"An Insatiable Appetite!"
Captivated by Christ: An expository sermon series on Paul's Letter to the Church in Philippi (message #22)
Pastor Jerry Ingalls
September 19, 2010
Show edited Youtube comedy clip. It's good to laugh!
For the last 2 weeks, we have dealt with the foundational truth of justification by faith alone. This is the reality that we are made right with God by what Jesus Christ did on the Cross of Calvary, where He took on all of our sins as the final atoning sacrifice, the final Passover Lamb. I have emphasized that we are saved (God imputes His righteousness on to us through faith) in the instant we ask Jesus Christ to forgive us our sins and to be our Lord and Savior. It is by faith and not by works, so that no man shall boast! We now will look at what life is like for the disciples of Jesus Christ who have been given this free gift of grace. It is my hope, that for the object of our faith-Jesus Christ-we will experience the same insatiable appetite as this comedian expressed. But not for a worldly buffet line of consumption, or a spiritual smorgasbord of activity that cannot satisfy, but for the Living God who is the only One who can satisfy.
The Word of God from Philippians 3:10-12 (NIV), "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, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." [Prayer]
What can we learn from Paul's testimony that teaches us about the life of disciple of Jesus Christ? Let's jump into our teaching. First, DISCIPLES OF JESUS CHRIST HAVE AN INSATIABLE APPETITE FOR INTIMACY WITH GOD!
Paul starts with the first half of verse 10, "I want to know [ginōskō] Christ and the power [dynamis] of his resurrection [anastasis]..." (Philippians 3:10a).
Christ is the object of our faith! It is through Him that God has imputed righteousness upon us so that we can live in eternal life and it is Paul's greatest desire to know Christ. The Greek verb ginōskō is not to know of Christ, but to intimately know Him. This is a personal knowledge, not merely intellectual or conceptual, but in the closest and most intimate knowledge. In fact, this verb is used in Genesis 4:1 of the knowledge Adam and Eve had of one another as husband and wife. As Paul said in last week's section, verse 8, "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" (Phil. 3:8). For Paul, after nearly 30 years of walking with and knowing Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, his greatest desire is for more and more intimacy with God! He had an insatiable appetite for Christ!
Paul stated in Ephesians 2:4-5, "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved."
This is the power (the dynamite!...the Greek word for power is dynamis) of the resurrection in our lives. We once were dead in sin (transgressions), but because of God's mercy and by His undeserved love (grace!) we were born again through faith in Jesus Christ!
What does it mean to be born again? It means that when once our spirit was dead within us due to sin, we were brought back to life by the Spirit of God quickening our spirit to eternal life. The same power that brought Jesus Christ back from the dead (the power of the resurrection) is the same power that brings us back from the dead! If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you have experienced the power of God in your life! The Bible declares in Romans 8:11, "And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you."
Jesus Christ is the object our faith and the focus of our lives as it is through Him that we have life and it is through the Spirit of God, who is the power of the resurrection, that we are to now live and breath and have our being. We are to be Spirit-filled disciples of Jesus Christ! This is a life of love and our ability to live this life and become like God requires of us to have an insatiable appetite for more and more intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Listen to Paul's prayer for the disciples in Ephesians 3:17b-19, "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
The power of the resurrection that Paul has an insatiable appetite for is not a power over death itself (Paul did not fear death!), but rather the power, along with all the other disciples of Jesus Christ, to intimately know the never ending capacity of God's love through Jesus Christ! This knowing is beyond any knowledge because knowing God through the Spirit is to have fellowship with the God who made you and saved you! This is intimate knowing!
This thought carries us into the second point and the rest of verses 10-11. DISCIPLES OF JESUS CHRIST HAVE AN INSATIABLE APPETITE TO BECOME LIKE JESUS CHRIST!
Paul continued in Philippians 3:10b-11, "...and the fellowship of sharing [koinōnia] in his sufferings, becoming like him [symmorphizō] in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection [exanastasis] from the dead."
Paul takes his desire to intimately know Jesus Christ to an experiential level of having koinōnia (translated, "the fellowship of sharing") with the sufferings of Jesus Christ! The Bible records of Paul's conversion in Acts 9:15-16, "But the Lord said to Ananias, 'Go! This man [Paul] is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.'" And Paul did suffer greatly for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can read a description of his suffering in 2 Corinthians 11. But the key is not that God calls us to suffer for suffering sake, but to know Christ through the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings for the purpose of becoming like Him. The Greek word symmorphizō is key to understanding why Paul wants to know Christ this way. This is the only usage of this word in the NT. This word means to identify with the very nature (morphe) of; therefore, the very life of Jesus Christ. To become like Him in our very essence!
Paul earlier told exactly what the morphe or unchangeable nature of Jesus Christ was in Philippians 2:6-8, "Who, being in very nature [morphe] God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature [morphe] of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!" Paul is saying that he wants to be transformed in his unchangeable nature to the unchangeable nature of Jesus Christ. How can you be transformed from one unchangeable nature to another? Doesn't the world unchangeable mean you can't be changed? That is why first, Paul speaks about knowing the power of the resurrection before he speaks about the fellowship of sharing the sufferings of Christ. Through the Holy Spirit, when we experience these sufferings and become like Jesus Christ in His nature of being God yet emptying Himself into the very nature of a slave, then in this death we attain life. We attain the resurrection! We lose our life to gain it eternally!
Let's do a quick Greek lesson. The word resurrection shows up twice in our passage today. The first usage when Paul talks about knowing the power of the resurrection, Paul uses the normal Greek word anastasis. In the second usage, when we Paul says, "and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead", Paul adds a preposition to the word for resurrection, exanastasis, which literally means "out-resurrection". Paul is not casting doubt on our immortality by wondering if we can somehow attain the resurrection of the dead. No! Paul is emphasizing us living out the power of the resurrection so that it is visible outwardly; our lives being a witness to the power of the resurrection! Our transformed lives, much of which happens through suffering, bear witness to Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection!
Paul states in 2 Corinthians 4:10-11, "We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body."
As a disciple of Jesus Christ, it is our life ambition to become like our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the object of our faith and the aim of our lives! We hunger and thirst to Him better and to reflect His glory more and more! And this leads us to our third and final point, DISCIPLES OF JESUS CHRIST HAVE AN INSATIABLE APPETITE TO BE SATISFIED IN CHRIST ALONE!
Philippians 3:12 is a direct response to Paul's self-awareness of his deep desire to know Jesus Christ with such great intimacy and power. Paul humbly proclaims, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect [teleioō], but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me."
The Bible declares that "we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:8-10). This is our telos (our end purpose!). The Greek word teleioō translated "been made perfect" indicates coming to completion in the Designer's intent of who we are! Paul recognizes that he has not arrived at full maturity in Christ. Even after nearly 30 years of walking faithfully and passionately with Jesus Christ; after sharing greatly in the suffering of Christ while declaring the gospel in town after town; and even while he pens these words while in jail for defending the gospel awaiting Caesar's trial to determine if and how he will be executed Paul acknowledges that he has not arrived in knowing Christ. In this recognition Paul points out the most important reality of His discipleship: His relationship with God was not his to begin, so it is truly not his to complete! It is not Paul's pressing on that will complete the work; God will complete that which God began!
Jesus Christ stated in the Gospel of John 15:16, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last."
We reach our telos, our end purpose, by realizing that only Jesus Christ can satisfy our insatiable appetites, whether for more of Him or to be like Him. We must allow the God who made us to work through us to do the good works He prepared in advance for us to do! We are His for His purposes!
So, even though Paul uses the language of an athlete here and will continue to build on that in the following verses, the ultimate reality is that even in the straining and pressing of an athlete's discipline, your insatiable appetite will not be satisfied by work and accomplishment. It is not the work of a disciple that satisfies the greatest need of your life. It is not your endless efforts to be obedient and to do good works for Christ that will complete you. It is Jesus Christ, the One who gave you right standing with God, who satisfies you and completes you from beginning to end. He is the beginning and the end! The alpha and the omega!
I pray for you the same prayer that Paul prayed for the Christ-followers in Colossians 1:10-12, "And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light."
The worthy life is a life that has found satisfaction in the grace of God through a faith relationship with Jesus Christ. Have you accepted Jesus Christ to be your personal Lord and Savior? Right now, God is speaking into your heart and life, today He is choosing you! You have been trying to find satisfaction by consuming. But consuming from the world does not fill your need…like a Chinese buffet, you can gorge yourself, but you'll just find yourself hungry again. Come and drink from the Living Water and eat from the Bread of Life and you will never need to consume again. There is lasting satisfaction found at the foot of the Cross! There is healing available at this altar if you will walk forward in faith and seek your satisfaction in Christ alone…
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