EXPLODE INTO LIFE

The Upward Look, by Jon Forrest
Explode Into Life
Based on Philippians 3:10-14

It had been three days since their hopes and dreams had been crushed. They were sure that he was the one promised by God to deliver their people from slavery. But three days ago, he was arrested, beaten, humiliated, tortured and killed. Now the disciples of the dead savior were hiding in fear and depression. They were lost and confused. Then the word of his resurrection came from one of the women who had gone to his tomb to pay respects and anoint his body with spices. Now their demeanor had turned 180 degrees! They were happy! “We have seen Him! He was alive!” Two of the leaders in the group of disciples jumped up and ran out the door. They arrived at the tomb where they had seen his dead, lifeless body placed. The stone that had closed the tomb and had been sealed by the Roman Guard had been shoved from its perch. Jesus was not in the tomb. Within a few hours Jesus would meet with most of the disciples in a room show them all in person that he was no longer dead! HE HAD EXPLODED INTO LIFE!

He had told them he would rise from the dead, but his crucifixion had been so convincing that they had lost any hope of the promise coming true. Now, there was a transformation! Their hopes and dreams had been restored and magnified!  Jesus had burst forth from the tomb! HE’S ALIVE! HE’S ALIVE! HE’S ALIVE! Their depressed and discouraged hearts had EXPLODED INTO LIFE!

Fast forward now, 40 days later! Jesus has already made about 10 appearances to his disciples and others. Jesus is speaking to his disciples again. He promises them a new baptism from the Holy Spirit! He tells them that there are certain things they do not need to know, but then he says 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.”

With that he flies upward into a cloud and out of their site as God receives him back home again. They were so shocked that they just stared upward into the sky in bewilderment. Then two men dressed in white, we always thought of them as angels, added to Christ’s challenge in verse 11.
“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

In obedience the disciples went back to Jerusalem, completely changed men. But what about this power they had been promised?

The Greek word used here and many other places that we translate, “Power” is the word “dunamin.” It is the same word from which we get the word “dynamite.”

This power is God’s dynamite for transforming our lives into brand new rejuvenated, freed from sin, freed from fear, freed from doubt, freed from the mundane and ho hum spirit that guides the everyday mentality of our world.

Now we fast forward a few more days. The Jewish people were observing the Day of Pentecost, meaning 50 days from Passover. The people are coming to the temple to pray. They weren’t expecting anything special to happen. After all it was only for prayer that they had come. Their attitude about prayer had turned it into something less than stimulating or exciting.

Acts 2 tells us that there was a sudden noise of a rushing wind filling the temple. Strange, flames appeared over the 12 Apostles and they began to preach. The people there, who were from many different countries, heard the disciples speak in their native languages. Peter stood up and proclaimed the message of Christ with amazing power. We are told that when Peter told them to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, Thousands, in fact 3,000 of them were baptized into Christ that very day.

The good news of Jesus, also known as the Gospel, exploded and began to spread like wildfire all over Israel and into neighboring countries just as Jesus had told them it would.

Fast forward again a few weeks to a young Pharisee named Saul. He is angry about the spread of Christianity and he is determined to put a stop to it. He helps to stir up a mob to stone a young fiery preacher named Stephen to death. A few days later, he gets permission to travel to the city of Damascus to arrest more followers of the risen Christ.

One his way Saul is confronted by a bright light that strikes him down with blindness. From that bright light comes a loud voice. The speaker identifies himself as Jesus. The same Jesus Saul had been railing against. This Jesus was supposed to be dead, but now he was asking Saul why he was persecution him. Jesus tells him to go into Damascus and await his orders. Saul opens his eyes, but is now blind.  3 days later, Jesus sends one of the people Saul had planned to throw in jail to preach to him. This is a follower of Christ named Ananias to. The understandably reluctant preacher goes to Saul and tells him the good news of Jesus Christ, sent from God to become a man, crucified on a cross and raised on the third day in victory over death. As soon as the message is shared, scales of blindness fall from the Pharisee’s eyes and he can see. Saul believes the message and is baptized by Ananias immediately.

Now he was a changed man. He exploded into life! Now he was such a changed man that he changed his Hebrew name Saul to the Greek equivalent, Paul. This man who once was a persecutor of Christ’s church was now promoting Christ everywhere he went. In fact, telling people the good news of Christ was now the passion of his life. He became a powerful spokesman for the resurrected Jesus Christ.

How does this work? Paul shared the how it works with the people he had led to Christ in the city of Philippi.

10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Paul’s passion was to know Jesus personally. Not to know about him, but to know him in a personal way. Not only that but he wanted the “dunamin” the dynamite of Christ’s resurrection in his life. He was so transformed that he realized there was explosiveness in suffering like Jesus and putting to death our old self so that one day he could physically die and experience the same resurrection that Jesus had experienced.

The basis of Christianity is not around philosophy or its unique teachings. The basis is the power of God to reach down into the world and transform and empower people’s lives through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. Too many people claim faith in Christ, but fail to claim the explosive work he wants to do in and through his followers. The same grace God used to save us is also available to energize our lives.

What keeps us going is the knowledge that life in Christ is powerful, dynamic and exciting. The next words written by Paul in this chapter are revealing.

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Paul kept the prize, the resurrection and eternal life with Christ Jesus, before him. This was what motivated him to risk everything for the sake of spreading the Good News as far around the world as he could.

There is nothing more powerful for us today than the Resurrection of Jesus. He wants to help you and me to “Explode into Life” He wants us to be overcomers by his power.

Do people see that Christ’s resurrection has led you to “Explode into Life?”
If not, he wants to do it for you today!

This Sunday we will continue looking at the wisdom of Solomon with a message titled, Selective Hearing based on Proverbs 1:20-33. Come and see what Wisdom has for your life.

Yours for explosive living,
Jon