LeRoy June 26/2022

I want to know Christ

Have you ever played Trivial Pursuit? I’ve only played it a handful of times. I remember when I first started, I was weak in many areas of the game. I was quite strong in the Sports and Leisure, but very weak in Movies or music.

Trivial Pursuit Board game: - Created 1979 is a game in which progress is determined by a player’s ability to answer general knowledge and popular culture questions - The object of the game was to answer a correct question in each of 6 categories such as Geography, Sports and Leisure, History, and Science and Nature - Peaking in 1984 selling 20 million games - As of 2004 nearly 88 million games sold - Sold in 26 countries In 17 languages - 55 different editions - Questions are pretty obscure. For example, - What does a heliologist study? - (The sun) - What U.S. city was once know as Federal City? - (Washington, D.C.) - What is the crystal anniversary? - (A couple celebrating their 15th anniversary) - Exactly what it is Trivial knowledge

From a sermon by Ralph Andrus, Life’s Major Pursuit, 2/24/2010

Tonight, I want to speak to you about knowing Christ. My prayer is that this is each of our desire.

Let’s read,

Philippians 3:5–11 NLT

I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

Background on the writer

Paul the Apostle wrote this letter. He was well-known to many in his country. He studied under a man that was a great teacher named Gamaliel.

We know him as Paul, but the handle he was given was Saul of Tarsus. It would be like Carmen of Quill Lake, or Janet of LeRoy, or David of Whitewood.

He admits to persecuting the church. He was an avid persecutor of the church. He went from town to town throwing people into jail. He was the young man taking the coats when a man by the name of Stephen was taken out of Jerusalem to be stoned to death.

One day, Saul of Tarsus was taking a group of people to Damascus to persecute scattered Christians. One the way he was blinded by a bright light, and he met Jesus, the One who this whole controversy called the way was about.

Acts 9:3–6 NLT

As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

After this day Saul changed from being a persecutor of the church to being one of the greatest preachers of the church.

I want to know Christ

Paul didn’t say that he wanted to know about

Christ. Trivial facts about Jesus aren’t as important as knowing Jesus. We can know where He was born. We can know who is mother was. We can know what town He grew up in and we can even know who His twelve disciples were, but do we know Christ Jesus our Lord?

Life Application New Testament Commentary The Priceless Gain of Knowing Christ / 3:1–11

The Greek word for “knowing” here speaks of a personal, experiential, and progressive knowledge.

Garbage

Some translation use rubbish, refuse, or dung.

Paul considered everything that he believed as his salvation, his ticket to Heaven as garbage, compared to knowing Jesus Christ his Lord.

He was Jewish. He was circumcised when he was 8 days old. He was from the tribe of Benjamin. The first king of Israel came from that tribe. He was a Pharisee, which was prestigious, but it also meant that he kept the Law perfectly. The Law was the Ten Commandments, but there were also 613 other laws that they kept. There was a book called the Talmud, which was like a commentary on these laws.

He was very devoted, and because of this, he persecuted the church. His righteousness was built on who he was and the things he did.

Do we fall into this trap?

Do we think that we can please God because we grew up in the church or we were baptized? Do we think that because we are actually pretty good people that we please God by the God that we do?

Paul made it very clear in verses 8-9

Philippians 3:8–9 NIV

What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

The only way for us to be made right with God is through faith. We believe that Jesus died for us. We believe that Jesus’ death pleases God.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

I want to experience His power in my life

Philippians 3:10 NIV

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

We, personally, cannot die for sin, Jesus did that, but we must become participants in Jesus’ suffering by dying to our sinful nature.

Galatians 2:20–21 NIV

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Life Application New Testament Commentary The Priceless Gain of Knowing Christ / 3:1–11

Just as Christ’s resurrection gives us his power to live for him, his crucifixion marks the death of our old sinful nature. We can’t know the victory of the Resurrection without personally applying the Crucifixion.

To close, I’d like to close with a story called “Selling out to God,”

It’s a sad day when people are offered the kingdom of heaven, but they don’t see its value. They set it aside as a common thing and go their way. Image going to an antique store and finding a priceless antique there. The seller has priced it as a common item. But it is worth many times more than the price being asked. It could be bought for pennies, but like many others, you passed it up. You thought it was as common as the other articles in the store. A few days later you read in the local news that someone has bought that item at the antique store. He paid the rock bottom price being asked. But unlike you, he perceived its value to be much greater than the asking price. He had it appraised by experts and learned it is worth millions of dollars. You look at the picture of that item in the news article. It is the one you picked up and examined a few days earlier. It was in your hand. It could have been yours. But you passed it up. If only you had perceived the true value of that treasure. You could have bought it and become rich.

Let’s not pass up on this opportunity to know Christ. Maybe you have been believing that you can get to heaven by what you have done, and yet we can only get to Heaven by what Jesus has done.

Do you want to know Christ? Do you want to experience His power in your life? Believe that He died for your sins. Acknowledge that you need Him, and make a public confession that you believe and have asked Jesus into your life.

You will never regret getting to know Jesus. He will change your life, and one day you

Philippians 3:11 (NLT)

...will experience the resurrection from the dead!

Let’s pray!