That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.
— Philippians 3:10
Paul told the Philippians that his desire was to know Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. Not many know what it is to experience the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, for it involves being led into a place of death, where we experience the finality of death and then, out of that hopeless place, the uplifting of the heavenly Christ in resurrection.
That resurrection experience, however, is not for our glory, but for our endurance in the fellowship of His sufferings. And what are Christ’s sufferings? They are the sufferings for our growth. If we live for the church, we must be willing to enter into the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ for the church’s sake. If we have the saints in your heart, we must be willing to be led away to endure the sufferings of Christ for their sake. If we have the saints in our heart, we must be prepared to experience Christ’s death and resurrection for their sakes.
Adapted from Oneness and the One Accord, page 67.
Tomorrow: “Filling Up the Lack in Christ’s Sufferings”