To Live Is Christ: Why Staying Is an Act of Love

Introduction

You've probably experienced that kind of moment where two good options pull at you at once, and you no longer know which one you should prefer. A hard choice, not between right and wrong, but between two things that each carry real weight. That's exactly where Rémi Lubin, a theology student at the Geneva Bible Institute and speaker at the Chapelle du Roi d'Espagne on October 12, 2025, wanted to take us as he opened his sermon.

His text: Philippians 1:12-26. The heart of the passage: Paul's cry, from prison, writing to a church he loves: "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (v. 21). Then, in the verses that follow, he admits he is "in a dilemma," torn between the desire to be with his Lord and the desire to remain with his brothers and sisters for their progress and joy in the faith.

What Rémi offers you isn't a theology lecture on the Christian's death. It's an invitation to look at what makes your own heart beat today. What, for you, truly deserves that you stay, that you labor, that you give your time? Where does your pride, your joy, your progress rest? What Paul experiences in Philippians 1 isn't reserved for apostles: it's the inner battle of every disciple who is starting to love Christ for real.

Article outline

1. A hard choice: the tension Paul lays bare
2. Why Paul chooses to stay: others before himself
3. Progress and joy: the two fruits Paul seeks
4. Christ, your greatest pride: the question that refocuses everything

1. A hard choice: the tension Paul lays bare

Rémi begins with a very simple picture. He explains that he works a few hours a week caring for elderly people. He can either keep helping a 97-year-old woman who needs his presence but lives 30 minutes away, or take on a closer job, better paid, but where all he'll do is housework. Two options that aren't equal. One costs something, the other is comfortable. One truly helps, the other just eases things.

He adds a second, more painful illustration: what do you do when the vet tells you your pet has six months left, that it's suffering, but you love it? Do you decide, or do you wait? Rémi doesn't draw a moral lesson from these examples. He simply wants you to feel the tension before opening the Bible. Because that's exactly what Paul experiences, on an infinitely higher level.

Look at verses 22 and 23: "But if I live on in the flesh, this will bring fruit from my work; yet I don't know what I will choose. But I am in a dilemma between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better." On one hand, being with Christ forever, in perfect fellowship, without sin, without distance. On the other, remaining here below, in the flesh, with all the hardship that involves. Some translations speak of being "torn." Rémi uses the image of archery: when you draw the bowstring, you feel the pressure, and when you release it, you feel it fly. Paul's heart is in that state of constant tension.

What's striking is that Paul isn't experiencing this tension because he's indecisive or weak. He's living it because he loves two things at once: his Savior and his church. And it's this double love that makes the choice so heavy.

2. Why Paul chooses to stay: others before himself

Yet Paul makes his decision in verse 24: "Yet, to remain in the flesh is more needful for your sake." Rémi highlights that word: needful. Paul doesn't say that staying is better for him. He says being with Christ would be better. But he chooses what is more needful for the Philippians.

Why? Because Paul deeply loves the church of Christ, the one Jesus died for. It's not that he loves Jesus less. On the contrary, it's because he loves Jesus so much that he chooses to stay with those Jesus loves. Rémi puts it this way: Paul loves people because he loves Jesus. That order matters.

Rémi connects this decision to John 15:13: "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." Paul, in effect, is simply applying this command of Jesus. He puts his brothers and sisters ahead of his own legitimate desire to go to heaven. He considers their interests before his own.

This logic overturns how we usually think about our choices: "what will this get me?" Paul, instead, asks: "what is most useful for those God has entrusted to me?" This isn't resignation. It's a love that has taken priority over personal preference. And it's this same love that the Holy Spirit wants to produce in your heart, at your own scale, in your family, your church, your neighborhood.

3. Progress and joy: the two fruits Paul seeks

Paul spells out the precise reason he wants to stay: "for your progress and joy in the faith" (v. 25). Two words, two fruits Paul is pursuing.

Progress is the idea of moving forward despite obstacles, continuing to grow in the life of a disciple. Rémi quotes a pastor who defines this growth as "facing continual resistance" while living according to the gospel. Practically, it means learning to love God and your neighbor, putting into practice what Jesus teaches, obeying a little further than you did yesterday.

Joy in the faith, meanwhile, is closely tied to that progress. Another author Rémi cites sums it up this way: "Real progress in the faith will result in genuine joy in the faith. Progress without joy is fake. Joy without progress is counterfeit." In other words, if you claim to be growing in the Christian life but joy is never present, something rings false. And if you say you have great joy in Christ without ever growing in obedience, your joy may just be an emotion resting on things that fade.

Rémi offers a vivid picture: imagine you welcome into your home someone you love. You can receive them, but if you pull a long face, if you cry because you're not happy they're there, you're not showing love. Joy is the natural expression of true love. It's the same in our relationship with Christ: joy is the outward sign that we really love him.

That's why the letter to the Philippians is sometimes called "the epistle of joy." Paul repeats it twice: "Rejoice in the Lord" (Phil 3:1; Phil 4:4). This isn't an emotional slogan: it's the fruit of real growth in the knowledge of Jesus.

4. Christ, your greatest pride: the question that refocuses everything

To help us grasp why this joy is so central, Rémi quotes a well-known line from John Piper: "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him." God's glory is fully displayed when all our joy, all our satisfaction, is centered on him, because that shows how much he truly matters to us.

Piper isn't inventing anything new. Rémi points this out by quoting Psalm 5:11: "But let all those who take refuge in you rejoice, let them always shout for joy, because you defend them. Let them also who love your name be joyful in you." Those who love God rejoice in him. He also cites Luke 24:50-53: after watching Jesus ascend to heaven, the disciples "returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God." Worship and joy go together.

From there, Rémi asks you a direct question, one he doesn't soften: what are you truly proud of today? Not just now and then, but deep in your everyday life. Is it your career, your vacations, your children, your achievements, your hobbies, your comfort? This isn't about condemning any of that: work is good, family is a gift. The question runs deeper: what makes you most proud?

Rémi uses the example of a career. If your entire pride rests there, you'll think about it constantly, pour your time into it, talk about it everywhere, take pride in it, sometimes at the expense of your family, at the expense of Christ. And that will show that he isn't, in fact, your greatest pride. But if your greatest glory is Christ himself, then you'll think of him, you'll shape your schedule around him, you'll speak of him, you'll look for ways to contribute to others' joy in him. This isn't abandoning your work: it's putting it back in its proper place.

At the close of his sermon, Rémi shares something personal: yes, like Paul, he sometimes thinks it would be sweeter to be directly with Christ in heaven. But he knows he has a role to play, as an ambassador of Christ, for others' joy as much as his own. And despite our weaknesses, despite our flaws, God can use us just as he used Paul.

Key takeaways

• Paul experiences a real inner pull between the desire to be with Christ and the desire to stay for his church: it's a tension of love, not weakness.
• He chooses to stay because it's more needful for the Philippians, not because it's better for him.
• He seeks two inseparable fruits for them: progress in the faith and joy in the faith.
• Christian joy without progress is counterfeit; Christian progress without joy is fake.
• The central question isn't "are you a believer?" but "what makes you most proud?"

Personal application

1. What "hard choice" are you facing right now? Who do you think of first in your decision: yourself, or those God has entrusted to you?
2. Where are you in your progress in the faith these past few months? Can you name one concrete area where you're growing?
3. Is your Christian life marked by real joy in Christ, or by joy resting on something else?
4. Look at your calendar and your budget from last week: what do they reveal about your greatest pride?
5. Who around you could grow and rejoice more in Christ if you chose, like Paul, to "stay" and serve?

Verses cited

• Philippians 1:12-26 · the central passage of the sermon
• Philippians 1:21 · "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain"
• Philippians 3:1 · "Rejoice in the Lord"
• Philippians 4:4 · "Rejoice in the Lord always"
• John 15:13 · "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends"
• Psalm 5:11 · the joy of those who love God's name
• Luke 24:50-53 · the disciples' great joy after the ascension
• Psalm 103:1-2 · read at the opening of the service

FAQ

Did Paul really want to die?

No, not in a depressive sense. Paul didn't desire death for its own sake, but what came after death: being with Christ. This desire wasn't an escape; it was the natural expression of a heart that deeply loves Jesus. Rémi points out that this desire coexisted with a real love for the Philippians, which is exactly what made the choice so painful.

How can I know if my joy is real or fake?

Genuine Christian joy comes together with real progress in the faith: more obedience, more love for others, more desire for God. If your joy stays steady when circumstances change, if it pushes you to serve rather than to consume, that's a good sign. If it vanishes the moment you lose a comfort or a pleasure, it probably rests on something other than Christ.

Is it wrong to be proud of your work or your family?

No, that's not what Rémi is saying. He's not asking you to condemn these things, but to put them in their proper place. The question isn't "do I love my work?" but "does my work come before Christ in my thoughts, my schedule, and my conversations?" Christ deserves first place; everything else finds its place from there.