That I may know Him

That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Phil 3:10-11

Like the apostle Paul it’s our desire to know Jesus our Lord. We’re also aware that some will say to Jesus, ‘Lord we’ve done these miracles in your name.’ But Jesus will declare to them, ‘I never knew you.’ Is our Christian life one of uncertainty, where we hope we are on the right track but won’t know for sure until we meet Christ? Absolutely not!

We can have life now that is secure in knowing Christ Jesus and attaining to the resurrection out from all that is dead in sin. The keys to this are in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings and being conformed to His death.

There’s no doubt that everyone suffers in various ways but for us it should be, as Peter writes in his letter, that we are suffering as a Christian. We could read this in two ways. Firstly, we suffer because we are a Christian. This may mean we are ridiculed or there are places and events we just don’t go to or we have to miss because we put the Lord first. Secondly, in whatever we are suffering, with health, at work, in relationships, we suffer as a Christian displaying Christian virtues such as faith, self-control, perseverance, godliness, and love. It’s through joining Christ’s fellowship that we are helped to live this way. Peter also tells us that a Christian who is armed with suffering has ceased from sin and lives for the rest of their time no longer for the lusts of men but for the will of God.

Philippians 2 says of Jesus that he took the form of a bond-servant and humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. How do we become like Christ in His death? It’s by becoming a bond-slave and by humility and obedience.

This is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him. Our knowing of Christ will result in a tangible demonstration of His life in us. Through sufferings in our lives that are joined to Christ there can come a powerful transaction that is bringing us back from the dead and more and more into His life.

The problem with pain

For all of the victory that was accomplished by Jesus Christ on the cross, there often remains a question mark on pain, suffering and death. If Christ’s work on the cross was a full and complete, once and for all victory over sin and death, why do we suffer? Why do we experience pain? Why do we die?

For the Christian, we accept the hope that is ours in death. We know that death is not the end but rather an entry into a glorious new fellowship with God and His people. While we may have questions about what things will be like and look like after we die, we accept the comfort and assurance of knowing that those who die in Christ will rise with Him at the resurrection. 1 Thess 4:13-18.

Despite being assured of what happens after we die it is what happens before we die that causes us the most trouble. CS Lewis wrote about this in his book titled ‘The problem with pain’.

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Faithful in a Very Little Thing

“He who is faithful in a very little thing (the least) is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.” Luke 16:10

The context of this verse is set in the midst of Jesus teaching His disciples how to be faithful in the least. The least He is referring to here is worldly wealth as compared to the much, which is the true riches of the kingdom of heaven. The Lord needs to see that we are faithful and obedient to His word in regards to the administration of our worldly wealth before He is able to entrust to us the administration of the wealth of His gifts and resources that belong to the kingdom of God. We need to prove ourselves faithful to His word in what we can see before he gives to us that which we can’t yet see. Learning to be faithful in the least is a godly principle that we are to always live by. We don’t ever graduate from this. For instance we are never to graduate beyond being a love-slave of the Lord. As a slave we understand all things belong to the Master and we are to faithfully administer what He has placed into our hands. If we are faithful with the mina, the least, then the Master of the house can give us an even greater resource to steward; the talent. (Luke 19:12-27; Matt 25:13-30) The area of the least is also a proving ground in which God tests us. Before David could become a king over God’s people he needed to first prove himself as a shepherd of his father’s flock. In regards to this, he was learning to be faithful in that which was another’s. David loved the flock of sheep that was entrusted into his hands; he was prepared to lay down his life to protect them. Apart from your worldly wealth, what else is ‘a very little thing’ that God has given you to do and be faithful in? It could be an ongoing task that you have been asked to do that helps in the overall care of the body of Christ. It could be to regularly visit or to prepare a meal for someone. (Matt 25:34-40) Whatever it is, God’s word exhorts us not to despise the day of small things. (Zech 4:10) Because David was faithful in his service towards that small flock of sheep, God then entrusted to him the capacity to preside over ‘the much’, the kingdom of His people. (2Sam7:8)

With a View to an Administration

“He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable [‘of God’] to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.” Ephesians 1:9-10

Mystery is simply what God knows and understands and He wants us to understand and know what He knows. He makes known the mystery of His will to His messengers and then to all those who receive their message. This is His kind intention. He purposed to reveal this kind intention to us in Christ. What a wonderful thought; Christ is the Father’s kind intention towards us. This kind intention is God’s love, grace and mercy to us.

But in revealing to us the mystery of His will He does so with a view in mind. As Christian parents, in all your dealings with your children, you are to have in view, their maturity. Likewise, God, in all His dealings with us both individually and collectively, as members of His body, has in view our maturity. (Eph 4:11-16) In the big picture of things, of which our maturity in Christ is absolutely essential, what does God have in view in revealing to us the mystery of His will? His administration that is suitable to the fullness of the times. Right now we are rapidly approaching the concluding part of the fullness of the times. God is raising up an administration in the world that is suitable for these times that we are living in. It is beyond what was in the book of Acts and the Epistles. Nothing ever came to full maturity during these times.

Also we understand that God’s administration is not to be relevant to the world. Rather it is to be suitable to God or ‘of God’. This is a big point to understand. His administration is His church, the body of Christ. This is what Jesus came to specifically build that not even the gates of hell can overpower it. (Matt 16:18) Jesus did not come to build anything but the administration of God the Father. Therefore in all of the Father’s dealings in our life, His intention is that we might participate in His administration that is suitable for these times. We are to live in and respond according to what God is doing and building now. We are to join and know our work in the administration that He has in view.

Transferred Into His Kingdom

“For He rescued us from the domain (authority) of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” – Colossians 1:13-14

Have you been transferred into His kingdom? What an amazing transaction takes place on account of Jesus Christ being our Redeemer. Prior to the transfer we were under the domain or authority of darkness. We were completely blind to God’s kingdom and belonged to another kingdom other than God’s. (2Cor 4:4-6) When Jesus came into the world He was not of its kingdoms or cultures. He came from another kingdom that was not of this world. The devil though, aggressively tried to persuade Jesus to transfer from the kingdom of God and its culture of fellowship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. During the time of His temptation in the wilderness, Jesus rejected the offer of Satan to become the head of all the kingdoms of the world. “And he (the devil) led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.” But there were strings attached to Satan’s transfer offer – “Therefore if You worship me, it shall be Yours.” Jesus’ answer to this offer was swift and sure, He spoke the word of the Father to His life. “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord Your God and serve Him only.” (Luke 4:5-7) This has got to be our answer too, but we can only answer that if we practice that.

Jesus became our overcoming Redeemer who paid the ransom price to have us transferred from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God. What a transfer! Has that transaction taken place with you? Have you been transferred from the devil’s team to God’s team? To use a sporting analogy, when a team goes after a player and wants them to transfer from another team they do so because they want them to participate in their team. They have a work for them to do. Have you been transferred to the extent that you can confidently testify, like the apostle Paul, ‘He has put me into service in His administration’. Until we have been put into service the transfer is still somewhat up in the air, it is not yet complete. When this transfer has fully taken place you know you are born again.