Tag: Conformed to Death

My Goal Is To Know Him

December 3rd, 2024
Philippians 3:10 is my focus today. As Paul says, My Goal is to know him (Christ)

But he begins this meaningful passage in v4 saying, “Although I have reason for confidence in the flesh”… If it’s about “what I can do”, Paul says, “been there done that.” pepoithesis = trust confidence, boldness – “I’ve got full confidence in the physical I’ve done… And he lists his “accomplishments”… Circumcised, Benjamite, Hebrew, Pharisee, Zealous (to the point of persecuting the church), and Blameless (according to the Law).

You only became a Pharisee by strict adherence of The Law, not just in belief, but in application and practice. It was about perceived purity and separation. That’s what the word pharisee meant, “separated ones”. They studied the Torah, the Oral Tradition, and they lived in purity. Jesus points out that they even tithed on their spices. They taught in and engaged with their community.

And YET – v7 “but everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.”

To know Christ, we have to lay down our “competency” – our personal goodness and competencies often keep us from God’s goodness and greatness.

Paul says, “I consider all of my accomplishments (v8) as skybalon = refuse, garbage, dung heap“ WOW

Why? So I may be found, understood, as having zero righteousness of my own, but one of Faith in Christ. (v9)

And then we get to v10 as he develops this thought I want to know Christ… My Goal is to Know Him

Oh Yeah? We have all said that, “I want to know Jesus.” But it’s not a simple course we take, a book we read, a prayer we say… and then NOW I KNOW Jesus.

Paul says he wants to know him, and then identifies the keys to that end
- In The Power of the Resurrection – Ok, yes, we all want the Power Right? And by the way, Resurrection Power is a WHO, not a what. 1 Peter 3:18 says Jesus was put to death in the flesh but made alive BY the Spirit. And Ephesians 1:18-20 talks about the Immeasurable Greatness of His Power that was Exercised in raising Christ from the dead… and the Good News is that this power is For Us / Toward Us WHO Believe. I want the power of the resurrection. And that power, in the Person of the Holy Spirit comes to LIVE IN me. Ephesians 1:13-14 when you heard the truth, the gospel of your salvation… when you believed… you received the Holy Spirit. The Power is IN us, Available TO Us… But we really don’t experience Resurrection Power without…
- Fellowship of His Sufferings – Lots of folks want healing without sickness, power without pain, strength without suffering – But Resurrection Power comes IN Suffering… and
- Being Conformed to His Death – I’m mindful of the Albert King Blues song, “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die” … To Know the Power of the Resurrection we need to die, be conformed to his death… What is significant about that? Paul says in Philippians 2 that Jesus laid aside his personal glory, he took the nature of a servant. We know he surrendered to God’s will not his own. Jesus said, if anyone would come after me, deny self, take up their cross and follow me. –
Well – I could preach now, but this is just a devotion – Look at vv 12-14 to finish…

I haven’t already reached the goal… been perfect – BUT… see we can’t just say, “Oh well I’m not perfect…” Paul says… But I make every effort to take hold of it…

I need to do everything in my power to move toward the Goal of Knowing Christ by Experience through suffering, through dying to self… Why? Because That’s why Jesus “took Hold of Me.”

Then he says in v13 again, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it… but ONE thing I Do…

Now, I’m a golfer. And at times I am and have been a pretty good one. Yet golf is funny because you can shoot your best round, even under par… and still know you missed a lot. But I keep pressing.

On my golf balls I write “3:13-14”. You see, I’m not there yet, and I make mistakes, and sometimes my failures hold me down for a little while So I remind myself what Paul says here…
- Forgetting what is behind – good or bad, forget it, learn from it, be encouraged by it, but forget about it…
- Reaching Forward to what is ahead – Press ON – I can’t move on if I’m holding on to the past.
- I Pursue the Prize Promised – even though we seek to live right, do right, that’s still not the prize promised. Nothing on this earth is my goal – JESUS is my Goal, and His Presence is my goal, so until I see his Face… I keep moving
To See His Face – that is to Fully Know Jesus – Jesus was moving forward to Please the Father and hear him say, “well done”.

I want to Know Christ – and hear him say “well done”
The Frightening Prayer of a Disciple

July 1st, 2014

Are you Acquainted with Suffering? Are you Acquainted With Jesus?

Isaiah 53:10 says “He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, and familiar (acquainted-KJV) with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised and we esteemed him not.” (NIV84)

This is such a precious and lovely verse. Chapter 53 of Isaiah contains some of the most beautifully written word pictures in scripture. Of course the Holy Spirit inspired all of scripture, but working with the personality of the writer, He communicates the words of the gospel. I would venture to say that perhaps this passage could only be compared with John 1:1-14 as the most beautiful in all of scripture.

When we talk of what Christ did for us, these words are beautiful, but if we dare challenge the modern Christian to be a disciple of this way, that idea won’t sell a whole lot of books. “Despised … Rejected … Sorrows … Suffering … Despised … without Esteem” – My Savior? Yes … Me? No Thank You.

But this is just the way of salvation, right? It isn’t the way of a disciple is it? Well don’t tell the Apostle Paul that. In Philippians 3:10 he says “I want to Know Christ …” . I am with you Paul, I want to know Christ too … But the Word, ginosko, means “to learn, to understand, to be familiar with” i.e. “to know by experience”. There is a physical tactile component to this. It doesn’t happen by accident. It happens by intentional action. So Paul says, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his suffering, becoming LIKE HIM in his death.”

Want to be a disciple? Take up his cross and follow him (Luke 9:23). Fellowship (koinonian) commune with him in suffering (passion) of Christ. This same word for “suffering” or passion is in Romans 8:18 when it says “our present sufferings are nothing compared to the glory that will be revealed.” Becoming “like him” (symmorphizo – similar in form) to his death.

We like Philippians 3:12, “press on to talk hold … forgetting what is behind … straining for what is ahead”. But Paul is talking about the previous image of being conformed to his death. And so he says “I’m not there yet, but I’m pressing forward to share in his suffering. Forgetting what is behind, forgetting accolades, forgetting accomplishments, forgetting station achieved, forgetting failures, I press onto fellowship with him in suffering. This doesn’t mean needless suffering, nor self-inflicted suffering, or self-serving suffering, but as Isaiah says “suffering that brings peace”.

Jesus was Despised (contemptible, thought lightly of), Rejected (made detestable), Sorrows (pain), Acquainted with (familiar, experience, recognize), Grief (sickness, suffering, disease, affliction), not Esteemed (think about value, considered)

Are we willing to be thought lightly of, made detestable, have pain, experience suffering and afflictions, to be under valued, not even thought of, in order to follow Christ? Well, how badly to you want to be a disciple?

Oswald Chambers in “My Utmost for His Highest”, (June 23) says “we are not acquainted with grief in the way in which our Lord was … We endure it, get through it, but we do not become intimate with it”

Yet, fellow traveler, it is, and has been the way of the disciple of Christ for every generation. The Apostles knew it, the Martyrs knew it in the Colosseum, St. John of the Cross knew “The Dark Night of the Soul”, Martin Luther knew the isolation of the Castle in Eisenach as he hid away from a death threat while translating the New Testament into German. Calvin, Wycliffe, Huss, all knew suffering. Isaac Watts penned the most poignant hymns in history because of a life of suffering and physical pain. Every Generation of Christian disciple has known. Missionaries like Jonathan Goforth (no relation) knew suffering, sickness, imprisonment. Lottie Moon also in China refused to eat giving her food to those she served with the gospel. Martin Luther King knew the Birmingham Jail, that he might have a dream.

Walking with Christ is to Fellowship with his Suffering, Conformed to his Death.

Do I want to be a disciple or just a scholar, a student? Oh there is nothing wrong with knowledge but head knowledge without experiential knowledge does not make a disciple. I disciple must follow in the footsteps, and the footprints of Jesus walked the via Dolorosa, the way of suffering.

“I want to know Christ” – The Frightening Prayer of a Disciple

Tag: Conformed to Death

My Goal Is To Know Him

The Frightening Prayer of a Disciple