“More power!” For anyone who was a fan of the 1990s TV series “Home Improvement,” that refrain was frequently heard from comedian Tim Allen, who played Tim Taylor, or “Tim the Toolman,” in the series. Tim was always wanting bigger and better power tools.

Who doesn’t want “more power”? I would list the Apostle Paul as one of those — he said so himself. Speaking of his relationship with King Jesus, his request was “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10a, ESV).

“Resurrection power” was Paul’s desire, but he had served King Jesus long enough to know that such “power” came at a cost. In our verse above, Paul went on to ask that he might also “share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death” (3:10b). I like the King James translation, which states it this way: “that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.”

I think the phrase “the fellowship of His sufferings” more accurately conveys Paul’s thought process here. The Greek word translated “share” in the ESV and “fellowship” in the KJV is koinonia, which is defined as “fellowship, communion” (Young’s Concordance).

New Testament scholar Kenneth S. Wuest gives greater clarity to Paul’s statement here. Wuest states, “The words ‘to know’ are again, to ‘know by experience.’” He adds, “The Greek word for ‘fellowship’ here means ‘a joint participation’” (Wuest’s Word Studies, Volume Two). Paul had apprehended Jesus’s promise that “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20, ESV).

Time and space preclude providing the many Scriptures that promise comfort in times of trial, but Paul offered this promise to the Corinthian believers: “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (2 Corinthians 1:5, ESV).

It is through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, sent by Jesus to us, that His comfort comes to us. Jesus referred to Him as the “Comforter” on several occasions (John 14:16, 14:26, 15:26, and 16:7, KJV). There is no need for comfort if there is no suffering, no trial, or no difficulty.

In Morning and Evening, pastor and author Charles Haddon Spurgeon tells us what a Christian’s response to suffering should be:

We are told that the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering; therefore we who are sinful and who are far from being perfect must not wonder if we are called to pass through suffering too. Shall the head be crowned with thorns while the other parts of the body enjoy only comfort and ease? Must Christ pass through seas of His own blood to win the crown while we walk to heaven dry-shod in silver slippers? No; our Master’s experience teaches us that suffering is necessary, and the true-born child of God must not, would not, escape it if he could.

It is through suffering that the saint is refined, the dross removed through fiery trial, to make us “holy vessels” fit for the Master’s service. The “power of His resurrection” is released through “the fellowship of His suffering.” Could it be that the current weakness of the Christian church at large is a result of comfort-seeking Christians who ignore the call of the Cross? I don’t know about you, my brother, but the cry of my heart is “more power!”

What say ye, Man of Valor?
Semper Fidelis!