4. Facing Tomorrow
Notes
Transcript
Me
Me
Welcome both in person and online to the conclusion of our sermon series, Beyond Belief. For the last few weeks we have been looking at a four core verses from the NT letters of Romans and 1 Corinthians. If you are new with us, for the year, what I call the pandemic year, we have been traveling through the entire Bible looking at 52 Core verses. Today marks core verse 44 which means we only have 8 more verses to go! I came across another copy of our guide book, Core 52. If you are a guest with us today, I would love to give you this copy. So come talk with me after the service so I can give it to you.
Last week, I was with the extended Steele family as we celebrated the 150 year anniversary of the family farm homestead. My great, great grandfather Silas and Rebecca Steele homesteaded the place in 1871. During the celebration, by dad got up and addressed the 70 plus Steele family members there and told a few stories. One of the stories he told was how one of the first things Silas had to do when they homesteaded the place was to dig a well. He dug it down about 25 feet, encasing it with rocks. One day, his wife, Rebecca accidentally dropped the bucket they were using to haul up dirt, down on his head, knocking him out cold. She didn’t know if he was dead or just unconscious, and she couldn’t do anything about it. My dad said, if grandpa Silas was dead, none of us would be here. We all just kind of looked around at the large group of family gathered together there, just realizing how all of us we so connected by one person and one such event.
However, if you stop and think about it, this is true for all of us. There are pivotal moments in all of our lives where if one thing had been different, the ripple effect would have completely changed the trajectory of our lives.
For the apostle Paul, there is one such event for the life of a Christian that not only has a ripple effect to the present day…but it extends well into the future. What is this one event? The resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is such a pivotal event, the apostle Paul claims that everything rests upon it. Here is our core verse fro today.
And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
If Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless. Have you ever played Jenga? It’s a game where each player takes turns pushing out a wooden block from a tower of blocks. The one who pushes out the wooden block which causes the tower to crash is the loser. Do you know what I’m talking about? What the apostle Paul is saying is that if one was to remove the resurrection of Jesus block, the entire Christian faith would crumble to the ground. That’s quite an important piece isn’t it? So if you are looking to go all Da Vinci Code on Christianity, well that’s what you need to find…the body of Jesus of Nazareth. You find it, everything comes crumbling down.
However, do you realize the implications if the resurrection of Jesus is real? (The apostle Paul makes a very strong case for it in the first nine verses of chapter 15)? It means that as long as the one Jenga block is in place about the resurrection, nothing…I mean absolutely nothing can take down your life.
We’ve all felt those moments when our faith has been tested. Those blindside moments, those gut punch moments when our world is shaken. Phone calls with test results…and it’s cancer. When friends stab you in the back. Car accidents or an illness that makes no sense. Gossip at work or spouses who cheat on you. Or maybe it’s frustrations over the basics of life, homes that need work or cars that always need to be fixed. We’ve all how those moments, and if you haven’t, just wait, they will come. So how does the resurrection of Jesus help us overcome adversity in our lives? How is the resurrection a cornerstone that we can hold on to when all of life seems to be falling apart?
The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 wants to tell you how the resurrection helps you face tomorrow.
God:
God:
If you have a Bible or device, find 1 Corinthians 15. If you are using the YouVersion Bible app, look for Events. Then search for Iowa City Church. All the sermon notes and Scriptures will be right there at your fingertips.
The apostle Paul writes this letter to the church in Corinth. Truth be told, the church in Corinth was a mess and Paul focuses in on five main issues. Divisions in the church, sexual immorality, food that was sacrificed to idols and what to do, how to handle their worship gatherings…and the resurrection. It’s this last section where we are obviously going to hang out because just like many people we know, the culture of Corinth had an issue with this concept of the resurrection. Why is that? All of our empirical data and information tells us that dead people don’t come back to life. We have good, hard evidence that when someone dies, they are gone. Even more then that, isn’t the spirit better? Isn’t it better to be released from a physical body and set free…so why would someone want to have their body resurrected. So some of the Corinthians would believe in forgiveness, grace, love and atonement…but this resurrection thing was a bit much, and does it really matter anyway?
However, Jesus and the apostles see things radically different. In verses 20-26, the Paul brilliantly connects Genesis 3 with the resurrection of Jesus, with the end game Revelation 22.
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
First fruits is connected when you first plant a tree. When it finally produces fruit, you know it’s a good tree and will produce more fruit. The resurrection of Jesus is first fruit, there is more to come. I love Paul’s use of the phrase “fallen asleep”. It’s one of the most common ways the NT authors describe death. They get this from Jesus. When Jarius’s daughter dies, Jesus tells everyone not to mourn, she has just fallen asleep. They laugh and he brings her back to life.
Here is where Paul connects with Genesis. Adam is the first human. He rebels and wants to define good and evil on his own terms. Sin and death enter the world. Adam ushers in the curse of death. Then Jesus bursts on the scene, the true and perfect human. He dies, but is made alive again. Paul’s point is, you can choose to stay in the curse of Adam and death or put yourself in Christ. When he returns, death is defeated and all who are in Christ at resurrected just as he was.
For Jesus and all the apostles, their teaching points to this simple fact that the good God of the universe wants to restore his good world and put it all back together again. This is why Revelation 22 ends with this merging of Heaven and Earth and a new Eden…with resurrected people.
So the resurrection of Jesus is this monumental event which every Christian can hold on to as hope. Hope that this is not the end. Hope that God is still working out his plan. So the resurrection of Jesus gives us hope for tomorrow.
Here’s how the resurrection of Jesus can help you face tomorrow.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
We Can Face the Brokenness of the World
The atoning work of Jesus on the cross was brought to completion through his resurrection. Think of it as a two part work. Paul describes it as such in Romans 4.
He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
The forgiveness we experience through Jesus came through his death and resurrection. It’s because of the resurrection that we can quote Romans 8:1 with confidence. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. I can face tomorrow because I know that my sins are forgiven, I’m not defined by my sin or my brokenness, because Jesus is alive.
It also means that I can face the brokenness that the world throws at me. We live in a broken and hurting world where broken and hurting people do horrible things to others. So the anger that is thrown my way, the insults, things that are taken from us and the wounds that are inflicted upon us, we can take them because we know that Jesus took the same suffering on the cross and literally died for that sin. Our hope is that in taking the abuse, we will find healing through Christ. I know that these are difficult words to take, however the more we understand what it means to follow Jesus, the more we can have hope that his way is the best.
Look at verse 18.
Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
2. We Can Face The Loss Of Death
The pain, the loss of losing a loved one can be almost unbearable at times. The resurrection of Jesus gives us hope that those who are in Christ, we will be reunited with them again. Just this last week I read about two families who are serving Jesus in Haiti. They were traveling to another part of the island so the two husbands and dads sent their families ahead and they rode on the second plane. The second plane never arrived. It crashed killing everyone on board. Two wives were now widows, and all the kids were now fatherless. Explain it? To to understand it? You can’t, but you can look loss in face and hold on to the hope that one day, those who are asleep in Christ will be reunited.
Jump down to verse 30.
And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.
3. We Can Live Bold & Courageous Lives Of Purpose
Paul’s point is clear. If there was no hope of a resurrection from the dead, then why in the world are they risking their lives for the gospel. They are facing arrests, beatings, and evidently and encounter with wild beasts (we are not for sure what went down), but they are doing it so that people would know the Good News about the Kingdom. They are doing it for the gospel! If there was no resurrection, they would not risk their lives like that, instead they would eat, drink and be merry because life as no meaning except death.
Paul calls out these Christians because they have obviously been hanging around some bad influences, to the point where they were living a life pursuing pleasure instead of purpose. To be clear, Paul doesn’t shame them, these people have shamed themselves because they have rejected the resurrection…which in turn gave them their purpose.
I think of all the things Paul is writing, this might be most applicable to us. We play it really pretty safe. We like our comforts. We don’t want things very hard. Make sure the air conditioning is at the right temperature and make sure they have WiFi. Our biggest concerns in life are around whether or not we will be able to charge our device.
Jesus didn’t die on the cross and then be resurrected from the dead so that we could be comfortable. He did it so we could be free, courageous, bold and able to take up his mission…and if it means dying…we would have the assurance that death is not the end.
I think a lot of us have lost our boldness because we are scared about losing our comforts and we don’t want to think about tomorrow. Listen Jesus is alive so that we can boldly live on mission, and face whatever tomorrow brings. Here is what you need to remember today:
No matter what comes your way, because Jesus lives, you can face tomorrow.
Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist, and author of Man’s Search for Meaning, a book written about his experience in the Nazi concentration camps. He noticed that prisoners died just after Christmas. They were hoping they'd be free by then. When they weren't, they gave up. He learned that as long as prisoners had something to live for, a reason to press on, they could endure just about anything. But once they lost hope, they quickly died. But those who found hope were able to press on, no matter what the living conditions were around them.
As the old Bill and Gloria Gaither song goes: “Because he lives, I can face tomorrow”. The resurrection of Jesus gives us that hope to face tomorrow.
Here are a few ways you can live out the hope of the resurrection in your life.
Because Jesus lives I can...
If you have no hope, find it in Jesus. (Example of baptism)
Every week we share in the bread and the cup of communion. In it we physically take on hope. It’s a weekly reminder and habit that keeps us moving forward to face our tomorrows.
No matter what comes your way, because Jesus lives, you can face tomorrow.