Philippians 3:10 Inductive Bible Study: Sacrifice 3/18

Philippians 3:7-9 says, "But what things were gain to me, that I have counted loss for Christ. 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 through faith:"

Philippians 3:10 says, "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death."

Paul didn't just want to know the power "in" the resurrection; the one-time event of Jesus resurrecting. He wanted to know the power "of" His resurrection. The power that the resurrection gives him every day. The power that is in the access to God that Jesus' resurrection gave him. He also wanted to know the fellowship of His sufferings and to be conformed to His death. Whatever Jesus went through, Paul was willing to go through the same thing to know the fellowship of Christ. But he realized to have this fellowship and to know Christ and the power of His resurrection, He had to first lose any worldly thing he was holding onto. He couldn't hold onto his own righteousness and know Christ's power. He had to count everything that he had before as rubbish in order to be found in Christ, gain His righteousness, His power and His fellowship.

Something that I think is awesome is that Paul wanted to suffer the way Christ did. He wanted to be conformed to His death. Losing everything he had, reputation, wealth, status, it meant nothing compared to Christ. Even if it meant suffering like Jesus. Paul understood sacrifice because he understood the mind of Christ.

I want to fall so in love with Jesus that not only am I willing to suffer like Jesus but I want to. I want to long to be like him in every way, even to conform to His death. It's one thing to say that I would die for my faith but than would I actually do it? If I knew that I would be brutally tortured and/or killed just for saying that I believe in Jesus, would I stand strong in Him and proclaim His name or would I deny Him for my safety and comfort? That's a convicting thought because with everything in me, I want to say that I would give my life for Jesus' name but then I realize how hard of a time I have with just standing firm when it comes down to if I mention Jesus, I might not be cool. That's pathetic. I don't want to be afraid of sharing His name anymore, no matter what it means. Especially because, if I truly have counted the things of the world as loss, I am found in Christ, through faith I have His righteousness, and I know the power of His resurrection. That is a lot of power. I have Christ. Nothing else matters. That's how I want to live. To live is Christ, to die is gain.

Application:
For the rest of this week, I will write "That I may know Him and the Power of His Resurrection" on my left arm to remind me what comes when I abandon the things of this world and cling to Christ.

Philippi