Now let's go back to verse ten and see if we are yet hearing God's words or still listening to ourselves?

What is new as we approach this verse a second time?  What has changed?

I don't know about you, but I feel more prepared to even broach the subject about knowing the power of Christ's resurrection than I was before.

Why?  Because God's words in the previous nine verses have been working the soil.

God has dealt with my heart condition.  Some humility prepares me for some teaching.

As we approach verse ten with the thought that we are
first interested in what the passage says, we will see another major mistake that was made because one thought was pulled from its context.

Re-entry continues with this question:  Why did we focus only on knowing the power of God?

Phil 3:10  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

Aren't we directed by the text to so much more than just knowing the power?

  -- that I may know Him
  -- that I may know the power of His
        resurrection
  -- that I may know the fellowship of His
        sufferings
  -- being conformed to His death

Look at what is revealed by simply separating these phrases and laying them out in a different way.

In the e-book I am putting together "When God's Word Becomes God's Words" this is what I hope to teach and demonstrate:  Simple principles that if applied with some diligence that any of us can better understand the message God is trying to get across in his word.

In this text we see that if we only pull "know the power" from the context, then we miss God's message.

And that is what we should not allow ourselves to do -- Study God's word and miss what he is saying in the words.

What a shame!
 
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Seeking God's Power -- A look down the path in Philippians 3.1-11
 
Page Four
Three things, not one, isn't it?  First, that I may know him, Jesus Christ.  Second, that I may know the power of his resurrection.  Third, that I may know the fellowship of his sufferings.

Isn't it fair to question after even this brief study whether or not we have any right to pursue knowing the power of God apart from the other two?

It seems to be a good thing to ask ourselves, Do I truly want to know Christ or do I just want something from him, as in his power to make my life better?

And,  Can I legitimately seek God's power apart from a desire to "know the fellowship of his sufferings?"

And the process?  Do we want to know the process?  Do we accept the process? 

The process it seems   – "being conformed to His death"

By pulling the "knowing. . .power" out of context could we at least wonder if we are trying to circumvent God's process?

Even now as I follow these thoughts, I am humbled.  How I must bow before God to understand my path and how I must bow before God to accept it and follow him.  Wow!

The result it seems --

3:11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead

What does verse eleven mean?  I'm not sure, but I think the New Century Version gives us a hint.

I want to know Christ and the power that raised him from the dead. I want to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death. Then I have hope that I myself will be raised from the dead.       (Philippians 3:10-11 NCV)

Paul seems to now speak of the hope produced from this process.  No empty words, no cliches, no trite theology. 

Hope that shines within and through the pilgrim on the path, following Jesus in life through death.  Wow again!


It seems if we join Paul on this path then we don't have to talk ourselves into being different people but we are different people, changed along the way of following Jesus Christ – through death, to resurrection.