“A win-win situation” is a business transaction in which both parties benefit. I get what I want from the deal. You get what you want from the deal. Thus, we both win. This business term can also apply to a situation in which one party benefits regardless. Life’s circumstances are typically good or bad, positive or negative, favorable or unfavorable. Yet there are rare occasions when a person comes out on top, no matter how things turn out. Philippians 1:21 states the ultimate win-win situation: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” 

Philippians is “The Epistle of Joy.” Paul wrote this letter while under house arrest in Rome, where he awaited trial. He did not know if he would be convicted and executed or exonerated and released. When the saints in Philippi learned of Paul’s ordeal, they sent him a generous love-offering. The apostle wrote this letter to express his thanks and to encourage the Philippians. The main body of this letter begins with a personal update. The Lord was at work in and through his ordeal. And through it all, the apostle had not lost his joy.

Verses 18b-20 testifies: “Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.” 

Paul seemed confident that his pending legal verdict would be an acquittal. His confidence was not based on the outcome of the trial. An infinitely greater purpose and passion consumed him. Paul’s earnest expectation was that Christ would be magnified by his life or death. He wanted Christ to be glorified if he lived on to minister or died as a martyr. How could Paul view life and death so clearly, calmly, and confidently? Philippians 1:21 explains: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” This verse records Paul’s personal testimony. Yet it is the heart cry of every true Christian. James Montgomery Boice said it well: “Philippians 1:21 cuts like a surgeon’s scalpel to the heart of Christianity.” 

• It is personal: “For to me.” 
• It is pervasive: “To live is Christ.”
• It is profitable: “And to die is gain.” 

What is the win-win situation the Christian life offers? You can handle anything if Christ is your everything! The Christ-centered life experiences a double win. 

To Live Is Christ. 

Bill Wallace was a medical missionary in China for fifteen years. Communist authorities arrested him on false charges. During his imprisonment, Wallace was taunted and tortured. He died on February 10, 1051. The guards claimed Wallace committed suicide. When his friends received his remains, it was evident that he had been beaten to death. Under tight military supervision, Wallace was buried in an unmarked grave. But his friend later gave him a proper burial. Seven words are inscribed on the headstone: “For to me to live is Christ.”

What does it mean for Philippians 1:21 to be your epitaph? 

A Personal Relationship. At the heart of Philippians 1:21 is an objective truth: “To live is Christ.” This objective truth is embedded in a personal testimony: “For to me, to live is Christ.” “For to me” is emphatic. Paul does not speak to or for anyone else. He speaks with sanctified selfishness. His words are personal, singular, and intimate. To say, “For to me,” is to know Jesus for yourself and have a personal relationship with him. How are things between you and Jesus today?

• God created us to glorify him and enjoy him forever. 
• All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  
• Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead. 
• If you turn from your sins and trust in Christ, you will be saved. 

Run to the cross! Saving faith is more than a transfer ticket from hell to heaven. Conversion begins a personal relationship with Christ as Savior and Lord. It is a life of devotion that does not waver because of what others say or do. Joshua 24:15 says, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” John 6:68-69 says, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”Acts 4:19-20 says, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

A Defining Relationship. Everyone lives for something or someone. A consuming reality shapes, governs, and directs every life. What is your testimony? “To live is…” (fill in the blank). Money? Success? Power? Fame? Pleasure? How do you define life? Verse 21 says, “For to me to live is Christ?”

• Paul does not say that life is from Christ as its source. 
• Paul does not say that life is for Christ as its purpose. 
• Paul does not say that life is in Christ as its terrain. 
• Paul does not say that life is like Christ as its character. 
• Paul does not say that life is with Christ as its partner.         

He says, “To live is Christ.” Christ defined his life. Paul had a life before he met Christ. When he met Christ, Paul discovered that he did not know what life really was. Christ redefined life for him. This transforming grace is available today. John 10:10 says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Christ is what he gives. John 14:6 says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Christianity is not making Jesus a part of your life. It is to receive Christ as life itself. Christ is the summum bonum of life. He is our all and all.

A Mature Relationship. A high schooler poured out his heart in a love note, rather than paying attention in class. His words were filled with promises of grand gestures to his girlfriend. “I would walk through fire, swim an ocean, and climb the highest mountain to be with you,” he wrote. The letter ended: “P.S. I’ll come see you after school, if it doesn’t rain.” 

Is your devotion to Christ juvenile or grown-up? Many vow devotion to Christ when the sun shines but forsake him when the storms rage. The Lord desires, deserves, and demands our wholehearted devotion, total commitment, and unconditional surrender. What does grown-up faith look like? Paul says, “For to me, to live is Christ.”This is a testimony that every Christian should be able to make. Yet it particularly characterizes the mature Christian. Scholars tell us that Paul had been walking with the Lord for three decades when he wrote this letter. Paul was no naïve adolescent making promises he could not keep. He was a trained, faithful, and experienced soldier who would not betray Christ in the heat of the battle. Life’s trials nurture and reveal us.

• You may ask, “What is God saying to me in this trial?” 
• You should ask, “What is this trial saying about me to God?” 

May Galatians 2:20 be your war cry in any and every faith battle: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who lives, 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.”

To Die Is Gain. 

The church talks a lot about the Christian lifestyle. We don’t talk enough about the Christian deathstyle. Both are essential marks of a Christ-centered life. 1 Corinthians 15:19 says, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” We are not pitiful people because Christ is our hope in life and death. Philippians 1:21 is a simple, direct, and balanced statement of the Christian hope. 

• Life is Christ. 
• Death is gain. 

 The closing clause of this verse issues two great reminders we dare not forget.  

Death is coming. Woody Allen famously said, “I am not afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” The inescapable reality is that – if the Lord tarries – death is coming for each of us. Rest, diet, exercise, abstinence, and temperance are wise life choices. These good things will not cancel your date with death. Ours is a culture of death. War, abortion, deadly pandemics, mass shootings, drug overdoses, assassination, and terrorism are so commonplace that we have become numb to them. Yet when death reaches into our circle, we are shocked and surprised. All around us are constant reminders that death is coming for us. We will soon be bones in a box or ashes in an urn. But death is no threat to those who are in Christ Jesus. 

Hebrews 9:27-28 says, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” 

In 1838, James Calvert left England to risk his life for the gospel in the Fiji Islands. Several pioneer missionaries who had gone to the Pacific island chain before Calvert had been killed and eaten by the cannibals there. The ship’s captain warned, “You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages.” Calvert replied, “We died before w we came here.”

This was Paul’s testimony as he faced the threat of execution: “To die is gain.” The grammar emphasizes the act of dying, not the process or state of death. The worst they could do to Paul was kill him. Paul did not view death as a threat, terror, or tragedy. What do you do with a person like that? Threatened to make his life miserable, Paul replies, “That’s impossible, for my life is Christ.” Threatened to kill him, Paul replies, “That’s no threat, for death will only bring more of Christ.” This assurance is not exclusive. It is the open-secret to living with hope in life, death, and eternity. If Christ is your life, you can’t lose. You can handle anything if Christ is your everything. Colossians 3:3-4 says, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.  

Gain is coming. Yes, death is coming. That’s bad news for the unsaved, undreamed, and unconverted. Romans 3:23 says, “The wages of sin is death” – physical, spiritual, and eternal death. The good news is that gain comes when death comes for the saints. We often speak of death as losing a loved-one. If that person was in Christ, they didn’t lose anything in death. Philippians 1:21 says, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” “Gain” is an economic term used for the accounting of profit and loss. 

Philippians 3:7-11 says, “But 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 may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith – that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” Death is the ultimate return on investment for the Christ-centered life.

• We gain eternal life. 
• We gain glorious vision.  
• We gain salvation’s goal. 
• We gain sweet communion.
• We gain heavenly dwelling. 
• We gain divine blessings. 
• We gain eternal rest. 
• We gain faith’s reward. 
• We gain uninterrupted joy. 

Those are glorious gains. But that’s not the point of Philippians 1:21. Life and death directly correspond in this verse. What we gain in death is more of Christ. Paul did not have a death wish. He has a Christ wish! Philippians 1:22-24 says, “If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain the flesh is more necessary on your account.” Paul did not know for sure whether he would live or die. But he was confident that the Lord would spare him because there was work to do. That is a good way to view life and death. May the Lord only keep us here until our work is done. However long that is, may we not lose sight of what matters most. Philippians 1:23 says that to depart and be with Christ is “far better.”

As I journey through the land singing as I go, 
Pointing souls to Calvary - to the crimson flow, 
Many arrows pierce my soul from without, within; 
But my Lord leads me on, through him I must win. 

Oh, I want to see Him, look upon His face,
There to sing forever of His saving grace; 
On the streets of Glory, let me lift my voice; 
Cares all past, home at last, ever to rejoice.