2026 Summer Bible Retreat (2), I Want To Know Jesus Christ
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2026-08-23 14:26
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I Want To Know Jesus Christ
Philippians 3:1-11
Joy is a very important aspect of being a follower of Christ. The Lord created the earth for two reasons: glorification of God and man's happiness.
We are mandated to be joyous. As, in doing so, we honor God. In the book of John, Jesus tells us:
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” John 15:11
Similarly, Peter writes:
“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls” 1 Peter 1:8-9
And in the very next chapter of Philippians, Paul writes:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Philippians 4:4
We learn that the sign of faith is joy. To be joyous in all circumstances. The disciples rejoiced after preaching The Gospel, after prayer, when they had fellowship among believers.
We rejoice in The Lord. Regardless of circumstances. In this passage, of course, Paul is imprisoned. He is persecuted, he is despised, his enemies seek to kill him and undo all his work. Yet he rejoices in The Lord.
Not only does Paul rejoice in The Lord, he only boasts in The Lord.
Paul says "For it is we who are the circumcision, we who 3serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh — though I myself have reasons for such confidence."
Paul goes on to list his resume. His accolades. The pharisees were extremely self-righteous. So Paul does something powerful here by demonstrating to the elitist members of Jewish society that he, by their standards, is the elite of the elite:
circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
Yet, he considers it to be garbage. Completely insignificant. Irrelevant to his relationship with God. Note that he's not addressing their sins. But addressing their "righteousness".
And here, Paul is speaking specifically about self-righteousness. This is not righteousness through Christ. This is righteousness through self. Righteousness through rituals, traditions, and laws. The pharisees set up a system of rules by which they believed they would earn their righteousness. For example, on the Sabbath, they weren't allowed to do any work, such as carrying objects, tying knots, providing medical help, or writing. They had rituals for handwashing and washing dishes, and they would avoid contact with gentiles. These traditions are still followed by modern-day jews.
The pharisees believed that by following these rules and traditions, they would earn their righteousness. By creating a system where righteousness is earned, God is unnecessary. "I don't even need to ask God for forgiveness. I'm already righteous!" This is why we see the pharisees take such great offense to the preaching of Jesus. Because Jesus tells them, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.", and "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.", and for someone like Nicodemus in John chapter 3, this was initially incomprehensible.
We must reflect on this godless self-righteous society. Because it is very easy to create the same godless self-righteousness in our own hearts. "I don't need to repent, I come to worship service every Sunday", "I do Bible study every week". "I'm Christian but I don't need to read The Bible, I go to Church every year for Christmas." These are rituals. They will not save us. Religion by itself will not save us.
In Catholicism, believers go to confession and admit their sins to their priest. The priest then absolves them of their sin. Did you know that only God can absolve us of our sins? That only through Jesus we can have redemption? These rituals are vanity.
Both religion and atheism are ways of keeping Jesus from being Savior.
Paul tells us that our righteousness is not in the self. Or in the rules or traditions we follow. To "Be found in Him" doesn't mean to be righteous and believe in Jesus. It means being righteous THROUGH Jesus. "Accept me, Lord, because of Jesus' righteousness". This is what it means to receive salvation. This is the central teaching of Christianity. That we are saved SOLELY through Christ. And our righteousness is GIVEN. Not earned.
So, again, Paul throws away all of his self-righteousness and considers it garbage.
The status, the wealth, the admiration. All garbage.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, king Solomon wrote extensively about the vanity and meaninglessness of his worldly pursuits. It's a pretty depressing book. Solomon has this realization very late in his life, and considers much of his life to have been a complete waste as it did not glorify God. And at the end he says:
"Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind."
We are blessed to have increasingly more young people in our Church. I pray that we all turn away from worshipping the false idols of this world and dedicate ourselves solely to Jesus. Being found solely in Jesus. Boasting solely in Jesus. Being righteous solely in Jesus. Fearing God and keeping his commandments, and making disciples of all men.
I pray that The Lord may bless us and make us prosperous like Daniel or King David, but I pray that we may never find our identity in worldly things. Your job does not define you. Your successes, your failures, your past does not define you. The family you were born into does not define you. The country you live in does not define you. Our identity is solely in Christ Jesus.
It's interesting because for the Pharisees, in Jewish society, righteousness, wealth, and status were all rolled up into one. This is why boasting and self-righteousness are discussed in the same breath. It's a bit different in our society where wealth and self-righteousness are quite decoupled. In fact, wealth is almost frowned upon. In any case, people still find their identity in these things.
Yet, again, Paul throws it all away and considers it a loss. Why? Because what he has received in Jesus is infinitely greater. Through Jesus we have eternal life and salvation.
Paul then goes on to say:
"I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead."
Paul says he wants to know Christ. Of course, Paul knew Christ. Personally. He wrote many books about Jesus in the Bible. Still, he wanted to know Christ not in knowledge but in experience. Paul wants to know Christ and his crucifixion (1 Cor 2:2)-his holiness, grace, truth, love, sacrifice and humility.
Borrowing from the sermon of Pastor Timothy J. Keller:
"Paul says when you're in Christ, all things are become new. Paul says you're not a Christian unless your entire life is revolutionized in that you see everything different: everything about you and everything about the world—everything is changed! You're not a Christian unless you've experienced this gathering up, that the entire life has been gathered up and facing in a different direction."
To know Christ is to be completely and permanently transformed through Him.
The way you know that you know God is that you have a consuming passion to know him more. And once you've experienced God's love, you want more of it than you want anything else.
Here, we see that "Paul is radically dissatisfied with his level of knowledge of God!" He doesn't just want to KNOW his teachings. He wants to experience all of it. He wants to be entirely transformed. This goes beyond the initial act of shedding your worldly identity. This is an ongoing process of denying yourself and emptying out everything that isn't Christ.
Jesus Christ suffered in the course of teaching the Bible. He suffered in raising disciples. Finally, Christ suffered in the course of obeying God to die on the cross. Before Paul met Christ, he suffered from his sin and his blind human ambition and status seeking. But after coming to know Christ, he shared in these three kinds of sufferings of Christ and he lived a powerful life of blessing, mission, and worship.
Testimony
As followers of Christ, we are mandated to be joyful. The sign of faith is joy. The Lord made the world for two reasons - the glorification of God and man's happiness. Philippians 4:4 says "Rejoice in The Lord always".
I'm grateful to have witnessed what it means to rejoice in The Lord. I've witnessed my parents go bankrupt, lose everything they've built, and then celebrate and rejoice in The Lord that same day! The same day! I couldn't believe it. Absolutely unshakable, unconditional faith. This is the mandate of joy. This is what it means to rejoice in Christ. And, conversely, fear and anxiety are symptoms of weak faith.
I am extremely grateful that as my faith has grown, my courage has grown with it. And as my courage has grown, so has my joyfulness. I have trusted in The Lord, prayed solely for His will in my life, and gladly took on risks and challenges on His path.
Last year, my biggest spiritual undertaking has been in aligning my identity entirely with Christ. I have begun to experience what it means to truly shed my worldly identity and become a vessel for The Lord. Through this, I have been meaningfully transformed, and witnessed His great blessings in my life. I give all glory to God.
This year, in my spiritual journey, I am in pursuit of courage. Courage and joyfulness. I want to truly experience what it means to be courageous and joyful, solely in The Lord. For the last 4-5 years of my life, I lived with the mentality that "I cannot afford to lose". I operated under the assumption that if I make one mistake, it could set me back forever. This is an unhealthy mindset. It's an ungodly mindset. It places all outcomes and consequences into my own hands. Blasphemy. Self-worship.
The Lord has a divine plan for me, and it is my duty to try and fail, and try and fail, and keep moving forward as The Lord reveals His plan for me. It is through this failure that I learned, it is through the rejections that I sought out other paths, and it is through the wins that I moved forward. And through it all, I am learning what it means to rejoice in The Lord. Now that I finally understand that struggle and failure is a necessary part of the process, I am learning to go through it with peace and joyfulness.
Life never presents perfect circumstances. Every joyful moment has a caveat. At all moments you can think of something to be anxious about.
This is not a mandate to rejoice in perfect circumstances. It is a mandate to rejoice in ALL circumstances.
I have experienced the path to victory through Christ and I am finally learning to fully trust The Lord. Just like my parents, I have experienced victory and setbacks, and I strive to have an unconditional joyfulness and solely boast in The Lord.
Now that I am living in New York, I find myself in the biggest arena in the world. Going from a small pond, a place of comfort, into a world of unknown, a world of relentless competition, I find myself more excited than anxious. I've been through this before. I have started over from the bottom and worked towards the top, and outgrown my environment many times over.
Another key takeaway - righteousness is given, not earned.
This world admires accomplishment. We admire people for the challenges that they overcome and the success stories they build. And we shame those who have had everything given to them, like being born into a wealthy family or inheriting great wealth. "It's unfair". "These things were not earned". "You didn't start at zero like the rest of us". But this is absolutely not how it works within the Church. Righteousness is given, not earned.
None of us have earned salvation. In fact, we explicitly do not deserve it. And there is nothing we could ever do to deserve it.
Christianity is the only religion with such a value system. In all other religions and cultures, you can earn righteousness or be elevated above others through action, sacrifice, or payment. However, in Christ, the only sacrifice that matters is the one by which we are redeemed.
I am grateful to learn what it means to be righteous as I study God's word and seek forgiveness everyday. Righteousness is a gift from God. Purity is a daily battle and a lifelong pursuit.
Finally, I want to reflect on what it means to participate in Christ's suffering. I struggled with this. In my life, I've overfit so much to joyfulness -- and, again, maybe even using it as my self-righteousness -- that I didn't even understand what this suffering meant.
Honestly, I've found it quite difficult to understand what suffering means. I understand that we have to make sacrifices for The Lord and live differently from the world, but is that suffering? Is it suffering when your friends or coworkers think you're boring for not wanting to go clubbing with them? Is it suffering when you abstain from sinful culture, ungodly music, or pornography?
We learn that "Living by Christ’s values invariably causes suffering." I don't know if that's as obvious of a statement as it is made out to be. Don't you feel like non-believers suffer more than you do? Is that just me? In the sense that they suffer for the wrong things! They suffer from existential dread, not knowing what is their meaning on this Earth, having to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders, and having to form their own self-righteousness. And when this self-righteousness is disrupted, so is their understanding of the world and themselves.
So I struggled to understand suffering. And, admittedly, I spent too much time thinking that "suffering" meant "persecution" or "agony". The apostles were persecuted. They were slandered, jailed, tortured, murdered. How blessed are we to have no experience with such things!
Yet, we each have our own cross to carry. No journey in life is without difficulties, struggle, exhaustion, failure, or loss. Matthew 16:24 "Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.""
So if I am to go through suffering, I want to suffer for Jesus.
Philippians 3:1-11
Joy is a very important aspect of being a follower of Christ. The Lord created the earth for two reasons: glorification of God and man's happiness.
We are mandated to be joyous. As, in doing so, we honor God. In the book of John, Jesus tells us:
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” John 15:11
Similarly, Peter writes:
“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls” 1 Peter 1:8-9
And in the very next chapter of Philippians, Paul writes:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Philippians 4:4
We learn that the sign of faith is joy. To be joyous in all circumstances. The disciples rejoiced after preaching The Gospel, after prayer, when they had fellowship among believers.
We rejoice in The Lord. Regardless of circumstances. In this passage, of course, Paul is imprisoned. He is persecuted, he is despised, his enemies seek to kill him and undo all his work. Yet he rejoices in The Lord.
Not only does Paul rejoice in The Lord, he only boasts in The Lord.
Paul says "For it is we who are the circumcision, we who 3serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh — though I myself have reasons for such confidence."
Paul goes on to list his resume. His accolades. The pharisees were extremely self-righteous. So Paul does something powerful here by demonstrating to the elitist members of Jewish society that he, by their standards, is the elite of the elite:
circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
Yet, he considers it to be garbage. Completely insignificant. Irrelevant to his relationship with God. Note that he's not addressing their sins. But addressing their "righteousness".
And here, Paul is speaking specifically about self-righteousness. This is not righteousness through Christ. This is righteousness through self. Righteousness through rituals, traditions, and laws. The pharisees set up a system of rules by which they believed they would earn their righteousness. For example, on the Sabbath, they weren't allowed to do any work, such as carrying objects, tying knots, providing medical help, or writing. They had rituals for handwashing and washing dishes, and they would avoid contact with gentiles. These traditions are still followed by modern-day jews.
The pharisees believed that by following these rules and traditions, they would earn their righteousness. By creating a system where righteousness is earned, God is unnecessary. "I don't even need to ask God for forgiveness. I'm already righteous!" This is why we see the pharisees take such great offense to the preaching of Jesus. Because Jesus tells them, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.", and "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.", and for someone like Nicodemus in John chapter 3, this was initially incomprehensible.
We must reflect on this godless self-righteous society. Because it is very easy to create the same godless self-righteousness in our own hearts. "I don't need to repent, I come to worship service every Sunday", "I do Bible study every week". "I'm Christian but I don't need to read The Bible, I go to Church every year for Christmas." These are rituals. They will not save us. Religion by itself will not save us.
In Catholicism, believers go to confession and admit their sins to their priest. The priest then absolves them of their sin. Did you know that only God can absolve us of our sins? That only through Jesus we can have redemption? These rituals are vanity.
Both religion and atheism are ways of keeping Jesus from being Savior.
Paul tells us that our righteousness is not in the self. Or in the rules or traditions we follow. To "Be found in Him" doesn't mean to be righteous and believe in Jesus. It means being righteous THROUGH Jesus. "Accept me, Lord, because of Jesus' righteousness". This is what it means to receive salvation. This is the central teaching of Christianity. That we are saved SOLELY through Christ. And our righteousness is GIVEN. Not earned.
So, again, Paul throws away all of his self-righteousness and considers it garbage.
The status, the wealth, the admiration. All garbage.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, king Solomon wrote extensively about the vanity and meaninglessness of his worldly pursuits. It's a pretty depressing book. Solomon has this realization very late in his life, and considers much of his life to have been a complete waste as it did not glorify God. And at the end he says:
"Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind."
We are blessed to have increasingly more young people in our Church. I pray that we all turn away from worshipping the false idols of this world and dedicate ourselves solely to Jesus. Being found solely in Jesus. Boasting solely in Jesus. Being righteous solely in Jesus. Fearing God and keeping his commandments, and making disciples of all men.
I pray that The Lord may bless us and make us prosperous like Daniel or King David, but I pray that we may never find our identity in worldly things. Your job does not define you. Your successes, your failures, your past does not define you. The family you were born into does not define you. The country you live in does not define you. Our identity is solely in Christ Jesus.
It's interesting because for the Pharisees, in Jewish society, righteousness, wealth, and status were all rolled up into one. This is why boasting and self-righteousness are discussed in the same breath. It's a bit different in our society where wealth and self-righteousness are quite decoupled. In fact, wealth is almost frowned upon. In any case, people still find their identity in these things.
Yet, again, Paul throws it all away and considers it a loss. Why? Because what he has received in Jesus is infinitely greater. Through Jesus we have eternal life and salvation.
Paul then goes on to say:
"I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead."
Paul says he wants to know Christ. Of course, Paul knew Christ. Personally. He wrote many books about Jesus in the Bible. Still, he wanted to know Christ not in knowledge but in experience. Paul wants to know Christ and his crucifixion (1 Cor 2:2)-his holiness, grace, truth, love, sacrifice and humility.
Borrowing from the sermon of Pastor Timothy J. Keller:
"Paul says when you're in Christ, all things are become new. Paul says you're not a Christian unless your entire life is revolutionized in that you see everything different: everything about you and everything about the world—everything is changed! You're not a Christian unless you've experienced this gathering up, that the entire life has been gathered up and facing in a different direction."
To know Christ is to be completely and permanently transformed through Him.
The way you know that you know God is that you have a consuming passion to know him more. And once you've experienced God's love, you want more of it than you want anything else.
Here, we see that "Paul is radically dissatisfied with his level of knowledge of God!" He doesn't just want to KNOW his teachings. He wants to experience all of it. He wants to be entirely transformed. This goes beyond the initial act of shedding your worldly identity. This is an ongoing process of denying yourself and emptying out everything that isn't Christ.
Jesus Christ suffered in the course of teaching the Bible. He suffered in raising disciples. Finally, Christ suffered in the course of obeying God to die on the cross. Before Paul met Christ, he suffered from his sin and his blind human ambition and status seeking. But after coming to know Christ, he shared in these three kinds of sufferings of Christ and he lived a powerful life of blessing, mission, and worship.
Testimony
As followers of Christ, we are mandated to be joyful. The sign of faith is joy. The Lord made the world for two reasons - the glorification of God and man's happiness. Philippians 4:4 says "Rejoice in The Lord always".
I'm grateful to have witnessed what it means to rejoice in The Lord. I've witnessed my parents go bankrupt, lose everything they've built, and then celebrate and rejoice in The Lord that same day! The same day! I couldn't believe it. Absolutely unshakable, unconditional faith. This is the mandate of joy. This is what it means to rejoice in Christ. And, conversely, fear and anxiety are symptoms of weak faith.
I am extremely grateful that as my faith has grown, my courage has grown with it. And as my courage has grown, so has my joyfulness. I have trusted in The Lord, prayed solely for His will in my life, and gladly took on risks and challenges on His path.
Last year, my biggest spiritual undertaking has been in aligning my identity entirely with Christ. I have begun to experience what it means to truly shed my worldly identity and become a vessel for The Lord. Through this, I have been meaningfully transformed, and witnessed His great blessings in my life. I give all glory to God.
This year, in my spiritual journey, I am in pursuit of courage. Courage and joyfulness. I want to truly experience what it means to be courageous and joyful, solely in The Lord. For the last 4-5 years of my life, I lived with the mentality that "I cannot afford to lose". I operated under the assumption that if I make one mistake, it could set me back forever. This is an unhealthy mindset. It's an ungodly mindset. It places all outcomes and consequences into my own hands. Blasphemy. Self-worship.
The Lord has a divine plan for me, and it is my duty to try and fail, and try and fail, and keep moving forward as The Lord reveals His plan for me. It is through this failure that I learned, it is through the rejections that I sought out other paths, and it is through the wins that I moved forward. And through it all, I am learning what it means to rejoice in The Lord. Now that I finally understand that struggle and failure is a necessary part of the process, I am learning to go through it with peace and joyfulness.
Life never presents perfect circumstances. Every joyful moment has a caveat. At all moments you can think of something to be anxious about.
This is not a mandate to rejoice in perfect circumstances. It is a mandate to rejoice in ALL circumstances.
I have experienced the path to victory through Christ and I am finally learning to fully trust The Lord. Just like my parents, I have experienced victory and setbacks, and I strive to have an unconditional joyfulness and solely boast in The Lord.
Now that I am living in New York, I find myself in the biggest arena in the world. Going from a small pond, a place of comfort, into a world of unknown, a world of relentless competition, I find myself more excited than anxious. I've been through this before. I have started over from the bottom and worked towards the top, and outgrown my environment many times over.
Another key takeaway - righteousness is given, not earned.
This world admires accomplishment. We admire people for the challenges that they overcome and the success stories they build. And we shame those who have had everything given to them, like being born into a wealthy family or inheriting great wealth. "It's unfair". "These things were not earned". "You didn't start at zero like the rest of us". But this is absolutely not how it works within the Church. Righteousness is given, not earned.
None of us have earned salvation. In fact, we explicitly do not deserve it. And there is nothing we could ever do to deserve it.
Christianity is the only religion with such a value system. In all other religions and cultures, you can earn righteousness or be elevated above others through action, sacrifice, or payment. However, in Christ, the only sacrifice that matters is the one by which we are redeemed.
I am grateful to learn what it means to be righteous as I study God's word and seek forgiveness everyday. Righteousness is a gift from God. Purity is a daily battle and a lifelong pursuit.
Finally, I want to reflect on what it means to participate in Christ's suffering. I struggled with this. In my life, I've overfit so much to joyfulness -- and, again, maybe even using it as my self-righteousness -- that I didn't even understand what this suffering meant.
Honestly, I've found it quite difficult to understand what suffering means. I understand that we have to make sacrifices for The Lord and live differently from the world, but is that suffering? Is it suffering when your friends or coworkers think you're boring for not wanting to go clubbing with them? Is it suffering when you abstain from sinful culture, ungodly music, or pornography?
We learn that "Living by Christ’s values invariably causes suffering." I don't know if that's as obvious of a statement as it is made out to be. Don't you feel like non-believers suffer more than you do? Is that just me? In the sense that they suffer for the wrong things! They suffer from existential dread, not knowing what is their meaning on this Earth, having to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders, and having to form their own self-righteousness. And when this self-righteousness is disrupted, so is their understanding of the world and themselves.
So I struggled to understand suffering. And, admittedly, I spent too much time thinking that "suffering" meant "persecution" or "agony". The apostles were persecuted. They were slandered, jailed, tortured, murdered. How blessed are we to have no experience with such things!
Yet, we each have our own cross to carry. No journey in life is without difficulties, struggle, exhaustion, failure, or loss. Matthew 16:24 "Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.""
So if I am to go through suffering, I want to suffer for Jesus.