Matt Chandler - To Live Is Christ to Die Is Gain

To Audrey, Reid, and Norah. My prayer is that by the grace of God you might see that He is life and there is nothing to fear in death.

Contents

TO LIVE IS CHRIST, TO DIE IS GAIN

Published by David C Cook

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

LCCN 2013943293

ISBN 978-1-4347-0685-0

eISBN 978-0-7814-1088-5

2013 Matt Chandler and Jared C. Wilson

The Team: Alex Field, Amy Konyndyk, Caitlyn Carlson, Karen Athen

Cover Design: Nick Lee

First Edition 2013

Photo by Jesse McKee

MATT CHANDLER pastors the Village Church, a multicampus church attended by more than ten thousand people. His sermons are regularly one of the top five podcasts on iTunes and his first book, T he Explicit Gospel , is a bestseller. He lives in Dallas with his wife and three children.

JARED C. WILSON is the pastor of Middletown Springs Community Church in Middletown Springs, Vermont. He is the writer of the popular books Your Jesus Is Too Safe , Gospel Wakefulness , and Gospel Deeps , as well as the curriculum Abide . Wilson blogs daily at Gospel Driven Church at thegospelcoalition.org.

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What people are saying about

To Live is christ to die is gain

The church has been blessed by the book of Philippians ever since Paul wrote it, and this presentation of it is fresh and powerful. Matt mines the riches of this great Bible book to teach us to never be content with stagnant Christianity.

Kyle Idleman, teaching pastor at Southeast Christian Church and bestselling author of Not a Fan

Matts words will kick you in the tail in the best way. We dont want to live numb, and we often need a kick to remember life isnt a game and God is no myth. You will find yourself craving God again and craving everything else a little less.

Jennie Allen, author of Anything

To know Jesus is the essence of life, and I love how Matt Chandler stirs up our affections for Him in his book To Live Is Christ, to Die Is Gain . Matts beautiful, practical, and straightforward unpacking of Philippians will nudge you toward maturity and a more robust walk with the Savior. Get it, and dive in today.

Louie Giglio, pastor of Passion City Church/Passion Conferences and author of Indescribable

I trust Matt Chandler to speak on any biblical issue, but especially on discipleship. This book will help you live as Jesus would if He were in your place.

Dr. Darrin Patrick, founding pastor of the Journey and author of For the City , Church Planter , and The Dudes Guide to Manhood

Few men whom I have personally known have truly suffered. Even fewer have I known who have suffered well. Matt Chandler is one of them. Matt has written an excellent book reminding us that one of our primary callings as followers of Christ is to die to ourselves and that only through that death can we truly live.

Matt Carter, pastor of preaching and vision at the Austin Stone Community Church and coauthor of The Real Win

Matt Chandler has offered readers rich biblical wisdom in his writings thus far, and To Live Is Christ, to Die Is Gain is no exception. This book calls us to follow Jesus with everything weve got. Its as simple and as profound as that. This powerful new work cuts through all the trappings and goes to the heart of the gospel: Jesus. Highly recommended!

Mark Batterson, lead pastor of National Community Church and New York Times bestselling author of The Circle Maker

Matt Chandler is a man captivated by Jesus, the gospel, and grace. In this, his latest book, he takes us on a journey into the depths of Pauls famous letter to the Philippians and reveals the full beauty of a life so centered on Jesus that all else pales in comparison.

Larry Osborne, pastor of North Coast Church and author of Sticky Church

INTRODUCTION

Our house is a lot of fun these days. Audrey is ten, Reid is seven, and little Norah is four. Its busy and can be a bit chaotic, but our home, by Gods grace, is mostly filled with laughter (and occasionally the tears that follow discipline). Like most parents with children my kids age, I am almost daily freaked out by how big they are getting. Gone are the days of changing diapers and burping babies after they eat. Compared to what they once were, all three of my kids look like Olympic athletes. There is no comparison between newborn Audrey and ten-year-old Audrey. Shes almost a completely different person. She runs, rides her bike, roughhouses with her brother, and loves to have her girlfriends come over to play. I sometimes feel sad about how big shes grown, but the alternative would be something much more serious and scary.

What if she didnt grow up at all?

What if, instead of maturing and growing, she just stopped or reverted? What if as she turned two she still couldnt walk or talk? What if by age eight she couldnt read or dress herself? What if at ten she still needed me to carry her around and wipe the milk off her mouth?

Now dont get me wrongif those things were necessary, I would gladly serve her and God in this way. But isnt this immeasurably more heartbreaking a thought than me not being able to hold her like an infant or enjoy her saying hostible instead of hospital? God created her to physically, emotionally, and mentally mature, and by His grace she has done just that! Our other two children are doing the same: growing . There are some parallels here to what we read about ourselves in Scripture. The Bible calls us to pursue maturity in Christ.

Consider just a few verses:

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. (Heb. 6:1)

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. (1 Cor. 14:20)

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. (Col. 1:28)