Philippians 1:21–23

His eye was on Christ, not for the beginning and the end only, but all the way... Here, speaking of his own daily practice, he shows he had but one aim, motive, object, and business — Christ. And he said this, not at the start of his career, in the overwhelming sense of the Saviour's grace to His proud and self-righteous persecutor. He said it after long years of unmatched toil, danger, trouble outside and sorrow inside the Church.

In Galatians 2 and Colossians 3 the Apostle tells us that Christ is his life... These Scriptures tell us of the inner Source and Power of the life the Apostle lived day by day. But in Philippians the Spirit is not speaking of "Christ our life". He is speaking of the day by day life that the Apostle lives — the outer life that others see... We see people of the world. Of one we say: "For him to live is wealth"; of another: "For her to live is pleasure"; or again, "For such a one to live is study, or power, or some other pursuit." We know this means that these things are the absorbing interests in their lives, to the near exclusion of everything else.

It is one thing to have Christ as our life — every believer can say this — but it is another thing to live the life that we have. Is Christ the one Object before us, that occupies us from day to day — the motive for all that we think and say and do?

Let Christ be then the controlling object of our life in the power of the Spirit of God. There is no rest while the heart is divided between Christ and self, or the world, or our friends, or our brothers and sisters. Whoever makes Christ, and Christ alone, his object enters into the joys of God.

The words "to live" are in the present infinitive. That means the continuous, day-after-day life that the Apostle lived down here. In the other half of the verse, "and to die is gain", the Spirit of God changes to the aorist infinitive, which points to one single act: "the having died is gain." It is not "the dying" that is gain, but "the having died". As the Apostle points out, that is "to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better."

The emoi gar ("for to me") standing at the start of the sentence is necessarily related to both clauses of it: "to me to live is Christ, and (to me) to die is gain." Nor does he say, "to me to live is gain to the cause of Christ" at all, but to me to live is Christ, Christ is the object of my life. And when he comes to speak of death being gain, he never says, "to the cause of Christ" at all, but "(to me) to die is gain."

He felt that he was for Christ, and for Christ only, whether in life or in death... If, therefore, they had beheaded Paul, would he have lost anything? No! Christ would have been magnified in his body still. What sort of testimony was that in Caesar's court? A Roman knew how to face death as a display of courage. But to walk toward death thinking it was gain, because there was a Jesus who had been crucified between two thieves, and He was the joy of a man's heart — a Roman could not have understood that.

We are apt to gaze in awe and wonder at the great apostle. We feel that such a statement, though true of him, is well beyond us, and not meant to apply to us at all. But you recall he tells us, not once or twice, "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ."... The truth is that this is just the normal, proper life of a Christian: the life that every one of us should be living.

"For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour [an idiomatic expression meaning 'worth my while'], yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am in a strait between two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better; nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you."

Everyone who has tried to state the exact meaning of this verse has felt real difficulty. It clearly stands in the closest connection with what goes before, and I think we can fairly paraphrase it like this: "I have said that to me to die is gain. But if it is my appointed lot to live on, this also has its fruit. And what I shall choose I do not know, and therefore cannot say."

It seems to me a pity to lose the word "fruit" in the passage. It naturally takes our thoughts back to "the fruit of righteousness" in verse eleven, or to the branch remaining in the Vine to bear fruit (John 15). And it takes our thoughts forward to the end of the letter, where he writes: "I seek fruit abounding to your account." Fruit and labour seem to be linked together in the Scriptures... The thought seems to be this: if the Lord should leave Paul here a while longer, he would still continue in his labour. And that labour meant fruit for his Master.

I know that the Lord says, "Well done, good and faithful servant," not "good and successful servant." And I know that the Lord does not reckon "fruit" as we do. But even so, it often comes home to me as a challenge to my own soul: why so little fruit?

He puts it as a matter left for him to judge and decide by Christ. "If I live in the flesh, it is worth my while." But if not, what then? Why, it was gain. As far as he was concerned, then, why could he choose? In one sense he could not, and in another he would not choose. Christ was so truly before his heart that in fact there was no self left unjudged to warp the choice. This is what brings him, if one may say so, into the dilemma of love. If he left this world, he would be with Christ; if he lived longer in this world, Christ was with him.

For himself it was far better to depart and be free from all the conflicts, trials and sufferings. But on the other hand there were the needs down here. The saints needed him and his labours, and this led him to choose "to abide in the flesh," for it was more needful for them. So he decides to remain, no matter what sufferings were still in store for him... And there is no mention made of Nero and his power. Through faith Paul knew himself not in the hands of Rome but in the hands of Christ.

Here the apostle gives us what his heart was occupied with when he could not go out into the activities of work. It seemed as if he had nothing to do... To one cut off from such work it was, in appearance at least, a heavy burden and an immense trial. But Christ changes all for us. His yoke is easy, and His burden light. It is Christ, and Christ only, who deals like this with grief and pressure.

The apostle weighs the matter: much better to be with Christ on the one hand, but on the other hand, more needful for you that he stay in the flesh. And being confident of this, he decides the matter himself: "I know that I shall remain." What a true shepherd's heart! Without hesitation he gives up his own wishes for the sake of the flock.

You will notice the Apostle does not say he had a desire "to die," but to depart and be with Christ. The word translated depart comes either from taking down a camp, or from letting go the cable that holds a ship to the dock. In 2 Timothy 4:6, Paul says: "the time of my departure has come." This is from the same word. When a great ocean liner is ready to leave, you see the last cable let go. Then it moves off quietly on its long journey to a distant land. And for many on board, it is going "home", to a land they love. That is how the Apostle pictures death.

The apostle does not say, "I must depart"; but, "I desire to depart." All men must depart. There is a dying principle in all.

Isn't it plain that death was gain to him, and yet he was still torn between choosing death or life? Not because, as some say, "they were equally indifferent to him." That would be a strange way of being torn between two things he cared nothing about. He was torn because the question was whether to choose his own good or the good of the saints.

We often think that to depart and be with Christ will mean escaping the trials, worries, confusion and shame of this wilderness path. So we think it is better to depart. But such a thought never crossed the Apostle's mind. The attraction, on the one hand, was CHRIST, and nothing else. On the other hand, there was the need of the saints. He was not putting the saints before Christ. It was for Christ's sake that he cared for Christ's flock.

So instead of thinking it was a question for the emperor to decide, he sees, feels, and speaks as if God had put it all into his own hands... He drops Caesar altogether and views it as if God were asking His servant whether he was going to live or die. His answer is that it would be much better for himself to die, but that for the sake of the Church it would be better for him to live a while longer. So the decision is truly Christlike. It goes against his own strong desire, because his aim was undivided, and he sacrificed self for the good of the Church.

This false teaching claims that when the believer dies he passes into a state of unconsciousness. If that were true, it would not be "far better" to depart, or as the original puts it, "much more better." Enjoying fellowship with the Lord is good and blessed. To pass out of the body and be with Him is "much more better." Apart from the body, God's saints enjoy and know the Lord in a way that is impossible down here. And the best of all is when the Lord comes and all the redeemed receive their glorified bodies.

If we die we go to Him, and that is a blessed truth. But the hope of the Christian, the only full hope, is that Christ will come. It is true that to depart and be with Christ is far better. Yet that is not God's purpose for us. God's purpose is that we shall be like Christ. I do not want to be like Christ with my body in the grave, and my spirit in paradise.