THE CHRISTIAN WALK – Pt 1

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

This is one of the most challenging verses in the entire Bible. For the unbeliever to see the statement “to die is gain” blows their mind. How do you gain by dying? The lost world does not understand it nor do many believers embrace it. But Paul had come to that conclusion in the circumstance he was facing.

Paul had gone through some very terrible times, or we might call them “dark valleys” as I did in the last four “Challenging Concepts.” Yet, in all these trials he made a tremendous declaration about his goals and purposes in life.

The wording of verse 21 gives us a peek into what Paul thought about the Christian life. Paul was not some super action figure and the Christian life is no fairy tale. The walk of the believer is PERSONAL, PRACTICAL, POSSIBLE and PROFOUND. And as we will see in the next few blogs, they apply to us in the same way they applied to the Apostle Paul. Stay with me for the next three weeks as we look at the walk of the believer.

THE WALK OF THE BELIEVER IS PERSONAL – We understand this from the two words “for me.” In these two words we understand that verse 21 is a PERSONAL message to a PERSONAL individual.

1. The Christian walk involves CONVERSION – You can’t walk the Christian walk without first being a Christian. You have to be saved. And that is something that each individual has to face for themselves. The Christian walk is not something that somebody else can do for you. Paul says “for me.”

Notice what Paul also wrote in Romans 10:9, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

The biblical “heart” is made up of the MIND, EMOTIONS and WILL. With your mind you have to know you are a sinner (Rom 3:10, 23) and deserve hell (Rom 6:23), but that Jesus went to the cross and paid sin’s debt for you individually (Rom 5:8). You must also know that He rose from the grave on the third day and is today seated at the right hand of the Heavenly Father. You must know that the Holy Spirit now works to convict of your need of salvation. This work of the Holy Spirit draws (Jn 6:44) and you must make a choice. To be saved you must exercise your will and make the choice to receive Christ as your personal Savior.

Unless you are converted you can’t walk as a Christian.

2. The Christian walk involves CONVICTION – Again, Paul says “for me.” Paul is implying that he has made a choice. Others may do what they choose but he has chosen to live for the Lord.

Paul had always acted in a way he thought was pleasing to God. He was very religious. Notice what we read in Acts 23:6 “. . . he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.”

Paul did not believe Jesus to be the Messiah and did everything in his power to resist the followers of this man. You can see the zeal with which he acted in Acts 9:1-2 “And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.”

As Paul’s journey got close to Damascus he came face to face with an experience that changed his life forever. Notice what we read in Acts 9:3-6 “. . . suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said Who art thou Lord? And the Lord said I am Jesus whom thou persecutest it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said/ Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?. . .”

Paul came face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ. He realized the One he was persecuting was truly the Messiah they had been looking for. He called Him “Lord.” There on that road he was converted. And notice the very next thing that happened was he said “what wilt thou have me to do?” He submitted to His Lordship. There was a conviction about what his life was going to be. He was going to walk with Jesus.

Paul begged others to make Christ the Lord of their life as he had done. Notice how he put it in Romans 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Paul’s desire was that we walk the same walk as he had done.

3. The Christian walk involves CONTINUATION – Paul said “and to die.” This is an indication that Paul had no idea of quitting. He was in the Christian walk for the long haul. If you follow the life of the Apostle you find no quitting, slowing down or shrinking his duty. He was called by God and his feeling about that calling is documented in Romans 11:29 “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” The commitment Paul had made took him on three missionary journeys, through persecutions, shipwreck, jail and finally to his death. There was never any thought of turning back on God’s call for his life.

It would be fantastic if believers today had that same commitment to the end. I have seen so many people who said they had a certain calling but failed to finish the ministry God had for them.

I remember talking with a missionary who said he had been called to preach the gospel to the precious people of Germany. He had been going through some hardships and he had decided to leave the field and go back to America. I tried to remind him that God was sovereign and the trials he was facing was a part of God’s plan for his life (Rom 8:28). My counsel was not heeded. He did leave the country of Germany and took a secular job in the U.S.

I remember discussing this with my wife and she said “Where is God in his life?” She was right. He could not see God in his hardships at all. Paul faced more hardships than anybody I know, but he continued in ministry through them all of his hardships. We should do the same.

In next week’s “Challenging Concepts” we will examine THE WALK OF THE BELIEVER IS PRACTICAL.

That’s my view; how about you?