Gain, Find, Know, Attain - Part 4

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:08-11, NKJV).

In these four magnificent verses, we have seen the Apostle Paul's unequivocal declaration of the Christ-centered priorities in his life. His clear statement that knowing and achieving all other things, in comparison to the excellence of the knowledge of Christ, is rubbish. He has shown us that by knowing Christ, not just knowing of Him, we receive riches and righteousness beyond mere mortal comprehension. We are given profound understanding of the very nature of the God who created us, saved us, loves us and longs for us to be forever His children. And lastly, Paul writes of the ultimate purpose of these things. It is this: if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Death is an enemy. It is explicitly described in Scripture not as cessation, but separation. Physical death is the separation of the soul and spirit - the consciousness - from the physical body. It is temporary until the Resurrection occurs, when the person is reunited with an indestructible, immortal body. Spiritual death, referred to as the Second Death, is the eternal separation of a sentient being from God. Again, the Bible knows nothing of annihilation. You will live forever. 

“For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, “and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. (John 5:26-29, NKJV).

The question is where will you spend eternity? The phrase Paul uses, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead, assumes we know what true, eternal death is: separation of a sentient being from God, forever. Since apart from God there is nothing of joy, love, peace, light or purpose, existence unrelated to Him is, by definition, agonizing. It is being forever entrapped in outer darkness, in unquenchable fire, continuously consumed by inconsolable regret and grief, where there is, only and always, weeping and gnashing of teeth. We often use Hell in this life to describe that which is merely inconvenient, but in reality, true Hell is indescribable. It is the greatest loss conceivable. Nothing compares to its emptiness and agony. If we were given just the merest taste of what that means, our sanity would dissolve and we would fall on our faces in unutterable despair. But understand this, for it is the most important thing you will ever need to know, once having crossed the borders into Hell, there is no escape. No second chances. No relief. No hope. You can't die or faint or go insane. You can only suffer, and that all the more, precisely because there is no end in sight. Nor will there ever be.

It should be clear then why the apostle says what he says: if, by any means. Without Christ, there is no escape. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7, NKJV). [For] God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8, NKJV).

The Father spared no expense, stopped short of no extreme, to save us. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32, NKJV). Our worth to God is immeasurable. This should surprise us when we consider who and what we really are, deep inside where we really live. On the other hand, it should not surprise us at all, given what the Bible reveals to us about the Father's heart, and about the richness and grace of His Son.

So if God used all means to save us, does it makes sense for us to do any less in order to receive that salvation? Should we not, like Paul, desire to do and be whatever it takes? To exercise whatever means to achieve the desired end; resurrection from the dead into eternal life? That is what he is saying. Paul would have gone anywhere, done anything, to receive the prize. In truth, he surrendered all that he had done and become, to know His Lord and Savior, so that the final tragic and unthinkable separation from ALL that is good, would not take place. But the astonishing truth is this: we are not asked to do anything. Our part is to believe in Jesus Christ so that we may be saved.

In the apostle's mind, there was nothing that was not worth losing in the face of what he would gain in return. Keeping hold of anything that would prevent that saving relationship with Jesus, that special knowing the excellence of Christ, was unthinkable. Pride, self-reliance, prestige, personal achievement, power, even ownership of the whole world, was dung in comparison. That is the mindset he is conveying and exhorting each one of us to have. It only makes sense. It is, in fact, the only sane thing to pursue. Christ. His fullness. His joy. His life. What could possibly compare?

Through faith in Christ alone, we Christians are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Death has been vanquished by Jesus on the Cross. It cannot touch us, but for that temporary separation that occurs when our physical body dies. And when that happens, we are home, and free at last, to await that glorious body not made with hands, not of this creation.

Pursue, by any means, Jesus Christ. Seek Him and He will be found. Ask and you will receive. He stands at the door and knocks. He desires you, as a loving Father desires the embrace of a precious child. Why would you hold onto anything of this world, including your own self-will, when by simply trusting in Him, you live forever in all fullness of joy?

Gain, Find, Know, Attain - Part 3

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:08-11, NKJV).

In addition to knowing Christ relationally, and through that, experiencing the power of His resurrection, as was discussed in the previous post, the Apostle Paul also desired to know, in that same experiential way, the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. Does that mean he wants to suffer and die in the same manner that Christ did? Does it mean he sees spiritual value in purposely going through pain? Is he encouraging self-inflicted suffering and even crucifixion? Some might think so. Indeed, each year, there are stories of a few of the "faithful" being voluntarily nailed on a cross to obtain some kind of elevated spirituality or cleansing. Are they wrong? 

To answer these questions and obtain the full import of what Paul is saying here, it is instructive to peel away some of the connotations associated with the English words chosen by the NKJV translators. This is not to imply that they chose inaccurately, or precipitously, but it is to suggest that it is possible that our modern understanding might be enhanced by digging a little deeper into the original language.

As stated, Paul wants to know these things not just intellectually, or factually, like someone knowing the Table of Atomic Elements, but he wants to know them in such a way that includes both mind and heart, intellect and experience. To the paired elements of knowledge already examined in Part 2 of this exposition, (Christ, and the power of His resurrection), he now adds perhaps the most profound aspect of his pursuit, Christ's suffering and death.

First, the word, fellowship. This is that deeply meaningful concept termed, koinonia (koy-nohn-ee'-ah), in Greek. In addition to fellowship, it has been translated variously, based on context, as communion, communication, distribution, contribution, to communicate, to associate or be in association with, community, joint participation, intimacy, and sharing. Clearly, it is a rich word that does not readily lend itself to a simple one-to-one translation. With the passage above in view, the most meaningful expression might be this: intimate partnership. As in most human partnerships, it does not mean that each member undergoes the exact same events or circumstances, but rather, that the communication, understanding, and deep association between and among partners makes what one member experiences, in a very real sense, shared by all. This is true in marriage especially, where the two become one flesh; and in the church, where, when one member weeps, all weep, and when one rejoices, all rejoice. In that sense, we who are Christ's, desire to know the fellowship of His suffering because it informs us very profoundly of the "what" and the "why" of His death on the Cross.

His murder becomes, not just an event in history, but a common foundation from which the Christian worldview proceeds. He became a man to die. That death of God's Son on the Cross was absolutely necessary for sinful man to obtain salvation. There was no other way for God to be both just, and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. In that death, the eternal Second Person of the Trinity became separated, for the first and only time, from the Father and the Spirit, with whom he had been in perfect koinonia from all eternity past. Christ's motivation to voluntarily lay down His life on our behalf, in loving obedience to the Father, speaks volumes of His immeasurable love and grace, and expresses for us in ways that otherwise we would never begin to understand, the Father's heart. To know all that is to have within our grasp a greater understanding of the nature and character of our God. That Christ came first as a sacrificial Lamb, as a prerequisite for His Second Coming as Judge and Executioner, broadens our understanding and appreciation even further. The end result is a deepening faith, accompanied by an ever-growing love for Him. That is at least part of what the fellowship of His sufferings is all about.

It cannot mean, and does not mean, that we are to endeavor to physically suffer and die in the same manner. Nor are we to inflict physical punishment on ourselves, as some monastic orders seek to do. That is tantamount to putting us in Christ's place, usurping His position as Savior of the World, and adding our own feeble, misdirected efforts to the divine plan of redemption. May we never be so arrogant or presumptuous to think that we can in some literal way, substitute ourselves for Him. That is blasphemy. Nor does doing so honor Him. Instead, it draws attention to ourselves and away from His suffering and death on our behalf. While for some, martyrdom may be in God's will for their lives, for those acts to be self-inflicted is theft and self-worship, pure and simple.

Proceeding further, thee word, conformed, literally means to take the same shape as something else, but again, not necessarily, or even predominantly, in the exact outward, physical appearance. In the verses above, it speaks more to an inward conformity to the essential nature of Christ's death, and in doing so, making us eligible for a similar conformity to the counterpart resurrection from the dead (more on that aspect in a later installment). As before, this points to something beyond the actual physicality of His death, to the motivation and humility behind it. Imagine what it means for God to die; to become part of His Creation for the express purpose of rescuing it from His rebellious creatures through His suffering and ignominious death on the Cross. He who know no sin became sin for us. He who knew not death, had to take on a mortal nature in order to die. He made the very Universe, galaxy, solar system, planet, hill and wood upon which those, who had been lovingly created in His own image, murdered Him. He chose to do this - to take the form of a bondservant, to come in the likeness of men, and to be found in appearance as a Man. And being found as a Man, he humbled Himself, and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the Cross.

That kind of humility, that kind of obedience, that kind of sacrificial motivation is part of what it means to be conformed to His death. It is to allow the knowing and fellowship to work its transformative power in our hearts, minds and will, so that we become increasingly like Him. Shaped like Him. That is God's plan for His children. The desire to to accomplish this, through giving up everything else in order to know Christ, and these miraculous things about Christ, is what Paul is writing about.

Gain, Find, Know, Attain - Part 2

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:08-11, NKJV).

The Bible maintains from the very first verse that God is a Person and He is knowable. This is vitally important, because it distinguishes Biblical Christianity (and its predecessor, Judaism) from every other religion that teaches that God cannot be fathomed. In fact, the remaining monotheistic faith, Islam, claims that Allah is distinctly unknowable. For their part, Pantheistic religions deny the unique Personhood of God, and Agnosticism (which is the Greek form of the word, ignoramus), denies the knowability of God.

Paul declares the diametric opposite in unequivocal terms. He stipulates that, in comparison to the excellence of the knowledge about Christ Jesus (the Person), everything else is worthless. Likewise, after expressing his desire to have Christ's singular and perfect righteousness imputed to himself (to be found in Him not having his own righteousness), he goes on to write of his desire to know Him (relationally, not just intellectually). Of course, there is a valid argument to be made that a finite being could never comprehend an Infinite Being, in the same way that an invertebrate worm could never fathom Einstein, only more profoundly. That must be true, but if and only if, the Infinite One did NOT have the power and volition to reveal Himself. Most assuredly, God has made Himself known; through Creation, through His Word, and ultimately, through His Son. The rather elitist belief that the God of the Universe can't be known is based on error, and lack of Biblical literacy.

The word translated, know, is ginosko (ghin-oce'-ko), which is the verb form of knowledge. It is information put into action. It is knowledge applied to existence and experience, well-beyond the realm of "mere" mind. It is the difference between reading an instruction manual, and actually putting something together. It embodies the contrast between hearing about space and spending time in orbit around the earth. That is the goal Paul has in front of him. First acquire the knowledge of Christ, and then through faith and surrender, obtain the relationship with Jesus.

Intimately associated with that kind of knowing, is understanding - and this is striking indeed - the power of His resurrection. The primary gospel message of the early church focused on the resurrection of Christ. Yes, He died on the Cross for the sin of the world, but the proof that His death was effective for all who believe is that death itself could not hold Him. His perfect innocence rendered His physical death temporary, because death is the wage of sin. Without the sting of sin, death has no lasting power.

Beyond that, Christ laid down His life voluntarily. Had He chosen to do so, He could have escaped the fatal ravages of crucifixion in any number of ways. But that would have left us dead in trespasses and sins. Instead, He surrendered to the will of the Father and tasted death for everyone, taking away the sin of the world. Then, and this is the ultimate astonishing truth, he took His life back up again, rising from the dead after three days and nights in the tomb.

There is a quality and power to Christ's life force that is undeniably connected to His very essence. He radiates life and light across all Creation. That life is somehow discernible, and more to the point, transforming, to us mere mortals who believe. That is why Paul desires that relationship with Christ that comes through faith, and only through faith. You can't read it into your heart. You can't wish its astounding depths to transform your life. You must invest yourself in relationship with Jesus through fellowship, obedience, prayer, and being immersed in His word. In short, you must spend time with your Lord and Savior in the same way you spend time with other persons in your life.

How deep would you expect a relationship to be if, for instance, your time together with the other person were limited to once a week, or once a month, or on Holidays, or only when you are fearful, traumatized, or near death? That is not relationship, that is magical thinking. That is using God as an incantation or ritual. Better to carry an amputated rabbit's foot with you, than rely on that type of knowing.

Paul's wish for himself, and for the church throughout history is to draw near to Christ. The way to His thrown has been opened by His sacrificial death. We have been cleansed. We have been made presentable by faith. We can now come boldly to Him, with perfect access. These are the marvelous truths woven throughout the New Testament. He who was approachable only once a year by the Jewish High Priest, and then only after the repeated ritual sacrifices of innocent animals, is now available to us in His full power - always.

Contemplating these things is what caused the apostle often to burst forth in his writings with spontaneous and soaring words of devotion and blessing to His God. He knew what immeasurable grace Jesus had poured out upon His children by faith. No more ceremonial cleansing, no more temporary covering of sin by the shedding of blood. The infinite gulf between a holy and righteous God and His sin-defiled creatures had been bridged once, for all, by Jesus Christ. The promise of Genesis 15, that God Himself would be His children's exceedingly great reward was fulfilled in the Lord. And with that access and relationship comes everlasting resurrection life.

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3, NKJV).

Gain, Find, Know, Attain - Part 1

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:08-11, NKJV).

In a previous post, entitled Dung and Excellence, Paul's Christ-centered priorities and perspectives were outlined, as well as his view of the things of the world versus the things of Christ. This naturally leads to the next several verses in this Chapter of Philippians that speaks of the apostle's desire, after gaining Christ, to be found in Him, to  know Him, and through these, to attain to the resurrection of the dead.

Being found in Christ might seem ambiguous or unclear unless we consider the all-important context of Paul's divinely-inspired thought. When we do, we discover that Paul is speaking of righteousness. This is a common theme in many of his epistles, especially the Book of Romans, where he discusses a similar train of thought regarding Abraham's righteousness in Romans 4. The core of this truth is this: human beings are not righteous, cannot become righteous, and are completely unrighteous, in and of ourselves, in the sight of a Holy God. This is in complete accord with the teaching of the entire New Testament.

Since righteousness is the determinative factor of where each one of us will spend eternity after death, this means we are forever prohibited from entrance into Heaven. There is no amount of good we can perform that will mitigate our inherent unrighteousness. No charity, no sacrifice, no ritual, no ceremony, no conceivable possible action or words, will enable us to enter into God's Presence. In fact, it forebodes far more than that, since being unable to enter into His Presence, means that our eternal habitation must be as far from God as it is possible to be. This is a place described variously as outer darkness, the Lake of Fire, Hell, a place where the Worm does not die and the fire is never quenched. It is a place of agonizing torment in the excruciating consciousness bestowed upon us at death, when we are either resurrected for condemnation (the default condition), or resurrected for eternal life. Please understand, for this is very important, the Bible knows nothing of the annihilation of consciousness at death. Once made, we cannot be unmade.

Obviously, that is all bad news. If passing the test of righteousness is the only entrance into Heaven, and if we are incapable of righteousness, then we are damned. Yet, God has not abandoned us to that inevitable fate, not because of us, but because of His goodness, kinds, and love. He has provided a way to escape the inescapable, and while He offers it as a gift, it was not free. The price: the death of God's holy and righteous Son, Jesus Christ, on the Cross in our place. His willingness to lay down His life in our place, paid the price of our inherent unrighteousness. He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become His righteousness in Him. That is why the Gospel of Jesus Christ is called the good news; what we could not ever accomplish on our own, Jesus did for us.

For us to become beneficiaries of that gift we must - we must - cease to entertain any illusion that we are righteous. We must - we must - accept that we are completely incapable of self-righteousness. If we do not surrender any and every trace of such delusional conceit, then we are saying to the Father He needn't have sent His Son to die in our place. Can you see the utter blasphemy of such a statement? It is equivalent, but opposite, of declaring that His death was insufficient to propitiate God's wrath against sin. Either position is untenable in the extreme, and of that, Scripture says this: Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:29, NKJV).

By now, I hope it is clear why Paul desires to be found in Christ, not having [his] own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. It makes perfect sense. It is only Christ's righteousness that is acceptable before God the Father. It is only seeing Him in us, that we become fit for Heaven. If we attempt to arrive any other way, we will be thrown into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, forever. Unless we are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, we have come to the throne in defiled garments, rejecting not only the condition of the King's invitation, but his infinitely costly supply of proper attire. That is what the parable of the wedding feast in Matthew signifies.

The Law kills. Grace makes alive. The apostle is proclaiming here that by losing the world and gaining Christ, God provides him a cure for his incurably fatal affliction - for free. By faith in Christ, we are thus found in Him, and the hopeless attempt to attain to our own righteousness is rendered unnecessary. And that is a very good thing, since attaining our own righteousness is impossible.

By setting aside any hope or trust in ourselves, we acknowledge the incomparably gracious gift of God's Son, and in giving up that which we cannot hope to accomplish on our own, we attain that which is the hope of every sane human heart since time began: resurrection into eternal life.

Therefore, with all my heart, my prayer is that I lose myself, and am found in Him.