Knowing the Banana: part 3

Phil 3:10-11
10 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, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
NIV

Paul here says he wants to know the "power of his resurrection". We know the Bible says that the same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in us. Paul says he wants to know the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings. Many Christians think this means we are to suffer like Jesus suffered so we can have fellowship with Him. That's dumb. Jesus went through all of that suffering so we wouldn't have to. He paid for us because we couldn't pay for us ourselves. Who thinks that they could actually gain something by their own suffering; our righteousness is as filthy rags. God isn't in the business of suffering because He can't give what He doesn't have. Suffering is the devils business and Jesus came so we can be free from suffering. Read Isaiah 61.

What Paul is saying here is that he wants to join in the benefits that come from Jesus' suffering. He wants to live in the blessings of what Jesus paid for. Jesus' death wasn't just enough to get us into heaven. His life was worth WAY more than that wasn't it? He paid for our freedom from sin, death, torment from the devil, and for man's fellowship with God to be restored so we may rule the Earth as He had intended Adam to. This is what Paul was talking about. Jesus paid through His suffering what needed to be paid so we can have a real relationship with Him and our Father in Heaven. Paul wants to know Him.

"...becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead."

I want to point out something in John 7 that I think can explain this better.

John 7:37-39
37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as c the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
NIV

First of all, we are to take a drink of the Spirit and that drink will become "streams of living water." In other words, we are to get life from God (drink) and our life will become empowered (streams of life) to give life to everyone around us that comes for a drink. That is amazing! What a massive responsibility we have. I'll dig into that another time.

Notice that verse 39 says that the Spirit had not been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified. That's interesting. Why the need to wait until Jesus was glorified? Well, what is the primary job of the Holy Spirit? His main purpose is to make us more like Jesus. His job is to perfect us. I know, what a tough job, huh? Think about it this way, if the Spirit had come prior to Jesus being glorified then He would be making the disciples more like Jesus before the cross. He came after Jesus was glorified because we are to be like the glorified Christ. We are being transformed into the likeness of the Jesus who sets at the right hand of the Father, not the Jesus who walked this Earth. Many Christians are still weeping at the cross and God wants us to know the life after the resurrection. The power Jesus displayed on Earth as a man walking in right relationship with God was awesome but He wants us to know the greater power of the resurrection. God considers the raising of Jesus from the dead the greatest thing that has ever been done. It is greater than all of creation. That is what He wants us to know. That is what Paul wanted to know.

God bless you.