Isaiah 25:6-9 (NIV)  

⁶ On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines.  ⁷ On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; ⁸ he will swallow up death forever.  The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth.  The Lord has spoken.

⁹ In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us.  This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

Philippians 3:3-11 (NIV)

³ For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—⁴ though I myself have reasons for such confidence.

If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee, ⁶ as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

⁷ But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them rubbish, 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 is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.  ¹⁰ I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Theme: the power of the Resurrection.

What do we understand to be true about the resurrection?  What does Jesus tell us about His Resurrection?  That He is Himself the Resurrection and the Life, anyone who believes in Him will never die.

It appears there are two sides of the resurrection theology.  It is vital to understand both sides.

Jesus Resurrection is both 1) a fact to believe, and 2) an experience that helps us connect to God.

Paul says there were 500 people who saw Jesus after His death.  When Paul was writing to the Corinthians 25-30 years later, most of the observers were still alive.

Paul presents the fact that Jesus Himself was alive after being killed.

The witness of Jesus’ death believed and observed the death and the physical resurrection.

If Jesus is only an idea, a spiritual experience but the resurrection wasn’t a real event, what you have then is religion with form, but without any power.

On the other hand, we can be very orthodox and doctrinally correct about what we believe, “And in Jesus Christ our Lord, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried.  On The third day he rose again and sits at the right hand of God the Father,” but never had a profound experience with that, then you haven’t experienced your own spiritual resurrection, and then again, you have form without power.

How do we know both sides (experience and power)?

Christianity refuses to be confined to either side.  It is not right brain verses left brain or mystic or pure rationality.

Christianity says a lot about beliefs, proposition and ethics are not enough, that we are to experience God, really know Him, love Him, and a real connection.

There is truth; there are false beliefs.  (This belief will save you, while others will result in damnation.)

Paul again emphasizes this is a real event in time; there were many witnesses.

So, then what is this experience with Jesus like?

Paul wrote I want to know Christ and the power of His Resurrection.  This means Paul has prioritized to knowing Christ and the power of His Resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:32  If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for human motives, what did I gain?  If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

Paul also says he counts all other stuff as loss compared to the greatness of knowing Christ.  Paul was proud of his heritage as a Jew, but when he became a follower of Jesus all the other stuff of Jewish law has been replaced with a desire to know Jesus.  Everything else, he says, counts as loss.

Christianity is more than an agreement with a set of propositions, or a set of beliefs that you cannot pray to, the set of beliefs is not what you can pray to or move your heart to say yes to Jesus.

Paul gets this; he wants to know Jesus and the power of the Resurrection.

Paul would ask each one of us; do you understand the doctrine of the resurrection?  Because if you do, you have more than a set of beliefs, you have a passion to know Jesus.

Having a passion for Christ doesn’t mean talking about Jesus 24/7 but looking at life though Him.  When you have a passion for Jesus, you go to Jesus first, you think of what He (Jesus) says in Scripture, what Jesus promised on the Cross and what He (Jesus) did forces those.

What lenses are you viewing the world through?  We view the world through Jesus’ eyes; we go to Scripture to seek direction; we seek Jesus for seeing forgiveness toward others.  Is the influence of Jesus in all areas of our lives?  Are we seeking to please Jesus with the life we live?

The Resurrection is what makes Christianity different from all other religions.

If Jesus is risen, then He can be known.  We can interact with Him.  We can pray to Him.  We can at times sense His presence with us in the struggle in moral grey areas.  While reading Scripture we can secure direction in our journey.

It is one thing to believe in the sort of love in an intellectual way, and quite another to experience it.  This is what it means to know Christ.

Do you know Jesus as a person?

There is a difference between knowing the person Jesus and knowing about Jesus.  It is the difference between form and substance.

Religious people seem to be very busy doing religion, it seems transactional.

The fact of the substance of faith is when life goes sideways, do we drop our religion?  When you know Jesus, you don’t drop Him, no matter what.

A Christian would say, listen, if suffering and hardship in life brings me closer to God and closer to Jesus, then I’m willing to go through that.

I think Paul still enjoyed knowing the Old Testament and used that knowledge, but it no longer defines him.  Knowing Jesus defines him now.  Paul wants to know the power of the resurrection.  The power is the life energy that comes to Jesus’ dead body and raised it up.

That same power is available to come into my dead soul and raise me up too.  This is about supernatural character growth.  This is a desire to be like Jesus.

The Holy Spirit moves into our lives and knowing Jesus becomes our ambition and all the rest flows from there.

Presbyterians can struggle with this because we believe the right stuff, but often our ambitions are about personal success, verses to know Jesus.

The life of Christian faith is more than agreeing with a set of beliefs about Christ, morality, or how to read the Bible.  It means being so intimately connected to Christ that his crucifixion is our, his death is our death, and his life is our life – which is hardly something we can grasp with our minds.  It has to be experienced.  It is an experience.  ~Peter Enns

Paul says a Christian is someone whose success is now knowing the power of the Resurrection of Christ.  Paul says he want to be like Jesus in His boldness, His love, His wisdom, His humility, His courage, in every way, to be more and more like Jesus.

The more times we spend in prayer and Scripture, the more we will allow the Holy Spirit to shape us more like Jesus.

When we unite with Jesus through our faith in Him as the Lord becomes spiritually alive and starts the transformation process into the person God created us to be.

We know there is a change occurring because each new day is fresh and satisfied with the presence of God in a way that your work could never create.  Because you were created to go after God’s glory, the power of the resurrection, long for all that God will being you through Christ.  He can do all that you deserve and more, because He is risen.

John 11:25  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.  The one who believe in me will live even though they die;”

God bless.  Pray and reread the Scripture this week.  Do you know Jesus?  Is He working in all areas of your life?  If you have questions or doubts, call Pastor Dave to discuss how to explore the power of the Cross.