Knowing Jesus

“that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death” (Philippians 3:10).

How can you really know a Person who hasn’t walked the earth for more than 2,000 years? Is it really possible to have the mythical “personal relationship with Christ” so many of His followers claim is possible? You’re telling me I can have an intimate friendship with Somebody I can’t see, can’t hear, and can’t touch. What are you smoking?!? But Paul says this relationship with Jesus is not only possible but something each of His followers can experience. He should know. The man from Tarsus didn’t really begin his friendship with the Lord until AFTER Christ was crucified, dead, and buried. The apostle tells us his personal desire is truly growing in His knowing of Jesus through three key ideas. Knowing and actually experiencing His resurrection power. Knowing and actually sharing His suffering. Knowing and actually sharing in His death. Intimacy with the risen Rabbi/Carpenter from Nazareth is really and truly available to you and me. Once we come to a personal relationship with Jesus through His resurrection, His suffering, and His death, everything else is just background noise. 

If anybody should know, it’s our man Paul. This former Pharisee spent the early days of his career as one of the best and brightest in Judaism (Phil 3:5-6). Top of his class. A five-star recruit. First round draft pick. He was so aggressive and rabid in his defense of his religion that he devoted himself to ruthlessly wiping any mention of Jesus and his followers from the planet. But a funny thing happened on his way to kill more Christians in Damascus. Jesus happened. The RESURRECTED Jesus happened! Christ divinely blindsided the man known as Saul and transformed the number one enemy of His church into His number one spokesman (Acts 9:1-22). It’s not everyday you end up becoming best friends with your mugger, but that’s how Paul’s relationship with Jesus began. I guess you could say the apostle never saw this friendship coming.

Paul tells his friends back in Philippi how he soon realized that his once impressive religious resume is now worthless (Phil 3:7). He goes so far as to say all of his credentials, awards, and accomplishments are really nothing more than a big steaming pile compared to his relationship with Jesus (Phil 3:8). If you think that’s disgusting and shouldn’t be in the Bible, take it up with Paul. He goes on to talk about trusting in what Christ has done for us that we could never do for ourselves (Phil 3:9). We lean on His perfectly obedient life. We lean on His death for our sin. We lean on His spectacular resurrection. 

But our relationship with Jesus is much more than flipping back through the pages of history and remembering a few facts (spectacular facts, but facts nonetheless). Following Christ is not just the past. It’s the present. It’s for the future. The apostle has made it his life’s goal “that I may know Him” (v10). He’s not looking to simply gather data about the Son of God through a Google search and a trip to the library. Knowing ABOUT Him is never a bad idea. But truly knowing Christ is at the top of his priorities each and every day. Remember, this dude met the risen Jesus face-to-face on an expressway outside Damascus. Yet he’s absolutely consumed with the desire for a deeper relationship and intimate friendship with his Savior. He’s not satisfied with a one-and-done encounter. And he says we shouldn’t be either. 

For us to truly dive into the deep end of our friendship with Jesus, Paul says we should start with “the power of His resurrection” (v10). Imagine the kind of supernatural energy it took to bring our Savior back to life. The Greek word translated “power” is dunamis, which means might, strength, or force. It doesn’t describe some sort of minimum strength capability. This term ripples with explosive power. Back when Alfred Nobel invented his explosive blasting powder, he went to this very same ancient word for the brand name dynamite. You may want to step back. The resurrection of Jesus is HIGHLY VOLATILE! The radical Rabbi/Carpenter gave the world a teaser trailer of what was to come when He called His old buddy Lazarus out of grave (Jn 11:43-44). Just before calling her brother back from the dead, Christ tells Laz’ sister Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life” (Jn 11:25). 

Paul tells the Romans how God didn’t used TNT to blast Jesus out of the grave, but His Holy Spirit. “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom 8:11). The very same Spirit who brought the Son out of the graveyard lives in every follower of Jesus. Any Marvel fans out there? The Spirit-powered resurrection makes the infamous infinity stones look like a worthless gravel. It makes nuke plant look like a half-dead D battery. To steal a line from one of our great hymns of the faith, Jesus’ resurrection” (v10) gives me strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. God gives this very same power He used to raise His Son from the dead to you and me. His resurrection is so powerful it allows us to replace religion with a relationship. Once we experience a friendship with Jesus and “the power of His resurrection” (v10), we ought to come with a warning label. 

I’m not going to lie. I would be happy for Paul to slam on the breaks right here. I’m stoked about whole resurrection power deal but would rather pass on what comes next if you don’t mind. Suffering? No thank you. Death? I’ll politely decline. But as a friend once told me, we can’t get to Resurrection Sunday with joining Jesus at Calvary on Friday. Paul knows that a personal relationship with our Savior means the privilege being able to “share in His sufferings” (v10). If you’ve spent any time around traditional church folks, you’ve heard them talk about koinonia. That’s Christianese for hanging out in the church basement after a pot luck supper of casseroles. For many of us, that’s as close to true suffering as we’ll ever get. 

However the original Greek meaning of koinonia describes a close mutual relationship or partnership. Think of being teammates. We’re on Jesus’ team because of His suffering. By personally experiencing unspeakable and unimaginable pain on our behalf, Christ provides you and me with supernatural comfort as we suffer (Heb 2:18; 4:15; 12:2-4). Because He experience the full extent of pain, we can expect to experience some of it as His followers (1Pet 2:21-24). And it’s in our suffering that we truly become teammates with the Lord. Our relationship with Jesus means not only growing in our knowing about His resurrection power but growing in our knowing of His suffering too. But our suffering with Jesus means being comforted by Jesus. “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (2Cor 1:5). While I would rather politely decline this pain-filled invitation, it’s the surefire source of an intimate friendship with the resurrected Son of God.

The apostle doesn’t stop there. We truly experience a deep relationship with Jesus by “becoming like Him in His death” (v10). Again, I wasn’t crazy about the whole suffering part. I’m even less excited about the dying deal. But Paul tells us this is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to knowing Christ. The Savior didn’t die a meaningless death on a cross. Hundreds of thousands of other victims suffered this torturous death at the hands of the Roman Empire. But Jesus’ crucifixion was different. He died for you. He died for me. And there was nothing we did to deserve this incredible act of love. “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). The cross didn’t just drip with His blood but His amazing grace as well. We become like the Lord in His death when we do for others what they can’t do for themselves. We become like Him in His death when do for them what they don’t deserve. We become like Him in His death when we serve others. That’s why the Bible is full of the encouragement to die to self (Mt 10:38; Mk 8:35; Lk 9:23; Jn 12:25; Gal 2:20; 5:16). We become like Christ in His death when we stop concerning ourselves with ourselves. We grow in our relationship with Jesus when we get our serve on. 

We can truly experience a dynamic intimacy with Jesus even though He headed home to heaven 2,000 years ago. Take it from Paul. It starts with understanding and unleashing the explosive resurrection power of God’s Spirit living inside you and me. We also grow in our relationship when we suffer alongside Him. Christ is right there with us, comforting us every step of the way. We really dive into the deep end of knowledge of Jesus when we die to ourselves and serve others. You see, it IS possible to have a personal relationship with our Savior. Once we do, everything else is just background noise.