Boldly Living For Christ
Philippians 1:20-26
The title of the message this morning is “Boldly Living For Christ.” But I want to point something out. Boldly living for God looks different from person to person. It won’t look the same in my life as it does in yours. So, the question I’m going to purposely repeat over and over as we go through this section of scripture this morning is, “What does it look like for you to boldly live for Christ?”
The section of scripture that we’re going to be going through is Philippians 1, verses 20-26. And this section of scripture is a picture of Paul’s life and how he boldly lived for Christ. From the minute that God radically redirected his life when he was on the road to Damascus, from being in jail, and through the highs and lows of his life, Paul did not stop boldly living for God. So much so that it brings us to this section of scripture in Philippians Chapter 1, verse 20.
And as Paul writes this letter, again, I want to let you guys know that he’s under Roman house arrest. And he’s not praying that God delivers him. He’s not praying that the people pray for him. Instead, he sends a letter of encouragement to the Church of Philippi to encourage them, to fill them with joy in their walk of boldly living for Christ.
Philippians 1:20(a) (NLT)
20 For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past.
Let’s stop there. Let’s read the verse one more time. For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past.
Look, Paul’s life was exactly this. He lived boldly for Christ, unashamed of who God was, unashamed of what the gospel was, any room, any area, any season of life that he was in, he was bold because of what Christ had done inside of him.
Earlier in his life, Paul writes this in Romans 1, verse 16. Purpose these words in your heart.
Romans 1:16 (NLT)
16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes…
That’s what Paul lived for. To unashamedly experience the unmatched joy of what it meant to see God move. Of how it looked for people to turn to God. Of how it felt to preach the Word of God, to live the Word of God.
Look, we live in a world where the world tends to be so much louder about its beliefs. Its beliefs on marriage, its beliefs on life, its beliefs on how your child is to be addressed as, and how your child is to be raised. I see. I have youth come to me on Wednesday nights and tell me the crazy stuff that goes on in their schools and how they’re outcast if they’re saying, “No. I believe in God. And that’s who I identify as – as a believer of the King of kings and Lord of lords.”
And sometimes, the world, its voice tends to be so much more loud, so much more bolder about its beliefs than Christian’s beliefs on who God is and what God’s Word says. And I say this to remind you guys what God’s Word says about marriage and how in the beginning of time when he created man, it was the only time that he said it was not good. And what did he do? He created one woman for the one man because that’s the way that he designed it.
What does God say about life? What does God say about you? What does God say about us? His scriptures remind us that before the foundations of the earth were set, that you were made, that you were set aside as his masterpiece. There is no mistake that you live, that there is no mistake that you exist because we serve a God who is all control, that doesn’t cause mistakes, that doesn’t move under mistakes.
So, wrestle with that. I’ll ask you again if you believe that to be true, what does it look like in your life to boldly live for Christ?
And what does God say about your children? God commands his people to raise your children to know God. Raise your children to understand who Jesus is and what he did on the Cross, very similar to that, and how he loves them. And despite their indifference, despite who they are, God loves them. And that they can run back to him when life gets tough.
I say address all this, not to attack anyone, not to single anyone out, not to make anyone sink into their seats. I say this to remind you that from the minute that you gave your life to God, from the minute that God entered your life, he equipped you with the Holy Spirit to be able to be bold for who God is. There should be no doubt in your heart about that.
But if you have been walking away. If you have never known God, if day by day, it just feels like, “Man, God is just getting further and further away from me. I just can’t seem to hold on to who he is,” I want to remind you that God’s Word says you still have time. You still have time to turn to God and choose to boldly live for Christ. And the beautiful thing about when you live for Christ is that you gain eternity and the presence of the God who created you.
Look, he loves, and he desires for you to know him. He already knows you. He created you. He knows every part of how you function. He knows your thoughts before you do. Just draw to him. There’s something I always remind the youth because at their age, their young, and they think life is going to last another million years for them. But I remind them of this, that one day, each and every one of us will stand before our Creator, and he will say, “What did you do with my Son?” And while you still have breath in your lungs and the capability to say, “Lord, I need you in my life. I need your Spirit to help me, to direct me, to empower me to live boldly for you, God,” it’s not too late.
The minute it’s too late is when you take your last breath. The minute that it’s too late is when you are before the Creator, and you’re like, “Well, dang. I missed. I missed that. I missed the opportunities in my life where I could have given myself to God. Man, I can think of the times you pressed into me. Man, can I think of the times that he just made himself so known and clear to me?”
Don’t let anything stop you, not one single thing, from choosing to boldly live for Christ.
Philippians 1:20(b)-21 (NLT)
20 And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die.
21 For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.
Look, those two verses are going to drive this entire message. We’re going to re-read it. But this is what I want us to do. I want you to paint yourself as you saying those words. You’re saying those words to be true about your life. 20 And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. 21 For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.
I’ll be transparent with you guys this morning. This has been the hardest section of scripture in my young life of following God that I’ve had to wrestle through. And the reason it’s so hard is that my wife and I are in a season where we are wrestling. We are wrestling with knowing God is calling us to continue to live boldly for him. And I know that’s very vague, and I’ll get more clear as we go ahead. What I mean is this – God is directing us. He’s stirring my heart. He’s stirring my wife’s heart to follow him into what is unknown to her and I, from a place in life where right now, we’re starting off, and we feel at a comfortable spot. Look, but following God sometimes means getting out of that comfortable spot.
But why? The reason that my wife I so desperately want to choose the right paths, want to choose to follow God into what is unknown to us, is because of the same reason that some of you do this morning. It’s what the scripture says. My wife and I want to trust that our lives will bring honor to Christ, period. My wife and I want to say and live it out and say that for us to live means living for Christ and nothing else. And it’s hard. It’s hard being a young man and starting my life off with my wife and thinking and worrying about life.
Again, I want to point out what I said in my introduction, that boldly living for Christ for me looks different than for you. And vice versa. I have no greater calling in my life than you do. So again, I’ll ask the question, what does it look like in your life to boldly follow Christ? Wrestle with that question this morning. Really take it in. Really understand what that means for you, personally.
And change the question a little and ask yourself, what it does it mean in my life? For me, to boldly live for Christ. Do we boldly live for Christ when life isn’t going as planned, and everything is just falling apart? Can we still say, “Lord, I will boldly live for you”? Do we boldly live for Christ as we’re going through a series of deaths in our family? Can we still say, “God, you are good, and I will follow you despite the circumstance in my life”? Do we boldly live for Christ and follow him even when we’re consumed by the fear of making ends meet? Even then, can we say, “God, you are great, and you have a plan, and I will follow you”?
I don’t have children. But this next one, I think, is the hardest. Do we still boldly live for God when it seems like our children are walking away from God? Can we still say, “God, I know you have a plan? I know I’ve raised my child to know you. And I know that you’ll draw them back to you because your Word says and because you promise. Because I have raised my children knowing you.”
Wrestle with that question. Is God still a God that is worth boldly living for when things aren’t great?
On the other hand, can we live for Christ when life is just so perfect? As good as we could want it. Everything is going our way. The business is running, everything I can want, woo! Thank you, Lord. When we foolishly think that because of how luxurious our life is that we don’t need God, that there’s not a need for God – because I can provide for myself. I can make my own way. I am able to live for what I desire to boldly live for. Wrestle with that.
Wrestle with that. And if any of those categories hit you, if any of those categories are making you just “drown” in your seat, wrestle with it.
And again, to just be more transparent with you guys, for me and my wife, how it looks for us to boldly live for God is to follow him out of the comfort that my job can offer, out of the comfort that my job can provide. When we are in a season where we do desire to buy a home, when we are in a season where do desire to start a family, and say, “Lord, I will follow you. And I will live boldly for you, because even if it takes me out of my comfort zone – because I know that you’re in control. And then I know from there on, the rest is up to you.” Look, it’s a lot better to trust God in the unknown than to trust yourself in the unknown. You won’t be the first one he carries through a storm, and you won’t be the last. That’s the nature of our God. That’s who he is.
But again, I’m not telling you guys to quit your job and go into full-time ministry. That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is this. Ask yourself truthfully, wrestle with yourself, and say (I will repeat the question about a hundred more times during this message), “What does it look like in MY life to boldly live for Christ?”
Look, in these verses in this section of scripture, what Paul is saying, is this. Is that for him, it’s a win-win. Like, for him, whether he lives, he wins because he lives for Christ. Whether he dies, he wins because he lives in the eternal presence of God.
Let’s read the end of verse 21 again.
Philippians 1:21 (NLT)
21 … living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.
And I know some of you guys know this, but just to continue to fully paint the picture, I want to remind you guys that there’s nothing else that you can live for than for Christ that takes you over when you die. You can’t live for money because if you’d say, “I live for money,” then guess what? To die is loss. No amount of wealth you can take, no amount of whatever it is that you created, can you take with you.
What if we say to live is status? Man, I want to build a name for myself. I want to do the American Dream. (If some of you guys still believe in that – I do.) But I believe in the American Dream Journey to God. Man, I can build a name for myself. I can build an empire. I can do this. But guess what? Like many people in history, when you die, no matter how big that status is, it’s left behind for someone else to do with as they please. You can’t take it with you.
To live as anything else but Christ, the ultimate result is that to die is complete loss. Look, the only thing that matters, the thing that should be on the forefront of your life, is, do I know God? Do I know the Creator of the Universe? Do I know the one that sustains life and holds everything together? Because, if I don’t, man, there is loss when I die. Because if I don’t, man, I do fear death.
The truth is that only when you live for Christ will there be gain when you die. And what that means is surrendering your life to him, getting to know the one who created you.
I was sitting outside on the grass in the field before service started because, as you can imagine, sometimes I’m filled with nerves before I teach in front of you guys. And there was a moment of just stillness. As I was there, you heard the birds, you saw the grass, you saw the trees on the hill in the distance, you saw the peaks of the mountains, and you saw how it all beautifully flowed together – how it all beautifully stayed together. That’s not chance. It’s because there’s a designer who holds it in his hand. It’s because there’s a Creator who holds it all together. And I urge you to get to know who he is because it will change your life.
Look, I know I’m young. I know I’m just starting my life; someone said, “super young.” But look, I do know this. I do know there is resistance when you take that step of faith and choose to boldly live for Christ. I do know there are seasons of doubt. Lord, where are you? I can’t sense you; I can’t feel you. I do know there are seasons of fear. Lord, I am just afraid. Simply put, Lord, I am just afraid of what you are doing. I don’t know if I can follow you into that. I don’t know if I can actually quit my job. Lord, I’m afraid. I’ve desired a certain lifestyle. I’ve always desired a certain home. I’ve always desired to raise my kids in a certain way. So, Lord, I’m afraid.
But man, guess what God does in the midst of fear? Guess what God does in the midst of doubt? He meets you there. He goes, Hey, man. Look, I got it. You know that I am leading you, so why haven’t you moved? If you say that you trust me, and if you say that I am in control like you proclaim me to be, why have you not moved in following me? And that’s the same for you.
Again, what does it look like in your life for you personally to say, “For me, living means boldly living for Christ”?
Look, there are a lot of things you can live for. There are a lot of things you can build your life around. But only one of them has worth. Only one of them sustains you after death. And that’s Christ. It’s not just a religion, it’s not just an idea, but it’s a fact. It’s THE truth. The fact that he is THE God, the ONE and ONLY God, and it is THE truth, the one, and only truth. And then everything else stacks at a way, way lower scale compared to him.
Again, to make you guys wrestle, to make you guys understand that this message isn’t just for me, that this isn’t just for a specific one of you guys in the room; this message is for every single one of us. It’s what does it look like for me to boldly live for Christ?
God’s Word says for you were born for such a time as this. There’s no mistake that you live in this timeframe. There’s no mistake that you live in the world that we live in right now. Maybe it’s because God created you with the intentful purpose of knowing, man, this is my son, this is my daughter, and they have the capability to be bold for my sake.
A role of some of us in this room, for the seasoned Christian in the room, for the person that has been walking with God for a season, the Christian who isn’t afraid of death, who has the certainty like Paul did, that when they die, it’s gain – your role is to point to the younger generation. Your role is to pray for the Christians that are just starting their walk with God.
Look, you’ve seen God move in your life. You’ve seen God do miracles in your life. You’ve seen God sustain you through the doubts, through the fears, and through the insecurities. So, why don’t you point to the younger generation? Why don’t you invest the time that God has poured into you and say, “God, here I am, use me to point you to someone else”?
On the other hand, for the young Christian in the room, for my youth and my young adults or my baby Christians, part of your role is understanding that there are people in the room that are more seasoned and have more wisdom in their walk with God. And part of your role is to seek wisdom, is to have a counsel of men or women that you go to in advice on how you should treat your wife, in the advice of how you should behave with your friends, in the advice of what do you do in this season of life where you’re just starting off? You see, and then when we’re functioning as a church, and then when our single purpose as a church is to boldly live for Christ, then together as the Body of Christ, then together for the sole purpose of bringing glory to his name, we will learn how to live boldly for Christ, not only as individual Christ believers but as a church.
Again, I’ll bring the question, what does it look like in your life, in my life, to boldly live for Christ?
In the Book of Matthew, Jesus says this.
Matthew 16:24-26 (NLT)
24 … “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.
25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?
Is anything worth more than your eternity? Is anything worth more than knowing who Christ is relationally, personally, intimately? Look, it’s something that’s simple to say, that I’ll surrender every area of my life, that I’ll let go of whatever it is that I’m holding onto, that is something easy to say.
And then, on the contrary, it’s something hard to do that takes an all-in commitment to say, “Lord, the only thing that matters in my life is what this verse says, to pick up my cross and live boldly for you, Christ.” So, I urge you, whatever it is that is preventing you, whatever it is that is causing you to not fully live boldly for Christ, let go. Let go.
Philippians 1:22
22 But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better.
Look, the fruit that Paul is speaking of here, the fruit that he’s talking about, is the multiple people, are the souls that were being saved as he was obedient in boldly living for Christ. As he was unashamed to teach, as he was unashamed to preach, as he was unashamed to declare who Christ was and what he had done in his life.
Look, in my life, in my four years of following Christ, I do know this. One thing that I have experienced that is so sweet, one thing that I have experienced that compares to no other thing, that no joy comes close to it, is being used by God to preach or to teach or to share with someone about God, and then see God in that moment overflow them with his presence. Overflow them with making it known that God is real. That he is real. And as a result, that young person chooses to surrender their life to God. As that young man chooses to declare God as their Savior and start their life off at a young age saying, “Lord, I want to follow you into boldly living for you.”
Again, I’ll ask, what does it look like in your life to boldly follow Christ?
For me this morning, it’s standing behind this music stand of a pulpit, but for you, it can look totally different. It’s sharing with the neighbor, sharing with your son, sharing with your grandson, telling a stranger when God presses it upon your heart to go and share the gospel with someone. How unique, and how wonderful, and how amazing is it to think that the Creator of the Universe, the God who flung every star into its place, allows you to partner up with him to bring salvation to someone else? That’s mind-blowing. That is crazy for me to think.
Over and over, every time I have the chance to baptize some of you guys’ kids, every time I have the chance to pray with one of you guys’ child to accept Christ into their heart, I’m blown away because it’s God. Who am I? I’m here, a wretched sinner, yet you allow me to be a part of what you’re doing? And it’s the same for you. But again, it will look different than it does in my life, and vice versa.
But if you’ve never partnered with God, if you’ve never partnered with the Holy Spirit and surrendered and said, “Lord, here I am, use me,” and then saw God move, you’re missing out. You’re missing out completely. No amount of joy, no amount of momentary fun that you can have compares to that.
So, let’s take a step of action into what it means for us to boldly live for Christ.
Philippians 1:23 (NLT)
23 I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me.
24 But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.
I said this statement to the youth one Wednesday night, and they were kind of like, “What?” So, I’m going to tell you guys the same statement, and I’ll see your reaction. Christ, him dying on that Cross, him choosing to die on that Cross (because it was a choice. He could have easily said, “nope. I’ve got more power than you can think, Romans! I’ve got more power than you can imagine, Satan!). That being said, Christ is so much bigger than just me, and Christ is so much bigger than just you.
As people in the room who are privileged, truthfully, to listen to the gospel week in and week out, who are privileged for turning our dials on our radios to worship music, or to whatever Christian station you listen to, to listen to messages as you’re driving, to have the freedom to open our Bible when other people – in today’s time – don’t have that freedom, when other people in today’s time wish they could hear about Christ, and they’re executed at the thought of owning a Bible. They’re executed, not in Biblical times, but today! To say, for me, my purpose is to boldly live for Christ.
That being said, and the reason I bring that up, is for us in the room who do know the treasure, who do hold this treasure, who do understand this treasure that can not only redirect someone’s life but redirect someone’s complete eternity into spending the rest of their time, the rest of their existence in the beautiful, sweet presence of Jesus.
Paul didn’t live for himself. He lived for Christ, and he lived to serve the people of Christ. And for him, it looked like teaching. It looked like studying – I mean, he studied a bunch. It looked like teaching, and preaching, and declaring God in whatever area of life he was in. Again, for Paul, either high or low, either good or bad, he rejoiced in who Christ was, and he was not ashamed of who God was. So much so that he brought Christ to so many areas of life that if he wasn’t in a low, if he wasn’t in a trial, he never would have brought the gospel. He brought the gospel to one of the lead Roman’s house.
And again, I’ll ask the question, what does it look like for you, for us, for me, to boldly live for Christ?
Look what Jesus says to his Disciples and to his people in the following scripture.
Matthew 28:19 (NLT)
19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Believe it or not, that’s a charge. That’s a command. That’s a direction that is known for every believer. Not just me, not just someone who gets to teach God’s Word, but for every believer. You all have a role in making disciples. You all have a role in boldly living for Christ.
And what does that look like? That can look like living, and teaching, and preaching Christ at home, at school, at work. Again, it takes you out of your comfort zone to say, “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” It takes you out of your comfort zone to say, “For me to live means boldly living for Christ.”
Let’s continue reading.
Philippians 1:25 (NLT)
25 Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith.
Look, Paul didn’t have the choice of life or death. What Paul did know was that whether he was to die or to live, it was all in the hands of God. And that’s where he left it.
But what Paul did know, what he did have confidence in, what he was fully aware of, was the assurance of his salvation. It was knowing that when he died without a doubt in his mind, without a doubt in his core, he knew he would be in the presence of God. He knew that his last breath, he knew that his last moment on earth would be shared with his first breath in the presence of the Creator. That’s what he was confident of. That’s what he was sure of.
And that, Church, was Paul’s secret. That was what drove him. That was his secret in him being able to live boldly for Christ. When you understand, when we understand that we are citizens of heaven from the minute that we surrender our lives to God, when we understand that life is here one second and gone the next, that we’re not promised tomorrow or even the next moment of life, then we’ll understand the desperate need that each and every one of us – no matter our age, no matter our background, no matter our past – the desperate need that we have to place our faith in God.
During all circumstances, during all situations, again, knowing that you belong to the Kingdom of God needs to be what drives you into pressing into who Christ is. It’s what causes the Holy Spirit to empower you, to equip you, to live a victorious life in boldly living for Christ! Let your genuine love and relationship, the very core of “Man, I get to fellowship with God,” be the thing that drives you into living for God – not the other way around. It doesn’t work that way.
Another prayer that my wife and I always say is, “Lord, we want you to spring off of our marriage. We want you to spring off out of our home life so that we can be transparent in public and not put up a front in public that we’re holy, and righteous, and religious people and at home be so far apart from you. And when we leave this building, be so apart from you.”
Now, the last verse for this morning.
Philippians 1:26 (NLT)
26 And when I come to you again, you will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is doing through me.
Look. Like I said before, Paul was in prison. He was under Roman house arrest. He did survive. He was let go. It wasn’t until some time later that he is martyred. He did go back to the Church of Philippi, and he was able to see them again.
Again, I want to paint the picture of Paul’s heart for you guys. Instead of asking for help when he was in a season of need, he said, “No. God fills my every need, so I’m going to write a letter. I’m going to write to the Church of Philippi to encourage them, to fill them with joy in their walk with God.”
Look, Paul ends this section of scripture with an encouragement, with the longing hope of seeing his friends and his Christ family again. So, we’re going to end with an encouragement too.
Jesus loves you. The thoughts he has about you, the amount of thoughts he has about you, how he desires for you to know him, how he chose to die on the Cross because he does desire for you to accept him as your Lord and Savior.
Look, in the scripture, it says that God was pleased to send his Son to die on the Cross. What kind of sentence is that? But the reason he was pleased is because he knew that it opened the door for every single person in this room, and every single person outside of this room, and every single person under the sun to have the opportunity to say, “Christ, I know what you did on the Cross is true. I know you’re alive today as you were then. And I surrender every ounce, every part, everything that I hold valuable in my life to you, including me.”
Take pride in what Christ is doing. Lisa said it, and Jacob, during the announcements, I’m not teaching because I want you guys to come to this church. Just like I tell the youth, we don’t hold the youth service every week because we want you to come to this particular youth ministry. I don’t know if I’ll get in trouble for this, but I don’t care if you come to this church. What I do care about is that you do leave this place knowing who Christ is. I do care that you leave this place knowing that your eternity is set in God. Because guess what? If God deems this church to grow, it’ll grow. If God doesn’t deem this church to grow, guess what? We’ll still be here preaching and teaching and declaring who Jesus Christ is in this world.
So again, I ask you, what does it look like in your life? Your personal life. Not the person next to you, not your child’s, not your parents, not who’s wronged you, but you. What does it look like in your life to boldly live for Christ? And wrestle with that question. Cry out to God with that question.
Because, again, we do serve a God who is all powerful and almighty, and he did create you for a purpose. What that specifically looks like, that’s for you to hear from God. But the full result of it is, is it bringing glory to God? Is it bringing glory to Christ? He’s the only one who can say that I do what I want to do because I want to bring glory to myself because he is the sustainer of life. Without him, we cease to exist. We didn’t come from some chance. We didn’t come from some mystery. But we came from the God of the Universe, the God of this Bible.
I want you to wrestle again. What is it? Feel the struggle. Feel the tug. And say, “Lord, what is it that you created me to do? What does it look like for me to boldly live for Christ?”
The section of scripture that we’re going to be going through is Philippians 1, verses 20-26. And this section of scripture is a picture of Paul’s life and how he boldly lived for Christ. From the minute that God radically redirected his life when he was on the road to Damascus, from being in jail, and through the highs and lows of his life, Paul did not stop boldly living for God. So much so that it brings us to this section of scripture in Philippians Chapter 1, verse 20.
And as Paul writes this letter, again, I want to let you guys know that he’s under Roman house arrest. And he’s not praying that God delivers him. He’s not praying that the people pray for him. Instead, he sends a letter of encouragement to the Church of Philippi to encourage them, to fill them with joy in their walk of boldly living for Christ.
Philippians 1:20(a) (NLT)
20 For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past.
Let’s stop there. Let’s read the verse one more time. For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past.
Look, Paul’s life was exactly this. He lived boldly for Christ, unashamed of who God was, unashamed of what the gospel was, any room, any area, any season of life that he was in, he was bold because of what Christ had done inside of him.
Earlier in his life, Paul writes this in Romans 1, verse 16. Purpose these words in your heart.
Romans 1:16 (NLT)
16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes…
That’s what Paul lived for. To unashamedly experience the unmatched joy of what it meant to see God move. Of how it looked for people to turn to God. Of how it felt to preach the Word of God, to live the Word of God.
Look, we live in a world where the world tends to be so much louder about its beliefs. Its beliefs on marriage, its beliefs on life, its beliefs on how your child is to be addressed as, and how your child is to be raised. I see. I have youth come to me on Wednesday nights and tell me the crazy stuff that goes on in their schools and how they’re outcast if they’re saying, “No. I believe in God. And that’s who I identify as – as a believer of the King of kings and Lord of lords.”
And sometimes, the world, its voice tends to be so much more loud, so much more bolder about its beliefs than Christian’s beliefs on who God is and what God’s Word says. And I say this to remind you guys what God’s Word says about marriage and how in the beginning of time when he created man, it was the only time that he said it was not good. And what did he do? He created one woman for the one man because that’s the way that he designed it.
What does God say about life? What does God say about you? What does God say about us? His scriptures remind us that before the foundations of the earth were set, that you were made, that you were set aside as his masterpiece. There is no mistake that you live, that there is no mistake that you exist because we serve a God who is all control, that doesn’t cause mistakes, that doesn’t move under mistakes.
So, wrestle with that. I’ll ask you again if you believe that to be true, what does it look like in your life to boldly live for Christ?
And what does God say about your children? God commands his people to raise your children to know God. Raise your children to understand who Jesus is and what he did on the Cross, very similar to that, and how he loves them. And despite their indifference, despite who they are, God loves them. And that they can run back to him when life gets tough.
I say address all this, not to attack anyone, not to single anyone out, not to make anyone sink into their seats. I say this to remind you that from the minute that you gave your life to God, from the minute that God entered your life, he equipped you with the Holy Spirit to be able to be bold for who God is. There should be no doubt in your heart about that.
But if you have been walking away. If you have never known God, if day by day, it just feels like, “Man, God is just getting further and further away from me. I just can’t seem to hold on to who he is,” I want to remind you that God’s Word says you still have time. You still have time to turn to God and choose to boldly live for Christ. And the beautiful thing about when you live for Christ is that you gain eternity and the presence of the God who created you.
Look, he loves, and he desires for you to know him. He already knows you. He created you. He knows every part of how you function. He knows your thoughts before you do. Just draw to him. There’s something I always remind the youth because at their age, their young, and they think life is going to last another million years for them. But I remind them of this, that one day, each and every one of us will stand before our Creator, and he will say, “What did you do with my Son?” And while you still have breath in your lungs and the capability to say, “Lord, I need you in my life. I need your Spirit to help me, to direct me, to empower me to live boldly for you, God,” it’s not too late.
The minute it’s too late is when you take your last breath. The minute that it’s too late is when you are before the Creator, and you’re like, “Well, dang. I missed. I missed that. I missed the opportunities in my life where I could have given myself to God. Man, I can think of the times you pressed into me. Man, can I think of the times that he just made himself so known and clear to me?”
Don’t let anything stop you, not one single thing, from choosing to boldly live for Christ.
Philippians 1:20(b)-21 (NLT)
20 And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die.
21 For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.
Look, those two verses are going to drive this entire message. We’re going to re-read it. But this is what I want us to do. I want you to paint yourself as you saying those words. You’re saying those words to be true about your life. 20 And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. 21 For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.
I’ll be transparent with you guys this morning. This has been the hardest section of scripture in my young life of following God that I’ve had to wrestle through. And the reason it’s so hard is that my wife and I are in a season where we are wrestling. We are wrestling with knowing God is calling us to continue to live boldly for him. And I know that’s very vague, and I’ll get more clear as we go ahead. What I mean is this – God is directing us. He’s stirring my heart. He’s stirring my wife’s heart to follow him into what is unknown to her and I, from a place in life where right now, we’re starting off, and we feel at a comfortable spot. Look, but following God sometimes means getting out of that comfortable spot.
But why? The reason that my wife I so desperately want to choose the right paths, want to choose to follow God into what is unknown to us, is because of the same reason that some of you do this morning. It’s what the scripture says. My wife and I want to trust that our lives will bring honor to Christ, period. My wife and I want to say and live it out and say that for us to live means living for Christ and nothing else. And it’s hard. It’s hard being a young man and starting my life off with my wife and thinking and worrying about life.
Again, I want to point out what I said in my introduction, that boldly living for Christ for me looks different than for you. And vice versa. I have no greater calling in my life than you do. So again, I’ll ask the question, what does it look like in your life to boldly follow Christ? Wrestle with that question this morning. Really take it in. Really understand what that means for you, personally.
And change the question a little and ask yourself, what it does it mean in my life? For me, to boldly live for Christ. Do we boldly live for Christ when life isn’t going as planned, and everything is just falling apart? Can we still say, “Lord, I will boldly live for you”? Do we boldly live for Christ as we’re going through a series of deaths in our family? Can we still say, “God, you are good, and I will follow you despite the circumstance in my life”? Do we boldly live for Christ and follow him even when we’re consumed by the fear of making ends meet? Even then, can we say, “God, you are great, and you have a plan, and I will follow you”?
I don’t have children. But this next one, I think, is the hardest. Do we still boldly live for God when it seems like our children are walking away from God? Can we still say, “God, I know you have a plan? I know I’ve raised my child to know you. And I know that you’ll draw them back to you because your Word says and because you promise. Because I have raised my children knowing you.”
Wrestle with that question. Is God still a God that is worth boldly living for when things aren’t great?
On the other hand, can we live for Christ when life is just so perfect? As good as we could want it. Everything is going our way. The business is running, everything I can want, woo! Thank you, Lord. When we foolishly think that because of how luxurious our life is that we don’t need God, that there’s not a need for God – because I can provide for myself. I can make my own way. I am able to live for what I desire to boldly live for. Wrestle with that.
Wrestle with that. And if any of those categories hit you, if any of those categories are making you just “drown” in your seat, wrestle with it.
And again, to just be more transparent with you guys, for me and my wife, how it looks for us to boldly live for God is to follow him out of the comfort that my job can offer, out of the comfort that my job can provide. When we are in a season where we do desire to buy a home, when we are in a season where do desire to start a family, and say, “Lord, I will follow you. And I will live boldly for you, because even if it takes me out of my comfort zone – because I know that you’re in control. And then I know from there on, the rest is up to you.” Look, it’s a lot better to trust God in the unknown than to trust yourself in the unknown. You won’t be the first one he carries through a storm, and you won’t be the last. That’s the nature of our God. That’s who he is.
But again, I’m not telling you guys to quit your job and go into full-time ministry. That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is this. Ask yourself truthfully, wrestle with yourself, and say (I will repeat the question about a hundred more times during this message), “What does it look like in MY life to boldly live for Christ?”
Look, in these verses in this section of scripture, what Paul is saying, is this. Is that for him, it’s a win-win. Like, for him, whether he lives, he wins because he lives for Christ. Whether he dies, he wins because he lives in the eternal presence of God.
Let’s read the end of verse 21 again.
Philippians 1:21 (NLT)
21 … living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.
And I know some of you guys know this, but just to continue to fully paint the picture, I want to remind you guys that there’s nothing else that you can live for than for Christ that takes you over when you die. You can’t live for money because if you’d say, “I live for money,” then guess what? To die is loss. No amount of wealth you can take, no amount of whatever it is that you created, can you take with you.
What if we say to live is status? Man, I want to build a name for myself. I want to do the American Dream. (If some of you guys still believe in that – I do.) But I believe in the American Dream Journey to God. Man, I can build a name for myself. I can build an empire. I can do this. But guess what? Like many people in history, when you die, no matter how big that status is, it’s left behind for someone else to do with as they please. You can’t take it with you.
To live as anything else but Christ, the ultimate result is that to die is complete loss. Look, the only thing that matters, the thing that should be on the forefront of your life, is, do I know God? Do I know the Creator of the Universe? Do I know the one that sustains life and holds everything together? Because, if I don’t, man, there is loss when I die. Because if I don’t, man, I do fear death.
The truth is that only when you live for Christ will there be gain when you die. And what that means is surrendering your life to him, getting to know the one who created you.
I was sitting outside on the grass in the field before service started because, as you can imagine, sometimes I’m filled with nerves before I teach in front of you guys. And there was a moment of just stillness. As I was there, you heard the birds, you saw the grass, you saw the trees on the hill in the distance, you saw the peaks of the mountains, and you saw how it all beautifully flowed together – how it all beautifully stayed together. That’s not chance. It’s because there’s a designer who holds it in his hand. It’s because there’s a Creator who holds it all together. And I urge you to get to know who he is because it will change your life.
Look, I know I’m young. I know I’m just starting my life; someone said, “super young.” But look, I do know this. I do know there is resistance when you take that step of faith and choose to boldly live for Christ. I do know there are seasons of doubt. Lord, where are you? I can’t sense you; I can’t feel you. I do know there are seasons of fear. Lord, I am just afraid. Simply put, Lord, I am just afraid of what you are doing. I don’t know if I can follow you into that. I don’t know if I can actually quit my job. Lord, I’m afraid. I’ve desired a certain lifestyle. I’ve always desired a certain home. I’ve always desired to raise my kids in a certain way. So, Lord, I’m afraid.
But man, guess what God does in the midst of fear? Guess what God does in the midst of doubt? He meets you there. He goes, Hey, man. Look, I got it. You know that I am leading you, so why haven’t you moved? If you say that you trust me, and if you say that I am in control like you proclaim me to be, why have you not moved in following me? And that’s the same for you.
Again, what does it look like in your life for you personally to say, “For me, living means boldly living for Christ”?
Look, there are a lot of things you can live for. There are a lot of things you can build your life around. But only one of them has worth. Only one of them sustains you after death. And that’s Christ. It’s not just a religion, it’s not just an idea, but it’s a fact. It’s THE truth. The fact that he is THE God, the ONE and ONLY God, and it is THE truth, the one, and only truth. And then everything else stacks at a way, way lower scale compared to him.
Again, to make you guys wrestle, to make you guys understand that this message isn’t just for me, that this isn’t just for a specific one of you guys in the room; this message is for every single one of us. It’s what does it look like for me to boldly live for Christ?
God’s Word says for you were born for such a time as this. There’s no mistake that you live in this timeframe. There’s no mistake that you live in the world that we live in right now. Maybe it’s because God created you with the intentful purpose of knowing, man, this is my son, this is my daughter, and they have the capability to be bold for my sake.
A role of some of us in this room, for the seasoned Christian in the room, for the person that has been walking with God for a season, the Christian who isn’t afraid of death, who has the certainty like Paul did, that when they die, it’s gain – your role is to point to the younger generation. Your role is to pray for the Christians that are just starting their walk with God.
Look, you’ve seen God move in your life. You’ve seen God do miracles in your life. You’ve seen God sustain you through the doubts, through the fears, and through the insecurities. So, why don’t you point to the younger generation? Why don’t you invest the time that God has poured into you and say, “God, here I am, use me to point you to someone else”?
On the other hand, for the young Christian in the room, for my youth and my young adults or my baby Christians, part of your role is understanding that there are people in the room that are more seasoned and have more wisdom in their walk with God. And part of your role is to seek wisdom, is to have a counsel of men or women that you go to in advice on how you should treat your wife, in the advice of how you should behave with your friends, in the advice of what do you do in this season of life where you’re just starting off? You see, and then when we’re functioning as a church, and then when our single purpose as a church is to boldly live for Christ, then together as the Body of Christ, then together for the sole purpose of bringing glory to his name, we will learn how to live boldly for Christ, not only as individual Christ believers but as a church.
Again, I’ll bring the question, what does it look like in your life, in my life, to boldly live for Christ?
In the Book of Matthew, Jesus says this.
Matthew 16:24-26 (NLT)
24 … “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.
25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?
Is anything worth more than your eternity? Is anything worth more than knowing who Christ is relationally, personally, intimately? Look, it’s something that’s simple to say, that I’ll surrender every area of my life, that I’ll let go of whatever it is that I’m holding onto, that is something easy to say.
And then, on the contrary, it’s something hard to do that takes an all-in commitment to say, “Lord, the only thing that matters in my life is what this verse says, to pick up my cross and live boldly for you, Christ.” So, I urge you, whatever it is that is preventing you, whatever it is that is causing you to not fully live boldly for Christ, let go. Let go.
Philippians 1:22
22 But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better.
Look, the fruit that Paul is speaking of here, the fruit that he’s talking about, is the multiple people, are the souls that were being saved as he was obedient in boldly living for Christ. As he was unashamed to teach, as he was unashamed to preach, as he was unashamed to declare who Christ was and what he had done in his life.
Look, in my life, in my four years of following Christ, I do know this. One thing that I have experienced that is so sweet, one thing that I have experienced that compares to no other thing, that no joy comes close to it, is being used by God to preach or to teach or to share with someone about God, and then see God in that moment overflow them with his presence. Overflow them with making it known that God is real. That he is real. And as a result, that young person chooses to surrender their life to God. As that young man chooses to declare God as their Savior and start their life off at a young age saying, “Lord, I want to follow you into boldly living for you.”
Again, I’ll ask, what does it look like in your life to boldly follow Christ?
For me this morning, it’s standing behind this music stand of a pulpit, but for you, it can look totally different. It’s sharing with the neighbor, sharing with your son, sharing with your grandson, telling a stranger when God presses it upon your heart to go and share the gospel with someone. How unique, and how wonderful, and how amazing is it to think that the Creator of the Universe, the God who flung every star into its place, allows you to partner up with him to bring salvation to someone else? That’s mind-blowing. That is crazy for me to think.
Over and over, every time I have the chance to baptize some of you guys’ kids, every time I have the chance to pray with one of you guys’ child to accept Christ into their heart, I’m blown away because it’s God. Who am I? I’m here, a wretched sinner, yet you allow me to be a part of what you’re doing? And it’s the same for you. But again, it will look different than it does in my life, and vice versa.
But if you’ve never partnered with God, if you’ve never partnered with the Holy Spirit and surrendered and said, “Lord, here I am, use me,” and then saw God move, you’re missing out. You’re missing out completely. No amount of joy, no amount of momentary fun that you can have compares to that.
So, let’s take a step of action into what it means for us to boldly live for Christ.
Philippians 1:23 (NLT)
23 I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me.
24 But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.
I said this statement to the youth one Wednesday night, and they were kind of like, “What?” So, I’m going to tell you guys the same statement, and I’ll see your reaction. Christ, him dying on that Cross, him choosing to die on that Cross (because it was a choice. He could have easily said, “nope. I’ve got more power than you can think, Romans! I’ve got more power than you can imagine, Satan!). That being said, Christ is so much bigger than just me, and Christ is so much bigger than just you.
As people in the room who are privileged, truthfully, to listen to the gospel week in and week out, who are privileged for turning our dials on our radios to worship music, or to whatever Christian station you listen to, to listen to messages as you’re driving, to have the freedom to open our Bible when other people – in today’s time – don’t have that freedom, when other people in today’s time wish they could hear about Christ, and they’re executed at the thought of owning a Bible. They’re executed, not in Biblical times, but today! To say, for me, my purpose is to boldly live for Christ.
That being said, and the reason I bring that up, is for us in the room who do know the treasure, who do hold this treasure, who do understand this treasure that can not only redirect someone’s life but redirect someone’s complete eternity into spending the rest of their time, the rest of their existence in the beautiful, sweet presence of Jesus.
Paul didn’t live for himself. He lived for Christ, and he lived to serve the people of Christ. And for him, it looked like teaching. It looked like studying – I mean, he studied a bunch. It looked like teaching, and preaching, and declaring God in whatever area of life he was in. Again, for Paul, either high or low, either good or bad, he rejoiced in who Christ was, and he was not ashamed of who God was. So much so that he brought Christ to so many areas of life that if he wasn’t in a low, if he wasn’t in a trial, he never would have brought the gospel. He brought the gospel to one of the lead Roman’s house.
And again, I’ll ask the question, what does it look like for you, for us, for me, to boldly live for Christ?
Look what Jesus says to his Disciples and to his people in the following scripture.
Matthew 28:19 (NLT)
19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Believe it or not, that’s a charge. That’s a command. That’s a direction that is known for every believer. Not just me, not just someone who gets to teach God’s Word, but for every believer. You all have a role in making disciples. You all have a role in boldly living for Christ.
And what does that look like? That can look like living, and teaching, and preaching Christ at home, at school, at work. Again, it takes you out of your comfort zone to say, “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” It takes you out of your comfort zone to say, “For me to live means boldly living for Christ.”
Let’s continue reading.
Philippians 1:25 (NLT)
25 Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith.
Look, Paul didn’t have the choice of life or death. What Paul did know was that whether he was to die or to live, it was all in the hands of God. And that’s where he left it.
But what Paul did know, what he did have confidence in, what he was fully aware of, was the assurance of his salvation. It was knowing that when he died without a doubt in his mind, without a doubt in his core, he knew he would be in the presence of God. He knew that his last breath, he knew that his last moment on earth would be shared with his first breath in the presence of the Creator. That’s what he was confident of. That’s what he was sure of.
And that, Church, was Paul’s secret. That was what drove him. That was his secret in him being able to live boldly for Christ. When you understand, when we understand that we are citizens of heaven from the minute that we surrender our lives to God, when we understand that life is here one second and gone the next, that we’re not promised tomorrow or even the next moment of life, then we’ll understand the desperate need that each and every one of us – no matter our age, no matter our background, no matter our past – the desperate need that we have to place our faith in God.
During all circumstances, during all situations, again, knowing that you belong to the Kingdom of God needs to be what drives you into pressing into who Christ is. It’s what causes the Holy Spirit to empower you, to equip you, to live a victorious life in boldly living for Christ! Let your genuine love and relationship, the very core of “Man, I get to fellowship with God,” be the thing that drives you into living for God – not the other way around. It doesn’t work that way.
Another prayer that my wife and I always say is, “Lord, we want you to spring off of our marriage. We want you to spring off out of our home life so that we can be transparent in public and not put up a front in public that we’re holy, and righteous, and religious people and at home be so far apart from you. And when we leave this building, be so apart from you.”
Now, the last verse for this morning.
Philippians 1:26 (NLT)
26 And when I come to you again, you will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is doing through me.
Look. Like I said before, Paul was in prison. He was under Roman house arrest. He did survive. He was let go. It wasn’t until some time later that he is martyred. He did go back to the Church of Philippi, and he was able to see them again.
Again, I want to paint the picture of Paul’s heart for you guys. Instead of asking for help when he was in a season of need, he said, “No. God fills my every need, so I’m going to write a letter. I’m going to write to the Church of Philippi to encourage them, to fill them with joy in their walk with God.”
Look, Paul ends this section of scripture with an encouragement, with the longing hope of seeing his friends and his Christ family again. So, we’re going to end with an encouragement too.
Jesus loves you. The thoughts he has about you, the amount of thoughts he has about you, how he desires for you to know him, how he chose to die on the Cross because he does desire for you to accept him as your Lord and Savior.
Look, in the scripture, it says that God was pleased to send his Son to die on the Cross. What kind of sentence is that? But the reason he was pleased is because he knew that it opened the door for every single person in this room, and every single person outside of this room, and every single person under the sun to have the opportunity to say, “Christ, I know what you did on the Cross is true. I know you’re alive today as you were then. And I surrender every ounce, every part, everything that I hold valuable in my life to you, including me.”
Take pride in what Christ is doing. Lisa said it, and Jacob, during the announcements, I’m not teaching because I want you guys to come to this church. Just like I tell the youth, we don’t hold the youth service every week because we want you to come to this particular youth ministry. I don’t know if I’ll get in trouble for this, but I don’t care if you come to this church. What I do care about is that you do leave this place knowing who Christ is. I do care that you leave this place knowing that your eternity is set in God. Because guess what? If God deems this church to grow, it’ll grow. If God doesn’t deem this church to grow, guess what? We’ll still be here preaching and teaching and declaring who Jesus Christ is in this world.
So again, I ask you, what does it look like in your life? Your personal life. Not the person next to you, not your child’s, not your parents, not who’s wronged you, but you. What does it look like in your life to boldly live for Christ? And wrestle with that question. Cry out to God with that question.
Because, again, we do serve a God who is all powerful and almighty, and he did create you for a purpose. What that specifically looks like, that’s for you to hear from God. But the full result of it is, is it bringing glory to God? Is it bringing glory to Christ? He’s the only one who can say that I do what I want to do because I want to bring glory to myself because he is the sustainer of life. Without him, we cease to exist. We didn’t come from some chance. We didn’t come from some mystery. But we came from the God of the Universe, the God of this Bible.
I want you to wrestle again. What is it? Feel the struggle. Feel the tug. And say, “Lord, what is it that you created me to do? What does it look like for me to boldly live for Christ?”