This episode builds on the previous program, asserting that mere propositional knowledge about Christ is insufficient for salvation. Many of us have encountered "believers" who insist they are saved based on a past recitation of the sinner's prayer, though evidence that they are presently FOLLOWING Christ is absent. This past confession amounts to acknowledgment of the facts of the gospel [propositional knowledge], but devoid of subsequent following of Christ, is an empty confession that doesn't save. The above scenario highlights the necessity of the ONGOING application of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ to anyone who claims to be a Christian. And, it is part of the constitution of every believer, "if anyone would be my disciple, he must deny himself, pick up his cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24) "Following Christ" then is the ONGOING application of our Master's life to our lives. So the application of the resurrection of Christ to everyday life, as it turns out, is foundational to being a Christian.
Resurrection Power for Everyday Life
This episode contrasts mediocre Christian life with the abundant life that Christ promised us. The difference is the power-source that we most often rely upon. If we adopt the bogus assumption that dependence on resurrection power is mostly for crisis moments, not for routine everyday life, then we consign ourselves to living a substandard mediocre Christian life mostly governed by our fleshly power. Christ exploded this distinction, maintaining that the routine, even boring aspects of biotic life should be filled with zoe life, the spiritual life that He alluded to in John 10:10: "I would that you have life and that more abundantly." Christians should consequently bear their crosses, depending on resurrection power and not their own. Paul prayed that Ephesian believers would live out of this power, which was the same power that rose Christ from the dead. (Eph. 1:19-20) And Paul Himself linked this resurrection power to the crosses that all of us must inevitably bear: "I want to know Him in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings." (Phil. 3:10) Everyday reliance on resurrection power is then the only way to experience "abundant life" and rise above mediocrity.
“Blessed are You When Persecuted..”
This episode applies the death, burial and resurrection of Christ to the cross of persecution. Paul told Timothy that all who wish to live godly shall suffer persecution. (2 Tim. 3:12) Public identification with Christ naturally challenges unbelievers and purely "religious' people to evaluate their commitment to worldly values. Many instinctively react defensively and malign Christians whose gospel is convicting. Persecution reveals the degree that we identify with Christ. The disciples who would fully identify with Christ are told to rejoice when it occurs. (Mt. 5:12) Since persecution arises because of the Word, it naturally reveals where are faith isn't rooted or possibly luke-warm. The answer is, of course, to abide more in Christ to the point where He becomes the identity upon which we rest.
Wait on the Power!
This episode ties identification with Christ's resurrection to the power of that resurrection. The Scriptures abound with descriptions of the transformative power of the Holy Spirit in believers, and this power is actually the same power that rose Christ from the dead. (Eph. 1:19-20) Peter observes that "God's divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness." (2 Pet. 1:3) The great hope of the Christian faith is that we ultimately don't depend on ourselves to mature ourselves into the likeness of Christ, we abide in Christ and wait till His power transforms us. As we identify with Christ's death, we reckon ourselves dead to sin. We wait for God to transform us, and we experience burial, sometimes an extended period of time in which we see little change, but in faith we persistently shove the rotting corpse of the flesh back into the ground. Then, in God's time, "light rises in the darkness for the upright." (Psalm 112:4) Resurrection power, the same power that rose Christ from the dead, invigorates and animates our souls, expanding our capacity for the divine life, even to the point where Paul says "we are filled up with all the fulness of God." (Eph. 3:19) Giving all glory to God, Paul concludes that "we have this treasure in earthen containers, so that the extraordinary greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves." (2 Cor. 4:7)
Born Again through the Resurrection of Christ
This episode begins with the question, "what evidence is there in your life that the resurrection of Christ actually occurred?" The answer is simply the presence of zoe life, characterized by the born again experience. Regeneration ushered in life on a higher plane. Zoe life refers to life in the Spirit where believers are connected to God through the indwelling Holy Spirit. This is the life that Jesus referred to in John 10:10: "I would that you have life, and that more abundantly." Zoe life was made available with the resurrection of Christ: once Jesus is glorified, "rivers of living water" spring up among those who put their faith in Christ. (John 7:38-39) This spiritual life contrasts with mere bios life, the biological life that all humanity partakes of. One proof of the resurrection of Christ is then the presence of zoe life among Christians who themselves have experienced spiritual resurrection. They are born again saints "alive from the dead," who have partaken of the life-giving Spirit of Christ. (Heb. 7:16)