Easter Sunday. I’m no petrol head, but they tell me Holden is saving its best till last. Australia’s first new V8 Commodore in a decade is harnessed with the upgraded 6.2 litre LS3 V8 that will go from 0-100kmh in 4.9 seconds.Holden has introduced a “mechanical sound enhancer” under the bonnet that, combined with a larger exhaust, pumps more V8 roar into the cabin while still meeting noise regulations outside the car.
Compared to my first car – 1967 1300 deluxe VW beetle – that’s a considerable amount of power.
Its resurrection Sunday and when it comes to power, there is nothing under the bonnet of any Christian that will match the power of the resurrected Christ
Philippians 3:7–11 (The Message) 7 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. 8 Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ 9 and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness. 10 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. 11 If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.
What Paul addresses here is the power of the redemptive story.
He’s talking about “becoming like him in his death…” The gospel paradox (John Stackhouse) of “losing one’s life to save it” (Matt 10:39)
He’s talking about forfeiting everything that he has built his life around.
Paul understood that the heart of the Christian life was Christ and that building an intimate knowledge/experience of Christ grounded in the power of the resurrection was his goal…