"I want to know Christ"

Whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ… I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord… I want to know Christ… Philippians 3:8, 10

Pointing to his disciples, Jesus said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother”. Matthew 12:49-50

I enjoy reading biographies - people’s life stories.

At the moment I’m getting to know Eric Liddell, the “Flying Scotsman”, athlete and missionary, famed for refusing to run in the Olympics because his race was rescheduled for a Sunday, which he didn’t feel able to do. (At the last moment he was entered for an alternative race on a different day – and won it by a mile.) A wonderful man, and a great challenge and stimulus to my sluggish faith.

Then, a few weeks ago, it was Joseph Stalin. A bit different, that: he was pretty much a killing-machine, generally regarded as one of the most evil people who ever existed, right up there (or should I say right down there?) with Hitler and Mao Tse Tung. Grim reading; but a sombre reminder of what human nature, including mine, is capable of.

And then Paul Robeson. The son of a slave in America, he was a professional sportsman, a star actor and a political activist, but known above all for his glorious singing voice (“Ol’ man river” and many others). So much to admire in his integrity and humility! But so much too to feel sad about as his life rather fell apart towards the end.

A good biography gives you a flavour of a person’s life – but only a flavour. I said I was “getting to know” Eric Liddell. But of course that isn’t really true. Both he and the others I have mentioned are now long dead, so of course I can never actually know them.

And there is a massive difference between knowing about someone or something, and actually knowing them.

Why am I saying this? Because Easter is almost with us, the time of year when Christians celebrate the death and rising again of Jesus. The glory of Christianity is that we not only know about him, but we do in fact know him, because while he truly died he also was truly raised to life; and is still alive today. The four Gospels of the New Testament were written not merely as biographies, though they serve as that, but as invitations to their readers to come and know this man.

So I am writing this blog to encourage you to do just that, if in fact you have never done so before.

The apostle Paul wrote a beautiful little letter to the Christians in the Roman garrison town of Philippi. It’s a letter that oozes affection and gratitude, for they have not only responded to the message he preached to them, but have also given him practical support

Though short, Philippians contains quite a lot of detail about Paul’s personal life and experiences, and chapter 3 verses 7-14 are a good example.

There was a time, he tells us, when he knew quite a lot about Christ – enough, at any rate, to see him as a threat to all that he held most dear as a devout Jew. He came to see Jesus, in fact, as such a threat that he decided that he and his influence needed to be stamped out. When Stephen, the first person to die for being a follower of Jesus, was stoned to death, Saul (as Paul was then known) was right there, not himself throwing stones, but looking after the coats of those who were (Acts 7:54-8:1).

But it wasn’t long before the stone-throwing – and worse - started again, and Paul was right at the heart of it (Acts 8:1-3)…

But something truly dramatic happened – Luke describes it for us in Acts 9. And one way to put it is that he came to know Jesus. In Philippians 3: 8 he talks about “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”. No longer just knowing about him! But actually knowing him. And let’s not miss that little detail “my Lord”, not only “the Lord”, which indicates the intimacy of a personal relationship.

As Christians today we can’t of course “know” Jesus in the same way as those first believers did, especially those who met him risen from the dead on Easter day. We can’t see him with our earthly eyes or hear him with our earthly ears. We can’t reach out our hands and physically touch him, as Mary Magdalene did.

But we can, and do, know him! By reaching out to him in faith we become part of him, as he becomes part of us through the work of the Holy Spirit. And that is when our lives change out of all recognition; not perhaps as suddenly and dramatically as did that of Saul of Tarsus, but, long-term, with equally life-transforming effects.

Another week, and the dramatic events of Jesus dying and rising again will be in our minds. So never could a question be more timely: This Jesus, you know about him, of course. But can you say you truly know him? Can you, with Paul, call him “my Lord”?

Please hear this… he is alive, and waiting for you!

Lord Jesus, thank you that you rose from the dead and are alive for evermore. Please help me today to take that step of faith, so that I can come to know you personally and begin my adventure of discovering more about you, until that day when I see you face to face. Amen.