I Want to Become Like Christ in His Death
Philippians 3v10, Part 4
25th August 2023
We're studying:
Philippians 3v10-11
I want to know him [Christ] and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death
and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Not 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.
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing
I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on
toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in
Christ Jesus.
Paul has expressed his three priorities: to know Jesus Christ, to experience the power of Christ's resurrection, and to share in suffering for Christ. He now says:
Philippians 3v10b
... becoming like him in his death...
The first thing to say, perhaps, is that it is only by pursuing Paul's first three priorities that we can achieve this fourth priority. It's only by being born again through faith in Christ, getting to know Him through prayer, Bible study and church attendance, as well as through all the things that happen in life when seen through a Christian perspective, seeing His dynamic resurrection power at work in and through us, and deepening our relationship with Christ by suffering for Him and His church, can we ever become like Him. Of course, we don't really "achieve" this goal. We only become Christlike by His grace and His power, not by our own efforts. Nevertheless, we do have a role to play in co-operating with God.
But Paul doesn't merely say he wants to become like Christ, although that is an excellent ambition indeed. He says he wants to become like Christ in His death. Paul doesn't mean here that he wants to become like Christ through Christ's death, although that is the only way. He means he wants to become like the dying Christ.
There is one way in which Paul and we can never be like Christ in His death. Through His death on the cross, Jesus Christ achieved redemption for all who believe in Him. Nothing we do can ever be redemptive. Also, our suffering cannot approach Christ's sufferings in depth of sorrow, pain and sacrifice. But we can become more like the dying Christ than we currently are.
Firstly, in His death, Jesus Christ demonstrated complete obedience to God the Father. As Paul wrote earlier in this letter:
Philippians 2v8
And being found in appearance as a man, he [Christ] humbled himself by becoming
obedient to death - even death on a cross!
This was full submission to God. While praying the Garden of Gethsemane the evening before His crucifixion:
Matthew 26v39
... he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is
possible, may this cup [crucifixion] be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as
you will."
Paul wanted to be submitted to our heavenly Father as Christ was. We all know, I hope, that Christians should be fully submitted to God, but we all struggle when the price of submission is costly. Paul wanted to be willing to pay any price in order to obey God.
Secondly, in His death, Jesus Christ demonstrated total love for the church. He sacrificed Himself, enduring unimaginable physical pain and separation from God the Father. He did all this for us.
Galatians 1v3-4
... the Lord Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according
to the will of our God and Father...
Hebrews 12v2
... For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame...
In his later years Paul reached a state of love and dedication to God and the church in which he wanted to give all he had, and to endure suffering as Christ did, in his ministry of preaching the Good News and caring for the churches. He knew something of what he was talking about.
2 Corinthians 11v24-27
Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.
Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times
I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,
I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in
danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles;
in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in
danger from false believers.
I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known
hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and
naked.
But he still wanted to do more, to give more, to suffer more, for Jesus and for the church.
At the cross, Jesus Christ didn't take His own desires, His own comfort, even his desire for self-preservation, into account at all. Paul wanted to be like the crucified Christ. He wanted to be as dedicated in obedience to our heavenly Father as Christ was. He wanted to love the church as Christ loves us. Does that seem extraordinary to us? It shouldn't! Jesus said:
Luke 9v23
... "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself and take up his cross
daily and follow me."
Paul intended to live in accordance with that saying. Last time, I wrote, "God is more interested in our sanctification than our comfort, while we are in danger of being more interested in our comfort than our sanctification." Paul truly wanted to be completely sanctified, whatever the cost. What about us?
Next week: the resurrection from the dead