Growing in Knowing Christ

John MacArthur @ www.sfpulpit.com reviews elements of knowing Christ. He notes: " The apostle Paul perfectly expresses the most earnest desire of every true follower of Christ: “That I may know him” (Phil. 3:10). “Knowing Christ,” in the Pauline sense is not the sort of mystical relationship many people imagine. Paul wasn’t longing for some secret knowledge of Christ beyond what is revealed in Scripture. He wasn’t asking that private messages from Christ be whispered into his ear.

In fact, the knowledge of Christ Paul sought was anything but mystical. What he longed to know was the power of Christ’s resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings, and conformity to His death.

Scripture suggests at least five aspects of true intimacy with Christ:

The Intimacy of Faith

The Intimacy of True Worship

The Intimacy of Prayer

The Intimacy of Obedience

The Intimacy of Suffering

Notice that those are not advanced skills for second-level Christians. They are the most elementary issues of the Christian life.