So how do we gain this personal, experiential knowledge of Christ? This is the work of the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. The way we experience this work and this knowledge in our lives comes through faith and obedience. As we trust in Christ more and more and grow in obedience to His revealed will, we experience a closer fellowship with Him through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Our pastor, David Gilbert, has been preaching through Philippians, and today he preached on Phil. 3:8:“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” Since this morning, I have been thinking about “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” I’m thinking about three things:

1. How knowing Christ Jesus my Lord is of surpassing worth to the “best” things of this world.
2. How I can grow in my knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
3. How I can fuel my desire to know Christ above all this world has to offer.

The Surpassing Worth of Knowing Christ Jesus my Lord

. . . in His Person: “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” – Hebrews 1:3, ESV.

Jesus is of surpassing worth in His person, in who He is.

Consider:

• His perfect holiness: He is absolutely pure, without fault, error, stain, shadow or any kind of imperfection. He never thinks wrong, desires wrong or does wrong ever in any slight way. All of His ways are holy and perfect.
• His perfect wisdom: He is the embodiment of wisdom, seeing the end from the beginning and always knowing, understanding and doing what is best in everything.
• His perfect power: Nothing is impossible for Christ. He calmed the raging storm with a word, gave sight to the blind, caused the lame to walk, cast out a legion of demons, raised the dead and ultimately conquered the powers of death and hell Himself. Nothing is beyond His power.
• His perfect love: He proved His love by dying on the cross and taking the full fury of the wrath of God the Father on Himself, suffering the torments of hell condensed in unimaginable agony as He offered up Himself for us and for our salvation.

Jesus is of surpassing worth in His benefits.

Consider:

• His great salvation: Jesus earned a perfect and complete righteousness for us, which He gives to us as a gift. He then took the full weight of our sin on Himself on the cross, earning a full pardon for our sins. Then, He conquered death, defeating “the last enemy” in His glorious resurrection.
• His ongoing intercession: Jesus now sits at God’s right hand, ever living to make intercession for us. (Hebrews 7:25) Because of His constant intercession, He is able to save us, to bring our salvation to completion through all of life’s trials, temptations and tribulations.
• His precious promises: He promises to not leave us as orphans, to never leave us nor forsake us. He promises to give the Holy Spirit to us. He promises to prepare a place for us, that where He is, there we may be also. (see John 14)
• His eternal, incorruptible inheritance: Through Christ, we are heirs of the kingdom of God, receiving an eternal inheritance that will neither spoil not fade, kept in heaven for us. (Romans 8:17 & 1 Peter 1:4)

Knowing anyone else in this world cannot compare to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. In knowing Christ, we know One who is surpassing in excellence in His person and One who showers on us benefits which far surpass anything we may receive from this world.

Growing in My Knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord

But how can I know Christ more and more? How can I grow in my knowledge of Christ?

Well, I think this comes in two parts: growing in knowledge about Christ and then growing in knowledge of Christ. The first is theological and cognitive, but the second is personal and experiential. Both are necessary and usually the first is a pre-requisite for the second, though not always.

I must have accurate knowledge about Christ. I must be careful to know the correct truths about Him, about the nature of His person and the scope of His work. The Apostle’s Creed and The Nicene Creed are nice summaries of the Scriptural truth about Christ. Careful and guided study of Scripture can help flesh out these ancient creedal definitions. Many Christians have a stunted and incomplete view of Christ because they don’t understand:

1. That He is the Second Person of the Trinity, eternally begotten of the Father, very God of very God, begotten and not made.
2. That His humanity began in the womb of the Virgin Mary when He assumed to Himself a full human nature, a true body and a reasonable soul.
3. That He continues forever as both God and man, two distinct natures in One Person.

These theological truths matter immensely and it is vital to our salvation and our spiritual growth that we understand them. But of course, we know that knowing accurate information about a person is not the same as really knowing that person. The kind of knowing that Paul is describing in Philippians 3 is intensely personal and experiential. Ultimately, the more we know about Christ, the more we should want to know Him personally.

So how do we gain this personal, experiential knowledge of Christ? This is the work of the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. The way we experience this work and this knowledge in our lives comes through faith and obedience. As we trust in Christ more and more and grow in obedience to His revealed will, we experience a closer fellowship with Him through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

How does the Holy Spirit grow us in faith and obedience? Ordinarily, He uses the means of grace – the word (especially as it is faithfully preached), prayer and the sacraments, which are baptism and the Lord’s Supper. He does so privately, to be sure, but even more so through the gathered worship of the church. After all, Jesus did promise His presence where two or three gather in His name. Seeking some mystical experience through meditation or desiring some supernatural vision or ecstasy are all distractions from the regular, ordinary and powerful ways the Holy Spirit reveals Christ to believers.

Fueling My Desire to Know Christ More

What do I do when my desire to seek after Christ through the ordinary means of grace is waning? How do I re-fuel my desire for Christ? I find one of the most effective tools God uses to kindle my heart’s desire is music.

Todd Pruitt wrote a great article explaining why churches get off track when they treat music as a means of grace. I highly recommend his article and I wholeheartedly agree with his points, but I have to say that God has used music repeatedly in my life, not to draw me closer to Him in the same way that He does through means of grace, but to fuel my passion for seeking Him through the means of grace.

Good, solid, quality music can teach us truth about Christ. It can also help us give voice to our prayers. But I think what it does more than anything else is to stir our hearts to long for Jesus the way we should. Theologically rich music does this best, I think. Superficial, emotional music may make us feel good, but it often leaves us hollow. Rich lyrics, usually found in great hymns, give our minds material to ponder as they warm our hearts with affection and a hunger to know Christ more.

Jason A. Van Bemmel is a Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church in America. This article appeared on his blog Ponderings of a Pilgrim Pastor and is used with permission.