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In this lesson we will continue to see other aspects that we experience and enjoy of Christ’s living in us.
In Philippians 3:3 Paul said, “For we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.” The circumcision here refers to the New Testament believers, who are genuinely circumcised by Christ’s crucifixion. They are absolutely different from the Judaizers, who are circumcised in the flesh. The New Testament believers serve as priests by the Spirit of God, not by the ordinances of the law; they boast in Christ, not in the law; and they do not have confidence in the flesh but in the Spirit. The Greek word rendered boast here also means “exult.” Our boast, our exulting, is not in our outward behavior, actions, or doings, but in Christ, who lives in us. When we experience and enjoy Christ’s living in us, we are enabled to boast, to exult, in Him.
In Philippians 3:9 Paul said that he earnestly desired to be found in Christ. Paul had been altogether in the Jewish religion under the law and had always been found by others in the law, because he was a person altogether enveloped, encased, fully boxed in, by the law. But at his conversion he was transferred from the law and his former religion into Christ and became “a man in Christ” (2 Cor. 12:2). Now he expected to be found in Christ, not in culture, philosophy, or religion, by all who observed him—the Jews, the angels, and the demons. This indicates that he aspired to have his whole being immersed in and saturated with Christ that all who observed him might find him fully in Christ.
It is one thing to have a doctrinal understanding of being found in Christ; it is quite another thing to be found in Christ in our daily living. Where we are when others observe us indicates the realm in which we live. To be found in Christ means that Christ is the realm in which we live and that He is our unique expression. Paul could be found in Christ because Christ was his expression. In every aspect and from every angle, only Christ could be seen upon him. Christ became his unique expression. Likewise, today we should also desire to be found in Christ and not in our natural virtues, culture, or religion.
If we would be found in Christ, we need to be watchful moment by moment, continually on the alert to live in Christ, that we may not be distracted from Christ and live in something other than Christ. We must continually experience and enjoy the Christ who lives in us and live Him that we may become those who are actually in Christ in experience. Then when others observe us, they will find us in Christ and in Christ alone.
Christ’s living in us also enables us to count all things as loss and refuse that we may gain Christ. In Philippians 3:7-8 Paul said, “But 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.” All the different gains were counted as one loss by Paul because they all issued in one thing, that is, the loss of Christ; they all hindered him and held him back from participating in and enjoying Christ. Hence, on account of Christ all the gains were a loss to him. Refuse denotes dregs, rubbish, filth, what is thrown to the dogs; hence, dog food, dung. There is no comparison between these things and Christ.
What things in verse 7 are the things mentioned in verses 5 and 6, the things related to law and religion. With Paul, all things in verse 8 refers mainly to three categories of things—religion, philosophy, and culture. It is true, of course, that worldly, material things occupy people and keep them from experiencing Christ. However, Paul realized that the things which truly frustrate people from the experience of Christ are mainly the things of religion, philosophy, and culture. To gain Christ is to pay the price to experience, enjoy, and appropriate all His unsearchable riches (Eph. 3:8). Christ is the embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead (Col. 2:9) and the reality of the shadow of all positive things (vv. 16-17). Paul counted all things to be loss and refuse that he might gain such a unique, excellent Christ. We also should count all things as loss and refuse that we may gain Christ as Paul did.
In Philippians 3:10 Paul said, “To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.” In verse 8 of the same chapter, to have the excellency of the knowledge of Christ is by revelation. But here, to know Christ is by experience—to have the experiential knowledge of Him, to experience Him in the full knowledge of Him. We first receive the revelation of Christ and then seek for the experience of Christ—to know and enjoy Him in an experiential way.
According to Paul’s concept, if we would know Christ in an experiential way, we must first gain Christ and be found in Him. Moreover, to be found in Him requires us first to count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Only when we have the vision of the supreme preciousness and surpassing worth of Christ will we be willing to let go of everything else and count those things as refuse. Then we will gain Christ and be found in Him. In this way, we will surely know Him in experience.
Not only do we seek to know Christ, but we also seek to know the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. To know Christ is to know Him in a general way; to know the power of Christ’s resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings is to know the details related to the knowledge of Christ. The power of Christ’s resurrection is His resurrection life, which raised Him from the dead (Eph. 1:19-20). To know, to experience, this power requires identification with Christ’s death and conformity to it. Death is the base of resurrection. Therefore, to experience the power of Christ’s resurrection, we need to live a crucified life, as He did. Our conformity to His death affords a base for the power of His resurrection to rise up that His divine life may be expressed in us.
The fellowship of His sufferings, that is, the participation in Christ’s sufferings (Matt. 20:22-23; Col. 1:24), is a necessary condition for the experience of the power of His resurrection (2 Tim. 2:11) by being conformed to His death. Paul was pursuing to know and experience not only the excellency of Christ Himself but also the life power of His resurrection and the participation in His sufferings. With Christ, the sufferings and death came first, followed by the resurrection; with us, the power of His resurrection comes first, followed by the participation in His sufferings and conformity to His death. We first receive the power of His resurrection; then by this power we are enabled to participate in His sufferings and live a crucified life in conformity to His death. Such sufferings are mainly for the producing and building up of the Body of Christ (Col. 1:24).
In a very real sense, Christ’s sufferings have not yet been completed. In Colossians 1:24 Paul said, “I now rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His Body, which is the church.” Christ is the Head. His sufferings for the accomplishing of redemption were completed, but His sufferings for the producing and building up of the church are not yet finished. Therefore, Paul regarded his own sufferings as the filling up of that which is lacking of Christ’s afflictions for His Body. Christ suffered when He was on the earth. As those who follow Him, we also must participate in His sufferings for His Body. If we would know Christ by experiencing the power of His resurrection, we must share His sufferings.
Christ’s living in us also causes us to be conformed to His death. In Philippians 3:10 Paul said, “To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” This word indicates that Paul desired to take Christ’s death as the mold of his life. Paul lived a crucified life continually, a life under the cross, just as Christ did in His human living. Through such a life, Paul was able to experience and express the resurrection power of Christ. The mold of Christ’s death refers to Christ’s experience of continually putting to death His human life that He might live by the life of God (John 6:57). Our life should be conformed to such a mold by our dying to our human life to live the divine life.
Christ’s death occurred throughout His life on earth. As He was living, He was also dying, dying to the old creation in order to live a life in the new creation. This is the meaning of His death in Philippians 3:10. By living such a crucified life, He continually put His human life to death and lived to God, even lived God. When we are willing to suffer for Christ and His Body, we also need to live only to Him and put to death our natural life, so that the inner divine life may be released. Then in our experience we will be conformed to Christ’s death.
We need to be conformed to Christ’s death because we are natural and belong to the old man and the self. In the death of Christ, man’s natural life has been slain, and the old man has been crucified and annulled. The form of Christ’s death does not bear the mark of the natural man, the old man, or the self. In other words, when we participate in the death of Christ, we will be molded by His death, being conformed to His death. To be thus molded by Christ’s death will cause our natural life, our old man, and our self to be dealt with. Hence, in Christ’s death we do not have our natural life, our old man, or the activities of our self. Since all these have been gotten rid of by the mold of Christ’s death, we can be conformed to Christ’s death.
Because Christ lives in us, we can also be delivered from every evil work. In 2 Timothy 4:18 Paul said, “The Lord will deliver me from every evil work and will save me into His heavenly kingdom.” Every evil work here refers mainly to man’s persecution, which usually comes from Satan’s evilness (Matt. 6:13). Paul suffered a great deal of persecution, yet he was confident that the Lord would deliver him from every evil work.
Paul’s being delivered from every evil work included even his final martyrdom. Since martyrdom ushered Paul into the heavenly kingdom, such an ushering was a deliverance to him. There is no other time that the Lord dispenses Himself in so great a measure into the believers as in the time of their suffering of martyrdom. Whenever the believers suffer persecution, encounter afflictions, and even suffer martyrdom because of their loving the Lord, the Lord infuses and dispenses all His riches into them that they may be strengthened to overcome and be delivered from every evil work. Such a deliverance is what we believers should believe in, hope for, and experience, and it is also what the Lord is pleased to give us.
Christ lives in us that we may enjoy His sufficient grace and His overshadowing power. This is the experience of Paul in 2 Corinthians 12. Paul suffered because of a thorn in his flesh, and concerning this, he entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from him. Nevertheless, the Lord said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Because he accepted the Lord’s word, he could say, “Most gladly therefore I will rather boast in my weaknesses that the power of Christ might tabernacle over me” (vv. 7-9). The Lord did not remove the thorn from Paul, but He supplied him with sufficient grace so that he might be able to bear the suffering. Then, in his experience, this grace became the overshadowing power which was perfected in his weaknesses.
The grace mentioned here is not what the Lord has done or what He has given; it is the Lord Himself as our supply and enjoyment, sustaining and strengthening us from within that we may meet all kinds of circumstances. This is the living and genuine grace. This grace is nothing less than Christ Himself, the embodiment of the processed Triune God, dispensed into our entire being to be enjoyed by us in our experience. Therefore, we need to learn not to expect something from outside or to ask the Lord to do something for us. Rather, we should simply enjoy the Lord Himself as the true grace.
The Greek word translated tabernacle over in verse 9 is a compound verb composed of two words. The first word means upon, and the second, to dwell in a tent. The compound verb here means to fix a tent or a habitation upon. It portrays how the power of Christ, even Christ Himself, dwells upon us as a tent spread over us, overshadowing us in our weaknesses. To magnify the sufficiency of the Lord’s grace, we cannot avoid sufferings. To show forth the perfectness of the Lord’s power, we need weaknesses. Hence, Paul would most gladly boast in his weaknesses that the power of Christ might tabernacle over him. Grace is the supply, and power is the strength, the ability, of grace. Both are the resurrected Christ, who is now the life-giving Spirit dwelling in us (1 Cor. 15:45; Gal. 2:20) for our enjoyment.
When we experience and enjoy Christ’s living in us, we are enabled to boast and exult not in our outward behavior, actions, or doings but in the Christ who lives in us. Christ’s living in us also enables us to be found in Him, who has become the realm in which we live and our unique expression. Christ’s living in us also enables us to count all things as loss and refuse that we may gain Him. All things, such as religion, philosophy, and culture, and other worldly, material things, can hinder and frustrate us from partaking of and enjoying the unique, excellent Christ. He also causes us to know Him, that is, to know and enjoy Him in our experience; to know the power of His resurrection, that is, the resurrection life that raised Him from the dead; and to know the fellowship of His sufferings, that is, to participate in Christ’s sufferings. Furthermore, Christ’s living in us causes us to be conformed to His death, that is, to be molded by His death into the form of His death, so that we do not have our natural life, our old man, or the activities of our self. Moreover, when we are suffering persecution, encountering afflictions, and even suffering martyrdom because of our loving Him, He infuses and dispenses all His riches into us that we may be strengthened to overcome and thus delivered from every evil work. He also enables us to enjoy Him as our sufficient grace and overshadowing power, overshadowing us in our weaknesses.
