Title: Truly Knowing Jesus
Text: Phil 3:7-10

Sometimes we think we know people when we don't really know them at all. Sometimes we have friends like that, we think we know them but we don't. Sometimes we confuse knowing about people with actually knowing them. We know enough facts about them that we feel like we know them and want to know them more.

I'm a fan of Tuff Hedeman. He's a bull rider, I first became a fan watching the movie 8 Seconds - the life story of Lane Frost. I've seen Tuff ride, I've seen him win I've met him and I have his autograph on both my cowboy hat and a baseball cap, I know about him but I don't know him. I could say the same thing about a number of famous people. You probably can too. I know lots about them, but I don't really know them.

The same thing is true about Jesus, lots of people know about Him, but they don't know Him. During His earthly ministry people knew He had power and authority (Matt 9:8). They knew He taught the way of God in truth (Matt 22:16). They knew He was from God (Jn 3:2). Some knew Him as Joseph's son. But they didn't really know Him, they knew facts about Him but they didn't really know Him, and there is a difference. The same thing is true today, many people know a great deal about Jesus, but they don't know Jesus.

Last week we looked at what Paul said about having no confidence in the flesh in verse 3 of chapter 3. He listed his accomplishments in verses 5 and 6 but his conclusion was they were of no benefit in relationship to God. Legal observance, national descent, social standing, moral achievement, none of these are of any value in a persons position before God. The same is thing is true regarding purely factual or intellectual knowledge about Jesus.

In verses 7 and 8 Paul gives a philosophical statement of life with eternal consequences. "But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ." (NAS)

Paul was at the pinnacle of Jewish achievement. The right nation, the right tribe the right social & religious class well educated a moral and legal over achiever. All of these things were of great advantage and benefit they were social and political gain. But he says they were just rubbish. The Greek word is used of things worthless or detestable.

Again strong language by Paul who is not condemning any of those things, not saying they are bad or wrong. Paul said I count all those things so highly sought after and so greatly valued by this world as worthless. In comparison to knowing Christ Jesus those things are of little value at all. Jesus said it this way: "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? "For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Mark 8:36-37 (NAS)

What then does Paul mean when he talks about knowing Christ Jesus? In contrast to intellectual knowledge, it is a knowledge based on experience. You might compare this to the knowledge a husband and wife experience in marriage. Deborah and I have been married 30 years. That's a long time. That's 210 dog years. We have an experiential knowledge of each other. Not only likes and dislikes, but how we react to certain things, how we act in certain situations, what kinds of things irritate or provoke, what kinds of things motivate. It's an intimate knowledge that has grown over the years because of our relationship to one another. I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about even if you are not married. A similar relational knowledge develops within families; mothers and fathers gain a relational knowledge of children and children gain a relational knowledge of their parents.

How do we derive this kind of knowledge? The first is in a life changing way. Obviously the initial experience is through trusting Christ or being born again. As we saw in our Bible study last Sunday night, God desires to know us first, salvation is first and foremost God's initiative.

"For God so loved the world," the Bible says, " that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16 (NAS)

Rom 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (NAS)

God wants us to know Him and experience Him personally through faith. His design is that the object of our faith is Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me. John 14:6 (NAS) No one can truly know and experience the Father unless they first know and experience the Son whom the Father sent.

Paul describes that relationship of experiencing Christ as being "in Christ." That means in vital union with Him. In John 14:18-20, Jesus speaking of His approaching death and the coming of the Holy Spirit as an abiding presence within believers said. "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. "After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you {will} behold Me; because I live, you shall live also. "In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. (NAS)

When we talk about a vital union with Christ it implies that the believer spiritually experiences or partakes of all Christ's redemptive experiences. Thus the Bible tells us that the Christian, suffered with Christ (Rom 8:17), was crucified with Christ (Rom 6:6), died with Christ (Rom 6:8; 2 Tim 2:11), was buried with Christ (Rom 6:4; Col 2:12), made alive with Christ (Col 2:13), raised with Christ (Col 2:12; 3:1), Made joint heirs with Christ (Rom 8:17), are glorified with Christ (Rom 8:17) enthroned with Him (Col 3:1; Rev 20:4), and reign with Him (2 Tim 2:12; Rev 20:4).

What that vital union also meant for Paul was that Christ's righteousness would be imputed or accounted to the one who is in union with Him so that Christ's righteousness is considered theirs. A righteousness Paul says is not of his own, not of the things he has done or the position he holds or his status in society but as a result of faith in Christ.

Righteousness implies a right standing before God. This includes redemption from the bondage of sin, reconciliation from the separation caused by sin, justification from the penalty of sin ( or pronounced not guilty by the blood of Christ) and sanctification being set apart from sin unto God for His purpose and for our growth into Christ likeness.

Not only are we to know Christ through the initial response to grace, He also wants us to continually know and experience Him as well. While redemption, reconciliation and justification are all instantaneous and complete the moment we accept Christ, or the moment we ask Him to live within our hearts, sanctification is a gradual process that only begins when we trust Christ.

Jesus said, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. Luke 9:23 (NAS) In the model pray of Matt 6 in verse 11 He prayed, "Give us this day our daily bread." (NAS) The Lord intends for us to depend on Him day by day. Just as natural growth takes place day by day so too does spiritual growth. The faith experience of knowing Christ is in the Bible compared to the maturing process. It is also compared to the marriage process.

The idea is to grow more and more in our relationship with Jesus, experiencing more of His love, His mercy, His grace, more of His power. and wisdom daily that we might become more like Him. That's the purpose of experiential knowledge to be conformed or transformed to His likeness.

The late Dr. William Hendriksen said we gain such experiential knowledge from wide awake attendance at public worship, I don't think Dr Hendriksen is implying we don't sleep in church although that is a good point, but rather talking about proper motives of church attendance and genuine spirit lead worship from the heart, being aware of the presence of Christ in your life and in the life of the church. It also comes from experiencing the grace of God in your own life and extending God's grace to others, by practicing forgiveness, by loving others as Christ loved, by developing a thankful spirit, by studying the Word of God so that it dwells in your heart, through the singing of hymns, and psalms and praises to the glory of God, and through steadfastness in prayer.

That's what Paul wrote in Col 3:12-17:  "And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And beyond all these things {put on} love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms {and} hymns {and} spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, {do} all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." (NAS)

To know Christ means that we experience personally His forgiveness and love by extending the arm of faith to accept His grace and having done that we should no longer live for ourselves but for Him who died and rose again on our behalf.

That's what we invite you to do; experience the intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ by placing your faith in Him and then by living for Him.

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