Sunday, April 21, 2019 - 9 AM

The Right Order – 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 Bascomb UMC / April 21, 2019 / 9AM & 11AM Focus: Jesus as the “first-fruits” of human resurrection into eternal life Function: To encourage to trust the only human to enter first into God’s perfect order – the right order of things, so that we live and work in hope of our resurrection. 5 Purpose Outcomes of the Church: Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Evangelism, Service 1 Corinthians 15:19–26 (CEB) 19 If we have a hope in Christ only in this life, then we deserve to be pitied more than anyone else. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead. He’s the first crop of the harvest of those who have died. 21 Since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came through one too. 22 In the same way that everyone dies in Adam, so also everyone will be given life in Christ. 23 Each event will happen in the right order: Christ, the first crop of the harvest, then those who belong to Christ at his coming, 24 and then the end, when Christ hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he brings every form of rule, every authority and power to an end. 25 It is necessary for him to rule until he puts all enemies under his feet. 26 Death is the last enemy to be brought to an end, (Sonny gets a stool and sits down) Forgive me, but I must confess that I’m a little tired. What a wonderful, but busy season this has been! (Special Thanks – Worship Committee – Banner (Pam, Oliva Bryant, Donna D), Steve & Kathi U and The Final Feast), Kim, the Chancel Choir & Friends, The LOFT Youth Group and Libby, Tammy and Jaime – so much work goes into Holy Week – and it should! We have a reason to be here and celebrate. Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! So what else is there to say? Some preachers bring the same message every Easter and I get that because….what else can you say really? Now let’s beat those Episcopalians to lunch! But does that get things out of order? Video clip: “She really needs to sort out her priorities” from Harry Potter Killed, what could be worse! Expelled! Let me give you an interesting new word: “telos” the aim or ultimate goal of our existence. Take a coffee mug as an example. It’s a container intended for us to use drink ?????? coffee! Everything about the mug reveals its purpose. It is too small and open to hold anything but a drink or OK - pencils; but you wouldn’t want to carry gasoline in it! It’s not a shot glass (whoo). You can’t measure quarter or half cups accurately with it. The best ones protect my hands from the heat of the coffee – that’s the most important thing about it, its very reason for existing – its telos. Chairs are for sitting, cars are for driving, television shows for …….(ok, bad example). A lot people would call “art” something created with no purpose, except that it would then have a purpose—to make artistic expression. The “telos” of a thing is best understood when that thing fulfills its full potential. There was a man in the Bible (many say it was wise King Solomon) who wrote a depressing book of the Old Testament called Ecclesiastes – read it lately? This guy thought he had reached his full potential in life only to realize that all he had collected, all he had built, all he had done with his life was VAPOR or meaningless. Poor guy had it all and realized he had nothing! The main problem was he knew he was going to die! Then what? Nothingness? Then what was his reason for living – his telos? Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we will die. We modern humans mix up the concepts of Hades and Hell. They are two different concepts: Hades was the Greek version of the Hebrew “Sheol” – a place where the dead just – live? NO that’s not right, it’s the opposite of living. Just an understanding that our “spirits” were gathered (all spirits) into this place. Greeks took this idea a step further and understood humans (since we are rational creatures that know we are mortal) must have (inside us) a soul. Greeks said that is the REAL you – that IS your soul and that is what leaves your body after death. Now when does the soul enter the body? At conception? Oooo we will never beat the Episcopalians to lunch if we go there. I have the Confirmation class go through an “order exercise” about who we are at Bascomb – are we Greek pagans or are we Jewish? (Jewish – Jesus was a Jew). Are we Jewish or are we Christian? (Yes, but we follow Jesus – so Judeo Christian). Pagan Greeks separate the soul as GOOD and the body as BAD. However, the Jewish/Christian revelation of Jesus Christ ties the body, soul, and spirit together. The REAL you is all of you, not a disembodied soul. That’s why Easter is so amazing! A body resurrected! That’s why we should understand God’s right order. Don’t put “the cart before the horse.” Jesus first! I say at every funeral that we should “shrink before the mystery of death” – it is, in most ways, a mystery. Humans are ignorant of any more than this life – except for what Jesus tells us: I once had a young mother come to me after her father died suddenly in a motorcycle accident. Her children were asking questions about their grandfather – where was he? What did he look like? What does the Bible say? I told her I trust Jesus. Jesus said a few things about life – “I go to prepare a place for you,” The parable about the rich man and poor Lazarus – one woke up in the bosom of Abraham and one awoke in torment. Remember Jesus and the thief on the cross? The thief said: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus replied, “I assure you that today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:42-43 CEB Did Jesus mean heaven? Don’t get the cart before the horse – most of this stuff is a mystery we cannot know – but I trust Jesus. I just want to be where Jesus is. That’s where everything begins and ends for me. Paul’s point in today’s text means the Christian community should be ordered towards the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises. Trust God’s promises! The telos (goal) of our life together in Christ is NOT a mirage. Paul says there is no authentic Christian faith without great trust that God has our beginnings AND our endings. Our endings, because of Jesus on Easter Sunday, means there will be a resurrection of the dead. The resurrection of Jesus was the moment when the one true God appointed that a human – the one unique human that was connected to God perfectly, would bring the whole cosmos back into its proper order – the right order. A human being had got it into this mess; a human being would get it out again. That unique human being is Jesus – trust Jesus. All you Hermione Grangers out there, get your priorities in order or your life may be just VAPOR. Every funeral I serve includes the phrase “we shrink before the mystery of death” and I mean that – we don’t know the details, but we know a savior – THE savior – trust Jesus. Our God is a god of order – not chaos. But before all God’s people will be raised at the end of history, one person had to be be raised in the middle of history. God intended that to be the RIGHT order, the A, B, C, of things and that was shocking to Paul and his Jewish faith, a totally unexpected thing. The coming of God’s kingdom was happening in two phases and phase ONE had already started. When Paul talks about things happening “in the right order” in verse 23, he has two things in mind: the “order” of events, and the eventual “order,” or the “straightening-out” that God intends to bring to the world. Jesus, following his resurrection, is NOW – TODAY - the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And the great purpose (the telos) of his reign is to defeat all the enemies that have defaced, oppressed, and spoiled God’s magnificent world, especially us human creatures. That purpose has not yet been accomplished – we still die. One day this task will be complete: the final enemy, death itself, will be defeated (verse 26), and God will be ‘all in all’ (verse 28). The world, as God intended, will be put back to rights. That’s the final “ordering: The father is the one from whom everything comes, the son is the one through whom it comes, and the Holy Spirit gives US the power to A - choose Jesus, B - to trust Jesus, and, C - as a community, to become the body of Jesus NOW! TODAY! Paul sees the entire cosmos sorted out at last, put into the shape the creator intended. Why worry about Hell in some afterlife when there is so much Hell going on in this life! Can we do something together about that? Is that not our mission just like it was the mission of Jesus? God is “putting all things into order under his feet” and we are in the process of choosing. There were two thieves on that cross and Jesus only told ONE of them that he would be in paradise. I want to be in paradise – I want to be where Jesus is – do you? Paul has the timeline down! Jesus rises first, then those who have died in Christ rise next….and so it goes. I just finished our study on Revelation and that text also says that death is our last enemy. But even death will cease to exist. Here is a good reason to be a Christian! The God of Christ is a God of order and we are a part of that great order. We are not the first, Jesus is the Alpha AND the Omega. We may even be the last, but by the grace of God we will, in God’s order, get into the kingdom! Do you believe! (I Believe) Do you believe! (I Believe) Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! Now you’ve sorted out your priorities! Let’s Worship! Halle, Halle, Hallelujah