This Easter sermon opens in Philippians 3:7-11, where Paul writes of counting everything as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus. The sermon presses on what it means to truly "know" Jesus, arguing that there are different levels of knowing: knowing facts about someone and knowing someone through lived experience. The preacher illustrates this with the story of a recovering drug addict who, unlike a child who studied drugs for a school poster contest, knows drugs from the inside — through addiction, loss, and craving. In the same way, the sermon argues, God calls believers not merely to know facts about Jesus but to know him deeply, experientially, in a way that reshapes the whole of life.

The sermon turns to verse 9, where Paul says he wants to be found in Christ, "not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ." Righteousness is explained as a legal status of being right before the ultimate Judge, and the sermon insists that no one is righteous by their own effort — sinners are far too wretched to be saved by their own obedience. Instead, believers receive Christ's righteousness by being found "in him." This union with Christ is likened to marriage: two people, one with debt and one with wealth, become one estate when they marry, so that the wealth cancels the debt. So it is with Christ — he takes on the believer's sin and guilt at the cross, and the believer receives his perfect life and righteousness in exchange, because believer and Christ have become one.

From this legal union, the sermon moves to the experiential heart of the passage: in the original Greek, Paul actually uses one verb, "to know," three times — to know Christ, to know the power of his resurrection, and to know the fellowship of his sufferings. The sermon argues that this is not abstract theology but Paul's expressed desire to experience Christ's suffering and resurrection life directly, as a partner in both. Paul's own losses are traced from his life as a zealous Pharisee — social standing, religious credentials, a sense of having earned favor with God — all of which he willingly discarded after meeting the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. What looked like sacrifice, the sermon insists, Paul experienced as gain, because suffering for Christ became a means of knowing Christ more deeply.

The sermon then reframes Christian suffering as more than a lesson to be learned; it is participatory, flowing from the believer's organic union with Christ as one body. Drawing on Paul's teaching that the church is Christ's body, where if one member suffers, all suffer together, the sermon points out that when Christ confronted Paul on the Damascus road — "why are you persecuting me?" — Paul was persecuting not Jesus personally but the church, and Jesus counted that suffering as his own. In the same way, the sermon argues, all suffering the believer endures, including suffering that seems to happen randomly and not directly tied to gospel ministry, becomes meaningful because it reminds believers that this present life and body are temporary, and that their true citizenship and hope lie in the resurrection life to come.

This suffering, the sermon says, is only bearable and even glorious because of "the power of his resurrection" — a power not for escaping suffering but for enduring it without wavering, drawn from the certainty of future bodily resurrection and from the resurrection life already at work in believers now through the Holy Spirit, conforming them increasingly to Christ's likeness. The sermon closes in Romans 6:5-6, where believers who have been united with Christ in a death like his are promised certain union with him in a resurrection like his, since their old self was crucified with him so they would no longer be enslaved to sin. The sermon exhorts the congregation to live courageously in light of this union, following the example of the apostles and martyrs such as Stephen, trusting that all who suffer with Christ will also be raised with him, because union with Christ is one indivisible gift encompassing his death, his righteousness, his suffering, his power, and his glory.

Bible Verses Used

• Philippians 3:7-11: The sermon's central text — Paul's desire to know Christ, the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, found in him rather than in his own righteousness.

• Acts 9: Cited for Paul's Damascus road conversion, where Christ confronts him for persecuting the church, showing that Christ counts the church's suffering as his own.

• Luke 9: Referenced for Jesus' call to take up one's cross daily and follow him, and the paradox that losing one's life for his sake saves it.

• 2 Corinthians (Paul's suffering catalog): Used to illustrate the scope of Paul's own sufferings for the gospel — beatings, stoning, shipwreck, hunger, and exposure.

• 1 Corinthians 12: Cited for the image of the church as Christ's one body, where if one member suffers, all suffer together, grounding the sermon's claim that believers' suffering is shared with Christ.

• Romans 6:5-6: Closing text — union with Christ in his death guarantees union with him in his resurrection, and the old self is crucified with him so sin no longer enslaves.