Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20040411.htm

SPECIAL EASTER MESSAGE FOR BELIEVERS
"Knowing The Power Of Christ's Resurrection In The Christian Life"
(Philippians 3:8-14 with 2:1-4, 5-13)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

My past Easter messages usually highlight the truthfulness of Christ's resurrection. We want all who visit us Easter Sunday to know that Jesus is risen indeed so they might believe that He died for their sin, was buried and rose again that, in believing this Gospel, they might receive God's gift of eternal life, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 and John 3:16.

Well, we find many even in the secular world are aware that something very significant happened to cause Christ's disciples to be so deeply convinced that He had risen from the dead. This past week, the ABC television special program on "Jesus and Paul" hosted by Peter Jennings interviewed various religious officials who are not of our conservative Christian faith, and these parties explained this fact to Mr. Jennings. They noted that Rome would regularly crucify alleged messiahs to squelch any supposed threat to its power; followers of such messiahs were then either slain in later clashes with Roman soldiers or they switched messiahs. Yet, after Jesus of Nazareth had been brutally crucified by Roman authorities, His followers did not die in uprisings against Rome nor switch messiahs, but unitedly asserted the unique belief that the crucified Jesus had RISEN from the DEAD! Whatever happened back then had persuaded them that He had risen!

So, beyond just believing that Christ bodily rose from the dead, as a Pastor, I am keenly aware that many of us believers who look forward to our own resurrection in the pattern of Christ's resurrection earnestly need fulfillment in our current lives! We might be wondering what the value to our current Christian experience is, and we want that proverbial "something MORE " about which many speak.

The Apostle Paul wrote of that "something more" in his life in relation to Christ's resurrection: in Philippians 3:10, he claimed he strove "to know him and the power of his resurrection . . ."



Accordingly, THIS Easter, in seeking to minister to CHRISTIANS who ALREADY BELIEVE in Christ's resurrection, but who, like Paul, want to see the POWER of Christ's RESURRECTION in their EARTHLY LIVES, we turn to Philippians 3:10 and its context this Easter Sunday to find that PATH to EXPERIENCING the POWER of Christ's resurrection!

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "As a Christian, I BELIEVE Christ rose from the dead, and I await gaining a glorious body like HE has! Yet, like Paul, I want to know the POWER of His resurrection in my CURRENT LIFE, in my EXPERIENCE (Philippians 3:10)! How may THAT happen?!"
  1. When Paul wrote he wanted to "know" Christ and the "power of His resurrection, being made conformable unto His death" in Philippians 3:10, he did NOT mean a PHYSICAL alignment with the CROSS: Christ's death FOR US, to be EFFECTIVE, could NOT be PHYSICALLY shared by a SINFUL party like Paul or any other sinful man, 2 Cor. 5:21; Bib. Know. Com., N. T., p. 661.
  2. Rather, Paul wanted a FULFILLING EXPERIENCE in THIS life:
    1. The phrase, "being made conformable" in Philippians 3:10 KJV that is translated "becoming like" in the NIV and ESV is from the Greek word, symmorphizomenos that literally means, "to share the form of," UBS Grk. N.T., p. 687; Moulton & Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament, p. 598.
    2. In the Philippians 3 context where we learned that Paul does NOT picture a physical alignment with the cross, this Greek word means to be "conformed inwardly in one's experience," Ibid. (emphases ours); UBS Grk. N.T., p. 687; J. B. Lightfoot, Philippians, 53 ed., p. 127ff.
    3. In other words, Paul aimed to become conformed in his spiritual experience in this life to Christ's DEATH that he might experience the POWER of Christ's resurrection in his earthly Christian life!
  3. Paul's BROADER CONTEXT describes HOW this can happen:
    1. In Philippians 3:4-6 that precedes his verse 10 words, Paul had just finished stating that though from a worldly view he had cause to BOAST of his religious heritage, he rather had chosen to treat that heritage as refuse to gain the righteousness of God that came by God's grace through faith alone in Christ alone, Phil. 3:7, 8-9.
    2. This theme of the need for humility permeates Paul's entire Epistle due a troublesome, competitive spirit that festered between two ladies in the Church at Philippi, Phil. 4:2; J. B. Lightfoot, Ibid., p. 67-68.
    3. Now, Philippians 2:5-11 highlights this very THEME, speaking of Christ's emptying Himself of the external expressions (only) of His deity in great humility as the example to be followed in overcoming this strife in the Church at Philippi, cf. Philippians 2:1-4!
    4. Paul's application is powerful: since Christ humbled Himself as God Incarnate to experience even the horrible cross to provide salvation for us, a work that God rewarded by raising Him from the dead to exalt Him in power and glory, the believer on earth will similarly experience the Father's uplifting and honor by applying Christ's pattern of humbly ministering to edify other believers, 2:1-4, 5-11!
  4. Thus, we can APPLY Christ's EXAMPLE of SELF-SACRIFICE to EXPERIENCE God's RESURRECTION POWER of granting us RENEWING POWER and HONOR as He did for CHRIST:
    1. If we Christians like Christ do NOT strive to exalt ourselves in relating to one another, but humbly STOOP to MEET the NEEDS of fellow believers, GOD will bless and honor us as He did Christ in raising Him from the dead and enthroning Him at God's right hand, Philippians 2:5-8a, 9-11 in light of Revelation 3:21; 1 Peter 5:5-6!
    2. If we Christians like Christ do NOT balk at obeying God's will in this matter, but RATHER STOOP to perform that will even if doing so leads to our suffering great discomfort, then, like Jesus did in His obeying the Father in going to the cross (Phil. 2:8), we will see God bless us in spirit and honor us as He did Christ in raising Him from the dead and enthroning Him at His right hand, Philippians 2:8b, 9-11.
    3. In this way, we will also EXPERIENCE inward conformity to Christ's death-before-rising-and-exaltation theme , and that to the DEGREE we identify with Christ's humility and self-sacrifice in ministering to address the needs of OTHER BELIEVERS , 3:10-14.
  5. [Paul also left us the self-sacrificing example of Epaphroditus who humbly in great self-cost ministered for the Philippians, 2:25-30!]
Application: (1) If we have not done so, may we BELIEVE on Christ for salvation from sin to receive eternal life and the hope of a bodily resurrection, John 3:16; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. (2) Yet, to go BEYOND that HOPE as BELIEVERS, we may EXPERIENCE Christ's RESURRECTION POWER NOW in our EARTHLY LIVES: God will sustain and honor us as He did Jesus if we, like He did, humbly exalt our meeting the needs of fellow Christians above performing our own agendas even at great cost to our earthly pride or comfort! (Philippians)

Lesson: BEYOND the HOPE of gaining a resurrection body, WE may EXPERIENCE the POWER of Christ's RESURRECTION in our LIVES by HUMBLY addressing the NEEDS of fellow believers even at great COST to our OWN AGENDAS like JESUS, and GOD will REWARD us by SIMILARLY SUSTAINING and HONORING us as He did His Son!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 As I began to write this sermon last Tuesday, since it was set to edify believers rather than convince unbelievers of the truth of Christ's resurrection, I wondered if this message direction was right! Well, God overwhelming revealed this direction was right! Early the next morning, Judy Noddin called me. She had just been told by the Connecticut Hospice in Branford that her husband, Charlie had taken a turn for the worse! She wanted to be with him when he passed on, but feared driving alone at rush hour on unfamiliar interstate roads in her state of mind. I told her I would go with her, applying this sermon by leaving my busy, pre-Easter week duties back here for God to handle to help a sister in Christ bear her great burden!

This decision was met by God's moving many back at Nepaug Church to take up the slack in my absence! God's resurrection power was seen in this body in ways too numerous and great to mention here!

For Judy and me, we also witnessed God's resurrection power! (1) Twice that day, Charlie regained enough consciousness to make eye contact with Judy and me and once even moved his hand to indicate he appreciated our presence! That was priceless! (2) I had told my wife, Nadine in an earlier call that I would phone her at 6:20 p.m. before she left for Prayer Meeting so we could make final plans as to how I would get home if Charlie was still with us. When I made that call, Charlie had just expired, so I told her I would drive Judy home. (3) This kept Judy from having to face interstate traffic in her time of need, (4) it got me back to my responsibilities (5) and kept my daughter, Connie from having to make a tough drive to pick me up! (6) God even cleared off the cloud cover so Judy and I could see a great sunset on the way back!

(7) Then, as Judy and I were about to leave Charlie's bed, she said triumphantly, "The reason I can leave now is that I know he is not here!" Her words instantly took me to Matthew 28:6 where the angel at Christ's empty tomb had said, "He is not here: for he is risen..."

He is risen indeed! I had seen God lift Judy up above the loss of her husband of 40 years to hope in his being absent from the body and present with the Lord. It was Christ's resurrection power ! Considering all this, I knew this sermon direction was of God!

So, may we BELIEVERS meet each OTHERS' needs above OUR AGENDAS to EXPERIENCE God's resurrection POWER!