Know Him - the power of His resurrection - the fellowship of His suffering

Philippians 3 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.

² Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; ³ for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, ⁴ although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: ⁵ circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; ⁶ as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.

⁷ But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, ⁹ and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, ¹⁰ that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; ¹¹ in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. ¹³ Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; ¹⁶ however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.

¹⁷ Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. ¹⁸ For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, ¹⁹ whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. ²⁰ For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; ²¹ who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

In Luke 9:22-24, Jesus says:    “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.” And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.”    In today’s text Paul says: whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,  and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,  That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.      We are indeed called to take up our cross and deny ourselves, as Paul says the things which were gain we count as loss. But it is not a life of suffering we are called to. It is the fellowship of His, Christ’s sufferings. If we know Him, we will know His suffering. We will know the price He paid. The cross we are to take up is not to suffer, but rather to deny ourselves. We are to be conformed to His death, not to die but, so that we attain resurrection.

Some people have believed the lie that this life is to be a life of suffering and denial. Jesus says: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)   Jesus suffered and died on the cross so that we can live and not die. The law consisted of limits and restrictions. In Christ we are not denied any good thing. James 1:17 says:  Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.     We are called to live an abundant life, a life filled with good things given to us by God. Again, Paul says:  That I may know Him…   The psalmist says:  Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)     To know God is to love Him, to love Him to the point that we delight in Him, that being with Him is our desire. Paul says we are conformed to His death in order to attain resurrection. So it is not we ourselves who suffer or die, but as we know Him, as we delight in Him, our desires become like His. Our hearts are changed so that the things which were important, the things which the world values, are no longer our desire. Those things are lost to us that we might gain all that God has for us. What we deny then is not loss, because we gain all that God has for us.  

If we truly know Him, if we have fellowship with His suffering, if we have seen and even felt the pain that sin caused our Lord, we could not intentionally walk in sin again. Any suffering we might have pales in comparison to His suffering on the cross for us. If we know Him and have fellowship with His suffering, how could we embrace, tolerate or condone the things which caused Christ that suffering?  Jesus suffered and died to forgive sins, not to accept or condone sins. In John 3:16-19, Jesus says:    “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.”    We should not judge others for their sin. In Christ we should forgive them. The judgment is that men loved darkness rather than light. If we know the suffering of Christ, caused by sin, how could we embrace, tolerate or condone the darkness, the things which caused His suffering?  2 Corinthians 6:13-15 says:   Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?  Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?   

Paul says:  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus… let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.     Knowing Him, having fellowship with His suffering, we are to live in the abundance of His resurrection. Our standard is Christ, not to judge others but through the cross to forgive them. To press on to the upward call of Christ. Jesus says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.  Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:12-14)    Knowing Him we should then be like Him.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, I do desire that I might know You fully Jesus, that in knowing You, in delighting in You and Your presence, I will walk in the abundance of resurrection life. All that the world calls good I gladly lay down in exchange for what You desire to give me. I press on to walk in the fullness of Your call for me, to do the things You did, in Your name, Jesus.    Amen