“I want to know Christ!” Paul adamantly proclaims.  As we get to know Christ as well as Paul knows Christ; we too will discover the insignificance of worldly treasures and vain pursuit of satisfying our hungry souls with shiny things that distract us along with destructive relationships with people who hate and mock Christ.  We also soon discover that everyone who goes to church every time the doors are open do not necessarily know Christ, either.  They know church. They know the written policies and unwritten norms, but they may not really know Jesus.  Many know of Jesus, are impressed with his teachings, but do not follow Him as Lord of their daily, go to work and come home lives.  Follow those in the know!

Paul set us straight about what it means to really know Jesus as Savior and how to follow Him as Lord of our lives. Our true, main goal should be to know Christ and his power available to us to help us live each day in ways that glorify God, the Father—just like Jesus did when He came to earth and moved into the neighborhood of humanity.  Jesus truly is who He said He was, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”—Jesus, John 14:6

Going to church and being friendly to all the people who come with us does not necessarily mean that we know Christ personally.  Leading a work team, teaching a Sunday School class, or singing in the choir does not mean we know Jesus personally.  We can do many good things, obey all the rules, and give to the poor in fact there are many social clubs that do those things, too!  The difference Maker is Jesus as Lord!

Philippians 3, The Message

To Know Him Personally

And that’s about it, friends. Be glad in God!

I don’t mind repeating what I have written in earlier letters, and I hope you don’t mind hearing it again. Better safe than sorry—so here goes.

^2-6 Steer clear of the barking dogs, those religious busybodies, all bark and no bite. All they’re interested in is appearances—knife-happy circumcisers, I call them. The real believers are the ones the Spirit of God leads to work away at this ministry, filling the air with Christ’s praise as we do it. We couldn’t carry this off by our own efforts, and we know it—even though we can list what many might think are impressive credentials. You know my pedigree: a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; an Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent to God’s law; a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting the church; a meticulous observer of everything set down in God’s law Book.

^7-9 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness.

^10-11 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.

Focused on the Goal

^12-14 I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.

^15-16 So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.

^17-19 Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal. There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them. I’ve warned you of them many times; sadly, I’m having to do it again. All they want is easy street. They hate Christ’s Cross. But easy street is a dead-end street. Those who live there make their bellies their gods; belches are their praise; all they can think of is their appetites.

^20-21 But there’s far more to life for us. We’re citizens of high heaven! We’re waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthy bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He’ll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The question Paul puts before us is this; “Do I want to truly, intimately, know Christ as Lord?”  Am I willing to put Him first, putting my own interest aside, discarding all the stuff I cling to in this world, so that I can really and truly get to know Jesus Christ personally?

Signs of goodness, even for the good of others, and make us feel good for doing them, do not guarantee that we have asked for repentance of our sins with a dedicated, committed desire to know Christ for who He is in us personally, “experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself.” 

Do we want to know Christ beyond what we first knew we first we heard of Him?

To know God is to trust Jesus with our very lives—all of it! 

Here’s how:

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:1-2, MSG

Lord,

Here I am, all of me wanting all of you.  Cleanse my heart of all sin.  Help me remove all that gets in the way of seeing you clearly.  Renew my mind and dump all the garbage that distracts and deceives my mind.  Refresh the hard drive of my being with your tender, new, cleansing mercies.  Restore the default of your love, joy, and peace of knowing you personally and intimately.  I am yours and you are mind.  Thank you for loving so deeply and so faithfully.  Help us to love like you love us—without conditions.

In Jesus Name, Amen