One Thing - 3

One Thing - 3

Introduction

[pic]In Mel Gibson’s wildly successful movie from 2004, the Passion of the Christ, he lays out a great account of the crucifixion of Jesus. It’s a great movie about the crucifixion, but a terrible movie about the resurrection!

You endure two hours of brutal beatings, and then you see the resurrected Jesus for about 12 seconds. That’s not enough! You get to see the impact of his death, but not the impact of the resurrection, which makes the death worth it. Without the resurrection, Jesus’ death was worthless.

TS - We are in this little series called One Thing from . In the early verses, Paul, a first-century church leader, establishes the gospel, the Good News of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. That is the one thing that matters more than anything else. It is the one thing that defines our lives. We’ve spent the last two weeks looking into the question of ‘what is it?’ What is the gospel? What is the One Thing that matters most? And we learned exactly what it is.

Today, let’s ask another question - so what? Jesus was crucified, dead and buried. He rose from the dead on the third day. So what? What difference does that make today for those who believe that? For those who place their trust in Jesus?

TS - The bible will now give us two guarantees because Jesus has risen from the dead.

Jesus’ resurrection guarantees…

OUR RESURRECTION

- 20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. 21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. 22 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. 23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.

Because of the truth of the gospel, we know that death is not the end for those who trust in Jesus. Paul will go all the way back to the very beginning of history in . He reminds us that death came to the human race through Adam when he and Eve sinned against God in an event called The Fall. God’s perfect creation, the innocence of humanity…all of it was broken and stained by sin.

Throughout the New Testament, Jesus and Adam are compared and contrasted, even going as far as calling Jesus ‘The Second Adam.’

- 15 But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.

So now because of Jesus, death no longer reigns supreme. It doesn’t have the be the final voice. Forgiveness, grace, new life. Those now reign because of Jesus. Because of Jesus, we too will experience the resurrection from the dead.

Now let’s be honest for a couple minutes…we really don’t talk about this much do we? This isn’t high on the topic list of normal conversation, even in church. Very few sermons on this topic. Why? Because it can leave us with more questions than answers. There is much we don’t understand.

We struggle with the idea of eternity, of never-ending time. We struggle with the nature of Heaven. What will it be like? We chafe with this issue because some of our popular concepts of heaven and eternity sound awful. Who wants to sit on a cloud and play a harp forever?

I’ve heard well-meaning worship leaders coerce people into singing during their worship service because “that’s all we are going to be doing in Heaven, so we better get used to it.”

I’m sorry, but singing is not my favorite part of a worship service. I love it, I enjoy it, but preaching is what captures my attention. That’s why I’m a preacher, not a worship leader…plus the fact that I don’t have any talent whatsoever!

Perhaps the greatest question we have about eternity and the resurrection is one the Corinthians were already asking - what will we be like? How does this even work?

- 35 But someone may ask, “How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?” 36 What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first. 37 And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting. 38 Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed. 39 Similarly there are different kinds of flesh—one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are also bodies in the heavens and bodies on the earth. The glory of the heavenly bodies is different from the glory of the earthly bodies. 41 The sun has one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another kind. And even the stars differ from each other in their glory. 42 It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. 43 Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. 44 They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.

There is a lot of odd language here, but Paul’s main point is this - our resurrected bodies will be nothing like our current bodies. And isn’t that good news?! I don’t want to be stuck like this for eternity!

We are encouraged here by an image we are familiar with…farming. The planting of seeds and the harvest of new life. Paul gives us four phrases that contrast our bodies now with our bodies then:

—Temporary/Eternal

15:42b - Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever.

The reality that all of us must face is there is a day coming when our bodies will simply wear out. Everything in our bodies will fail. Death is inevitable. The stats on death are quite impressive - one out of every one person will die. Right now the stats are hovering at 100%. But Paul assures us that the passage of time will have no effect on the resurrection body. It will never fail. It will never quit.

—Brokenness/Glory

15:43a - Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory.

Brokenness, we know what that is like. We live in a world with words like spina bifida, cystic fibrosis, Alzheimers, cancer, depression. One of my closes friends in the world is 96 years old. Macular degeneration has taken much of his eyesight and years of being around loud engines in the Air Force has taken much of his hearing. He is frustrated by these things every single day.

My stepfather passed away last November, which prompted our move back to Illinois from Boston. He had muscular dystrophy. He longed for the day when he wouldn’t be strapped to a wheelchair anymore.

The bible assures us that no matter what brokenness our body may suffer from, God will deal with it when the time comes.

—Weakness/Strength

15:43b - They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength.

Not only are our bodies temporary, in that they are all stamped with an expiration date, but as we grow older and move toward that date, our bodies grow weaker.

We get to the point where the sports we used to play, that were once really fun for us, are now miserable to play - and you have to take aspirin…before…you play. So we trade baseball for softball, soccer for bowling, basketball for golf. And even those things start to hurt us!

Sometimes even the typical daily stuff we do becomes tedious. We run out of energy. The ability to clean up that room AGAIN is just gone. I get tired just watching my kids play. But again, we are assured by God that our bodies will not always be this way. They will be raised with strength.

—Natural/Spiritual

15:44 - They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies.

Our bodies not only suffer from physical weakness, but also suffer from spiritual weakness as well. Our bodies of flesh struggle with sin.

,, - 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate…19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway…21 I have discovered this principle of life - that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.

I know I can relate to that. We struggle with following Jesus like we want to. We mess up, we make mistakes. We fail. But a day is coming when new bodies will not be susceptible to sin. It won’t be a struggle for us anymore. In fact, sin will no longer exist after Jesus returns.

No more words spoken in anger we wish we could take back. No more lying that hurts someone we love. No more regrets over past decisions. No more abuse, rape, or murder.

TS - So all of that to say that we will be changed. We will not be as we are now. And that is good news. But why bother with all of this? Why is all this necessary? Paul answers that next.

- 50 What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.

51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. 54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

TS - You see, God has to change us. Because as we are, we are not fit for eternity. We wouldn’t make it. We aren’t equipped for forever. The way we are is not the way God wants us to be. He wants us to be with him forever. And because of the resurrection, we can be. Because of resurrection, those who trust in Jesus will be.

So the resurrection of Jesus guarantees our resurrection and all that is included in that. But there is one more issue to discuss if we are going to understand the difference Jesus makes.

In 15:54, Paul quotes the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. So let’s look at the original quote, because contained in it is the second guarantee because of Jesus’ resurrection.

- 6 In Jerusalem, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat. 7  There he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. 8 He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people. The Lord has spoken!

The quote Paul uses is at the beginning of verse 8. But look at what was right before that.

- 7  There he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth.

In speaking about eternity, God will remove the ‘cloud of doom’ and death itself. What is this ‘cloud’ that God will remove? This word is translated elsewhere as ‘veil’ or ‘shroud.’ And when it is used, it refers to ‘ignorance.’ Specifically, an ignorance of God. Because when you put a veil/shroud/cloud over something, you can’t see it. You might be able to make out a general shape, but you won’t get a completely accurate picture.

TS - So as Paul quotes this passage in , he has these promises that Isaiah wrote about in mind. So what Paul is saying then in is that and its promises are fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus. Because of the resurrection, we get a clear picture of who God is. We are no longer ignorant of who God is. The cloud has been removed.

So Jesus’ resurrection guarantees our resurrection, but also…

2. GOD’S REVELATION

The resurrection reveals who God is. Because Jesus rose from the dead, we have the assurance that we can know God. The New Testament has no shortage of references to the truth that the people of God will KNOW God.

- See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. 2 Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.

- 6 For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

- 11 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already.

- 3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

- 3 No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. 4 And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads.

So the Bible is very clear - God’s people will live where he lives, see him with their own eyes, KNOW him. He will no longer be blocked from our sight.

These are great promises! We all want to live forever. We all want to know God. Jesus’ resurrection guarantees the things. How can we ensure we are part of this deal? There is only one God-ordained means of joining in with God.

- 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

Believe/Repent/Confess/Baptize

Communion - for those who profess faith in Jesus, this is the time we remind ourselves of the gospel, the Good News of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. And we remind ourselves that at our baptism, we were immersed, not just into water, but immersed into the death of Jesus and hold the hope of the resurrection.