WEEK FOUR
Day Five
DAILY SCRIPTURE
Philippians 3:10
LEADER GUIDE QUESTIONS
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Know: Read Philippians 3:10-11
Note: Read slowly, carefully marking keywords.
know Him, fellowship of His sufferings, conformed to His death
Observation:
How do we know Him?
What: In what way have you faced suffering? How did you respond?
“that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Philipians 3:10-11
Paul discovered something, which, when put on the credit side of the ledger, was nothing in comparison to his accomplishments and which puts them on the debt side. That something is someone named Jesus, the One whom Paul addressed in the poem of 2:6-11.
This passage is a continuation of the heart behind the poem. In it, Paul told us that Jesus did not regard his advantage as equal to God, something to exploit, but rather as the reason to die to gather us back into His heart-which is why God exalted him. In light of this, Paul did not regard his privilege in life as something to take advantage of nor the way to have a credit of righteousness. The true way of sonship lay in suffering and death with the hope of resurrection.
Jesus had done what Israel, as a nation, could not. Before coming to Christ, Paul failed to see it, too. Jesus was the light of the world, the way of salvation, and the door to eternity. Israel strove to be God’s people; they followed the law, killed sacrifices, kept to the Torah, and lived separated from the Gentiles. But now that he had discovered Christ, he no longer wanted that privilege. He only wanted to gain Jesus.
Paul knew that the road would be suffering and death for him. This would be the road for much of the early church as they faced persecution for their faith.
Our status as children of God is ‘in Christ.’ However, knowing Christ is different than knowing about Him. To know Jesus is to be found in Him, to be defined by His faithfulness, power, death, and resurrection. This is what Paul so urgently prayed for us all to have. To grow in the knowledge of Christ is to know Jesus intimately.
Lastly, Paul also always addressed the church’s walk. In light of knowing Christ, our lives should look like Christ's. Our lives should display the same character and nature of Jesus because it is He who works in and through us as we know Him. Our belief that He was crucified and risen is the badge that proves we are His. The penalty of sin was paid for in Jesus’ death—this is Justification.
Justification is about Jesus’ taking on what was killing us and declaring us sons- just as we have never sinned. It makes us children of God no matter what our background is. The faith which marks our lives is the faith of Jesus.
For some today, this means that life will be marked by suffering because of persecution; for others, it may be easier if others had paved the path ahead. Either way, it is better to have Christ than to have anything else in the world.
For Paul, suffering was an honor. Suffering did not cause Him to question God or to ask why God would allow him to choose certain decisions or to question whether God did not stop him if He knew that Paul would face persecution.
Have you ever questioned why God would allow you to have certain friends who would later betray you or why He would allow you to move somewhere that would end up being miserable for you? How did you respond to those trials?
We must not confuse this world's fallen state, the works of the evil one, and people’s personal choices with God’s plan for our lives. Paul said that suffering was part of life (not God’s punishment or test), but it was an honor for him because in the suffering, he got to participate in the advancement of the Gospel—and it gained traction when the church heard of what he was enduring. God is not the author of trials. He has equipped us with tools for victory amid trials. God is never the problem.
How we respond in trials either stalls the advancement of the kingdom or propels it.
My husband and I have a name for something that happens to anyone who, in a church setting, when faced with trials and the ‘hard,’ responds to it. We call this ‘The Test of Ministry.”
We often give people opportunities to grow by allowing them a certain amount of freedom to express the gifts and desires they are called for. Inevitably, without fail, the temptation to complain or compare themselves with someone or the trials of life hit. This is the point at which people will either advance or halt in their maturity. This is the point that shows us whether they are ready for the next phase of ministry or not. Ministry is never withheld because of gifting- it is always withheld because if someone cannot handle small adversities, they will not be able to sustain greater ones. Until they learn how to handle minor skirmishes- such as discovering contentment when the temptation to compare arises- they will not be able to handle significant battles and will buckle under the pressure.
We are not Christians to get God to do something for us, bless us, or give us a ticket to Heaven. Those are benefits of sonship, not the reasons we are sons and daughters. We are Christians to display Christ. How we respond to adversity- to friends who betray us, to people in the church who hurt us, to marriage trials, to bills, etc.- will determine our maturity level and success in advancing the Kingdom in our lives and this world. You will ‘keep going around the mountain’ with the same type of adversity repeatedly until you learn to use your weapons of warfare before you can advance into the next phase.
When you are faced with adversity, how do you respond? Do you question or blame God, or do you pick up the weapons He’s given you and use them?