{"id":1979,"date":"2015-01-21T14:05:05","date_gmt":"2015-01-21T19:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=1979"},"modified":"2015-01-21T14:05:05","modified_gmt":"2015-01-21T19:05:05","slug":"the-life-that-is-life-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=1979","title":{"rendered":"The Life that is Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"To-Live-is-Christ-to-Die-is-Gain\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I just finished leading a memorial service for someone\u2014someone young. Death had not been expected. Life was the probability. But death came. It has been shattering for the family, as one would imagine.<\/p>\n

Just a few hours before this I was meditating on Paul\u2019s words to the Philippian believers, written from prison. His circumstances were reversed: death was a possibility, though he had optimism for a release from prison and continued earthly life and ministry. Nevertheless, his circumstances were frightening\u2014 more for his friends than for Paul himself. As he wrote he aimed to steady their nerves and reinforce their faith. So he began to speak of how he\u2019d come to view life and death. He said, \u201cFor me, to life is Christ and to die is gain\u201d (Philippians 1:21).<\/p>\n

The basics are pretty obvious: Life = Jesus; Death = Gain.<\/span><\/p>\n

But what does that mean . . . really? Let\u2019s start with the first: Life = Jesus<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

There is great economy in the Apostle\u2019s words. Literally, says \u201cto live, Christ.\u201d Is Paul merely using artful expression or is he describing an existential reality? Is his brevity mistaken for more than he intends? Or has he taken off his sandals because he is walking on holy ground and measuring his words lest he misspeak?<\/p>\n

The life of the indwelling Christ was a daily, moment-by-moment reality for Paul. He seems to have especially sensed this reality in times of extremity: \u201cwe are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body<\/em><\/span>. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh<\/span><\/em>\u201d (2 Cor. 4:8-11). The actual, fleshly, earthly engagement of life and all its realities is the arena wherein Jesus personally shows up with the manifestation of His life in and through His child. It is not merely an inward thought, feeling or attitude. It is that, but it is more than that. The life of Jesus is \u201cmanifested\u201d in us and through us. It finds expression and evidences itself. Thus Paul can say, \u201cto live is Christ.\u201d He can confess in another place \u201cit is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me\u201d (Gal. 2:20). He reminds the Colossian believers that it is \u201cChrist, who is our life\u201d (Col. 3:4). Jesus commanded His followers, \u201cAbide in me, and I in you\u201d (John 15:4a). This is mystery deep, but it is also life indeed.<\/p>\n

The Lord Himself, by \u201cthe Spirit of Jesus Christ\u201d (v.19), takes up residence in the believer. He Himself is the very eternal life He promised us. His life is my life. And moment-by-moment, circumstances-by-circumstance, thought-by-thought, conversation-by-conversation, relationship-by-relationship Jesus aims to manifest His life in me, to me, and through me. He intends that I live by His indwelling life.<\/p>\n

This is the privilege and calling and hope of the believer. This has dramatic, transforming implications for our minds\/thoughts\/reasoning, our words\/relationships\/interactions, our service\/ministry\/witness, and our bodies\/health\/healing \u2026 for all of life!<\/p>\n

And Paul, with equal brevity can say: \u201c\u2026 to die is gain.\u201d Death = gain<\/span><\/strong>. But honestly, that just doesn\u2019t compute for most of us. And the only way it will is for us to first begin to live out the reality that \u201cto live is Christ.\u201d The one leads necessarily and supernaturally to the other. Until I have tasted of the life of Christ now as an abiding, sustaining, empowering, sanctifying, satisfying reality, I will never truly believe \u201cto die is gain.\u201d When I do, I will \u2026 for to die is to enter more immediately into the life and reality of Christ\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

To live = Jesus. To die = gain. They are not merely parallel statements; there is a causative relationship between them. First the life of Jesus manifested in me, to me, and through me in the details of daily life. As satisfying as that is (and it truly is!), once you\u2019ve tasted of His indwelling life the notion of the unfiltered presence and life of Jesus as a manifested reality is too all consuming and the child of God begins to anticipate the release that physical death will bring \u2026 and they find themselves genuinely confessing: to die = gain.<\/p>\n

Life = Jesus; Death = gain. Both are truly true. But they are only true in experience when we settle the first part: \u201cFor to me \u2026\u201d <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

How do I come to this place?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m afraid you won\u2019t like the answer.<\/p>\n

Ready? Here it is: disappointments.<\/p>\n

Sorry, but it\u2019s the only way.<\/p>\n

When I realize that this life can never keep its promises, I will be ready to look elsewhere. Not merely to another day, but to another life. The life of eternity is available to me in time. The life of God manifested in my mortal body, mind, emotions, and will. When I decide that He alone, His life alone, is \u201cFor \u2026 me\u201d then I am ready to experience the indwelling of His divine life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just finished leading a memorial service for someone\u2014someone young. Death had not been expected. Life was the probability. But death came. It has been shattering for the family, as one would imagine. Just a few hours before this I was meditating on Paul\u2019s words to the Philippian believers, written from prison. His circumstances were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-philippians","post-preview"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgYGxX-vV","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1979"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1982,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1979\/revisions\/1982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}