The Good Death

and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance. As it is my eager expectation that you will be able to hear this message, I ask you to join me in a moment of silence as we pray for the deliverance of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. As it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage, now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I'm to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me,

yet which shall I choose, I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me, you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or I'm absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. And not frightened in anything by your opponents, this is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have. This is the word of God for the people of God. As you're being seated, go ahead and make your way over to Philippians chapter one. If you are not already there, just a few quick things before we get going.

Number one, if you missed our night of prayer and worship on Friday, man, I just wanna tell you, you missed an incredibly powerful evening. We do these once a quarter, and so I hope you'll make plans to be at the next one. Number two, this should be insanely obvious, but go Canes, okay? Like, can we just throw that out there? And then number three, this is wild. A couple of days ago was getting this message ready, and I was sitting in my home office, and I told my wife, I realized all of a sudden, I looked at Liz and I said, hey, this is nuts. I said, but I just realized it has been exactly 10 years this year from the day that I preached my very first sermon here at the Summit Church. And so more than anything, what I wanna say to you guys is thank you. Thanks for, I've literally in so many ways grown up in front of you. What you don't know is 10 years ago when I preached that Sunday morning at Briar Creek, that was only the second time I had ever preached at a church on Sunday morning. And so I recognize I have grown up in front of you. You guys have been patient with me. You've been encouraging. And so I really do just wanna say thanks, but I can tell you today more than ever,

I believe that the power that this book has to point to Jesus Christ, that that power of the gospel still saves, I believe today more than ever in the saving power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Man, we've celebrated already this weekend through baptisms and people giving their life to Jesus. And so I am ready to go. I don't know about you guys, but I believe there's some people that wanna give their life to Jesus today, amen? And so that's what I'm ready to do for you guys. In case you've missed it, the last couple of weeks, we have been in the book of Philippians. And so we are on week three. Philippians is such a fascinating little book. The apostle Paul is writing this book to the church at Philippi. And what so many scholars say is that this is arguably the most joy-filled book in all of scripture. And that's because despite his circumstances, the apostle Paul uses the words joy or rejoice no less than 16 times in just 104 very short verses in this book. Because of that, we've titled this series, The Secret to the Good Life. The Secret to the Good Life. I just want you to think about that phrase a little bit this morning. Well, what does that phrase mean to you?

The good life. Like, let's just play a little game of honest hour, okay? How would you fill in this blank? The good life is what? Maybe for you, the good life is a life with more peace. Maybe for you, it's a life with more money. Maybe for some of you, it's not more of something. Maybe the good life is just a life with a little less crazy, amen? Maybe it's the good life is better relationship. or better behaved kids, or just behaved kids in general, that would be nice. Maybe for you, the good life is some sense of a clearer purpose, feeling like you know your purpose in life. See, most of us have some picture in our minds about what the good life is, and my guess is that it sounds something like that. But the good life is a happy and healthy family, or the good life is enough money to not be stressed, or the good life is kids who love Jesus and sleep through the night don't embarrass us in public, or the good life is enough margin in life to just breathe, or maybe for some of you, the good life is getting to a point in life where you can just say, I'm doing okay. See, here's my fear. My fear is that somewhere along the way, many of us have assumed that Jesus came

to help us get that life. And listen, like that good life, that version of the good life is not all wrong. You need to know I'm pro-peace, I'm pro-purpose, pro-joy, pro-financial freedom, pro-healthy family, pro-less crazy, amen and amen. Those are good gifts. The issue isn't that those things are bad. The issue is that we have made that the goal of life, and then we hire Jesus as our life coach to achieve it. And see, if you and I come to Jesus merely to get that good life, we have not surrendered to him. We have recruited him. And so with these last few verses in Philippians 1 do, the Apostle Paul is gonna confront that version of the good life head on, because what Paul is gonna do is he's gonna show us a completely different definition of the good life. Again, just to kind of catch you up in case you haven't been here, just to give you some context, you need to know that the Apostle Paul, as he writes this letter to the church at Philippi, you need to know that if Paul's joy were based on his circumstances, we've talked about this, Philippians in so many ways would actually be the shortest book in all the Bible.

If Paul's joy were based on his circumstances, essentially the book of Philippians would not be two pages in my Bible. The book of Philippians would read, dear Philippians, everything is terrible, pray for me, amen. That's essentially what it would say. Because remember, Paul is not writing this book with a warm cup of coffee in hand, overlooking the ocean from his beach house. Paul's writing this book from a Roman prison cell. He has critics attacking him, his body is chained and he has an ongoing trial that for all he knows is gonna end in his execution. Just suffice it to say, Paul is not living his best life now, okay? It's kind of what I'm getting at. Yet, despite all of this, Paul is more free, he's more joyful, more courageous, and he's more alive than almost anybody you will ever meet. And the question we should ask is why? It's because Paul's definition of the good life is not based on his circumstances. We see it right here at the very end of verse 18. Despite his chains, his critics, his enemies, his potential impending death, look at what he says at the end of verse 18. He says, yes, and I will rejoice. In week one, Pastor JD showed us that gratitude,

this idea of rejoicing is not a feeling, it's a practice. He showed us how Paul's gratitude was born out of an overflow of understanding God's good providence and sovereignty over absolutely everything in his life. And when you have that, no matter what's happening, you can rejoice. I mean, that was Pastor Brian's entire point of his message, his amazing message last week in week two, right? That you and I have to learn to see everything, everything in life as an opportunity to advance the gospel. And I said everything three times because that's what Pastor Brian would do, amen? See, joy comes from seeing all of life through the lens of Romans 8, 28, knowing that all things, all things, even the bad things are working together by God our Father for our good and the ultimate advancement of the gospel. Paul knows that, and so he says, therefore, Paul says, I rejoice, even in my suffering and in this prison cell, and then look at verse 19, I'm rejoicing for I know that through your prayers, Philippians, and through the help of the spirit of Jesus Christ, that this circumstance I find myself in will turn out for my deliverance. Now, deliverance is a fascinating little word for Paul to use right there. Because when you and I hear deliverance, what do we think?

We think God is gonna get me out of this situation, right? God's gonna deliver me from this prison cell, God's gonna deliver me from this sickness, God's gonna deliver me from this conflict or this relationship or this financial pressure, or God's gonna deliver me from this sin habit. Like God. is going to get me out of this thing that I'm stuck in. And I wanna tell you, God can definitely do that. We believe in the healing power of God. And I mean, Paul obviously does too. He obviously believes in the power of prayer. Paul says right here, hey, Philippians, through your prayers, I believe this is gonna turn out for my deliverance. So Paul obviously believes that those prayers matter. And not just that, but he also says that this deliverance is gonna come through the help of the spirit of Jesus Christ. See, Paul's confidence isn't just that God might change his circumstances. His confidence comes in believing that God will sustain him in his circumstances through the prayers of God's people and through the power of God's spirit. And see, this is profound because at this point, again, Paul has no clue if he's ever gonna get out of prison alive. For all he knows, the next time he walks out of that prison cell,

it's gonna be to walk to his execution. And yet he still declares boldly and confidently, I know this will turn out for my deliverance. See, he can say that because he knows something that Rome doesn't. He knows that while Rome may control the verdict on his life, he knows that ultimately, Jesus controls the outcome of his life. That Rome can say guilty, Rome can say death, Rome can say, keep him in chains in prison, but Rome is not the one who gets the final word over Paul's life. Proverbs 16, 22, the lot is cast, but every single decision comes from the Lord. Paul knows that Proverbs 21, Rome thinks they're in charge, but the king's heart is like a stream of water in the hands of the Lord. The Lord turns it wherever he wills. Paul knows, like based on his circumstances, he knows that it's highly unlikely that Rome's gonna be like, hey, Paul, our bad, just a big misunderstanding. Here's, let go of your chains. Here's a Chick-fil-A gift card for your trouble. Like, go on, man. Like, you're gonna be okay. He knows that's probably where this whole thing is not headed, yet he still declares confidently

because he believes through and through, hey, either way, I'm getting delivered. He says, if I'm exonerated and let go, I'm delivered from this prison cell. He says, on the other hand, if I'm executed, guess what? I'm delivered into the presence of Christ, my Savior. So Paul's like, it's a win-win no matter what. I can't lose. Yo, you realize, like that is a completely different kind of freedom to have in life. You know the secret to the good life? It's knowing Jesus that way. See, that's the freedom, listen, of knowing you can be delivered without being delivered. Paul understands even if he's not delivered from prison, God can still deliver him while he's in prison. Here's what Paul's showing us. Deliverance is not always God unlocking the door. Sometimes deliverance is God making you free while the door is still locked. Here's what I'm trying to tell you. You can be free from despair without actually being delivered from the diagnosis. You can be free from the bitterness without ever being delivered from the relationship. You can, by the blood of Jesus, you can be free from the shame and guilt of your past without ever being able to rewrite your past.

You can be free of something without actually being delivered from it. Now, don't hear me wrong. Like you, in that circumstances, you should pray for the door to open. You should pray for healing. You should pray for reconciliation. You should pray for the prodigal. You should pray for the provision. You should pray for the change in circumstance. But as you pray, don't miss the deeper miracle that God may want to deliver you before he actually delivers you. Y'all, sometimes deliverance is not your kid immediately coming home. It's your heart learning to trust in a good and loving father while you wait on the porch. That's what this view of God can do for your life. Friends, the good life is not a life where nothing bad can touch you. It's not the good life. The good life is a life of knowing that everything that does touch you first had to pass and sift through the hands of a loving, sovereign, good, heavenly father who is committed to your ultimate joy and his eternal glory. That's the good life. And so Paul continues in verse 20. Look at it.

He says, so it's my eager expectation and hope that I'm not gonna be ashamed at all, no matter what happens. But instead, with full courage, now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. Paul says, y'all, no matter what happens, I'm not gonna be ashamed. On the contrary, not only am I not gonna be ashamed, I'm gonna be filled with hope and expectation because no matter what happens, whether I live or whether I die, I believe that Christ is gonna be honored in my life. In other words, again, Paul's greatest hope is not that Christ is gonna get him out of a prison cell, it's the belief that Christ will get glory from his life, even if his life ends in that very prison cell. Again, I just want, like, I need you to understand, think about the type of freedom that that would bring in your life to be in Paul's position, to have everything the world say is good going against you, to see every trial and every possible outcome, whether it's life or death, freedom or imprisonment, comfort or suffering, imagine the freedom of seeing every single thing in your life as an opportunity to honor King Jesus. That's what Paul means when he says, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

That word honored is actually the word magnified. It carries the idea of a telescope. Y'all know what a telescope does, right? A telescope takes something that's small and distant, real far away, and shows you how big it actually is. A telescope doesn't make things bigger than they actually are, right? It just reveals how big they actually are and gives you a clearer picture of them. That's what Paul wants his life to be able to do. He says, whether I live, whether I die, whether I stay in this prison cell, whether I'm freed so I can go plant more churches, he wants people to look at his life and understand that, hey, I know sometimes God seems distant and small and far away, but he wants people to look at him and say, Jesus must be better than life because this man still has courage and joy and hope and freedom even when death is on the table. He wants his life to act as a telescope to magnify King Jesus. Once you've got to realize as a follower of Jesus, your life acts as a telescope too, especially during times of suffering. Like you realize when you're going through suffering or disappointment or loss or sickness, people are not looking at you just to see how strong you are. They're watching how sufficient this Jesus

you've been talking about really is to you. And when you suffer with courage, when you grieve but still have hope, when you experience loss but you don't ultimately despair, your life becomes a telescope by which people see that Jesus, who previously might've felt small and far away to them, that Jesus actually becomes bigger, better, and nearer than they ever thought possible. And so the question is, how do we get that kind of good life? Where no matter what you're going through, you're able to rejoice like the apostle Paul. What Paul does is he rounds out chapter one by giving us two secrets to this good life. Two secrets to this good life. And here's secret number one, we're not gonna get too cute with these. The first secret is that when Christ is your life, death becomes gain. When Christ is your life, death becomes gain. You wanna know the secret to the good life? This is it. It's what probably a lot of you have posted on your wall or have on a coffee mug. You wanna know the secret to the good life? It is Philippians chapter one, verse 21. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. You wanna know what it means to be a Christian? That's it right there.

To live is Christ. That's what it means to be a Christian. To be a Christian is not about the things you don't do. It's not about attending church. It's not about being part of the right group. It's not about giving money. It's not about serving. It's not about avoiding big sins that are looked down on. Like all that's good and all that. What it means to be a Christian is to live is Christ. Everything's about Christ. It's all about Christ. Everything is bound up in Christ. Every thought is Christ. Every motive is Christ. Every action is Christ. Every deed is Christ. You ask yourself daily, will this honor Christ? Is this what Christ would do? Does this follow what Christ has said? To live is Christ is St. Patrick's famous prayer. And yes, St. Patrick was a real dude. He didn't just invent Guinness, okay? St. Patrick used to pray Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.

Summit family, if you call yourself a Christian, Jesus Christ is not someone you come give glory and honor to one day a week for a couple hours. For the Christian to live is Christ. That is the operating system of the Christian life. Philippians 121 is the secret to the good life. The good life is knowing Jesus. The good life is not comfort. It is not success. It is not control. It is not pleasure. It is not escaping suffering and living the perfect little comfortable life. is not the perfect family, the good life is not a career or a bank account or a nest egg or a reputation for the Christian to live is Christ. And that means if Christ is your life, then death, death ain't the end. Death is not defeat. Death is not ultimate loss. Death is gain, because then that means I get to go be with Christ. And if you can get those two things settled, life and death, that changes everything. That gives you a hope and a joy that this world cannot give and it can't take away because even if the world takes my life, guess what? It's a win.

I get to go be with Jesus Christ. Changes everything. I mean, I got to witness this firsthand what this type of faith looks like. I've been like dying to tell you guys this. Like I, before I even, I knew like what text I was preaching and I'm telling them about this. That's it. That was my outline three weeks ago. And so a couple of weeks ago, about a month ago, I was invited to go speak kind of midweek out at our North Durham campus to a group out there that calls themselves the OWLS, O-W-L-S. It stands for Older, Wiser, Loving Seniors, okay? So the OWLS, shout out OWLS at North Durham. They invite me out. The OWLS is made up mostly of what was kind of the original 300. If you're unfamiliar with the history of our church, when Pastor JD became pastor a little over 20 years ago, he became the lead pastor of Homestead Heights Baptist Church, which had dwindled down to about 300 members. And those that stayed, the original 300, the majority of them go to the North Durham campus. Shout out North Durham. And so the ones that are still around, I'm not being funny when I say this,

those that are still alive, most of them are still out at the North Durham campus. And they have this ministry called the OWLS where they meet once a month and they have like potluck lunch. And y'all like, they're doing ministry. They're not just meeting, like biding their time. They're meeting and they're doing canned drive goods and talking about how they can share Jesus with their communities. And they're like sponsoring like missionaries. Like, hey, this is my granddaughter. She's going on a mission trip. We want to sponsor and pray for it. Like they're doing ministry. It's awesome. And so once a month they meet. And so they invite me out. They're like, hey, can you come out, have lunch with us? And then could you just speak to, just encourage us? You can preach a sermon, tell us about yourself, whatever. And so when I say they do a potluck, like go ahead and put that picture up. Like this is Wednesday midday. This is my lunch, okay? I'm still full from this a month. I took a nap, like this, they go hard. And so we get our plates and we're about 10 minutes into lunch, just round tables. There's like 120, 130 people, pretty awesome.

And about 10 minutes into lunch, all of a sudden Ms. Corrine, one of our longest standing members, all of a sudden I hear Ms. Corrine pipe up and she goes, somebody call 911. I don't think Harold's breathing. So I'm like, what? And so I kind of hop up and me and like three other guys kind of run over there. And sure enough, Harold's kind of shaking. I think he's having like a little mini seizure. And so we like, one grabs his arm, other arm, somebody gets behind him, he's kind of holding him up in his chair. And all of a sudden Harold goes from basically having a seizure to just, I mean, blank, like not breathing, no pulse, like nothing. So I'm like, somebody call 911. Thankfully Harold's wife, Judy, has some type of background in medical or something, I think. So Judy immediately grabs her phone. She goes and calls 911. So I'm like, let's just start praying. So we start praying. Like all of a sudden we go from being like Southern Baptist potluck to like Pentecostal prayer. Like we are good. Like God, would you heal? Like Harold.

And so I kind of voice a prayer and I'm like, hey, I'm gonna go see if anybody at the North Durham staff that works at the campus has any medical background. So I run in the office at North Durham and I'm like, Gus. Gus is the campus pastor. If you know Gus, he's like the happiest dude you've ever met. So I'm like, Gus, Gus, Gus. And Gus comes running out. He's like, hey, Curtis, what's up? And I'm like, I don't know how to say this. I think somebody's dying. And he's like, what? And so Gus and Rebecca come running out and it's like, she grabs the paddles and Gus runs in there. So I'm like, Gus, like, can you, I'm gonna go check on Judy, see where EMS is at. Gus, can you just sit here and pray? And so Gus is like on his hands and knees, like holding Harold's hand, like praying. I'm checking, here comes Rebecca with paddles and Judy, his wife is like, hey, you can't paddle him. He's too old. He might die. Like he can't, like, and so this whole thing's nuts. And so all of a sudden we're over there, we're praying for Harold. And all of a sudden Harold just like, and he's like, oh, what happened?

We're like, Harold, are you okay, man? He goes, I think I just got a little dehydrated. We're like, no, like you were, like bro, you were at the pearly gates. You weren't dehydrated. Like, what are you talking about? And so we're like, Harold's sitting there and Gus is still, here's the best part. Gus is like hands and knees still holding Harold's hand. He's like, Harold, like Gus is such an incredible campus pastor. And one of the best parts is somebody, somebody walks over to Gus and said, hey, pastor, thanks for being here. Make sure you grab a plate on your way out. There's plenty of food. Like, you know, like, like not even death is going to get between Southern Baptist and their potluck. It was amazing. And so EMS comes, thank God. I need to tell you guys, Harold's doing great. I've talked to him twice. Thursday night, Thursday night, I forgot to mention to people that Harold's doing fine. So I kind of left, quite the cliffhanger, right? And so EMS is there. They're kind of tended to him. And so I go over to Gus. I'm like, hey man, thanks so much for coming over. And he goes, yeah.

And then Gus kind of paused and he goes, bro, did you realize like 80% of the room didn't even stop eating? I was like, I know. They're like taking a bite of ziti and then praying. And y'all, it's just because they got this resolve. They got this belief that to die is gain. Like it's amazing. And so Judy, Harold's wife comes over and she's visibly shaken, right? Like EMS is there, tended to Harold. And I will never forget this as long as I live. Because Judy, who rightfully so is a little shaken up. And this kind of younger lady comes over and Mittenwell was trying to kind of comfort her, say something nice. And this younger lady looked at Ms. Judy who was shaken. She said, Ms. Judy, man, thank God that Harold's still with us today. And I'll never forget this. She didn't scold her, nothing like that. But Ms. Judy, all of a sudden stopped shaking and looked back at her dead in the eye. And she said, hey, no matter what happens, we're good. She said, we know who holds Harold in his hands and we know the ultimate outcome. We're gonna be just fine. And so I called Ms. Judy the other day. I was like, do you mind if I share that? I said, do you remember what you said?

She said, oh, I remember. That's like that. Y'all, you need to realize Harold and Judy know Paul's secret that when Christ is your life, death is gain. The grave is not the end. For the Christian, the grave is just the beginning. This is a type of hope that the world doesn't have because when it comes to death, the world either has to deny death or try to ignore it, or they end up ultimately crushed by the reality of it. I mean, a church this size, some of you right now, you are gripped by the fear of dying, but let me tell you, you don't have to be because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. When you are found in Christ, death isn't tragedy. Death is triumph. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? That's what Paul knew. That's what Harold knows. That's what Judy knows. And so let me ask you, do you know that? Do you have that kind of resolve and joy and hope even in the face of death? If you don't, I'm pleading with you to turn from your sin, place your faith in Jesus Christ who died to save you, and you will live with him forever. I know that because John 11, verse 25, Jesus himself says it. He says, I am the resurrection and the life.

Whoever believes in me, though he might die on this side of heaven, yet shall he live because everyone who believes in me shall never die. And then Jesus asked this question. He says, do you believe this? Because if you don't, you realize the implications. Apart from Christ, death is the ultimate executioner. He comes to take everything away from you. He takes your body. He takes your plans. He takes your relationships. He takes your future. He takes your control. He takes away your eternity because without Christ, you will spend eternity in a place called hell away from Jesus. But praise God because of the resurrection of Jesus, Jesus proving that he has power over death, sin, and the grave. Death for the Christian is no longer an executioner. It's been demoted. It's lost his keys. It's been stripped of its sting. If you are in Christ, y'all, death is not the grim reaper. Death is simply a gardener because all death can do is plant you. And if your life is buried in Christ, then death doesn't bury you in defeat. It plants you in hope.

It puts your body in the ground like a seed waiting for the day of Jesus Christ's return where he will raise you imperishable, glorious, whole, glorified, and perfected because you are now wrapped and clothed in the righteousness of Christ Jesus that though you might die in this life, you will live forever with him. And if you understand that, you will be able to finally say with Paul, to die is gain and then and only then will you finally be free to live. You might say it like this. Some of you will never be ready to live until you are actually ready to die. When Christ is your life, death becomes gain. That's Paul's equation. For to me, to live is Christ, to die is gain. So here's my question. How would you fill in those blanks? For to me, to live is what, which means to die is what? Because you realize whatever you put in that first blank ultimately determines what goes in the second. If to live is money, then to die is to just lose it all. If to live is popularity, then to die is to be forgotten. If to live is to have the perfect little family unit, then to die is separation. If to live is control, then dying is the ultimate nightmare of which you have absolutely no control over because death is coming for us all.

But if to live is Christ, then to die is gain. Y'all, that is the only equation that doesn't break. When Christ is your life, death becomes gain. And here's Paul's second secret. And when death is gain, you're now free to live life on mission. See, Paul's ready to die, but don't think that makes him detached from life. Paul's readiness to die actually makes him more useful in life. Look at verse 22. He says, if I'm to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Fruitful labor. The phrase is so important because here's what Paul doesn't say. He doesn't say, man, if I get out of this cell, if I get to keep looking, that means more comfort for me. That means more time to chase my dreams and build my kingdom and check that off the bucket list. No, he says, if I stay alive, there must still be fruitful labor for me. That's the view of the Christian life now. It's the fact that if God leaves breath in your lungs, it is not because you still have a few more episodes to stream or a few more vacations to take or a few more achievements to collect. It means that there is still fruitful labor for you to do. If to die is to gain, then life becomes a mission for Jesus. It becomes an assignment.

Or as we like to say, if you're not dead, God ain't done. Like if you woke up this morning, it's because God still has purpose and meaning for your life. And I know you wanna tell me all the reasons that God can't use you. You may not know what that purpose is. You might not feel impressive. You might not feel especially qualified. For some of you, you might feel too young or too old or too tired or too broken or too ordinary or too wounded or too messy or too behind or too late. But what Paul would say through the scriptures is that if your flesh is still breathing, there is still fruitful labor for you to do in the name of Christ Jesus. That you have a mission because Jesus is alive, the gospel is true and the spirit of God lives inside of you and wherever God has placed you, he has put you there on purpose for a purpose. And yet even knowing and believing all that, Paul is still torn between life and death. Look at what he says in the rest of verse 22. He said, yet which I choose, I cannot tell. I'm hard pressed between the two, life and death. Hard pressed, it's like two walls closing in. He says, for my desire, my strong affection, my intense longing is actually to depart this life and be with Christ. Depart is the image of a large ship

that's been tied up to shore and now a sailor's untying the rope and that ship is unmooring itself from shore. And Paul says to depart and be with Christ. That's what I want more than anything. It's far better. He doesn't say that departing and being with Christ is a little bit better or slightly better or marginally better. He says it is far better. In the Greek, Paul literally says, it is very much better. Sounds like something my six-year-old would say. This is very much better. I mean, like if you haven't experienced this yet, that just means you're super young, okay? Like as my wife and I, we're experiencing this as we approach our forties, we're starting to resonate with this more and more. It feels like physically we plug one leak and another one just springs. Monday was Memorial Day last week. In the past, I've done like that CrossFit Memorial Day Murph workout, which I love. And you know what I did Monday? We were visiting my parents in Atlanta. We drove back seven hours. I was like three times more sore from driving seven hours than I was from doing Murph. That's the life that's coming for you, okay? So I resonate with this.

You know what? It might just be better to depart and go be with Christ. Paul would much rather depart and be with Christ. He says it is far better. Verse 24, but for the sake of those who don't know Jesus, Paul says to remain in the flesh, here it is, is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, he says, I know that I'll remain. And I know that I'm gonna continue with you all. Why? For your progress and joy in the faith. Paul is stuck between what is very much better for him and what is more necessary for others. Those are the two walls that he's hard pressed between. I mean, you parents understand these two walls closing in instinctively, right? You parents understand that there are things that would be very much better for you individually if it were not for your kids, right? Things like uninterrupted sleep. Very much better. Eating a hot meal while it's still hot. Not reheating your coffee four times, mama. It's like very much better. You know what would be very much better of a parent of young kids? Being able to go to the bathroom in peace without my children sliding a drawing underneath the door like it's a CIA code or something. Like, it would be great to have an adult conversation

with some of you without being like, hey, stop touching her. Don't do that. Put your pants back on. Wipe your own butt. Like, this would be really nice. That would be very much better. But see, mission-driven assignment love asks a different question, not simply what would be better for me, but what would be more necessary for them. Here's the principle. Love prioritizes what is more necessary for others over what is very much better for me. It's not just parenting, that's Christianity. It's a mission-driven love that's willing to be inconvenienced if it means that someone else can just get a glimpse of Jesus and be strengthened by him. Love postpones personal preference for the sake of gospel purpose because it prioritizes what is more necessary for others over what is very much better for me. And so Paul says, hey, if God leaves me here on this earth, it's not because heaven isn't much better than this place. It's so much better. He says, that's my ultimate desire. I'd much rather would go there. But if God leaves me here, it's because he's left me here

to help others find joy in Jesus, and that mission still matters. What he hopes is this. Look at verse 26. He says, my hope is that in me, you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again. And then verse 27 is the entire hinge. He starts with the word only. See, the last few verses, he's been reflecting up to this point on his own future. And now at this point, Paul says, hey, whatever happens to me, this is what must be true about you. He says, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. Worthy here does not mean deserving. Like live in a way that tells God I deserve the gospel. Worthy just means a right response to the gospel. A worthy response to the gospel looks like living a life of holiness, even when nobody's watching. It looks like telling the truth when it would be easier to tell a lie. It looks like a type of generosity that looks insane to a watching world. It looks like treating people as image bearers instead of interruptions in your life. It looks like forgiving that person who does not deserve to be forgiven

because that's how Christ treated you. Now you realize the most important weapon against the enemy is not a powerful sermon or not a podcast. It's not a book. It is the consistent life of believers who are walking by and filled with the Holy Spirit in a manner worthy of the gospel. Worthy does not mean we deserve it. It just means we respond rightly. Worthy is our response to his righteousness, not our own. In fact, if you think that you can live worthy enough to deserve the gospel, you don't understand the scriptures yet. That in light of our sin, none of us are deserving of Christ Jesus. Romans 3.23, the apostle Paul, who wrote this, says, all have sinned, all have sinned. Every single one of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You have sinned, I have sinned. Every single one of us has fallen short of God's ultimate glory. And the wages of that sin, Romans 6.23, is death. What you have earned because of your sin, that's what a wage is. You go to work, you earn a wage. What we have earned because of our sin is death and eternity apart from Christ Jesus. If you want to say, how could a loving God send someone to hell?

That just means you don't rightly understand the holiness of God or the sinfulness of man. God has every single right. That is the bad news, but if that's what makes the gospel. such good news, that even though all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and that sin is deserving of death, Romans 5, 8 says that God demonstrated his love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't wait for us to clean ourselves up or become worthy. No, he sent his son to die on our behalf. Jesus paid it all. When I confess my sin, place my faith in Jesus, I become worthy because of his worthiness, not my own. You say, well, how do I do that? Romans chapter 10, the scriptures say, if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ has been raised to the glory of God, the father that God raised him of the dead, proving his victory over power or over sin and death, that you will be saved. Confess with your mouth, believe in your heart, you'll be saved. And you might say, pastor, you don't know what I've been a part of. You don't know my past. You don't know the things I was doing last night. Well, here's the good news.

You fit in these categories. The first category, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. You fit in that category. You are a sinner in need of a savior, but praise God four verses later in Romans chapter 10, you also fit in this category where Paul says, everyone, everyone, all have sinned. Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I don't care what you came in here with. I don't care if you feel like you're beyond salvation. You are not. Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. And Paul says, in light of that gospel, in light of that good news, in light of how Christ saved you and what he went through to save you, let your manner of life be worthy of that gospel. Is what you're living for worth Christ dying for? You will never be ready to live the good life until you are ready to die in this one. Are you ready to die? That's why Jesus says, you got to die to yourself. Take up your cross, an instrument of execution. And he says, follow me. Because in your flesh, what you deserve is eternal condemnation, but clothed in his righteousness, you get eternal glory. Have you settled that today? I mean, right now, on the way home,

if you died on the way home, are you ready to die? On a scale of one to 10, if you died today, how sure are you that you would go to heaven? One being not sure at all, 10 being I know beyond a shadow of a doubt. My guess is so many of you would say like six or seven. I mean, that breaks my heart because essentially what you're saying is, I believe in Jesus. I think he died for 60, 70% of my sins. No, 1 John 5, John says, I write this to you so that you will have faith in the son of God so that you may know beyond a shadow of a doubt. 100% that you would know that Jesus paid for 100% of your sins, which means that one day when you get to those pearly gates and you stand before God, I want to ask you, if God asked you, why should I let you in? What would you say? If your response begins with anything other than because I placed my faith in Jesus or I don't, you shouldn't, then you don't understand the gospel yet. There's nothing about my life. There's nothing about your life that makes you worthy to enter in. Salvation is a gift, but like any other gift, you have to receive it. I mean, just think about it. If I freely gave you tickets to the Canes game on Tuesday,

which I don't have because they're so expensive, okay? But if I gave you tickets to the Canes game on Tuesday and you showed up and the little ticket guy at the front said, where's your ticket? And you would say, here it is. If he says, why should I let you in? You would say, because I have a ticket. He'd say, did you pay for the ticket? Say, I didn't pay for the ticket. He'd say, how'd you get it? Say, it was a gift. I just received the ticket. And he'd say, you got the ticket, come on in. Jesus' blood was a down payment on your entrance into salvation and eternity with him. That begins by dying to yourself, taking yourself off the throne of your life, putting Jesus on the throne, confessing with your mouth, believing in your heart that Jesus Christ has done everything to save you. And so here's what I believe. I believe there's some of you that need to settle that right now. You've never gone all the way. You've never fully surrendered. Maybe 60, 70, maybe an 80, 90%, but that last little bit, you've not surrendered it to Jesus as Savior. And so what I'm about to ask you to do is gonna feel a bit like suffering, kind of like Paul.

It's gonna be a bit. Awkward. This is normally the part where I'd say, bow your heads, close your eyes. If you wanna give your life to Christ, pray this prayer with me. I'm not gonna do that. In fact, right now at all of our locations, I'm gonna ask kind of our elders and our prayer teams to get in place kind of across the front of our campuses. And if you need to give your life to Christ today, and you know it, you know it, you've known you need to. I'm gonna ask you to be bold in just a second. I'm gonna ask you to stand up out of your seat with every single eye watching, every single person in whatever building you're in right now seeing you. And I want you to stand up and get out and walk down the aisles and come pray with one of these people to give your life to Christ. And I know how that's gonna feel. It's gonna feel like suffering. If you brought somebody, I just want you to tap them and say, if you wanna go, I'll go with you. But finding life begins by dying. Praise God, brother. Praise God, brother. Praise God, sister. If you're at another campus,

we already have people moving here. You can go ahead and begin moving. Y'all, this is not emotionalism. We're dealing with eternity. Settle that question today. So if that's you, following the footsteps of so many already this weekend, get up out of your seat, walk down the aisles, come give your life to Christ. This is not a game. This is not a game. Jesus is worthy to be praised. Jesus is still saving. He's still healing. He's still taking things that are dead and making them alive. He's still taking things that we stained sin red with our sin, and he's making them clean. He's creating new creations. The old is gone. The new has come. Get out of your seat. Come down, give your life to Christ. And the rest of us, we're gonna stand. We're gonna worship this singing. Say, we're gonna sing to the Savior. We're gonna worship him because he's worthy. Amen. Let's put our hands together for the saving work of Jesus Christ.