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“Living
is Christ“
a sermon by
Thomas L. Jenkins
Text: Philippians 1: 21 – 30
“For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the
flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I
prefer.”
Dear Sisters and Brothers, obviously our sermon text this morning is not
from Romans. Never the
less, the apostle Paul, who was called by Christ to be an evangelistic
missionary to Gentile countries, wrote this epistle to the first and new
church in Philippi. Philippi
was located in what we now know as the north eastern part of Greece.
It was the first Gentile area where Paul preached. The popular New Testament men, Luke and Timothy, were with
him. This was one of the
main churches that led Christianity into Europe.
And during one of his first missionary trips, Paul was put in
jail in Philippi. So then
God created a miraculous way for Paul to escape from being in jail.
Paul does write about two desires he is wrestling with in his heart.
He knows that if he passes away from living in this world, at
this time - which by the way, we have heard him teach that living is
Christ – he will be moved into the eternal reality of his new life.
He will be placed into the loving personal relationships of God,
for which he was created, and for which Jesus sacrificed his life here
in this world, so that Paul, you, I, and all of us, will be guarantied
of our eternal life. In
some personal way, at times, we might all probably prefer this.
As Paul writes “living is Christ,” he means more than simply
thinking “Christ is living.” In
other epistles of Paul which we have recorder in the New Testament, he
writes some very spiritually profound statements like: “It is not I
who live, but Christ who lives in me … Our lives are hidden in Christ
with God … and, in Christ we are blessed with all the spiritual
blessings in heaven.” Paul
is not writing scientific or philosophical beliefs. He is doing his best to express words, from within his heart
that were given to him as he experienced Jesus as his Lord.
Based on the testimony of his conversion accomplished by Christ
in Paul’s real sight and hearing, along with the fact that his
conversion was done by God for him, Paul started many Gentile churches.
When he was away from some of these churches, even in jail
sometimes because of his proclamations, he wrote letters to them in the
spirit of a pastor, using what he now knows of God the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit.
Let’s review his conversion. (Acts
9) Meanwhile Saul [Paul], still breathing threats and murder against the
disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for
letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who
belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to
Jerusalem. 3 Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus,
suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground
and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute
me?" 5 He asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came,
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But get up and enter the
city, and you will be told what you are to do.”
After this meeting with the resurrected Jesus, and his obeying
Jesus’ orders about what to do in the city, Paul became one called by
God, and then was sent out into the world to teach and preach the gospel
of Jesus Christ. By God,
Paul was converted from one who persecuted Christ, by persecuting
Christians, into one who told people that Christ is already in them, and
they are already in Christ. This blesses Jesus. By
God, Paul was converted into an apostle.
Jesus said about himself, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
Jesus is the unique human being through whom the Son of God was
born into humanity, in order to reveal to us the way God has already
united us to the Father’s, Son’s, and Holy Spirit’s divine eternal
life. This is our real
truth, regardless of where we are in faith.
That is to mean where we are in Christ’s faith.
Living is Christ.
One of my favorite pastors was Calvin Thielman.
He baptized me at the Montreat Presbyterian Church, in North
Carolina. He was born and
grew up in Paris, Texas. In
the year after he earned his Bachelors degree, he was very involved in a
political situation that really helped Lyndon Johnson to be elected as a
Senator. After his success,
Mr. Johnson came to Paris to meet Calvin.
When they met, Johnson thanked Calvin and offered to help him in
law school, to become a politician.
Calvin told him that God was calling him to be a minister, not a
politician.
A number of years later, Lyndon Johnson became our President.
Billy Graham went to meet President Johnson, as he has with all
the Presidents during his profession.
When Graham and Johnson met, one of the first questions that
Johnson asked Graham about, was if Graham knew any church ministers who
could be his private chaplain. When
Graham said “Yes, Calvin Thielman,” he saw a beautiful smile on
Johnson’s face. And
Calvin did become the President’s private chaplain.
There are a few things Calvin used to say to me that I love to remember:
[1] Jesus is real. [2] Life is not a Crystal Cathedral. And [3] I can
live like Peter. I cannot
live like Paul. Calvin was
certainly pointing to how spiritually profound is the apostle Paul.
Well Paul, by the Word of God, is revealing to us, that as long as our
living is Christ, before dying becomes a gain for us, we are to live
under the influence of God’s greatest news to us of who is Jesus
Christ, and what that has to do with us.
We may all seek to understand more, and even pray daily that God will
continually lead us into rediscovering the awesomeness of divine grace. Our
living is Christ.
Let us pray …
Amen.
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