That I May Know Him ...

“That I may know Him…”

As part of my Inner Renewal Time I am studying Going Deeper, a book by one of my Dad's favorite authors: J. Sidlow Baxter. This book is so old (1959) that the price on the cover is $1.95.  The exciting thing is that books about God's Word are never outdated if they present the eternal truth of God's Word.  I now realize why Baxter was one of my Dad's favorite writers.  Over 80 pages of this book is commentary on one verse: Philippians 3:10, "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.”

Those of us who have a prayer life (and all of us should) have probably asked for the power of God on our lives.  But what's interesting in this text is that the "power of His resurrection" is tied directly to "His suffering."  We may desire the power, but are we willing to suffer? Much of our suffering is the general suffering of life. Christ’s suffering was that of suffering for doing righteousness. The Apostle Peter wrote, “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed…For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil” (1 Peter 3:14 & 17 NKJV).  

It is also interesting to note that this is directly tied in with discipleship, for in Philippians 3:17 we read, "Brethren, be followers together of me."  All believers have been called to discipleship. The Great Commission of Matthew 28:16 – 20 is a reminder that we are to be discipling others even as we are discipled by others. This is to be done intentionally.

Baxter writes, “In this Philippian verse Paul is not thinking of the order in which we savingly appropriate Christ at the beginning of our Christian life, but of the way in which we subsequently learn to know Him in a heart-to-heart sympathy” (italics the author’s, p. 74). This discipleship is, ultimately, the personal application of what we learn as we dig deeper and deeper into God's Word.  Are you applying what you know of the Scriptures?  Do you live it out? – Dr. Joe Olachea is the Senior Pastor of Lakes Community Church in Medford, NJ and serves on the Board of America’s Keswick

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Joel 1-3; Psalm 60; Proverbs 3

Compass Pointers: “Well, there it is, this strangest of all paradoxes: richest joy by deepest sorrow; out of the bitter flows sweetness; the cross is a latent throne; tears become windows into heaven; the deeper we go, the higher we rise; and self-abnegation for others is the golden portal to highest fulfillment. The nearer we get to Christ the more we enter the love-secret which turns sighs into songs, weights into wings, burdens into blessings, and crucifixions into coronations” (p. 84). J. Sidlow Baxter 

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1:John 6:35; Level 2: John 6:35-40

Anchored to the Rock: It is a good rule never to look into the face of a man in the morning till you have looked into the face of God. C. H. Spurgeon