Knowing Christ

                   I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:11).

               

 I want to know Christ.  The man who had a face-to-face encounter with the risen Lord said simply, “I want to know Christ.”  Did he not already know him?  After three days of fasting and prayer (Acts 9:9)?  After three years of personal training (Galatians 1:11-24)?  After a visit to the third heaven (visions and revelations, 2 Corinthians 12:1-6)?  Paul uses the Greek verb ginoskein which is kin to the Hebrew that describes the sexual relationship in marriage. Paul is not thinking sexually here, but he did want an ever-growing, personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

 Paul knew much about Jesus.  He wrote treatises about his supremacy and his sacrifice.  But what was most important to this converted Pharisee was that he personally know this Jesus. Being a disciple means you want to grow in your understanding of the heart and mind of your Lord.  You want to feel what Jesus feels, to hurt when Jesus hurts, to be happy when Jesus is happy.  You want a close relationship with the Christa daily, deepening friendship.

 In his obedience, Paul was well aware that simply doing all the right things would not give him intimacy with his Lord.  He had tried that route, and it was a dead end.  Christianity was not simply an upgrade of his pharisaic Judaism.  Paul did not go from one form of legalism to another.  He went heart-to-heart with God through Jesus, the only road with no dead end.  And, through grace, he longed to share in Jesus’ resurrection from the deadto fully know the one who fully knew him.

 As disciples, we must daily count the cost.  Do we really want to know Christ?  To be a best friend to the Son of God?  To share in all aspects of his life?  Or do we simply want to be a name dropper? “Yes, I know Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  Paul realized that having an intimate relationship with Jesus meant dying to self, “becoming like him in his death.”  There are no shortcuts, no scenic detours.  The road leads to a cross every time!  This being true, it is no wonder Paul also wanted to know the “power of his resurrection.”  He knew he could not live this way on his own.  Neither can we, but the power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you as a disciple!  The key to tapping into that power is a desperate desire to know it and to know the One who gives it.