The Hope of Resurrection (1 Cor 15)
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Transcript
Morning happy Easter you guys we are in First Corinthians this morning we typically uh as we have sermons we open up the text we walk through the text and that's what we're going to be doing this morning in 1 Corinthians chapter 15: 16 through2 uh if you have a blue Bible will be on page 560 and if you don't have a Bible at home please take that that's a that's a gift we want you to have the word of God at home uh the text will also be on the screen.
So my wife and I uh we uh used to watch this show called chopped uh it's a cooking show and it's pretty basic you got four chefs four professionals three rounds you have appetizer and if you have the worst dish guess what happens you get chopped you you guys are getting it all right then you got an entree round next dish last one who's not that good chopped then a dessert and if you win you get a cool $10,000 because it's the Food Network and they got they ain't got kind of budget to give you a lot of money.
But that's the gist of the show and we were watching this one time and this guy was clearly the best I mean his appetizer was on point they the judges they ate it they loved it goes the next round entree crushes it uh gets the dessert round his his opponent uh this uh woman she barely gets in kind of on a technicality she she gets into the dessert round and he decides in 30 minutes he's going to bake a cake and he I mean is just killing it he's an artist he's just he's got the flour it's going he's got the sugar and the eggs and all he's just going.
For it she's over there like sweating like this guy's baking a cake and I'm just I'm putting together I just got to get on the plate I just get get on the plate time goes before the judges they're excited because they've just they've seen how good this guy is all day long they sink their Fork into it they take a bite you know when I I know this personally when you make something that just it just didn't work and I've seen my wife she just she goes yeah did you try something different this time and it's just a kind way of saying what what happened they didn't do that they spit it out they go.
And he's mortified because he's just like what happened and then it bit takes a moment for them to collect themselves to get every crumb out of their mouth and then the one judge goes I I think you grab salt instead of sugar and then they do like the black and white slow-mo camera where he like thinks he's grabbing sugar but right beside it is salt and he just dumps a bunch of salt in it and he's devastated I think the judges are devastated he's had such a good day and he failed it's I mean and he loses.
Because a cake without sugar is not a cake he presented a pile of salty garbage and it left everyone disappointed today we are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ that's what we celebrate that Jesus what we just sang about that Jesus was the tomb was empty and our Christian faith is built upon that reality if there is no resurrection that there there is no Christian faith it is it is a cake without sugar worse it's a cake infected by a salt mine like it's just.
If we don't have the resurrection we don't have Christian faith at all it is a devastating disappointment and that's what we're going to see today in First Corinthians that everything that we hope for in the resurrection that our whole faith is built upon this and without it we will be deeply we would be deeply disappointed so let me read uh the text and then we'll walk through this together verse 16- 20 for if the dead are not raised not even Christ has been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised your faith is feudal and you are still in your sins then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished if in Christ we have hope in this life only we are of all people most to be pied but in fact Christ has been raised from the dead the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep let's pray heavenly father I pray that you'd help us see the power of resurrection and what that means.
For us that we might not leave here this morning unaffected by the truth of your Gospel that it might PE Pierce our hearts and it might lead us to worshiping you delighting in you in faith we ask this in Jesus name amen all right so we typically preach through books of the Bible we've been in Philippians for a few months which means when you're preaching through books of the Bible you're able to kind of know the context of what we've been walking through.
But today's different we're jumping into First Corinthians so let me give a little bit of context for this passage uh Corinthians 1 Corinthians is a letter uh that one of Jesus's followers wrote to a Church uh in a city uh in Greece called Corinth so this is uh inspired Scripture that God used his servant Paul to communicate his truth to this Church in that context and when you read a few verses before this in chapter 15 what you see is is that this Church believes in the resurrection of.
Jesus Christ like he walks through that Jesus died for our sins which is what we celebrated on Good Friday that because of our sin that has to be paid for and Christ went to the cross that Jesus walked out of the Tomb the tomb was empty that there are 500 plus people who witness the resurrected Christ you can see that this Church clearly believes this just as Paul clearly believes this but when you keep reading what you start to see is is that.
While they believe that Jesus did rise from the grave there's some people in this Church that are struggling to believe that there's a future resurrection and that's what's being addressed here and if you read the Scriptures you see that there's a future resurrection that one day uh God is going to Jesus is going to come back and he's going to make all things new that heaven will descend down to earth and he will radically recreate this Earth and when that happens his Church God's people will be bodily resurrected to glorified bodies we will live with.
God forever that's the truth that he's talking about and it seems that some people in this Church are struggling to believe this when he says in verse 16 for if the dead are not raised that's what he's talking about if there is no future Resurrection not even Christ has been raised he ties the two of those together that Christ Resurrection precedes the future resurrection and these are bound together to deny one and to deny the other they are linked together if you have Christ's Resurrection God's people will be Resurrected some of you know this.
Because you've seen this that if you play the song Mr Brightside by The Killers which those who are laughing have seen it if you play that song I will come alive one precedes the other that's going to happen it happened at a wedding a few years ago and it's just kind of keeps happening you play that song and I come alive and I'm going to sing every line of that song and if I'm not there just to be honest there will be another 35-year old white guy who steps in and just chants and sings that song it happens.
Listen I mean everyone's got their era right you Boomers you got Don't Stop Believing you know you got September by Earth Wind and Fire my wife and I for her birthday were at a jazz club for her birthday they played earthwind and fire they played September you saw people just grooving that one precedes the other that's what's Happening Here Resurrection precedes future Resurrection the two are bound together and that's what he's trying to help them see so clearly here.
Verse 17 he continues he says and if Christ has not not been raised your faith is feudal and you are still in your sins then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished so he shows that Resurrection is at the heart of the Gospel that that if Christ doesn't rise from the grave everyone stands condemned everyone stands condemned he's trying to help them see that if you don't have Resurrection you you don't have salvation we have to keep the cross and the resurrection tied together that's what Paul in another letter that he writes another Scripture that he writes to the book of in the Book of Romans chapter 4 he says it will be.
Count un to us who believe in him who rais from the dead Jesus our lord who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification these are tied together that his death covers our Rebellion the blood that that he shed on the cross is for our sins but if he doesn't rise from the grave we're not saved I the picture here is We Stand condemned because of our sin that we are locked in a prison on death row and we stand condemned.
Jesus enters into the courtroom before the judge while we are in prison he says no no no I I'll take his place I'll take her place I'll take her place in the electric chair I'll take his place on the cross that's the picture here so he he takes the punishment for our sin but if the resurrection doesn't happen we we're not free we're not alive and the resurrection is the key that unlocks the prison that allows us to walk free and to take off the prison garments to put on uh his righteousness that's the picture these are tied together we are not saved.
If he does not walk out of the Tomb so he's trying to help them see the importance like this is how important Resurrection is and then we get to verse 19 which is we're going to spend most of our time he says if in Christ we have hope in this life only we are of all people most to be pied I want to take a look at this from a few different angles the first here if there is no Resurrection that's both Christ's Resurrection.
But also the future resurrection that awaits if there is no Resurrection we as Christians are to be the most pied it's us there's a there was a French mathematician philosopher his name was blae Pascal from four centuries ago which we're pretty fertile Church if you're having children and you have looking for baby names Blaze is got to be at the top of your list it's pretty awesome The Blaze Pascal came up with uh a defense of Christian faith because he was a Christian and it is endured.
For centuries still very popular argument today and it's called Pascal's wager and here here's the gist of it he says you should put your faith in Christ and you should live like a Christian if you are right you gain eternity with God in heaven but he says if we're wrong I if God doesn't exist then you know what you lived a good life you're a good person get good morals people thought well of you you lived a nice life so it's a safe beted.
So put your faith in Christ because if you don't put your faith in Jesus and you're wrong you get hell so don't do that put your faith in Jesus and if we're right we get heaven and if you're wrong then you lived a pretty good life that's no harm no foul either way Jesus is a safe bed that is a argument that is endured I'm sure it's a still in chain emails and Facebook posts and YouTube I'm sure Tik tokers are doing it like that is a common thing that gets uh that is still told.
Today here is why why Pascal misses the point when it comes to this passage he misunderstands the Christian Life if he believes that the life that we live in Christ because of the Resurrection hope that we have is this nice quaint life he misses it the Christian life because of the Resurrection is one of radical obedience to Christ if God loves us so much that he came from heaven and he sought us and he conquered death for us and walk out of the grave and invites us into the future hope that awaits Us in the resurrection that changes everything and Paul believed that deeply the the the the man who wrote this letter planted churches.
And preached the Gospel and he was beaten for it flogged tortured spit upon rejected at one point Shipwrecked and eventually beheaded that's not a nice quaint life that's that's not a that's not a nice good moral life where everyone just thinks well that's not it at all if we believe in the resurrection that awaits us because Christ walked out of the Tomb that changes how we live we live in light of that completely it's not this nice good little simple life.
If we're living the life that we're supposed to because of Resurrection hope the rest of the world looks at us and says Ah I think they're better uses of your time I think you should make better life choices because really I mean if Jesus didn't rise from carrying one of's burdens praying for one another caring for one another that's a lot of energy and if Christ didn't walk out of the Tomb and Resurrection hope isn't awaiting me I I'm not doing that I don't want to serve others I don't want to give myself away to other people that's not how I want to spend my time I I want to really take the logic of.
What Paul says to eat drink and be marry for tomorrow we die I mean that that's if if if if Jesus didn't rise from the grave and we just die and then we're done then I've got plenty of other things I'd like to do that's the argument he makes later in chapter 15 he's continuing this argument of Resurrection hope and he makes the argument he says why are we in danger every hour it's like if we're if if Jesus didn't rise from the grave we don't have the hope of future Resurrection.
Then why are we in danger every hour he says I protest Brothers by my pride in you which I have in Christ Jesus our lord I die every day which means he is dying to his own desires for the sake take of being obedient to the call that he has in Christ and he says what do I gain if humanly speaking I fought with beasts at Ephesus the trials that he faced at Ephesus and then he goes if the dead are not raised.
Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die he's like I'm not I'm laying on the lime because of the Resurrection hope and others that need to see that Resurrection hope and if that's not true then then let's just let's just live it up for now so I think Pascal misses it reality we will be completely devastated if there is no future Resurrection because the picture of Resurrection hope the picture of what awaits us of Heaven on Earth is so wonderful.
And so beautiful it's so amazing we Bank all of our hope in that reality some of us have got to break from our minds the idea that heaven is just this disembodied experience where we float in the clouds and there's hyns on hyns on hyns for thousands of years that's we we have to think bigger when we come to the Scriptures on this no Heaven comes to Earth and he makes all things new and it's a picture of Eden restored it's a picture of life with.
God doing the things that God has called us to do with our maker and his presence it's beautiful and it's wonderful and it's glorious and we can't see that so we just we we were missing it how many of us are just so tired of being physically in pain the physical Pains of this life like I I've struggled with chronic back pain for eight years and there's some days where it's okay and some days that are better and then some days that ain't good and in some of those days.
When it's not good I'm just reminded us like praise God I've got a resurrection that's coming praise God this is this shell of a body is not what I'm going to have for eternity whe there one day it be a pain where I don't wake up and my my back doesn't hurt some of y'all feel that one day there's a day aren't you tired of the physical Pains of this life there's a reality coming where you don't have that anymore aren't you tired of the struggles with mental health with depression with anxiety with mental health disorders there's a day coming where you exist in the presence of your.
God and you're not anxious you're not worried you're at peace There Are No More Tears there's only joy there's only eternity of endless joy and peace that awaits you aren't you tired of the struggles of this present life aren't you tired of the work that you put in day in day out and you just don't see the fruit of your work I mean that that's that's the the curse of work this side of the Fall God created work it was supposed to be good.
But in Genesis 3 it says you work and you will get thorns and thisel that is agricultural language for you will work and strive and you will not see a harvest aren't you tired of put in the work you've tried so hard in your career you've tried to do this you've tried this project and it's never works out like you want it to there is a day coming in the new heavens and the new Earth well you will be doing the work that.
God has gifted you to do I don't know what that's going to be but my guess would be it is the way that God has designed you to use your gifts to contribute to this perfect harmony in the new heavens and the new Earth that awaits you and it's beautiful and it will bear fruit it'll be fruitful labor how many of us are tired of broken friendships broken friendships painful family Strife infighting people that just don't they just suck the life out of you and don't give you life how many of us are tired of that there is a day coming.
When you will have perfect fellowship with one another then be family members who belong to Jesus right now you just aren't on speaking terms with but one day you'll hug each other and you'll hold each other and you'll love each other perfectly because there will be no sin there'll be friendships where I mean some of us thinking we some of us are nostalgic for days of old man I loved it when I had these friends in this period of time and I loved that night man that night with our friends and our family was just.
So wonderful and that right there that the best version of what friendship what relationship ship can be in this life is a pale it's a black and white grainy old photo uh version of the HD in color ol I don't know 4K whatever the newest and we we've got like a LCD or the one that it doesn't matter we the nicest picture it's a poor picture of what awaits us you will have perfect friendships with other people aren't you tired of never feeling like you get rest in this life it's like I sleep 12 hours a night on the weekend and I go on vacations I just I don't ever feel caught up I don't.
Ever feel rested and there's a day coming when you will have perfect rest you will enter into rest and you will be restored you will be refreshed in ways that our minds can't possibly begin to understand I could go on and on with example after example after example that shows the hope of Resurrection that awaits Us and how wonderful and how glorious it is so when people pick up Pascal's argument it's just like well you know if we're wrong no harm no foul it's like I don't know what the heck you're talking about no way that that's what I'm going to miss out on all of my hope is there like at this this life.
Is so it this world is so broken and it's so short and it's so fleeting there's how many billionaires and celebrities do you have to hear their stories of just like I just never wasn't enough money and I don't know just I I'm not quite satisfied they're the most successful beautiful rich people in the world and they're miserable by the masses how many of those stories do you have to hear that you cannot we cannot I cannot maximize enough joy out of this life right.
Now I can't do it it's never going to satisfy me so if we're wrong if if we're wrong about the resurrection we we are most to be pied we should be devastated because that reality is far superior and far better than anything this world could possibly touch but I have some good news he did rise from the grave and he says in verse 20 but in fact Christ has been raised from the dead but in fact Christ did walk out of that tomb the resurrected savior sits at the right hand of.
God the father now Christ did rise from the grave the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep and the language of first fruits as agricultural language it's farming it's the first of the Harvest which means that there's a whole bunch of harvest left so Christ the first fruits the first one to rise precedes all of those who have placed their faith in Christ Christ who one day we will rise to and if Jesus did rise from the grave and there is this wonderful Eternal glorious reward that awaits us.
Then the resurrection Changes Everything Changes Everything when you realize that the best life is not the one that we have right now but the one that awaits us then we live for that as opposed to trying to maximize Joy here right now because that's far better if if Elon Musk came to you right now with an ironclad contract and said you will intern me for intern for me for five years and it's hard work but at the end of five years you've got1 billion dollars waiting.
For you every one of us takes that deal every one of us takes that deal it's like yeah it's going to be hard but man that's what awaits me I'm all in and what we have in the resurrection and Eternity is far superior to that it's better it's better and the problem is we just are so convinced of the pleasures of this world we try to ring every ounce of pleasure out of here and now I love what CS Lewis once wrote he said.
If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next it is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that we've become so ineffective in this he's like the Christians of old like they their their head was there and they lived in light of that and we are we're not we're forgetting the resurrection that awaits us and the new heavens and the new Earth that awaits us and it all how many many of us all of our best efforts go into purchasing vehicles that will end up in a junkyard one day buying and beautifying homes.
That will be torn down one day how much of our best efforts go to maximizing our lives right here and now the promise of Resurrection changes everything it should radically alter the way that we live but here's the problem some of us are hedging our beds some of us are putting a little bit of Our Hope On Christ and Faith but I I I also got to put a little My Hope here in the things that I can get in this life we're hedging our bets a little bit of Hope in Christ a little bit right here with the life that I've got right here.
Now and maybe Easter is that for you that it's like this is my way to just put a little bit more on Christ and hedge my bed a little bit more here but the but what you're planning to do is walk right out of here change go back to a life where you're just going to put a lot of your more of your hope here in this life and that's never going to satisfied and I here's the deal I think you know that like deep down I think we I think we know that I I think there's a part of us that we've just we've we've tried.
So hard to make this life work we've tried so hard to to build things here to to build a happy life in this uh we we've tried to maximize Joy my question have you ever felt satisfied has it ever been enough I think you know this I think there's part of there's something inside you that longs for something greater I think there's something inside you a restlessness for something greater and you've tried all these things and it never has satisfied I love what CS Lewis has to say about this he says.
If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy the the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world I want to read that one more time if I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world you weren you weren't made for this world he continues he says if none of my Earthly Pleasures satisfi it that does not prove that the universe is a fraud probably Earthly Pleasures were never meant to satisfy it.
But here he this but only to arouse it to suggest the real thing what he just said was is that there are some things in this world in this world that are pleasurable if you have a really good steak and a glass of wine or juice or whatever whatever whatever what the best meal you can imagine it's actually good but it never quite satisfies and the reason is because that that's a foretaste that's a picture of a greater Feast that is coming.
So every Earthly pleasure that is actually good is just meant to arouse the greater Pleasures that await and to put all of our hope there he goes on to close it out he says I must keep alive in myself the desire for my True Country which I shall not fine till after death I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others do the same some of you have been feeling this.
For years you've been feeling this it's like I don't feel home in my body I don't feel home here I don't feel home I I just don't feel like this is all it's supposed to be some of you have given yourself to toys and to Amazon purchases and to Hobbies into makeovers and career changes and friends and spouses and children and gone headlong thinking any of these things are going to satisfy and they're not supposed to because this is not our home those are all pale pictures of a far country that awaits us and that far country is glorious it is wonderful and hope of Resurrection is that.
God would lift up our gaze to not look at this life and to not put hope here but to put our hope in the perfect life that Christ lived to see that our sin was paid for on the cross and trusting in his sacrifice and to believe that Christ walked out of the Grave to secure for us an eternity with him in that far country every ounce of energy and hope that we have has to be there and my hope this morning is that you wouldn't leave and go back to a life where you're trying to find pleasure here.
But you would put all of your hope there but it comes through placing your faith in Christ that far country is greater and my hope and plead this morning is that you'd see it that's the hope of Resurrection that's the hope of what Jesus did when he walked out of the Tomb My Hope Is that you'd see it let me pray heavenly father I pray that you might help us see what your Resurrection did for us that we might stop chasing after lesser things in this life that we might put all of our hope and the life that is to come and that might change the way we live.
Now that might for some people mean right now you need to confront them where they are at and and compel them God I pray that you help them see I pray that you'd help them see that this life is not worth living for that if we put our hope in this life it's never going to be enough and that right now that they would Place their faith in you and they would surrender to you God I pray if there are Christians in this room that are struggling that you'd help the hope of Resurrection come alive and that that might change each of us the way that we live until we reach that far country with.
You we ask this in Jesus name amen we're getting ready to have a baptism baptism is a picture of faith in Christ it is a picture of someone who saw their sin and realized I've messed up and I've sinned against a holy and perfect God and I want to trust in what he did on the cross for me that he's paid for my sin and I believe that he rose from the grave and because of that I get to have a new life in Christ until I reach that far country you're not saved by what happens in these Waters it's a picture of the Salvation that has already happened in someone's life as they enter.
Into the baptism Waters and they're placed under the water it's a picture that they were dead in sin but they're now alive in Christ and they've been washed by Jesus and our brother Evan Bud gets to be baptized here in a moment I want to read his testimony and his words before he enters into the waters.