Main Idea: The power of the Risen Christ is our strength to live a different life.

Today we want to talk about the strength or power to live a different life. I want us to understand that the strength to live a different life comes from the power of the Risen Christ. As we stand in the light of the resurrection of Jesus we must remember that the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the power of God. We must also remember that this power wasn’t for only that moment but is available for you and me now. Through the presence of the Risen Christ within us we have the power to live a new and different life. Paul said, "And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. (Rom 6:4 NLT).

While the strength is there that strength can get worn down and we find ourselves settling not for a new and different life but for a tired and empty life. How does that happen? Well, it happens in ways that are similar to the ways we lose strength physically. Usually we can lose physical strength in five ways: by avoiding discomfort, allowing convenience to control us, becoming sedentary as the result of illness or an injury.

In the same way that losing physical strength results in a life far less than we dream or desire, so losing spiritual strength causes us to lose the dream or desire to live a different life. We can get into places that to change the way things are is just uncomfortable, too inconvenient, might require us to actually do something, may even mean we admit we have a problem or that we let go of the hurt that we have allowed to control us. The different life we want to live stands as an illusion and we settle for a life of sameness, routine, defeat and discouragement. When that has happened to us, then spiritual strength needs to return to our lives—our strength needs rebirth.

How does that happen? That’s what I want us to explore this morning. I want us to hear the last words of the Risen Christ recorded by Luke in the book of Acts. I want us to hear the passion of Paul as he sets his whole life’s goal to know fully the power of the Risen Christ in his own life. Here’s what I want us to think about: we want to live a different life, we try to live life on our own terms, living by our own terms is exhausting but the strength to live a different life is ours through the Risen Christ.

There’s a song from the early 90’s by Jay Farrar that says, "We are all looking for a life worth living." I believe that is true. We want a different life. That shows up in the television shows that are popular. If you don’t like your body, get an "Extreme Makeover." If you want a different taste of life, then try "Faking It" by being someone else. If you don’t like a part of your house or your whole house, then you can try "Trading Spaces." You want a different look, then we get someone to show us "What not to wear." We want something different and life to be different. Even David said, "Oh, how I wish I had wings like a dove; then I would fly away and rest!" (Psalm 55:6)

That desire for something different is seen in the disciples and in Paul. In Acts 1:4-6 the disciples ignore Jesus’ words about the presence of the Holy Spirit and instead bring up the issue of when things were going to be different. He tells them in verse 5 that what is coming is a power that they had never experienced before—the presence of the Holy Spirit. Then in verse 6 it is obvious that some time has passed between the two verses but where Jesus was stressing power they didn’t have, they instead wanted authority. They wanted a life different from what they had under Roman rule and when was Jesus going to make that possible?

For Paul, he had spent his life up to the point he met the Risen Christ striving for a different life. He mentions in Phil. 3:7 the word "profit" and is referring to the "gain" he had received from trying to be the very best Jew he could be. He previously has mentioned his flawless genealogy as a Jew, his peerless devotion to the laws of Judaism, his absolute zeal for the protection of Jewish traditions and saw himself as faultless when it came to the performance of the Jewish law. All Paul ever wanted was the very best that life could offer him as a Jew. He was not going to be content with any other life than the best.

Just like the disciples and Paul, we want a different life, especially when it comes to our own personal failure. We want to be a more effective Christian, a successful person in our career, the top in our class, a better parent or mate. We want a different life. For some, that desire is obvious and all consuming. For others, it may be hidden and only something you expose quietly, yet it’s there. Yet beyond just a general sense of self-improvement there is the spiritual improvement we long for. We don’t want to be sucked into the same sin habits and patterns but we are. We want a different life but it never seems to be within our grasp.

So what do we do? Well, we try to live life on our own terms. We want a different life so deeply that we will do anything we can to make it happen. I am still amazed at the length of the series of "Survivor." It is a simple parable of our own human drive to eliminate the competition and be the last person standing. The same principle is true in "American Idol," "The Apprentice," "Average Joe," Joe Millionaire," The Bachelor," and "The Bachelorette." Do what it takes on your own terms to achieve what you want.

The disciples and Paul were the same. The disciples reflect that in their question to Jesus in Acts 1:6, " So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" They had always had a desire for authority. When Jesus was just about to go to the cross and die, they were arguing over who would be chosen to have the positions of authority when Jesus established his kingdom (Mark 10:35-45). Now with Jesus telling them about power they were still thinking about achievement on their terms.

Paul reflects the same issue when he says in Phil. 3:9 that he previously had desired "a righteousness of my own that comes from the law" or as the Message says, "a brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules." Paul was striving for a different life but the way to achieve that life was on his own terms.

There is only one problem when you try to live life on your own terms—you will fail. You are never going to achieve on your own the perfect or ideal life for which you strive. You and I are experts at setting ourselves up for failure no matter how hard we try. For those who are interested in golf, it is clear that Tiger Woods is in a slump. Where once it seemed he could win any tournament he entered, he is now an "also ran." All the practice, money—even going recently to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, to train with the Army—hasn’t produced perfection. He’s still Tiger Woods but he’s now a very human Tiger Woods. You can do the same thing spiritually: you can try on your own terms to achieve spiritual goals but you are going to find out one simple truth. That truth is you are very human and doing all you can only ensures one thing—you will fail.

When we want a different life and try to find a way to live that life on our own terms, we discover that it all becomes exhausting. Physically we can encounter a loss of strength or muscle fatigue. It is a condition that results when the muscles of our body are deprived of the main fuel for our muscles, glycogen as well as a calcium deficiency. It is in most people a process that happens over time where no matter what you do the muscle group just doesn’t have the strength that it had. That same thing happens to us spiritually. Somewhere through our desire and our efforts we become exhausted and we have just lost our strength.

Jesus’ response to the disciples indicates that what he has planned for them can’t be achieved by their own efforts. He tells them "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority." (Acts 1:7) He’s saying to them, "You can’t handle this on your own." It’s futile for you to spend your time striving for something you can’t have by your own efforts. That’s what Paul realized when he compared all that he desired, all that he had spent his life for, to knowing Christ. He said, "Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss…" (Phil. 3:7), "I have lost all things…" (Phil. 3:8)…, "I consider them rubbish…" "loss." "Lost" and "rubbish" was how Paul saw his own efforts. He would say in Romans 7:21, "It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong." (NLT)

Are you exhausted spiritually? Are you spiritually worn out by living life on your own terms? You seem to be doing all these so-called "spiritual things" and they are getting you nowhere but down! Do your spiritual muscles need strength? Striving for what we cannot have on our own terms wears us out.

So where does the power come from? The answer is that the strength to live a different life is ours through the power of the Risen Christ! That’s what Jesus tells the disciples and what Paul defines as his passion in Phil. 3:10. Jesus tells the disciples that he wasn’t interested in assigning spots for a kingdom "starting line-up." What he did want to give them, though, was the power to do what they were created to do—be his witnesses. He tells them in Acts 1:8, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." I want to give you strength, power and ability from God’s Holy Spirit that is the result of my resurrection! This power, this strength, will ensure your ability to live a different life.

It is that same power, the same strength that Paul says is his passion. In Phil. 3:7-10 he has called to mind that he has Christ, knows Christ, has gained Christ, placed his faith in Christ and then he concludes by saying that all he longs for is to know Christ. In his mind there is nothing, absolutely, that is worth a single ounce of his energy than "to know Christ," and to know him in the most intimate and personal ways possible. He goes on to say that the level of knowledge that he desires is "in the power of his resurrection." That the same energy of life Jesus knew is the same energy of life he desires to know. He then says that his passion doesn’t stop just with wanting the power of his resurrection but the power that overcame suffering and death. He wants to "share" that power. He concludes verse 10 by saying that the passion of his life is that just as Jesus’ body was once dead to all physical life, so he wants his sinful desires to be just as dead as Christ’s physical body. He fully admits that the strength to live a different life comes through the Risen Christ.

The same thing is true for us: The power of the Risen Christ is our strength to live a different life. When I was a senior in high school there was a statement about Easter on a piece of Sunday School devotional material that I’ve never forgotten. It had a drawing of Jesus on the cross and it said this: "It’s Easter. Jesus was pinned to the sky and we hide eggs." Now you may think I’m about to launch into an anti-cultural tirade that scares the children but I’m not. I want to but I’m not.

Yet, what we have done is so made the message of Easter nothing more than about pretty flowers, bunnies, eggs, candy, nice, encouraging ideas and the interesting poetry of the "best man wins." When the reality is that the bloody, bludgeoned, battered, tortured corpse of Jesus Christ was resurrected. As Fredrick Buechner says, "I can tell you this: that what I believe happened and what in faith and great joy I proclaim, is that he somehow got up, with life in him again, and the glory upon him" (Bread and Wine, p. 291).

The message of Jesus and the message of Paul is that that Christ now lives in you, waiting, longing, and aching to give strength to you and me spiritually. You want a different life! You’re tired living life on your own terms and it has worn you out! The power to live differently doesn’t come by trying harder but by giving up trying to have what you want on your own terms. Strength to live a different life is ours through the Risen Christ!

A new movie about golfer Bobby Jones is about to be released. It stars the same actor who played Jesus in The Passion of the Christ, Jim Caviezel. A few years ago another movie about Bobby Jones was called The Legend of Bagger Vance. It’s a movie about a mythical golf match, set in 1930s Savannah, Georgia, involving golf legends Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, and hometown ace Rannulph Junuh. As a teenager, Junuh (played by Matt Damon) had tremendous promise as a golfer. But after his World War I tour of duty, he is marred psychologically and loses interest in golf. Content to gamble and drink, Junuh is a recluse until his former girlfriend invites him to join Jones and Hagen in an exhibition match. Throughout the movie, Junuh seeks to find purpose in his life, though he is fearful of what that purpose might be.

During the exhibition match, with four holes to play in the final round, Junuh successfully overcame his several strokes deficit and took a two-stroke lead. But by the sixteenth hole, he trails again. On the seventeenth hole, he slices his tee shot deep into the woods. As he enters the dark forest to find his ball, panic overtakes him. The steam evaporating from the ground triggers memories of smoking battlefields where he watched all his company die. His hands tremble and he drops his clubs. Upon finding his ball, he calls it quits. He remembers why he quit playing golf and started drinking. Just then, Bagger, his golfing mentor, finds him and asks which club he'd like from his bag. He proceeds to tell Junuh that his problems have to do with the grip the past holds on him.

"Ain't a soul on this entire earth got a burden to carry he can't understand," Bagger consoles. "You ain't alone in that. But, you've been carrying this one long enough. It's time to lay it down." Junuh admits, "I don't know how!"

Bagger replies, "You got a choice. You can stop, or you can start walking right back to where you've been and just stand there. It's time for you to come out of the shadows, Junuh! It's time for you to choose!" "I can't," Junuh protests.

"Yes, you can," Bagger counters. "You're not alone. I'm right here with you. I've been here all along. Now play the game. Your game. The only one you were meant to play. The one that was given to you when you came into this world. Now's the time!" (The Legend of Bagger Vance, Fox, 2000)

A different life is waiting for you. You can’t have it on your terms. You are not alone. The power of the Risen Christ is in you. You were meant to live a different life. Strength is waiting to be reborn in you. Now’s the time! The power of the Risen Christ is your strength to live a different life.

Sunday, April 25, 2004

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org