Valued Relationships
- Details
- Sunday Morning Service
- Jeremy Richards
- Copalis Community Church
- 15 June 2025
- Philippians 3:9-10
Philippians, Philippians and this is essentially all the spiritual blessings which come upon believers are directly the result of negotiations between the Son and the Father. They ultimately and completely impact people. But people have no ability to say anything during the trial. They have nothing they can say. There is no evidence, There is nothing they can bring to that association.
It is strictly between the Son and his roles with the Father that brings a blessing on believers. Philippians Chapter three and we talked about this last week and I'm going to have to go over it just a little bit more to lead into today. But there are several diverse relationships that the Son takes up in his relationship to the Father from for the benefit of mankind. In Philippians 3, 9 it says, and being found in him, Ephesians 1 is that great in Him. Chapter it says in him basically all the spiritual blessings of the Godhead pass on to humankind.
We see that demonstrated through several circumstances in the Bible. We see in Ephesians that election was there. This is something that is demonstrated by that example of Abraham and Isaac. If you remember, Abraham was called to go to that mountain that God would show him and there sacrifice his son on the mountain. So in a relationship between the Father and the Son, because of their willingness, the Son's willingness to offer himself as a sacrifice on that mountain, that all the descendants of Abraham would be blessed.
And so our election is based on the willingness of Jesus Christ to offer himself as a sacrifice before the Father. We see that our adoption is one also that we in a picture of Rahab, Rahab the prostitute, was living, lived in the city of Jericho, right? That city of Jericho was destined to be destroyed. But because of a relationship with a man named Salmon, spelled Salmon, Salmon entered into a relationship with Rahab. And as a result Rahab's family, all that were found in her house, were adopted into the nation of Israel.
Not just adopted into, but it became part of the lineage of Jesus Christ, of David, of Boaz. We see that because of the relationship of Salmon willing to take on Ahaz as a wife, that this blessing therefore passed on to all of her descendants. We see redemption. We see that Boaz, in the case of Ruth, a Moabitess woman, he was willing to redeem her when it was proposed to one of Boaz's kinsmen. Hey, would you take and redeem all that belongs to Nahon and Chislen, who were the Ruth's sons?
The guy says, no way, won't do it. Because they said, you will have to redeem all that belongs to these people. Everything that they had, you will have to remove. In Hebrew that would be considered the word basically hell. No.
He said, right? He said, I'm not going to touch that. I won't want to redeem all that filth. I don't want to take all the garbage that belong to them. And But Boaz came in as a kinsman redeemer, and he negotiated that redemption with the elders of the city, the Judges, and says, I will redeem them.
Redemption was purchased, was negotiated by the kinsman redeemer on our behalf. We see that glorification, that great doctrine of glorification was also one that was negotiated between God the Father and God the Son. Though it impacts you and I, it was not you and I who had a voice in, in the negotiations. I was looking at the parable of the prodigal Son in a different way this morning. And we tend sometime to think that we are the prodigal son.
And I believe in some ways we are. But in this case this morning I started looking at it as Jesus is the prodigal one who left his home and glory, who associated with prostitutes and thieves and tax collectors and then went back to the Father bringing their case with them and ensured eternal joy for himself and for all who would come with him in heaven. An eternal party, a feast that lasts forever. So all these various things were accomplished by Jesus Christ in his diverse relationship with the Father for the sole benefit of those who are believers. An amazing work that he accomplished on the cross for our benefit.
A beautiful thing. But that is not the only spiritual benefit that comes because of our association with Jesus Christ. There is a relationship that we have with Jesus Christ that also affects the spiritual blessings of that we get to take part of. And we're going to look in verse 10, chapter 3, verse 10. Because of Jesus's death there were secured because of that diverse relationship he had with the Father, all the spiritual benefits of salvation that was solely his work between him and the Father.
But there are some spiritual benefits that come to us as a result of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. His death secured that legal benefit for us that had nothing to do with us. Just like my traffic ticket of going 15 miles an hour, which could have severely impacted my commercial driver's license, was reduced to a non moving violation because of a relationship that the lawyer had with the judge. So our payment, so our eternal redemption, so our glorification was purchased for us by that work of Jesus Christ in his relationship with the Father because of Jesus own merit, he purchased that for our benefit. It has to do with us.
Now, we take part in that because he is one who desires to share the benefit he purchased for us. We take part of that by faith. He is one who is looking to share all the eternal benefit he purchased with human beings and is looking for those with whom he might share it. We get to share it when we call out to him by faith. Here I am, Lord, save me.
He is one looking, but he is not one stealing. He is one in your neighborhood, but he is not busting down your door. He is one calling to you in a soft voice, but doesn't demand your obedience. He asks for it. And we by faith choose to come into that place that he has secured for us by his own merit.
Right? Right. But there also is some benefit that comes to us spiritually because of that resurrection from the dead. And that's what we're going to look at today. It says in verse 10 that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship is of his sufferings being conformed to his death.
Let's pray. Oh Father, we do come to youo, O Lord, so twisted and confused, Lord, so motivated by false ideas and strange doctrines, Lord, carrying about the Ark on a cart instead of bearing it in the way that was prescribed, O Lord. And because we don't understand experiencing death and defeat and anger as a result, Lord, please help us to understand those benefits that comes because you rose from the dead. I just ask in Jesus name. Amen.
There are things that we think that we receive because of our association with God. We value them to some degree. But sometimes those things or those things we feel are important are not actually the spiritual benefit that Christ desires to impart in the lives of the people that follow Him. Now, I'm not saying that asking and wanting health is a bad thing. Right?
It feels wonderful. I'm not saying that having friends and comfort is a bad thing. I'm not saying that all the things that our physical flesh want are a bad thing. I'm just saying they are not the things that God promises to believers through his resurrection from the dead. I am not any way saying that we shouldn't want that kind of benefit or thank God from it or.
Or be appreciated over it. I am just saying that it is absolutely not the things that God promises to believers as a result of his resurrection from the dead. And it is the case. Just like if you remember David when he desired to bring that ark that was in the wrong place for a long time and he wanted to bring that back into Jerusalem. But his desire to bring it in was overshadowed by his confusion on how to do it.
He wanted some benefit that came from it, but he didn't know how to bring it. And sometimes we don't know how or what we should expect is the benefit from Jesus Christ. And as a result, like David, become angry with God when he doesn't feel fulfill the things that we thought he should have. God always fulfills his promises and sometimes we don't completely understand it. So I'm hoping that in this time those benefits which come as a result of the resurrection from Jesus from the dead are made apparent to us in verse 10.
First thing that I might know Him. The first and most important benefit that comes from Jesus Christ being raised from the dead is that we get to enter into a relationship with Him. There is no greater thing that an individual could possess than having a relationship with Jesus. We look at individuals in any type of relationship and if they trade that relationship for something carnal or physical, we think badly of them, right? If an individual trades the benefit of the relationship they have with their parents or their friends and they choose to undermine mind that relationship for a physical benefit, we look down upon them.
Because relationships are ultimately the most valuable thing that there is in the world.
Everyone hear me. Your money is not as important as your relationships. Your house is not as important as your relationship. Your health is not as important as the relationships that you have. Men and women are encouraged that no matter whether life or death, health or not health are to stick with their married partner because the marriage relationship is more valuable than the money or the health.
Everyone hear what I'm saying.
Relationships are the most valuable thing that there are. But human relationships are not the most valuable. That relationship which a man has with his Creator is of more value than the relationship a man or woman has with another person. The Bible says that if you follow Christ, you will have to come to the point where you have to gauge the value of human relationship with that one which you have with Jesus Christ. And he is saying, if anyone can see considers their human relationships of more value than that one which an individual has with Jesus Christ, they are not worthy of holding the one with Jesus Christ.
Now I'm going to be a little bit mean here. Forgive me. I have animals too. I have more animals than anyone else here. I love them.
Please forgive me. But relationships with animals are not as valuable as relationship with humans.
I love my cow, her name's Hoggie. And I go out and I lay on her neck and I stroke her and I tell her you know, you are the most beautiful cow that has ever been. I love her. I have pictures where all of my kids are on her back and she just stands there. She's a great cow, but she's not near worth that relationship.
I would eat her, but I would not value her relationship with one of my children. Listen, that relationship we have with human beings is not near the relationship, not near the value of the relationship that we have with Jesus Christ. Paul says, or Moses says, I want to see your glory. He says that he forsook the riches of Egypt, that he might know him. There was a desire in Moses to know him, that there should be in us.
Our principal benefit that comes from being brought into a relationship with God is the ability to know Jesus, who has become our friend that sticks closer than a brother who never forsakes us, who never leaves us. He is that one who is like a lover to us, who is knocking on our door to see who might open it, that he might come in and dine with us. He is that lover of our soul who, having sacrificed everything for us, now wants to have a real relationship with us. The benefit that comes from Jesus Christ being raised from the dead is we can know him. Know Him.
Sometimes our prayer shows us where our value lies.
What we pray for oftentimes reveals the simplicity, the confusion of our spiritual desires. Sometimes our prayers are more focused on temporal things which have very limited value versus that which is for our complete spiritual value on earth. How many of us have been praying recently? Jesus, I want to know you more. I want to know you.
Who cares if you eat today? Who cares if all these things pass? I want to know God. That benefit that comes from that relationship, that association eclipses all the physical and natural benefits you and I can possess.
First thing it says in verse 10, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. Jesus, being raised from the dead, passes on a power to those he is associated with, that power that he demonstrated by defeating death, shaking off the shackles, tearing apart that work which the devil had brought to play on his own life, shaking it free, rising up that power over death, this carnal life he shares with those who walk with him. I'm going to read a couple scriptures here that is important for us. Believers are right because of that resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In chapter 4 of 2 Corinthians, verse 10, it says, Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body, for we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus sake that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in us.
It says in 1 Corinthians 1:14 it says food for the stomach and stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
One more in Romans 8, 8, 10 and if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. That act of Jesus resurrection from the dead gives the believer the power to operate in a life in this present life in which before we had always failed, we had always been dominated by sin, by ugliness, and by the effects of this world and its curse upon us. But that resurrection from the dead gives us the power to live a lifestyle that is free from those things which once controlled us. It is the power to live a holy life here on earth.
Verse 10 Again, the next thing that is a benefit for his resurrection, it says the fellowship of his sufferings. One of the benefits that comes from being in a relationship with Jesus Christ is you get to fellowship, you get to participate in the sufferings that came upon Jesus. I know you are thinking, I'm not absolutely sure that the lifestyle I want. The strange thing is, is I watch people read books. In those books, is it the kind of message where it says everything went well, there were no problems, life was easy, no sickness, no death, nothing to worry about, everything was fine.
No, that's when the book ends. That's when there's nothing else left to say. Really what excites us is the danger is the suffering. There is part of us that wants to experience something worth more, to have to sacrifice our life. Jesus gives us the opportunity to take upon in something more than is just nice, normal, comfortable living, to leave our seats and be engaged in something that has meaning that something that challenges the darkness that surrounds us and finds victory in it.
We get to participate in his sufferings. This is something that has always been. It says, rejoice in Matthew and be exceedingly glad, for so they part persecuted the prophets who were before you. This is the normal way in which Christians live. It says in Timothy that those who desire to live righteous in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
It is a normal part of the Christian life. But it is also one that brings happiness to our lives because he says that in that suffering he will be with us. He will be with us. It says in verse 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death. The last benefit that we are going to talk about that is available to the believer is the ability to encounter death like Jesus Christ.
There is no greater glory. We see in revelations that those who have the opportunity to lay down their lives as a sacrifice for Jesus Christ, there is no greater glory than being able to participate in his death. We read, if you ever have read Foxe's books of martyrs, and if you have not, it's important, important to read it because we see that the world system has, if we look through the centuries, has consistently treated Christians the same way. We live in a little blurp, a little bubble, a little period in the midst of that great persecution which has always confronted Christians, a period of safety, a period of joy because of the godly foundation that was delivered to us by our ancestors. But it doesn't mean that once again that persecution would come to our doorstep.
And we may have to also lay down our lives with those who did before us. But they counted it as their greatest form of worship, as their most beautiful sacrifice they can offer, as the thing that brought them the most joy as to physically lay down their life. They could have given the pinch to Caesar, they could have renounced the doctrines that were unbiblical, and they could have lived. But they chose to suffer death with Jesus as the most valuable sacrifice they could offer. Here again, biblical Christianity is absolutely the same today.
If you deny him, he will deny you. But if you will lay down your life for him, that he will welcome you into eternal life. I'm going to close and I hope that through this, in some way, you and I may be encouraged to think of the real spiritual benefits that come from the resurrection. And by being made aware of them, we might seek for them. Everyone knows that there's areas you look for golden, right?
There's type of materials you dig in. If we're digging in material in dirt that has no gold, we're a foolish type of person. It's best to at least know where to search before you begin searching. And here, in seeing these things which come about as a result of Christ's resurrection, I pray you and I might have a heart to look for them there. And I believe that if the Bible's true, that you will become a finder of them, experiencing the reward of it.
I'm going to read this one more time before we pray that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death. Let's pray. Oh Father, Lord, we do come to youo, Lord, just thanking youg. Though we don't understand it, though we're afraid of it, though it appears terrifying and foreign to us, we still appreciate the opportunity to experience these things as a gift to from you as a result of your defeat of hell, death and the grave, that you were resurrected the third day, that you are not dead, your tomb is empty and you are alive forevermore, sitting at the right hand of God, making intercession for those who would follow you. You are a lawyer, Lord.
You are friend. You are brother. We thank you for this opportunity. In Jesus name, amen.