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Scripture Reading: Phil. 3:7-10
Philippians 3:7-9 says, “What things were gains to me, these I have counted as loss on account of Christ. But moreover I also count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is out of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith.” To be found in Christ is a great matter. We are in Christ, but it is possible that people do not find us in Him. There are many millions of Christians in America, but we may not often be able to recognize them since not many are living Christ. Paul first wanted to gain Christ and then to be found in Christ by others. At the time Paul wrote the Epistle to the Philippians, he was in prison in Rome. He aspired to be found by his fellow prisoners and even by the household of Caesar (4:22) as a person in Christ.
Philippians 3:10 continues, “To know Him.” The excellency of the knowledge of Christ (v. 8) that Paul had was according to and by the revelation he received. Before he was saved, Paul was spiritually blind. He was zealous and desperate for the God whom his forefathers worshipped. However, on the way to Damascus the Lord met him (Acts 9:1-9). At that time he received a direct revelation from the Lord (Gal. 1:15-16) concerning the wonderful Christ, the very embodiment of the God whom his forefathers worshipped. Paul’s knowledge of Christ by revelation issued in the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. However, after receiving this excellent knowledge by revelation, he still sought a further knowledge, a knowledge not by revelation but by experience.
To know is an infinitive, indicating that the matters mentioned in the preceding verses are the qualifications for Paul to know Christ further experientially. These qualifications are (1) counting the religious things which were gains as loss on account of Christ, (2) counting also all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, and (3) to be found in Christ, having the righteousness out of God based upon faith. We may have the excellency of the knowledge of certain foods by looking at a menu, but we may never have tasted them. To taste the food requires certain qualifications. Paul was qualified to know Christ by being in the proper position and condition. He repudiated the things of traditional religion, including his former status in Judaism (Phil. 3:5-7). Moreover, he counted all things to be loss on account of Christ that he might gain Christ and be found in Him, not having his own righteousness which is out of the law but the righteousness which is out of God. The Jews were found having the righteousness of the Mosaic law, but Paul lived in a condition of having the righteousness out of God, which is God Himself in Christ as His embodiment. By being in such a condition, Paul was qualified to know Christ in experience.
Verse 10 says, “To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” When Paul wrote the Epistle to the Philippians, he had the experiential knowledge of Christ and was experiencing the power of His resurrection. While he was in the Roman prison, he may have been bound in stocks under the threat of execution by being beheaded or thrown to wild beasts in the amphitheater. In that situation he needed to know the power of the resurrection of Christ. The power of Christ’s resurrection is His resurrection life, which raised Him from the dead (Eph. 1:19-20). It is the resurrected and resurrecting Christ. This power was in Paul as the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19). The reality of the power of Christ’s resurrection is the Spirit (Rom. 8:11), and the bountiful supply of the Spirit is the power of resurrection. The nature of Christ’s resurrection is the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Without the Spirit of Jesus Christ, there is no resurrection.
Today the Spirit is in our human spirit. The way to experientially know the power of resurrection is to turn to our spirit and remain in our spirit. It may not be necessary to pray to remain in our spirit. We may simply praise, sing Hallelujahs, and shout triumphantly. This is the way to experience the power of Christ’s resurrection.
In order to experience the power of resurrection, we are brought into suffering. Paul experienced the power of resurrection in a Roman prison. If we do not experience suffering, we cannot know this power. In this sense the power of resurrection needs a “prison.” Marriage life is an example of this kind of imprisonment. In a good sense, our marriage does not usher us into a banquet but into a “prison.”
The cross of Christ may be compared to a cooking mold. When dough is pushed into shaped molds and cooked, the result is a bread or pastry in the shape of the mold. We are the “dough” that has been put into the “mold” of the cross by the power of resurrection. Our marriage life is a part of that mold. In one sense marriage life is not an enjoying life; it is a suffering life. Paul says that those who marry will have affliction in the flesh (1 Cor. 7:28). However, marriage has been sovereignly ordained by the Lord. Unless one has received a special gift from the Lord (Matt. 19:10-12), he should not remain unmarried. Our children are also a part of the mold of the cross. I have seen many parents suffer because of their children.
To experientially know the power of Christ’s resurrection needs us to be put into the mold of suffering. In Philippians 3:10 Paul speaks of the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings. The Lord Jesus calls us to follow Him in His sufferings, bearing the cross (Matt. 16:24). To bear the cross is to enjoy the fellowship of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus.
Philippians 3:10 first speaks of knowing Christ as a wonderful person. We can never exhaust telling who He is. Second, it speaks of knowing the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. Then while we are experientially enjoying the fellowship of His sufferings, we are being conformed to His death. The death of Christ is a mold. We are living in this mold of death. Christ’s death should be the mold of our life. We will all eventually declare, “I am not only living; I am dying. I die to everything; I am a dying person. My living is in the mold of Christ’s death.”
We are not conformed to the death of Adam. The death of Adam is a terrible thing, but Christ’s death is sweet. While we are living, we die in the mold of His death. We are enjoying knowing Christ experientially; we are enjoying knowing the power of Christ’s resurrection; and we are enjoying knowing the fellowship of His sufferings. While we are in the enjoyment of this experiential knowledge, we are being conformed to the mold of His death.
Hymns, #631 says,
If I’d know Christ’s risen power,
I must ever love the Cross;
Life from death alone arises;
There’s no gain except by loss.
If no death, no life,
If no death, no life;
Life from death alone arises;
If no death, no life.
If I’d have Christ formed within me,
I must breathe my final breath,
Live within the Cross’s shadow,
Put my soul-life e’er to death
.
If God thru th’ Eternal Spirit
Nail me ever with the Lord;
Only then as death is working
Will His life thru me be poured.
We are persons under the shadow of the cross of Christ. The Christian life is both a living life and a dying life. We live, but we live in the mold of the death of Christ. When the Lord Jesus lived on the earth, He was being crucified every day. Every day He lived a crucified life. We also can live such a life because we have the power of His resurrection. As we have seen, this power is the person of Christ, and Christ today is the Spirit of Jesus Christ who is in our spirit. As we remain in our spirit, we experience this power in the shadow of the death of Christ. Every day our spouse and children are the “shadows of death” to us. Our children may be very enjoyable to us at first. However, one day they may become shadows, and the more they grow, the darker the shadows may become. Eventually, our children will put us into the mold of the cross. We should simply remain there and say Hallelujah!
Not only are our marriage life and family life the mold of the cross, but even the church life becomes the mold of the cross to us. Certain saints may wonder why there are hardships in the “glorious church life,” and eventually the church life may not seem so glorious to them. Every brother and sister may seem to be a “dark shadow.” This may cause some to consider moving to a new locality. However, they may discover that the church in the locality to which they move is even darker. Furthermore, if they leave the church, their situation will become darker still. We have no place to which we may escape. Every locality is a cross. This is our destiny. We have been destined to pass through the cross. Only when we are in the New Jerusalem in the new heavens and new earth will we be out of the shadow of death. In the New Jerusalem there will be no night and no shadow (Rev. 21:25). However, today there are shadows of the cross everywhere.
Praise the Lord that within us there is the power of resurrection. Paul said, “I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me” (Phil. 4:13). The One who empowers us is the power of resurrection. By Him we can live a life that expresses and magnifies Christ (1:20).
