The Fellowship Of Suffering

Possessing the Land

Journey Into The Promised Land

Philippians 3:1–21 (CSB)

KNOWING CHRIST

3 In addition, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a safeguard for you.

²Watch out for the dogs, watch out for the evil workers, watch out for those who mutilate the flesh. ³For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh—⁴although I have reasons for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee; ⁶regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.

⁷But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. ⁸More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith. ¹⁰My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, ¹¹assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.

REACHING FORWARD TO GOD’S GOAL

¹²Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. ¹³Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, ¹⁴I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you. ¹⁶In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained. ¹⁷Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us. ¹⁸For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things, ²⁰Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. ²¹He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself.

In Song of Solomon, the cry of the bride, who is symbolic of the Church, was…

I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth… (Song of Solomon 3:2)

Centuries later, the Apostle Paul echoed the same cry when he cried out:

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. (Philippians 3:10)

When Paul uttered these words, it was 64 A.D. and he was in the closing days of his ministry. Around three years later he was martyred for the cause of Christ. Yet here, at the end of his ministry, Paul is crying out, “That I may know Him.”

…Yes, Paul was saved.
…Yes, he was a minister.
…Yes he had done mighty signs and wonders in the name of Jesus.

But we are talking about something deeper. We are talking about a revelation of God’s glory which comes through the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering.

When you move beyond the point of blessing into this manifestation of God’s presence and glory of which I am speaking, you will know no defeats.

This doesn’t mean you will not experience problems. Just look at the things the Apostle Paul endured…

Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:24-28)

Make this declaration:

I want to know Him, in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.

*Adapted from MCWE email – Journey Into The Promised Land by Morris Cerullo

The Fellowship Of Suffering – 12/20

Possessing the Land

Journey Into The Promised Land