Title: Experiencing the Power of His Resurrection
Text: Phil 3:7-10

What would you say is the greatest power on earth? You might think of the power of a hurricane, over the past years the destructive power of those storms have reeked havoc in Fla, as well as North and South Carolina. Their power and fury can be felt over thousands of miles.

Or how about the power of a tornado. We've certainly see the destructiveness of these, I guess most recently with the devastation in Oklahoma City. While not as far reaching as a hurricane that come quickly and often have winds far more powerful than those of the hurricane.

You might also think of the power of nuclear weapons. We hear a lot about that in the news with countries like Pakistan and India getting into the nuclear arms race. You've probably all seen on television the destructive power that was released at Hiroshima, and Nagasaki Japan in WW II. Today it's possible for a single person to carry and launch a weapon with that same destructive power.

The Bible tells us of other resurrections all miraculous all supernatural. Elisha raised the Shunammite woman's son in 2 Kings 4. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Peter raised Dorcas in Acts 9 and Paul raised Eutychus in Acts 20. There was even a mass resurrection recorded in Matt 27 at the crucifixion of Jesus that was witnessed by many people. Though these were miraculous and supernatural they were different from the resurrection of Jesus. In each of those resurrections the people involved faced physical death again.

But, Jesus was raised to eternal life, never to face death again (Rom 9:6). When God raised Jesus from the dead He, "seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly {places}far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all." Eph 1:20-23 (NAS)

That's the power Paul spoke of and the power he wanted to experience in his life. Not that Paul hadn't already experienced this in his life. Remember he is talking in comparison to the things that are valuable in this world. All those things are counted as loss in comparison to the experience of knowing Christ and knowing the power of the resurrection. The supernatural activities associated with trusting Christ as Lord.

We have talked about the reasonable and logical aspects of Christianity. Much of what we are talking about and will be talking about over the next few Sunday nights deals with that aspect of the Christian faith. But make no mistake, though reasonable and logical Christianity is a supernatural experience.

Logic and reason are tools that can be used to persuade some skeptics to listen to the Christian message, but logic and reason are not substitutes for the gospel. Gospel simply means good news or good message. Broadly speaking the entire message of the Bible is gospel because it points to Jesus. Paul, however, defines the gospel in it's more narrow sense in 1 Cor 15:3-4 where he wrote, "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." (NAS)

Several things are implicit in those verses: humans are sinners in need of salvation, Christ died for our sin as the instrument of salvation, that He was buried, and arose from the dead and that these occurred in accordance with the written revelation of God. In John chapter 2 after Jesus had cleansed the temple of the money changers and venders the Jewish leaders had asked for a sign by which Jesus could prove His authority to do what He had done. In verse 19, "Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." John 2:19 (NAS) The bible reveals the resurrection of Jesus was ultimate declaration that He was indeed the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. (Rom 1:4)

When Paul spoke of resurrection power he wasn't talking about a inanimate force. He was talking about creative dynamic life giving, life changing power from God Himself. This resurrection power from God reanimated the lifeless body of Jesus Christ and brought Him out of the tomb where He had been placed. This same resurrection power though the Spirit of God also brings to believers newness of life, a recreated life, reanimated life resurrected life from death in sin.

That's why Paul wanted this experience, that's why we need this experience, because we are dead in sin (Eph 2:1). Dead in sin means that we are spiritually as well as physically separated from God. That doesn't mean we are necessarily bad people, in the sense we usually think of bad people like Ted Bundy, Richard Speck, Charles Manson, Saddam Hussain, Adolf Hitler someone who is mean and breaks the law. As a matter of fact the majority of people obey the law most of the time.  But many "good" people are dead in sin.

What it does mean to be dead in sin and separated from God is that the sinful nature rules our lives; the creature and the creation take priority over the creator; our lives are self-centered rather than Christ centered. Morality and ethics are subjective rather than objective.  The Bible says this is the way we all are without Christ.

We don't have to look very far to see how this sin nature affects society and the world. We can no longer distinguish art from pornography. Drugs, sex and violence have replace reading, writing and arithmetic as the biggest subjects in school. We are willing to spend millions and millions of dollars for modern day gladiators to entertain us, but can't find ways to adequately pay our teachers; homosexuality is no longer immoral, it's alternative; abortion isn't about a child, it's about a choice. The list could go on and on, pickup any newspaper the sin nature is common nature.

There are many ways to treat the symptoms, but there is only one way to treat the cause - that is to experience the resurrection power of Christ; to cure the cause rather than apply salve to the symptom. To change actions hearts must be changed.

Paul's words in Acts 28:27 speaking of God's reaction to unbelieving Israel are very accurate in describing modern humanity: "For the heart of this people has become dull, and with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return, and I should heal them." (NAS)

Perhaps I spoke incorrectly when I said To change actions hearts must be changed. Dr. Christian Barnard of South Africa said "To bypass the problem is not to eliminate it," He pioneered the first heart transplant surgery back in 1968, the year I graduated from high school. I have to agree with Dr. Barnard, I think it is more accurate to say to change actions hearts must exchanged. It requires not just a changed heart but a new heart. Not just the physical muscle that we know as the heart. In the Bible the heart refers to the essence of who a person is. The heart denotes the center of physical and spiritual life, it is the fountain and seat of our thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, and purposes.

Fortunately the Lord was in the heart transplant business long before Dr. Barnard. The Lord said in Ezek 36:26-27, "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. "And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. (NAS)

That's what the resurrection power of God does in the lives of believers, it creates not just transplants a new heart. It gives new life. The Bible says in Rom 8:11 But 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 indwells you. (NAS)

We certainly see the transforming effect of the resurrection power of Christ in the life of the Apostle Paul, whose heart was focused on ridding the world of not only the Christian faith, but Christians as well when he encountered the resurrected Christ on a dusty road headed towards Damascus. The extent of his transformation is recorded throughout the book of Acts as well as through his own writings. You might be able to discount the transformation in Paul's life if it stood by itself, but it doesn't. Countless others have experienced this same life changing, power in their lives. John Newton was a slave trader yet was transformed by the resurrection power of Christ and recorded his conversion in the most popular and well know hymn in America - "Amazing Grace." Or consider C. S. Lewis, who once concluded, "there was nothing worth pursuing besides things of the mind and pleasures of the flesh." Yet when transformed by the resurrection power of Christ he became one of the greatest writers in Christian history. The list goes on and on men and women who were transformed by the resurrection power of the living God.

The resurrection power of Christ transforms everything about us. Consider for a moment Thomas Dodge who decided to do some volunteer work with a prison ministry. After spending some time at a prison the volunteer group was leaving. Dodge was not in such a rush.   He ignored the urging of the other volunteers, until one of them said, "we really need to be going." He turned and responded to the group, "I am judge Thomas Dodge and I sentenced this man, Henry Lewis to die." But since he has been in prison he has accepted Christ, we need a few more minutes to pray with each other, forgive each other and love each other.

The resurrection power of God, transforms the way we think, the way we act; the way we relate to God and the way we relate to others. For Paul there could be nothing on this earth as great.  And grand as the delights of this world might be nothing could compare with knowing Christ or with experiencing that life transforming, life altering power of the resurrected Lord in his own life.

Have you experienced it in you life? Have you allowed it to transform you?  Jesus wants you to come to Him just as you are and be transformed by His resurrection power.

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