Knowing resurrection power

This transcript has been automatically generated

Page 1181, Philippians chapter 3.

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me, and it is safe for you. Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh, though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the 8th day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

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 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.

Thank you very much indeed, and thanks so much, John, as well for helping with that. Now, the focus of our study this week is just one verse from our reading. I want us to look at chapter 3 and verse 10. And you can see that that verse, on page 1181, begins with the language of knowing Christ, that I may know him. Paul has already spoken, back in verse 8, of the all-surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

And now he expresses his desire to know Jesus. In fact, this passage is full of that kind of language. He talks about gaining Christ, about being found in Christ, about knowing Christ. Many of us who’ve been around a little bit longer will have come across J.I. Packer’s famous book from around about the 1960s, late ’60s, ’70s, Knowing God.

If you’ve never read it, it would do you a huge amount of good to read it, perhaps as an Easter read. Get hold of Knowing God, read it, it’s brilliant. If you have read it, read it again, it’s absolutely outstanding. I know somebody who reads it every single year just to refresh them in this great truth that at the heart of the Christian faith is the person Jesus Christ, and the heart of the person of Jesus Christ and Christian faith is knowing Jesus, really at the heart of it all. In my ignorance, it really took me a long time to grasp that.

I thought Christianity was about religion, rules, rote ritual. It was only when I grasped that it was about knowing Jesus Christ personally that I realised what the heart of the Christian faith was all about. But in the Bible, to know a person is far more than simply to know stuff about them. And again, that hardly needs saying, but another of the great Bible scholars of the later 20th century was a guy called Alec Motyer, one of the finest Bible teachers of his generation. And he writes that to know as mere knowledge of information is only one-third of the word, biblically speaking.

The Bible understands knowledge as informational, practical and personal. So, you know about the person, but then the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is a practical thing, it has real impact, but it’s also intimate and personal. And Paul writes that he wants to know Christ, that I may know Christ. And we saw last week that to know Jesus is to possess his righteousness. Now you see that in verse 9.

So, I want to set verse 10 in its context. I want to be found in Christ, 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. Now, righteousness here speaks of a status. It is a status before God whereby God looks on me as perfect in his sight, which, if you know anything about me, is a real miracle. And you can see that this status of righteousness, this final-day judgement of God over the life of anybody who trusts in Jesus Christ, it doesn’t come through our own efforts.

Verse 9, it comes, as we read in the first part of the verse, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law. It doesn’t come from me kind of earning air miles or gaining brownie points or topping up my loyalty card with kind of status points along the way. Not through my own works, not through works of the law. It is given by God. Notice from the verse, it is a righteousness, at the end of verse 9, that comes from God.

It’s something he actually confers upon a person as they trust in Jesus. It’s a gift. You don’t earn it, you can’t earn it, you don’t deserve it, you’ll never deserve it. But in his goodness, if we know Christ and are known by Christ, then this status is conferred upon us, righteous in God’s sight. And then you’ll notice that it depends on faith.

You get that at the end of the verse, the righteousness of God that depends on faith. That is, it depends upon the faithfulness of Jesus. He lived a perfect life. He died a death on the cross to carry God’s judgement at our sin. And in his faithfulness, he confers upon us, through his work, this status of righteous to the person who knows Christ.

But then it comes through faith, that is, it comes through me simply coming to Jesus and receiving it. It is an extraordinary thing. We find it, particularly in our age, generation, here in the city, I think every generation does, Almost impossible to believe that this gift can be given to us by God, that we don’t earn it, we don’t deserve it, he gives it to us for free, for nothing, the status of righteous before God. It is a beautiful thing. No wonder Paul talks about the joy of knowing Christ Jesus as his Lord, the all-surpassing worth of knowing Jesus.

Because as I come to know Jesus Christ, as I’m found in practical, personal, informational knowledge of Jesus, you are righteous. The most important decision, the most important verdict the world will ever have, already yours right before God. And may I say that in this world where insecurity and status anxiety plagues not only our teenagers but us here in the city, Am I in? Am I out? Am I acceptable?

Am I not? Have I done enough? Have I not? To have the Creator of the universe say, you’re in, you’re acceptable, I’m for you, I’m on your side, all as a gift. I mean, it is a beautiful thing, isn’t it?

Anyway, I’ve got much too overexcited about that. We’re going to have to rush on. Next week, we’ll look at verse 11, because to know Christ then also speaks, verse 11, of attaining the resurrection from the dead. Now, I mustn’t get over the top on this one, but next week we’re going to be looking at the final resurrection from the grave that is available to everybody who trusts Jesus, a physical resurrection to enjoy God’s physical new creation at the end of time in personal relationship with the living God. Make sure you come back next week.

But in between these 2 verses nestles verse 10. And verse 10, I think you’ll agree with me, really is the most extraordinary verse. In fact, I was speaking on this passage at a wedding back in the late ’90s or early 2000s. At the wedding, there’s a couple called Jago and Susanna, down in the Home Counties somewhere. They had verses 1 to 11 read and I was sitting there as you know, vicars do, ready to get up and give the talk.

And as verse 10 was read, I thought, do you know, I don’t understand that. Anyway, I bluffed, so I gave the talk. You must ask Diego and Susannah whether the talk made any sense at all. They probably got it recorded, those of you who know them. But actually, I gave it my best shot, but I had not really thought about verse 10 hard enough.

I mean, look at how strange it is. In fact, why don’t you do this for me, if you wouldn’t mind? Take your thumb, if you can, Well, obviously you can take your thumb, but take your thumb and put it over the verse, all of the verse after the power of his resurrection and may. So cover up, you’ll need— I’ve got 2 thumbs here, I can’t see anything now. Now, let’s read verse 10 together up to the point of where it says the power of his resurrection and may.

Ready? That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and may. Now, how would you complete that?

In other words, what does it mean to know the resurrection power of God in your life? Well, I’ll tell you how a whole load of people would complete that. So, I’ve mentioned this before, but in my study I have a heresy shelf. In fact, I was looking through it this morning, I found one of my own books there, which was slightly unnerving. It was like, Ripped that out and put it on a different shelf, but there we go.

So, I have a little heresy shelf in my study. I went down and I had a look at some of the books I’ve got there on the shelf, and T.D. Jakes and Morris Cerullo, Joseph Prince, all of these health, wealth, and prosperity people, they would say, have enough faith, you’ll get the power of God, and the power of God will lead you into full health, full wealth, promotion, etc., etc. So, here’s John Wimber, Power Evangelism. Have enough faith, you’ll enter power evangelism.

Here’s Brian Houston, have enough faith, you need more money, you’ll get rich. Have enough faith, Benny Hinn, Lord, I need a miracle. You’ve heard that kind of teaching? I’m sure you have. What does Paul say?

Paul says that I may know Christ and the power of his resurrection. Now where does the present power of Christ lead a true believer?

And the power of his resurrection share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.

Isn’t that remarkable?

Now, the verse uses the great partnership word of Philippians. So where it says share in his sufferings, it’s actually that I may partner in his sufferings.

Before we come to the final resurrection power of Jesus, which we’ll come to next week, well, we won’t come to literally, but we’re going to look at next week— that awaits every Christian, a risen physical body to enjoy the new creation. There is a present reality of personal experience of the resurrection power of God today. It’s available to everybody who knows Jesus Christ.

But here’s the thing, this present resurrection power of the Lord Jesus in our life is experienced through him leading us into the partnership of his suffering, becoming like him in his death. That’s why these books, incidentally, are on my heresy shelf, because they are so radically against biblical Christianity. Lord, I need a miracle. He’s going to give you full health. No, no, no, no.

If you experience the resurrection power of Christ, if you’re a genuine Christian, he will lead us into sharing in the sufferings of Christ. It is true for every true, authentic Christian. It’s so striking, isn’t it? This letter is full of joy. It is the great joy letter.

In fact, you sometimes— some people who write that Philippians is all about joy. It’s full of the joy of knowing the righteousness of Christ, of partnering in his work. And yet Paul says, an authentic experience of the resurrection power of Christ. So, for the rest of our time, why does this have to be so? What will it look like?

Where does it lead? Why does it have to be so? Well, the answer comes in the very, sort of, heart, the most theological, kind of, dense section of the letter is chapter 2, verses 5 to 11, where we hear that Christ, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, emptied himself into the form of an human being and became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. So the obedience of Jesus Christ in this world, dominated as it is by human rejection of God, by men and women like you and me wanting to live out our lives in rebellion against God, when Christ comes into this rebellion, sin-sick, diseased world, inevitably, it leads to his suffering and death because the world rejects the light. What does Jesus say?

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world; people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. You put goodness into an evil world and immediately there’s a reaction, a powerful reaction against, of course. How dare he come in and tell us this? How dare he expose my sin? How dare he tell me I’m wrong?

How dare he tell me I shouldn’t go on rebelling against God?

It is, if you like, an inevitable logic of the Christian gospel that in our current age, with humanity’s hatred of God, of God our Creator, so the Lord Jesus inevitably faced the hostility of this age as he stepped in. Pure goodness, perfect truth, absolute truth, stepping into this world of lies and evil and half-truths and political compromise. Inevitably faces hostility. You side with Jesus?

Do you side with Jesus? Then you will inevitably partner in his sufferings. You will.

So, as I turn to live for Jesus, and especially as we determine to stand firm in the faith, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, publicly acknowledging that I belong to Jesus Christ, As I side with Jesus, so unavoidably I will face the same hostility that Jesus did. You know that. That’s why people whisper about coming out to Tuesday lunchtime in their offices and don’t speak it openly and plainly. I’m going off to church because I follow the Lord Jesus Christ, you say loudly in the office. No, we whisper it because we know, actually, the world hates Jesus.

What is it then that this resurrection power will do in the life of the believer? It’ll It’ll make us more like Jesus. What is it that the resurrection power at work will do in the believer? It will convince us more of the truth of Jesus. What is it the resurrection power in the life of the believer will do?

It will cause us to be more open in our living for Jesus. What is it that this Christlikeness will produce in the life of the believer? Hostility from the world, of course.

His obedience to God led inexorably to his suffering at the hands of men, ours will do the same.

And so, says Paul, I want to know Christ because in Christ righteousness, in Christ the final resurrection. But I know that knowing Christ inevitably, in this sin-sick, rebellious world so hostile against God, I will partner in his sufferings.

And as we look at the New Testament, we see that again and again, don’t we? So John the Baptist experienced it. Herod sent and seized him and put him in prison. Jesus warned of it. The world will hate you as it hated me.

Peter experienced it. They’ll take you and stretch you out and take you where you don’t want to go. John wrote of it, you will have tribulation, be faithful unto death. And Paul lived it, for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. He’s in prison as he writes.

In other words, to know Christ is to be at war.

Had you realised that?

Let me use a rather trite illustration. So, this weekend the Six Nations starts again. Yes, I’m really looking forward to it. But our secret weapon, we all know, is Manu Tuilagi. We can imagine Manu getting a call this week from Warren Gatland, the coach of the Welsh side.

If you don’t know any of what’s going on at the moment, we’re talking about rugby football, okay? And the Welsh are playing the English, and the English are playing the Welsh, and Manu is our secret weapon. But Warren Gatland, imagine him making an offer to Manu Tealagi and saying, come and join my side for some enormous sums of money. Imagine the absolute scoundrel does exactly that, so that rather than going out on Saturday in the white shirt with the 3 Lions, he goes out in the red shirt.

And therefore, rather than going out on Saturday and battering the Welsh, he’ll go out on Saturday, he’s changed side, and be battered. At least that’s what we’re hoping is going to happen, okay? So, I’m showing my hand slightly there, but, you know, the moment you switch sides, inevitably that’s going to happen. And in a world that so hated Jesus that it crucified him, you know Christ, well, what a glorious blessing.

Righteousness, resurrection, suffering.

Now, one of our student workers was speaking on this sort of material a couple of weeks ago, and he used an illustration we use in our teenage works and so forth like this. He said, imagine this, he pointed to the language of being in Christ. I want to be found in him. He said, I’m sorry if you’ve seen this before, we use this with our sort of little ones, but imagine this little piece of paper is you or me, okay? I’ve written my name on it.

And now, in Christ. It means wherever this goes, I go.

So, in Christ righteousness. Yes, he’s won righteousness, so God looks on me and sees me as righteous because I’m in Christ. On the final day at the resurrection, verse 11, on resurrection day when Jesus returns in all his resurrection power, in Christ I will be raised from the grave to eternal life. But in Christ, suffering. And so in Christ, where Jesus goes, I go.

What will it look like? Why does it have to be so? Because it just is the gospel logic. What will it look like? Well, it will look like, what does this knowing Christ, this war, this battle, what does it look like?

Well, it looks like battle, power, and joy. Battle. So, another of the really excellent books on my bookshelf is this. If you ever come across Lightfoot’s commentary and you’re a Bible sort of student, then buy them. And if you’re not a Bible student, buy them and give them to me because Lightfoot’s commentaries are absolutely fantastic.

He just has the plain Greek text and then he just writes what he thinks, and what he thinks is usually pretty brilliant. Listen to this, the conformity with the sufferings of Christ implies not only the endurance of persecution for his name, but also all pangs and afflictions undergone in the struggle against sin, both within and without.

The conformity with the sufferings of Christ implies not only the endurance of persecution in his name, but all afflictions undergone and pangs undergone in the struggle against sin, both within and without. The agony of Gethsemane, where Jesus was tempted and battled with Satan internally, no less than the agony of Calvary, where Jesus was nailed to the cross. Now, isn’t that the case? That’s what worries so many people when they become a Christian. They become a Christian, they suddenly think, well, it seems like I’m at war.

Yes, you are, both internally and externally, both persecution and the battle against sin. When I come to Christ, Well, I begin a battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. And Paul has already described the Philippians’ own external sufferings. They are laid out in verses 29 and 30 of chapter 1. They had suffered the same things that Paul suffered at the hands of the religious Jew and at the hands of the Roman state.

And actually, when you look at external persecution of Christians, that is always the way. The religious hate Christianity because in Christ we’ve already got righteousness. And if religion of man is about anything, it’s about trying to get righteousness. I go on pilgrimage so that I can get right with God. I do penance so that I can get right with God.

I do the Hajj, I do the 5 Pillars, I keep the Eightfold Path so that I can get right with God. That’s exactly what Paul had been doing as to the law, a Pharisee, blameless, working, working, working to try and get right with God. The Christian said, I’m already right with God. Your religion is redundant. And so, the religious, from Genesis 4, when Abel was persecuted by Cain, the religious are always persecuted or always persecuting.

The righteous. So, one of my children, part of my children’s education, major part of their education, was introducing them to Monty Python. And do you remember Monty Python and the Holy Grail? I remember showing each of my children Monty Python. You may be absolutely horrified, I’m sorry, it might be the last time you step into St Leonard’s.

But you know when they turn up to the French castle, and there are bound to be some French people here, forgive me for just a moment for this, but they turn up to the— they are in search of the Holy Grail. What is it you want out there? I’m in search of the Holy Grail. Ah, your mother smells of elderberries, your father is a hamster, and all that stuff. And then, tell him we’ve already got one.

And that ends the argument. We’ve already got one. You’ve already got righteousness if you trust Jesus Christ. No more religion. And the religious hate it.

Envy. That’s what killed Abel. Because Cain trusted God alone for his righteousness. So, wherever you are, you will find that if you have the knowledge of Christ, you will experience what Paul experienced, what the Philippians experienced, what Christians have experienced all the way down through the ages, persecution from the religious. But also, the Roman state, because you set into your office, a desire to start living for Christ.

I mean, just think of sexual ethics. You start saying, I am a Christian. By the way, I believe that for the good of humanity, for the well-being of families and children, for the good of society, God has said that the precious gift of sex is between one man and one woman for life, 2 people opposite genders for life with no adultery. And immediately, well, that’s not British values. And in the name of diversity, the intolerant bigots of the LGBTI will start to try and silence you, in the name of diversity.

And so, you will find persecution from the state, just as you find persecution from the religious. And it will come to you because you’re in Christ. Well, we’ve run out of time, but what we’ve also got here is the power. So, we can’t just leave one another with the persecution, there’s also the power, isn’t there? We’re at war internally, externally, from persecution, from the battle with sin, but we have this power, do you see?

I want to know Christ and I want to know the power of his resurrection. So that even in the battle, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has been given the name above every name, who is seated enthroned, is actually with you.

So even as we put our head above the parapet and start to speak of Jesus, to be open about following Jesus in the office, we find that there is this extraordinary power within that we need not fear. That God himself is at our side, so that even as we start battling with whatever sin it is that so beleaguered us, we find that God is with us to strengthen and help. In my rugby playing days, which are about 850 years ago, I once played for a team when I was 12 or 11, long time ago. We had a giant who played with us. I mean, he was huge in our eyes.

I mean, he had hairs on his chest and he was only 11. He’d had them for about 5 years. I don’t know what his mother fed him, but definitely there must have been some hormones in there somewhere, American beef or something. Anyway, his name was Lois. You may meet Lois one day.

I tell you, I can’t believe he’s like he was then. He was huge. And I mean, it was the best playing season I ever went through because we would send Lois out of the bus first, and people thought he was one of our teachers. And he would come out like this, you know, it was like having Goliath on your side. And he would come down and once they realised that he wasn’t one of our teachers, you know, of course, they were absolutely petrified.

Anyway, we would all be in the scrum running around thinking we were playing rugby, but it was really Laos who was playing all the time. Often he would run the length of the pitch with the ball, hold it above his head, and give it to whoever’s turn it was to score. But, you know, we thought we were playing as well. And the resurrection power of Jesus Christ enters into our life and we will experience suffering. You will.

It’s part of gospel logic. And if you don’t realise that, then you’re very naive about the world. The world hates Jesus. The world hates the light because its deeds are evil. Why is it that people don’t like you speaking about Jesus openly in the office?

Oh, diversity, diversity, that. No, because their deeds are evil. That’s why.

But as we start speaking openly and seeking to battle with sin, so we will find, as we do it, that we have the resurrection power of the Creator within us, actually within us, because we know Christ Jesus our Lord. And let me tell you, that is worth more It’s more precious. It’s worth more than any of the trinkets that the world around us might try and offer us. Let me lead us in prayer.

I want to know him, to be found in him, to gain him, to know Christ and the power of his resurrection. We pray, our gracious Father, that Each one of us who knows the Lord Jesus Christ will be very conscious of your power at work within us as we go back out now into the world. Please help us to delight in Christ, to find real joy in knowing that you look on us and you are for us. And I pray that you would help us in this battle. To stand for the Lord Jesus Christ as we strive side by side for the faith of the Gospel.

In his name, amen.