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February 15/16, 2014
Jason Meyer | Philippians 3:1-11
Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.
Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.—Philippians 3:1–11
Introduction
What is Christian Hedonism?
Christian hedonism is a deliberately provocative phrase that exults in the truth that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” Some of you have been around Bethlehem for years and could explain that phrase to someone you meet on a street corner. Some of you are new to Bethlehem and couldn’t explain it to anyone because you don’t understand it yourself. Maybe you are new enough that you have not even heard the phrase “Christian hedonism.”
Christian hedonism has been a defining doctrine for Bethlehem under Pastor John’s preaching and leadership. My greatest fear is that it would become a mere hand-me-down doctrine. We don’t want to be second-generation Christian hedonists who are second-handers. We don’t want to regurgitate Christian hedonism for others, like a mother bird giving partially digested bits of worm to her baby birds. Yuck.
We want to be second-generation Christian hedonists who are first-handers. In other words, I want to do more than just explain this doctrine. I am praying that God would set this doctrine on fire in our hearts today. Light the fire again, God. I am praying that God would do a work in this sermon so that people are convinced of Christian hedonism in an experiential way. I don’t want to try to defend the sweetness of honey as a fact by giving bookish details about its molecular structure. I want you to taste the sweetness of honey. Don’t lecture me about honey. Just give me a spoonful. I want the sweetness of rejoicing in Christ to send shock waves of sweetness from the soles of your soul to the top of your soul and back down from top to bottom just for good measure. My prayer is that you will be able to explain it as a first-hand taster of it, not as a second-hander. God, please save this teaching from just being a hand-me-down doctrine. I can’t accomplish that merely with my words. I have some hope to make it clear, but zero hope to make it real to your spirits apart from the Holy Spirit. So let’s ask him to reveal the sweetness of Christ’s supremacy.
Let’s start by thinking about the opposite of Christian hedonism. What is the alternative to preaching and believing this doctrine? The opposite teaching would be the idea that joy is optional or even unethical in the Christian life. Those who believe that joy is optional would say that it is like the icing on the cake of Christianity. Cake tastes better with icing, but you don’t need it to have a cake. It is great to have a Christianity that has joy in Christ, but it is not necessary to be a Christian. In fact, some would go further and say that pursuing joy actually spoils the goodness of an act. Duty is what matters. Self-interest is a bad thing. If it benefits you, then maybe there is a conflict of interest.
Does the Bible talk that way? No way. There are few things more devastating to real Christianity than the idea that joy is optional (or worse yet unethical) in the Christian life. Joy in Christ is not something you spread on the cake. It is an essential ingredient in the cake itself. And it is not unethical. In fact, Paul says you have to be joyful to be ethical in the biblical sense. Listen to Paul’s argument for rejoicing in Christ. According to Paul, it is not optional or unethical. It is biblical and essential. Here is the first point—and the main point—Christian hedonism is commanded.
What a startling fact. To be ethical you must be joyful. How is that for a paradigm shift? Look at verse 1 again: “Rejoice in the Lord” (Philippians 3:1). What will those who think joy in Christ is optional or even unethical say about that? Wait. Before you answer, let’s allow Paul to talk a little more about joy. And by a little more, I am using calculated understatement. I mean a lot more because he uses the “joy” family of words sixteen times in Philippians, which only has four chapters. Joy cannot be separated from true Christianity as if it is optional or unethical.
At this point, maybe it will be helpful to pick out the most emphatic example. Paul repeats his command for them to rejoice emphatically by saying it twice in one verse. Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” What is so striking here is not merely the repetition of the call to rejoice. He says something much more radical. He says rejoice “always.” Rejoice at all times. This is not unique to Philippians. Paul says the same thing in 1 Thessalonians 5:16: “rejoice always.” Now don’t misunderstand. “Rejoice always” does not mean there is never sorrow. In fact, Paul can say that sorrow and rejoicing can exist simultaneously in 2 Corinthians 6:10: “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.”
We are forced to ask why God would command rejoicing in Christ. Why is it not optional or unethical, but biblical and essential? Why does this matter so much to Paul? Point two gives one of the reasons for why Christian hedonism is essential to Christianity: It is the shield that protects Christians from false teaching.
To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. —Philippians 3:1a–2
Paul says that repeating himself is no trouble and that it is a safeguard for the Philippians. This word “safeguard” raises a question: a safeguard against what or whom? In point three, we will see Paul answer another question: why is rejoicing in the Lord a safeguard?
The reader does not have to wait long to find the answer to the first question. It is a safeguard against whom or what? “Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh” (v. 2). At first glance, it looks like Paul simply resorts to name-calling: dogs, evil workers, and mutilators. These barbed comments are not random and senseless personal attacks. Paul engages the opponents at the level of their false teaching by turning the tables on them through pointed irony.
First, Paul states that the false teachers should bear reproach as “dogs,” not Gentile believers. Jews would label non-Jews as unclean dogs because they ate an unclean, undiscriminating diet like dogs. They did not eat a kosher diet. Jesus himself turned the tables on using this label in Matthew 15:26. The previous story said that people are not unclean by what goes into the mouth, but by what comes out of the heart. Unclean hearts make unclean people. The Pharisees are worst of all. They are like tombs made pretty on the outside but full of dead men’s bones on the inside. Then when a Gentile woman comes, Jesus says it would not be right to take the children’s food and give it to the dogs. She says that even the dogs can eat the crumbs from the master’s table. Jesus says that her faith is great. Do you see? This Gentile woman is clean by faith, whereas the Pharisees, even with their clean diet, are unclean. The false teachers are dogs because their reliance on the flesh makes them unclean.
Second, the false teachers thought that apostles like Paul were working evil because they said Christ alone was all that was needed to be saved. Without the law, people would become evildoers. Paul’s teaching was working evil. The false teachers were saying you needed to add works of the law to faith in Christ. Paul shows that the opponents’ attempt to create confidence in the flesh through the law is an evil work because they are compromising the gospel. God hates self-righteousness and loves the gospel, so their message was evil.
Third, the false teachers were saying that someone needed to be physically circumcised to be saved. But Paul says that their physical circumcision is not real circumcision because it puts confidence in the flesh. He calls them “mutilators.” It is a play on words. The word for “circumcision” is peritome. But they are actually katatome or “mutilators.” They are mutilators practicing pagan, self-inflicted cuttings prohibited in the Old Testament (Leviticus 19:28; 21:5; Deuteronomy 14:1; Isaiah 15:2; Hosea 7:14). They are not part of the true people of God because they are like the false prophets of Baal, who thought that cutting themselves would catch God’s gaze (1 Kings 18:28). You can’t do anything in the flesh to get God’s attention.
Paul shows the difference between the false teachers’ false identity and the true identity of Christians. Now we need to ask our second question concerning Christian hedonism as a safeguard or shield. Why is Christian hedonism a shield? False teaching tries to make much of us. Christian hedonism is making much of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.—Philippians 3:3
Who are Christians anyway? You may answer that they are people that believe in Christ. Yes, but what do you mean by believing? Christians do not just believe in Christ up in their head in a way that totally misses the heart. The demons believe in the existence of Christ. They believe that he died on the cross. They believe that he saves people. But they hate him. Faith is more than intellectual, factual assent. This text shows that true believing in Christ is boasting in Christ. Believing in Christ is tasting that leads to boasting. Christians glory in Christ. They make much of him. They taste and see and savor his surpassing worth. Faith is putting all of our confidence in Christ. That is boasting in Christ. Glorying in him. Making much of him. That is faith.
This worship—this boasting—is a supernatural work. The first two phrases of this verse tell us so in an unmistakable way. First, we are the true circumcision. This is a circumcision of the heart—it is internal, not external in the flesh. Salvation involves a heart change. Paul teaches the same thing in Romans 2:28–29: “For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter.”
I think the next phrase confirms this supernatural work. Christians “worship by the Spirit of God” (v. 3). You may remember that Jesus said the same thing. Real worshippers “worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). The work of the new covenant is a work of the Spirit taking out the heart of stone and putting in a heart of flesh. It gives a new spirit, and God puts his Holy Spirit within us.
Worship is not about certain songs or a certain mood. It is not psychological because we try to work our way into a certain psychological mood. Let’s darken the lights. Let’s play a peppy song right before the offering. I abominate that kind of manipulation. We worship by the Spirit of God. Paul does not say that we worship the Spirit of God but that we worship by the Spirit of God. I think that is an important distinction because of what Jesus said in John 16:14: “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
The Spirit glorifies Christ. He causes the surpassing worth of Christ to shine so that we see and savor Christ. That reading of the text is confirmed by the next two things Paul says.
Third, true Christians boast or glory in Christ and put no confidence in the flesh. Do you see how those two phrases are mutually interpretive? Boasting in Christ means putting all confidence in Christ and none in the flesh.
Paul further separates the false and the true in Philippians 3:17–21. Two similarities tie 3:1–11 and 3:17–21 together. First, Paul shows that Christians and their opponents are polar opposites. In 3:2–3, he demonstrates that Christians are the true circumcision (ἡ περιτομή), while the opponents are the false circumcision or the mutilators (ἡ κατατομή). In 3:19–20, Paul presents the believers and their opponents as operating from two polar opposite spheres: earthly and heavenly (οὐρανοῖς).
Paul now gives himself as an example to emulate. That leads to our fourth argument for Christian hedonism. It is biblical and essential because it is the essence of Paul’s story.
What comes to your mind when you think of someone’s personal testimony? Most people think in terms of sharing the story of how you came to be saved. How would you share that story? It is natural to most people to share it in a biographical way: "I was raised in a Christian home, but then I went away to college and started hanging around with the wrong crowd, and I was living far from God. But then I heard the gospel in church, and I repented of my sins and trusted Christ to save me." You are narrating the events of your life historically. Paul does this same sort of thing in the book of Acts.
Acts 22: Paul’s Personal Testimony (External)
Paul walks this crowd through his life story, starting with his upbringing as a Jew in Tarsus, but then brought up in Jerusalem and educated at the feet of Gamaliel. He grew up to be a fierce persecutor of the church in Jerusalem. He then got permission to take his wild fire of persecution and spread it elsewhere to places like Damascus. When he traveled to Damascus, at about noon, a great light shone from heaven around him. The resurrected Lord Jesus revealed himself to Paul. Paul’s life was forever changed, and the great persecutor against Christ became the great preacher of Christ.
Philippians 3: Paul’s Theological Testimony (Internal)
But there is another way to share your story of salvation. Philippians 3 is Paul’s theological testimony. It takes us deeper into the inner workings of Saul the unbeliever and Paul the Christian. What happened? He writes:
I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.—Philippians 3:4–6
Saul, the non-Christian, put his confidence in the flesh. Think of your life as a ledger with two columns (pluses and minuses; assets and liabilities; gains and losses). Paul is focusing on the confidence column—the things he regarded as gains that would give him confidence at the judgment. Paul shared his former boast in two different categories: 1) what he inherited (v. 5), and 2) what he performed (vv. 5–6).
In terms of what he inherited, Paul believed that his ethnicity gave him an inside track. He was physically circumcised at the prescribed time “circumcised on the eighth day.”He was a card-carrying Israelite from the tribe of Benjamin (named after king Saul who was perhaps the most famous or infamous member of the tribe). In fact, he regarded himself probably as a purebred—a Hebrew born of two Hebrew parents, not just one. I am not going to comment on this ethnocentrism except to remind you why we love ethnic harmony. No ethnicity gives you an inside track to God.
Paul’s sense of fleshly confidence only increased with his personal accomplishments. He was serious about obedience to the law—he became a Pharisee. They tried to take the ritual purity laws and say that you needed to have them all the time, not just when you were in the temple. If you doubted his zeal for the law and for lawbreakers, just ask the church. He was a persecutor extraordinaire. Phineas was commended for his zeal in killing an unfaithful Israelite (Numbers 25:7–8, 10, 13), and Saul the persecutor of “unfaithful Israelites” expected the same kind of commendation. Saul was the fulfillment of what Jesus said in John 16:2–3: “They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me” (John 16:2–3). When it came to being right with God according to the righteous requirements spelled out in the law, Paul thought he was blameless.
But he was deceived, and the resurrection proved it. Oh, how the resurrected Christ turned Paul’s world upside down on the road to Damascus. Look at how his perspective changed. Take his persecuting zeal as an example. He used to put it in the confidence category, but now he saw it belonged in the loss column. His persecuting zeal of the church made him the foremost of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). It was not a gain, but a loss. Listen to 1 Corinthians 15:9: “I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” So Paul continues:
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christand be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.—Philippians 3:7–11
Look at how the ledger changed. He starts to systematically take the things that he once thought gain and put them into the loss column. First, whatever things from verses 4–6 where on the gain side, he switched to the loss side. They no longer belong in the confidence column because these things did not commend him to God. They separated him further from God.
He goes further. He says, “I count everything as loss.” The plus side of my ledger is now pure. Only Christ belongs there. I have only one reason for confidence before the throne: Christ. Nothing compares to his worth. Nothing. So nothing belongs in that column. Let it be singular.
True Treasure
Two moms were having a play date one day, and they were letting their little boys explore outside. One of the boys came running back to his mom. His little arms were pumping as he excitedly and breathlessly tried to tell his mom he found a treasure. “Mommy, mommy, I found a treasure.” “Oh, that is nice dear, let me see.” The little boy opened his hand, and it became clear that the treasure was really deer droppings. And they were grossly squished together because he was holding on to his treasure so securely. The mom screamed, “Get it out of your hand—that is not a treasure!”
You need to feel the horror that Paul has for putting confidence in anything but Christ. This is exactly what Paul is saying. “For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (v. 8). Paul says that what he used to think was a treasure was only “rubbish.” Animal droppings. It is the word for what you find in a toilet. You don’t search for treasure in the sewer of self-righteousness. God has the same “righteous horror and anger” when it comes to the sewer of our self-righteousness. What does God think when we run around holding things that we think are treasures? He looks in our hand and says, “Get that out of your hand—that is not a treasure!”
Now, does this trouble anyone? Are you really supposed to call all good things “rubbish?” Really? Food, family, and music just to name a few? Paul’s final phrase is the clue. I count them as rubbish in order to gain Christ. In other words, other things are seen in the way that they are contrasted or compared with Christ. Paul takes the comparative view. Of course, when good things are made into God things, then they separate us from Christ. Compared to Christ, nothing compares. Paul tries to construct some separation between Christ and the creation. He is not trying to denigrate other good things. He is trying to elevate the one thing.
The Bible can call us to delight in many things from another angle when God and his gifts are looked at together. When they are looked at together, the gifts actually help us enjoy God more. We say, “If these things are only the scattered beams of beauty and sweetness, then how beautiful and sweet is the source of all these things.” We want to go to the place where all the beauty comes from. We can celebrate God’s gifts deeply when we are careful to delight in him supremely.
He made the same point when he spoke about Christ’s surpassing worth or value: “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (v. 8). This is true worship. True and pure worship sees and savors Christ’s surpassing worth. It is greater than anything in the universe. We don’t boast about lesser things. Do you think God is impressed with anything you have to offer?
I read about someone whose prize and joy was his rubber-band ball. He made the world’s largest ball made out of rubber bands. Don’t waste your life, and don’t waste your worship! Don’t waste it on lesser things that won’t last beyond the grave! Look at my Savior. No one compares. No one else is a treasure. No one else defeated death. No one else has all power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing. Paul continues:
[I long to] be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.—Philippians 3:9
He came to see that building a righteousness of his own kept him from seeing the righteousness of God that Christ provided. Listen to all the parallels with Paul’s unsaved Jewish countrymen in Romans 10:1–3:
Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
Paul stopped trying to establish his own righteousness. He received the righteousness of God in Christ. This saving righteousness was not Paul’s law performance, but the gift of God’s righteousness received by faith. But Christian hedonism goes much further. Why did Paul want to be justified or right with God? Look at what I call the “grammar of Christian hedonism.” Look at the great “that.”
That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.—Philippians 3:10–11
All of this is part of the grand purpose clause of verse 10. We want to be justified so that we will know him. I will return to that thought more fully at the end. For now, look at how these verses say Christians conquer. Last week, we saw that Christ conquered through his suffering and death. We will conquer the same way. The greatest joy that this life has to offer is to have more of Christ, even if it means becoming like him in his death. Sinclair Ferguson said that God makes us like Jesus the same way that Jesus became like Jesus: suffering.
But the light at the end of the tunnel promises even more of Christ. Paul shows that the Christian has a unified hope in the resurrection. In verses 10–11, Paul sets his sights on knowing Christ in the power of his resurrection, having fellowship in his sufferings and being conformed to his death so that he might somehow attain to the resurrection. In verse 20, the believers’ sights are focused on heaven because from there a Savior will come and transform their bodies. Paul uses the language of “conform” in both places as well. Paul longs to be conformed (συμμορφιζόμενος) to Christ’s death (v. 10) in order to attain the resurrection, while in verse 20 he stresses that the believers’ transformation will “conform” (σύμμορφος) to Christ’s glorious body.
Why does he want to be resurrected? He will see Christ face to face. His great desire is to depart and be with Christ because that is far better than anything else (Philippians 1:21).
Christian hedonism contextualized in Philippians 3
Pastor John’s catch phrase was, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” Let’s contextualize that in Philippians 3. What is Christian hedonism, or what Paul calls “rejoicing in the Lord”? It is the truth that Christ’s supreme worth shines best when it is savored most. This is true worship. It glorifies Christ when the Christian sees that the worth or value of Christ surpasses everything else. We don’t glorify him in the sense of making him more glorious. We don’t try to give Christ a makeover to make him more beautiful. It is a stunning truth that he can’t get more beautiful. He can’t get more glorious. He is perfect. That is why all creation can’t stop worshipping God the Creator and Christ the Redeemer. God receives perfect praise. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. We can live and talk and sing in a way now that reflects this reality. His glory shines brightest when we savor it as surpassing all other things. We believe that there is no conflict between our desire to be happy and God’s desire to be glorified. In Christ, they come together.
Why Christian hedonism is essential for the purity of gospel worship: Making much of Christ requires that we keep our confidence column singular.
We must keep the confidence column pure from the pollution of the sewer of self-righteousness. We keep the confidence column pure by keeping it singular. Pure worship says, “Hallelujah, all I have is Christ! Hallelujah, Jesus is my life!” Christ alone goes on the plus side of the ledger. Keep it pure. I can gain everything in the world and lose Christ, and I will have lost for all eternity. I can lose everything on earth but still have Christ, and I would have all I need for all eternity.
How are we going to protect from false teaching here at Bethlehem? The pulpit must be a place that makes much of Christ. False teaching always wants to maximize you and minimize Christ. False teaching tries to sneak something of self to that side of the ledger. Only the Savior belongs there. Worship says, “I must decrease and he must increase.” False teaching says, “I must increase and Christ must decrease.” We fight false teaching by being too busy making much of Christ to stomach making much of anything else.
Self-righteousness is the suicide of Christian hedonism, and Christian hedonism is the shield against self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is the suicide of Christian hedonism. It poisons our search for joy in Christ. And it works the other way too. Rejoicing in Christ is a shield against the fiery darts of false teaching that always try to make much of us and to make little of Christ. Christian hedonism wants to make much of Christ and to make little of us.
Corporate Christian hedonism: up-reach flows into in-reach
Your passion and confidence must be singular, but our joy increases when we experience that singular passion corporately. The singular passion of multiple people is a greater experience. Watching a team you love in your living room is much different than in a stadium where thousands of people are all cheering for the same thing. You corporately have set your mind and affections on the same thing: your team winning. But in Christ as we set our minds above, we celebrate victory in Jesus. The outcome is never in doubt. We have an undefeated corporate identity that we celebrate.
Why do we have a certain type of preaching at Bethlehem—what we call “expository exultation”? We believe that Christ is not merely to be proclaimed, but celebrated. “Christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice” (Philippians 1:18). Preaching that makes much of Christ will lead to much rejoicing in the congregation.
Christian hedonism is essential to the way we think about ministry. Look at Paul’s purpose for staying on the planet in Philippians 1. His purpose is to work for the Philippians’ “progress and joy of faith” (1:25) so that they will “glory in Christ Jesus” (1:26).
My goal as a pastor is to work for your progress and joy of faith. I preach and minister in a way that makes much of Christ because my goal is that my people will glory in Christ.
Conclusion
Jesus Is the Gospel
Jesus does not merely bring the good news. He is the good news. Jesus is the gospel. The greatest gift is knowing him. “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).
Forgiveness is not the highest good of the gospel. God is. When I sin against my wife, I want forgiveness, but why? The answer is not some benefit my wife brings, like making my supper or washing my clothes. “I need you to forgive me so that you will make my supper!” Don’t worry, ladies. I would never say that—I feel like slapping myself right now just saying it in this mock example. What do I want? I want my wife back because I love her!
Why do you want to be forgiven? So that you can go to heaven? Everyone wants to go to heaven, but not everyone believes in the same heaven. People’s bad theology is often shown in their false views of heaven. Is heaven a place to have greater access to your idols? You just take your earthly-mindedness and pursue those things in heaven? Yes, there are splendors and wonders of the new heavens and new earth for our resurrection bodies. But these come from the bounty of our King’s wealth. Enjoying them is part and parcel of our enjoyment of him! We want to be resurrected so that we can have more of Christ. If he is not there, then heaven would not be heaven.