As the Father sent me, I now send you… John 17 know me, be like me - Phil 3
The importance of “as”. We do not have to be afraid of “as”. We do have to “try” to be “as”, or, like, Jesus, we are created in Him to be like Him. (Eph 2:1-10)
We have a tremendous hope: we are in God, in Christ! And that is by God, through Christ!
1:6 It is God who began this work and He promises to “bring to completion the work He has begun”
2:12 It is, therefore, God who works in us to cause us to desire Him and His will
2:11 means, that we work out our salvation with “fear and trembling” is our response to the fact that it IS God, in us, working - God!
God is working in us, and is so excited to be working with us!
Having given us “everything we need for this life and His characteristic - godliness… we get to make every effort to add to this incredible received faith… the goodness”, the beauty, of the Kingdom in us - Jesus! This goodness is the very reflection of His own Person’s expression toward us and all that He has made (Ps 19; 2Peter 1:1-11)
God’s desire is that we would join Him in the work, His work, that is now our work - joyfully, vigorously! What is the work? Believing in the One sent! (John 6:29)
Having been given everything we need, We must be careful then how we live… “...not as unwise, but as wise… not being drunk on…” this world, but under the influence of God working in us… “the Holy Spirit” (Eph 5:15-20)
Being drunk, or under the influence of, this world, is the matter of the flesh - the world’s way, earning our place, proving ourselves to God, showing Him, our own righteousness, and goodness, instead of Jesus in us, formed in us, and our being “conformed to the image of…” Him (Rom 5; 8; Gal 5)
3:1-6
Putting hope and pride in the flesh and what we do in the flesh, by the flesh, living according to the flesh, is not to be and live as Jesus… putting our hope in God’s work in us is where it truly lies!
So, instead, allow your pride to be in the one you know, who knows you… there is a good pride and that pride stems from humility and, rightly received, takes us back to humility (Gal 6:1-10; Matt 5:3)
“Who is a man… that you would care for Him…”? (Ps 8:4; 144:3; Job 7:18; Heb 2:6)
Life is not realized in the rigors of proving oneself to God and others, but in knowing Jesus, investing in that relationship, and becoming like Him - in all things
Where, in what, in who, should our effort lie?
3:7-11
My goal is threefold:
3:8 the value of knowing Christ Jesus…
Knowing: doctrine and wisdom - to know more about all things Jesus and His truth and this from firsthand experience with Jesus and His truth applied to thought, belief, and action - life
Not just knowledge, but having it applied
3:9 the truth of His righteousness - not having a righteousness of my own - humbly recognizing Jesus and His work and remaining intimately acquainted with it
3:10 to know Jesus
To know Him:
Come to know, ascertain, realize - to know more and more, intimately
To become more intimately acquainted with the blessings of Jesus, knowing Him and being known by Him - deeper
And, to continue to strive until the end and, at least, live up to what we have attained…
3:12-19
3:12
“I make every effort to take hold of”
Persecute - zealously, vigorously hunt down - pursue with haste, chasing, desiring to overtake and apprehend
“Taken hold of me” to make me plunder
Lay hold of, to seize, - tight hold of, catch, capture, overtake - aggressively take - with decisive initiative, grasping in a forceful manner - making it, me, one’s own - to appropriate
We are not of this world any more than Jesus was or is of this world - because we are in the One who is not of this world, we are not and cannot be of this world (John 17)
What we have to look forward to is this…
3:20-21
A love for Jesus
