Hear the Apostle Paul’s words from Philippians 3:10-11-I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Paul said he wanted to know Christ in the power of His resurrection! How much power is released when there is a resurrection? Paul said, “I want to experience the kind of power that causes dead things to come to life. I want an earthshaking kind of power.” Do you know Jesus in that way? Are you living with Resurrection Power?
It causes great problems when the power goes out in a community. Power keeps life moving forward. A lack of power causes things to spoil, creates thermostat challenges in people’s homes, and keeps businesses from operating as they should. Without power, when darkness takes over, people are susceptible to falls and injury. Life gets complicated when we have no power.
Disciples of Jesus are supposed to live with power. We aren’t the source of power, but as we become disciples of Jesus, as we learn to really know Him, His power resides in us, flows through us and is dispensed to the world around us. Disciples of Jesus are powerful people!
In Ephesians 1:18ff, Paul prayed that Jesus’ followers would become aware of the power that resided in them.
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
We are not powerless to deal with the circumstances of our lives. When we truly seek to know Christ, we will know Him in a way that releases His power in our lives. Just as you can call on the name of the Lord and be saved, you can call on the power of the Lord and be helped!
We are talking about life-giving power. We are talking about the power to shake things up. Do you know Jesus in the power of His resurrection?
There are three different Greek words that could be translated as “power.” The first is “Exousia.” It means “authority or right.”
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority (EXOUSIA) in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20
In this Great Commission, Jesus was telling His disciples they had authority, exousia, power to make disciples. Believer, you can be a soul winner. Believer, you can lead someone to Jesus. Believer, you can teach them how to follow Jesus. Believer, you have the right to represent Jesus on earth and to call people into a discipleship relationship with Him. He is with you as you go, so that means His power is with you as you go. Did everyone that Jesus talked to become a disciple? No! Will everyone you speak to about Jesus become His disciple? No! But you have been given the power, backed up by His authority to be His messenger.
Paul’s desire to know Jesus was a desire for experiential knowledge. He wanted to experience God’s power! You will never know Jesus in His exousia if you don’t exercise His authority to be His witness. You come to know God’s power as you begin to exercise it! The surest way not to lead someone to Jesus is to never be a witness. His power engages with our obedience to be His witnesses. Have you experienced Jesus in that way?
The second Greek word that can be translated as “power,” is “Dunamis.” Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive power (dunamis) 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.”
Dunamis is representative of a power that has an inherent force. Dunamis power gives a person an ability to do supernatural things, power to do miracles! We know what happened when the Holy Spirit fell on those gathered in the Upper Room in Jerusalem after Jesus ascended. They were given the ability to speak languages they had never learned. That is a miracle, right? An inherent power, might I even say, “an inherited power,” began to flow from them. And because those who were in Jerusalem for a festival each were able to hear the Gospel in their native language, and knew the people speaking in those languages didn’t possess the ability on their own to speak those languages, those gathered there knew an epic miracle had taken place, AND THOUSANDS WERE SAVED! In that moment, the Upper Room disciples knew the “dunamis,” the resurrection power of Christ!
In Mark 5:6-8, Jesus delivered a man of demon-possession using His “dunamis” power. He went on in the same chapter to raise a child from the dead with that same inherent force, with that same “dunamis.” Right in the middle of those two miracles, there was another demonstration of “dunamis” when a woman who had suffered with a bleeding disorder for 12 years made her way through the crowd in an attempt to just touch the hem of Jesus’ clothes. She believed the reports about His power and authority so much that in faith, she pressed through a crowd to touch Jesus’ garment. She was desperate to experience the “dunamis” power of God. And as she stretched through the crowd to touch Jesus’ clothing, her bleeding stopped because the “dunamis” flowed into her. Mark 5:30 tells us Jesus realized the “dunamis” had gone out from Him, and He stopped to speak with the woman and to tell her that her faith had connected with the dunamis power of God. She wouldn’t suffer that way again.
Oh Church, the faith of the woman activated the “dunamis” power of God and supernatural healing came. Paul said, “I want to know Christ in that way.” I want to be so close to Him that His healing “dunamis” flows to me and to the people around me. “Dunamis” is resurrection power. Do you know Jesus’ “dunamis?”
Exousia is the Divine authority God has given to us. We have power to witness!
Dunamis is the Divine force God has given to us to send demons fleeing and to access healing. It is the Holy Spirit Himself!
The third Greek word that is translated as power is “Kratos.” It means might or strength. We see this word in the Ephesians 1:19-20 passage we have already read, the passage where Paul prayed the Ephesians would know God’s incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead.
It’s the word we find in Ephesians 6:10 where we read, “10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power (Kratos). 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”
Oh friends, this whole passage is about how to do spiritual warfare and overcome. It is about the kind of power that enables us to stand and to take our stand against the devil’s schemes. Kratos is the power to stand! Kratos is the power to flee temptation. Kratos is the power to endure and to conquer. It is the might and the strength to keep on keeping on and to overcome any enemy you will face. What is your tomb right now? Is it a dead marriage? Is it the grave of addiction? Is it a dead-end situation at work? Is it a hopeless health circumstance? What is your tomb?
Today, you can know Jesus in the power, in the Kratos, of His resurrection, and you can stand and remain standing even if you were to be the last one standing. Kratos keeps you from caving inside a tomb of shame, keeps you from being buried by your past, keeps you from surrendering to your enemy and causes you to rise victoriously with Christ! Do you know Jesus in the “Kratos” of His resurrection?
Do you know Jesus in the exousia, in the dunamis, and in the kratos of His resurrection? Because He has given you authority, and because He has deposited His power inside you, and because He has already defeated the devil, you can know Christ’s resurrection power in fullness as you fully pursue knowing and experiencing Him!