KNOWING THE RESURRECTED CHRIST
PHILIPPIANS 3:7-11
[INTRODUCTION]
- We've all heard stories of people who have found out that they possess an item of tremendous worth and value that they thought was worthless. We are fascinated when we watch a program like Antiques Roadshow and see a person burst into excitement when an expert appraiser tells them they have a valuable item. Most of us have, at least once, cleaned out our homes, our garages, or our barns, and found something that we look at twice, wondering if and perhaps hoping against hope that the old worthless nicknack that has been taking up space for so many years could make us millionaires; or even put a few extra thousand dollars in our pockets. Hidden worth is hot stuff.
- Yet every spring there is a celebration, or semi-celebration in some cases, of an event, the worth of which goes largely unnoticed. That event is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Today, we need to be made aware of and reminded of the value and worth of the resurrection of the Messiah. Because hidden under the rubble of Reese's peanut butter cups, marshmallow peeps, and Easter egg hunts (all of which have their proper place), is a treasure beyond all treasures. This day, we celebrate the God-Man dying and then living again. But the celebration of this day should impact how we live each and every day.
- So let's take a look at Scripture and see, in more detail, what this treasure is and how it should be influencing every breath we take. Let's find out what it means to know the resurrected Christ.
[READ PHILIPPIANS 3:7-11]
- This passage has everything to do with our Easter celebration; with our Resurrection Sunday celebration. Because in this passage, the Apostle Paul lays out for us the value of knowing the resurrected Jesus, how one comes to know the resurrected Jesus, and what knowing the resurrected Jesus does in a person's life.
- The gospels give us the accounts of his resurrection. They tell us the historical story. They give us the Easter content, so to speak. And the letters of the New Testament begin to flesh out the meaning and importance of that historical content. For example, Paul writes of the importance of Christ's resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:12-21 when he says: Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
- The argument is that the resurrection is the centerpiece of our faith, because without it everything else is useless. Now this passage in Philippians is similar to 1 Corinthians 15. There is a fleshing out of the importance of the resurrection. Let's work our way through it. First, we lay the foundation. Here is the first principle we should take note of:
[KNOWING THE RESURRECTED JESUS IS WORTH MORE THAN ANYTHING]
- In vv.1-6 of this chapter, Paul has listed his extensive credentials for self-earned righteousness. If there was ever a man who lived by the letter of the law, and even beyond, it was Paul. He, of all people, had the most to brag about when it came to religious fervor. His list includes his religious ritual, his ethnic background, his prominent position, his religious affiliation, and his sincere and zealous motives.
- He makes a transition then, in v.7. In essence he writes, “Take that list and rip it to shreds.” He says that he counts all of those things as loss. Why? He tells us plainly in v.8: because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
- Here is a man who understood the value of a relationship with Jesus Christ. So many of us today have this backwards. We think we know value if we have a crystal clear, high carat diamond on our finger. Or if we drive a late model car, or if our house is fancier than our neighbor's. Or to bring it a little closer to Paul's words, we think we're somebody if we were born into the right family, or on the right side of town, or grew up going to the right school, the right church, the right this, the right that. The things we tend to value as meaningful in all actuality have far less meaning than we assign to them.
- Feel the full weight of what Paul is writing to his readers at Philippi. He is setting aside his very identity, his very self, in order to take hold of Jesus. He is leaving every so called valuable thing behind. He is like the man Jesus described in a parable in Matthew 13:44. Do you remember it? The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
- The man, upon discovering the worth of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ, gives up everything for it. Do we value Christ and his gospel like that? Listen to what Jesus goes on to say in vv.45-46: Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search for fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
- Christ and his gospel is presented in Scripture as the most valuable thing we could ever know. It is this great worth that caused Jim Elliot, the famous missionary who gave his life in the service of Christ, to say, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
- We do not serve a wimpy Jesus. Forget about this image of Christ that posits him as a desperate, love-sick deity who needs our devotion to him for his own fulfillment. Yes, he values us. Yes, he desires a relationship with us; but he is the one of supreme worth. We need him. Our value is found in him; our worth in him. Not the other way around.
- Do we recognize that? Do we understand like Paul, like the men in the parables of Jesus, that knowing the resurrected Christ is of infinite worth? Do we take to heart the words of Matthew 16:25-26: For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Where are we searching for value?
- Well, Paul goes on to explain why knowing Jesus has such supreme worth. He has made it clear that he has abandoned everything for the sake of knowing Christ. Then he clues us in to why there is so much value in knowing Jesus. Because knowing him involves being given the gift of his righteousness.
- Look at the latter part of v.8 into v.9: For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 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.
- That's why Jesus and his gospel is so valuable. Nowhere else can we find a right relationship with God the Father. Through no one else can we be clothed in a righteousness that is not ours for the purpose of living for eternity worshiping God. Now notice how this happens; and here is our second principle:
[KNOWING THE RESURRECTED JESUS COMES BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH]
- The reason why Paul gave up everything for the sake of Christ is because only Christ can give the righteousness that is required to enter into the presence of God. And Paul knew that this was not something he could attain on his own, no matter how prestigious his credentials. It comes by grace through faith.
- It is here that we make the distinction between knowing about Christ and knowing Christ. It is one thing to know the facts about Jesus. It is one thing to know that Easter is the celebration of his resurrection. It is entirely another thing to know him personally by grace through faith. Faith is not simply knowledge. You cannot have faith without knowledge; but just because you have knowledge doesn't mean you have faith.
- So here is how this connects. We start out by recognizing the infinite worth of Christ. But we don't stop there. We sell all we have and buy the field. We buy the one pearl of great price. We rid ourselves of all self- hope and by faith appropriate the truth of the resurrection into our lives. And the resurrection makes our faith meaningful. What does that mean? It means that because of the resurrection of Jesus you can stop trying to save yourself.
- Without the resurrection all of us would be struggling to reach God with no success. Every now and then I'll have a strange dream. I will be in some surreal setting and something frightening will be threatening me. So, I'll try to run. But guess what? I don't go anywhere. My legs and arms are pumping as fast as they can but there is no progress. Or I try to scream but nothing comes out. Have you ever had a dream like that? That's us without the resurrection. Running and go nowhere. Trying to cry out for help but no one hears.
- With the resurrection comes salvation by grace through faith. And that's the only kind of salvation there is. Some people are living like Jesus never rose from the dead. If you follow the political news at all you've probably heard this term: a pre-9/11 mindset. Those who support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will usually say that those who want to withdraw troops prematurely and let those countries take care of themselves are living with a pre-9/11 mindset. In other words they are making policy decisions like the tragedy of September 11th never happened.
- Well, we've got a bigger problem than a pre-9/11 mindset. The majority of people in the world are living with a pre-resurrection mindset. They are living their lives like the resurrection of Jesus never happened. They are relying on their own goodness to tip the cosmic scale in their favor. What a foolish and unnecessary way to live. Jesus said “It is finished”, gave up his life, then stepped out of his tomb three days later. Believe in what that accomplishes for you. Stop running on a spiritual treadmill; going nowhere in your own strength. You only get to God by knowing the resurrected Jesus. And you only know the resurrected Jesus by grace through faith.
- So once we recognize the all-surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ we should ask the question, “If knowing Christ is more valuable than anything, how can I know him?” And Scripture answers, “By grace through faith.” Completely rid yourself of any notion of self-earned heaven and cast yourself at Christ's feet.
- But there's one more thing. And this is really the pinnacle of our thought pattern here. Paul illustrates for us the supreme value of knowing Christ. Then he clues us in to how we know him, by faith, and so receive a righteousness from God that we could never have attained on our own. Now look again at vv.10-11: that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
- Here is this idea of knowing Christ again, but there is an added component now. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection. So here's the final principle:
[KNOWING THE RESURRECTED JESUS GIVES RESURRECTION POWER]
- What does it mean to know the power of the resurrection of Jesus? Well Paul mentions one result in v.11. For Paul, knowing the power of the resurrection means that he too will one day be resurrected and live with Christ for all of eternity. And Colossians 3:1-4 bears witness to this: If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
- If we know Jesus Christ by faith and therefore have been raised from spiritual death into spiritual life by the power of his resurrection, we await a physical resurrection when Christ returns to the earth in glory. But there's more to this than simply anticipatory power. Resurrection power means future resurrection, yes; but it also means present resurrection reality.
- Listen to the words of Ephesians 1:16-20: I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and 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.
- Did you catch that? Paul wanted the Ephesian believers to know a few things. He wanted them to know and understand the hope to which they had been called. He wanted them to appreciate the riches of our glorious inheritance. And He wanted them to recognize the immeasurable greatness of God's power working in us who believe. What kind of power? The same power that God used to raise Jesus from the dead.
- This is not future hope, this is present reality. As believers, we have the same power that raised Jesus from the dead working inside of us. So what does that do for us? Here's Romans 6:5-14: For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
- Having resurrection power means we don't have to be slaves to our sinfulness. We have been raised with Christ. Let not sin therefore reign in our mortal bodies. Let not pride therefore reign in our mortal bodies. Let not prejudice therefore reign in our mortal bodies. Let not lust therefore reign in our mortal bodies. Whatever sin you struggle with, fill in the blank. Let not gossip therefore reign in our mortal bodies. Let not materialism reign; let not greed reign; let not apathy reign; let not laziness reign; let not anger reign; let not discouragement reign; let not unbelief reign; let no sin reign in our lives! Why? Because Christ is risen and he has gripped our dead hands and brought us back to life with him. We have the power to live like it.
- Don't misunderstand me. We're not talking perfection. But we are talking sanctification. We are talking holiness. We are supposed to live like we believe what we say we believe. And here it is again: not in our own strength, but by the grace and power of God through faith. Don't try to know the resurrected Christ by faith and then live the resurrected life by works. It doesn't work that way. It's faith from first to last.
[CONCLUSION]
- So here we are. It's Easter. Another yearly celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let's change that. Let's make it another daily celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. Let's recognize the supreme worth of Jesus and the unsurpassed value of knowing him by grace through faith. And let's live in the power of his resurrection for his glory. As we close, let's pray for the wisdom to make these things everyday realities.
