"More about Jesus"
Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Introduction: Have you ever heard someone say, "The better I get to know him, the better I like him!" That's always a good thing when that happens. Unfortunately, just the opposite is also true, sometimes when we get to know someone better the less that we like them. This often happens in relationships whether they are related to business, or education or whatever. If this happens in a marriage you've got a problem. But just what does Paul mean when he says, "...that I may know him?" and this is important because on the surface this is somewhat confusing for several reasons. First, by the time Paul writes this letter to the believers at Philippi he has been a Christian for many years, had served as a missionary church planter, author of much of the NT, mentor to ministers and had suffered for his faith in Jesus; and second he is approaching the end of his life for he is in prison and it will not be long before a Roman sword will separate his head from his body and Paul will be carried into glory on angels wings. So, it is obvious he is not speaking of his salvation and if he is not, then what? Let's take a minute to examine and amplify what he does say. A careful translation of this (that I may know Him) phrase would read, "...to have personal acquaintance or experience with..." and this is the passion of Paul's life! So I believe Paul is indicating a desire for a deeper intimacy with Jesus. In verses 8-10 he mentions three things that would "deepen" his experience with the Lord. Notice that "...to know..." is taken from knowledge in verse 8 and refers to "...not having..." his own righteousness but having the righteousness of Christ which is of God and therefore knowing Jesus in that way; the power of His resurrection is the power that the resurrection exerts upon us by taking us from "grace to glory" and the fellowship of His sufferings is participation in Christ's sufferings being conformed to His death (in Paul's case it would be martyrdom) which would be "the spirit and temper, the meekness and submissiveness of Christ; to His unselfish love and devotion, and His anguish over human sin." Vines Word Studies
What do all these theological terms mean in everyday speak? To me it means that even after all the years of following Jesus Paul still had a burning desire to "know" Jesus in a deeper, richer, fuller way; to experience Jesus more intimately than ever before. Paul understood something that all of us need to experience. The more that we know about Jesus the more we will love Him and the more that we love Him the more we will want to know! Simply put, to know Jesus is to love Jesus and the more we love Jesus the more:
I. We Will Want to Worship Him
You Can Do This by Offering God Your Whole Self: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God..." (Rom. 12:1-2) When an Israelite had received a blessing from God, he could have a priest offer up an animal as a "whole burnt offering" to show God his gratitude. God was pleased by this costly sacrifice, and expressed this by calling it a "...sweet savor..." (See Lev. 3:5, 16) Paul says that as Christians, we have received the mercies of God through Christ's work - a gift so fantastic that he spent the previous eleven chapters of this letter describing it. How can we say "Thank you!" to God for such a fantastic gift? Not by offering an animal, but by presenting to God something much more precious--our very selves. We can "sign over the title deed" of our lives and say "God, I want the rest of my life and every part of my being to be one long expression of my gratitude for the gift that you have given me." We may think that this sacrifice is not very great because we have so many problems and faults, but God says that it is "holy" and "well-pleasing" to him! Notice that according to Paul, this sacrifice is our "spiritual service of worship." The Greek word for "service of worship" is the word from which we get the term liturgy. Paul is saying that the elaborate worship service enacted by the Old Testament priests no longer has a place in Christian worship; it is now replaced by this very personal sacrifice. - See more at: http://www.xenos.org/classes/um2-2.htm#sthash.T4h9rwmJ.dpuf
You Can Do This by Offering God Your Material Resources: "But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased..." (Heb. 13:16) The author touches on two more ways in which we can worship God: to do good and to communicate. "communicate" probably refers to the generous giving of our material resources to God's people and God's work. This is explicitly identified by Paul as a sacrifice which pleases God: "But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God..." (Phil. 4:18) Many Christians regard giving financially to God in the same way that they pay their taxes to the I.R.S. - they have to do it, and they look for ways to give as little as possible. Paul's view is very different from this. He says that giving is a privilege (2 Cor. 8:4) and something that we should do generously (2 Cor. 9:6), as an expression of our commitment to God (2 Cor. 8:5). When we give our money to God in this way by supporting our local church, other Christian workers and ministries, and helping the needy, God regards this as an expression of worship fully as spiritual as praising him. This is because giving of our money represents a giving of ourselves, since money represents the time and effort and creativity that we have invested in order to gain it. Such giving is also an expression of our trust in God's faithfulness to continue to meet our material needs--which Paul tells us God will fully supply in (Phil. 4:19).
See more at: http://www.xenos.org/classes/um2-2.htm#sthash.T4h9rwmJ.dpuf
You Can Do This by Offering God Your Service to Others: "But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." (Heb. 13:16) The other sacrifice mentioned in this verse is "to do good." This phrase refers to ministry--performing deeds of loving service to other people as representatives of Christ. When we relate to the people God brings into our lives with Christ-like, sacrificial love, God regards this as an expression of our worship to him. ". . . walk in love, just as Christ loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice as a fragrant aroma." God is pleased by this kind of life-style not only because he wants to love people through us, but also because this demonstrates that we are living with an attitude of trust in his love for us. We are motivated to love others because we understand and believe in the love that God has for us (1 Jn. 4:16-19). Every day, God gives us dozens of creative opportunities to say "thank you!" to him in this way-- serving our spouses, caring for our children, performing deeds of service for those in need, showing and sharing the love of Christ to our neighbors, those at work or school--the examples are endless. We also have the special privilege of worshiping God through the exercise of our spiritual gifts. Paul speaks of his own apostolic ministry in this way: ". . . because of the grace that was given to me from God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, that my offering of the Gentiles might become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit." (Rom. 15:15, 16) After urging us to present our lives to God as an act of worship in Rom. 12:1, Paul goes on to urge us to express that worship through the use of our spiritual gifts (vs. 6-8). As we discover our spiritual gifts and exercise them regularly in the service of others, and give God praise for the fruit of this ministry, we discover a form of worship that is uniquely satisfying! - See more at: http://www.xenos.org/classes/um2-2.htm#sthash.T4h9rwmJ.dpuf
You Can Do This by Offering God Your Praise: " By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name..." (Heb. 13:15) Here is another spiritual sacrifice which pleases God--praising him and thanking him for all that he is and all that he does for us. The practice of thankfulness to God is stressed over and over again in the New Testament (see 1 Thess. 5:16-18; Col. 3:15-17). Why is this? Does God need our gratitude so that he can feel good about himself? Such a view obviously does not befit the God of the Bible--He is the only being in the universe Who is completely self-existent and therefore needs nothing. We add nothing to God by praising and thanking him. God is indeed pleased by our gratitude, but the ones who benefit from this practice are us! As we choose (often against our present feelings and circumstances) to recall God's blessings and then to thank him for these, we are keeping ourselves properly aligned with reality. Rather than buying into the lie that we are mistreated and unfortunate, we are by faith asserting the truth--that we are fantastically blessed beyond anything that we could ever deserve! In spite of our rebellion against God, which deserves his wrath, he has forgiven us, adopted us into his family, guaranteed us eternal life, given us a significant role in his purpose, indwelt us with his Spirit, provided us with Christian friends-- and the list goes on and on. The author's emphasis here is that we should worship God in this way "continually." The idea that Christian worship takes place only (or especially) in a corporate worship meeting is utterly foreign to this verse. Because of Christ's payment for our sins, we have the privilege to draw near to God and communicate to him in this way at any time: in the morning when we wake up, on the way to work, during the busy day, when we are together with other Christians, alone in our room, etc. It is wonderful to praise God with other Christians in song (Eph. 5:19), but this should be only the "tip of the iceberg" of our thanks to God.
See more at: http://www.xenos.org/classes/um2-2.htm#sthash.T4h9rwmJ.dpuf
The second thing is: The more that we know about Jesus the more we will love Him and the more that we love Him the more we will want to know! Simply put, to know Jesus is to love Jesus and the more we love Jesus the more:
II. We Will Want to Walk With Him
We really do want to be with the one we love don't we? This past week we took a few days' vacation and went to see our loved ones. It was about a 2,000 miles round trip by the time it was all said and done but you know what? It was well worth it. We got to see our parents, our children and their spouses and best of all we got to see our grandsons, all five of them! The amazing thing about all this is not that we want to be with Him but that He wants to be with us! This point reminds me of an old hymn that goes:
"And He walks with me,
And He talks with me
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known"
Luke 24 is one of the most blessed passages in the entire Bible. Let's read 13-15 together:
Luke 24:13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them."
Several important things happened as they walked with the Lord:
a. Revelation -- enlightenment
Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
b. Realization -- engagement
Luke 24:31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
c. Response -- expression
Luke 24:52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:
Finally, there is: The more that we know about Jesus the more we will love Him and the more that we love Him the more we will want to know! Simply put, to know Jesus is to love Jesus and the more we love Jesus the more:
III. We Will Want to Work For Him
a. Our Employment -- We will want to be used by Him.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
We will want him to use us in any way that He sees fit, in any way possible.
b. Our Deployment -- We want to go where He sends and do what He commands.
c. Our Enjoyment --
On the Mount of Transfiguration Peter said let me make three tabernacles.
Paul and Silas sang praises at midnight that they were counted worthy to suffer for His name.
Stephen prayed for his tormentors and worshipped Jesus with his dying breath.
Mary anointed His feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
The angels in heaven sing "Worthy is the Lamb" and one day "every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord!"
