HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED.
[Philippians 3:8-11 NASB95] 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from [the] Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which [comes] from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
In this part of his letter to the church under persecution at Philippi the apostle, after painting a picture of Jesus as the God of glory who humbled Himself, laying that glory down, to become a suffering servant, in the form of a man, to the point of death on a cross, and Who was then exalted above all, speaks of suffering and the loss of any glory he (Paul) may have had (revealed in Philippians 3: 4-6 – calling himself blameless as to the Law) in order to know Him/Jesus.
Do note verse 10: that knowing Jesus includes knowing the power of His resurrection AND the fellowship of His sufferings. You must be conformed to His death, to know or attain resurrection from the dead. The prerequisite of resurrection is death. The love and grace of God is free and available to all, but it is not without cost to Him. And, to come into knowing the power of His resurrection will require communion/fellowship of His sufferings and conforming to laying ourselves down, just as He did, to find eternal life in and through Him. Seeing the fullness of the Fathers love and grace to us in Christ leads to faith/conversion because of our certain understanding of His good will toward us and resurrection/life. Paul was willing to lose all he had, had accomplished, and was before to know Christ, be found in Him, and attain resurrection from the dead in Him/Jesus.
I have many times written and shared the idea that Christianity is resurrection centered. A year ago in March I wrote:
Another date on the calendar marking the reality of the historicity of Jesus. Most calendars, however, mark it as Easter Sunday, reflecting on its pagan roots in the goddess of fertility Ashtar But, for us that know Him/Jesus we are reminded of Him who is, and was, our passover Lamb who was slain and whose blood has delivered us from sin. But, as much, or more, we are reminded and celebrate resurrection, that Jesus is now risen again from the dead. He IS Risen! Risen Indeed!
In the Great Exchange “God made Him (Jesus) Who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2nd Corinthians 5:21)
But, as Paul made quite clear in his first letter to Corinth, that “exchange” would, and could, not have been complete outside of the resurrection. [1Corinthians 15:13-14, 16-17 NASB95] “13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. … 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.”
Make no mistake, the resurrection of Jesus is central to our faith, for His victory over sin was to complete His victory over the final adversary, death. The two are inextricably linked. Sin had to be paid for, and rendered powerless, so victory could be established over death rendering it powerless as well.
[1Corinthians 15:55-57 NASB95] 55 “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
[Romans 5:12 NASB95] 12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned–
[Romans 6:6-10 NASB95] 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with [Him,] in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
The cross not linked to resurrection would have been a tragedy. Resurrection is where the tragedy was turned to triumph!
Giving mental assent to the historicity of Jesus as a great teacher, or that He lived and even was crucified, or was even possibly the Jewish messiah, is not faith. His resurrection makes Him Lord, King, Conqueror like none other. Suffering lamb slain in humility, is now Risen and Enthroned King with glory and dominion forever.
Philippians 2:8-11 NASB95] 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
[Colossians 2:9-15 NASB95] 9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
God disarmed powers and principalities through Jesus tasting death,…and He triumphed over them through the public display of Jesus’ resurrection conquering sin and death. We were gloriously “raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him (Jesus) from the dead.” We now manifest His glory and His victory to principalities and powers/rulers and authorities as His body, the church, the fullness of Him that fills all in all.
The centrality of the cross AND the resurrection established, let us remember Him and be focused on Him as often as we come together.
[1Corinthians11:26 NASB95] 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
Let us gather remembering His death, but not forgetting “until He comes”, for it is in the hope of His coming we find life in His resurrection and remember that He conquered death. Yes, remember His death and all He brought to us by and through it. But let us remember Him resurrected as well, as often as we come together. That, I think, is the meaning of “This do in remembrance of Me.”
Yes! Let us celebrate Him today/Sunday/Easter/Resurrection Sunday. But let us celebrate Him every time we gather.
In the Luke description of the Last Supper, the Last Passover, he records Jesus’ earnest desire to share the Passover in that hour, but even more so in the Kingdom He was establishing, and, I think, that Kingdom in which we have been transferred and now live.
[Luke 22:14-20 NASB95] 14 When the hour had come, He reclined [at the table,] and the apostles with Him. 15 And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And when He had taken a cup [and] given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And when He had taken [some] bread [and] given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 20 And in the same way [He took] the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.
[Colossians 1:13 NASB95] 13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, (highly recommend considering Paul’s exhortation here Colossians 1:13-23)
Those who know me well know that I see our weekly gatherings as Passover celebrated every week! It is the reason we start with sharing a meal. And, then look to hear from Him, and fellowship with Him, in our midst and central among us.
May I encourage you to read Matthew 26:17-56, Luke 22:7-46, where the events of the Passover “Last Supper” are treated in brief, and then look at the events of that night in much greater depth in John 13:1 – 18:2. (John often includes what the others left out in his gospel. Here it seems they left out much, that he decided, under inspiration, to include for our edification.)
In these scriptures you will find all the rich types and foreshadows the Jewish Passover held for Jews, the disciples, and for us. But you will also see Jesus institute new elements and a New Covenant with those that would follow Him.
You will also see Jesus wash feet, deal with those of His followers in deep sin, deal with those that were struggling with betrayal – strong in their word of commitment, but weak of heart to stand for Him -, speak of Himself and His provision, speak of His followers future and His purpose and plans in them, point them to the Holy Spirit as comforter and their source of power, and take those He loved into an intimate Garden of suffering to pray and stand with Him.
He did all this on that Last Passover night and He is still doing it. For that Passover to happen there had to be preparations made, and those that came had certain expectations of some rituals and practices that would take place. But they came primarily with intent to fellowship with Him, to hear Him, and do what He was doing.
Again I see our weekly gatherings as Passover celebrated every week! It is the reason we start with sharing a meal, our approach to the Lord’s Supper, although recently we observe a more traditional communion at least once a month as well.
Although we enjoy “reclining at table” and may come with some expectations, our intent is to remember Him and His death and provision to us. But it is also to meet with Him, resurrected, live ,and well in and with us! I have often said, we don’t want to leave a gathering together talking about having met with each other. Not that that is bad. But, we want to leave having seen, heard, had fellowship with Him, as we are His body, the fullness of Him that fills all in all. We want to see Him manifest and present in us.
People often ask me why I am committed to meeting with saints regularly. It is not because I am under any compulsion or rote rule of religion. I am committed to it because Jesus said according to 1st Corinthians 11 and the gospels “do this in remembrance of Me” (I won’t go into detail here), and for me it is Passover every week. You see, every time we gather I want to remember, celebrate, and fellowship Him. Just as that first Passover (Last Supper) required some preparations, so do our gatherings. And, just as those who came then, came with some expectations of fellowship, fun, food, …..and some religious stuff, so do many of us come with the same. And, again, although we enjoy the meal and fellowship, and even some ritual, our intent must be to meet with and hear Him.
I love meeting with you. I do.
But the only opportunity I have to see Him…
Wash Feet
Deal With Sin
Strengthen Those Who May Be Struggling With Doubt or Denial
Hear Him Speak of His Provision, Salvation, Deliverance and more
Hear Him Speak of His Purpose For The Future In Us His Disciples
Hear Him Encourage Us Regarding The Work Of The Holy Spirit In Us
Have Him Invite Me To Join Him in The Place of Intimate Suffering and Prayer
And, witness His Fullness Manifested
Is in gathering with you.
It is Passover every week! He is still doing what He did that Passover in and through His body, the church, the fullness of Him that fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:22-23)
So, as I have said for years now… “pray now about how the Holy Spirit may use us, and your participation as a functioning member of the Body of Christ, to minister to the Lord and to others.”