When Paul said that he considered all things to be lost in order to know Christ, and that he only wanted to “know Christ…and the power of His resurrection”, [Phil. 3:10] he wasn’t talking about gaining more Bible knowledge.
On the contrary, he had just spent the previous six verses expounding upon all of the great Bible knowledge he once put so much stock in and then declared that he considered all of that to be “dung” or “crap” [literally].
Why so? “So that I may gain Christ and be found in Him..” [v. 8-9]
There’s almost an "if/then" wording here where Paul is suggesting that anyone who wants to gain Christ and to be found in Him – anyone who wants to “know Christ and the power of His resurrection” – must first consider everything else to be garbage in comparison.
Take the juxtaposition of “knowing Christ” and the phrase “the power of His resurrection”. You can’t have a resurrection until you first have a funeral. If no one dies, then who will be brought back to life again?
This dovetails beautifully with the Gospel that Jesus proclaimed saying, “If anyone would come after me, let him first deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me”.
In other words, if we want to experience the “power of His resurrection” we must first die to ourselves daily. Once we die, then we can begin to receive the marvelous power of His resurrection life within.
We don't have to wait until we die to begin experiencing this resurrection life, we can know it right here and now.
What’s even more amazing, is that Paul is talking here about an actual reality. This isn’t a metaphor. This isn’t some spiritual platitude. He is talking about being truly able to know Christ and to experience that resurrection life today. He is talking about a transcendent reality whereby he is capable of knowing Christ the way you and I know our own voices.
Think of it! You and I can experience the living, breathing, presence of Jesus right here and now.
“The Lord is near”, as Paul says in Philippians 4:5. Therefore, let us “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
Drawing nearer to Him is not only possible, it’s practically mandatory for every single person who is found in Christ.
-kg
1 comment:
Yes very true--you need to graduate from the head knoeledge of the book to the actual experience of the being of Christ himself living inside of you and expressing himself out of you as you.
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