What Difference Does Easter Make? - Pt. 7

 

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 fa 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 3:8-11 ESV).

 

The last of the differences that Easter makes in our lives is that the resurrection gives us the power to persevere through the sufferings of this world. In union with the risen Christ, there is a new power to suffer with Jesus. In our reading today, the Apostle Paul has listed some of the things he had experienced in his pursuit of the calling of Jesus. He was beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked, yet he comes to this conclusion that with the power of Christ he could “…know him and the power of his resurrection” (v. 10). All of this allowed him to share in the sufferings of Jesus, “… becoming like him in his death.”

 

If you are like me, you have never been beaten because of your faith in Christ; nor have you been stoned because of your profession of Christ; and, certainly you have not been shipwrecked as a result of your following Jesus. However, again, if you are like me, there have been those times when it felt like a beating, or appeared like an execution by stoning. I know there have been some of those experiences when it really felt like you had been shipwrecked and left to starve on a deserted island.

 

It is at these times when it is easy to simply quot. The strength to take one more step is far from imaginable. Well, we have power to suffer well with Jesus; a new security and confidence of hope; a new, unshakable, glorious identity; a new present friend helping us all the time, all the way home; a new power for holiness and love; a new power to suffer with Jesus. And so we say this Easter season, “The Lord is risen.” He is risen indeed. And so in him are we!