21st May 2025

21st May 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Philippians 1:18b-26) focus v21-24


Message (Alan Burke)


Some time ago while conducting a funeral there was a man got up and left. This has happened to me a few times and normally the reason why is that they have been confronted with their sin and do not like it. When I was an assistant there was a saint who reminded me that before she came to Christ she hated the minister but that she had since realised that it wasn’t the minister but the gospel itself. This man though was different, I hadn’t even started the sermon and he was so overwhelmed by his own mortality having been at funeral after funeral recently that he just couldn’t take it. Our own mortality is something that we try to avoid, most people do all that we can to try to ignore it, to maintain our youth, exercise, live healthy, try and live life to the full in every way, many are amusing themselves to death with constant entertainment. If we are truly honest all of us want to avoid or at least try to avoid death, but no-one can free themselves from the final enemy that we all must face, physical death and yet Paul had no fear in death. He says to the church in Philippi “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (v21). 


It is clear in his words that Paul was torn between life and death, if he lives then it means that he continues to proclaim the gospel, it will mean fruitful labour for him, but if he were to die then he would be with Christ which is better by far. He asks the question ‘Whet what shall I choose? I do not know! (v22). It is not that he has given up on life, instead they are words that show his heart, a heart for the church and the glory of Christ in this life or the glory of what awaits him. The choice that he speaks of is one that he knows ultimately is in the hands of God who has ordained all our days (Psalm 139:16), he asks not of what he would do but what he believes God desires for him. For while he languishes in prison he knows life is to be cherished and he desired to continue to live and minister for Christ, that was his chief end, to bring glory to God but he also believed that to die was gain. For Paul there was a tension in now and what is next and also that he remain for their benefit. 


For the believer to die is gain. It is gain because it means that we will be with Christ. Think to the words of Jesus to the thief on the cross, where Jesus said to him… “today you will be with me in paradise” (Lk 23:43 see also Rev 14:13, Lk 16:19-31). When we die we immediately go to be with Christ. It is not some far off future, not tomorrow, not after you have gone to as the Roman Catholic Church teaches, purgatory where you go to a place of  “purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven,” (CCC 1030). Rather it is immediate. 


The Shorter catechism gives a helpful and succinct summary of the scriptures teaching when in Question 37 when it asks; What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?
The answer is; The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves, till the resurrection. 


Death comes to all and the clock is ticking but if you have repented and believed then for you to live is Christ and to die is gain. Think of that word gain, it is profit, it is to our betterment. Why so? Well I hope you know that we will dwell with God and we will be his people, he himself will be with us and be our God, he will wipe every tear from our eyes, there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for these things have passed away (Rev 21:3-4). For the believer this life is the only hell you will ever know, for Paul to live was Christ and to die was gain and it is the same for all who have trusted in the Lord Jesus for their salvation.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q89 How is the Word made effectual to salvation?
A. The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching, of the Word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation.
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