Pioneer Christian Monthly - April, 1990

Resurrection Power
Rev. Arie Blok

One of our problems as Christians is that we tend to be better historians than disciples.

If this puzzles you, let me explain what I mean. A historian deals with the past, and then he/she leaves it there. A historian knows that it would be foolish to treat the past as if it were the present, or the present as if it were the past, so the past and the present are separated into two categories in which the past is very separate from the present. There are exceptions to this of course. The past has shaped the present and we should not try to deny this.

As 'historians', we tend to treat the events of the Bible as if they happened m a situation that does not require us to treat the present differently, because they happened. We may make it an article of faith that God intervened marvellously in the past, without at the same insisting that these biblical

events require us to insist that God acts powerfully in the present. We can revel in the conversion of King Manasseh and of Saul of Tarsus while still treating our ungodly neighbours as if they were beyond redemption. We may rejoice in the many converted on the day of Pentecost and in the wonderful revivals of the past and still consider it quite normal when we see little of the Holy Spirit's converting work in the present. We can see the rich lives of the Bible saints without being envious of their close walk with God.

On the other hand, we tend to treat non-biblical customs and points of view as if they should be normative in our lives today. I have had people tell me with a straight face that they do not come to the evening service because "we never did it in Holland". We also tend to cling to attitudes that are not appropriate or useful simply because they are part of our past, and because they are part of our past, we tend to regard them uncritical. We may think of the church we attend as a "friendly' church, while visitors may experience us as cold and unfriendly, simply because our standards of what it means to be friendly in church are shaped by a tradition of being very undemonstrative in church.

If we treat the past as disciples, we are required to treat the past differently than the historian, and we must distinguish carefully between what is, and what ought to be, also in our own habits, attitudes and customs. Moreover, we need to treat and regard the great acts of God in the past as decisively effecting our lives in the present.

In the third chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians, Paul is taking a disciple's look at the past and the present. Paul desires and welcomes a sanctifying change in his life. He has taken a Spirit filled look at what he once considered to be great and valuable assets and now he considers them all loss and dung, all detriment. The Apostle wants to get out of the 'before" and into the 'after" of the Christian life. He no longer wants to be governed by his past; he wants to move in a new and better direction.

Let us be careful not to misunderstand the Apostle. That he speaks of "winning Christ" does not mean that he lacks salvation or assurance of salvation. That he "seeks to know ' does not mean that Paul does not have a saving knowledge of Christ. That Paul seeks to know "the power of his resurrection' does not mean that Paul does not know the power of Christ's resurrection. What the Apostle means is that the taste of these has been so wonderful that he wants to experience more of them.

Paul is rejoicing over the fact that the resurrection of Christ, which took place in the past has the power to shape not only his present but also his future.

We can take either a "historian's view' of what Paul writes here or we can take the 'disciple's view". If we take the historian's view, we can say something like this: 'Paul very much wanted to know more about the Lord Jesus Christ and what the resurrected Christ could do in his life." That would be true, Of course, but it would not really apply to us. We can even distance ourselves farther from the Apostle by designating him a 'unique person' or rationalize our present situation and our blahness' by speaking of 'the greater gifts and blessings of the early church".

If we look at Paul's words from a disciple's point of view we have to say, "This for me and I must seek to obtain it. I may not be satisfied with being the kind of Christian that I am today, and if

I need to house clean my life, my soul my mind, to get it, I will do it, for it is plain that God has much more to give me. The resurrection of Christ is not merely a past event, it is a present

power that can do wonders for me.' The one who looks at Scripture as a historian is content with being a Spectator, but the disciple is not content unless she/she is a PARTICIPANT in all that Christ has wrought for us.

In the 1870's there was a former black slave named John Jasper who had become a powerful preacher Of the gospel. His e was rude but he had a truly phenomenal ability to draw graphic word pictures. One day John Jasper was preaching on a favourite topic, Israel's crossing the Red Sea to freedom.

Pastor Jasper was urging the Israelites across the Red Sea, particularly one Israelite who was lagging behind. One old sister was so overcome by the drama that she jumped up on the pew and yelled at this imaginary Israelite, 'Hurry up, brother, git across, they caint git at you there.'

Physically, she was in her pew in the Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia, but in spirit she stood on the safe shore of the Red Sea, looking back at Egypt. She was not a mere spectator of the history, no mere historian, but she was a DISCIPLE, a PARTICIPANT in this glorious event.

Easter must not only be a past event which we commemorate; Christ's resurrection must also be a present power in which we PARTICIPATE!

To know the power of Christ's resurrection is to be a PARTICIPANT in the cleansing blood of Christ, and in the complete and full justification by His resurrection. It means that we are seeking more, knowing that the resurrection of Christ provides an inexhaustible source of enrichment and blessing. Knowing the power of Christ's resurrection, is to be a participant in Christ's power and blessings--rejoicing in the past mercies of God, confident of enjoying His grace and power in the present by the Holy Spirit, and being wonderfully 'remodelled' to live for Him.