I Want!
Philippians 3:7-14
Introduction
-Thank-you for the invitation
-Larry and I
-Baptist church in Upper Falls,
-thank you to the Baptists
-12 years in a Mennonite Brethren church in Manitou
-Carla and I have three children, two of them are married and the youngest is attending Bible College
-“What do you want for Christmas?”
-video game unit.
-things in life that we want. They obsess us, /// we are disappointed with them.
-What do you really want? Will what you want disappoint or will it satisfy? Is it achievable?
-Philippians 3:7-14,
-What do you want more than anything else? Do the things Paul wants express a longing in your heart?
I. I Want To Know Christ
-Being empty nesters and living in Winnipeg, has brought us into a whole new set of relationships.
-need for
-“I want to know Christ…” What does it mean to want to know Christ?.
A. Christ As The Only Way Of Righteousness
-movement among Jewish Christians
-Paul writes this passage to refute these people
-Paul was the prime example of one who could have confidence in his physical heritage. - verses 4-6
-spiritual pedigree a mile long
-rubbish. -- gristle, -- that which we excrete
-Chuck Buller, - "what Paul once killed for was now valueless."
-in this context that he says, “I want to know Christ.”
-Christ as the only way of salvation, as the only one in whom he can rely for his righteousness.
-“well that’s obvious, why make a point of it?”
- I know what happens within myself.
-hard for us to imagine that we haven’t helped God out just a little bit in our salvation.
-Christians who are burdened with duty
-Knowing Christ is knowing that in Him alone we have forgiveness, acceptance with God and a sure hope.
-“has anything - ethnicity, heritage, education, professional success, financial wellbeing - taken the place of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord?”
B. Being In Christ
-intimacy of relationship. Carla and our daughter, Kristen
-“in Christ”
-Do we know Christ in this intimate sense?
- not a theoretical knowing,
-when I am tempted
-that his love and His life flow from me
-when I am going through troubles.
-as we have waited for God to direct us to our next place of ministry.
- Mark 4:35ff, the disciples were on the sea in a great storm.
-Ephesians in 1:17-19, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.“
-That prayer expresses my longing that we may grow deeper in the intimacy of that relationship.
II. I Want To Know The Power Of His Resurrection
- word processing program - not aware of the power at my disposal in this program.
-Paul says, “I want to know the power of His resurrection
-article - we have an intellectual grasp of the resurrection, we know that it is true as a cold historical fact, but that fact does not stir us or change us and so we remain unaffected by the power of the resurrection.
-resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the most amazing and wonderful occurrence in the entire history of the human race.
-We know all about death. - Yugoslavia
-desire to overcome death - bodies frozen
-death is still final and we live with that understanding..
-As Jesus hung on the cross,
-What is impossible for us, God has done!
-Ephesians 1:19,20 which is Paul's prayer for the Ephesians, he says, "that you may know...his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead..."
A. The Power Of A Changed Life
- how powerful sin is.
-death of Jesus on the cross- overcome the guilt of our sin and the consequences of our sin.
-power of the resurrection takes that hope one step further in giving us freedom from the power of sin
-life of God in us.
-When we acknowledge our powerlessness and confess the death of our ability, then the resurrection power of God becomes active in raising us to newness of life.
B. The Power Of God's Present Help
-For 70 years the governments in communist countries
-But was the church of Jesus Christ really held under the power of these evil governments?
-II Corinthians 1:8, - "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life."
But were Paul and his companions prevented from accomplishing God's work
-It may be in regards to our health, our ministry, our family, the farming situation or our job
-power of the resurrection. Paul,
-II Corinthians 1:9,10, "Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,"
-power of the resurrection is the power to face any situation with strength and hope
-Ezekial 37, showing him that He is the God who can make dead bones live again.
- Laurence and Leona Hiebert,
C. The Power Of Eternal Life
-death.
-I Corinthians 15:21-23 says, "For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive…."
-funerals.
-What we cannot do it, God can!
-We cannot overcome sin, but by the power of the God of resurrection we can!
-We cannot do God's work, but by the power of the God of resurrection it can be done!
-We cannot overcome death, but by the power of the God of resurrection we can!
III. I Want To Know The Fellowship Of His Suffering
- great passage?
-“I want to know… the fellowship of sharing his sufferings becoming like Him in His death…”
-I don’t want that.
-we walk away
-Why does Paul say this?
A. His Suffering
- Why did Jesus suffer? Did He desire his suffering?
-“Father if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.”
-Hebrews 12:1,2 says, “who for the joy set before him, endured the cross…”
-only through death would the power of God’s resurrection - far greater
B. Our Participation
-can indeed desire to share in His suffering,
-not for the sake of the suffering itself,
-emergency situation, - priorities change.
-seems to be necessary
1. Helps us overcome sin
-care more about pleasing God than about the self indulgence which often leads to sin.
-1 Peter 4:1,2 says, “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. 2 As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.”
2. Suffering produces God-like character
-Romans 5:3-5 says, “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; …”
-patience teaches us to place value on those things that God values.
3. Teaches us to rely on God
- “thorn in the flesh.” - II Corinthians 12:7ff
-As we have been struggling to wait on God
-tempted at times to rely on our conference minister, our experience or our reputation,
4. Allows Us To Experience God’s Resurrection Power
-At some point in our suffering, the only hope, the only possibility becomes the God of resurrection
-“becoming like Him in His death and so somehow to attain to the resurrection of the dead.”
-"no one can participate in His resurrection, who has not first participated in His death."
-2 Corinthians 1:9, - “Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.”
-Tasker says, “the purpose of being brought to the feeling of hopelessness is that we might hope in the God who raises from the dead.”
-Acts 14:19,
-we still find suffering hard, - II Corinthians 1:5 says, “For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
Conclusion
-that this is what I want.
-I have not experienced all this.
-Paul encourages me when he says that he has not accomplished all this either.
-goal to forget his accomplishments, forget his failures, - strive to what was ahead, the goal for which Christ had called Him.
-It is a want that will not disappoint, but will bring joy, power and hope to life.
-response to His overwhelming grace and compassion.
-“What do you want?”
-I pray that reflection on these words of God will help fan into flame a burning desire to know Christ, the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing his suffering.