The Believers Death Benefits

I want to read the text, Philippians 1:20-26, and then we’re going to go back and unpack it. Begin following with me in verse 20. Paul says, “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not,” or I’m not making it known. What I want to do, I’m not really revealing; I’m not letting you know. Now, notice when he starts in verse 23, “For I am in a strait betwixt two,” I’m hemmed in between two choices, “having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: 24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. 25 And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith; 26 That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.”

We know that Paul was writing from prison. This is one of the prison epistles, along with Colossians, Philemon, Ephesians; and all these circumstances, adversity, had come into Paul’s life. He’s awaiting trial in Rome before Caesar Nero (his first imprisonment), and the future is uncertain. He’s already talked to them about his prayers for them, his fellowship with them, and his love for them, and now he’s transitioning into the fact of what’s going to happen to me. The believers in Philippi were worried about Paul, rightfully so. They thought maybe he would be executed or put to death, so Paul wants to write to them about his life, his death, and his circumstances.

We know that the theme of Philippians is joy, and Paul talking about joy in spite of circumstances, so there’s three things that he says in Philippians 1, and we’ll wrap that up next week. He says, “My circumstances have actually strengthened our fellowship together in the gospel. My circumstances have helped to ground you in the faith of the gospel, and my circumstances have actually helped you to also have the hope of the gospel, the furtherance of the gospel, the spread of the gospel.

Paul is in prison writing to them so that they know what’s going to happen to him in the future. Paul said, “Little difference whether I live or whether I die, Christ be magnified in my body,” is all that Paul cared for, “Whether I’m dead or alive, that Christ be magnified.”

In verse 13, because of Paul’s chains, Christ was known; in verse 18, because of his critics, Christ was preached; and in verse 20, because of Paul’s crisis, Christ was magnified. I want you to go to verse 20 for just a minute. He says, “According to my earnest expectation,” Paul had an expectation and a hope. Now, the way that grammatically is packaged in verse 20, “expectation and hope,” it reads like two different things but really is two different ways to describe the same thing—that he had an expectant hope. His expectation was Heaven when he died and that was also his hope, so they’re actually one in the same in the passage, “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing,” no matter what’s going on, “I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified,” notice that phrase, “in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.” These verses are amazing. Paul says, “Whether I live or whether I die, my number one concern and my number one passion is not my circumstances but my concern is the glory of Christ. I want Him to be magnified in my body.”

What does it mean that Christ be magnified in our bodies? We’ll deal with this more in just a minute, but I would say three things quickly. First, that our faith is in Christ, so we love Him, serve Him, and trust Him; secondly, that our fellowship is with Christ; and thirdly, that we follow after Christ. When Paul says, “For to me to live is Christ,” it means that he put his faith in Christ, he’s walking in fellowship with Christ, and that he’s following hard after Christ. Jesus said, “…if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” We die to ourselves, take up our cross, and we’re following after Jesus Christ. In Galatians, Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” We worship Christ, we follow Christ, and we put our faith in Christ.

Notice, as well, in verse 20, “…so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body.” The body, of course, is referring to the physical body, and Paul is going to compare being here in the body with being with Christ in Heaven. I love what Warren Wiersbe said about “magnified in my body.” He said that we as Christians be like microscopes, taking that which is small and making it big; and we should be like telescopes, taking that which is far away and bringing it near. By the way we live our lives, we can glorify, magnify, and honor Christ. To some people Jesus is insignificant and unimportant, so the way we live should actually make Christ bigger and more grand. We also see some people that Christ is far off or far removed from them, and the way we live should also bring Christ closer to them by the way we speak, the way we act, our attitudes, and our actions. We should be magnifying Christ.

Notice Paul, verse 21, talks about death. He says, “…and to die,” and in verse 23, he says, “…having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better,” and that phrase, “which is far better,” is actually an interesting phrase. It is three comparative adjectives which literally reads: Much more better in every way. Paul just keeps piling on the adjectives, “much more better in every way,” so “…having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far,” more better in every way.

Heaven is far better than here on earth. We don’t fully understand all that will happen or when we get to Heaven, but we can rest assured that it’s going to be better in Heaven than it is on earth. That doesn’t mean we bemoan being here right now because we have the joy of the Lord, the strength of the Lord, the presence of the Lord, and a mission that He’s given us to be salt and light in the world. Amen? It does mean that we should actually look for Heaven, long for Heaven, desire Heaven, and hope for Heaven. I think that we need to be more heavenly minded in order to become more earthly good. Paul is talking about Heaven and dying and going to be with the Lord in these verses.

It’s interesting that in verse 20 we have Paul’s testimony, and it’s threefold. First, he said, “I have a hope,” secondly, “I don’t want to be ashamed,” and thirdly, he said, “I want Christ to be magnified in my body whether I live or whether I die.” When Paul talks about his hope, and I’ve mentioned it many, many times, the hope here is a steadfast assurance. It’s not that you’re crossing your fingers with your rabbit’s foot in your back pocket and say, “I hope that when I die I’m going to go to Heaven,” or “I hope, I hope, I hope.”

I believe the Bible teaches that Christians can have absolute assurance that when you die you’ll go to Heaven. If there’s anyone here tonight that doesn’t have that kind of assurance, you need to put your faith in Jesus Christ, you need to be forgiven of your sins, be born again of the Spirit, and then you can have that assurance—His Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God. You’re not really ready to live until you’re ready to die, and the Bible also teaches that death is certain—it teaches the certainty of death—and the brevity of life. Even in a group the size we have here tonight, we have no way to know that maybe somebody won’t be here tomorrow, perhaps, so you need to make sure you get right with God tonight. That’s why the Bible always says, “…now is the accepted time: behold, now is the day of salvation,” and “…if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts,” because the moment you die, and it can happen in a moment, in an instant you’re going to be in eternity. You’ll either go to Heaven or you’ll be separated from Christ for all eternity. There are only two destinations after death.

Paul talks about his testimony in verse 20, that he had a hope, that he didn’t want to be ashamed, “…that in nothing,” I like that phrase, “I shall be ashamed.” I don’t want to be ashamed in prosperity, suffering, trials, or when adversity comes against me. No matter what opposition I face, I never want to be ashamed of Jesus Christ. You know, the Scriptures say that if we’re ashamed of Him, He’ll be ashamed of us; but if we confess Him before men, He will confess us before His Father. How can we be ashamed of Jesus Christ. Amen?

Paul says, “If I’m in this life, if I’m in this body, I want to live with expectation and hope, and I don’t want to be ashamed. I want to have boldness.” His purpose is that “…Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death,” verse 20.

I want you to note something. Because Heaven is not just a final destination, it should be a present motivation. Look at verses 21-23. Paul says, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” We looked at that last Wednesday night. Only a believer can say that to die is gain because we can say, “For to me to live is Christ,” so Paul has a creed. Paul has a testimony, he has a creed, he wants to live for Christ, and he also has a choice, verse 22, “But if I live in the flesh,” Paul is talking about his body. If I don’t die, I don’t go to Heaven, I don’t go to be with the Lord, I’m living in this body, “But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour; yet what I shall choose I wot not,” or I do not make it known. He uses the phrase, “strait betwixt two,” in the King James Bible. It literally means I’m hemmed in between two desires. “…having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.”

I want you to notice the word “desire” there in verse 23. Paul had a desire. The word “desire” is many times the same word that’s translated elsewhere as the word lust. Don’t let that freak you out. The word “lust” is a neutral word which means desire. There’s bad lust and good lust or desires. If you change the word to desire, it’s easier to understand. I can have a good desire; I can have a bad desire. What motivated Paul to serve Christ on earth was his desire to depart and be with Christ in Heaven. He was heavenly-minded, and it produced an earthly good apostle. The problem is we’re so earthly-minded, we’re of no heavenly good. The problem today is not that we’re too heavenly-minded, the problem is that we’re too earthly-minded. It was a constant inner compulsion. Paul had been serving Christ faithfully for over 30 years. He’d been through all kinds of trials, troubles, tribulations, and difficulties. Finally, Paul is opening his heart and saying, “I would really like to part and be with Christ.” How wonderfully these words express the triumphant outlook of the believer as he faces death.

For the Christian, there’s no fear in death. In Psalm 23:4, the psalmist says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” and he goes on to say, “I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” In life and in death, when the Lord is your Shepherd, you don’t need to be afraid. Man’s greatest fear is the fear of death, not so for the unbeliever. Proverbs 14:32 says, “The wicked is driven away in his wickedness,” and have no hope. Psalm 116:15 says, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” Amen? Precious. John Knox said, “Live in Christ, die in Christ, and the flesh need not fear death.” How important that is.

We see here that Paul had a desire, but he also had a desire to depart. Notice that in verse 23. He said, “…having a desire to depart.” I want to key in on that word “depart.” It is used in the Bible for death. The Bible teaches in James 2:26, “…the body without the spirit is dead.” The Bible teaches that we are body, soul, and spirit. Whether or not we’re trichotomy or dichotomy, theologians debate and argue that, but what we are for sure is we have a body and we have an immaterial part of us, the soul and the spirit, and what he’s saying there is, “I want to depart out of my body,” a reference to dying. Death takes place when you move out of your physical body and depart.

The word “depart” was used in four ways, if you’re taking notes. It was used for the unloosing of a prisoner and setting him free. Paul was writing these words in prison, so picture him in prison, the doors being opened, the chains being released, and he’s set free and goes out of the prison cell—I’m departing. Secondly, the word was used for the removal of a yoke from an ox. I love that picture as well, the ox out there working in the fields plowing with a plow, and the yoke is taken off the oxen, and the oxen are sent out to the pasture—the idea of departing.

Thirdly, it was used for the loosing of a ship from the dock or from its moorings and would set sail out to sea. This is a nautical picture that we all love as well. Have you ever stood at the beach and perhaps watched boats out in the ocean, watching them get smaller, smaller, smaller, and smaller as they travel out farther into the ocean and then go over the horizon and disappear. When they disappear, we know that they haven’t ceased to exist or fallen off the flat earth, we say, “Goodbye,” here, but if you get going far enough and long enough, they say, “Hello,” somewhere else, right? Or, eventually they turn around and come back. It’s that idea of loosed from the moorings and set sail, not coming into harbor and being tied to the dock, but actually being set free and being set free to go out to the ocean.

The fourth picture is that of the breaking up of a tent. All these pictures are analogies of when a Christian dies—they depart like a prisoner out of prison, like the removal of a yoke from an ox, like the loosing of a ship from the dock, and like the breaking up of a tent. You need to write down 2 Corinthians 5. Paul talks a lot about our bodies being tents. In the King James Bible, it says, “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle,” which means tent, “were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,” and he said, in this body, which is a tabernacle or tent, because they didn’t have a lot of homes or buildings in that day. They lived in tents, especially the Bedouins, “…we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Our physical bodies are likened unto tents. A couple of things about tents is they are not permanent dwellings, they are movable, frail, and fragile. You usually don’t want to spend a lot of time in a tent.

I went to Hawaii when I got out of high school to surf for about three months, and I lived in a tent on the beach. That cured me forever from tent camping. You will not get John Miller to go tent camping. I lived in a tent for a long time. Thank God for a real house! I remember when we finally got into a home with running water and electricity and a refrigerator! or I could stand up and lie down on a nice bed. When I was in the tent I had no padding, just my sleeping bag on the hard ground for three months. I know what it’s like to be in a tent and the picture of my body being a tent, for sure. I couldn’t wait to move out of that tent.

Some of us have tents that are leaning, the stakes have come up, they’re flapping in the wind, they’re leaking, they’re about ready to blow away. God bless you! Have a great week.

The Bible says, in this body “…we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven,” so death for the believer means freedom from sin, from sickness, and from sorrow. Write down Revelation 21:4 where John, speaking of Heaven, says, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” When we get to Heaven, there’ll be no more tears, no more death, no more sorrow, no more crying, and no more pain. What an awesome place that is! Is it any wonder that Paul says, “…depart and to be with Christ, which is far,” more “better,” in every way?

Sometimes people think, I don’t want to go to Heaven. I’ve seen the pictures of those little angels playing their harps on the clouds. It just seems boring. What do you do up there with all the cherubim and seraphim? It’s going to be glorious beyond comprehension. Somebody said, “There is a land of pure delight, where saints immortal reign; infinite day excludes the night, and pleasures banish pain.”

When Paul said, “…having a desire to depart,” notice the second thing he said after that, “and to be with Christ; which is far better.” One of the focuses of Paul’s words in this passage is not just that he wanted to escape his pain or his sorrow or his tears or his hardships or get out of his body, which was a tent, but he wanted to be with Christ. Sometimes we want to go to Heaven because we want to escape our sorrows or our pains, and we can understand that, that’s an understandable response, but our motivating factor is, when you think about Heaven, I want to see Christ, I want to see Him face-to-face. I want my faith to turn to sight. I want to be able to reach out and actually touch the face of Jesus—no more faith, it now is sight, we’re in the presence of the Lord.

Again, 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 says, “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7(For we walk by faith, not by sight.).” Listen carefully. “…to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” I emphasize that, and I didn’t mention it last week, but I want to talk about a false doctrine that is sometimes promulgated mainly by what’s called The Seventh-day Adventist Church, and that’s the doctrine called the doctrine of soul sleep. If Paul believed that the soul sleeps when we die, then why would he say, “…having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ,” he would say, “…depart and be asleep.” He wouldn’t say, “…to depart and go to heaven, which is far better,” he would say, “I depart and I am in sleep until Christ re-resurrects me.” I don’t believe the Bible teaches that we will sleep in the area of our spirit and our soul. Let me say a couple of things about them. This is a metaphor used for death only for Christians in the Bible, and it’s used only in reference to the body because souls do not need to sleep, only our bodies need to sleep. Do I get an “Amen” to that? The older our bodies get, sometimes the more sleep we need.

I heard of a pastor that was going on vacation, and one of his parishioners said, “The devil doesn’t go on vacation.” He said, “Because the devil doesn’t have a body. I have a body. I need some rest.” The idea that the soul sleeps is not even consistent with the metaphor itself because the soul does not sleep. It’s only referring to the body. If you don’t get anything else, get this: When the Bible uses the phrase, “asleep in Christ,” and he uses it several places but especially in 1 Thessalonians 4 in reference to the rapture, it’s only talking about the physical body because it’s only a temporary state in which the body will be resurrected. It’s that “Great Gettin’ Up Morning,” and it will be reunited with the soul and spirit, and we will have that new glorified body typified or pictured by Christ when He rose from the dead and became the first fruits of those who sleep. He’s the prototype of our resurrection.

The Bible actually teaches the redemption of our bodies. That will happen at the rapture. That’s why Paul wrote to the believers in Thessalonica and said, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them,” precede those, “which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God,” and then Paul says, “and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up,” there’s our word, rapture, harpazo, “…to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

Some people are perplexed when they hear that when a Christian dies, they leave their body and go immediately to be with Christ, and then Paul says, “…and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” How do we have the dead rising first if they’re already in the presence of the Lord? The simple answer is it’s referring to their bodies, so I don’t believe that when you die before the rapture, and you do go to Heaven, that you get your glorified eternal body yet. This is what’s called the intermediate state—you’re with the Lord, in His presence, there’s fullness of joy, pleasures evermore, you’re who you are, but you’re waiting for the resurrection of your body. For information on that, I refer you to 1 Corinthians 15. I think it’s twice now, when I’ve taught through Corinthians, that I did a series called “Hope Beyond The Grave,” where I go through that chapter and unpack all those verses about the resurrection of the body. The rapture involves the resurrection of those that have died—they’re with the Lord, their bodies are resurrected—then the living Christians are caught up to meet them in the air, and so shall we forever be with the Lord, so I don’t believe our souls sleep.

I also don’t believe in the doctrine of Purgatory. There’s nothing in the Bible that says that when you die you go to a place where you can purge your sins, pay for your sins, until you’re ready or fit to go to Heaven. When Jesus died on the cross, He said, “It is finished,” right? When you trust Him as your Savior, His finished work on the cross is imputed to you and you get His perfect righteousness. You can’t improve on that at all. It doesn’t mean you’re perfect, but you are positionally righteous in Christ because of His imputed righteousness. There’s nothing in the Bible that says we die, we get our sins purged, and you can pray for the dead—it’s not in the Bible—or you can pray them out of Purgatory or that you can give the church money to get them out of Purgatory faster. It’s simply not in Scripture, and it’s tragic that people will believe these things.

Let me say this about these two points: Make sure that what you believe is clearly taught in the Bible. That’s our source of authority. It’s not the church, it’s not tradition, it’s not experience, it’s not your intellect, it’s Scripture. Amen? The preacher is not the authority, the Bible is the authority. You need to build what you believe on the Scriptures, the Word of God.

In 1 Corinthians 13:12, Paul says, “For now,” in our bodies in this world, “we see through a glass, darkly,” that word “glass” refers to polished metal where the image is very dim and hard to make out; but when we get to Heaven, we’re going to see clearly, “…face to face,” and we’re going to “…know even as also I am known.” In 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” Again, someone put it in this poem:

Face to face with Christ my Savior,
Face to face, what will it be,
When with rapture I behold Him,
Jesus Christ, who died for me?

Face to face! oh, blissful moment!
Face to face to see and know;
Face to face with my Redeemer,
Jesus Christ, who loves me so.

I don’t know if you’ve ever had a near-death experience, but I’ve had one time in my life where I believed that it was highly possible that I was going to be killed. I was kidnapped by gunpoint and held hostage with a gun held to my head for a couple of hours. I’ll never forget the peace that filled my heart and filled my soul, and that in my mind’s eye, as I was praying, if I moved I could feel the gun in the back of my head, I’ll never forget that I had this overwhelming sense that at any moment, if they pulled the trigger, I’m going to be looking at Jesus face to face. Now, I’m not saying go out and get kidnapped so you can experience that. I don’t ever want to go through that again, but I remember very distinctly, You know what? These guys are most likely going to kill us. There were two others with me, one pastor and the other a brother from the church with me. We were in Los Angeles—where else would this happen—just outside the airport. We were flying to Australia. We went outside the airport to get something to eat—not a good idea. I’ll never, ever forget how vivid that was. I just thought, I’m going to see Jesus face to face! I had that overwhelming sense of peace that I’ll be looking at the face of Jesus.

Robert G. Gromacki said, “When faith becomes married to sight, joy will officiate.” I love that! There’s coming a day, for you and me, when faith will be turned to sight and we will see Jesus face to face. Paul wasn’t trying to escape the suffering of this life, Paul wanted to be with Jesus. That was his passion, where faith gives way to sight, so he says, verse 23, as I already pointed out, “…which is far better,” in every way, but not when an unbeliever dies. When an unbeliever dies, they go immediately to a place of torment, waiting for the resurrection at the Great White Throne when they will be judged for their sins, and then they will be thrown into a lake of fire, which is the second death, which lasts for all eternity.

To wrap this up, look at verses 24-26. Paul says, “Nevertheless,” going back to verse 23, “…having a desire to depart,” to move out of my body, “and to be with Christ, which is far better.” Remember when Jesus was transfigured on Mount Transfiguration? Moses and Elijah showed up with him? What did they talk about? They talked about His exodus, His death, so that going out, that departing, but they were still Moses and Elijah. He says, “Nevertheless to abide in the flesh,” which is his body, “is more needful for you.”

I think that there’s an intended contrast there, and I don’t want to do an injustice to the text of Paul, but it’s kind of like, “I really want to go to Heaven. I really want to be with Jesus. I really want to depart.” What he’s trying to do is give the Philippians assurance, “Don’t worry about me.” Then, he uses this, “Nevertheless,” it’s more important for me to stay in my body, though I’d really like to go to Heaven, you guys need me in Philippi, so it’s more important for me to stay in my body so that I can help you.” Paul was willing to give up Heaven to stay on earth to minister to, strengthen, comfort, and encourage other believers. This is why I’ve often said that death by suicide, we touched on that Sunday morning in the sixth Commandment, “Thou shalt not murder,” is a selfish act. You’re not thinking of anyone else but yourself, “I want out of my problems, I want out of my sorrows, I want out of my pain,” what about the people you leave behind you? Their sorrows, their suffering, and their pain.

Here’s Paul, willing to give up going to Heaven, knowing that he was more needed here on earth so that he could minister to the believers there in Philippi. Look at verses 24-26. “Nevertheless to abide in the flesh,” the body, “is more needful for you.” If you’re willing to mark your Bible, I would circle the word “you” there, maybe in the margin put the word “others.” What motivated Paul, what gave Paul joy, was not his desires, not his wants, but others, others, others.

What is the culture telling us to do today? Do what you want. Do what feels good. Do what’s good for you. Be you. Be yourself. Don’t worry about other people. Don’t think about other people. Do what’s good for you. That’s what we’re being fed by the culture. That’s the way to be miserable, by the way. That’s an ingredient for misery. But think of others and being a blessing to them. He says, “You are needing me.”

Notice verse 25, “And having this confidence, I know,” this confidence is that Paul had this inner witness, maybe of the Spirit, maybe just an inner intuitive knowledge. The word “know” is the Greek word oida, which means to not know from experience but to know intuitively, “…that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith.” Paul says, “I have a concern for you,” verse 24, “have knowledge that I’m going to stay in my body, and that I’m going to continue for your furtherance and the joy of your faith.” We have the fellowship of the gospel, the faith of the gospel, and we have the furtherance of the gospel.

In verse 26, we have Paul’s joy, and theirs, “That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me,” Paul is saying, “When I get out of prison and come back to Philippi, and we see each other together, face to face, you’re going to have this overwhelming joy in the Lord,” “…by my coming to you again.” Paul was thinking of others, others, others, others.

As I said, Heaven is not just a future destination, it’s a motivation. Paul’s inner desire for Heaven gave way to his love for others and his calling to be a servant to them. You know, Paul actually said, “For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” Paul was willing to go to hell for his Jewish brethren to go to Heaven. He was willing to stay out of Heaven, and on earth, so that his Christian brethren could grow, be strengthened, and helped in their faith.

It is true sometimes that we as Christians get selfish in our desire to go to Heaven and forget about those who need us on earth. Paul is actually saying, “Don’t worry about me. I’m concerned about you. I believe God has spoken to my heart, I have this inner witness, that I’m going to stay in my body—I’m not going to die—I’m going to get back to you in Philippi, you’re going to have great joy when you see me, and I’m going to help to strengthen your faith and further the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

The great C.S. Lewis said, “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.” That’s so true. Let’s pray.