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Now, here's today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. What's his desire? He tells us, verse 23, for I'm hard-pressed between the two, having a desire, this is what I want, to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
Now we're going to drill down in this verse for a moment. What I want you to notice is how Paul describes his future possible death Notice the words he uses. First of all, he says it's a departure. He said, having a desire to. Depart.
Now, let me tell you about this word. Once I tell you about it, you'll, I think, appreciate the beauty of it, the depth of it. The riches of it. The word depart that he uses here is the word onaluo. And it means to break up.
to unloose or to undo. It was a word that was used by three groups of people in antiquity. Sailors used it, soldiers used it, farmers used it. Sailors use the word depart or departure when they were going to go from one port and sail to another port. They would pull up the rope off the moorings, they would bring in the anchor, and they would move from one port to the next.
I think that is in Paul's mind when he writes his last letter, 2 Timothy chapter 4, and he says, for the time of my departure is at hand. Timothy, it's time for me to pull up the anchor and set sail. And that's why I think so much of The writing of the hymns is based upon this thought of meeting together, gathering together on that distant shore we call heaven. For example, the hymn I'll Fly Away.
Some glad morning when this life is over, I'll fly away to a home on God's celestial shore. I'll fly away.
So that's the word. Sailors used it. Also, soldiers used it.
Soldiers were out camping when they were fighting, and when it was time for them to. Move from one campsite to another or to go back home, they would break the camp up, and the word they used was analuo. They'd break up the camp. And they move on. And I like thinking about our lives that way.
We're camping out here. This earth is a campground. Not much more than that. We're just passing through. Our permanent abode will be in heaven.
And one day it'll be time for us to break up the camp, put away the tent, and move on. I love camping, I always have, but. Um I love it. for a little while. And I think I speak from experience.
I once spent three straight months camping out. Around the United States and Canada with a buddy. And you know when I was done? I was done. I was done camping for a long time.
Somebody a couple weeks later said, let's go camping. I'm good. For a few years. Because when you go camping, it's cool, it's fun, you put up the tent, you light the campfire, but then eventually everything smells like campfire. All your clothes smell like fire, and you start smelling pretty ripe yourself after a couple days.
So you start longing for something more permanent. And then the tent. The tent that you bring along, if you use it a lot, like I've had a tent for years, and you ought to see it, it still works. But you can tell it's old. The treads are kind of coming undone.
The flaps are kind of. not flapping right and And that's a good description of our body. This morning, when I got up and got ready for church, and I looked in the mirror and I saw the tent, and I saw the threads and the flaps. I go, yeah, it's not flopping quite right. Yeah.
I thought that's That's a tent right there I'm looking at. That's about done. It's been well used. But it's a tent. And Paul talks about our body this way in 2 Corinthians 5.
We know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down, that is, when we die and leave these bodies, We have a home in heaven. An eternal body made for us by God and not by human hands. Another author whom I have loved besides Stott is F. B. Meyer.
FB Meyer was a contemporary with D. L. Moody.
So a century ago Or about And uh FB Meyer was close to death. And he wrote a letter to a friend. Here's a portion. He said, I have just heard, to my great surprise, that I have but a few days to live. It may be that before this letter reaches you.
I shall have entered the palace. Don't you love that description? And then he says, This: Don't even bother to write, we shall meet in the morning. I love that because he says, you know, I'm living in this campground, the tent's about done, and I'm trading it in for a palace. I'm going to move very shortly.
The problem is, see if you agree with this, we live in this campground in these tents, but we are so preoccupied with our tents. How's my tent look? It's okay for a tent. But Don't be surprised when the tent Doesn't look the same next year and the year after and the year after. We get so preoccupied with our tent and the color of our threads, and is the tent too big or too small?
And I mean, we're so preoccupied with our bodies, even to the point of death. I go to funerals and the caskets open, and people go by and they look inside, and this is what they say: man, he looks good. He looks dead. He looked better a month ago. This is good?
But we're just so preoccupied with. how the tent looks. Paul says There's going to be a departure. I'm going to pull up the rope and set sail. I'm breaking down the tent and moving on.
And then I said it's also used not only by sailors and soldiers, but by farmers. And it was used by farmers when they had an animal that had a yoke on it. You know what a yoke is? It's a steering device, controlling device. At the end of a workday, when the yoke was lifted off the animal, the term they used was onaluo.
Honolulu. Job is done. Yoke is taken off, it is removed. It has departed from off the animal. And don't you love that Jesus said this?
Take my yoke. upon you. You know what that means. Let me rule you. Let me control you.
Let me steer your life. I'll be in charge, not you. But then there comes a day when the yoke is removed, and he says to us, Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord. And we get rewarded.
So he's wrestling with the predicament. He's wanting to push off and depart.
Okay. And it's a departure. But we're still drilling down in verse 23. It's more than a departure. Death is an encounter.
For he says, having a desire to depart and be what? Go ahead, talk out loud in church. with Christ. And now this part. is what makes death sweet for a Christian.
It's not the departure. That makes death sweet. It's the arrival. That makes it sweet. It's the encounter we have with Christ.
There was once a man who spoke about heaven. He was a young preacher, and he spoke about heaven in his younger days in terms of what was in heaven. You know, he talked all about the golden streets and the river of life and the tree that lined the river of life because he was taking his cues from the book of Revelation. He was talking about heaven based on what's there. Until the day his daughter died.
and move to heaven. And years later, his wife died. and move to heaven. Now the older preacher Started talking about heaven not in terms of what's there. But in terms of who's there.
And for the believer, who's there? Aren't just relatives and friends that you long to be reunited with, and you will. But even above and beyond that is the joy of that intimate face-to-face encounter. With Jesus himself. That's the highlight of heaven.
Heaven's main attraction is not stuff. Heaven's main attraction is God. He'll be there. You'll be with him. Heaven will display God's glory undiminished, full screen.
The wow factor will be immense. Wow! It's God. I'm looking at him. And I didn't burn up.
Because I have a glorified resurrected body.
Now, just in case you're wondering if that really is the highlight of heaven, just listen to how Jesus described heaven to his disciples. He said, And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. that where I am, there you may be also. It's the encounter that he was talking about. Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4 wrote, We will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with.
The Lord. Again, Paul? 2 Corinthians 5:8, to be absent from the body, finish this one up, is to be. Present with The Lord. It's all about the encounter with him.
Isn't it funny? How we talk about heaven, I've had people say, well, is there golf in heaven? Like it's not going to be cool if there's not a golf course in heaven Was there football in heaven? What about pets? Heaven won't be heaven unless I can have my doggies there.
Really? You really want them there? I don't want to clean up poops in heaven. It's not happening to me. Don't you think that whatever great joy we can think of on earth, God can say, I can top that?
More than what you can think about, I can top that. I think he can.
So it will be a departure. It will be an encounter. And it will be Much better. Look at what he says again in verse 23. Having a desire to depart.
And be with Christ, so that's departure and encounter, which is far. Better. This is what he meant a couple of verses back, verse 21, for me to live as Christ. And to die is death. Gain.
This is Connect with Skip Heidzig. As we reach the end of 2025, generous support from friends like you is vital to keep Connect with Skip Heitzigs strong and sharing God's unchanging truth around the world. Your year-end gift helps more people hear the gospel and find lasting hope in Jesus. And to thank you for your generosity, we'll send you the Daily God Journal, Pastor Skip's new year-long prayer journal, together with the digital devotional, the Daily God Book. These resources will guide you through scripture day by day, helping you align your heart with God and experience His peace.
Request yours when you give a year-end gift of $50 or more at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Let's return now to today's message. People often ask me, Skip, how will we look in heaven? My answer is simple. better.
Better. You'll look much better than you do now. Oh, I look pretty good now. Oh, but you look a whole lot better then. You'll feel better, you'll be better.
Which is far better. Here's something interesting. This is why I'm glad we have time to go through Philippians like this and slow down and pick it apart because we start. understanding the mind of Paul. When he says which is far better, he actually stacks up Words together.
So the literal translation would be something like, which is much more better. I want to depart and be with Christ, which is much more, very better. Which is bad English. But good Greek. and great theology.
He's saying, as good as I can describe it, it's even better than that. It's just. Awesome.
Now he would know. Because Paul had an experience where he was close to death, and he said he was taken up. And caught up to the third heaven. Remember that, 2 Corinthians 12? I was caught up to the third heaven, and I saw and heard things inexpressible, unlawful, he said, for a man to utter.
I've always been. Mad at Paul for that, sort of held a grudge against Paul because. You know, he saw heaven, experienced heaven for a moment. It's like, give us something. He goes, no, it was just so good.
I can't even say anything. And so he doesn't. He just goes on to the next subject. It's like, man. But he would know.
It's so astonishing that it cannot be told. There's no soul sleep in heaven. There's no intermediate state. There's no purgatory. There's no limbo.
To be absent from the body is to be. present with the Lord. The moment you are absent from your body is that very moment that you're present with the Lord.
So think of what that meant to Paul. He would never again have to smell That prison cell again He would never again feel the whip the Roman whip on his back, He would never hear the sneers. of his detractors, even Christian detractors. who talked in a way that would make his incarceration worse. He would never again be shackled.
To a guard, he would be with Christ, which is much more better. When D. L. Moody died, I'm kind of covering now all my favorite preachers in one sermon. Uh D L Moody Had his family around him on his deathbed.
And I'm bringing it up because what Moody said sounds so much like what Paul writes. Moody said. I am not discouraged. I want to live as long as I'm useful. But when my work is done, I want to be up and off.
Most of us feel that way, right? I wanna do what God wants me to do, but when I'm done, Take me to heaven.
Now, that's what he said on his deathbed that night. He had a horrible sleep, very restless. Early the next morning, he said in very deliberate Slow cadence. These words. He said, earth recedes.
Heaven. opens before me. His son, Will, thought his dad was having a dream, so he pushed him to wake him up. And Moody said, no, this is no dream, Will. It is beautiful.
If this is death, It is sweet. There is no valley here. God is calling me. And I must go.
So, you can understand why Paul is saying, for me to depart means I'm going to be with Christ, which is far better. It's going to be a departure, it's going to be an encounter, it's going to be far better.
So he's wrestling. He is wanting to go. But here's the third word, the third attitude, he is willing. He is willing, if it's in God's will, to stay. If he can help other people.
Verse 24. Actually, let's go back up to verse 22. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor.
Now, verse 24. to remain in the flesh. is more needful for you. And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith. But you're rejoicing for me?
may be more abundant. In Christ Jesus, by my coming to you again. That's interesting. I just got to bring this up. The theme of this book is Joy.
He writes about it through the book.
Now what he's saying is, it's not about my joy. It's about your joy. I am willing to remain if I can add to your joy, first of all, by bringing fruit. Verse 22, this will mean fruit from my labor. and progress in your Christian life.
And that is verse twenty-five with you all for the progress and joy. of your faith.
Now let me just say Here's the mark of a spiritual person. A spiritual person is willing to put what he or she wants on pause. If it means helping somebody else. What I really want is to be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless, I'm willing to put what I want on pause if I can see other people helped.
Blessed. I can just say that Paul practiced what he preached. What he preached, I want you to see what he preached, and then you'll see how he practiced it. Look at Philippians 2. Just Skip ahead, we'll get there.
Some days Philippians 2 verse 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. But in lowliness of mind, that means humility. let each esteem or consider others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. That's what Paul told them they ought to do.
What Paul is saying in chapter one is: this is what I do. This is how I live my life. I want to go to heaven, but being here. may help you. Two ways he mentions, fruitfulness and progress.
Fruitfulness. If I live on in the flesh, verse 22, this will mean fruit from my labor. In other words, If I'm still kicking I'll still be working. As long as I am breathing. Still going to be battling.
I'm going to use every breath I can for his glory and your betterment. This is what he meant in verse 21 again: for me to live as Christ. for me to live as Christ and to die as game.
Now what is fruit? You know, that's a Christian term. You should be fruitful. You go, huh? What does that mean?
What does it mean as a Christian to be a fruitful Christian?
Well, the New Testament speaks of fruit in a few different ways. Number one, winning people to Christ is called fruit. Romans 1.13, I often planned to come to you that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among other Gentiles. Winning people to Christ, converts our fruit. And Paul said, You know, I want to go there to have converts where you live, just like everywhere I've gone so far.
That's what I do. I'm that guy. I'm the evangelist. I want to see people one to Christ. Number two, holy living.
is called fruit. Romans 6:22, having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have fruit to holiness and in the end, everlasting life. The holier you become, the more fruitful you are. Number three, giving. is called fruit, financially supporting God's work.
Romans chapter fifteen, Paul spoke of their contribution to the saints, and he calls it this fruit, this fruit being their monetary contribution. Number four, good works. is called fruit. Colossians 1 verse 10. Pleasing him and being fruitful in every good work.
And finally, praise. Is called fruit. Hebrews 13:15. Let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
So here's Paul saying, I hate prison, but I'm willing to stay here. If it's going to help you. if I can do more for his glory. Fruitfulness. Listen to this.
Fruitfulness ends when you die. Get that truth. Fruitfulness will end when you die. You will not be fruitful in heaven. You can't be fruitful in heaven.
You can't pass out a tract in heaven. You can't support God's work in heaven. You can't encourage a young believer in heaven. We're in perfection. All of your fruitfulness is on earth.
You get rewarded for your fruitfulness. in heaven. Your fruitfulness ends the day you die.
So, Paul wanted fruit. Number two, he wanted progress. That's the word. That you will notice in verse 25. For the progress and the joy Of your faith.
See? What's on Paul's heart? Is their spiritual growth. Their spiritual growth. And so far, being in prison has not hurt.
Christian spiritual growth. It's furthered the gospel.
So, if Paul moves to heaven, all of his hassles are done, but so is his effectiveness. He won't win any more guards to Christ. He won't stimulate boldness like he has so far that he mentioned a few verses back. He won't be able to inspire others with his pen as he writes letters. He won't be able to build up other churches.
And knowing that, he says, I am willing to postpone going to heaven. If I can help others grow on earth.
Now, let me kind of boil this down to a single statement, this whole message. You're on your way to heaven. Until you get there. Do something. You're on your way to heaven.
Yay! Hallelujah. But. It's not God's will for you to be in heaven today. How do I know that?
Because I'm looking at you. You're breathing. You're not room temperature yet.
Now, one day you will be, and that'll be, it's appointed to every man once a day. That'll be your appointed time. But it's not God's will today that you're in heaven.
So, until you get to heaven, do something, get involved in something, help someone. Grow in their faith, become a fruitful believer. I love the old saying that one of the tribes of the American Indians. The Native Americans had, and that is this. When you were born...
You cried. and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a manner that when you die, the world cries. And you rejoice. Then you're going to rejoice going to heaven, but you'll rejoice even more as you are rewarded.
By your Savior. for the faithful, fruitful service on earth. When he says to you, Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord. It's like, yes. We're so glad you joined us today on Connect with Skip Heidzig.
And remember, before you go, your generosity today makes a real difference. As this year ends, your gift of $50 or more helps more people hear God's word and find lasting hope in Jesus. And to thank you, we'll send you the Daily God Journal, along with a companion digital devotional, the Daily God Book. These resources will help you start the new year aligned with God's heart and growing in faith each day. Give your year-end gift now at connectwiskift.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888.
Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connectwithskippe Heitzig. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot. Of the crossing. I cast your burning.
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