To gain Christ
The second branch of this mindset is the pursuit after Christ. This can be understood as follows:
- The surpassing value of knowing Christ vs 8. The Lord described this in his parable of the man looking for a pearl or treasure of great value, who when he found it went and sold all that he had to possess that treasure Mt 13:44-46. Unless Christ has become of such value to you and me, how can we count all else a loss? This is the fundamental mindset that drives a person to abandon his previous life, ambitions, pursuits, accomplishments etc for Christ’s sake. It is this same understanding that drives the same man, as Paul, to want to know Christ more. Please note that the knowledge of Christ is a knowing… that is, a continuous knowledge from one degree to another. So, Paul, although he had known Christ, prayed, seeking and pressing to know Christ the more. And what does he want to know or experience about Christ? He sought to know:
- The power of Christ’s resurrection. That experience that no one has ever known except Christ. That a man having died yet rose again from the dead. The power that wrought such things can do anything and Paul would like to experience it for himself and for those he witnessed to. If it can raise the dead, it can heal sicknesses and diseases. It is power that can transform any situation or circumstances. It is power that is limitless and cannot be overcome by any force of this earthly realm. That is the power that Paul sought to experience. Do you want to experience this same power in your own life?
- The fellowship of his suffering. Paul went on in his desire and pursuit to share in the suffering of Christ. Such is not the desire and prayer of many saints today. To experience the kind of suffering that Christ went through that he may experience the glory that he was glorified with, was the mindset. For if we suffer with him we shall reign with him 2 Tim 2:12 (Rom 8:17). Only those who suffer with him are glorified with him. Oh! Not many believers today know this. “Me I no go suffer” is the song of this generation, perhaps a song sponsored from the pit of hell to rob many saints of glory with Christ.
- Being conformed to His death. Who would like to die like Jesus did? Is this not extreme? What man wants to die a shameful and agonizing death like Jesus’s death? But if we do not die like he died, do we bear the cross on our own souls and bodies? Do you allow your self-life to be crucified daily so that the power of Christ may be seen in you? 2 Cor 12:9. Do you submit to weakness that the power of Christ may flow freely in you? Do you submit to death in the hands of men, ignorant or wicked men, that Christ may be revealed in you?
- To attain to Christ’s resurrection. This is the end goal. To become like him in that eternal state where no more he is subject to death and corruption. This is the motive or mindset that drives us to pursue Christ. That we may share in the fellowship of his kingdom of light. So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. 1 Cor 15:42-49.