In our church talk today we’re going to look at a portion of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians. In his letter, Paul declares his desire to know Christ, to know the power of his resurrection and the participation of his suffering, writes Pastor Paul Kauri.

I admit that in my early years of walking with Christ, what resonated with me in this verse was; “I want to know Christ” I simply fudged over the rest of verse 10 and 11 not really understanding what I read.

Let’s read what Paul wrote:

¹⁰ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Over the years I’ve listened to many debates between agnostic or atheist toward the Christian community, inevitably a particular question tends to rise, increasing the tension between the two parties to what was already, a lively debate.

Over the years I’ve heard some great answers, yet it still felt like the answers never went far enough to satisfy the question.  The question is this,

“If God is a good God and a God of love, then why is there evil in the world? If He is as all-powerful as Christians proclaim, then why is there evil in the world?”

In a completely different arena, other debates have been raging specifically in the community of Mathematics arguing over the world’s difficult equations. In similar fashion to the Christian/atheist debates, the mathematicians’ conclusions were never resolved, until one day someone asked the question, “are we asking the right questions?

“Are we asking the right questions?”

That had me thinking about the question, “If God is love and God is good then why evil?”. Could we be asking the wrong question? I think so.

I’d like to be so bold as to suggest this as a question to ask, “Now, that evil exists, what is God doing about it?”

God did not introduce this evil, that was the choice of another being. But God’s love is so great, that he respected the persons sovereignty, and so now that it does exist, what has God done about it?

Now this is where the Christian faith shines like no other religion on the face of the earth.

No other god of any religion has ever identified themselves with their subjects, like Jesus did, who, as God, humbled himself and became a man and was obedient to God even to the point of death.

No other god has put themselves in the place of their subjects to be dealt the fullness of evil as Jesus endured. Jesus understands what ‘Denied Justice’ felt like to the flesh, or what betrayal from your friends feels like to the soul, and what the cruelty of an unjust and corrupt justice and religious system can do to a man’s body.

Jesus, suffered and died at the hands of evil men, to save all, under the most degrading and violent of punishments by the cross, while all other false god’s demand appeasement from their subjects.

Knowing that Jesus was inflicted with the very evil that he was accused of permitting, He went even further and displayed what the response of God was to the prevailing evil.

It was on that cross, that Jesus cried out to God to forgive, not only the perpetrators in front of him, but all who have sinned against Him. In His great love, at the height of the evil inflicted on Him, He chose forgiveness.

It was said that Jesus loved so well that none of His disciples knew it was Judas who betrayed him, including Judas.

It would be a huge mistake to think that God had dismissed the evil choosing to turn the other check. When in fact, Jesus deplorable death on the cross is the very Gavel of Justice God used to declare His judgement on the evil and those who participate in it.

There is a further claim that we Christians make, which is fundamental to our very existence let alone our faith. This claim is founded in the Bible and experienced by our personal relationship with The LORD on a daily basis.

The Bible declares that Jesus rose again from the grave three days later, with more than 500 hundred witnesses testifying to seeing him, eating with him and talking with him, until he finally ascended to heaven right before their very eyes!

If His death on the cross was the Gavel of Justice liberating humanity from the chains of evil, then His resurrection from the grave is the Glorious Hope to build a future of hope and prosperity. So, we see God’s Response to evil was Jesus on the Cross and His provision of Hope for the Future was Jesus Resurrection. Yet, despite the continual existence of evil we know that there is coming a day when by the Sovereignty of God evil will reign no more, along with those who participate in it.

So, if to participate in His sufferings leads to knowing the power of His resurrection I will rejoice in suffering and not be discouraged or disheartened when evil seems to prevail for the moment, or when health becomes an issue, or when justice seems to hide, or when greed or pride corrupts good character.

I’m stirred by Paul’s response to Christ, the One who liberated him, and I encourage you also to Press On in Christ Jesus!

I leave the last words of this article to Paul the Apostle;

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.