"But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead." (NIV)
I grew up in the 60's. An interesting decade, particularly for Christians. It was in the 1960's and early 70's that the idea that Christianity was a relationship, not a religion, started. This excerpt from an Internet site is typical of this thought:
"Christianity is not really a religion; it is a relationship with God. It is trusting in Jesus and what He did on the cross for you (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), not on what you can do for yourself (Ephesians 2:8-9). Christianity is not about ornate buildings, flamboyant preachers, or traditional rituals. Christianity is about truly accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior." (from http://www.allaboutreligion.org/christianity.htm).
I don’t disagree with this statement in principal, but I think that we, as a Church, have actually watered down what it means to be in a relationship with the God of all creation. I don’t know if it comes from our narcissistic ideas of what a relationship actually should be or from our idea that everything in life should be fast paced and expendable. But I do think that, rather than having a relationship with the Lord Jesus, we actually are more like fans.
Americans are actually very comfortable with being fans and, I think, rather good at it. Perhaps that’s why reality television is so popular. It allows us to "share" the lives of interesting people without having to make an actual investment in that relationship. We can discuss our opinions about their lives without having to really deal with the down-and-dirty parts of life and we certainly don’t have to sacrifice to maintain a relationship. Fanship is actually pretty cool because we can act like we have a vested interest without having really made the investment needed to have a relationship.
I think many of us have done that with Jesus. We have become fans, even expert fans. We read the Bible and we know all about Him. We can number off all the do’s and don’t’s, list the stats about His life and the history of the early Church. We even make emphatic opinions about how a life as a Christian—a "Christ"-one— should live. But I think we fail to have a relationship with Him. We want our lives as they are, comfortable and rather self-indulgent. We like living on our terms and feeling that God rather approves of us just as we are. So instead of investing in a relationship with Him, we learn as much as we can about Him and then expect that He will be satisfied with that.
Paul, in Philippians, outlined rather concisely what a relationship with the Lord Jesus actually is:
• Counting all things as loss
• Knowing Jesus
• Participating in His sufferings
Counting all things as loss
Paul wrote: "for whose sake I have lost all things" (v. 8). The Greek word, zemioo (Strong’s G2210), has the sense of us actually forfeiting or casting away that which has great value, of penalizing ourselves with eternal loss. The connotation is that Paul cast away everything that was of great value to him in order to grasp that which was of greater value. And the "casting away" wasn’t temporary, but eternal.
The fact is, there is only so much room in our lives for anything. So much time, so much energy, so much emotional commitment. Whatever consumes us is where our hearts are. Paul literally cast away anything and everything that kept him from having a relationship with the Lord Jesus. Nothing was more important than spending time with the Lord. And since Bibles weren’t portable in those days, the majority of Paul’s relationship with the Lord had to be through prayer.
Do we pray? We study, but do we pray? We listen to sermons, but do we pray? We talk about God, but do we pray? And when we pray, do we listen? Or do we just talk and then walk away? What things are we willing to count as loss in order to know Jesus?
Knowing Jesus
The Greek word, ginosko (Strong’s G1097), is actually a Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman. When Paul talked about knowing Christ, he was talking about that kind of intimacy where you know everything about the other person and they know everything about you because you submit to them. In marital sex, the focus is supposed to be on doing whatever to make your spouse feel happy, loved, and satisfied. The focus is on them and their focus is on you. It’s not at all about what I need, but rather what I can give to them. When this word is connected with gnosis (v. 8, Strong’s G1108)), we see that this knowledge is more than just head knowledge. It is knowledge that is acted out in the life! It is so intimately knowing who Jesus is that our every conversation includes Him, that our every decision is to please Him, that our every activity presses toward His will.
This isn’t simply knowing about Jesus, but is that surrendered life that wants to know Him more than anything else that exists. Nothing is as important as being in His presence and nothing is as imperative as pleasing Him.
That is what Paul meant by knowing Jesus.
Participating in His sufferings
When we are in a committed, intimate relationship with someone, we meld ourselves—our interests, our desires, our activities—to be in line with that person. When Christ lived on the earth, He lived sufferings. He lived nomadically and in poverty. He lived being ridiculed and often despised. At every point, His decisions were based on how He could minister to those around Him, rather than on how to get His own needs met. He totally trusted God to supply His needs and poured Himself out sacrificially to everyone He met.
That is how we are to live if we want to truly know Jesus. Our activities need to be what He did (and now does through the Holy Spirit). Our choices need to be what He would choose (and still chooses through the Holy Spirit). We need to embrace His sufferings on this earth so that we can walk in a relationship with Him.
Do we really have a relationship with Jesus?
Fans sit and watch from afar. They may know countless facts about the person they are watching, but they will never know the intimate details that make life count. They may know how many touchdowns were made, but they will never know what makes the Running Back afraid. They may know the exact kind of make-up a star uses, but they will never know the sound of her weeping in the dark for the loss of a child. They may know every hit song of a band over the band’s long career, but they will never know the nightmares that keep the drummer awake at night.
Fans sit and watch from afar. But those who know intimately will walk side by side, experiencing every moment together, willing to cast away that which comes between them and their love. Do we love Jesus? How much time do we spend with Him? Do we know what pleases Him? And perhaps the most important question of all . . .
Do we even know Him?
© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
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