A regular podcast listener from the fine city of London writes in with this question, "Hello Pastor John, my name is Laura. I would love to know what it actually means when Paul says, 'For me to live is Christ' in Philippians 121. I can't seem to pinpoint a solid definition without just giving examples of what that kind of life would look like.

How would you explain this? What does it mean to live is Christ?" Well, there aren't many things I love to think about more than the context of Philippians 1. And you're going to see why before we're done. I'm a Christian heeding this through and through, and it doesn't get any better than these verses and the parallels in chapter 3.

So I think in answer to Laura's question, there are two ways to define, "For me to live is Christ," first from the immediate context of verses 20 to 26 of chapter 1 in Philippians, and secondly from chapter 3. And you'll see why both of those are so relevant. So let's walk through it and she'll see right away how this works.

"It is my eager expectation and hope," this is verse 20, "It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be ashamed, but that with full courage, now as always, Christ will be magnified." There's this central passion in life, that Christ will be magnified, shown to be magnificent in my body, whether by life or by death.

"For," and here come these two phrases, "For me to live is Christ," that's the one she's asking about, and the other one is, "And to die is gain." So to live is Christ and to die is gain are two ways of Paul's magnifying Christ with his body. So what we want to know is, how is Christ magnified in Paul's life?

Because that's what he's aiming at in this text. To live is Christ. To live is to magnify Christ. To live is to show that Christ is magnificent. So watch how he does it. "If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me." So the first thing he says about to live is not Christ, but fruitful labor.

So what does that mean? What is fruitful labor that magnifies Christ in such a way that you can say to pursue this fruit is to pursue the glory of Christ? So he keeps going in verse 24. "To remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Because of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in faith." So his fruitful labor that he's staying alive for is labor to increase the joy of the faith of the Philippians.

So if they have greater joy by embracing Jesus—that is, believing, embracing Jesus in faith—Jesus is made to look magnificent, and Paul's life is achieving its purpose from verse 20. So your joy of faith in Jesus is the fruit of my labor, and that makes Christ look great, and that's what it means for me to live Christ.

Now he keeps going, verse 26. "So that in me you may have ample cause to glory or boast in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again." So by his coming to them—that is, coming to increase their joy of faith, coming to bear fruit in his labor—by his coming to them and ministering to them and increasing their joy of faith, they are increasing in their glorying or boasting in Christ Jesus.

So the upshot of Paul's life is that other people are making much of Jesus by being joyful in Jesus and boasting in Jesus. This is what it means for Paul to live his Christ. To live his Christ means to live to be the means of other people making Christ look magnificent by finding Christ to be their supreme treasure and their greatest satisfaction.

That's what glorying in Christ and being happy in Christ means. So that's the first answer. Now watch it get amazingly confirmed if you jump over to chapter 3, verses 7 and 8. And the link is clear in Paul's mind because the word "gain" over here in chapter 1, he says, "To die is gain." Now watch the uses of the word "gain" in chapter 3, verses 7 and 8, where the same way of thinking that Christ being a supreme treasure makes Christ look magnificent, which is what Paul's life is about.

So here's what it says. "Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I might gain Christ." Now back in chapter 1, to die was to be with Christ, and therefore dying was gain, and therefore his dying magnified Christ because it showed that Christ was more valuable than everything he had lost in death.

Now here in chapter 3, he's unpacking "to live is Christ" in the same way, with the same argument, only instead of losing everything by dying, he says, "I'm counting everything as loss even while I live." So to show that the value of Christ is better than the things I have in life even while I am alive.

So again, "to live is Christ" means to live in such a way as to make Christ look magnificent as your supreme treasure. Now I can't let this go—circle back to the beginning where I was all excited about Christian hedonism—I can't let this go without making explicit that these contexts in Philippians 1 and Philippians 3 are two of the most important foundations for what I call Christian hedonism and what I've devoted my whole life trying to understand, trying to preach, which I usually sum up by saying, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him." But here's the way I would say it by putting together both "to die is gain" and "to live is Christ" in verse 20 of chapter 1.

Here's the way I'd say it. Christ is most magnified in us when we are more satisfied in him than what we lose in death and what we have in life. In both cases, the goal of Paul's life is attained—that Christ is magnified in his body, whether by life or by death—and the key to magnifying Christ in life and in death is to find him more precious, more valuable, more satisfying, more joyful, more boastworthy than everything we lose in death—to die is gain—and everything we have in life—to live is Christ.

That is glorious. Thank you, Pastor John. I love that. "Christ is most magnified in us when we are more satisfied in him than in what we lose in death or what we have gained in life." Oh, that's so good. Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for listening and making the podcast part of your week.

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The anticipation for Christmas is growing. Christmas music is on the radio, and pumpkin spice lattes are in the air, and colorful lights are brightening the night. As we approach Christmas this year, we embark on a six-part series on the podcast related to Advent. We're going to answer some of your very hard questions about the conception and birth and childhood of Jesus.

It's going to be good. These are some really excellent questions that you've sent in. We've lined them up, and the series begins on Friday. I'm your host, Tony Reinke. We'll see you then. DesiringGod.org Page 1 of 3 DesiringGod.org Page 1 of 3 DesiringGod.org Page 1 of 3 DesiringGod.org Page 1 of 3 you