01/04/2018
Experiencing The Power Of Christ’s Resurrection
Philippians 3:10-11
Sunday, 1st April, 2018.
Today comes with great significant in the life of Christians all over the world. It is a day which marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ from dead for our salvation and justification. We are no longer to be mournful and sorrowful as our Christ Has Risen! We are no longer to dread death as Christ had tore those bars away and rose triumphantly with the keys of life and death now in His hands. This victory was achieved not without a price for he had actively and passively fulfilled the demands of the laws thereby bringing full satisfactions to a Holy God who abhors sin in all its forms. Christ’s resurrection comes with a demonstration of the power of God which every believer must experience. This experience leaves us with responsibility to follow in the footsteps of the Lord. Today, we consider in five points the topic, ‘Experiencing the Power of Christ’s Resurrection’.
1. Longing To Know Christ More – “That I may know Him”.
What should be our most longing and desire as Christians? Varying answers would be given to this question all depending on our Christian’s views. To some, it is the pursuit of fame and popularity. To others, it is the vigorous seeking of wealth and material things of this life. But to the genuine believers, it is an earnest desire and longing to know Christ Jesus, our Redeemer and Saviour. Like Paul, we should stop at nothing short of knowing Christ more and more and strive to grow in this knowledge of Him who loved and died for us. It is only in the knowledge of Christ that the true believer can live unto the fullness of the glory of Christ in him.
2. Living a Resurrected Life – “And the power of His Resurrection”.
When we come to Christ in faith for our regeneration and conversion, we are no longer to live and walk according to the futility of our dark minds which we in time passed had walked together with the unbelievers, but that of the risen Christ who now lives in us through His Spirit (the Holy Spirit). This is the life of the resurrection power of Jesus Christ, which enables us to “both to will and to do of His goodwill pleasure”. This life enlightens the understanding of our eyes; that we might understand the hope of our calling (Eph. 1:17-18). We cannot be one in Christ and live in union with the devil. We cannot experience the true power of Christ’s resurrection and continue to live a life of fear and bo***ge under the traditions of men. We cannot share in the power of Christ’s resurrection and continue to live a life of sin, for this is abnormally and a complete contradiction to the faith we have professed.
3. Sharing in Christ’s Suffering – “And the fellowship of His Suffering”.
This part would come as a shock to the Charismatic and Faith Movement who preaches a ‘gospel’ (if at all that is a ‘gospel’) devoid of Christian sufferings. But here, Christians are to understand that in experiencing the power of Christ’s resurrection, we are consequently made to share in the fellowship of His suffering. Christ had suffered, leaving an example for us to follow. We are not only to belief in Christ but also to suffer for His sake (Phil. 1:29). God forbid! Vehemently spits those who expects all rosy and smooth in the Christian walk. Alas! This is but the Saviour’s word. We are commanded to take up our cross and walk in the footprints left behind by the Lord. Suffering is an unavoidable parts of the Christian life, and if anyone would not preach, teach and belief it, let him be an Anathema! We must be willing to suffer, worn out, spend and be spent for the sake of Him who did not spare a thing in order to obtain for us our glorious salvation. We should rather consider this a privilege to fellowship in His suffering, for only then would we share in His glory; for the glory and joy that awaits His suffering saints cannot be compared to the momentary and seemingly sufferings of this present world.
4. Expecting to Die His kind of Death – “Being made conformable unto His Death”.
Another shocking revelation to those who professed an unbiblical faith with no pain but all gain. In reality, Christ dead was a dead of injustice, betrayal, only suitable for criminals. He was made a public disgrace for us. All these happened not that he was guilty in any way, rather for the sake of our salvation. He died in the stead of us. A substitutionary death meant for sinful men. He drank the bitter cup that was ours to drink. In fellowshipping in His suffering, we must therefore expect to die His kind of dead. Many believers in the early church had been made to go through torturous and painful dead such as being burnt at the stake, gored and pierced with swords and being eaten by beasts for the name of Christ our Saviour. We can only pray that this cup should pass away, but leaving the answer to His will alone. If it therefore pleases God that we should taste such a dead then we must gladly drink of that same cup which Christ with all passive obedience, drank for our sake. We must constantly be in readiness to suffer and die the kind of dead experience by Christ, if truly we have a union with Him. This is a difficult matter, but then it is our Lord’s calling and we must obey with all patient and faith, for He shall not allow us to suffer perpetual destruction.
5. Expecting to Rise at the Resurrection of the Dead – “If by any means I might Attain unto the Resurrection of the Dead”.
It matters not what kind of dead we shall die. Whether we shall die a disastrous dead like plane crash, ship wreck, burn to ashes in an infernos, eaten up by cannibals, or in our sleep in the comfort of homes before our beloved ones, we shall all attain the resurrection of the dead. The difference would be the fact that at the resurrection, many would resurrect to eternal damnation away from the presence of God into hell and many to eternal glorification before the presence of God in heaven. It shall be a moment of sorrows to some and joy to others; wailing to some and songs of victory to others. I dare to ask of which group you will belong. Your decision today would determine the group of which you shall join on that last day.
Brethren, as we remember Christ death and resurrection, let us not forget His coming again to judge the living and the dead. Let us put all our efforts as it were and wrestle until we can truly and for certain experience the power of Christ’s resurrection in our lives.
..culled from sermon preached by Rev. (Dr.) Ani Robert Ekpo, Pastor of Christ’s Reformed Baptist Church, Rumuodara, Port Harcourt, on the occasion of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, this day Sunday, 1st April, 2018.
