by Pastor Daniel

Introduction
“The believer must know where the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ have forever set him, before he can be an intelligent worshipper, an acceptable servant, or an effectual witness.” 
Charles Henry Mackintosh

As we celebrate Easter, we celebrate it with joy and victory because Christ has risen. Many Christians today talk a great deal about being dead in Christ - which is correct. However, we must also dwell on the fact that Christ has risen and we have a resurrection life in Christ.

Romans 6: 4 tells us, "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

What then does it mean to live a “resurrection” life in Christ?

Paul the apostle said in Philippians 3:10, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.”

RESTORATION
When we say that one is resurrected, it simply means that he is alive again. Jesus said, “He is alive, He is the way, the truth and the life. He is the resurrection and the life.”

It means we believe in a living God and not a dead legend. God lives today. God has restored His only Son from the grave and He is alive.

For me then to live the resurrected life, means my life in God has been restored through Christ. This is the free gift of God and the abundance of His grace. 

Romans 5:17, “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”

How then do I live my resurrected life? It is by the knowledge that I am forgiven and I am counted righteous because of what Christ has done for me.

When Paul says that he may know Christ and the power of His resurrection, it is the power of that knowledge that he is forgiven. He is accepted, he is a child of God, he is made alive in a real relationship with God.

When I know that, I go on in life with a sense of absolute security that nothing shall shake or move me when it comes to my standing in Christ.

RENEWAL
The second idea when I think of the resurrected life is that I am made new. I have a new status, new perspective, new strength, new aspiration, new desires and everything is new.

If in death, I am given a new lease of life, I believe I will live with a different approach altogether. There is this sense of renewal in me.

When Paul said, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection”, he recognized his new perspective to life. That power to Paul is the power over trials in his early life. Though he had to go through a lot of hardship, yet it was done with his head held high. He knew that nothing could bring him down because of the abundance of God’s grace.
Thus Paul also said, that compared to the glory in heaven, the sufferings of this present moment is considered light.

He knew that the power refers also to the power of sin and temptations that we face everyday. It is the power that says, “sin is defeated, temptation has lost its power.” It is the power to honor Christ in our daily life.

That power is also the power of a new kind of life. It comes with new aspirations and goals - that I live my life now to honor my King who died for me and who rose from the dead for me.

BLESSED EASTER.
Easter is not just about eggs and bunnies. Easter is a daily experience of the kind of life God has given us. Restored and Renewed. Let us live our resurrected life with a smile in our face and steadiness in our hearts. Then we become an intelligent worshipper, an accepted servant and an effective witness.