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But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. 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 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. (Philippians 3:7–11, ESV)
When Christians picture the symbol of our faith, by default most of us go straight to the cross. It represents the love Jesus has for us, the love that led him to give himself up as a sacrifice for our sin. “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2). It also symbolizes his suffering, and the suffering he calls us to share as his followers: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).
While I believe the cross is the symbol of our faith, the work of Jesus wouldn't be complete without the empty grave. If he hadn't risen, he'd have been no different from you and I, and not the Messiah he claimed to be. He'd have lied to the religious leaders and every witness when he said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). He'd have been a liar, a blasphemer, and no one would have died for the sake of the gospel and the Great Commission. All of it, for nothing, exactly as Paul says: “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14).
That's how much weight the resurrection carries. So while I believe the cross is a symbol of our faith, I believe just as firmly that the cross and the resurrection are two sides of the same symbol of Christianity. In keeping with our series on knowing Christ, here's the idea I want to sit with this week:
To know Christ is to experience his resurrection power in our lives.
The resurrection of Christ wasn't only for people to witness then, and for us to read about now. It's a promise from God for us to actually experience. Whoever has the Spirit of Jesus dwelling in them by faith will experience his resurrection power in their own life, not only when it's time to meet God face to face, but now, while we're still living here on earth.
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 dwells in you. (Romans 8:11, ESV)
Paul is speaking here about the future resurrection promised to everyone in Christ, the same promise from Philippians 3:11. But there are two truths worth highlighting from it for where we are right now in our running theme of Knowing Christ. First, you will receive from God eternal life in a new, literal body, one that won't perish like the one you have now. Second, if you have the Spirit of Jesus, God has already given you a new nature, one that's spiritually alive and known by him, with a new heart that longs to do his will, and a new identity. A new identity that is forgiven, free, loved, and alive. However, the caveat is that you are in Christ, and the Holy Spirit dwells in you.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:17–19, ESV)
So here's my question for everyone in the room today: are you in Christ, and do you have the assurance of the Holy Spirit? I ask because unless we are in Christ, we cannot know the power of his resurrection in our lives. Unless we believe that he's the Son of the living God, that his sacrifice on the cross is the only valid atonement for your sin, and that through him we'll have eternal life, we'll stay spiritually dead.
If you answered no, here's the good news: there's hope for you, because there's hope in Jesus Christ. In Jesus, there's victory for any addictions, healing for any sickness, breakthrough from financial pressures, and restoration for failing relationships because in Jesus, there's resurrection life. God can breathe life into anything you thought was dead and turn it around so that you can experience his resurrection power and see his glory.
His resurrection shows that with God, all things are possible.
It's worth going back to our main passage and not skipping past an important detail. Right after Paul writes, in verse 10, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection,” he keeps going: “and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” The full symbol of our faith is both the cross and the resurrection. Before there was an empty grave, a man first had to be crucified and die. Before we receive glorified bodies, we first have to die in the ones we have on now. Before we can walk in newness of life, we first have to die to sin, which is exactly what baptism pictures.
This is where people get it backwards. They want the resurrection without the willingness to go through the cross. They want to know the power of Christ's resurrection without sharing in his sufferings. They say they want to follow Christ, but aren't willing to do what he actually commanded. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).
Jesus already did his part to free you from your old life. He's not going to live out your new life for you. That's for you to do with the help of the Holy Spirit dwelling in you.
If you've been a Christian for a while and you're wondering, why am I not experiencing the resurrection power of Christ in my life? Why am I still stuck in this same cycle of sin? maybe it's because you're not doing your part. You already received a new nature, but you're not putting it on. Maybe you know that what you're doing is affecting your relationship with God, but you'd rather entertain the desires of your flesh than kill them and surrender to the Lordship of Christ. The Holy Spirit already dwells in you, but you're not yielding to him, letting him work in you so that you can live in the resurrection power of Christ.
To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22–24, ESV)
Do you want to live out the resurrection power of Christ? Here's a simple application: Share in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. Do you want to be conformed to his likeness? Share in his sufferings.
You can heal from your past, but you have to be willing to share in the suffering of forgetting what lies behind and straining toward what's ahead, by the help of the Holy Spirit. You can achieve financial breakthrough, but you have to be willing to share in the suffering of being disciplined with your stewardship. You can break free from addiction, but you have to be willing to share in the suffering of resisting the flesh in the moment. You can break free from anxiety and depression, but you have to be willing to share in the suffering of taking every thought and emotion captive. Your life be can turned around through the resurrection power of Christ, but you have to be willing to share in the suffering of doing the difficult things that take you from one degree of glory to another, all of it by the help of the Holy Spirit.
You'll know you're experiencing the resurrection power of Christ not when your circumstances and your character already look perfect, but when you notice the small, incremental changes drawing you closer and closer to him.
