THAT I MAY KNOW HIM… PHILIPPIANS 3:8-11

Introduction

In this passage of Scripture we see the apostle Paul explaining to the Philippian church the essential nature of really coming to know Jesus Christ in an intimate way, what is involved in that, and the why behind it all.  Paul addresses the humility involved in knowing Christ, and the absolute dependence on God that is necessary to know him.   And Paul does this without laying down one requirement for the believer.  We will see that it is something that God does in us.

We went camping about a month ago, taking our travel trailer out for the first time.  I was sufficiently nervous dragging something that big behind me on the highway, but eventually settled into it.  However, when it was time to hitch up and come home, I found that the anti-sway bar had broken on the trip up the mountain.  No, I had not noticed it when we originally arrived.  I did fine getting down to the highway, but once I got up to 55 mph, the trailer began to sway, and I don’t mean just a little.  I’m gripping the steering wheel for all I’m worth, thinking to myself, “I can do this”, “just don’t drive 55”, “I can get by without the anti-sway bar”, and “this thing isn’t going to get the best of me!”  Right.  I white knuckled it for about 30 miles before I finally pulled over, got on the Internet and found an RV dealer who had an anti-sway bar to sell me.

White knuckling—holding on so tightly to the steering wheel that our knuckles turn white—is how I initially learned what it was to live “the Christian life”.  It is how I learned what it was to get to know the Savior.  I used to think, “I can do this”, and, as I was taught, I rigorously engaged in having a quiet time, reading and memorizing Scripture, maintaining a prayer journal, evangelizing, worshipping, serving at church, fasting, giving, and being at church every time the doors were open. 

I was way too young in my walk with Christ when I was ordained as a deacon, and in the church culture of the denomination we were in, the deacons functioned as the sounding board for the pastor.  We were given any number of assignments, and mine included attending the deacon meetings, being assigned to at least two different committees, teaching adult Sunday School, and anything else that came up.  Oh, and it was clearly implied that saying “no” was not an option—the culture didn’t allow for that.  So that was how I thought—I have to be involved to be a “good Christian”, in addition to all of the spiritual disciplines I mentioned.  And to make it worse, time with my very young family was sorely missing, as well as true intimacy with Jesus Christ.  All of my “activity” took the place of real time with the Lord.

Now don’t get me wrong—there is absolutely nothing intrinsically wrong with any of these activities.  Engaging in the spiritual disciplines is very beneficial for us as believers.  The Holy Spirit has gifted all believers and those gifts are to be used for God’s glory.  But apart from the gospel—the completed work of Jesus Christ—they are all ritualistic exercises in futility.  Why?  Because of the motivation behind them, thinking we will gain favor with God by engaging in them!  Nothing we do can gain favor with God!   Too often, those of us who engage in the meticulous, ritualistic observance of the disciplines will even feel the need to double up the next day should a quiet time or prayer time be missed.  If we do this, what we are doing is we are legalistically white knuckling the spiritual steering wheel all the way.   Our deeds are as filthy rags. 

The fact of the matter is that the gospel—what Jesus did on our behalf, that is, the “work” to please God that has been already completed—must be taken into account by each of us daily.  I’ll address that in a minute.

Philippians 3:8-11  

⁸Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—¹⁰that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 

SUFFERING

Suffering cannot be avoided if we are really to know Christ…(Hebrews 4:15; 5:2)…”I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:10)…

But what is the nature of Christ’s suffering that we must share, in order fully to know his fellowship?  His suffering included poverty and humiliation, pain and death.  All of these he endured for us.  We must not forget this altruistic dimension of his afflictions.  He suffered to take on himself the guilt and consequences of the sins of others.  Thus, if we are to know him through like suffering, we will not merely have to experience the difficulty of nameless forces and circumstances; we must also experience what it means to suffer for the sins of others.  We must be willing to endure and love the damaged and damaging personalities who make us suffer.  This is Luther’s theology of the cross—the understanding that our deepest knowing of the One who bore the cross for us in some measure depends on our own cross-bearing of the miseries of this world and even of the miserableness of others.

…Whether we suffer under the weight of circumstances or under the weightiness of bearing the consequences of the sins of others—these disciplines teach us more of what Christ endured for us. As a result, we know him to a degree and depth not available through any other means of study or contemplation.

The discipline of suffering shows us how tender and tenacious was Christ’s care for us.  The body blows that come, the accusations, the deprivations, the betrayals—in each we can say, “Ah, Lord Jesus, now I understand more deeply who you are and how much you loved me, for you endured this when you could have escaped it all.  You suffered for my sake and that of countless others who caused you pain.  Ah, Jesus, now I know you.”

Bryan Chapell in

Holiness by Grace: Delighting in the Joy That is Our Strength,

pp.170-172  (Emphasis added)

So, just what does this mean for us?  It means we can look trials, difficulties and suffering brought to our lives by the sin of others—yes, even by other believers—and we can stare it down!  We can smile to ourselves when someone sins against us, knowing “it ain’t about us!”  It is all about God conforming us to the image of Christ, it is about “knowing Christ and the fellowship of his sufferings”!

I shared this with a friend a few weeks ago, and told him that this core truth has made a huge difference in my life, particularly in the case of extreme hurt brought about by a family member in the distant past.  Not only did I wrestle with the whole concept of God’s providence at that time, but I also struggled with forgiveness.  God worked in the intervening years, and brought me to a point where forgiveness truly took place.  Yes, it “should not” have taken as long as it did, but he did bring it about.  My view of the impact of the sin of others on my life and on the lives of those I love is completely different now.  Now I can say, “Bring it on!”  Why?  Because of what Christ did on the cross, because of the gospel.