Becoming Like Christ

BECOMING LIKE CHRIST

An Exposition of Philippians 3:10-11

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date:   November 4, 2018

Series: Philippians: Gospel Partnership on Mission in the World

Note:   Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard   Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION

Two Sundays ago we considered what it means to truly know Christ. In Philippians 3 Paul puts “knowing Christ” front and center: “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Philippians 3:8) Paul identifies his settled aim in life is “that I may know him [Christ]” (Philippians 3:10).

Knowing Christ is of incomparable value. Knowing Him and knowing His power and knowing His fellowship is the substance of what it means to be truly human and alive to God. “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:11-12)

A BRIEF REVIEW

This sermon is a continuation of the one from two weeks ago. You may recall that in the earlier sermon on Philippians 3:10 I said that knowing Christ involves at least four things.

First, knowing Christ involves knowing some very important things about Christ. The one who would know Christ must know what the Bible says about Him.

Second, knowing Christ involves trusting Him – trusting Him to save you from your sin and reconcile you to the Father and transform your life and lead you to glory.

Third, knowing Christ involves treasuring Him. You might trust a bank to safeguard your deposits, without feeling any great affection for the bank. You might trust the foundation of your house to uphold your living quarters, without standing in awe of the foundation. You might trust your GPS to get you from Maine to Michigan, without loving the GPS. But you cannot trust Christ like that. Christ isn’t like a bank that safeguards your treasure, Christ is the treasure! Christ isn’t merely a foundation that upholds the life that goes on in the house, Christ is the life of His people! Christ isn’t an impersonal GPS that gets you to your intended destination, Christ is the destination and goal! True and saving faith doesn’t merely agree that Christ is a competent Savior. True and saving faith delights in Jesus Christ because the believer has found Him to be a wonderful Savior.

Fourth, knowing Christ involves sharing deeply in His way of life, walking with Christ in a Christ-shaped manner of life, becoming like Christ – becoming like Christ in the character, conduct, and course of your life. In other words, knowing Christ isn’t like having a brief, momentary encounter with a famous person, after which you can proudly tell everyone else that you actually got to shake hands with so-and-so, but the brush with greatness makes no practical difference in your daily life. Instead, knowing Christ means having an ongoing relationship with Him such that you live in Him, stay near Him, follow after Him, learn from Him, and start to resemble Him in some rather profound ways. Those who truly know Christ make progress in becoming like Him.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

As we move forward now into the present sermon, let us first hear God’s Word as it is written for us in Philippians 3:10-11. The apostle Paul, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and expressing the attitude of biblical faith, writes:

“that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11)

KNOWING CHRIST, BECOMING LIKE HIM

Notice the flow of thought in verse 10: to know Christ, experience His transforming power, and “share his sufferings” means that you will become like Him. Another passage tells us that God has predestined His chosen ones “to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29). Amid the comfort and ease of life in America, we sometimes neglect the clear biblical teaching that becoming like Christ and being conformed to His image is tied very closely to suffering. Both the Romans 8 passage and the Philippians 3 passage tell us that conformity to Christ means suffering with Christ (Romans 8:17)  and “becoming like [Christ] in his death” (Philippians 3:10).

BECOMING LIKE CHRIST, LIVING HIS STORY    

Another way to say this is that knowing Christ means entering into His story, and becoming like Christ means living His story. Christian, your life is to be patterned after His, your way of life is to resemble the life that He lived, you are to walk in His footsteps – and never forget that His footsteps led to the cross. You are to follow Him!

You are to live in and by and for His story, not your own story. Which means that you must die, you must die to any supposed right to live life on your terms, you must die to the foolish notion that you are entitled to the life that you wish to have. Christian man, Christian woman, Christian young person: the Lord Jesus Christ didn’t save you so that He could help you experience the story that you want to write for yourself, He didn’t die and rise again so that you could be the main character in your own little drama. Instead the Lord redeemed you so that He could bring you into His story and help you experience the wonderful part that He has assigned you. You will never know true and lasting freedom unless you surrender yourself to the Sovereign King!

SOME FOOLISH STORIES THAT SINNERS BELIEVE

Some people are foolishly hanging on to their own story. Perhaps even some of you have been duped by the false stories that are always in wide circulation among sinful men.

Foolish Story #1: I will be who I want myself to be. I will be the definer of my life and I will self-identify as I see fit. This is the old lie: Do what you want and you will become like God (see Genesis 3:1-7).

Foolish Story #2: I will be who others want me to be. I will let my parents or my colleagues or my friends tell me who I am, and I will play the part.

Foolish Story #3: The world exists because of chance plus time plus matter. I am nothing more than a random collection of molecules.[1] Spirituality and morality are non-factors, nothing really matters, I can really do whatever I want, for any reason or no reason at all.

Foolish Story #4: I will be who the tradition wants me to be. That could be ‘religious tradition’ or ‘political tradition’ or ‘cultural tradition’. I will pursue the American Dream of economic betterment, home ownership, and a legacy of education and success for my children. Or: I will be devoted to family and country. Or: I will toe the party line.

Foolish Story #5: ‘He who dies with the most toys wins.’[2] Life consists in the abundance of one’s possessions.[3] More is better, bigger is better, newer is better – and I need it now. There is nothing quite like pursuing the dream of material abundance on the meaningless foundation of a world that exists by chance. With no reason to do or not to do, why not just “eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Corinthians 15:32)?

Foolish Story #6: I will survive. This is no small thing in a world of immense conflict, trouble, and pain. The goal is to keep going and make it to the end – but no one bothers to ask to what end? I think I’m something because I’m still standing – but might if you are standing on quicksand?

Foolish Story #7: You exist to serve me, affirm me, promote me, enrich me, comfort me, look out for me, validate my feelings, and dignify my right to live my life on my terms. You are supporting cast, I am the lead.

We could multiply these foolish stories, but hopefully you get the point. Any story that puts at the center anyone or anything other than Christ, is a foolish story. The Bible tells us that “in [Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3), which means that the only things you will find outside of Christ are the pseudo-treasures of foolishness and nonsense. 

THE FAITHFUL STORY THAT WE HAVE IN CHRIST

By the grace of God, we who belong to Christ are part of a better story, a true and abiding one. Our calling as Christians is not only to believe and proclaim the message of this story, but also to embody and practice the storyline in the way that we live. Knowing Christ involves becoming like Him; walking with Christ involves being conformed to His way – the way that He lived, suffered, and died. Practically speaking, this means that we must die to ourselves and to whatever foolish stories used to hold us captive. Becoming a Christian means bidding farewell to the dead-end story of sin and self-seeking, and instead getting written into the life-of-God story of grace and self-sacrifice.

My burden in this particular sermon is to show you this reality – this reality of living His story – in your Bible. You’ve got to see this in the pages of Scripture. If you walk away from this sermon and your only thought is that Pastor Brian has an interesting take on the Christian life, you’ve missed it. In truth, you don’t need my take on anything. Do not get caught in the fog of subjective opinions and personal feelings. What you need is God’s take, God’s truth! I am an ambassador whose appointed task is to proclaim God’s take on everything that He has revealed to us in Holy Scripture. You should want to walk away from this sermon and know that the living God has clearly spoken to you and is calling you to more fully reject the false stories that threaten to ensnare you and to more fully embrace the gospel story that is intended to shape your life.

There are some profound practical implications that I also want to show you – I want to show you that becoming like Christ in His suffering and death means sacrifice and service and suffering on the path of obedience in the home and in the church and in the world – but this will have to wait until next week. What I want to do in this sermon is to help you understand the gospel storyline that is supposed to be the storyline of your life.

If you have a strong memory of the sermon two Sundays ago, some of this will sound familiar. But in that sermon I moved through these things rather quickly, whereas in this sermon I want to slow down and really show you the flow of thought in five different passages, so that you can see and understand what God has revealed to us. Much is at stake, because these passages actually describe God’s will for your life.

The pattern that you will see again and again is this: sharing in Christ’s suffering and death now, followed by sharing in His resurrection and glory later.

THE CLEAR PATTERN: SUFFERING NOW, GLORY LATER

MARK 8:31, 34-35

Let’s begin in Mark 8, starting in verse 31. Here Jesus describes His story:

“And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.” (Mark 8:31)

What is Christ’s story? Suffering, rejection, and death, followed by resurrection. The Christian’s story is patterned after Christ’s story. It is no accident that right after Jesus tells the disciples His story, He proceeds to tell them their story:

“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”” (Mark 8:34-35)

What is the Christian’s story? Following Christ on the road of suffering, rejecting, and death. Following Christ involves self-denial, taking up the cross (which means a kind of death, because the cross is an instrument of death), and losing your life, and it is this path and no other that leads to the final glorious salvation that Christ will bring when He comes again.

ROMANS 8

Next, let’s turn to Romans 8, looking at verses 16-17.

“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” (Romans 8:16-17)

What is the Christian’s story? It is the “with [Christ]” story. In other words, our story is patterned after and united with His. And what is this story? Suffering with him now, and being glorified with him later in the new heavens and the new earth. These aren’t just two things but two closely related things: the suffering actually leads to the glory – “we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (italics added). If you read through Romans 8 you will notice a number of references to suffering, including: “futility” (v. 20), “bondage to corruption” (v. 21), “groaning” (v. 22, “groan,” v. 23), “weakness” (v. 26), “tribulation” and “distress” and “persecution” and “famine” and “danger” (v. 35) and death (v. 35, 36), as well as our profound need to make war against our sin (v. 13). “[We] wait eagerly for” (v. 23) our resurrection and glorification, but “we wait for it with patience” (v. 25), trusting our loving and wise heavenly Father to work “the sufferings of this present time” (v. 18) for our good and our growth in Christ (v. 28-29 in the context of v. 18-39).

1 PETER

Now let’s go forward to 1 Peter 1, focusing on verses 10-11.

“Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.” (1 Peter 1:10-11)

What is Christ’s story? It is summarized by two key words: sufferings and glories, just like the suffer-and-glorified language we saw in Romans 8. First, “the sufferings of Christ,” followed by “the subsequent glories [of Christ].” What is the Christian’s story? Read 1 Peter and you will see that the pattern holds: we share in Christ’s sufferings now, and we will share in His glory later. Consider:

“But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2:20-21)

 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s suffering, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” (1 Peter 4:12-13)

The story of God’s redeemed people is “[following] in his steps.” Our story is joy in suffering for Christ’s sake now, followed by joy in Christ’s glory later.

PHILIPPIANS 2:3-11

Having looked at Mark 8, Romans 8, and 1 Peter, now we are ready to turn back to Philippians and recall some familiar verses in chapter 2. Professor Michael Gorman calls Philippians 2:6-11 Paul’s “master story”[4], and this is a helpful way to think of it. In other words, this is a careful articulation of the gospel story and Paul expected this “master story” to govern and guide our lives and our participation in the story. When in Philippians 1:27 Paul told us to “let [our] manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Philippians 1:27), he especially meant that our manner of life should be worthy of the gospel story as it is recounted in Philippians 2:6-11. Paul wrote:

“who [Christ Jesus], though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:6-11)

What is Christ’s story? From a crown of glory in heaven to a cross of suffering on earth, and then back again. The story is characterized by humility and self-emptying; by choosing to lower one’s self, status, and position for the sake of love; by walking away from comfort in order to live as a faithful and fruitful servant; by obeying the Father at great cost; by sacrificing one’s life for God and for others on the cross; and all this followed by resurrection, exaltation, and glory. Do you understand?

Even in Philippians 2 Paul is setting forth this “master story” as the foundation and motivation of our love for one another. Remember Philippians 2:3-4? Why should you not pursue “selfish ambition…, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3)? Why should you not be preoccupied with self-interest but be devoted “to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4)? Because of Christ! Christ our Savior, our risen and exalted Lord, lived and died as a humble servant. Therefore we also should have the same mindset that Christ had, and in that attitude of humility before God we should walk away from self-seeking comfort in order to love and lift up and serve our brothers and sisters. So even in Philippians 2 we see that Christ’s story is the pattern for the Christian’s story, that we are to follow our Lord in humble service.

PHILIPPIANS 3

Then in Philippians 3 Paul sheds additional light on this connection between Christ’s story and the Christian’s story. In verses 10-11 Paul expresses the ambition of a man who has come to know and love Christ:

“that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11)

What is the Christian’s story? Sharing Christ’s suffering and becoming like Christ in His death, followed by resurrection. We share in Christ’s suffering and death now, and later we will share in Christ’s resurrection and glory. This promise of becoming like Christ in His resurrection is made clear in Philippians 3:20-21.

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” (Philippians 3:20-21, italics added)

Do you see it? Verse 10: “becoming like him in his death”; then verse 21: becoming like Him in His resurrection glory.

SUMMARY: THE CHRISTIAN’S STORY IS A ‘WITH CHRIST’ STORY

The Christian’s story is a ‘with Christ’ story, a ‘knowing Him and becoming like Him’ story. Philippians 3 and Philippians 2 and 1 Peter and Romans 8 and Mark 8 and a number of other passages that we didn’t mention – and indeed the entire Bible – is telling the same story. Do you see and understand? This is the story ­– the “master story”! It is God’s will that we not only believe and proclaim this story about Christ, but also that we embody and practice this story as Christ’s people – for disciples must become like their Master. The call is clear and unmistakable: follow Christ!

It is true, of course, and very important to understand, that Christ’s suffering and death are unique in terms of their saving power. Christ alone is the Lamb of God whose broken body and shed blood was the perfect sacrifice that atoned for the sins of His people. Our suffering and death have no saving power, no atoning value, no ability to make ourselves righteous in God’s sight. However, when Christ takes hold of a sinner and saves that sinner and brings that sinner into fellowship with the Father, Christ calls that once-condemned-sinner-but-now-justified-saint to follow after Him, learn from Him, commune with Him, and be conformed to the way of His cross: serving humbly, loving sacrificially, enduring hardship with patience and purpose, and giving everything you’ve got for the glory of God.

SHARING IN CHRIST’S SUFFERINGS IS ESSENTIAL TO THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

Paul’s teaching in Romans 8:17 that suffering with Christ is a pre-condition of being glorified with Christ shows that sharing in Christ’s sufferings is essential to the Christian life. Further, right here in Philippians 3 Paul expects us to follow his example. Paul didn’t regard himself as a super-saint whose super-saintliness was incapable of imitation. Paul wants us to imitate his pursuit of Christ: “Let those of who are mature think this way” (Philippians 3:15) and “Brothers, join in imitating me” (Philippians 3:17) and “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me – practice these things” (Philippians 4:9). You who belong to Christ are meant to live in the goodness of the Philippians 3:10-11 storyline. Christian, your mindset and manner of life and motivation should be to know Christ and “share his sufferings” and “[become] like him in his death,” and after you have shared in the likeness of His suffering and death, then you also will share in the likeness of His resurrection and glory. This is the story of fellowship with Christ! This is the story that you ought to be living. Are you? Do you know and love Christ? Are you becoming like Him in His self-emptying and cross-bearing service?

FINAL APPEAL

Friend, perhaps you have come to service this morning and you’re on an entirely different path. You’ve got your own story going on, and Christ isn’t at the center of it, Christ isn’t the Master of it, Christ isn’t the goal of it. Be assured that the promise of resurrection and glory is not given to those who insist on doing their own thing in their own way. In the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”[5] This is what repentance is: dying to self, dying to sin, dying to all the false stories and vain hopes, and coming alive to find your name written in God’s story, the one that bleeds suffering now but after a little while brings glory forever. Come and die! Repent and live! Bear the cross, and in due course will wear the crown!

Christian, your calling is to live the storyline of the gospel, in all of your relationships and responsibilities. Christ gave Himself for you so that you, regenerated and transformed by His grace, could follow Him on the path of costly love – and love is costly. Follow Christ!

Follow Christ by forsaking comfort and embracing the Father’s call to serve – and start at home! Dads, remember that Christ didn’t come “to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Follow Christ by not expecting your family members to make your life more comfortable, but by working diligently in God’s strength to make their lives more godly.  

Brothers and sisters, pursue Christ by rejecting the supposed right to define your own mission and instead get totally immersed in His mission – pursue His mission in your marriage, in your parenting, in your church family, in your sphere of influence. The mission is to make disciples, to make more people into better students and imitators of Christ.

Become like Christ by laying down your life – sacrificing self-interest, saying ‘No’ to cheap pleasures, enduring difficulties – in order to give yourself fully to the work of the Lord. Then you will advance God’s purpose, build up His church, carry out His mission, and glorify His name in the Oxford Hills and beyond.

In the words of Fanny Crosby,

“Tell me the story of Jesus,
write on my heart every word;
tell me the story most precious,
sweetest that ever was heard.
Tell how the angels, in chorus,
sang as they welcomed His birth,
"Glory to God in the highest!
Peace and good tidings to earth."

“Fasting alone in the desert,
tell of the days that are past;
how for our sins He was tempted,
yet was triumphant at last.
Tell of the years of His labor,
tell of the sorrow He bore;
He was despised and afflicted,
homeless, rejected and poor.

“Tell of the cross where they nailed Him,
writhing in anguish and pain;
tell of the grave where they laid Him,
tell how He liveth again.
Love in that story so tender,
clearer than ever I see:
stay, let me weep while you whisper,
love paid the ransom for me.”[6]

Show me a man or woman who loves the story of Jesus and on whose heart every word of it is being written, and I will show you someone who has begun to live it and wants to do so more and more – “that I… may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.”

Let us pray.

ENDNOTES

[1] Pastor Douglas Wilson (Christ Church, Moscow, ID) has described this naturalistic worldview along the lines of In the beginning there were molecules….

[2] According to the Wikipedia entry “The Most Toys,” this popular quote “is originally attributed to flamboyant millionaire Malcolm Forbes.” See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Most_Toys.

[3] Jesus said, “… ones’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15).

[4] Gorman, Michael J. Becoming the Gospel: Paul, Participation, and Mission (The Gospel and Our Culture Series (GOCS)). Kindle Version. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015. Kindle page 106 of 340.

[5] For Bonhoeffer’s quote and its context, see John Piper, “Dietrich Bonhoeffer Was Hanged Today.” DesiringGod.org, April 9, 2009. Available online: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/dietrich-bonhoeffer-was-hanged-today.

[6] Fanny J. Crosby, “Tell Me the Story of Jesus.”