Everything's Possible - 20

Philippians 3:10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

Resurrection. For Paul, and for Christians in general, the idea of resurrection cannot be underemphasized or undervalued. It is the foundation of Christian hope, and Paul connects the resurrection of Jesus to the words of the prophets throughout the First Testament. Isaiah 11:1-2 prophesies about a king who will come from David’s line to unite all those who would believe. And Paul clearly sees the resurrection of Jesus as fulfilling not only that prophecy but every prophecy about the Messiah. Paul has no doubt about the place Jesus holds in salvation history.

He wants the Philippian church to understand the power that is still accessible to them, and he wants them to know about resurrection through suffering with Christ. He hopes, and he truly has had the opportunity, to suffer with Christ and experience that resurrection power.
I have often wondered what “resurrection power” really is. Preachers use that term, and if you believe in the resurrection of Christ, then you believe that it is a real power that raised a man from the grave. However, what does it look like in your life? Is it an overcoming power that allows you not to sin? Is it the power of forgiveness so that we are not consumed with guilt for our sins? Is it a power that changes the very nature of the sin that we experience?

These are big questions, much more to take on in the short time we have today. So let me put something out there that might make sense to you. What if resurrection power is as much perspective as it is anything else? That is not to deny the supernatural power that God uses in our lives. However, sometimes, perspective is a superpower. What if we could see things differently, feel differently about the things in our lives, and move differently than we might before?

What if you could see failure and missing the mark as us being “on our way” to a better and more profound life? What if we were not fixated on the failure but on the learning that failure leads us toward? What if Jesus were the great designer and we thought about our lives as an iterative process of finding our way to the horizon that Jesus designed?
Maybe we have been looking at all of this incorrectly. Perhaps we have been seeking perfection when we should have been seeking growth, hope, and another chance. What if we lived our lives with the perspective that the resurrection means second and third chances? Maybe seeing our lives from the other side of the grave should give us a perspective of hope, courage, and willingness to keep trying. Maybe, perspective is what resurrection power is all about.

1. Do you know someone who is great at giving you a perspective you haven’t seen before? 
2. How can you get ahold of that resurrection power in your life? 
3. How can you help change other people’s perspectives on their lives?