Sunrise Homily

Introduction

John Bunyan’s classic book, Pilgrims Progress has many iterations—my favorite one to read with my kids is called Little Pilgrim’s Progress. It follows the story of Little Christian—a young rabbit— who is seeking to leave the City of Destruction and to enter the celestial city where the good king lives.

Along the way—in the story we get more and more details of this celestial city that ‘Little Christian’ is traveling too. And what we learn along the way is that this new city—this new kingdom—is completely different from the current kingdom that we live in—the kingdom of destruction.

The celestial city that Little Christian is seeking is not just a destination but a realm that embodies the king’s nature. And those who seek to live there must likewise reflect the king’s character in their own lives—like a mirror.

And herein lies the problem—verse 50 of our text states it plainly…

1 Corinthians 15:50 “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”

Briefly on this glorious Easter morning I want to simply remind us that God is worthy of all our worship as we think about the good news of Jesus Christ and His resurrection.

Our text is 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 and in our text we see I. Our Problem, II. Our Savior, III. Our Hope

Read the Word with me—and take note that these are God’s holy words. 2 Peter 1:21 “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” It is a living and active word that God uses to shape us and it deserves our full attention.

1 Corinthians 15:50–58 “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. 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.”

Pray briefly.

I. Our Problem (50-56)

Our text starts by giving us a problem—flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God—the perishable (us) cannot inherit the imperishable (the kingdom of God).

And in verse 51 Paul says “we shall all be changed” when the “last trumpet” is sounded.

The last trumpet that Paul is referencing here is the trumpet of Jesus’ return. Every Sunday we take communion at New Creation and we proclaim the mystery of Christ. Christ has died—Christ has risen—And Christ will come again.

Jesus told us himself in Matthew 25:31–32 ““When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”

Jesus will come and divide those who belong to His Kingdom and those who do not.

Our text says a lot of things—that with more time we could dig into—but for this morning I want us to see the core—there is a coming kingdom of God AND if we are to enter that kingdom we must be changed.

Mankind in their natural state cannot enter God’s kingdom—we need to change.

But the problem is that you and I are powerless to make this change by ourselves—flesh and blood—all that we have to offer—cannot inherit this kingdom.

By ourselves all that we can inherit is the sting of sin in death.

When Adam fell to sin in the garden the whole human race fell with him. We inherited from Adam a nature of sin and with it a kingdom of death.

And friends this is a necessary part of the gospel. The good news of the gospel—which we are going to get to—is only good when we know the bad news.

If I don’t know that I’m dying of cancer—a doctor telling me that I’m cancer free doesn’t mean very much to me. But if I know that I am facing death then a proclamation of life means the world.

We should not be ashamed to lovingly and gently tell people that they they are sinners who have offended a holy God and that if they persist in their sin they can expect nothing from a righteous—good God but the judgment their sin has earned.

This past week I have watched another Christian friend wander away from the gospel. On Good Friday, they joyously proclaimed “I do not believe that Jesus died for my sins.”

For my friend, the idea that they are sinners and that God is a judge is a violent and hateful idea that they can no longer hold.

Friends—if Jesus didn’t die for our sins then we have no hope. If Jesus didn’t die for our sins then we will. Because God is a good judge who will by no means ignore sin.

Bear with me a little longer on this.

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Sin is anytime we don’t do what God has commanded us to do or anytime we do what God has commanded us not to do.

Verse 56 of our passage says, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.”

God has a standard—a law. And our text tells us that death stings because sin is a record of our lawbreaking before a holy God that will by no means overlook the offense of sin.

A human judge that overlooks lawbreakers would not be a good man. If God were to do the same—He would not be a good God.

Transition: The answer to the problem of human sin is not to try and erase the fact that we are sinners or that God is a righteous judge. The answer to our problem is Jesus of Nazareth! He is…

II. Our Savior (57)

1 Corinthians 15:57 “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

A moment ago I quoted Romans 6:23 but I left off the best part…

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Friends there is a coming kingdom that we are not fit to live in by the power of our flesh and blood but God has not left us to fend for ourselves.

God is a righteous judge who loves sinners and He sent His son to rescue us.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Jesus is good news for sinners—God the Son came and lived life as one of us with a body like ours. He became us so that He could live as we should but don’t.

You and I will never inherit God’s kingdom by being good enough. There is not room for one sin in God’s kingdom. And if we are honest with ourselves we would bring a lot more than one sin with us.

But Jesus lived perfectly in our place and then He died on the cross in our place—taking the wrath of God that was due us and it killed him. One of the youth in our church asked me, “If Jesus died on Friday why do we call it Good Friday?”

We call it Good Friday because the wages of our sin is death and Jesus took the payment of death for all those who would put their faith in Him.

And we call it Good Friday because we know the rest of the story—in real time the disciples didn’t think it was good either—but with the whole story you and I know that Friday was good because Sunday is coming!

Jesus didn’t stay dead! We know that He can rescue us from the sting of death because He Himself defeated death.

Easter is the celebration of our savior’s resurrection! The stone was rolled away! The tomb was empty! Jesus lives! And in Him we too can joyously proclaim, 1 Corinthians 15:55–57 ““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.”

Because He lives we can proclaim Hallelujah and Amen!

Let me ask you this morning—if you have put your faith in Jesus as your savior this morning will you praise God for His love and care for you?

And if you haven’t—I want you to know this morning that God’s Word says “today is the day of salvation for you.”

You are not here by accident hearing that salvation is found in Jesus alone. You can come to Jesus today and be saved and I would love to talk with you about that. Let this Easter Sunday be the first day of your new life in God’s kingdom.

Conclusion

As we close this morning I want to draw your attention to the last verse of our passage. 1 Corinthians 15:58 “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.”

Jesus is good news for sinners that they can be forgiven and enter into God’s kingdom through the life of Jesus. He cleanses us of all the guilt of our sin. And that is great news.

But verse 58 tells us that Easter is also good news while we live in the world as pilgrims waiting until that day when the last trumpet will sound and we will all be changed—fit for that new kingdom.

Verse 58 says, Therefore…because of this greatest of news we can be steadfast in this life—holding onto Jesus.

Because Jesus has rescued us from our sin we can be immovable never moving away from the solid ground of the gospel.

Because Jesus died for us and removed all condemnation we can abound in good works knowing that our labor is not in vain.

Our labor in living for Jesus is not in vain beloved—Jesus is good news for the life to come but He is good news for our lives here and now as well.

Let us pray.