876 1 Cor.15.20-34 Ramifications for Denying the Resurrection
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SACRAMENTO, CA—Governor Gavin Newsom has released new guidelines for California's counties looking to reopen their businesses, saying that counties may only begin to lift their lockdowns once a cure for death itself has been found.
"Once we have beaten the last enemy, death itself, we can slowly begin to reopen over a 40-year period," Newsom said at a press conference Tuesday.
- That is from the Christian Satire website “The Babylon Bee”
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- As far as I’m aware, there has been no cure or vaccine made yet for death
- Which begs the question: why aren’t more people concerned about what happens when they die!
Q. Surely, Christians aren’t the only ones who have thought about it?
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- But this is part of the nature of the pandemic, called sin – it’s anti-God
- Sin affects & infects the mental processes to the point where it can totally mess up the mind
- In Biblical terms, the heart is also a mental process, but a process that is much closer to the nature of the person – as Jesus says in
19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.
- The people of the world, who are “in Adam” are corrupted & unable to know good from evil – they are unable to keep on track with God or even to seek after Him
- It is only through His grace & the intervention of Jesus Christ that we have any hope at all
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- You see, it is not only the struggles of the flesh that humanity faces, but of the unseen forces that are at work – the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
- This passage today offers us enormous hope that God is not done with the world yet & that Jesus is still active in bringing all things into subjection to Himself
8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.
- In our passage today, we are encouraged to see that death is the last enemy that will be made subject to the Lord Jesus Christ
1. Christ’s Resurrection Makes the Believer’s Resurrection Inevitable
1. Christ’s Resurrection Makes the Believer’s Resurrection Inevitable
- In the OT, the Israelites were required to give their firstborns to the Lord
- The animals were given in offering to God, but the firstborn son was to be redeemed by an animal substitute
- No way was human sacrifice ever condoned by the Lord
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- In the OT, the Israelites were also required to bring the firstfruits of the harvest to God
- This was called the “Feast of Weeks” or Pentecost
- On the day of Pentecost, the firstfruits of harvest were to be brought in to the Lord
- The first-fruits were given as the first & best of the harvest
- They were “holy” to the Lord
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- It was really a form of trust in the future provision of the Lord
- As they gave the first-fruits of their harvest to God, they trusted that He would continue to provide for them
- As they were obedient to the Lord in these things, they would be blessed
11 “The Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.
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- In this passage today, Paul calls the resurrected Jesus the first-fruits of those who are asleep
- The first-fruits of those who have died
- There is an air of inevitability here about resurrection
- God will bless His people with abundant harvest
- Christ is the first-fruits of an abundant harvest
- That harvest will be you and me & all who have committed their life to Jesus Christ to walk as His disciples
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- As I said, there is an air of inevitability about a future harvest
- If you poison the fish tank, the fish are going to die – its inevitable!
- If you water your plants & give them sunshine, then they are going to grow – pretty much inevitable!
- Jesus as the first-fruits has been raised from the dead, therefore, others will inevitably follow
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- You are well aware, no doubt, of the re-emergence of an emphasis on race, gender & anything else that will divide people – so unhealthy & a bad thing to focus on
- As Christians, we have a new charter
- No one is to consider race, gender or class status in life as a factor in the acceptance or rejection of a person in the kingdom of Christ
- To be sure, the church hasn’t had a good track record on this, but we do need to realise that the world has had a big impact on shaping the thinking of the church
- Others in the future may view this generation in like manner so humility is needed
16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
- I think its time Christians adopted this view too
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- There is really only two kinds of people now that Paul recognises
- Those “in Adam” – the unbeliever & those “in Christ”
- These two are representative, as in Adam, of the fallen world which includes sin & death & as in Christ, the world to come which includes righteousness & everlasting life
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- Again, there is an air of inevitability here about it
- For those in Adam, there will be death - this everyone knows is inevitable
- But for those in Christ, there will be resurrection – where all those in Christ will be made alive - resurrection for those in Christ is as sure & as inevitable as death is in the world today
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- There is an absolute guarantee that you will die – all in this age will die
- As it has been said, the only thing that is guaranteed in life is “death & taxes “
- What Paul is saying though, is that the same guarantee works for those in Christ
- If Adam guarantees your death, then Christ guarantees your resurrection
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- In your baptism, Paul says, you have transitioned from the age of Adam to the future age of Christ
3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
- So the believer has moved out of Adam & his legacy of sin & death INTO Christ who has not only died to this age but has been raised to establish the new age of righteousness & resurrected life
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- As Paul says in this passage today
23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming,
- When Jesus returns, then the end will come & resurrection will be experienced for all His people both the dead & the living
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- Before I move on to the next point, I want to make a brief mention of a belief that Jesus has already come
- There are a group of people, calling themselves “Pantelists” who believe that Jesus has already come & its all over
- If this is the case, then it totally contradicts what the apostle is saying here in chp.15 of 1st Corinthians - in fact, its the same denial of resurrection as the Corinthians
“after that, those who are Christ’s at His coming”
2. The Last Enemy To Be Annihilated Is Death
2. The Last Enemy To Be Annihilated Is Death
“Are we there yet” is that classic line of the impatient child (& adult) who is eager to get to their destination
- In fact, the stress of living in the world as it is today is causing even Christians to forget that Jesus is Lord
- They can get so caught up with the concerns of the world that they forget that the world is hostile to the cross of Christ
- Those who are hostile to the cross are, as Paul says, perishing
- We are salt & light to the world as we bring the truth of God to bear on the world
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- What we often miss is that the world is not run by the people you see at the helm
- It is run by hostile spiritual forces
- This is part of the problem with the fallen world – it has fallen into captivity by hostile demonic forces – led by the chief archair, Satan
20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Q. Do we need to open our eyes to this?
- Just as Satan was behind the serpent’s actions in the garden, Satan is behind the workings of the world & its worldliness
8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.
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- The reason Jesus has not handed over the kingdom to God is that His work in the world is not yet over
- As the Gospel continues to penetrate into the world; as His people become the salt & light of the earth – Jesus is at work abolishing all “demonic” rule, authority & power
24 then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.
- The rule, authority & power are not the visible forces you see at work in government, but the spiritual forces that stand behind them
- Satan motivates men & women to do his will
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Q. What has changed for you since you became a Christian?
- Is is not that you are motivated by a new Spirit & a new direction!
- Jesus rules in the hearts & minds of His people – that is how His rule is mediated in the world (we are now His ambassadors)
- He changes us & in turn we act differently from the world
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- Before Jesus hands the kingdom over to our God & Father, He will have defeated the last enemy - & that is death
Q. Have you ever thought of death as an enemy?
- We are not really taught to think this way in society – death is just inevitable & you have to accept it
- Jesus would say, NO! - death is not something that we should think is inevitable & that we just have to accept it
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- It was never God’s original plan for death to be part of the world
- Death is the consequence of sin & disobedience to God by Adam & Eve
- Remember, that the ultimate nature of this sin that brought death was not just that they took from the fruit of the “banned” tree – no, that is way too simplistic
- That tree represented the status of godhood & of independence from God – remember, that was Satan’s temptation which ultimately motivated Eve to reach for the fruit - “you can be like God knowing good & evil”
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- When they ate, they attained the knowledge of good & evil
- Man, as a mere mortal, could never handle nor contain that for which only God could contain
- This is why their first response was to see nakedness as evil
- Of course, we all see that now because we have been tainted by the knowledge of good & evil for which only God is capable of containing - it was passed on & down to us
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- We are like a working laptop that has been dropped into a bucket of water – we short circuit
- Good seems like evil & evil seems like good – we have been stained by that choice by Adam & Eve
- Since then, man has been living the independent life, hating God & living in corruption with a corrupted mind
- The default being unbelief
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- Death is the last enemy Jesus will annihilate – praise God
- Then the Messiah will hand over the kingdom to His God & Father so that God may be over all – His work will have been complete!
1 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”
6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet,
- Jesus will fulfil His mission to eradicate death for those who belong to Him
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- Of course, the question you have to ask yourself is “do I belong to Him”
- You will know this in yourself
- You may be fighting God; you may be struggling with the tension between what the world is saying & what God is saying
- You may even be struggling with the tension of what the world offers as to what God offers
- I don’t want to make Jesus some sales pitch because He is not someone to offer – It is not “but wait, there’s more” – if you phone now, we’ll throw in a free “what would Jesus do” wrist band
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- But seriously, surely you can see that sin corrupts & the minds of sinners are corrupted
- Good & evil become merely unresolvable constructs in the minds of individuals
- People think that you can change your gender & that people who oppose that are somehow, immoral
- That is just one example of how corrupt the mind of man has become
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- Paul writes later to the Corinthians & says
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
3. Disbelieving in Resurrection Destroys Motives & Morals
3. Disbelieving in Resurrection Destroys Motives & Morals
Q. Is denying the literal bodily resurrection of Jesus fatal?
- Emphatically so! - Christianity is destroyed along with our faith & hope
- 2 examples here that the apostle uses to demonstrate the reality of contradiction
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- Firstly, the Corinthians themselves who, on the one hand, are denying the resurrection are, on the other hand, practising proxy baptism
- Usually people live out what they believe, but Paul picks up an obvious contradiction here
- Some were being baptised on behalf of people who had already died
- We don’t know anymore than what is written here so it seems this procedure was only practised by the Corinthian church
- Although, the Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ latter day saints) have picked up on what Paul has said here & practice a form of proxy baptism even to this day
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- There seems to have been people in the church who had not got baptised before they died
- In speculating, it could include some of those who the Lord was striking down because they were abusing each other at the Lord’s table
29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.
- We just don’t know & anything beyond what we read is speculation
- What it does show, however, is they believed that baptism can do them some good even though they are dead
Q. The apostle’s point is that if the dead are not raised, then why are people being baptised for them OR on their behalf?
- A whack of contradiction here
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- Now Paul is not approving nor condemning this idea – its just not something he is getting into at this point
- He uses what they are doing just to point out to them the absurdity of baptising for the dead if the dead are not coming back
- And if they are not coming back, why are they baptising them?
- Sure, far enough, baptise the living – they are at least alive, but for the dead with apparently no resurrection to look forward to is utterly POINTLESS
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- He also shows the pointlessness and contradiction of the NO resurrection position from his own life
- He has suffered so much as a Christian – why would he do that, if the dead do not rise?
- God is into giving Hope – Hope is one of the most powerful & fundamental of human necessities
- If you have no hope, you despair even of life
- I heard the other day that 6 out of 8 suicides are male – that is an inordinately high number compared with females
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- In our current situation, suicides are on the rise with the covid lock-downs – as Christians, that should pain us
- They have lost hope – hope for their future; hope in seeing loved ones again
- Most would remember Rod Cameron who committed suicide because he believed he had lost his legal contact with his children
- It was complicated but no matter what we think, it is a terrible tragedy – as Christians we can’t be heartless of people who are in this situation
- Some people cannot cope very well & many do not have the blessings of the support networks that we have
- Hope is what motives us to think like the Lord & to live like the Lord
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- Paul had problems with some very ruthless people of whom he called “wild beasts”
32 If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
- He wasn’t thrown into the arena as the animals would have finished him off
- “Wild beasts” was a common metaphor that referred to ruthless people
8 But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost; 9 for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
- There were many “wild beasts” who opposed the message of the Gospel
- The point is – if there is no resurrection, why even take on the “wild beasts”?
- Why cause a kerfuffle? Why leave your comfort zone?
- Because the resurrection is real & it awaits those who are faithful to the Lord
- That is hope – a living hope
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- Finally, if the resurrection is not true, then eat, drink & be merry like there is no tomorrow
- Such a position destroys character & morals
- Actually, there is a bit of a backhander here too
33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” 34 Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.
- Well, there is only one way to take this – stay away from anyone in the church who does not believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ
- Because they will take you down a hellish hole which has no bottom
- No hope, eat, get drunk, sin & be merry
- No hope, you will sin freely
- Have hope, stay away from heretics who promote lies
- Have hope, believe in the truth of a bodily resurrected Jesus
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- Jesus will one day come & when He does, He will defeat death by raising His people from the dead
- He will rob death & the grave of all those who don’t belong to it because they belong to Him instead
Questions
1. What difference does it make for you to recognise that demonic forces are operating at various levels in the world?
2. What difference would it make to you if there was no bodily resurrection to come?