At the occurrence of my death—hopefully in the far distant future(!)—but, in the memorial service at my passing, I want Philippians 1:21 read. It is one of my favorite verses in all of Scripture. "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." It says so much in a short, 12 worded sentence. "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." To all those who believe that the goal in life is to accumulate all the prestige and material wealth you can it says, "No, to live is Christ—to have an appropriate perspective on money and to live to bring prestige to others around you—that’s what living is." To those who believe the only way to live is to party it up as much as you can for as long as you can it says, "No, to live is Christ—how was Christ invited to your partying, how was Christ celebrated in your life of partying—that’s where the real party is found…in Christ." To those who rage against death because they believe it robs them of some more moments of joy in life it says, "No, death is gain—the ultimate joy is to enter into the living presence of Christ and his heavenly kingdom. To die is to gain." Or for those who fear death because they don’t know what awaits them, or they think that’s it, there’s just nothingness beyond this life it says, "No, to die is gain—the richest reward and the highest joy is yet to come…for those who die in Christ." To live in Christ is to truly live. To die in Christ is to experience infinitely more than the best that this life has to offer. "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." See to it that is read at my memorial service. I know, I know, I should write it down. I should write down some of my thoughts about that passage and have it read at the service. Go out preaching to the end! I’ll work on that. But if I fail to get that done, at least have that read at my service and have someone say, "Ron believed this with all his heart." "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." I think it says so much. If you really want to live this life to its fullest with real meaning and real purpose, it is possible only through Jesus Christ. If you want to experience eternal life to its fullest, where dying is actually gain, it is possible only through Jesus Christ. "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."

Paul writes those words from prison. His future is on the line. Will he be executed because of his faith? Or will he be released? "In some ways," Paul writes, "it doesn’t matter. My life is in Christ’s hands and I can be content with that. To live is Christ and to die is gain."

I was impressed, in reading William Barclay’s commentary on Philippians, in Barclay’s description of Paul’s "Christocentricity," his centeredness on Jesus Christ. Barclay lists Paul’s centeredness. Christ was the beginning of life for Paul—Paul’s beginning in life occurring on the road to Damascus and his encounter with the risen Christ that transformed his life. Since that day, Christ was the continuing of life for Paul because each day was lived in the presence of Christ and His leading and encouraging Paul even in the most difficult circumstances. For Paul, Barclay goes on to write, Christ was the end of life for it is toward the eternal presence of Christ life was leading. Christ was Paul’s inspiration for life, his task of life directed by Christ. Christ was the strength for Paul’s life and the reward for his life—not only the reward of the future, the "gain" of death, but also the reward in this life of doing Christ’s will and drawing closer and closer to Christ. For Paul, Christ was everything in life. Without Christ, life has no meaning and no purpose.

That is what I want to proclaim to the world—even as my last act on earth—"to live is Christ." You might gain all the riches possible, all the prestige that can be bestowed, experience all the thrills this life has to offer, but without Christ it is meaningless. To really live requires knowing and serving Jesus Christ.

I serendipitously read this week an example of living life this way, in Christ. I happened to pick up off my desk the newsletter from one of our sister churches in Denver Presbytery, First Presbyterian Church of Englewood (some of the churches include the other churches of the presbytery in the mailing list for their newsletters), and read the article written by one of my colleagues, Loye Troxler, the pastor of First Church, Englewood. In his article he wrote about his young son playing soccer and how he hopes his son will display good sportsmanship, the kind of sportsmanship shown by a high school soccer player Loye had read about. The soccer player’s name is Rob Mouw. At the time of the story he was playing for Wheaton Christian School in Wheaton, Illinois. Wheaton Christian was playing a team ranked high in the state, a team expected to beat them. However, in the closing seconds of the match, Mouw broke free with the ball toward the opponent’s goal as time was winding down. Mouw kicked the ball and scored the tying goal. The Wheaton fans were cheering and the opponent’s fans were protesting the goal came after time expired. However, the opinion that counted was the referee’s and he ruled the goal was good. That is until Mouw went up to the referee and asked if the official time was on the scoreboard or on the referee’s stopwatch (If you’ve ever watched a soccer match you know that occasionally additional time is added by the referee due to injuries stopping play, etc.). The referee said the scoreboard time was official, there was no added time. Mouw then informed the referee that he had seen the scoreboard time run out just before he kicked the ball. "My goal shouldn’t count," he said. Consequently, the referee reversed his awarding of the goal resulting in Wheaton Christian losing the game.

Much was made of Mouw’s actions. People talked about it and it was written up in the report of the game. In fact, word got to Chicago columnist, Bob Green, and he wrote a column about it. In his interviewing Rob Mouw for the column, Mouw said this, "I didn’t think much about it. I hadn’t done anything that great. For me, acting with honesty was just Christ in me."

For some, life is all about winning soccer games, upsetting the favorite. So what if a wrong call by a referee leads to the win. Life is all about winning no matter how you win. But to Rob Mouw, to the apostle Paul, hopefully to you and me, life is all about Christ. "To me, to live is Christ."

And to die…is gain. Can we join in with the apostle Paul in saying that? To express with Paul our absolute confidence in the resurrection? To see as "better by far" to depart and be with the Lord?

Let’s be clear about one thing here. This is not a suicide note from Paul. This is not even suicidal thoughts from Paul. It is, instead, the simple expression of the fulfillment of our faith—eternal life with Jesus Christ. It is absolute confidence in the resurrection and the acknowledgement that as great as life in Christ is on this earth, life with Christ in his heavenly kingdom is infinitely better. It is not a death wish from Paul. In fact, in his wondering about his future he is "torn between the two," to depart and be with Christ or to remain and continue to proclaim the gospel…and he concludes with the belief that he will remain and, eventually, visit the Philippians again. Again, the Christocentricity of Paul—if he remains it is for the betterment of others that they might know the joy of life in Christ. With these words, Paul is not expressing suicidal thoughts. Rather, he is expressing the simple yet profound confidence in the promises of our faith and eternal life with Christ.

On several occasions, I’ve had a conversation with some of you that consists of wonderment and sadness over how some people live without that hope. How do people face crises in their life without Christ? And how do they face death, their own or the death of a loved one, without the hope of resurrection? I don’t know…and it saddens me. This passage—"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain"—is motivation enough to share the gospel with those who don’t know Christ.

I read the other day these words from an avowed atheist regarding death:

Hope for this person looks like this, as she writes in the same article:

In other words, enjoy this life because that’s all there is. For this person, to live is to muck around in the possibilities of our slice of time and space. To die is to disappear completely—a frightening, painful, paralyzing thought.

I don’t think that’s any way to live. I’m sure this atheist would scoff at my preference for life, but I’m putting my hope and confidence in Christ and the truth that "to live is Christ and to die is gain." We don’t have to live in fear, or pain, or paralysis about the inevitability of the end of this life. We don’t have to live in the meaninglessness of mucking around in our time and space. We can live for Christ—finding fulfillment, not in meaningless self-indulgence or even self-expression, but in serving Jesus Christ and that service is for the benefit of others. And when we come to the end of our life, we need not fear what awaits us. I’m not looking forward to the process of my death. Like everyone else I hope I live a long time and then die in my sleep. I’m not looking forward to the process of my death. But I am looking forward to what awaits me on the other side of my death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. How about you?