Okay. A couple of pieces of business before we get started. First of all, it's hot. Second of all,
there are ways to deal with that. One is if you're not sitting in a fan zone and you need a fan,
get up, move to a place where you can feel the breeze of the fans in the sanctuary.
Secondly, if you are dying of heat, there is cold water in pitchers downstairs as well as a water
fountain in the back with cups. Go avail yourself. Don't feel like I'll be offended. I am telling you
all this because my hope is that you will be able to pay attention and hang in there because we have
a wonderful passage to look at this morning. And so if you need to go downstairs, it is slightly cooler
down there. And there is a speaker down there. Please be respectful of one another who may be
listening to the sermon while you're down there. So those are your options. And as I have an 87 point
outline here for you, we're going to... No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. We're going to look at the
passage. We're going to be looking at 1 Corinthians, continuing our series, and we'll be looking at that
in just a minute. I also want to just say on a personal note, it is good to be back. Thank you
to the church for giving me a leave in the month of July. It was a good break. It was good to be with
my kids and good to step away from some of the daily demands of life and ministry.
It is interesting though because what I experienced during my leave has helped me think about what
we're talking about this morning in 1 Corinthians. As I was on vacation with my family, my mom has
developed some new health issues that are a little more significant than they have been. She's 80 years
old as of January and is the most remarkably vibrant and active 80-year-old you would know. And so facing
this is the first time when we've really had to wrestle through with her, how she's doing. And as
we've had to face in a new way with the family, two of the great unchangeable realities of human
existence, and that is that we are getting older and that one day we will die. It's not a very happy
topic to talk about. In fact, we're not very good at it. One of my readings for this week was a book
called Being Mortal. It is not written by a Christian. It is not from a Christian perspective,
but it is a remarkable book talking about how much our society and our culture does not like to face
or to talk about. And in fact is ill-equipped to face and to talk about the realities of aging and
of death. As a matter of fact, I want to read to you a passage. He is a surgeon. He is the son of two
doctors. And he realized as he entered into his practice how ill-equipped he and the medical system
that had trained him was to actually help people face and walk through some of these issues.
So he says, this is a book about the modern experience of mortality, about what it's like
to be creatures who age and die, how medicine has changed the experience and how it hasn't,
and where our ideas about how to deal with our finitude have got the reality wrong. As I pass a
decade in surgical practice and become middle-aged myself, I find that neither I nor my patients find
our current state tolerable, but I have also found it unclear what the answer should be,
or even whether any adequate ones are possible. He's exposing what's a reality for us in our culture
and often in our own lives, that we don't really know how to face the end of life.
He goes on and talks about how the whole medical system right now is primarily trained to help fix
things and make you better and prolong your life. And that's good and right. That's what they should do.
But in doing so, it hasn't always equipped us as a society to think about how to face the end well.
One more side note before I go on. I'm really thankful that in our congregation, we have some
resources of people who know how to think about these things well. John Dunlop and Lydia Dugdale
are both physicians who in different ways have been thinking through these things,
not only from a human perspective, but especially as well from a Christian perspective.
John's book, Finishing Well to the Glory of God, is worth your read. Whether you are 65 or whether
you are 16, it is worth your read to think about what does it look like to face these things well.
But the challenge is very real. Think about how in our culture things have changed. In 1945,
most people in America died at home. According to the statistics in the book, 17% of people died at
home in 1980. He said there's been a swing back since then a little bit. But think about how much
that changes. How many of you have actually seen a dead body? How many of you have seen someone die,
walked through that? Some of you have. Some of you haven't.
But we live in a culture that wants to ignore it as much as possible.
As probably many of you know, as I walked with my late wife Brandy through the last three and a half
years of her life, we faced these questions. We faced the questions of how do you live knowing your
probably going to die, but not know when? How much do you focus on living for today and making the most of it?
How much do you prepare for what's coming ahead? How do you face the end? How do you navigate the
feelings of hopelessness and of hope that swirl in your heart? How do you walk through those things?
We weren't particularly prepared for that. It wasn't on our plan when we got married to be facing what we did.
We were unaccustomed to the process, unfamiliar with the questions, ignorant of the patterns, and we were unprepared.
Now, I'm sure some of you have walked through this process already with someone you love.
Maybe some of you are facing this process yourself. You're feeling the aging and thinking through,
how do I walk through this well? Some of you may not be there yet. Maybe you haven't walked through it,
but you're starting to see that it's more downhill than uphill from here in your life.
Some of you, my guess is, have never thought about it at all.
That was true of me for many, many years. Until my dad passed away, it didn't even cross my mind.
Even when some of my really good friends had loved ones die, I didn't have any clue.
How do we face aging and dying and death?
What do we do with that?
Well, friends, that's what our passage this morning speaks to, I believe.
And it gives us a mind-blowing picture of what God has done for us
and how we, who know Christ, can respond to these questions.
And so, in light of that, we're going to look at 1 Corinthians 15, verses 50 through 58.
If you want to turn there in your pew Bible, what's the page? I forgot.
9.62. Page 9.62.
We're going to read this together, and then I will pray, and then we will continue.
1 Corinthians 15, starting in verse 50.
1 Corinthians 15, verse 50.
4, amen.
4 нал.
3 Corinthians 15, verse 50.
5, zodiac Christians.
5, verse 50.
6, verse 51.
6, verse 50.
7, verse 31.
7, verse 51.
8, verse 51.
8, verse 50.
6, verse 51.
5, verse 51.
10, verse 51.
11, verse 51.
20, verse 51.
Let's pray together.
Lord what sweet and precious words
These are that speak to our hope
And Lord lay for us
Channel markers
Lord through the dizzying currents
And the bewildering winds of
Death and dying
Lord thank you for these channel markers
These points of reference
That can lead us through well
Lord I pray this morning you would give us
Your grace to hear your word
Lord to know the hope
That you have given us in Christ
Lord I pray for those who are here this morning
Who are exploring Christianity
Lord that they would hear
Lord of the great hope
That is for all
Who are joined with Christ
In resurrection and eternity
Lord I pray
That you would help us in this heat
To sustain and endure
Lord I pray you would give us ears to hear
What you have to speak to us this morning
By your spirit
Through your word
We pray in Jesus name
Amen
As we come to this passage this morning
I want to remind you of the context
Paul has been writing to the Corinthians
And in the church in Corinth
And in chapter 15
He has come back to
After 14 chapters
Of a lot of ethical instruction
This is how you ought to live
This is how you ought to be
He comes back and he reminds them
He says now I want to remind you
Of what is of first importance
This is the very core
Of the Christian message
This is the very core of the gospel
That Jesus Christ
Died for your sins
And was raised from the dead
He wants us to have that central
It is
Christianity is not about
Being a good person
Christianity is not about
About performing well in the world
It's not about improving our society
It's not about all of those things
In fact it's not about us
First and foremost at all
It's about what God has done
For us in Jesus Christ
That he has come
And by his death
And by his resurrection
He has wrought a work
In the world
A work of redemption
That changes everything
He then goes on
In verses 12 through 34
To address a question
That seemed to be swirling
In the Corinthian context
Which is
But I don't think
That the resurrection
That doesn't make any sense to me
And maybe you understand that
Because in our scientific world
People who die are dead
That's very sort of
Tautological right?
People who die are dead
That's all they do
And this idea of resurrection
Seems very odd to us
And so he attacks this idea
And he says
No, we who are Christians
Must believe
That there is a resurrection
From the dead
Because Christ
Has been raised from the dead
And there is good evidence
Historically
To know that that is true
There is good effect
To remember that
That resurrection
Changes everything
Then he goes on
In verses 35
Through the end of the chapter
Which is the last
We're reading the last part today
And he shifts from the question
Of can there be a resurrection
Or not
To what kind of resurrection body
Would it
Is it going to look like?
What does that really look like?
We're unfamiliar with this idea
Of a resurrected person
So what does it really look like
To be raised from the dead?
And let me just say
My brothers who have preached
On this for the last four weeks
Have done a wonderful job
And if you have missed out
On the last four weeks
Please
Go to our website
Sign up for the podcast
Download the messages
Listen to them
There is much
That I will not get to say
About Jesus Christ
And his resurrection today
Because they've already said it
With much more eloquence
Than I can summarize
So go back and read those
Or listen to those
And be blessed by them
But at the core of it
This section
How Paul responds to that is
Oh what will the resurrection body
Look like?
Well
It will look like
Something more glorious
More fitting
More right
More heavenly
More ideal
Than you could ever imagine
Nick used the analogy
Last week of
If you look at an acorn
And think of what
A beautiful oak tree is like
We in our mortal bodies
Right now
Are that ugly little acorn
And what is coming to us
Is this picture
Of abundant beauty
And glory
Beyond what we could imagine
And that leads us
To our passage this morning
And in our passage this morning
Paul gives us two more
Key perspectives
About the resurrection
And what it means
For us today
How Christ's resurrection
And his victory over death
Means that we too
Can face death
And live life
With certainty
And with hope
So we're going to break it down
We're going to look at three sections
The first one is
The hope of a coming transformation
The second one is
The present reality
Of Christ's victory
And the third is
The exhortation
To draw on that strength
To live lives now
In light of the future resurrection
So that's what we're going to look at
This morning
First one
Verses 50 through 53
Excuse me
He starts out by saying this
I tell you this brothers
Flesh and blood cannot inherit
The kingdom of God
Nor does the perishable
Inherit the imperishable
The Corinthians
It seems like we're thinking
This
This flesh
This ugliness
With all of its warts
And
And extra pounds
And
And all the other things
That I have
And
And the
The ugly elbows
And my misshaped nose
This thing
This mortal body
This thing that's decaying
How can this
Be a part of eternity
How can this
Be a part of God
And his kingdom
How is it possible
That that is true
Imagining that is like saying
A two year old
Is able to fly
An F-16
Or a cricket
Should be able to pull
The queen's carriage
Through the streets of London
It just doesn't make sense
It doesn't fit
This mortal body
Isn't fit
For the future
That is to come
And Paul says
Oh no
Oh no friends
Your imagination
Is too small
This mortal body
You were right
This mortal body
Cannot inherit
Those things
But this mortal body
Isn't going to inherit
Those things
Because God
Is going to do something
In us
In the resurrection
That is wonderful
Look with me
Verses 52-53
Or 51-52
Behold I tell you
A mystery
And a mystery
Isn't some esoteric thing
It's simply something
That wasn't known before
But now
In light of the resurrection
Of Christ
Is now known
And revealed to us
I tell you a mystery
We will not all sleep
Which is a metaphor
For dying
But we will all
Be changed
In a moment
In a 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
This is the great hope
That he's pointing us to
Yes of course
This mortal body
Won't go to heaven
But what God
Has done for us
In Christ
Means that
For all who are in him
Who are joined
With Christ in faith
There is a day
That is coming
In the future
Where this will be
Transformed
Where this flesh
In blood
Will be transformed
Not into a spirit
That doesn't have
A body
And not into a zombie
Or a walking dead
Or some other
Modern conception
Of what it might be
To come back
From the dead
Friends
The greatest sense
We have
Of what that
Imperishable
And immortal
Body
Might look like
Is from the
Accounts in the
Gospels
Where we see
Jesus
Risen from the
Dead
And he's real
And he's physical
And he eats bread
And he touches people
And they can touch him
And he speaks
And yet
There are things
In the gospel
Account
That don't make sense
He seems to be able
To go through walls
He seems to be able
To suddenly appear
And disappear
And you know what
Friends
I have no idea
How to put all that
Together
I'll be honest
With you
I don't know
What this body
Is going to look like
But it will be
Imperishable
And it will be
Immortal
And all the things
That we think
About our bodies
Now
We don't realize
How deeply
We have
Presumed on that
It will all be
Changed
And we will be
Fit
For heaven
And it's not
A process
It's not an
Organic
Or developmental
Thing where we
Suddenly move
Slowly from this
Mortality
To an immortality
Did you see
How Paul describes it
It's going to happen
In a moment
In a twinkling
Of an eye
At the last trumpet
And the trumpet
Is picturing
Christ's triumphant
Return
Where he comes
Back to the earth
To establish
His reign fully
And it is not
Going to be
A process
It will be
Instantaneous
He will come
And we will
Be transformed
Into something
That we've never
Seen before
And can only
Begin to
Imagine
Friends
This is better
Than prolonging
This life
This is better
Than simply
Seeking to get
The most
We can
Out of this
Mortal body
And then
Dying
Like the
Existentialists
Say
This is better
Than fluffy
Clouds
And cherubim
On hearts
What we have
Waiting for us
In this
Immortal
And imperishable
Body
Is going to be
An existence
That will be
More glorious
Than you could
Ever
Imagine
We will be
Fit
For God's
Kingdom
We will be
Fit
For His
Presence
There will be
No shame
There will be
No guilt
There will be
No weakness
There will be
No getting
Old
And no getting
Tired
But we will
Live
With Him
Forever
In the
Richness
Of His
Presence
And His
Glory
And we
Will be
Fit for
That
Because of
The resurrection
From the
Dead
You know
It's
Helpful
To think
About this
I don't know
If you've
Thought about
This
And I've
Shared this
I think
Before
But you
Know
One of
Things
That's
Reality
Is
That
Good
Theology
Is really
Helpful
And in
This
Light
Good
Theology
Has been
Particularly
Really
Helpful
For my
Kids
After
Brandy
Died
I brought
Them
Out to
The hospice
To see
Her
Because I
Wanted them
To see
The body
That was
Left behind
I wanted
Them to
See that
Her spirit
Was no
Longer
There
I wanted
Them to
See
Death
But I
Wanted them
To see
That in
Light of
All the
Things that
We had
Talked
About
With
Them
Over
The
Years
Leading
Up
To
That
How
We
Talked
With
Them
About
Heaven
How
We
Talked
With
Them
About
This
Hope
And
This
Passage
That
That body
Though
It
Failed
Will
Be
Raised
One
Day
And
It
Will
Be
Glorious
That
Brandy
That
Brandy
Will
Immortality
And
Imperish
Ability
That
She
Will
Be
Transformed
And
You
Know
What
It's
Helped
My
Kids
A
Lot
To
Know
That
That's
True
They
Don't
Fear
Death
They
Don't
Fear
Talking
About
Her
They
Don't
Wonder
What
Happened
To
Her
At
Least
They
Never
Told
Me
That
They
Do
Our
Good
Theology
Is
Helpful
As
We
Navigate
These
Things
Paul
Goes
On
And
He
Says
Not
Only
Is
It
True
That
As
We
Are
Caught
Up
With
Christ
In
This
Resurrection
We
Will
Be
Changed
But
He
Also
Then
Goes
On
To
Say
In
54
Through
57
He
Says
That
When
This
Happens
We
Will
Connect
To
A
Victory
Over
The
Greatest
Enemies
Of
Humanity
Paul
Back
In
Verse
26
Of
Chapter
15
Has
Said
Death
Is
The
Last
Enemy
I
Don't
Know
If
You
Have
Thought
About
It
But
How
Much
Of
Our
Life
Is
Driven
By
The
Fact
That
We
Are
Only
Here
For
A
Little
Period
Of
Time
How
Much
Of
Our
Life
Is
Shaped
By
The
Fact
That
We
We're
Going
To
Put
On
These
Things
And
He
Says
But
When
We
Put
Them
On
Then
It
Shall
Come
To
Pass
What
Was
Said
Death
Is
Swallowed
Up
In
Victory
And
He's
Quoting
From
Isaiah
25
And
It's
A
And
So
And
He's
Saying
Of
And
So
Being
Swallowed
Up
Like
A
Little
Shadow
Is
Swallowed
Up
By
The
Brilliance
Of
A
Bright
Sun
As
It
Breaks
Over
The
Horizon
So
Too
Death
Will
Be
Swallowed
Up
By
The
resurrection of Christ on that day. In fact, Paul is so confident and so joyful about this
that in the next verse, he actually turns to a taunt. This is how we ought to read verse 55.
Death, where is your victory? Come on, I don't see it. Where is it? Jesus rose from the dead.
I don't see it. He's taunting death. It's fascinating. What he does actually is,
he's quoting from Hosea 13, and in Hosea 13, it's actually a summons. It's in the context of a
judgment against one of the nations that's been oppressing God's people, and it's a call for death
to come and exert its sting and exert its power on those people because they have been disobedient
to the Lord. And so Paul is acknowledging that humanity has always seen that death has had a
sting and has had a power over humanity. But he now, rather than quoting that and inviting that,
he is now taunting that power. He's saying, death, we thought you had that, but you don't.
You don't have that power anymore. The sting of death is gone
because death has been swallowed up in victory.
And then in typical Pauline writing in verse 56, he takes a little excursus into his great theology of
salvation, right? Because as we understand from the scriptures, death has come from sin. Sin entered
the world, and because of sin. Death. The first man, Adam, sinned, and so we all inherited that sin,
and because of that sin, we all experience death, and there is no escaping that
until Jesus rose from the dead and death was defeated. And it talks about how Jesus defeated that.
This, he talks about how the power of sin is the law, because what the law does, that is the regulations
about how we ought to live in light of God. Simply demonstrate for us that we can't do it. That's
what the law does for all of humanity. It says, you will never be good enough to make it to God on your
own. You will never be able to put on imperishability by being a better person in this world. You will
never be able to put on immortality by trying harder or doing great things in this world.
The hope that you have is that there is one who has done these things for you. Jesus Christ came, and
he lived a perfect life that fulfilled the law in every way. And then he offered himself up, not needing
to die for his own sins. He offered himself in our place, taking the penalty of sin, which is death,
upon himself, and therefore satisfying the requirements of the law. And so suddenly we see
that Jesus has swallowed up death in victory when he rose from the grave.
Friends, join with Paul and with me in verse 37. Thanks be to God. Thanks be to God who gives us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the great hope, not just that Jesus has risen from the
dead, but for all who have put their faith in him, who are trusting in him for their salvation.
We gain that victory too. We will be with him. We will be raised up with him to this newness of life
and this eternal life that will be greater than all.
Some of you are familiar with John Dunn's great poem, Death Be Not Proud.
I almost brought it to quote to you, but it's a little tricky to work through. And I thought I'd save us some of the
400-year-old English. But I did find
an updated version where someone, a contemporary songwriter, has turned it into
a song that I think, and the lyrics capture what John Dunn is saying, but with a little more modern English.
So let me read her version of it to you. This is the taunt, this is the attitude of those who get the victory
in Christ. Death be not proud, though the whole world fear you. Mighty and dreadful you may seem,
but death be not proud, for your pride has failed you. You will not kill me,
though you may dwell in plague and poison. You're a slave to fate and desperate men.
So death, if your sleep be the gates to heaven, why your confidence?
Friends, it is so hard for us to wrap our mind around this truth that death will one day no longer
shape our lives. Death will one day no longer be the end point which defines everything that we do.
But when we are raised with Christ, who has won the victory over death,
friends, there is nothing left but praise to God and taunting that old enemy that we were so afraid of
once, but not anymore. Finally, having put forth to us that we will be transformed as we are caught up
with him. He who has won the victory so that we no longer need to fear death but can be filled with
thanksgiving. Paul then says, therefore, how do we live? Therefore, be steadfast, immovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
He says, because we know these things about death, we can face it honestly. And how do we live in the
meantime? How do we live in light of that? Two things. One, be like the rock of Gibraltar. Don't
be like a beach ball on the edge of the shore that is pushed by every wave of fear about death. Don't allow
yourself to be pushed around by our culture that tries to ignore death, by our culture that tries
to minimize death, by our culture that tries to give platitudes to make us feel better without
actually addressing it. But recognize that in the gospel, in the resurrected Christ, you can be a rock of
Gibraltar where the waves of death. Be steadfast and immovable in light of death. Don't let it rule you
and don't let it fear you. But instead, do what? Always abound in the work of the Lord. Rather than
the prospect of death causing you to go into your shell and simply shrivel up and succumb to it.
He says, no. Face the reality of your death and then go and abound in the work of the Lord. What does
he mean by the work of the Lord? I think it could be many things. It could be simply what he started the
chapter with, which is his own ministry of proclaiming the very core of the gospel. Certainly, this is a
work of the Lord that we would share this hope with others. That we would not have to be confused and
without hope in the face of death, but that we would have these anchor points that can help us navigate
even the greatest questions of life. But you know, I also think that Paul wrote this at the end of his
book, this letter to this church, to say, this is what's going to fuel all the other things.
When I told you to embrace humility and weakness and brokenness in your leaders and not pride and
arrogance and a dismissive and self-exalting attitude. When I told you to think about how you
control your bodies, in the way you live out your sex life for the glory of God, how you manage yourself
and your relationships with one another in the church, how you navigate your culture and the questions
of idolatry and your freedoms, and how you are called to love one another well, how you worship, and how you
exercise your spiritual gifts. These are all, in Paul's mind, the abundance of doing works for the Lord.
As we follow his instructions and all that we've been teaching on in 1 Corinthians,
Paul says, abound in these things
because there is a future and there is a hope that we have.
I don't need to exalt myself and be self-promoting and self-exalting
because one day I will be changed into imperishability and I will be in glory with him.
I don't need to do that now because he will do that for me.
I don't want to use my body to live in patterns of sin that lead to death
when I have been saved for a life that will be eternal and more satisfying and more glorious
than the greatest of physical pleasure in this world.
I don't want to use my freedom to try to give my life meaning in this era, in this age,
but I want to lay it down as a servant for others because I know that one day I will have the
greatest freedom of all, freedom from sin and freedom from death. All this because Christ has won
the victory. And he finished it saying, abound in these things because you know that your labor in
the Lord is not in vain. Friends, recognize that the resurrection of Christ is the most important
thing that has ever happened in the world. It is the turning point of all history. It is the centerpiece
of all Christian theology. It is the thing that gives us hope and makes our life not vain,
not empty, not fruitless. We may or may not see the fruit of our labor. We may or may not see the
good results of our attempts to follow God's instructions on how we ought to live.
But friends, we will not live in vain in Christ because we will not die, but we will be raised with
him imperishable and immortal. And what a great hope this is. You know, last week as I was sitting in
the pew listening to Nick preach on this glorious hope of what our bodies will look like, I actually
had a picture in my mind. I had a picture of Brandy, how she might be sipping the best cup of tea that
she's ever had. How her body and her life are renewed. And like a seed that turns into the lushness of a
garden. All, all of the beautiful things that she was in this world and all the best of who she was
to us, to us, and all the weakness and all the suffering and all the pain that she endured,
those things are like a little seed that have now burst in glory for her.
And I think, I want to hold on to that hope for her because it means I don't despair for her.
For me. Because it means I don't want to give up. And for you. Because I pray that you too will pray
that God will help you to see what God has prepared beforehand for you. No eye has seen,
no ear has heard, and no mind has ever imagined what God has prepared for those who love him
are called according to his purpose. What a great hope we have in Christ. Let's pray.
Lord, thank you for this hope. Thank you that Jesus is risen from the dead.
Lord, we pray that you would help us to come awake.
And Lord, to live in light of this great hope.
Lord, we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. We're going to close our time together by singing a great hymn. I don't know if you've noticed,
but all of our songs this morning have touched on and brought forth the centrality of the resurrection
of the dead and the hope that it brings. So, we will sing. You'll hear the echoes.
Thank you.