Knowing Christ Series

INTRODUCTION

What could be more important than knowing Christ in our Christian life?

Well, today is Christmas and by now we all know the Christmas story pretty well. While Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem to register for the census, the time came for the baby to be born. She wrapped him in clothes and laid him in a manger. Soon the angels proclaimed the good news to the shepherds who came and saw Jesus. Wise men came from the east and gave Jesus, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. This is the story of the birth of Jesus. While most people end the Christmas story with just the birth of Christ, to know the real Christ we need to go beyond the birth of Jesus Christ.

ILLUSTRATION

I remember the time when Sam and Grace were little newborn babies. They were tiny and so little and looking at them we could never imagine or guess what they would grow up to be. Now as they grow, I can see their talents and gifts develop. Maybe in another 10 years, I will get to know them even better. In fact, we can know a person only if we know his entire life.

Do you want to know more about Jesus Christ? well, Apostle Paul in his writings gives us tips to know Christ better.

Philippians 3:7-11 7But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What 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 9and 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. 10I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

As Apostle Paul is writing to the Philippines in Chapter three, we get the feeling that he paused in the midst of his writing. Probably he leans back in his chair and begins to remember how and why he became a Christian, and what has happened to him since he first started knowing Christ.

Most Christians limit Christ and Christmas to Joseph and Mary, the baby Jesus in a manger, shepherds, and the wise men. Every year Christ is born, and they celebrate. well, that’s good but now listen, a true Christian has only one Christmas, the day he accepts Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord. The day Christ is born in him. As every Christmas approaches it is good as Christians to see how far we have come in Knowing Christ, how much more we have known Him, and reflect on what has happened to us since our first Christmas.

Apostle Paul, before accepting Christ, was a man of great influence among the Jews, a member of the ruling aristocracy with wealth and fame. Soldiers and servants followed him wherever he went but Paul had given all that up to follow Jesus.

As Paul is writing to the Philippians, he is pausing and thinking to himself why after all he followed Christ and he says, “I had the money, I had fame, prestige, and position.” From a worldly point of view Paul had everything, he was rich. Paul finally realized that if you have all the things of the world, but you don’t have Christ, you are poor indeed. But if you have Christ, you are rich indeed. Hence, he had come to realize that Jesus is the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in a field. It is worth following Christ.

Listen, Paul did not become a Christian to become rich, to be famous or to be great and neither did I. Yes! I did not become a Christian to become rich nor did I become a Christian for healing, prosperity, or blessing. Definitely God adds all these things if you truly follow Him. See what Paul says, “You want to know why I became a Christian? You want to know why I followed Jesus.” “It is because I looked at all of this that the world seeks so fervently, and it is rubbish. The only thing that really counts is Christ.”

This Christmas you may be caught up with a lot of celebrations but what really counts is if you truly have Christ in you. Paul says, “I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ.” And in verse 10 he says, “I want to know Christ.”

Philippians 3:8,10 8I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ. 10I want to know Christ.