was saying how he would talk to people and he would just ask him this question, do you think Jesus is smart? They're like, Jesus is smart. I don't know. Jesus smart. Well, if in him or hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, I think he's pretty smart. Yes. I mean, if he could create yourselves and you and, you know, everything else, that's pretty smart stuff right there. But I'm going to appeal to you who have said, yeah, I'm following Jesus, but you can't say right now to live as Christ. We'll continue next time with more valuable insights from Pastor Brian as we study together in the book of Libyans. Thank you for listening to Back to Basics with Pastor Brian Broderson. You know, Back to Basics is a listener supported Bible teaching ministry.

23:37We couldn't do this without the prayers and financial support of friends like you. If today's message encouraged you, would you prayerfully consider supporting the ministry? You can also sign up for our newsletter to stay connected. Visit Back to Basics Radio dot com. And now, back with a final thought for today. Here's Pastor Brian. In closing, the theme of our study through Philippians is the fellowship of the gospel. And the word fellowship is the picture of being part of this thing. You're, you're coming into this thing that God is doing. And the fellowship of the gospel is what we enter into when we receive Christ. And there's all kinds of ramifications to that because the gospel is the declaration that our sins can be forgiven, that we can be reconciled to God and born into a new life, that we are going to be end well by the Holy Spirit, that we're going to have a place now in God's family and become a member of the body of Christ and receive.

24:43Gifts of the Holy Spirit through which we will serve God. And then when everything is finished here on earth, that we have a place in the eternal kingdom of God's Son. That's the fellowship that God's inviting us into. And that happens by coming to Christ and giving our lives to him. And some of you today, maybe a few of you, maybe you've never done that. And I want to give you the opportunity to do that and to change your destiny so you can also know the security and the peace of knowing that to live as Christ and to die is game. So I see you in the shadow of the wind. For you I'll fight my peace.

25:44My peace. Back to basics is the listener supported preaching and teaching ministry of Pastor Brian Broderson.