The destination of the Christian life is the resurrection from the dead. But what is the path that leads to that destination? Paul says it is knowing the Person, Power, Pain, and Purpose of Christ.
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The Path That Leads To The Resurrection
Philippians 3:10-11
Bridge folks, today is the Christian Super Bowl! If there is one special day above all days for the child of God, it would have to be Resurrection Sunday. This is the day for the Christian to celebrate Christ’s victory over death, hell, and the grave.
This morning, I have chosen as my text Philippians 3:10-11, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
That word “attain” means to finish a journey, or to arrive at a destination. What Paul is literally saying is, “if, by any means, I may arrive at the destination of the resurrection from the dead.” This was Paul’s ultimate and final goal – to be raised up from the dead to experience and enjoy the fellowship of God, and saints and angels in His eternal kingdom. And folks, make no mistake about this, we would have absolutely no hope of being raised up from the dead to be with Christ forever, if Jesus had not been raised from the dead first! Jesus said in John 14:19, “Because I live, you will live also.” The author of Hebrews says in chapter 6, verses 19 and 20, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” In this passage, the Bible says that Jesus has entered heaven as a forerunner for us. A forerunner is one who goes before others to prepare the way. Well, when Jesus rose from the dead, He went before us to prepare the way for us to follow in His path.
But, what path leads to that final destination? If I want to get to Monterrey, I’m never going to get there by going east on I-80! If I want to get to Monterrey, I have to follow the path that will actually take me there. Friends, if you want to experience the everlasting enjoyment of the glory of God, there is a very specific path that you must follow. I’m going to call it the Truth Path of Christian Experience. I believe that Philippians 3:10 gives us that path. In verse 10, Paul speaks of knowing Christ, the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. In this verse the word “knowing” means much more than knowing certain facts about someone. You don’t “know” Donald Trump, but you do “know” your spouse, or father or mother. You have had much first hand experience of relating to them. So “to know” in this verse has more to do with a personal, intimate, experiential union with Christ. We could substitute the word “experiencing” for the word “knowing”.
So, then, what is the path that leads to the destination of resurrection? Experiencing the Person of Christ, the Power of Christ, the Pain of Christ, and the Purpose of Christ. And please notice that without Christ’s resurrection, none of these experiences is possible. We can’t experience Christ today, if He never rose from the dead. He must be alive for us to know and experience Him, right? We can’t experience His power if He isn’t risen from the dead. We can’t experience the fellowship of His sufferings if He isn’t risen from the dead. And, we can’t be conformed to His death if He isn’t risen from the dead. Walking the path that leads to the ultimate destination of bodily resurrection is only possible if we have a risen Savior. And we do!
So, this morning, let’s focus on the path that leads to the resurrection from the dead.
1. Knowing The Person Of Christ
In Paul’s mind, experiencing the person of Christ was the greatest and most valuable experience He could have in this life. Look at how he puts it in verse 8, “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.” In this chapter, Paul is saying that all the things he used to count as assets in his life, he now counts as liabilities. All those things that were so valuable and precious to him, like his Jewish pedigree, his circumcision, his nationality, his Pharisaism, his zeal, and his external righteousness, when compared to Christ, were like manure! Knowing Christ was the surpassing value, and it was Paul’s supreme passion.
So, what did Paul mean by his longing, “that I may know Him”? Well, he is certainly not talking about knowing some historical facts about Jesus. He’s not talking about knowing that Jesus has existed from all eternity, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died as a substitute on the cross to pay for sin, was buried, and then rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, sits at the right hand of God with all authority in heaven and earth, and one day will return to judge the living and the dead. Now, it is all very important that we know all of those truths about Jesus. I, for one, am not one of those guys whose motto is “Life – not Doctrine!” However, there have been a lot of people, pastors and preachers included, who have understood all of those doctrines, but died in their sins and went to hell! Why? Because they didn’t “know” Christ. They didn’t have an intimate, personal, experiential, saving relationship with Christ. It was this that got George Whitefield into so much hot water during the First Great Awakening here in the American colonies. Whitefield asserted that there were many unregenerate preachers in American pulpits. I understand that he may have been unwise to publicly proclaim that, but he was probably right. No, knowing Christ is much more than knowing doctrine or theology. And, by the way, beware of making doctrine or theology your passion! There are some Christians who only want to read about and talk about theology. However, they never speak about their love for and devotion to Christ. They don’t speak of an intimate prayer life, or the joy of living in fellowship with Jesus.
Do you realize that knowing Christ in this experiential way is basic to true Christianity? It is Christianity 101. Let’s take a look at some Scripture to see this.
John 17:3, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
John 10:14, “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me”
1 John 5:20, “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”
Ephesians 1:17 “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.”
Jesus said that on Judgment Day, He will say to many, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”
I hope you can see how vital it is that you know Christ. It is for this reason that I think it is right when we say things like, “so when did you come to know Christ?” or “How long have you known the Lord”? In these questions, we are equating conversion with knowing Christ, and that is exactly right. If you know Christ in this way, you are saved. If you don’t know Christ in this way you are lost.
Notice also, that the believer is never content with His present knowledge of Christ. Certainly Paul knew the Lord. He couldn’t be saved without knowing Him. Yet he breathed this longing, “that I may know Him.” So, what does he mean? He means that He wanted to know Christ more. This is the heartbeat of the true child of God. His passion is to know Christ, to fellowship with Christ, to walk in relationship with Christ. And, he never comes to a place where He is content with his knowledge of Him. Christ is like a vast ocean, and we are playing on the beach with a little cup of ocean water. There is an infinite depth to the Person of Jesus Christ. And, the longer we know Him, the more we want to know Him. We are not content to know truths about Him. We want to experience Jesus Christ personally, in our daily lives. We want to talk to Him, and have Him talk to us. We want to experience His peace in adversity, and His joy in sorrow.
2. Knowing The Power Of Christ
Paul went on to say “and the power of His resurrection.” Not only did Paul want to experience Christ, He also wanted to experience His power – the very power that raised Christ from the dead. Did you know that the Bible teaches that we can experience that power? Listen to Ephesians 1:18-20, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.”
Notice also Ephesians 3:20, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us…”
Consider Colossians 1:29, “For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power which mightily works within me.”
So, what does it look like for us to experience the power of Christ’s resurrection? Initially we experience the power of Christ’s resurrection when we are born again. This is how Paul puts it in Ephesians 2:4-6, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him…” What happened when you were born again? You were united to the risen Christ! His life flowed into your soul. It was like you picking up a dead branch on the ground, and grafting it into a living tree, and seeing that dead branch come to life, blossom, and produce fruit. If you are a new creature in Christ Jesus, you have experienced the power of Christ’s resurrection.
This is the power to face a temptation that you have given into many times before, and have victory over it. Have you experienced that power before? Someone has done something to hurt you or belittle you, and you want to lash back at them, but instead you respond with grace and kindness. Now where did that come from? It was the power of Christ’s resurrection. You are tempted to find comfort and satisfaction in pigging out on pizza and ice cream, but instead you seek the Lord in prayer and find true satisfaction. Where did that come from? It was the power of Christ’s resurrection. You are tempted to sleep in when the alarm goes off, but instead you exercise self-control, and get up and begin to live for God. Where did that come from? It was the power of Christ’s resurrection!
This can also be seen when we receive the power to serve the Lord. You believe the Lord wants you to witness to a neighbor or friend or co-worker, but you dread it, and are afraid of it. Yet, when the time comes, your fears are gone, and you sense an unusual boldness, and you begin speaking with words you have not rehearsed before. That’s the power of Christ’s resurrection. For many years I was deathly afraid of speaking in public. I would take an “F” rather than to get up in front of the class. However, when God saved me and put a burning desire in my heart to teach the Bible, my desire to teach became greater than my fear of man. I think that is the power of Christ’s resurrection.
This can also be seen when you pass through difficult trials. Perhaps you go through a time of physical pain, or you lose a loved one in death, or you face ridicule as you seek to bring the gospel to others. However, in the midst of that trial, you experience the power of God enabling you to continue in faith and love. Rather than throw in the towel and say “Forget it! I’m not going to live the Christian life!”, you believe, and you persevere in faith day after day in the midst of great pain. That is the power of Christ’s resurrection.
3. Knowing The Pain Of Christ
Not only did Paul want to know the person of Christ and the power of Christ, but also the pain of Christ. He says in verse 10, “and the fellowship of His sufferings.” What did Paul mean by that? Paul understood that suffering is part and parcel of the Christian life. He has already told us in Philippians 2:5-11, that Christ had to face the cross before the crown. He had to descend into death before He received the throne. And, if you are going to follow Jesus, you will experience the same thing. Jesus said in John 15:20-21, “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.” Now, when Paul spoke of the fellowship of His sufferings, He wasn’t saying that He wanted to participate in Christ’s suffering to purchase our salvation, for that was something that Christ had to do alone. He was speaking about the suffering that comes to the child of God because He identifies with Jesus Christ. He was talking about the same thing He has already mentioned in Philippians 1:29, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” He is talking about participating with Christ in suffering for the gospel. He’s talking about bearing the reproach and ridicule of those who think we are fools for living for Christ.
When Saul was traveling to Damascus to arrest Christians, all of a sudden a bright light from heaven flashed around him. When he had fallen to the ground, he heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Now, isn’t that interesting? Saul was persecuting Christians. Yet Jesus said that he was persecuting Him! Why? Because Jesus is so united to His people, that when His people are persecuted, He is persecuted.
Now, we are getting to the heart of what Paul meant by desiring to know the fellowship of His sufferings. Paul was willing to suffer for the cause of Christ. However, what he really wanted, above all else, is the experience of fellowship with Christ in his sufferings. Jesus has suffered far more than any of us ever will. He understands our suffering, and He is willing to draw near and help us in the moment of our suffering. The most painful kind of suffering is when you must suffer alone. Jesus faced that kind of suffering. His disciples forsook Him and fled. Peter denied Him three times. Judas betrayed Him. However, when we face suffering, we face it with Christ. One of the blessings of the Christian life is that we always have a friend who sticks closer than a brother to go through the fiery furnace with us. Hebrews 4:15-16 says, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize withour weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Christ feels our pain. He knows our weaknesses and temptations. And when we draw near to Him in suffering, He draws near to us and comforts us and gives us grace to help.
Tell me this – when have you had the deepest times of spiritual fellowship with Christ? Hasn’t it been when you were going through the times of greatest suffering? Suffering always drives us to Christ, because we feel so deeply that we need Him to comfort and help and empower. The truth is that all of are going to suffer. We live in a fallen world that brings all kinds of trouble into our lives. So, how are you going to deal with it when it comes? Are you going to try to cope with drugs, or with booze? Are you going to seek help from a psychiatrist or find comfort in food or buying something new? Can I give you some free advice? Go to Jesus in your suffering! Paul wanted the fellowship of his Lord when he went through suffering for Christ’s sake, and he knew Christ would not let him down.
You see, I can’t know Christ, or the power of His resurrection, or have fellowship with him in my sufferings, unless He is alive! Folks, we are not trying to follow a dead Model, but having fellowship with a living Savior. I can’t know someone who is dead. I can’t experience the power of His resurrection life if He’s not alive. I can’t have fellowship with Him in suffering, if He’s dead and gone. But if Christ is alive today, I can interact with Him, I can have fellowship with Him, I can experience fresh manifestations of His grace and love, and that’s exactly what the Christian life is all about. It is a personal and living relationship with the living Lord!
4. Knowing The Purpose Of Christ
Why did Jesus come into the world? In His own words He “came to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.” Jesus was born to die. He had one great purpose in His life – to die, so that we might live forever with Him. That was Christ’s purpose.
Verse 10 literally says, “being made like Him in His death.” Because we are united to Christ, our purpose in life must become His. Just as His purpose was to come to die, so our purpose must be to be made like Him. We too must die. But I’m not talking about physical death. Some believers will die physically and become martyrs. However, most will not. But all believers must embrace the same purpose that Christ came into the world for – to die.
Paul has spoken of Christ’s death, just one chapter earlier in Philippians 2:8, “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” The death of Christ points to His submission to His Father. In Christ’s holy humanity, He shrank from the cross in terror. He pleaded with His Father, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me!” (Mt. 26:39). He knew what was in that cup – the fury of almighty God against sin. That’s why He said, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death” (Mt. 26:38). He didn’t want to drink it. Yet, He also prayed, “Yet, not as I will, but as You will.” There was the submission on His part. Jesus Christ submitted to His Father when it came to the hardest thing He ever had to face.
Now Paul says that he wants to be made like Him in His death. I believe Paul is saying that he too wants to willingly submit to His Father, even in the most difficult of life situations. Paul understood what Jesus said in John 12:24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Fruit-bearing involves cross-bearing. First death, then fruit. My friends, if you want to be a fruitful Christian, you must be made like Jesus in His death. You must submit to your Father’s will, and obey Him in the hardest circumstances of life.
Conclusion
The path that leads to the resurrection from the dead includes knowing the person of Christ, the power of Christ, the pain of Christ, and the purpose of Christ. I’m going to conclude this message by asking you some personal questions.
- Do you long to know Christ? I’m not asking you if you want to know a lot of facts about Him. I’m asking if you want to know Him? Do you have a real, vital relationship with Christ where He discloses Himself to you, and you find your soul satisfaction in Him? Do you want to know Him in a deeper more satisfying way? If not, never rest until you know that you know Him and He knows you.
- Do you long to know the power of Christ’s resurrection? You can. You must. We can’t live the Christian life without this power! Whenever you sense a lack of power to overcome temptation, or serve the Lord, or endure trials, go to Him in prayer at once, pleading for a fresh manifestation of His resurrection power. The Lord is faithful!
- Do you long to experience fellowship with Christ in your sufferings? Are you willing to endure sufferings for His sake? He is your faithful and sympathetic High Priest. He will draw near in your sufferings.
- Do you long to be like Christ in His death? Are you willing to submit to Him in life’s most difficult situations? Are you willing to do the hard, painful thing out of obedience to Jesus Christ?
My friends Christ is alive today! He is risen! You can know Him. You can experience Him. You can face suffering and submit to Him in the most difficult of situations, because He is your living Savior and Friend. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
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