Mystery and Victory

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 23

Psalm 23 ESV

A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Scripture Reading: Psalm 27:1

Psalm 27:1 ESV

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Sermon:

Good Morning Church! Today Especially I was truly Glad when they said to me let us go and worship together in the house of the Lord!

I have a bit of a reputation of being someone who, fairly or unfairly, does not think that large churches are the best thing that we can all want or really the best thing for your soul. If you were to ever ask me Why it is pretty simple. When a church is smaller we can know each other we can love each other. we can be in each others lives. WE can, to the best of our ability and by the empowering work of the holy Spirit, spurn one another to good works. We can lift one another up and care for one another. And I believe that a key part of doing that is KNOWING one another. and that comes much easier in a small church than a bigger one.

But to say all that it does not exclude the fact that there is at least one painful aspect of a smaller church. and that is when one of us hurts, when one of us mourns, we may feel it much more keenly, and it may impact us a little more deeply. and so it would be hypocritical of me, to stand up here and say I prefer small churches, i think the way that we can love one another, while maybe not perfect, we are at least in a better position to love each other in the way God has called us to love. I think it would be hypocritical for me to say those things and not acknowledge the fact that this is a rough day for this church.

A few of you may have started coming to this church maybe after Joe was unable to come here as his health began to deteriorate. And I guess I would just say that even if you never met him, his fingerprints are all over this church. Joe was a vital part of this church. In my own personal life he meant a lot to me. Anyone who has ever tried to call me or text me or e-mail me or even just in general get a hold of me, you know that I am not the best at sort of the getting back to people and staying on top of things I need to be doing part of being a pastor. It is worse if you have have needed something more bureaucratic or something that requires planning and persistence you may know those are not even close to being strengths of me pastorally. Joe would be the one that work on those things in me. Trust me, it would be worse if not for Joe. Every elders meeting: did you call Comcast, did you do this: no Joe, i didn't get to it and he would look at me, write it down in the meeting minutes and I would know, I need to do better. He was a kind man, and someone loved and cherished, and someone who will be missed. and so it hurts. And we as a church can mourn that. So today you might be looking up here and think, that doesn't look like the front slides of the Matthew series, well its not. WE will NOT be looking at Matthew this week. Matthew can wait. Instead I would just like to mourn together. And here just really in the only way I know how, which is through looking at God’s word together.

So today if you would turn with me we will be in 1 Corinthians 15. we will be looking at verses 50-58 this morning. This is a wonderful part of Scripture. Contextually this is a letter to a church that is maybe not doing a lot of anything right. First Corinthians 11 we flip there about once a month that is where Paul corrects their bad habits and thoughts regarding The Lords Supper. in chapter 12 they are messed up on being the body of Christ. in chapter 13 they need to be shown how to love one another. 14 they are messed up in gifts and worship and then, chapter 15. their bad thoughts and teaching on the resurrection and what happens when we die. and this is really where he ends. Chapter 15 is by far the longest of these here at the end. Paul spends a lot of time talking about Christ’s resurrection. That Christ’s Resurrection is the source of all our hope. it is the source of our hope in particular that WE will be resurrected. In 1 Corinthians 15:25 “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” he here is saying Christ has defeated all our enemies. but 1 Corinthians 15:26 “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” For God has placed all things in subjection under his feet verse 27 - even death.

Our lord reigns and rules. though we are often struck with the difficulty. we don;t know why, we don't know the when. but God does. Paul continues talking about the thought that we will get a glorified resurrected body. that when we rise this perishable frail earthly body is verse 43 “raised in power. as he gets to the end of chapter 15 he writes about “Mystery and victory” and so it is those thoughts of mystery and victory that I would like to lean into this morning.

1 Corinthians 15:50–57 ESV

I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

These are the words of the Lord for us this morning, lets begin with a word of prayer.

Our Holy and mighty God. the sovereign ruler of heaven and earth, the God who loves us, who saved us, who sent your son as the propitiation of all our sins, the one who gives us hope, hope for today, but also we do believe, hope for tomorrow. the one who knows the end for the beginning, who has ordered our steps and knows each of our days, we thank you and praise you for today. be with us. Bring comfort and peace as we open your words today. In Jesus name we pray. AMEN

The first thing that I want to note this morning, mostly because I still cannot help myself and we have to have slides and we have to have blanks, is the HOPE OF BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY

The hope of Beautiful MYSTERY

Paul starts by telling us something we can philosophically we can understand why it is true. Flesh and blood, verse 50 says, CANNOT inherit the kingdom of God. NOR does the perishable inherit the imperishable. The perfect glorious kingdom of God is not something that can be grasped with our frail human hands. the Power and victory of God’s kingdom we so blessedly live in is NOT grasped by human hands. this perishable frail human body does not have access to immortality, to the imperishable. That is NOT the mystery. so what is? he continues:

verse 51: WE shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed. there will come a day when Christ returns. All his enemies, finally and fully put under his feet, including death. Death will, in that day no longer be an enemy of mankind. There will come a day when death is no more. The trumpet will sound., the dead will be raised imperishable and WE SHALL BE CHANGED. In the twinkling of an eye, In a moment, we will move from people who know and live in a world where the only unavoidable things in this world, the old joke says, are death and taxes to being a people who live in a world where Chrsit rules and reigns and death is no more.

We will be changed, the dead raised and we will all join in glorious worship to the king of Kings, the Lord of Lords. Here is the MYSTERY - the perishable Does not inherit the imperishable verse 50 but yet verse 54 - When the perishable PUTS ON the imperishable and when the mortal puts on immortality THEN shall come to pass the saying that is written. That is they mystery. that God will do the impossible.

In First Thessalonians Paul would write that we therefore do not mourn like those who have no hope. For the world seems to understand this first part. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. the mortal self cannot put on mortality. this world is fleeting and we inherently know it, here is the mystery and here is the hope - that is not the end of the story. there will come a day where we no longer wrestle with the great enemy of mankind. Where we no longer live under the fear of what was said in genesis 2 that if you eat of this you shall surely die. For Christ rules and reigns in victory. all things under his rule and under his feet. We will cast our crowns at his feet and worship in the splendor of his beautiful holiness that is the hope of this beautiful mystery.

but as we live in the hope of that mystery we then see the TRUTH OF OUR BLESSED VICTORY

The truth of blessed VICTORY!

Paul quoting form Isaiah here says here’s the point church: Church that may have gotten a lot of things wrong, church that may have messed up a ton here is still the point when Christ returns we HAVE VICTORY!

death swallowed up in victory.

death here is even taunted. the enemy that is batting 1000. death where is your victory. For you have none. Earlier in this chapter Paul was quick to point out - the reason that death has NO victory is because Chrsit rose again. Proving, there is no doubt anymore, that Christ has that victory. So that's the truth and that is the victory. We therefore do not fear death. as we think about Joe we KNOW he is victorious right now. And that is our hope, that is the truth that we rest in.

But if i may, i will bear my heart for a second. the second half of this promise and truth, feels a little more difficult. Paul asks: O death, where is your sting?

I can tell you exactly for me where that sting is. Its knowing that when i stand up here to preach and look over there, never will i see Joe again. That’s hard, and yeah, it does sting. the sting is in knowing that when we sing hymns at prayer meeting we will not have the one guy that knows every hymn in the hymnal. these things sting. So how then can we stand in the truth that we have victory, how can we take the edge of the sting? it is hope and trust. and it is in some of the best words that have ever been put together in the English language, verse 57.

BUT

THANKS BE TO GOD

the truth of our victory is couched, once again in the truth that Chrsit on the cross and in that empty tomb purchased our victory. and so we can stand and KNOW that though it may feel like there is sting, even that sting has been remedied in the power of Chrsit.

But it is better. because we know that even God is not a stranger to the pain and the difficulty. That Jesus Christ as he himself suffered as he was tempted is able to help us as we are tempted. Tempted to loose faith, tempted to despair, tempted to feel like we have no hope, when we face painful and difficult situations.

I often mention that when i was a kid I had a Sunday school teacher who would pay us a quarter for each and every verse that we would memorize. he would stand in the corner after class with a old film canister full of quarters and listen to us recite them. In this church there was a coke machine on the way to the youth room and when we would get a new kid we would tell him, a can of coke in the vending machine is 50 cents (which dates me a bit) so here we go, we can get you a coke, it is really easy. John 11:35 “Jesus wept.” and Luke 17:32 “Remember Lot’s wife.” that's 5 words 2 verses there is a free coke. And a little later in life I wondered, why would he let us get away with that, then a bit more later in life that I would realize how important those short verse are. In particular John 11:35.

Because why did Jesus weep? Why do we need to know that? well it is because his friend Lazarus had died. and Christ knows, he experienced our pain. and so here is the hoe and the truth of our blessed victory: BUT THANKS BE TO GOD WHO GIVE US OUR VICTORY THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

and so we live in the hope of this beautiful mystery, that this perishable body that we are all forced to some days sit back and watch waste away, our hope is that one day this perishable body will put on the imperishable. we stand in the blessed truth of our victory. that death has no more victory, and though we may feel the sting, even the sting of death was taken care of on the cross. so we do not fear it, we do not shy away from it for we know death is swallowed up in victory. so o death where is your victory, and o death where is your sting.

but I don’t want to end there. because while all these truths are important, passages like this that minister to our souls are critical, but i said we are going to cover verse 50 to 58 so THEREFORE!

THEREFORE !

1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

knowing this mystery, knowing we live in victory, be steadfast and immovable. do not be shaken. work for the Lord, always work for the Lord. Give him everything. Know that as you labor for the lord it is not in vain. ANYTHING done in service of the Glory of God is praiseworthy and eternal. in the language of Matthew, jesus in the sermon on the mount: Store up treasures in heaven, where Moth and rust will not destroy. To use some of the language of 1 Corinthians here. labor in the imperishable, labor in the immortal. Labor in service of the one who loved us, the one who saved us, the one who secures us, the one who has promised and we proclaim will glorify us!

The mystery and the victory are not just here for us to lean on and just try and feel better about ourselves. but instead there are here for us to lean on and trust in and then live out. As we think through and reflect on the fleeting nature of this life, the short time we have on this life as we think through and reflect on the difficulties that this world, this life may throw at us, as we think through these things BE STEADFAST, BE IMMOVABLE, AND ALWAYS ABOUND IN THE WORK OF THE LORD. I think Paul would say: it is the only worthwhile thing we could ever put these frail fleeting perishable earthly hands to. Let us pray

PRAY