3 reasons to praise and worship Jesus on Resurrection Sunday
I. Understand the Deficiencies of Your Physical Body
1 Corinthians 6:18-20 - Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 10:31 - Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
A. It cannot inherit the kingdom of God
1 Corinthians 15:50 - Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 - Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in them; before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain; in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and mighty men stoop, the grinding ones stand idle because they are few, and those who look through windows grow dim; and the doors on the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song will sing softly. Furthermore, men are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags himself along, and the caperberry is ineffective. For man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street. Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!”
B. It has to be replaced with something imperishable
1 Corinthians 15:53 - For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 - Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, …we will be changed.
“[Paul] simply concedes the point that this earthly dress is unfit for heavenly habitation.” (David E. Garland, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, 741)
“In 1 Cor. 15:50-57, Paul continues to address the same problem that has driven the entire discussion: the metaphysical incompatibility between the heavenly order, which is spiritual and imperishable, and the earthly, organic order, which is fleshly and perishable.” (David E. Garland, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, 741)
II. Adopt a Biblical View of Death
“Death has not just become invisible, swept away into the alien world of hospitals, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities. Death has become unmentionable.” (McCollough, page 45)
A. God will swallow it up
1 Corinthians 15:54 - But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
2 Corinthians 5:4 - For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.
“Death is not merely destroyed so that it cannot do further harm while all of the harm which it has wrought on God’s children remains. The tornado is not merely checked so that no additional homes are wrecked while those that were wrecked still lie in ruin… Death and all of its apparent victories are undone for God’s children. What looks like a victory for death and like a defeat for us when our bodies die and decay shall be utterly reversed so that death dies in absolute defeat and our bodies live again in absolute victory.” (R.C.H Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s First and Second Epistles to the Corinthians, Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1963, pp. 744-45)
“Even if your life plays out in precisely the way you imagine for yourself in your wildest dreams, death will steal away everything you have and destroy everything you accomplish. As long as we’re consumed by the quest for more out of this life, Jesus’s promise will always seem otherworldly to us. He doesn’t offer more of what death will only steal from us in the end. He offers us righteousness, adoption, God honoring purpose, eternal life-things that taste sweet to us only when death is a regular companion.” (Matthew McCullough, Remember Death, p. 25)
“The gospel offers a liberating, life-giving alternative to denial and despair. There is no need for denial: death’s implications for who we are provide the crucial backdrop for the work of Christ. And there is no need for despair: union with Christ radically transforms who we are.” (McCollough, page 74)
B. Its sting has been removed
1 Corinthians 15:56 - The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law…
Isaiah 53:6 - All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 - He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart…
Romans 2:14-15 - For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them…
2 Corinthians 5:21 - He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
“You stand before God as if you were Christ, because Christ stood before God as if He were you.” (CH Spurgeon)
III. Celebrate Your Victory in Christ
1 Corinthians 15:57 - …but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Revelation 20:14 - Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire…
Revelation 21:4 - …and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away…
A. By being sure that you have accepted the gospel
“If eternal life sounds other worldly to you, you’re the one not paying close enough attention to this world and its concerns. Jesus focuses on eternal life because he is more attuned to what life is like in this world than those who settle for less. In this world everyone loses everything. Eternal life only seems like a distraction from what you really want or need if you pretend like you’re not dying.” (McCollough, 141)
B. By being sure you are investing yourself in pursuits that will stand the test of time
1 Corinthians 15:58 - Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
C. By letting Christ’s victory motivate and empower your growth
- Happy Easter…we love getting together every Lord’s Day…. after all the early church began meeting on the first day of the week Sunday, because of the fact of the resurrection of Jesus. So, every Sunday is an opportunity to celebrate and thank God for Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection… which makes it possible for us to be forgiven for our sins and the wrongs we have done and be reconciled to a right relationship with our Creator and God through trust in Jesus.
- but there is no doubt that on this day which is set aside to especially think about the historical fact that the tomb is empty, that our worship is even more focused and especially sweet…
- this morning I’d like to begin our time with a question and a series of answers
- but please bear with me, there’s an important point in all of this…
- first of all, consider something of which you are especially fearful…
- so let’s let down our defenses here in the Lord’s house on the Lord’s Day…
- think about something about which you’re especially fearful…
- and now let’s add this…what if someone else in your life had the courage and the power to swallow it up?...
- so suppose what came to your mind first was bugs…you said that you hate bugs, especially big, ugly ones…
- and you’re sitting there having dinner…and a big bug comes crawling across the dinner table…and you let out a loud cry shriek and before you know, your spouse smashes it and turns right around and just like the people at Purdue’s Bug Bowl at Spring Fest at Purdue…they eat it…swallows it whole and it is gone…
- Someone who has the courage or the power to swallow that object of your fear and make it completely disappear…
- or, suppose it’s a snake…who doesn’t hate those things?…in the Birk house, btw, when that happens, my wife is the snake charmer…kept several snakes, she loves them is not afraid of them that fact has been proven on multiple occasions…
- but while you’re gripped with fear…Tirzah has killed it, and is frying it in the frying pan for a tasty snack…because she will devour it up and make it disappear…
- Or maybe you are thinking biblically about that story of Jonah where he was swallowed by that monstrous fish…I bet you that Jonah was terrified of fishing and the water…he probably had nightmares of that fish…then there was someone who didn’t fear big scaly fish… Pastor Folden titled my self-portrait, Jonah’s Revenge.
Now consider what some have called – the king of terrors…and what is that?...death itself…
Think about the stinging power and consequences of death that we experience in this world
…all the terror, the grief, the pain, and the consequences of death to the for example the families in Ukraine
…the bitter sting of all the families that have been impacted by death through COVID.
The sting of death felt by all those impacted by disasters, and wars. The destruction of death we cannot calculate or fathom, even when we are just trying to count death tolls for just one issue.
Then consider that the words that the Bible uses to describe what our Savior, Jesus Christ, had both the courage and power to do…to swallow death…to devour it so that death and all its effects are no more and has the power to bring something completely new in its place…victory of a new creation…resurrection life.
- The Bible teaches us that one of the practical effects of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is that death is swallowed up in victory…
- with that in mind, please open your Bible this morning to 1 Corinthians chapter 15…page 138 of the back section of the Bible under the chair in front of you…
- our church’s theme this year is Growing in Gospel Gratitude…so far we’ve been focusing primarily on a verse by verse study of the book of Philippians because that book is a thank-you letter, written by the apostle Paul while he was imprisoned in Rome for proclaiming the gospel…to one of his supporting churches…his brothers and sisters at the church in Philippi…
- we’re stepping away from that study for Easter, but Lord willing we’ll be back next Sunday and many of us would say we have found that to be a challenging and helpful and immensely helpful study…
- this book is dramatically different than the book of Philippians…Bible students believe it was written 6 years earlier, around 55AD, while Paul was on his 3rd missionary journey and in this case, was writing from the city of Ephesus…
- but what’s especially different is the tone to the book of Philippians…
- when it comes to the Corinthians, at this point in their history, they were proud, spiritually immature, divided, and had many problems…
- but it’s interesting that a book like this written to a church like that also contains the most extensive discussion of the resurrection anywhere in the NT…
- that fact alone should fill us with hope for at least 2 reasons…
1. even people who are spiritually immature can grasp, understand, and believe the importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ…
2. apparently this truth about the resurrection, when properly understood and appreciated, can have practical effects on the people of God and change the course of their living today…
- in other words…the truth of the resurrection of Jesus is life-giving hope that can help God’s people change…
- let’s read from selected verses in this chapter, with the goal of becoming more Thankful for Christ’s Victory
- Read 1 Cor. 15:1-19, 35-58
- so we’re talking about being Thankful for Christ’s Victory…and now let’s walk especially through verses 50-58, looking for 3 reasons to praise and worship Jesus on Resurrection Sunday
I. Understand the Deficiencies of Your Physical Body
- To appreciate the power of the resurrection and the glory of our resurrection bodies it helps to see the contrast with the current weakness and deficiencies of your physical body…we appreciate the beauty of the new when frustrated by the frailty of the old.
- this passage teaches us principles that give us a balanced understanding of the topic of death…and our bodies…but please keep in mind that we believe in interpreting God’s Word in its context…
- so whatever we say about the physical body has to be consistent with other passages in God’s Word, especially even right here in the same book…
- because if we’re not careful, if this was all we had – we might fall into the trap of …believing that our physical bodies are all bad…
- that could lead to all sorts of errors and misapplications…
- so remember for example, 1 Corinthians 6:18–20 - Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
- so there’s a difference between saying that there are deficiencies in our bodies…and saying that are bodies are inherently evil and therefore unable to be redeemed and useful in God’s service…
- that’s why Paul has also already told the Corinthians…1 Corinthians 10:31 - Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
- so there’s no question that having a physical body can be a great blessing…
- it becomes a vehicle through which you glorify God…
- however, Scripture is very clear…
A. It cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
- 1 Corinthians 15:50 - Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
- The phrase “flesh and blood” is used to describe corruptible human existence and weakness…in other words, our bodies have been tainted by sin…and they are decaying…
- is there anyone here who wants to argue against that idea…and my guess is, the older you are, the easier you’d say amen…PREACH PASTOR
- Last Sunday we were doing some yard work went down to Menards saw the Gicks there and like us they were loading up a bunch of mulch…then we did all this work in the afternoon…this whole week my back has been sore…
- You know some of you have even pointed out the frailty of my body recently…two times in the last year I have gotten these bad eye styes…never had them before in my life…I went to see the doctor and they say….is it my diet…should I not be showering every morning… do I need to cry more?? No they just happen sometimes…a reminder the body just breaks down…its perishable.
- you know, the Bible even uses picturesque language to show the contrast of old age and youth to give wisdom for even the young to meditate on death to understand the deficiencies…our bodies are perishable….
- Ecclesiastes 12:1–8 - Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come (old age) and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in them; before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain; in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and mighty men stoop [images of a deteriorating household], the grinding ones stand idle because they are few [what’s that talking about – your teeth], and those who look through windows grow dim [failing vision]; and the doors on the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low [hearing is going], and one will arise at the sound of the bird [restlessness] and all the daughters of song will sing softly [loss of hearing]. Furthermore, men are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road [you’re less confident and certain fearing to venture in public]; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags himself along, and the caperberry is ineffective [things keep going on outside the house, while the person/house deteriorates]. For man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street. [everyone goes to the grave] Remember Him (death) before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed [the precious/valuable [life] is crushed], the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!”
- all of this telling us important truths about our bodies…
- they are a gift, we should care for them and steward them well…but even the person here in the best of health knows this to be true…it is cursed by sin and it is perishing…that is why Scripture affirms…
B. It has to be replaced with something imperishable.
- 1 Corinthians 15:53 - For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
- in other words, you can’t get to heaven with your body…
- because it is cursed by sin, it is not welcome in God’s heaven…
- God says that the perishable body…must be clothed…clothes have to be changed…and new clothes put on…
…For those of us who have ever been with a loved one as they go through suffering and death…you know the pain of the perishable body…there is no pomp and pageantry as someone dies, as much as the movies try to portray it. Those suffering near their death often cannot dress themselves…they don’t have the power nor the strength…so maybe you can remember those moments like I can where you have to lift their bodies…you have to change them and put on that horrid hospital gown…a reminder of death’s power…then the sting of death happens…and those in the funeral homes putting on a nice suit or dress…But there is the body…dead. The point of all this should remind us we don’t have the power to put on the imperishable as perishable people…For those of you who minister and serve interact regularly seeing the brokenness of the body...nurses, doctors, caregivers, family members, as you experience the decay of sin...and you are changing them and putting on the clothes or dressing the wounds again and again ...allow the power of Christ's resurrection to preach to your heart...he alone has the power to change this once and for all...
…This makes God promises so precious like we read…
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 - “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, … we will be changed.”
[instantaneously] 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet [when the end is signaled and God in his triumph calls his people to himself for worship]; we will be changed with glorified bodies!
One commentator states…
- “[Paul] simply concedes the point that this earthly dress is unfit for heavenly habitation.” – David E. Garland, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, 741.
- “In 1 Cor. 15:50-57, Paul continues to address the same problem that has driven the entire discussion: the metaphysical incompatibility between the heavenly order, which is spiritual and imperishable, and the earthly, organic order, which is fleshly and perishable.” David E. Garland, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, 741.
- this is why it is so important for us to…
II. Adopt a Biblical View of Death
- Christianity gives an entirely different way of thinking about death…
- there is a very real sense in which if you believe what these verses of Scripture just affirmed, death can be used powerfully by God for your good today…
- I realize, that even in raising such a notion, there will be many, many people here who are fresh off of the death of a loved one or a friend…we’ve never had as many funerals in my entire time at Faith as we’ve had the last couple of years…so I have prayed that none of this sound glib or uncompassionate…
- but I know this – ignoring the subject is not loving or helpful…
- and that’s where we are as a culture…to dismiss and deny death daily.
- Matthew McCollough has written a very helpful book entitled Remember Death…
- One statement he made was -- “Death has not just become invisible, swept away into the alien world of hospitals, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities. Death has become unmentionable.” (McCollough, page 45)
- so no, we shouldn’t be trite about this…but nor should we ignore the topic and fail to benefit from it spiritually in as many ways possible…
- that’s the point of McCollough’s title – Remember Death…don’t minimize it or improperly fear it…
- Part of Pastor Goode, our former senior pastor’s training of us, was that he did not want us to overuse euphemisms for death like “passed away”, or “passed on”, etc…
- he instructed us to use the words dying and death because it was a natural part of life…
At my Grandpa’s funeral which happened during COVID and at my Father in laws funeral 8 years ago…both wanted an open casket so that folks would see the reality of death…
Pastor Goode was right…and so is this author…if you want to go to heaven…you can’t take this body with you…
- So, what does it look like to have a biblical view of death…rejoice, rejoice because…
A. God will swallow it up.
1 Corinthians 15:54 - But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.
- as outrageous my bug, snake, fish illustrations might have been…imagine a Savior who is so courageous, and so compassionate, and so powerful that His work on the Cross and Resurrection swallows up death in victory.
Paul reminds the Corinthians again in another letter as he discusses his sufferings in the body for Christ…2 Corinthians 5:4. - "For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life."
So we have hope of our bodily resurrection like our Savior’s bodily resurrection, when this happens as one - Commentator RCH Lenski said, “Death is not merely destroyed so that it cannot do further harm while all of the harm which it has wrought on God’s children remains. The tornado is not merely checked so that no additional homes are wrecked while those that were wrecked still lie in ruin.… Death and all of its apparent victories are undone for God’s children. What looks like a victory for death and like a defeat for us when our bodies die and decay shall be utterly reversed so that death dies in absolute defeat and our bodies live again in absolute victory (R.C.H Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s First and Second Epistles to the Corinthians [Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1963], pp. 744–45).
- therefore Christians don’t have to downplay or deny death…
- when you have a superior solution to a difficult challenge, you can face it with confidence and strength…
- and McCollough’s argument is – doing so will help us avoid spending our lives on goals and pursuits that won’t stand the test of time…
- why devote your life to acquiring material things when you know all of that is temporal and perishing?...
- unless you hope to be like George…
- or why invest your life in attempting to make a name for yourself, especially if you have to compromise your testimony in order to do so…if few if anyone will remember your name long after you die?…
- Even if your life plays out in precisely the way you imagine for yourself in your wildest dreams, death will steal away everything you have and destroy everything you accomplish. As long as we’re consumed by the quest for more out of this life, Jesus’s promise will always seem otherworldly to us. He doesn’t offer more of what death will only steal from us in the end. He offers us righteousness, adoption, God honoring purpose, eternal life—things that taste sweet to us only when death is a regular companion” (Matthew McCullough, Remember Death, page 25)
- see, you don’t have to ignore it if your Savior stands ready to swallow it up…
- you know, pastors spend a significant amount of time with persons who are dying, or families who are grieving someone’s death…
- one aspect of that process I did not anticipate was how often church members face such a time with such dignity and grace that the pastor’s faith is strengthened as well…
[if time allows – Share examples of Faith Church members]
- McCollough said – “The gospel offers a liberating, life-giving alternative to denial and despair. There is no need for denial: death’s implications for who we are provide the crucial backdrop for the work of Christ. And there is no need for despair: union with Christ radically transforms who we are.” (McCollough, page 74)
- So the good news about Christ’s resurrection reminds us of the fact that Jesus did die. He died a horrific death on the cross in our place. The perfect one Jesus, died for imperfect sinners you and I, he bore our sins in his body on the cross.
- The good news about Jesus Christ does not deny the reality of death…we preach Christ crucified…the death of Christ for the sins of his people is central part of the message about Jesus.
- So, the gospel doesn’t dismiss or deny death…but it doesn’t end with death and despair.
- Jesus conquering death…Providing forgiveness for our sins, and giving his righteousness to us. He possesses the power to give everlasting life to whoever trusts in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
- The passage couldn’t be clearer…regarding death…
B. Its sting has been removed
- 1 Corinthians 15:56 - The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;
- I’ve spent time this week, and I hope you have too – reviewing some of the horrible details regarding the physical crucifixion of Jesus on the cross…the torture and multiple beatings are hideous and hard to even contemplate…
- but it’s very important to remember the horrible aspect of Christ’s death for was what was taking place spiritually for our sins…
- His death was substitutionary…
- even the OT prophets predicted as much…
- Isaiah 53:6 - All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.
- the Bible makes it clear that humans know they will spend eternity somewhere…as much as they may want to suppress that knowledge…Solomon explained in Ecclesiastes 3:11 - He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart…
- many people also have at least some knowledge of the ten commandments, the law of God along with other principles it contains…
- and even for those who don’t…God has given everyone a conscience…that was Paul’s point in Romans 2:14–15 - For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,
- that raises a crucially important point about guilt…its not first and foremost a feeling…it’s first and foremost a state…a condition before a Holy God…God has rendered a verdict about our condition…we stand condemned already…
- and unless a person has completely seared God-given conscience…we know we’re not ready to die…because we’re not ready to meet God…
- that’s why the substitutionary death of Christ is such hopeful and liberating truth
- 2 Corinthians 5:21 - He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
- Pastor Viars mentioned this quote from CH Spurgeon at our Good Friday service but it bears repeating… CH Spurgeon – You stand before God as if you were Christ, because Christ stood before God as if He were you.
- We should be profoundly thankful people this morning because in Christ, the sting of death has been removed…
- that’s why you can…
III. Celebrate Your Victory in Christ
- 1 Corinthians 15:57 - but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- friends, Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life, and the empty tomb is the final and ultimate proof that death has been swallowed up in victory…
- that’s why it’s so delightful to read in the book of Revelation that the day is coming when…Revelation 20:14 - Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire…
Revelation 21:4 - and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away
- for believers in Jesus Christ, that will be a delightful event for sure…
- Notice…we give thanks to God…because the victory is a blessing that we did not earn or accomplish…God gives us the victory…the benefits and blessings of Jesus’s resurrection are freely available through only one way…through Jesus Christ being your Lord.
- so what does this celebration look like?...
A. By being sure that you have accepted the gospel
-Are you allowing the horror of death to lead you to see why the gospel is such good news and why God want you to have eternal life? Nothing else in this world promises eternal life nor has the power to deliver you from death.
- again, McCollough - If eternal life sounds other worldly to you, you’re the one not paying close enough attention to this world and its concerns. Jesus focuses on eternal life because he is more attuned to what life is like in this world than those who settle for less. In this world everyone loses everything. Eternal life only seems like a distraction from what you really want or need if you pretend like you’re not dying. (McCollough, 141)
- Can you say that you are no longer held in the fear of death all your life like those who do not know Christ…because you have trusted in Jesus Christ, who is the Resurrection and the Life.
- Peter told his readers - 2 Peter 1:10 - Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you…
Also, we can celebrate the victory of Christ…
B. By being sure you are investing yourself in pursuits that will stand the test of time
- 1 Corinthians 15:58 - Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
- God reminds us to stand firmly in the gospel. Don’t let anything toss you around, push you over, knock you down, unsettle you, from truths about the resurrection of Christ and the implications for our resurrection.
- College students, are you letting the changing views of culture unsettle you from the truth and power of Christ’s resurrection?
- Don’t be a pushover…Christian…in your beliefs about Christ. Nobody can push Jesus off his throne and veto the victory that Christ has secured.
- The reality of death helps us consider where we’re investing our time and our talents and our treasure…
- I want to be abounding…in the work of the Lord…don’t you?...
- this is why Paul previously told the Corinthians to live in light of their pending judgement…
- thankfully they would not face the Great White Throne judgment…which is the eternal destiny of all who do not know Christ…and the haunting penalty at that event is described in Scripture as “the second death…”
- remember, death in the Bible is always separation…
- physical death is the separation of the soul from the body…
- spiritual death is the separation of the person from God…
- but the second death is the separation of the person from God’s presence to bless forever…it is the worst kind of death imaginable…
- thankfully followers of Jesus Christ will never have to face that because we’ve been clothed in the righteousness of God’s Son…
- but Paul makes it clear – we will face an event known as the Judgement Seat of Christ for rewards…1 Corinthians 3:11–15 - For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
- So please let this reminder of the temporary nature of our physical bodies motivate you to invest your time and talents and treasures on matters that can stand the test of time…to receive the blessings and rewards that Christ promises his people.
I can think of so many examples of folks in our church family who are doing this…some serving in counseling, others in their workplace, others as they homeschool…other providing a meal…
- So how are you seeking to excel at serving those around you? Earlier in 1 Cor 4:12 "So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church."
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- International Temporary Housing Program
- FW new members
- SMP opportunities
C. By letting Christ’s victory motivate and empower your growth
- as I mentioned at the beginning, the Corinthian church at this point in their history was proud, immature, divided, and riddled with sin in their midst…
- Easter gives each one of us an opportunity to consider whether we are living in light of the victory that has been secured for us at the cross…
- and if not, what a great day to adjust our path while we still have the opportunity to do so…
- Notice the Preset tense...is not in vain. Your growth and faithfulness to Christ in this life is not in vain. Our present work and life is eternally significant and shaped by the victory of Christ's resurrection.
- Since Jesus is resurrected, as mentioned earlier…our faith is not void or in vain. So there is no work that we do as a Christian out of faith and love of Christ, that Jesus is going to mark ….void on like check that had insufficient funds…because the one funding all our righteous works and growth in Christ is God himself working in and through us…
- So I hope our church family in light of Resurrection is considering the joy and privilege of spiritual growth in this life…
- Application:
- Faithful attendance at Church
- Faith Groups
- Church membership
- Counseling Training Opportunities (Summer)
May the Lord help us to be ever thankful for Christ’s victory, who swallows up death…and may we adopt a biblical view of death as we labor with hope in the return of our Savior, and the resurrection of our bodies. Lets’ pray.
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