Fellowship with Jesus. Oh, yes, that is our desire. Or many of us would say. To have Him close enough to be a friend. Someone there to council and console me when the days are hard and dreary. I also need to toss in forgiveness and graciousness toward me, for I am frail and prone to wander. Fellowship with the Messiah is a nice thing, at least if we can have it on our terms. Close enough to know He is always there but not so close that it might change me or cost me something. Sort of "Fellowship Light" where I feel loved and protected with little obligation. However, I do not think that God sees it that way. Paul shares His desire for Christ in Philippians 3:10,"That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and in the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death." It is a remarkable request coming from the man who has walked with the Lord for many years. From one who writes from prison due to his ministry for the Lord. "That I may know Him" should be the passion each of us feels who claim to follow Messiah. So, let's take a minute or two and see what Paul meant. Let us see what it really means to be in fellowship with Jesus.
We will need to take a closer look at each of the key words for our English language has a few short comings as we consider the verse. Paul wants to "know" Messiah. The Greek word is ginosko and the translation is accurate as it means to know. However, the Greek has another word, oida, that is also translated "to know". The difference is in the type of knowing. In Philippians 1:25 Paul says, "and I know (oida) that I shall remain". The difference is cognitive and relational. I know (oida) how to get to Erie and I know (ginosko) my wife are two different types of knowing. The Greek language helps us out by giving us these two words. Paul does not want to just know about Christ but to know Him relationally. To have an intimacy with his Savior.
Lots of people know (oida) about Christ but do not really know (ginosko) Him. This type of knowing is actually pretty hard to find and even harder to maintain. It demands transparency and vulnerability. We must have the confidence to share our deepest thoughts, dreams, and failures with someone, knowing they will still be there, perhaps at an even deeper level than before. That is why it is still a prayer of Paul even after all these years. To have a growing intimacy with the Lord and shepherd of my soul takes work and an emotional sacrifice that few are willing to offer. However, without it there is no real fellowship.
Paul goes on to tell us he desires to know the "power of His [Christ's] resurrection". This experiential, relational knowledge of the power, the dunamis, of His resurrection. This Greek word speaks of the sustaining, unrelenting, power of God. It is not the explosive dynamite blast we might see in moving mountains. It is the sustaining power of an uninterrupted electric current, only magnified by the very power of God. This unrelenting power is found in the resurrection, in our Lord's victory over death. It is the life of God in Christ Jesus imparted to me so that I might have life. This power of life does not ebb and flow but sustains me for all eternity. It is the breaking of the curse of death and the gift of life everlasting.
The question is, "What will I do with this life now offered to me?" "How will I live this life, in light of the desire I have to know Him?" It is by the power of the resurrection that I may now have fellowship with Him. Not just a sort of nebulous fluffy relationship but one of depth and meaning that comes from the passion and power to know Him more intimately each day. Looking forward, knowing that, "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known" (1 Cor 13:12). Oh, to know him and the power of His resurrection. So far, so good, but now Paul tells us that there is more. More to really knowing Messiah in that intimate, life changing way.
"And the fellowship of His sufferings." SUFFERINGS! What kind of prayer is that? Who asks for sufferings? Before you get too freaked out let us take a look at the words Paul chooses to use. Fellowship, koininia, One of those words you may have heard before. It is a popular word used by the apostle John. It means, association, community, joint participation, fellowship, intimacy, sharing the same goals and passion, being unified with one goal and objective. The word for sufferings just means suffering or affliction. We are to join in the sufferings of Christ.
Here is where we need to make sure we do not lose the contest. What this does not mean is being made fun of because you have a fish on the back of your car. It does not mean being teased or rebuked for your stand on moral issues. It does not necessarily mean being beaten and imprisoned for your faith. It is not about discomfort as much as it is in "knowing". Remember, that is where Paul started. To know the sufferings of Christ is to enter into His passion, His reason for suffering. It is a relational knowing that is related to the purpose of the Lord's suffering. It was to bring life to those who needed life. It was to break the power of sin and death. It was to sacrifice His life for the benefit of others, for those He loved and who were in desperate need of deliverance. Paul's desire was to have the same intimate passion and willingness to sacrifice to bring the message of life to others. To relationally, emotionally, practically connect with Christ's desire for others to have life.
"Being conformed to His death" is not another prayer to "know" but an explanation of the fellowship of His sufferings. It carries the idea of being willing to sacrifice everything for the Kingdom. It is a recognition that I am not my own. It is the cry of our Savior when, "He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done" (Matt 26:42). "Thy will be done." To be in Fellowship with Jesus is to carry the same motivation of personal sacrifice to see others have life. To be willing to put others first in the Body so the world will see our love for one another, to see our good work and glorify our Father in heaven (Matt 5:16).
Do we really want that kind of fellowship? Paul is writing to an assembly of believers who struggle to get along. To a group who need to catch the reality of this kind of sacrificial fellowship with one another and then the world. It is not a comfortable or safe kind of "knowing" or "fellowship". It is not the kind we practice very well. Are you willing to sacrifice part of your retirement savings to help an unemployed brother pay his mortgage? Sacrifice your child's college fund to help pay for another child's cancer treatments? Give up your cruise or vacation to put a roof on someones home? Can we be like those in Acts 4? "Neither was there any need among them that lacked for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the things that sold, and laid them down at the apostles feet and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need." (note, this is not a passage promoting Communism. They, of their own free will, chose to sell their excess and support the community of believers) For many of us the attitude is more like this: "Well,
I will pray, and I will encourage and give them a copy of the "help
wanted" ads."
Do we really want to know Him and the power of His
resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering? Do we want to be
conformed to His death? Or do we abridge the cry of Jesus and just say, "Let my will be done".
Fellowship with Jesus. Is it more costly than you thought? Is it worth the price to know Him? It was for the Apostle Paul. It ought to be for me. What about you?
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