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To Live is Christ

Philippians 1:21-30

September 20, 2026

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Anitra Price once shared the story of a colleague of hers who had been invited to lead worship at an institution for the criminally insane. He decided to use the occasion as opportunity to reflect on the meaning of life. So he stepped into the pulpit and began his sermon by asking the question, “Why are we here?” But before he could continue, a voice piped up from the rear of the chapel, saying, “I don’t know about you, but we’re here because we’re all just as crazy as loons!” 

 

In spite of that smart alecky answer, it’s probable that the oldest and most universally-asked human question is, “What is the meaning of life?” This question has been so deeply interwoven into human history that it has its own philosophical classification. It’s known as the search for existential and ontological meaning.

 

You can see signs of this search throughout culture and literature, theology and philosophy — ranging from Albert Camus, who once wrote, “We humans are creatures who spend our lives trying to convince ourselves that our existence is not absurd,” to singer James Taylor, who wrote a song that says, “The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.” 

 

More interesting answer come from theologian Martin Marty, who said that the meaning of life is “Love. To love and to be loved.” That idea lines up well with the answer given by the group of Scottish and English theologians gathered 380 years ago to form the Westminster Assembly.

 

Their goal was to blend together the best ideas of the national churches of those two countries. One of the documents they produced was designed to teach the faith to children. Called the Westminster Shorter Catechism, it begins with a sweeping statement of the purpose of life. Paraphrasing their words to make them more understandable to a modern audience, they declared, “The main goal of life is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.”

 

That answer, in turn, fits perfectly with what the Bible tells us. In 1 John we read, “Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (4:7-8) And because God is love, God’s love for us cannot be overcome by our weaknesses or our circumstances or by our sins and mistakes. God’s love is eternal and unshakeable because love is, in fact, the nature of God. 

 

Paul had his own answer that he expressed more than once in his letters that have been collected into the New Testament. In essence, he taught that if we could somehow life up the hood of the universe to see exactly what its makes it all work, we wouldn’t see wires or pistons or gears. Instead we would simply see the face of Jesus. Therefore, if we want to understand God’s original design for the world or for human life, we need only look to Jesus. And in him we will find a heart filled with an unshakeable love.

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Bruce Prewer puts it this way, “In Christ the secret of the universe is open. The mystery of God’s painstaking stewardship of history is unveiled. It is the gathering of all things together in unity, as through Christ people accept the grace that makes them children of God and calls them to live as one family.” 

 

Each and every one of us is God’s beloved child, the one with whom God is well-pleased. There are no strings on that statement. God knows who we are and what we’re capable of — for both good and bad. But there’s no hesitation in God’s love for any of us. We may disappoint God at times, but we can never move beyond the bounds of God’s love.

 

That love surrounds us and protects from long before we were even gleams in the eyes of our parents until long after the echoes of our lives fade away from the memories of those who survive us — and it stretches well beyond the arches of eternity, where God will bring us to God’s self. 

 

Therefore, each of our lives has been given to us as a generous gift from God. If we choose to use that gift learn how to love and serve one another in God’s name, then we might come to more fully understand the God who is love and we might become more fully human in the way that God designed us to be.

 

The author of Psalm 19 tells us, “The heavens are telling the glory of God;

and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.” In other words, their vastness and their sheer beauty serve to lead our thoughts toward the one who made them. That’s a function of their existence, not due to any choices they make. 

 

But as far as we know, we humans are unique in that we were given the gift of free will. We have a choice whether to live in a way that brings glory to God or not. Much of the cultural values we live among tend to pull us in far different directions than God would have us go, so we have to struggle to remain on the path that leads toward the transformation of the world back toward the design of purity and unity and justice God designed for it. 

 

But there is nothing that can stand in the way of our fulfilling that mission except for our own sinful nature. Therefore, God created humanity to live in community, not to judge one another, but to help each other return to God’s path when we have strayed. In that regard, someone once asked a medieval saint what his most fervent wish was. He replied, “Throughout my life, may I do much good that I know nothing about.” In other words, he wanted to live his life so completely by faith that his mere presence would be a guiding light for others to follow to Christ. I would add that it’s even better when we follow up the example of our lives by actively sharing our faith.  

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Paul was writing this letter while he was in prison in Rome. He was a captive of the Praetorian Guard, the most elite soldiers in ancient Rome. They were the ones charged with protecting the emperor’s life, along with other duties that required highly-specialized skills. Those elite soldiers were in charge of Paul’s imprisonment because Paul was waiting for his legal appeal to be heard directly by the emperor. 

 

While in prison, the congregation he had founded in Philippi had sent him a gift. All these centuries later, we don’t know what that gift was. Perhaps it was a blanket or some food or reading material. Whatever it was, Paul responds to their gift by writing the most intimate and loving letter we have from him. 

 

You may remember from the book of Acts that Paul and Silas had been preaching in Philippi when Paul healed a woman, whose slave owners had used her to earn money by claiming that she could foretell the future. Her healing led them to lose their income, so they had Paul and Silas arrested, beaten with iron rods and thrown into prison. 

 

In the middle of the night, an earthquake opened the doors of the prison and loosened the chains on all the prisoners. However, Paul and Silas refused to escape when they had the chance. Instead, they cared for the jailor and waited for their trial in the morning. That’s when they revealed that both of them were Roman citizens, so it was illegal to beat them without having a conviction at a trial. They didn’t have to do that. But they silently endured that beating and waited for their trial so they could make the city fathers stop and think before they randomly beat anyone else. No wonder the Christians in Philippi loved them. 

 

Now Paul was imprisoned again, this time in Rome. Church tradition tells us that this imprisonment would end with Paul being condemned to death, which would result in him being beheaded. But Paul doesn’t know that as he writes his letter to Philippi. That’s all in his future. Nonetheless, he clearly understood that regardless of how his immediate future might turn out, the end of his life was probably drawing near. That fact colors the way Paul wrote this letter to the church in Philippi. 

 

Paul’s letter to the Philippians is filled with Paul expressing his sheer joy in the Philippians’ constant love and support. Even as Paul knows that he is probably facing an immanent death, he repeatedly uses the word “rejoice” throughout this letter. 

 

That’s because, as he muses over his own death, he comes to what to most of us might be a surprise realization. He considers it to be a win-win situation regardless of whether he lives or dies. 

 

If he lives, he can glory in his ability to continue his ministry on behalf of Christ’s kingdom and he can continue to enjoy the love and support of his friends in Philippi. On the other hand, if he dies, he can rejoice in the knowledge that, through his death, he will fall into the loving embrace of Jesus. As Paul himself puts it, “For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.”

 

Paul saw very clearly that his life was irreparably bound up in God’s plan and his role in God’s plan was unchanged regardless of whether he lived or died. If Paul’s appeal led the emperor to release him, he would be free to continue working for Christ. If he were condemned, he would be freed from the pains and sorrows of this world, while entering into the direct presence of Christ. 

 

Similarly, Scottish writer Thomas Keir tells about a woman who learned from her doctor that she had terminal cancer. As she left the doctor she said to her husband, “If I must die, then we shall make it an offering, not a sacrifice.” 

 

I’m sure that Paul felt exactly the same way. At some point, he had come to understand that his life was a gift from God. So was the forgiveness he had been given for his initial persecution of the church. In eternal gratitude, Paul freely chose to offer his life back to God in this world and the next. Paul firmly believed that in life and in death, Jesus was with him, sharing his joys and triumphs as well as his sorrows and persecutions. 

 

But Paul didn’t simply wait for the outcome of his appeal. Fred Kane puts it this way:  “He’s in prison, but he’s found something to do there. He’s been given these lemons and he makes lemonade. Paul is a preacher. The Romans have to assign soldiers to guard him. So what does Paul do? He preaches to the guards. They can’t leave. They have to stay there. It’s a preacher’s dream — they can’t go to sleep or they’d be court martialed. 

 

“‘I want you to know what happened,’ he writes to the Philippians. ‘Bad as it is, it’s really turned out to be pretty good. Now the whole Praetorian Guard knows about Christ. They’re all talking about Christ now. They all want to know more about the Gospel.’” 

 

And that brings us right back to the meaning of life. Life is God’s gift to us and our lives are designed to be our gift to God. That’s not the way most of us are used to thinking about ourselves. But Paul assures us that we are all born with a purpose and that purpose is to share the love that God felt for us before the beginning of time. Life isn’t about accumulating lots of stuff. It isn’t about getting rich or getting ahead. It is about being in a right relationship with God and with other people.

 

Our relationships with God and with God’s people are what make life worthwhile. Those who have good friends are rich in life even if they live in financial poverty. Those relationships are what sustain us in difficult days. Those relationships bring meaning and joy into our lives.

 

In his book, When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough, Rabbi Harold Kushner tells of seeing a little boy and a little girl building an elaborate sand castle at the beach. When they had nearly finished, a big wave reduced it to a heap of wet sand. But instead of bursting into tears, they ran up the shore laughing and holding hands and then sat down to build another castle. 

 

Then Kushner comments saying, “All the structures we spend so much time building and creating are built on sand. At any time a wave may knock them down. When that happens the person who has somebody’s hand to hold will be able to laugh and start over.”

 

Scottish theologian Dr. John Bailie wrote a book called A Diary of Private Prayer. One of the prayers in that book is a prayer in which Bailie thanks God for what he calls “the great and mysterious opportunity of my life.”

 

While most of us might at times think of life as a gift or even some times as a trial to be endured, how often have any of us thought of it as an opportunity? How well are you and I living up to that “great and mysterious opportunity” that has been given to us? How effective are we being at leaving the world a better place than when we found it? 

 

Your answer to that question is truly your answer to the question, “What is the meaning of life?” Amen.

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Jim McCrea

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