Young People's Group

That I May Know Him

by Mitchell Tan
December 19, 2018

HAVING THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD JESUS

There was a time when the apostle Paul was totally caught up with achieving things in life. His confidence in the past was in himself and in what he had attained. This was his plan A. He sought to do things according to his confidence in the “flesh”. He ended up wrongfully persecuting the Church and the Lord Jesus Christ. There came a time when there was a total change of perspective. After his spiritual encounter with the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus, he became focused on gaining knowledge of Him.

“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord”
Philippians 3:8

Paul moved from Plan A to Plan C. He counted all worldly things gained as loss. The word “count” in the Greek is in the present tense. This was his continuous way of thinking. He had decided that he was no longer going to focus on the things of the world. Instead, he was going to pursue the supreme knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Young people, do you have this knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? This Christmas, let’s seek to pursue this personal knowledge of the Lord Jesus.

HAVING FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS

“And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith”
Philippians 3:9

As Paul sought to have knowledge of the Lord Jesus, there came faith in Him. He found in the Lord Jesus the righteousness that is given by God. This was not personal righteousness that comes by fulfilling the law. We can never be good enough to earn our way to heaven. It is the Lord God who graciously gives us His righteousness. This comes about through having faith in all that is of Christ. The Lord Jesus came into this world on Christmas day to live amongst us and to die for our sins. It is on the basis of faith that this righteousness is imputed upon us. This was also explained by Paul when he wrote to the Galatians.

“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified.”
Galatians 2:16

We are declared righteous by faith in the Lord Jesus, not by doing the works of the law. No one can be justified through the works of the law. With knowledge, our challenge is to have genuine faith in the Lord Jesus. Let’s seek to have true salvation through faith in Christ.

HAVING A VIBRANT LIFE THAT FLOWS FROM FAITH

“That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
Philippians 3:10-11

When we have knowledge of the Lord Jesus and we exercise faith in it, it would affect our lives deeply. We would have a vibrant life that flows from this faith in Christ. Paul found a tremendous sense of purpose in his life. Beyond just having a basic knowledge of the Lord Jesus, there was great purpose in his heart to know Him more. He wanted his life to be centred on knowing Him deeply. Furthermore, he also determined that he wanted to experience the tremendous power of the Lord’s resurrection in his life and ministry. With a depth of knowledge, he would be able to experience the exceeding greatness of His power, that same power that raised Jesus from the dead (Ephesians 1:19-20). The apostle Paul would also be able to experience the fellowship of the Lord’s suffering as he goes through persecutions in life. Young people, let’s seek to have a vibrant life that would be focused on knowing the Lord in a deeper way and to experience His power in life and ministry.

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