prepared by George Toews

Friday, August 29, 2008

The Surpassing Greatness Of Knowing Christ

Introduction

Is Jesus enough? I have to confess that I don’t always think so. Don’t get me wrong. I believe in Jesus, in fact, I would say that I love Him. I want to follow Him and I am looking forward to heaven, but I often wonder if He is the center of my life in any and every circumstance? Is he, as the song says, “my all in all?”

A number of years ago a lady in a previous church was going through some difficult struggles. Her health was not good, she was having difficulty with her children and while this was going on I visited her in the hospital. I don’t know if I was totally convinced in my own heart when I suggested to her that Jesus was enough for her situation and she should look to Him. I spoke with her about this a few years later and she told me that at the time she had not believed me, but she had chosen to test Jesus and found that He was enough. The loss of health, the challenges at home were not so overwhelming that Jesus could not meet her needs and fulfill her.

Paul speaks in Philippians 3 about his zeal, his reliance on his heritage and his legalistic righteousness before he met Christ. In Philippians 3:8 he compares his past religious life to his relationship with Jesus and says, “…I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…” Could I say that?

There were several conversations which caused me to think about this question recently. One conversation arose out of a study of a book on prayer. The book talked about how our desperation often drives us to prayer. The book talked about Hannah in I Samuel when she wanted a child, but could not conceive and how she was driven to honest, need based prayer. So we talked about how loss often drives us to such prayer and we talked about whether Jesus is enough in those times. In our conversation we went on to talk about whether we also find Jesus sufficient when we live in abundance.

So this morning, I would like to ask, “Is Jesus enough?”

Is Jesus sufficient to cover the loss of all things?

Loss

It seems that I have had a number of conversations lately with people who were experiencing loss. One was with a person who was suffering with pain. They had suffered loss in a number of areas including that they had very little control any more and it was difficult for them.

I had another conversation with a farmer who was disappointed because their expectations with this years crop were not what they had hoped for.

Another conversation came with someone who had lost a loved one.

We experience loss in many ways in life. It may be the passing of a loved one, it may be loss of our health, it may be loss of a job or an opportunity. If we are followers of Jesus, we know in our heads that we can always turn to Jesus. However, we don’t always do so. If we don’t, is it because we don’t really believe that Jesus is sufficient? When we do, what do we find out? Do we find that Jesus is sufficient?

Is Jesus enough in times of loss?

Connecting Loss and Jesus

How does it work? How do we make the connection with Jesus when we are driven to Him because of our loss?

Fight

Our first inclination may be that we are reluctant to turn to Him. Have you ever watched the show on TV called “Canada’s Worst Handyman?” It has stories about people who think that they can do a building project of some kind by themselves. They start, but they really don’t know what they are doing. They try harder, but they still don’t know what they are doing and so by the time they ask for help from someone who does know what he is doing, they have made a terrible mess.

In many ways we are just like that. At the core of sin is a deep and powerful independence which we don’t let go of very easily. When Adam and Eve sinned, the essence of their sin was self sufficiency. They were tempted by the desire to have the knowledge of good and evil. We continue in that self sufficiency and fight very hard before we let go of control.

Is Jesus sufficient in our loss? Sometimes we don’t even get to Jesus, we don’t even ask Him because we want to retain our independence, not realizing that this is the very heart of sin in the first place.

Flight

Jonah illustrates for us the second response we may have when the pressure is on. Will we depend on God or will we try to escape the pressure in some way? Jonah didn’t want to go God’s way and ran away. Loss introduces pressures which are often too much to handle. Instead of throwing ourselves on Jesus, however, we run away. Some people escape to entertainment. Whatever the pain or loss in their life, they distract themselves with pleasures so that they don’t have to face the difficulties. Others escape the pain within through busyness or even involvement in serving others. A common escape from various kinds of pain and loss is escape to addictions – addictions to food, purchasing things, gambling or alcohol.

It took a whale to bring Jonah back. What will bring us back to the place where we look to Jesus?

Faith

Is it a pious platitude to look to Jesus when we lose everything or is He sufficient? Is it a weakness to look to Jesus when we experience loss or is that what God wants us to do and will we find Him sufficient?

Often there comes a time when we finally realize that we can’t fight any more and that flight is not getting us anywhere and so we are willing to look to Jesus.

What happens when we turn to Jesus in our loss? How is Jesus sufficient?

Does Jesus being sufficient mean that now we understand it all? Although this is a possibility, we will not always understand. One of the lessons of the book of Job is that we often don’t understand. Why did Job suffer? Was it because God was playing games with Satan as the first chapter seems to suggest? Was it because Job had sinned as his friends seem to suggest? At the end of the book God presents Himself to Job as the all knowing, all powerful creator. Never are we told why Job was suffering. I still don’t know why my father had to die when he was 41 years old. Sometimes there have been explanations which have comforted me and which may be part of the answer. This will often be the case and we may try to grasp for these reasons, but if the reasons aren’t there, is Jesus still sufficient?

If Jesus is sufficient, does it mean that everything is suddenly good? Once again the answer is that although it is a possibility, not necessarily,! Our niece was born with a rare disease which resulted in surgery when she was still a baby to remove all of her large intestine and a portion of her small intestine. Her parents thought that one of the implications of that was the likelihood that she would never be able to have children. Well, she is pregnant and doing well. She is a person who from young on has put her trust in Jesus. In her case, everything has been good, but what if she doesn’t continue to do well? Is Jesus still sufficient?

How is Jesus sufficient?

The Bible is loaded with promises of all that God will do for us. The sufficiency of Jesus is seen in those promises. Philippians 4:7 promises that “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Matthew 6:26 reminds us, “…are you not much more valuable than…” the birds which the Father feeds? There are many such promises and they encourage us and show us some of the ways in which Jesus is sufficient.

There are also many Scripture passages which show us the ways in which God has shown Himself sufficient in loss. This was the experience of David, recorded in Psalm 63:3. He says, “your love is better than life.” It was His experience that God’s love was better to him than life itself. That sounds to me like someone who has found God sufficient. In Psalm 138:3 David shares another experience when he says, “On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.” His experience was that God was sufficient. In this text, however God’s sufficiency was not shown by smoothing the road, but by increasing his strength of his soul.

How has God been sufficient in your times of loss?

In some ways this question must be answered by Jesus. Every situation is different and although we can hear the promises of Scripture and rejoice in the experience of others, each time we experience loss, we need to decide if we will allow Jesus into that situation. It is only as we do so, that we will find that He is sufficient. We can’t pre-determine what will happen in any given situation, and each time, Psalm 34:8 invites us to, “Taste and see that the Lord is good…” When we do, we will find all the different ways in which Jesus is sufficient.

How do we move to this point? We can look at promises, we can encourage ourselves by past experiences - ours and others - but finally we need to make a decision. Will I trust in Him? The path to finding Jesus sufficient is an act of faith! We are called to put our trust in Him and it is only by putting our trust in Him that we will discover the many ways in which He is sufficient. All we can say is, “God has promised, my past experience suggests that God is sufficient, and in this moment of loss, I will choose to trust Him.” If God is God, we will find Him sufficient.

Is Jesus sufficient when we have it all together?

But there is another time in our life when it is perhaps even more difficult to find Jesus sufficient and that is when it seems that we don’t need Him. Is He sufficient then? How do we get to that place?

Do we need Jesus?

I can’t be honest for you, but I can be honest for myself. When I am honest with myself, I have to admit that there are times when I believe, if not consciously with my mind, at least by the evidence of my life that I don’t need Jesus. There are times when self satisfaction is more than a passing thought, and perhaps even the philosophy by which I live my life. I don’t need Jesus to feed me. The 5000 were out in the wilderness without food and needed Jesus to feed them, but I have enough money in the bank and good credit at the Co-op and lots of food in my refrigerator that I don’t need Jesus. I don’t need Jesus to make me happy. I have a good wife, great children, enjoyable relationships with lots of people, fun stuff to do, entertainment on TV, a warm house and a soft bed. I don’t need Jesus to make me happy. I don’t even need Jesus to help me deal with my sins. I have never murdered anyone or committed adultery. I have a good family background, I see the value of being good and don’t find it hard to be a pretty good guy.

If you are honest with yourself and get rid of all the “Sunday School” answers, do you ever think like that?

With our great abundance, the great country we live in and the fact that we are pretty good, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that we don’t need Jesus. However, if we dig just a little deeper, we will find that even in abundance we don’t have it all together.

Another part of the story is that even though I am a pretty good guy and basically obedient, there are some sins in my life that I just can’t seem to get rid of. One day I feel pretty good about myself and the next I know that I have committed the same sin again and again and again. One day I think I have that sin beat and a week or so later I realize that I have fallen prey to its destructive ways again.

Even when life is pretty good, we may realize that somewhere deep down there is a nagging dissatisfaction with life. People who have lots of resources and are able to buy themselves any pleasure they want often find out that boredom still exists in their life. People who do not have as many resources are always striving for the next thing and derive a certain satisfaction from constantly striving. But if we look carefully we will discover a pattern. Whatever we strive for is soon no longer satisfying and we desire to strive for the next thing. That should give us a clue that in pursuing happiness on this earth and from things that this world offers we will never find lasting and complete satisfaction.

Life is good and there is nothing that is difficult enough to drive me into the arms of Jesus. However, the whole picture as we have just considered it, invites us to consider the sufficiency of Jesus. Is Jesus enough when all is good?

Connecting Abundance and Jesus.

If we have abundance and a good life, how do we get to the place where we realize that Jesus is sufficient?

Paul discovered that all that he thought was sufficient was really not and in Philippians 3:8 he says, “I consider everything loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Although he looked like he had it all together as a Pharisee and persecutor of the church, when he met Jesus he discovered that the contrast between pleasing God by legalism and having an intimate relationship with Jesus was so great that he knew what he wanted. When he says, “I consider” we should understand that this was a choice he made. In this verse in Philippians, written many years later, interestingly while he was in prison, we learn that he had found Jesus sufficient. So much is this so that he speaks of it as “the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ.”

How do we get to the place where we would be able to speak this way?

Drawn By Love

One of the things which draws us is the love of God. A few weeks ago I was reading I John 3:1-3 with a few other people. As we read it, the phrase which most impacted me was verse 1, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.” As I read that, a picture came into my mind in which I was sitting on the lap of the Father, like a little child, and He was holding me in His arms. What’s wrong with that picture? Absolutely nothing unless we don’t believe that it is absolutely true.

Do you know that you are loved? There is no reason why all of us should not know, in our minds, that it is true. The evidence of Scripture is so powerful and so pervasive that we can hardly miss it. Exodus 34:6,7 speaks about, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” Jeremiah 31:3 says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” John 3:16 reminds us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” And you and I know that with these three verses we are just scratching the surface of all the passages which talk about God’s love. We have every reason to know it in our minds, but do we know it in our hearts? The Father is drawing us with love and as we yield to that love and know it in our hearts, we will discover more and more that Jesus is sufficient.

Drawn By Life

God draws us by His love, but He also draws us by the life He offers. I remember preachers telling the story years ago about the man who was crossing the ocean by sailing ship. When he left land, he had packed food for himself for the two week journey. The first two days his food tasted OK, but as the days passed, the bread got stale and the cheese began to have mold on it. He had to ration what he had to make sure that even under adverse weather conditions he would have enough. Late in the journey when only hunger could induce him to eat the distasteful food, he discovered that food for the journey was covered under his ticket and that he could have been enjoying the hot and abundant meals which the ships chef prepared. I like that story because it illustrates what so many of us are tempted to do. God has invited us to a life that is abundant. Jesus said in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” No matter what our pleasure is whether it is sports, watching sports, travel, music, or something else, there will come a time when we will ask, “Is that all there is?” I read an article in a newspaper this week about one of the up and coming hockey players. He has succeeded in the junior circuit and has been drafted by an NHL team, but has decided to give it up for exactly this reason. He has played so much hockey that he is bored with it. Is that the abundant life?

God draws us to find our sufficiency in Him with the offer of life that is life indeed. Listen to the offer He makes to us in Matthew 16:25, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” Life that will satisfy, life that is full, life that will have meaning for all eternity is found when we sacrifice our lives to Him and find our all in Him. God draws us to that kind of a full life and in finding that life, we will find our sufficiency in Him.

Conclusion

Is Jesus sufficient? Yes! But each of us must find that sufficiency on our own. I can tell you that I have found Jesus sufficient when I have faced the difficult times in my life. I can tell you how satisfying it is to know Jesus in an intimate relationship because I have experienced His incredible love and I can tell you how satisfying it is to give my life as a living sacrifice to Him, but unless you rest in Him in trial, unless you allow Him to hug you with His love and unless you offer your life to Him in service, you will not know that He truly is sufficient.

When you go rappelling, you have to trust the ropes and the belayer. When you step off the cliff, you can’t do it half way. If you try to hug the rock wall and hold the rope while jumping down you will bang into the wall, scrape yourself and have a miserable ride. If you fully throw yourself over the wall, trusting the rope, you can have a great ride. Why not throw yourself wholly onto Jesus whether you are experiencing trial or abundance and you will find the sufficiency of Jesus.

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