Philippians 3:10-11

Jesus will use every delight, difficulty, and even delay to make us more like him.

What to Ben Sasse and his family has been a devastating terminal cancer diagnosis, has been to the world a gift of clarity toward what truly matters and the glory of the gospel.

The former senator from Nebraska, and university president, in December was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer, technically where the cancer began. By that time, it had metastasized and spread to fill his abdomen, liver, and lungs. He was in severe pain and given months to live.

Determined to fight, not to beat the cancer, it had spread too far, but to lengthen his days, to cherish moments, make up for what he’s missed, and leave the world with a re-calibrating message. To that end, he has a podcast and has been interviewed by friends far and wide.

A week ago, it was Ross Douthat of the New York Times’ turn. They had a sprawling conversation: how to save liberal arts education, how to bring back civic dialogue, the value of family, and our need to set down our devices and be present with one another. To keep the Sabbath holy, a true day of rest.

But for our purposes today, it was Sasse’s perspective on his suffering that essentially retells verses 10 and 11, our text in Philippians 3.

From a question on unanswered prayer, Douthat asked:

“Are you angry at God ever?

Sasse: No.

Douthat: Not at all?

Sasse: No.

I wouldn’t want a sovereign God to defer to all of my prayers with a yes. I’m not omniscient. I don’t know what the weaving together of the tapestry of full redemption should look like, but I know going through the period of suffering that I’m going through is a benefit because it is a winnowing.

I’m filled with dross. This suffering is not salvific, but it’s sanctifying, and I’m grateful for it.”

Philippians 3:10–11 “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.” (ESV)

We’ve reached the midpoint of chapter 3, which has been so rich, chalk full of gospel goodness. Here, Paul jumps back to where he started the letter, with his experience, his suffering. In the context of suffering the loss of all things and counting them as rubbish in order that he may gain Christ — be found in him.

By way of example, inviting us to live, to walk the same way, to a cruciform life, a life of becoming like Christ.

Jesus will use every delight, difficulty, and even delay to make us more like him.

A couple of weeks ago, I was at a pastor’s meeting where a local pastor was reflecting on our preparation for Easter. He said, “We pastors, we are in the selling business, we are salesmen.”

Now, I understand his intention, so I don’t want to criticize the sentiment. So this is “Selling Sunday!”

And since I am a big fan of putting the fine print of Christianity up front, you must know, today we are talking about what comes with faith in Jesus, it’s a package deal.

How do you get the deal? Well, first you take no confidence in the flesh…

Philippians 3:9 “and 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—” (ESV)

So, by believing in Jesus, sin is forgiven, and you are made right before God. Jesus took our place and gave us his.

[Our Lord Jesus Christ is the full expression of the righteousness of God: his words and teaching, his inner character and outer deeds, the works he accomplished, his relationships, his attitude to himself and his obedience to God, the absolute completeness of all he was, taught and did—in a word, everything that could ever be seen in him, said of him or sought from him is absolutely what the righteous God requires. It is not just that (so to speak), as far as he went, he matched what God required. It is rather that Jesus is the sum total of all that (even) God could ever ask. He is the righteousness of God. Now, in biblical thinking, it is this which fits him (and him alone) to be our substitute, to stand in our place, accept our condemnation, and receive the penalty due to us. ‘Your lamb shall be without blemish.’ ‘He made him to be sin who knew no sin.’...And in this substitutionary work of Christ, just as he became totally identified with us in our sin, so, in him, we become totally identified with his righteousness.

“It is this total package—our sins laid on Jesus and his righteousness accounted to us—that we accept by simple faith. He has done it all; God promises all to us; we rest in faith on the divine promises and enter into the stated benefits.” J. A. Motyer

From there we gain new life… it is a new creation, a new heart and life within matching the perfect righteousness of Christ, ready and waiting to express itself outwardly in practical righteousness as we obey God as Jesus did—as we ‘put on’ Christ in our daily lives.

This gets us to our verses. Difficulty, delight, and delay.

Difficulty

10b “and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death…”

Followers of Christ join the “fellowship of suffering” with Christ.

Paul’s life is certainly a testament of this, as he writes this letter from prison, but he said it is for the advance of the gospel.

He is going through difficulty and being transformed.

It’s not a foreign idea to us. “No pain, no gain!” Phrase popularized by Jane Fonda in her aerobics videos in the 1980’s. She also coined “feel the burn!”

It’s the sense that improvement doesn’t come easy, refinement comes with heat, and challenge is good.

Second-century Hebrew phrase: “According to the pain is the gain.”

We gain from Christ’s pain on the cross, willingly accept that, but we get dodgy when we are invited to join in!

The Apostles would call the church to it.

2 Timothy 3:12 “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” (ESV)

1 Peter 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.” (ESV)

Jesus said so:

John 15:20 “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.” (ESV)

A whole spectrum then of hardship, persecution in light of Christ, to “fiery trial” of all sort.

So we must be ready for – and we cannot hope to avoid – the downward path of the crucified.

This is a cross-shaped (cruciform) life.

Jesus said his disciples would have to take up their cross and follow him, die to self, and live to him.

We live in a cycle of dying and rising with Christ.

“The grace of being permitted to believe in Christ is surpassed by the grace of being permitted to suffer for him, of being permitted to walk the way of Christ with Christ himself to the perfection of fellowship with him.” Karl Barth

The suffering that comes to a Christian (as a Christian) is not a sign of God’s neglect but rather proof that grace is at work in his or her life—sacred intimacy. Why would someone want to share in Christ’s sufferings? For this intimacy, this knowing, union with Jesus.

What will this look like in our lives? Some of us don’t have to think hard about it – it may be prison like Paul for preaching the gospel, struggles (thorn in the flesh), any number of hardships, hurts, or sickness.

Joining in the fellowship of suffering with Christ.

“It’s possible to practice this in the smaller deaths that we all experience, such as the loss of a career, friend, or loved one,” Keller said. “In those painful situations, you have to do essentially the same thing that you have to do when you're told you’re going to die: You have to take something abstract that you believe about God and make it real to your heart so He becomes your consolation. You're no longer looking to the things of this world to be your salvation.”

We grow with what we’ve got, and sometimes what we have is hard.

Sinclair Ferguson once said in a sermon that God makes us like Jesus the same way Jesus became like Jesus: through suffering (Heb. 2:10; 5:8). Paul is not telling us to go look for ways to suffer. The message of Philippians counsels us to have the mind of Christ: go look for someone to serve for the cause of Christ and do not be deterred by suffering. Pursue Christlikeness, not misery.

It stands to reason that if we are satisfied with Christ for salvation, we will not rest until we are like the One who satisfied us so – even in difficulty.

Dying to a self-centered life that is natural to us and being willing to face difficulty and hardship that the gospel of salvation may go out to all people and it may take root and bear fruit in my heart.

Every trial brings an opportunity to grow closer to Jesus, to share his experiences, and to mature in faith.

The more we trust him in the midst of it – lean heavily on him – the more we continue to become like him.

Any suffering, however, any difficulty, is light and momentary compared to what we have and what’s coming.

Delight

10a “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection,”

I have taken these out of order, because a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down! But because this is our basis for bearing with difficulty. We are not alone in the midst of it; we are not powerless.

He keeps fellowship with us.

“Before he spoke of ‘becoming like him in his death’ Paul referred to ‘sharing’, or ‘fellowship’ in, his sufferings. Why does he thus make a double reference to the cross of Christ? It is for this reason: he wants us to see that in desiring to follow him as faithful cross-bearers we are not left alone; he keeps fellowship with us; we are not copying a dead Model but walking in fellowship with a living Saviour.” J. A. Motyer

As we set aside confidence in our abilities before God, rooted in his righteousness, we increasingly know him (that which is of surpassing worth).

“Know” is intimate here – union – it is our delight, source of joy, hope, confidence, identity, our anchor, Jesus crucified and risen.

We know him and his power…

Paul’s expression “the power of his resurrection” precedes “the fellowship of his sufferings.” The power of Christ’s resurrection first provides strength and consolation through suffering.

“The power of his resurrection” is God’s power, his life-giving power that he deployed in raising Christ from the dead, and the power that God uses to bring about and sustain the new life that the Christian receives from Christ and shares with him. Historical and ongoing.

Resurrection power operates in two phases: first, at conversion, believers experience spiritual resurrection and receive new life characterized by fresh spiritual energy.

This is us experiencing divine strength, not as escape from difficulty but as endurance through it. This power enables believers to maintain joy and confidence even amid persecution and hardship, grounding their faith in Christ’s victory over death rather than in present circumstances.

It is not mere academic knowledge. It means knowing the power of his resurrection in daily experiences.

Romans 8:10–11 “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. [11] If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (ESV)

2 Corinthians 4:10–11 “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies. [11] For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” (ESV)

We are empowered for this life, come what may. Power we enter the arena with.

“Why does he speak of the resurrection of Christ before he has mentioned his death. Surely he has reversed the events of our Lord’s experience? Indeed he has, but with a deliberate purpose. For Christ, death preceded resurrection, but for the Christian who sets out to follow the Lord along this path the power of the risen Christ is the first fact of experience. Thus, as we walk the path of Christlikeness in an apostolic determination to ‘be made like him’, even to the extent of sharing his sufferings, his risen power is made available to strengthen, keep and lead us through.” The Message of Philippians

“Paul’s language indicates a process in which personal crosses produce a series of mini-resurrections that take Paul ever deeper in his personal knowledge of Christ. The bottom line is, Paul wanted to take up his cross and follow Christ; he wanted God to conform him to Christ’s death. Jesus was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3), and Paul understood that taking up his cross like this is part of knowing the Master.” Hughes

For each cross he was rising, knowing Christ and his resurrection power.

“To know Christ was the overarching and unfolding ambition of Paul’s life—a longing for an ever-deepening, ever-widening, personal knowledge of the Son. This passion to know him was what energized Paul’s dogged devotion and his epic quest to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.”

Where might it take us?

The One who calls us friend, with the power of life, our delight, carrying us through as we are becoming like him on the way to our own resurrection.

Delay

I labeled this delay, but not in a negative sense, more in the “on the horizon” sense. On its way.

11 “that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

Paul takes on this life because it is headed somewhere. And he is willing to see it by “any means possible.”

Some translations render it as “if possible.” But he has full confidence it will happen; he just doesn’t have complete knowledge of the ups and downs along the way. Guaranteed, just not yet.

The resurrection is certain; the intervening events are uncertain. We neither know how many days we have left on earth nor what those days will contain, but we do know that, be they many or few, smooth or rough, at the end of them there is the glory, the resurrection from the dead.

Ours is a sure thing because Christ’s was a real thing. This is how his resurrection power carries us through to our coming resurrection.

“If Jesus Christ was actually raised from the dead, then you know what? Everything is going to be all right. Whatever you’re worried about right now—whatever you’re afraid of—everything is actually going to be okay. . . . If Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, then the whole world is going to be, in a sense, resurrected. . . . Tim Keller

This gives us peace, a different kind of confidence to face all that our lives entail.

“Paul knows nothing of the rather gloomy stoicism that is so often exhibited in historic Christianity, where the lot of the believer is basically that of “slugging it out in the trenches,” with little or no sense of Christ’s presence and power. On the contrary, the power of Christ’s resurrection was the greater reality for him. So certain was Paul that it had happened—after all, he had been accosted and claimed by the Risen Lord on the Damascus Road—and that Christ’s resurrection guaranteed his own, that he could throw himself into the present with a kind of holy abandon, full of rejoicing and thanksgiving.” Gordon Fee

Not just for Paul. For you and me. To know Christ, his resurrection power, to share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and attaining the resurrection from the dead.

We say with the Psalmist:

Psalm 118:6 “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (ESV)

If man says, “I can kill you!”

1 Corinthians 15:54–55 “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

[55] “O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?” (ESV)

If God pronounces us right with him, then we are indeed secure forever.

Romans 8:38–39 “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

The resurrection means not merely that Christians have hope for the future but that they have a hope that comes from the future. The Bible’s message is that when Jesus rose, he brought the future kingdom of God into the present. With resurrection power to proclaim the excellencies of Christ to the ends of the earth.

In all of your delight, difficulty, and even delay, “if Jesus Christ was raised from the dead – and he was – you’re going to be okay,” and you will be raised with him!

The brightness of future resurrection breeds not apathy but diligent perseverance in pursuing Christ. By any means possible.

Let him use any means to make you his and make you like him.

Jesus will use every delight, difficulty, and even delay to make us more like him.

The best way to live is to be in fellowship with Christ; may it be so for us.

“Douthat: Do you think you’re ready to die? Do you feel ready?

Sasse: I don’t feel ready. But to whom would I go? I have confidence that when Jesus says to the disciples he didn’t want to be identified as the Messiah yet, keep these crowds away, don’t tell about the water-into-wine miracle at the feast — how amazing is it that Jesus’ first miracle is a big-ass party? Let’s drink more together.

But he says: You can’t keep the children from me. And we’re told that we get to approach the Almighty, we get to approach the divine and call him Daddy, Abba, Father? That’s pretty glorious. And I know that that’s what I need.”

Surrender to the power of Christ’s resurrection – Believe in Jesus, let him use all of your life for his glory and your good. May require us to change our perspective on the circumstances of life and begin to see them as purposeful, so that we would know Christ. The place we can lean heavily on him.

Find fellowship with Christ – Face life knowing you are not alone, becoming like him on your way to resurrection. Seek him in prayer. In his word. In community. In his supper.

Matt Pilgrim: Known in the Breaking (reflection on Luke 24:35)

He makes Himself known in the breaking

It’s always been that way

He’s always used the crushing of things

To overcome night with day.

His life, His death, each purposeful step

All point to moments so pained

Where suffering and desire meet

On a path from time’s dawn ordained.

He chose for Himself the beautiful way

And said “come follow me”

On a road fraught with betrayal and hate

That always led to a tree.

But it was there He chose to make Himself

Truly and fully known.

It was always in His own breaking

That glory would be shown.

Known in the breaking of bread loaves

Like flesh pierced and flayed.

Known truly upon a Roman cross,

The Suffering King displayed.

Known better still in the breaking

Of stubborn hearts and wills

That learn to smile as they shoulder crosses

Up their own jagged hills.