Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (Philippians 1:21)
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
This little bible verse, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain”, is one that many Christians and unbelievers resonate with. People hear it and they nod their heads and say, “Yes, that’s true.” But also the verse resonates with people in such a way that nobody knows what it means.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Of course, unbelievers don’t know what the first part of the verse means: “To live is Christ.” At best, people think it means that St Paul was saying that he is striving to achieve to be like Jesus or something like that. But St Paul doesn’t say that to live is to become like Christ, but to live is Christ.
Also, but also unbelievers think they know what “to die is gain” means, but they don’t. People say, “This person was in a lot of pain for a long time”, “This person suffered a lot in life” – death was a relief for him, death was a blessing for him, death was a good thing.
But St Paul doesn’t say that to die is a relief, but to die is gain. Death is not simply shaking off something bad and old, but it’s a kind of achievement of something new. To die is not just to be finished with something old, but it is to gain something new.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
So what do we mean when we say, “For to me to live is Christ”?
In the Apostles’ Creed we say: “I believe in Jesus Christ, [God’s] only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, dead and buried, he descended into hell. On the third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from thence he will come to judge the living and the dead.”
And so we might think, “This is someone else’s life. It’s not my life.” How can I say, “For to me to live is Christ”?
This passage is a bit like the passage about the Lord’s Supper. Jesus says, “This is my body.” “This is my blood.” And we say, How can it actually be his body and actually be his blood? It must be a symbol. No, it’s not a symbol. Jesus said it—he chose the exact words he wanted to use. And so we as Christians believe the simple words of Christ that when we come to the Lord’s Supper we are eating nothing other than his body given for us through the bread, and nothing less than his blood shed for us for the forgiveness of sins through the wine.
And so St Paul says, “For me to live is Christ.”
He’s not talking symbolically here. He’s saying that his life and the life of all Christians is, in actual fact, Christ, and his life.
So how does this happen?
Every Christian begins their life in Holy Baptism. When a person is baptised, they begin their life with Christ. People often misunderstand baptism as if it’s something that they do, as if it’s their contribution to God, and it’s a symbol of their decision to follow Jesus.
That’s not true. Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” St John says, “We love, because he first loved us.” And John also says, “To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
And so, at every funeral service, we always begin with words about baptism. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”
So when we come to a Christian funeral, we come to commemorate the fact that this person, today—Karl Grigoleit, was chosen by Christ in Holy Baptism, was loved and kept safe by Jesus Christ, and now is keeping him safe for the resurrection of his body from the dead.
And we might say, “but back in the old days, people just baptised their babies as a matter of course. They weren’t necessarily sincere about it.”
But we aren’t saved because of our works, or our sincerity, or because of our will to choose Jesus, or our decisions that we have made to Jesus. We aren’t saved because of our strength. We are saved because of Jesus’ strength. Jesus has made a decision to die for us and he made the decision to stand up again on the third day and walk out of the tomb.
And so, good for Germany, and hats off to old Europe for baptising the children out of habit, and commending their children into Jesus’ loving arms! He wants the little children to come to him, and doesn’t want them to be stopped!
Woe to new Europe and Australians and false teachers that thinks that baptism’s worth nothing, and the only thing that is worth anything is our works, our decisions, our strength!
St Paul says, “When we are weak, then we are strong!” And so babies are the perfect candidates for baptism, because they are so weak, and Jesus then comes and becomes their strength. In the same way the best candidates for resurrection are those who are dead, because they are so weak, and Jesus then comes and becomes their strength.
And so, what does it mean that we have lived our lives together with a baptised person?
It means that we have lived in the presence of Jesus Christ.
For me to live is Christ.
For Karl Grigoleit—he was a son, he grew up without his parents. Jesus Christ lived with him and gave him the relatives he needed to look after him. Jesus Christ lived his life together with him—Jesus says: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.”
Karl Grigoleit was a husband to a loving wife. Jesus Christ was present there in that marriage. It wasn’t just Karl who was Erika’s husband, but it was Jesus Christ through him, whom the bible calls the bridegroom of our soul.
Karl was a father—but Jesus Christ was also present there in the family. It wasn’t just Karl who was Steven’s father, but it was Jesus who was looking after him as his good shepherd.
Karl had a business and employed people—and Jesus Christ also did his work there, giving all sorts people the gift of work and productivity.
For me to live is Christ.
And we might say, Look, we liked Karl! He was a good guy! We loved him! But he wasn’t Jesus Christ!
But you see that’s where the next part comes in. Jesus was conceived for Karl, and his conception was cleaned. Jesus was born for Karl, and his birth was made holy. Jesus suffered and died for Karl, rose again from the dead for Karl, ascended into heaven and prayed every day for Karl. And he baptised Karl. And so Jesus didn’t just splash a little bit of water on Karl, but through that splashing of water, through that very same act of holy baptism, Jesus Christ was splashing his blood, his forgiveness, and his righteousness on Karl’s entire life, one day at a time, one week at a time, month at a time, one decade at a time.
What for? Why did Jesus Christ do this?
He did this so that what St Paul said would be completely true:
For me to live is Christ, and [not only that, but] to die is gain.
You see, baptism is a down payment of the Holy Spirit for the next life. Forgiveness of sins, life and salvation are all God’s complete and total free gift. It’s all given to you for free, and completely freely. St Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead.”
And so, to die is gain. To die is not just relief from the suffering in this life. He gains something new for the next life. Listen to that word: “gain”! Death is a new achievement, but not our achievement: God’s achievement in our hour of the most complete and total helplessness.
And so for us as Christians, there is a different feeling when we come to a funeral. Sure, we are sad because we’ve lost a great friend and companion in life, but why should we be sad when he is so happy? Don’t you know that to die is gain? Why should we be upset to see him go, when we know that every tear will be wiped away from his eyes?
And so we say, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain!”
Draw us to Thee,
For then shall we
Walk in Thy steps for ever,
And hasten on
Where Thou art gone,
To be with Thee, dear Saviour.
Zeuch uns nach dir,
so kommen wir
mit herzlichem Verlangen
hin, da du bist,
Herr Jesu Christ,
aus dieser Welt gegangen.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted!
Jesus says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank you for bringing us here to this funeral service today, and we thank you for Karl and for the many blessings we received from you through his life. Strengthen us and comfort us with the gift of your Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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