Gaining Christ (4) That I May Know Him

Gaining Christ (4): That I May Know Him (Phil. 3:10-11) October 7, 2018 Eph 2; Rom 7; II Cor 12 Intro – Vv. 4-9 tell how Paul came to faith in Christ by consigning his human efforts to the garbage heap and placing his faith in Christ alone. He knew Christ in a saving sense. That’s Paul’s past; now his present. He wants more: “10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” Thirty years after coming to faith in Christ, after 3 missionary journeys, and after authoring 1/3 of the NT he says, “I need to know him”? “What do you mean, Paul? Surely you already know Him.” “Yes, but there is so much more that I do not know.” We all have layers of personhood, some of which are hard to penetrate. We saw a movie where after dating a couple of weeks, the guy asked the girl to marry him. She protested “But you don’t even know me.” He said, “But I can learn you.” He knew her on a surface level, but both knew – there’s more! So if the average person has layers of complexity imagine how it is with Jesus. The depths have no end. Spurgeon preaching on Mt 11:27 “No one knows the Son except the Father” said this: “Poor sinners come to Jesus and trust him and think they know him, but they know only a little of him. Saints of 60 years’ who have walked with him every day think they know him, but they’re only beginners. The perfect spirits before the throne, who’ve been for 5000 years perpetually adoring him, think they know him, but they’ve ]just begun]. "No man knows the Son but the Father." He is so glorious that only the infinite God has full knowledge of him, therefore there will be no limit to our study if we make our Lord the object of all our meditations.” That’s why after 30 years, Paul felt he had only just begun to know Christ. Think you know Jesus? None of us has more than scratched the surface. There is no greater or more worthy goal in the world than to know Him. I pray Paul’s passion will be ours. Here are 4 ways Paul wanted to know Jesus better. I. To Know His Person Paul’s first desire is simple – “that I may know him”. So how did Paul mean this? He surely didn’t mean He wanted to know more facts about Jesus, altho that is helpful. But Paul knew the facts of Jesus’ earthly life. The word γινωσκω can mean gaining intellectual information, but more often it speaks of a personal knowledge – intimacy. It is used in the LXX in Gen 4:1: “And Adam knew his wife Eve and she conceived.” Sexual intimacy. Same in Matt 1:25 when we’re told Joseph took Mary as wife, “but knew her not until she had given birth to a son, Jesus.” This is an intimacy that knows body, heart and soul. That’s what Paul wants. He’s saying, “I want to know about Christ; but I want to know Christ. I want to think what He thinks; love what He loves; value what He values; act as He would act. I want to know Christ.” This is way beyond knowing a few more facts. This is a desire to go deep. So how do you learn someone? You study them. You spend time with them. You share your heart with them and listen to theirs! You anticipate their needs and wants. You give yourself to them an accept from them. Same with Jesus. You learn Him by giving yourself to Him, right? You seek the living Word in the written Word. That’s how you listen. You speak to Him, pouring out your heart in prayer. You obey and grow deeper in Him. That’s what Paul wanted. He had much; he wanted more and more and more. In 1998, Patty and I attended a fund raiser for Motorola in LA where TX Gov. Geo W. Bush was speaker. Afterward they had a photo op and that’s how we got our pix with Geo W. Bush, just prior to his presidency. As we waited in line we were advised not to speak to anyone – just get the pix and go. But my lovely wife whispered to Geo W. over her shoulder that we had a small place on Lake LBJ. That was all it took. He pulled her out of line and spent the next 10 minutes telling how his girls were at camp at nearby Inks Lake and how they loved that hill country area. So we met Geo W. – but we don’t know Geo W. We haven’t spent any time with him. There’s no heart connection there. It’s that deeper, intimate, ongoing experiential relationship Paul wanted with Jesus. Why? He loved Him. The more you love someone, the more you want to know them, right? That’s what fueled Paul’s desire and will fuel ours, too. II. To Know His Power In Paul’s world, Jews were proud of their religion; Greeks were proud of their wisdom. But Romans were proud of their power. To them it was the greatest reality in the world. Rome ruled. But Paul knew Roman power was 3rd rate at best. Second was the power of sin to control and enslave individual lives. But Paul knew the strongest power of all was the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. God’s power. Power against which even sin and Rome were powerless. That’s the partnership Paul wanted. He’d already experienced that power in his conversion. He’d been knocked on his rear end on the Damascus Road. Face-to-face with Jesus Christ. A powerful demonstration – but nothing compared to what happened inside! Paul started that day “dead in trespasses and sins”, “following the course of this world” and by nature a child “of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Eph 2:1-3). Spiritually, he was stone-cold dead! But then came his miracle of resurrection. Eph 2:4: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together in Christ.” Because Christ was alive, Paul was given spiritual life – a miracle of resurrection power – not achievable by any human means. Don’t ever shortchange the miracle of justification; it’s better than being raised from the dead physically. It’s God’s gift to every believer. But Paul wanted resurrection power in daily life. Justified by resurrection power; now he wants to be sanctified by that same power. Paul had the same battle we all do – the flesh against the Spirit. Rom 7:18 For I know nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” It is frustrating to be freed from slavery to sin only to keep going back. Even Paul fought that battle. But now he has the HS. And he longs to appropriate that power to overcome temptation, to trust God in trials, to lead a holy life and to produce fruit. He wants Rom 8:3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” God doesn’t just snap His fingers and make us perfect overnight. We have to “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling,” knowing all the while “it is God who works in [us] both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil 2:12b-13). It’s a process, but as we yield to His control, we move more and more out of Rom 7 and into Rom 8. That’s what Paul wants. To know God’s power in daily life helping him deny sin and act like Jesus. Geo Steinbrenner wanted a clean Yankee Stadium. When graffiti began to show up, the war was on. Someone asked his strategy. He said, “I have our workers paint over it every single day.” The questioner responded: “But they’ll just tag it again next day.” He said, “That’s right. But I can buy more paint than they can. In the end, I’ll win.” And win he did. And that’s exactly the kind of war of attrition with sin in this life that Paul knew he was in. But with resurrection power, he knew he had the advantage. In the end, he’d win. III. To Know His Pain Who wants to suffer? Paul did. V. 10c: “and may share his sufferings.” Literally, “to know the fellowship of His sufferings.” Fellowship! Let’s go join that fellowship. They have great suffering there!” Never heard that! But Paul wanted to share every aspect of Jesus’ life. He knew suffering more than we ever will, but welcomed it! So, what did he know that we don’t? Perhaps what David knew. Psa 119:67: “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.” Suffering kept him straight -- brought him closer to God. Paul wanted that. Phil 1:29: “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.” Don’t you love being saved? Sure. Well, Paul knew suffering is just as much a gift of grace. So he embraced it. Didn’t matter if it was physical or emotional – getting beaten or being mocked – getting stoned or being sick – it brought him closer to Jesus – kept him looking up. It reminded him no experience in life is wasted! Paul knew ease made him want more of this world; suffering made him want more of Christ. So – bring it on. He also knew resurrection power is released thru suffering. He had a “thorn in the flesh” – not sure what. He prayed for relief, but he got something else. II Cor 12:9 But he [God] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” The power didn’t take the suffering away; it enabled Paul thru it. Paul knew as others saw him suffer well, they’d be drawn to Christ as well. Col 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.” His suffering helped others see into eternity. Would you suffer so someone else would know Jesus? II Cor 1:6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.” People need to know Jesus is real and nothing shows that so well as a believer who suffers well – accepting the pain to show how Jesus sustains. Col 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.” Suffering is an expected part of the Xn experience. D. A. Carson says, “If you live long enough, you will suffer.” So, let’s make it count by embracing it rather than resisting it. I don’t mean we should not pray for relief. But accept it as a gift of God, who’s going thru it with you for however long He gives it. I Pet 4:12-13: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” We can’t see what God is doing thru suffering. But He’s doing something in your life or others for His glory. Embrace it in faith and it won’t be wasted. So rejoice. A few years ago Patty and I found ourselves driving thru Blacksburg, VA, home of VA Tech where a few months before 32 people had been killed and 17 wounded in a shooting spree by a U. senior. One of those killed was Lauren McCain who had written in her diary shortly before: “Show me your purpose for me at Tech, and on this earth. But, if you choose not to, I will still praise you and walk where you lead, not because I am selfless, or holy, or ‘determined to sacrifice myself to do what is right’ but because you are the delight of my heart and I cannot live without you.” What an outlook, right? Her passion for Christ touched many. Her mother said, “We mourn Lauren, but know she is with Jesus. She has lost nothing compared to what she has gained. And in our mourning, He still comforts us.” Dear friends, can we suffer like that? When it comes, pray for relief, yes. But meantime, know by faith that He is going thru it with you and will bring glory from it. C. S. Lewis said, “Some say of some temporal suffering, ‘No future bliss can make up for it,’ not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory.” So, let’s learn to welcome that fellowship – the fellowship of His sufferings, not bc we love pain, but bc we love Him and how He is using it in our lives and the lives of others. IV. To Know His Perfection V. 10d: “becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” The argument rages, was Paul speaking here of dying to self and being resurrected to a new life in Christ spiritually – or is he speaking of physical death? The wording suggests both – and in fact, they are inextricably tied together. The word “becoming like him” is a present part -- ongoing action. The word itself (συμμορφιζω) means to be conformed inwardly to something. What? Back to 2:7-8 Jesus, because He was in the “form” (μορφη) of a servant, obeyed unto death. Paul wants to join that fraternity of obedience – daily death to selfish ambition and obedience to God. Just what Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” So it is a conformity to Christ’s example that starts inside. But just as it led to Jesus’ death, so it may for Paul, and did. But meantime, he wanted to die to self daily – living to Christ. He knew he would not get it perfect in this life. But he also knew Phil 1:6: “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion [or perfection] at the day of Jesus Christ.” Paul longed for the day when he would be in perfect conformity with Christ. That could come in one of two ways – by rapture or by death. Either way, [by any means] he knew that at that point he would be completely conformed to Christ’s death and resurrection in both spirit and body. That’s what he longed for; that’s what he was aimed at – knowing the Person, Power, and Pain of Christ, culminating in that day when he would know the Perfection of Christ. This is the certain future of every true believer – so why not be like Paul and get started now! Get to know Him – really know Him. Conc – Arthur Burns, Jewish economist of great influence in Washington during the tenure of several Presidents, was once asked to pray at a gathering of evangelical politicians. He stunningly prayed: “Lord, I pray that Jews would come to know Jesus Christ. And I pray that Buddhists would come to know Jesus Christ. And I pray that Muslims would come to know Jesus Christ.” And then, most stunning of all: “And Lord, I pray that Christians would come to know Jesus Christ.” Let’s be part of the answer. Let’s pray.