Knowing Christ

By Tammy Lacock

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman begins a series on “Renewing the Mind,” based solely on the Apostle Paul’s gospel of grace for us today.

Paul was the only man Christ raised up to deliver the message of grace by Christ alive in every believer. He didn’t just know about Christ; he knew the resurrected Christ who, by His death, was joined to him in Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). In fact, Paul makes it clear that the only thing he wanted was to know this Christ who lived in him. Everything else was “dung.”

“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” (Philippians 3:8)

“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” (Philippians 3:10)

Paul tells believers how to live our new life in Christ; by the help of the Holy Spirit, we must have a constant mind-renewal if we are ever to know Christ and develop our love affair with Him. We must change our mindset of outer works to the Christ living inside each of us. He likened our new life to a marriage, Christ now being our first love, the one we go to for everything and the one that now comes through us.

Warren Litzman explains that in our world today, we are stimulated only by outer things. Christians are being “dumbed down” by Paul’s gospel of Christ living in us not being preached. Christians are focusing on the things of this world rather than looking within ourselves for Christ. Paul tells us over 146 times that Christ lives in us. Yet most preaching today is not based on our our faith and works, not our inner relationship with Christ. Faith is the hardest work a Christian does because we base it on results. We have missed the essence of Paul’s gospel. Our faith must not be based on results but on knowing Christ alive in us now. Paul says it is now the faithfulness of Christ, not our own faith that matters. Our salvation is the person of Christ in us and not anything outside of us.

“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” (Philippians 3:9)

In the Old Testament, God dealt with his people by outer works. Righteousness was based on what man did to please God. In turn, God performed many miracles. However, Paul tells us our righteousness is now Christ by His life within us. We are to focus on knowing Christ. Because Christ now lives in us, we can get to know Him personally in a unique relationship with Him. We are no longer the overcomers because we now have the overcomer within us. Stepping into God’s grace means getting to know Him now. By Christ’s life within each of us, we can now say we are all one body in Him. He in us and we in Him, chosen in Him before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).

Now that we are complete in Christ and we are getting to know Him, we can truly live out God’s purpose for us.

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:13)