Philippians 3:8b-11

New American Standard Version

8b In order that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Pastor’s Paraphrase

          Because of the person He has made me to be, I have a spiritual purity that has nothing to do with me or anything I have done. It has everything to do with what He has done on the cross and given to me as a free gift when I put my faith in Him.  Ever since I understood how glorious and wonderful this gift of grace is, the single focus of my life has become to know Him better today than I did yesterday and to know Him more deeply tomorrow than I do today.

           I want to know Him so fully that the same mighty power of God that raised Him from the tomb would be alive in my life through the blessed Holy Spirit! I want to know Him so closely that I am more than willing to suffer for Him because He suffered so willingly for me. I want to become so much like Him that my life will be like His in that I will be faithful to the will and the plan of the Father for my life all the way to the day of my death.  It is this kind of relationship with Him, begun by faith and continued in love, that leads in a way that is too wonderful for me to comprehend to my own resurrection from the dead by His mighty power.

 “How does this help me become more like Him?”

          This passage captures the essence of the Christian life.  It is what sets Christianity apart from all other religions of the world and history.  For Christianity is not, in its true essence, about church attendance, fighting cultural or social ills, helping the poor or downtrodden, avoiding certain sinful behaviors or condemning them in others, or a multitude of other things we could mention that, while important, are not central to what Christian faith really is.

          As it has been said thousands of times, “Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship.”  Christianity is about knowing Christ – not knowing about Him but knowing Him in a dynamic, ever growing relationship.  This relationship is a constantly growing one because it is with someone who is alive and active in our lives every single day.  We should not just know more about Him because we are continually studying the written revelation of what He did and Who He is – the Scripture.  We are to know Him on a more genuine and personal basis every day that we live.

          How do we know if that is taking place?  Do we measure the genuineness and depth of this relationship by how much more we know about Him than we used to or how much more emotional we are concerning Him than we used to be?  While both of these elements have value and meaning, they are not the true test of our progress or lack of such in coming to know Christ more deeply. 

Well, what then?  It really is quite simple – are we becoming more like Him?  The purpose of our coming to know Him more is to become more like Him.  The way we respond to people and situations should become more like what He would do in those settings.  The decisions we make in life and the priorities by which we live should become more and more governed by what concerns the Savior’s heart.

          The more we come to know Jesus, the more He in the form of His Holy Spirit will control our lives.  The more the Holy Spirit controls our lives, the more the evidences or “fruit” of the Holy Spirit will be present in our lives (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control).  It will not be something we have achieved or mastered by our own efforts or personal discipline.  It will be Jesus in us and through us.  The more we come to know Him, the more others will see Him because He will be living through us.  We will become reflections of Jesus to them.

“How should I pray for Him to change my life?”

Pray that you would come to know Him more deeply and reflect Him more clearly each day.  Surrender your heart and will afresh to His control.  Ask Him to erase from your thoughts and behavior those things that do not reveal and reflect Him to others.

END