That I may know Him in the fellowship of His sufferings.
Philippians 3:10
We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
2 Corinthians 4:10
The fellowship of His sufferings as a mark of discipleship . . .
When Paul expressed His desire to know Jesus in the fellowship of His sufferings(Philippians 3:10), he expressed personal and willful obedience to following Christ even through personal suffering (bearing his cross through whatever was laid upon His life). As knowing Jesus in the power of His resurrection referenced the atonement our Lord secured for us through salvation (see devotion for April 18), so knowing Jesus in His sufferings has referenced our Lord’s example of carrying the cross. This is indeed the mark of discipleship, as Jesus said, “whoever does not take up their cross to follow me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:38). Our Lord also said to those early followers, “whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Paul’s heart was essentially this: as Jesus bore our sufferings, so we participate in His.
Living crucified to the world . . .
To truly follow Jesus with a heart completely surrendered to His Lordship will indeed cost the disciple something once held dear. When we die to our sin, as our Lord died for our sin, the world is crucified to us and us to the world (Galatians 6:14). Augustine once said, “by the worst of deaths Christ has destroyed all kinds of death.”[1] Sin leads to death, but our Lord destroyed death through His resurrection so that now in our spiritual death to the things of this world, we live. To live in fellowship with Christ’s sufferings is to carry a cross of our own against the things of this world that would normally allure us to walk according to our own inclinations. We bear the object of loss that we may go forward in life. This was indeed the purpose of the apostle when he declared to know Christ our Lord in the fellowship of His sufferings.
A way of life for the follower of Jesus . . .
In fact, Paul taught this as a way of life: we always carry around in our body the death of Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:10). The Greek idea for death or dying can express the blatant idea of a corpse. Thus, Paul regarded his own mortal body, both dying (closer to the grave every day) and suffering (in literal physical markings of persecution), as a demonstration of the cause of Christ. And, in the mortality of this fleshly “corpse-like” body, Paul boasted only in the privilege of being an image bearer of Christ, so that even sufferings (in whatever form they would take in the flesh) would translate to bearing the cross for the sake of glorifying Jesus.
In the cross-bearing journey of the disciple, the life of Jesus is revealed: “so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:10b). The follower of Jesus endures a personal cross (wherever and however you have willfully laid down your life for the will of Christ) so that the life of Jesus – His grace and salvation, becomes evident in you to the world.
Making it personal . . .
So, a fair yet burdensome test for how much you desire to know Jesus more exists within the call to know Christ in the fellowship of His sufferings. What are you willing to let go of today that you once called dear so that the life of Christ becomes evident in you?
We do not know sufferings like that of Paul, or even the present-day persecuted church in other parts of the globe. But we are called nonetheless to lay down our life and take up our cross daily.
To know Christ in the fellowship of His sufferings! Today, resolve to surrender to the Lord that one piece of your life that often goes unsurrendered. Lay it down as an offering of sacrifice and worship to Him. It is painful to surrender what we desperately clutch. But once surrendered, the life of Christ in you becomes increasingly evident. The fellowship of His sufferings! What a way to live.
Blessings.
[1] [AUGUSTINE, Tract 36, on John, sec. 4]
