By Paul Jeffery
A recent Small Group reading and discussion on Paul’s letter to the Philippians prompted some helpful thoughts and reminders of God’s unlimited grace and mercy. The discussion which followed the reading took me back some years, as I remembered that Graham’s Kendrick’s (rightly) popular song Knowing You Jesus, Knowing you is inspired by a central theme of the Philippians letter:
All I once held dear, built my life upon
All this world reveres, and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now, compared to this
Knowing you…
Now my heart’s desire is to know you more
To be found in you and known as yours
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All-surpassing gift of righteousness
Knowing you…
Oh, to know the power of your risen life
And to know You in Your sufferings
To become like you in your death, my Lord
So with you to live and never die
It takes little more than 10 minutes to read through the whole letter and you could hardly miss that the testimony of the Apostle is the same as that of the song. To be specific, however, we can readily see that Paul’s complete submission to God’s calling on him both in life and death in 1:20-25, his call in 2:5-10 to emulate Jesus in his supreme self-sacrifice, and Paul’s complete abandonment of any worldly interests and ambitions in 3:2-11. I find it hard to imagine how Kendrick’s song could have transposed the Apostle’s amazing testimony more perfectly than it has.
What for me is so striking in these Philippians passages though, is Paul’s radical, ‘all or nothing’ devotion to Jesus and to following Jesus' example. Every time this text impacts me like this, I instinctively think about my own life by comparison, and the result usually isn’t encouraging! And then to sing Knowing You honestly and whole-heartedly (especially the first and third verses) is tough! So I have to sing in faith that God hasn’t finished with me and trust that as the years go by, singing these verses will become less intimidating because I’m closer to Jesus (and Paul) in the way I see and live life in this world.
In the meantime, I trust day to day in God’s amazing grace and mercy. I know that God knows my weaknesses and frailty, physically and in every other way. Bible passages like Hebrews 4:14-16 are vital here, but the one I think about most often is in Luke 22, the only gospel where we read a fuller account of Jesus’ exchange with Peter when he foretells Peter’s denial of him following his arrest. In Luke 22:31-32 Jesus shows incredible compassion towards Peter, when he might justifiably have said Right, I know you’re going to deny me, so get your act together and make sure you don’t!
Instead, Jesus says to Peter …but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail… (22:32). This is truly amazing love and grace, as Jesus looks past Peter’s sin to his repentance (...when you have turned again) and even commissions him to continue Jesus’ own mission by strengthening the brothers. This, of course, we know Peter went on to do in his leading role in founding the first church and eventually surrendering his life (on earth) for refusing to deny that Jesus was the Messiah and was raised from the dead. So whatever I face, whatever challenges I have to overcome (or don’t overcome) in following Jesus, I have Jesus’ own words …but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.
In conclusion I should recall Paul’s own confession of weakness and resolve to keep going in Phil 3:12-15 where we get the memorable declaration …forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Then lastly, I can’t think of a better way to finish than to quote another, less well known, Graham Kendrick song For this I have Jesus:
For the joys and for the sorrows
The best and worst of times
For this moment, for tomorrow
For all that lies behind
Fears that crowd around me
For the failure of my plans
For the dreams of all I hope to be
The truth of what I am
For this I have Jesus
For this I have Jesus
For this I have Jesus, I have Jesus
Count it all rubbish... compared to knowing Jesus
Comments