The Ultimate Win-Win

“For me to live is Christ, to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

Caesar doesn’t know it but the greatest threat to his empire is in prison just down the street from his palace. The man known as the Apostle Paul may be sitting behind bars but he’s armed and dangerous. No one has smuggled him a 9mm. He’s not hiding a shank under his pillow. The man from Tarsus is armed with the ultimate hope in Jesus. Author James A. Baldwin once wrote, “The most dangerous creation of a society is the man who has nothing to lose.” Paul would say that what he has can’t be ripped out of his hands. “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain” (v21). Armed with hope in Jesus, he has nothing to lose. As long as he’s alive, he’ll keep telling people about Jesus. When he dies, he spends eternity with his Savior. It’s the ultimate win-win situation.

 Just a few years back, people knew him as Saul. The followers of Jesus knew just how dangerous he could be. He makes it his purpose in life to wipe the planet of every disciple of this Rabbi/Carpenter from Galilee. We first meet him in the Bible running the coat check table at Stephen’s stoning (Acts 7:58). Saul gave the murder of the first Christian martyr two very bloody thumbs up (Acts 8:1). He then establishes a team to travel around the region to arrest and kill people who believe Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah (Acts 8:3; Gal 1:13). But in one of the most bizarre episodes in Scripture, the resurrected Son of God supernaturally mugs Saul on one of his patented seek-and-destroy missions to Damascus (Acts 9:1-18). The next thing you know, Jesus transforms this murderer into a missionary. Saul becomes Paul. The most dangerous man to Christ’s followers becomes the most dangerous man FOR Christ’s followers. Wherever he goes, Paul tells everyone who will listen about Jesus. Because of the hope that he has in Christ, he knows he can’t lose. Even when his faith lands him in Caesar’s supermax.

As the apostle tells folks the Good News about Jesus, he’s constantly talking about how this faith is the ultimate win-win. In his very first letter to a group of churches in Galatia he writes, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal 2:20). In other words, Saul died on the cross with Jesus. Saul. Dead. Jesus has traded His perfection and obedience to the former Pharisee in for his sin and defiance. Jesus’ righteousness for our rebellion (2Cor 5:21). Martin Luther calls this the Great Exchange. The result is the ultimate win-win.

Later, the new man come to know as Paul drops a note to the church in Rome containing this no lose scenario we all share as followers of Christ. “For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be both Lord of the dead and of the living” (Rom 14:8-9). I wonder if he had any idea he’d been in Rome before long. And a few years back, God used a prophet named Agabus to give Paul a heads up about his upcoming arrest. The apostle responds by telling his friends to put away their Kleenex. “I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13). 

So what does all this mean for me? How dangerous am I? Let’s face it, the world is not exactly quivering at the sight of this middle aged white guy rolling up in his Hyundai. But the truth of Paul’s words opens my eyes to the fact that what Jesus has done for me can never be taken from me. Let’s take a look at just a few implications and applications of what it means to live for the One who loves me.

Do I live FOR Christ? Jesus calls me to make Him my priority. According to the Son of God, all of my relationships take a backseat to Him (Mt 10:37; Lk 14:25-26). On this side of eternity, I’m to be a living sacrifice (Rom 12:2). The only problem with living sacrifices is that they keep wiggling off the altar! Living for Jesus means telling others about His incredible offer of overwhelming grace and unconditional love.

Do I live THROUGH Christ? This is the rock solid security of knowing what He’s done for me that I could do for myself. He’s lived the perfectly obedient life that I’ve failed to live. He’s died the brutal death for my sin on the cross. He rose to a spectacular new life that I don’t deserve. He died so that I never will. Once I’m in His kung fu grip, no one can ever pry me out (Jn 10:28-29). Talk about bulletproof!

Do I live TO Christ? He’s the Target. He’s the Goal. The author of Hebrews says that whenever you and I don’t know what to do, we need to lock our eyes on Jesus, the Starter and Finisher of our faith (Heb 12:2). This means to keep my eyes up. Keep my focus on Him and NOT my problems. When the storms hit, remember Who is in my boat. When life drops a huge pile of crap on my doorstep, it’s minuscule compared to the size of my Savior.  

Do I allow Christ to live THROUGH me? I need to constantly remember to get out of the way and let Him do what He wants. My selfish wants and needs died on a Roman cross 2,000 years ago. While they pop up once and a while, Jesus calls me to play a little game of Whack-A-Mole. Just in case I think God can’t use me, I simply need to take a quick look at the list of people He used in the Bible. Murderers. Adulterers. Rebels. Hookers. Knuckleheads. Weirdos. Goofballs. Losers. Hmm, looks like I’m right at home! As Tullian Tchividjian says, God uses bad people because bad people is all He has to work with. Let Him live through me.

All that is on this side of the graveyard. That’s what I can do without the fear of death through Jesus. For Paul, Jesus Christ is his reason for living. His reason for breathing. His reason for being. The apostle desperately wants us to know that physical death isn’t eternal death. Death actually relieves us of our earthly garbage and allow us the privilege of being in Jesus’ presence forever. Life gives us the privilege to keep telling people about Jesus. Death takes us into the His presence.

It’s the ultimate win-win.