That I Might Know Him and the Power of His Resurrection

Sermon for Morning Worship, First Christian Church, Berryville

April 24, 2011

Job 19:23-27; Luke 24:1-12; Philippians 3:7-14

In writing to the Philippians, Paul said, 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 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 9 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— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Just a little enrichment of that text: back in verse 10, "may share his sufferings" could also be translated, "may know the sharing in his sufferings," "may know the participation in his sufferings," "may know the fellowship of his sufferings," or "may know the community of his sufferings." The key Greek root word is koinonia, and as Paul uses it, it has to do with what we do in solidarity with our fellow believers.

I have preached on this text several times in the past three years, sometimes emphasizing the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus, sometimes emphasizing the righteousness that comes by faith. Today, I have a different emphasis. Why have I chosen this text again on Easter Sunday? Because it is one thing to believe that Jesus rose from the dead, and it is another thing to experience the power of his resurrection. Paul wants to experience the power of Christ's resurrection. He wants his first readers to experience the power of Christ's resurrection. He wants us to experience the power of Christ's resurrection. Easter people should experience the power of Christ's resurrection. So today we are exploring what the power of Christ's resurrection is and how we might experience it.

Paul wants us to know in personal experience the power of Jesus’ resurrection. I wish to suggest that knowing in our personal experience the power of Jesus’ resurrection is a good goal for us to set for ourselves on Resurrection Sunday 2011.

Paul, having been called by Christ to be his own, is pressing on toward the fulfillment of this calling. He sees it as a two-step process, a dying and a rising.

In writing to the Romans, Paul had said that, when we are baptized, we are baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, dying with Christ to sin and coming alive with Christ to the living God. Now writing to the Philippians, he is talking about how he views the dying and rising in his own life.

Paul has accepted that his journey as a Christ-follower may not have an easy road in this world. Of the New Testament figures you would consider the greatest apostles, which of them would you say had an easy road of it? Peter? Andrew? James the fisherman? John? James the brother of Jesus? Paul? No, not one! In fact, Paul’s goal is to be so like Jesus as to “share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” This does not mean that Paul was seeking to become a martyr, but that he was seeking to devote himself so fully to Christ that he would not turn back no matter the cost. As he said earlier in his letter to the Philippians, he took the attitude that to live is Christ and to die is gain, and that he was ready to be faithful either way. At that time, he expected that he would live a little longer for the sake of the churches he was leading. A few years later, writing his Second Letter to Timothy, he expected correctly that his time on earth was drawing to a close, but he still sought to live every bit of it for Christ. His goal at the end, was to be able to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” He did not expect to stop living until he died, and, because of the power of the resurrection, he did not expect to stop living even then. It is only people who are prepared to experience the cross who experience the power of the resurrection.

Paul is not a masochist who enjoys suffering. He does not glorify suffering for its own sake. He is not seeking to suffer. Suffering is significant only as it comes in the course of sharing and living out Christ’s self-giving love, only as it involves dying to ourselves so that we might live for God. Wherever there is godly dying, we ought to expect to see the glory of the resurrection in some way coming on its heels.

Already in this life, by prioritizing faithfulness to Christ at all costs, Paul has died to his own achievements, and he has come alive to the spiritual journey into Christlikeness. Once Paul meets Christ, the question is no longer what Paul can make of himself, but what Paul will allow Christ through the Holy Spirit to make of him. Paul wants to be conformed to Christ in his dying and in his rising. For Paul, glory is no longer defined by what he has accomplished, but by the transformation he is experiencing through his faith in Jesus. He is moving on from one degree of glory to another as the risen Christ through the Holy Spirit works within him. This is the power of the resurrection at work in Paul. Paul wants the same for us. He wants us to know in personal experience the power of the resurrection.

What does it mean to know the power of Jesus’ resurrection? What is that power? Paul’s word for power is the Greek word dunamis from which comes the English word dynamite. Okay, dunamis does not mean dynamite. Dynamite had not been invented yet. Our subject is the power of the resurrection, the power of salvation, the power of miracles, the power that makes all things possible; the power that means that nothing that accords with the will and character of God will be impossible. The reason that most churches in our day do not have much impact is that they are simply not aware that they have power, dunamis. Too many of us Christians have been sleeping on spiritual dynamite without even knowing we have it. Say it with me: Dynamite! I am not sure that saying dynamite is very enlightening, but it is fun to say, and it keeps us on our toes, so we will keep saying it.

The power of Jesus’ resurrection is tied to the power that the risen and exalted Jesus exercises from his position of authority at the right hand of God. In his Letter to the Ephesians, written sometime near the time he wrote to the Philippians, Paul prayed that his readers might have the eyes of their hearts enlightened to know, among other things: … what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

That’s quite a mouthful, and it is only part of Paul’s long sentence. Let’s break it down: The power that is available in our experience is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, the same power that exalted Jesus above all spiritual powers, and that means above all the forces of evil at work in our world. The power that raised Jesus from the dead put all things under his feet including the last enemy death. The same power made Jesus head over the ongoing mission and fellowship of the people of God, the church. Putting that another way, the power of the resurrection has given believers in Christ a friend in the very highest of places, and he will share his power and authority with his earthly body, the church. If we will let him, he will break the power of evil over us and free us to be filled with his power for good. Say it with me: Dynamite!

That’s extraordinary! To the degree that we are in Christ, we wield a mighty power for good in this world. A little later in his letter, Paul assures us that God is able to do far more abundantly than all that we have yet dared ask or think or imagine, through the same power that is already at work within us, the power of the resurrection. Wow! Far more abundantly than we have dared dream! Say it with me: Dynamite!

How does the Lord fill us with this power? A few years earlier in his ministry, Paul had written to the Romans, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” God the Father, who by God the Holy Spirit raised God the Son from the dead, by that same Holy Spirit gives us our new birth as children of God. Paul continues, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” The power of the resurrection is the power of the Holy Spirit, which in turn is the power that transforms us into children of God in God’s image. Say it with me: Dynamite!

In the end of all history, God will bring about a new heaven and new earth, a perfected new creation where God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-- will reign fully and perfectly and where believers will reign with him. But already, now, God’s reign is breaking into this world with signs and wonders, transformations, and new possibilities of godly living. Over time, even through intense difficulties, faithful people learn to see that God reigns even now. Nothing that happens can separate us from his love and promises. No illness, no natural disaster, no world war, no financial collapse, no spiritually and morally wayward cultural climate, no family breakdown, no illness or affliction can separate those who persevere in faith from God’s perfect plans for us. Even in human upheaval, God reigns through and for his faithful children. Say it with me: Dynamite!

And since God reigns, death does not have the final word, nor does evil. The power of death and evil was broken when Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the tomb. However history appears, its true meaning since that first Resurrection Sunday, has been the conducting of a mopping up operation. The outcome is already decided. Only the details are still being worked out.

Long after World War 2 was over, an occasional story would appear about a Japanese soldier being found in an island jungle who did not yet know that the war was over. The majority of our world’s population is still in that unenviable position of not knowing that Jesus has already won the war by means of the power of the resurrection. They do not know it because the church has been sleeping on its dynamite, the power of the resurrection. It is high time for us to know the power of the resurrection, to know it in real life experience, and to get it out in the open where it can do some good. Let us study and pray and take actions toward that end. Say it with me: Dynamite!