Knowing Christ

Prayer

Dear Lord Jesus, I long to know You more and more and have a deep yearning in my soul to draw closer to You, Lord. I know so much about You, Your birth in Bethlehem, Your ministry to hurting and oppressed people, Your crucifixion, burial and resurrection and your present ministry, where You are seated on the right hand of the Father in heaven. But Lord, I want to know You personally and intimately and to be identified with You in every area of my life.

Help me I pray to identify with You. To identify with Your death, so that I may die to self and live in newness of life. Lord, it was Paul that prayed, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, and being conformed to His death,” and Lord, I pray that too. And what is more Lord, I also want to be able to say with him, “that I consider everything loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

Help me day by day to grow in grace and in a knowledge of You, until I can say, "it is not I that live, but Christ who lives in me." I ask this in His precious name,

Amen.

Paul’s words “that I may know him” jumped off the page of my bible Monday morning. I came in with the mindset to preach on the “pressing toward the goal,” but that changed for some reason. God wanted me to preach on these words.

I think and hope that each of you understands that your salvation that you are called “to work out with fear and trembling,” is from knowing a Person. We are not saved by anything we do. We experience redemption only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. By His perfect life and sacrificial death on the cross of Calvary, Jesus provided salvation for us.

Too many of us have not fully understood the freedom we have in Christ. We keep one foot in the law domain where “doing” prevails, hoping that our doing will lead to our being righteous. We forget that we do not strive to live by the Spirit in order to be in the Spirit. Friends, it is the reverse. Because we are in the Spirit, we live by the Spirit.

For Paul, that was his heart’s longing to simply “know Him.” We know that Paul already knew Christ. He had come to know Christ through a dramatic encounter on the road to Damascus. But Paul’s overarching desire was to fully and deeply know Christ in life.

There are many wonderful things in life, but knowing Christ is the greatest thing of all. Nothing can compare with knowing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Do you know him?

Do you know the one who left heaven’s glory behind to be born in a manger? To grow up in Nazareth and then be rejected by His own kinsmen. Do you know the one who was beaten to the point of being unrecognizable? Do you know the one who willingly died on a rugged cross between two thieves? Do you know this Jesus that arose from the grave on the third day, who descended into the pits of hell and now has the keys of death and the grave? Do you know Him?

Christianity is not based on knowing about Christ. Our faith is about experiencing Jesus in His resurrection power and in His suffering. A dry, academic, impersonal knowledge of God does not bring life. True knowledge of Christ is personal, powerful, and life-changing.

What are you willing to give up to know Christ more deeply? Can you give up a crowded schedule in order to set aside a few minutes each day for prayer and Bible study? Can you give up your family or friend’s approval? What about some of your plans or pleasures? Whatever it is, knowing Christ is more than worth the sacrifice.

We must consider everything a loss compared to knowing Christ – your background, degrees, accomplishments, bank account, possessions, the things you care most dearly about, your children, your spouse, and your family. These are all good things in and of themselves, they are good gifts from God, but they pale in comparison to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ.

Knowing Christ personally is the greatest thing in all the world. Notice that Paul calls him “Christ Jesus my Lord.” Jesus Christ is Lord of all, and that is amazing, but even more amazing, he wants to be your Lord. That is personal, and that is amazing. It is amazing that Paul has willingly lost all things to know Christ.

And notice he has no regrets. He hasn’t put all these things aside and then sits there thinking about them and pining for them. He says, “I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”

Do you know what our problem is? We want to gain Christ without losing anything. It doesn’t work that way. When you get married, you stop dating other people. When you leave your job you don’t work for the other company. When you get traded as an athlete, you don’t play for both teams. Nothing compares to knowing Christ. He is the pearl of great price, and he is the one thing necessary. He is the supremely valuable one. How do you make knowing Christ the supreme desire of your life? First of all, consider all things lost compared to knowing Christ.

Now Paul already knows Christ. He has known Christ for nearly thirty years when he writes these words. He knows him better now than he did the year before. But he wants to know Christ more. He wants to know him more fully and deeply with each passing day.

Paul says, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection.” Ephesians 1:20 says God exerted his mighty power to raise Christ from the dead. There is power in the resurrection of Christ. And that power is available to you as you live for Christ. It doesn’t come from you. It comes from God through the Holy Spirit. When you are weak, then you are strong. Why? Because then you are depending on God rather than yourself.

But Paul doesn’t only want to know Christ’s power. He also wants to know the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings. Paul wants to know Christ more than anything, which means knowing it all, knowing the sufferings and the power.

There is power available for living the Christian life, but too many of us never take hold of it. Do you know why? We want resurrection power, but you can’t have resurrection without dying first. It’s an age-old story: everyone wants to go to heaven; nobody wants to die. We want power for Christian living, but we are not willing to die for ourselves and our own agendas. We can’t know the victory of the Resurrection without personally applying the Crucifixion.

Paul knows that he will share in the resurrection of the dead. He just doesn’t know how it will happen yet. Will he be martyred? Will he die of old age? Will Christ come back for him before he dies? Paul doesn’t know the details of how he will get there, but he knows how to get there. It is by knowing Christ.

This is a penetrating passage when it comes to examining your own life before God. And so, as we close this morning, I would like to ask you some penetrating questions.

1) First of all, is anything in your life drawing your attention away from Christ? For the Philippians, it was the threat of false teachers, but for us, it could be anything. It could be a present relationship. It could be something you are holding on to from the past. It could be worry or fear about the future. Whatever it is, let me encourage you to fix your eyes firmly on Jesus and guard against anyone or anything that would draw your attention away from Christ.

2) Secondly, when it comes to acceptance before God, in what are you placing your confidence? It basically comes down to two options. Are you trusting yourself, or are you trusting Jesus? Are you trusting your background and achievements or Jesus, who died for you on the cross? Are you trusting in your own righteousness, or are you trusting in the perfect righteousness of Christ? Our righteousness is a mixed bag of half-successes and total failures, sin that runs deep, and outright rebellion against God. The Bible says that even our best actions are as filthy rags before God. Why would you trust in your own righteousness when you can have the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith in Jesus Christ?

3) Lastly, do you want to know Christ more than anything else? Do you want to know the power of his resurrection in your life? Do you want to share in the fellowship of his sufferings so you can get there? Knowing Christ is the greatest thing of all. Why be satisfied with anything else? Can you say with Paul: “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:8)