“Intimacy: Knowledge or Knowing”
Last time we looked at Philippians, we saw that Paul recognized the basis of his salvation – faith in Jesus Christ. “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ”. The salvation of Jesus Christ comes by faith in Christ’s work on the cross, not by our own works. Paul gave his Savior, Jesus Christ, all the credit, and counted all he knew, all he had achieved, and all the religious positions he had attained as rubbish—having absolutely no value.
In our human nature we want to do something that is measurable – something that can be checked off our mental list as being completed in order to know we possess salvation. We want something that is observable that confirms our salvation—usually something we’ve done or position we’ve held; but, God’s word says in Ephesians 2: 8-9 NIV For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. “
Paul had come out of a life of dead works - had received salvation in Christ by faith, and had moved on to possess the relationship with Christ that salvation initiated.
In Phil. 3:8-9 “…For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ, And that I may actually be found and known as in Him, not having any self-achieved righteousness that can be called my own… the truly right standing with God, which comes from God by saving faith.
In the verses we are looking at this morning, Paul speaks to us about his relationship with Christ. He passionately presents what is needed to have joy. He presents what is at the core of a mature life in Christ—what should happen in a life that has received salvation. What kind of life is that?
It is a life that is growing in intimacy with Jesus Christ.
It is a life that is maturing.
It is a life that is becoming like Christ.
It is a life that identifies us with Christ.
It is a life that possesses security for eternity yet makes a difference in this world today.
It is a life that strives for a heart-intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
Can you say that your life is that kind of life?
A story is told about a little boy who fell out of his bed one night. When his mother was helping him back into bed, she asked him what happened. His reply was “I guess I stayed too near where I got in”. For some of us, our relationship with Christ is too much like that little boy…..we have become too content with knowing we have made our reservations for heaven and therefore “stay too near where we got in”.
This could not be said of Paul. He could never be content with being just saved. It would have been inconceivable. Look at what he says in v 3:10 in the NIRV, “I want to know Christ better. I want to know the power that raised Him from the dead. I want to share in His sufferings. I want to become like Him by sharing in His death.” For Paul, salvation was just the beginning.
As we move on in this passage to verses 12-14, Paul makes sure we know that he hasn’t arrived. He doesn’t want anyone to think he is bragging or that spiritual maturity isn’t attainable. He desires that His spiritual children know the secret to a joyful life that could be experienced no matter what the circumstances…. whether those circumstances are pleasing or the most challenging in life, and no matter what may have occurred in their past.
Paul wanted more than assurance of salvation and knowledge of Christ. He wanted to completely grasp, to grab hold of, to personally possess everything that Christ intended for him to possess when he was taken hold of by Christ. Philippians 3:12 NIV Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Paul’s desire was Christ’s desire for us. We were saved to have a relationship with Him. Christ desires that He Himself be so important—so all consuming that He and nothing else overwhelms us. What does that say to you? He is everything to me. Our relationship is my driving motivation in everything I do everyday of my life.
In Colossians 1:27niv Paul tells us that Christ in us is our Hope of glory. “To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” His presence in us is our confidence of being with Him in heaven one day—we know that we know!
In Hebrews 13:5 nkjv He promises to never leave or forsake us. “…be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you.” My response to this is –YES!!!!!
Isn’t it interesting that we often pray and ask for His presence. When we know Christ by faith, He is in us—He is with us. He promised! He desires to grant us more of Himself, though we already received all of His life in us at the time of salvation.
What does this say about our faith – our relationship with Christ, when we pray and ask Him to be with us?
It suggests uncertainty about the depth of relationship we personally have with Jesus Christ. If we only have knowledge and have not experienced knowing Him as He desires us to, we are insecure about His working in us --about His presence in us. He waits for us to turn to Him that we might know Him more and more intimately. We must move from an intellectual knowledge into an intimate knowing of Jesus Christ if we are to be mature in Him and possess joy.
Today we live in a generation that is insatiable for knowledge. Knowledge is increasing exponentially. This can be seen in the church as well. We want more and more knowledge about every aspect of church life, our Christian walk, and in our interpersonal relationships as well.
In Philippians 3:10-12, Paul presents the secret of a joyful or joy-filled Christian life. It has been said that it is sometimes a long trip from the head to the heart. Experiencing Christ intimately is a heart experience – it’s a relationship of the heart.
In the church, we have a knowledge overload—we‘ve sat thru numerous bible studies, heard countless sermons, attended many seminars, and yet, we are often found to be immature in our heart relationship with Christ, rendering us less than Christ like, less than joyful, and less than mature in our walk with Him. Paul says that we must experience Christ more and more. This is why Jesus Christ has taken hold of us—that we might know God the Father through Jesus Christ as we complete our journey in this world.
How then do we grow in intimacy with Christ? What must we do to make our relationship with Christ supreme, to exist in such harmony with Him that we are ever aware of His presence in us?
It really isn’t complicated. We all can possess intimacy with Christ if we have salvation. We can move in this direction immediately. We all have Bibles. If you don’t, come see me. By faith, we employ the three t’s----time, talk, trust. Time set aside for Christ, talk to Christ, or as we say pray, and trust Him as we apply God’s word to our lives.
We must invest in our relationship with Christ. As we spend time with Jesus, talking to Him as we pour over His words in the Bible, He reveals Himself to us. We are challenged in Psalm 34:8 NLT to “Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who trust in Him!” We begin to see Him for ourselves.
Trusting what He says to us and what He promises us, as we go about our daily lives, we quickly discover that He is trustworthy. We begin to experience Him as Light, Love, Truth, Freedom, and the Bread of Life. We see and experience Him more and more clearly and with that, our faith in Him grows. His goodness, mercy and love are repeatedly confirmed as we pray through the activities of the day and the relationships in our lives, asking Him to interact with us in His wisdom as He wills.
Our burdens are lifted as we find our peace and trust in Him for all that is important to us. Yes, we will even know the power of His resurrection and share in His sufferings, as we grow in faith and trust in His love. Our love for Him expressed in obedience will grow. We will desire more and more to be in His Presence for eternity even as Paul expressed in chapter 1 verse 21, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Paul was unwavering. His goal for his relationship with Christ - for his Christian life was to “know” Him more and more—in greater depth. When Paul states that he wants to “know” Christ what he is saying is that he wants his relationship to become an intimate personal friendship, in other words, his goal is to experience God in all His fullness. Our new life in Him has given us this capacity to experience the Living Almighty God in all of His fullness.
When we accept Christ as our Savior, we have begun a new relationship, one that is eternal. We now can say we know Christ. We can know Christ as our Savior; know what the Bible teaches us about Him, and even serve Him in the church and the community, but if we’ve never experienced Him working in us after receiving new life in Christ, we only know about Him. He wants us to experience His character as it is expressed in the names used for Him in the Bible.
We know Him as Creator and Savior, perhaps; but, do we know Him as the gentle Healer, the merciful Forgiver, the strong and faithful Friend and Companion, the Keeper of our soul when we feel we can’t go on, the tender Comforter, the Supplier of our every need, the Strong tower when we are attack by the world and by our own humanity, the heavenly Father who is safe and never lets us down or abandons us?
How do you need to know Christ today?
Ask Him to reveal Himself to you that you might experience Him in every way He intends for you to experience Him. He gave His life and rose from the grave to satisfy our souls for eternity, and so that we can experience all of Him in this world …and then….quite casually ….and with great anticipation step into heaven with Him, the One we know intimately and Who knows us best and loves us most.
[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power flowing out from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope] That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body]. AMEN.
