THE PURPOSE OF LIFE
"That I may know Him..."
(Philippians 3:10a)
Our greatest purpose in
life is to know Christ more and more intimately each day.
The
foundational need of all Christians who are seeking counsel is to be
re-oriented to, and led to embrace, this single most vital purpose of life.
THE SOURCE OF LIFE
"...and the power of His resurrection..."
(Philippians 3:10b)
This is a reference to
the "power of our risen Lord" in us. The Lord Jesus just
doesn't give us power to use, He gives us Himself for us to know!
Christ
is not only our power, He is a most personal Source of all our needs.
Our
privilege as disciplers of Jesus Christ is to keep pointing brothers and
sisters to Christ as their Source, so they will turn away from their flesh as
their illusionary source.
THE SUFFERING OF LIFE
"...and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being conformed to His
death..."
(Philippians 3:10c)
"The power of the
resurrection" is listed first in this verse because we cannot endure
suffering redemptively on our own.
2 Timothy 3:12 clearly
says we are called to suffer, "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life
in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." There was a season in my life
when I sought to live a godly life on my own fleshly merits and not in Christ
Jesus (i.e., in union with Christ Jesus). I did not experience
persecution during that season.
However, the darkness of this world will
persecute us when we, by faith, allow the light of Christ to shine in and
through us.
Isaiah 53:3 describes
our Lord as "despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief."
Hebrews 5:8 notes, "Although He was a Son, Jesus
learned obedience through suffering.
And so must we be just like our Lord
Jesus.
God uses everything in our lives to conform us to how Jesus
approached His death on the cross. Philippians 2:7-8 says that "He
made Himself of no reputation and He humbled Himself." These are
steps of faith Christ took, and with Him as our Source, we are also called to
take.
THE PROMISE OF LIFE
"...if by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the
dead."
(Philippians 3:11)
These truths are not
intended to describe a gloom and doom life for the Christian. Christians are to be the most joyful people on the earth! Hebrews 12:2
says we can "fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith,
who for the JOY set before Him, despised the shame and endured the cross."
We cannot experience joyful resurrected living here on earth apart from
experiencing the way of the cross that reveals the
finished work of the cross. Learning tons of biblical truths
in a vacuum will not transform us into the image of Christ.
When we embrace
suffering with Christ, we experience God as our Deliverer. The Greek word
for "deliver" in 2 Corinthians 1:10 doesn't mean God removes us from
suffering, but that "God draws us to Himself" during the suffering!
I love this!
And when we embrace
suffering with Christ, we experience God as our Comforter, so that we can
comfort others with the same comfort (2 Corinthians 1:4).
Jesus went to
the cross for others, so we must be willing for God to conform us to Christ's
death in order to minister His resurrected life to others.
