Third Sunday after Pentecost

Sermon Text: Philippians 1:18b-26

Other Readings: 1 Kings 17:17-24 and Luke 7:11-17

 

  1. Paul cherished the Philippians’ prayers for him. Did Paul expect deliverance from his imprisonment in Rome?

 

  1. How did Paul summarize the way he and all Christians think of life and death? (See 1:18.)

 

  1. Should he be released, what was the main labor Paul wanted to do for the Philippians (verses 25 and 26)?

 

  1. How could you use these verses to help a Christian friend or family member face their own death?

 

 

 

 

  1. Paul was imprisoned in Rome and hoped to get out (see 1:27), but the kind of deliverance Paul joyfully anticipated most of all was deliverance from this sinful world, deliverance through death to life.

 

  1. Paul said, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (What a wonder—dying is not losing but gaining. Specifically, living now is Christ. Dying? More Christ! We will get to see him face to face.)

 

  1. He wanted to help them progress in their trust in Christ and in their joy in Christ. For Paul, ministry was always about others and helping them receive joy from God’s word and promises.

 

  1. Specific ways may vary, but overall we can point people to the sure promise that when believers depart this life through death, they go to “be with Christ” (v. 23). That promise won’t let us down and is for anyone to hold onto and lean into.