WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.439 Now, if any of you missed this morning's service, you should know that our dear sister in Christ, 00:00:08.439 --> 00:00:14.519 Elizabeth Graham, has gone home to be with the Lord. 00:00:14.519 --> 00:00:21.179 She loved Jesus dearly, and so we know that she fell asleep in the Lord. 00:00:21.179 --> 00:00:26.859 And we know that she woke instantly in the presence of her King. 00:00:26.859 --> 00:00:39.840 She woke unencumbered by mortal weakness, frailty, unencumbered by sin, by suffering. 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:45.640 So we miss her now, and we just carry on for a while as we wait for our turn, knowing 00:00:45.640 --> 00:00:48.640 that we'll be with her again soon. 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:55.039 Now I prayerfully chose this text for the sermon well before I knew that death would 00:00:55.039 --> 00:00:59.119 hit home so soon. 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:07.680 But praise God that he knew, and the Spirit wanted us to hear tonight about resurrection. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:10.480 Isn't he kind? 00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:20.400 Now, 1 Corinthians 15 is a big chapter, and there's a lot in it. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:24.439 But here's what I really want to get at tonight. 00:01:24.439 --> 00:01:35.239 Everything that we do in this life proclaims either death wins or life wins. 00:01:35.239 --> 00:01:40.579 Every decision, every action, every act of service, every act of self-service proclaims 00:01:40.579 --> 00:01:51.640 in some way to others or to your own heart, either death and despair or life and purpose, 00:01:51.640 --> 00:01:54.280 meaningfulness. 00:01:54.280 --> 00:01:59.320 What we believe about death should completely change the way that we live. 00:01:59.320 --> 00:02:02.200 That's the trajectory of this whole chapter. 00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:05.040 That's why Paul ends the chapter in verse 58. 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:08.560 It's his purpose statement when he says, be steadfast. 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:14.159 He says, therefore, be steadfast and immovable, abound in the work of the Lord, and know that 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:17.080 your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 00:02:17.080 --> 00:02:19.280 That's what he's driving at. 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:27.520 I know it's a long chapter, but let's just think through and summarize what Paul's been 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:29.960 getting at in 1 Corinthians 15. 00:02:29.960 --> 00:02:35.560 He begins by talking about how important the resurrection of Jesus is. 00:02:35.560 --> 00:02:37.280 And then he works that out. 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:39.520 He fleshes that out. 00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:46.080 He says, on the one hand, if Christ wasn't raised from the dead, then our faith is futile. 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:48.240 We're still in our sins. 00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:55.200 Death is forever, and we Christians are the most pitiable people on the planet. 00:02:55.200 --> 00:02:59.320 And then there's that excellent but God, you know, come one of those but moments in the 00:02:59.320 --> 00:03:03.680 Bible where he says, but Christ has been raised from the dead. 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:08.840 And so because of that, he says, we will be raised too. 00:03:08.840 --> 00:03:14.400 Death will be destroyed, and so we should live like it. 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:16.840 That's just a summary of his argument. 00:03:16.840 --> 00:03:23.680 That's why at the end he says, therefore, be steadfast and immovable. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:28.680 That's the goal of Paul's chapter, and that's the goal of the sermon, is the Lord wants 00:03:28.680 --> 00:03:32.960 us to become those kind of people. 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:40.520 Not unsteady but steady, not flimsy but immovable, not full of doubt that everything we do and 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:50.080 everything we suffer has no purpose but knowing that our labors in the Lord are not in vain. 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:52.480 So how do we become people like that? 00:03:52.480 --> 00:03:55.879 Well, we need to get to grips with three things. 00:03:55.879 --> 00:04:01.080 The first is the foundation, the union, and the death of death. 00:04:01.080 --> 00:04:02.760 All right. 00:04:02.760 --> 00:04:04.480 Number one, the foundation. 00:04:04.480 --> 00:04:08.240 In verse three, Paul says that this is of first importance. 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:09.879 This is the foundation of everything. 00:04:09.879 --> 00:04:13.599 It's the linchpin that holds the faith together. 00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:20.360 Jesus, the Son of God, became a human, which is incredible. 00:04:20.360 --> 00:04:24.240 But maybe even more incredible is that he died. 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:28.319 And most remarkably, that he came back from death. 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:33.439 He came through death and came out the other side, not just a resuscitation. 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:36.639 He didn't just come back as a normal mortal. 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:48.120 He came back as a new creation with a body that will go on forever in surging vitality. 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:52.560 We humans have a shelf life. 00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:58.079 If I had a lid, I'd have an expiration date written on the top of my lid. 00:04:58.079 --> 00:04:59.079 Check the top. 00:04:59.079 --> 00:05:02.560 We all have one. 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:08.720 Paul says that in the resurrection, what was perishable is raised imperishable. 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:12.079 What was weak is raised in power. 00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:18.120 So when Jesus stepped out of that grave 2,000 years ago, it was with a glorified, new resurrection 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:19.840 body. 00:05:19.840 --> 00:05:23.000 He is the true human. 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:31.840 Jesus is the blueprint for what humanity was always designed to become. 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:37.679 And Paul says, if that's not true, why bother? 00:05:37.679 --> 00:05:41.159 If Jesus wasn't raised from the dead like that, then really nothing matters. 00:05:41.159 --> 00:05:43.919 And we can just do as we please. 00:05:43.919 --> 00:05:49.679 Friedrich Nietzsche was being entirely logical when he said that if God is dead, we might 00:05:49.679 --> 00:05:54.279 as well be as just immoral and opportunistic as we like. 00:05:54.279 --> 00:05:56.639 That's reasonable, actually. 00:05:56.639 --> 00:05:59.679 But God is not dead. 00:05:59.679 --> 00:06:01.559 Jesus did not stay in that grave. 00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:02.800 He is alive. 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:08.199 And that is the bedrock foundation of our faith. 00:06:08.199 --> 00:06:11.280 Without that foundation, there is no purpose in anything. 00:06:11.280 --> 00:06:19.160 But with that foundation, there is purpose in everything. 00:06:19.160 --> 00:06:23.680 And that includes suffering, by the way. 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:27.680 If Jesus is alive, then all of your suffering and your loneliness and your weakness and your 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:35.959 frailty has a glorious purpose. 00:06:35.959 --> 00:06:41.920 Derek preached this morning from Revelation 14.13, blessed are those who die in the Lord, 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:48.519 blessed indeed, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors for their deeds. 00:06:48.519 --> 00:06:50.720 Follow them. 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:56.280 The resurrection, the foundation of our faith, means that every act of mercy, every deed 00:06:56.279 --> 00:07:09.000 done in the name of Christ, every ounce of suffering is not in vain, but has a purpose. 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:10.000 That's the foundation. 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:13.679 Now, number two, the union. 00:07:13.679 --> 00:07:16.759 I'm talking about union with Christ. 00:07:16.759 --> 00:07:20.679 We are united to Christ when we put our faith in Jesus. 00:07:20.679 --> 00:07:23.879 Paul talks about this constantly in a strange way. 00:07:23.879 --> 00:07:29.279 He says that as Christians, we are in Christ, we are in the Lord. 00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:36.040 What he means is we are so united to Jesus in his death and resurrection that what happens 00:07:36.040 --> 00:07:43.079 to Jesus happens to us. 00:07:43.079 --> 00:07:46.719 That's why Paul calls Jesus the first fruits in verse 20. 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:54.240 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead the first fruits of those who have fallen 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:55.640 asleep. 00:07:55.640 --> 00:08:00.520 First fruits are only first fruits if they're second fruits. 00:08:00.520 --> 00:08:04.920 First fruits make sense if there's a whole harvest on the way. 00:08:04.920 --> 00:08:08.760 Let me use an absurd illustration. 00:08:08.760 --> 00:08:10.440 Imagine standing on a skateboard. 00:08:10.440 --> 00:08:14.360 It might take a lot of imagining for some of us. 00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:18.000 Imagine standing on a skateboard and holding onto the end of a rope. 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:22.160 It's a long coiled rope in front of you and the other end of that rope is tied to the 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:25.360 end of a car. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:29.879 There you are on your skateboard with this rope and that car starts to drive down the 00:08:29.879 --> 00:08:32.159 street. 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:37.200 In that moment, the most certain thing in the world is that you are going to follow that 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:44.320 car probably faster than you'd like. 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:48.120 The skateboard is if you like, united to the car by the rope. 00:08:48.120 --> 00:08:56.240 You, if you believe in Jesus, are united to Jesus by the spirit and he's on the move. 00:08:56.240 --> 00:09:06.080 So he's gone through death and he's come out the other side, glorious new creation human, 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:09.920 resurrected in a body of surging vitality that will go on forever. 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:14.519 And the most certain thing in the world for us Christians is that you're going to follow 00:09:14.519 --> 00:09:22.559 him if you are united to him. 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:29.000 Jesus is alive and glorious and we will be alive and have new creation bodies one day 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:34.399 like his because he earned that reward for us. 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:40.639 Jesus obeyed God perfectly in our place and died the death that we should have died and 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:42.439 he gives us the reward. 00:09:42.439 --> 00:09:45.000 Isn't that crazy? 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:51.399 Donald McLeod writes that the believer's resurrection body will be as glorious as the 00:09:51.399 --> 00:09:56.480 obedience of God's own son deserves. 00:09:56.480 --> 00:10:02.399 Think about that. 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:10.279 Jesus is 36 and 37, Paul writes, what you sow is using agricultural gardening language. 00:10:10.279 --> 00:10:14.840 What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 00:10:14.840 --> 00:10:19.319 And what you sow is not the body that is to be but a barycarnal, perhaps of wheat or some 00:10:19.319 --> 00:10:22.879 other grain. 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:30.000 Our bodies are like a seed and seeds must die in order to become what they were meant 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:33.759 to be. 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:39.360 When we are in Christ then we're like a seed which has a glorious and eternal future to 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:45.879 stand tall in the eternal light of the sun which means that suffering and death is not 00:10:45.879 --> 00:10:48.039 the barrier to life. 00:10:48.039 --> 00:10:52.080 It's not the thing standing between us and life and getting in the way. 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:57.440 It's the doorway into that life. 00:10:57.440 --> 00:11:03.360 Some of you may know Tim Keller, the preacher from the states, is probably in his final 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:06.360 months with the terminal cancer diagnosis. 00:11:06.360 --> 00:11:11.840 And I heard on a remarkable interview the other day, he said, I'm not fighting cancer, 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:16.560 I'm fighting sin. 00:11:16.560 --> 00:11:18.560 He knows. 00:11:18.560 --> 00:11:21.760 Elizabeth knew. 00:11:21.760 --> 00:11:26.240 Suffering and death is not the barrier to life. 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:29.399 It's the doorway. 00:11:29.399 --> 00:11:38.039 The seed must die but the flower will be lovely. 00:11:38.039 --> 00:11:43.320 Number three, the death of death. 00:11:43.320 --> 00:11:48.680 Jesus conquered death 2,000 years ago but death will be finally defeated. 00:11:48.679 --> 00:11:57.479 The last blow will be leveled on death when we've all been changed, when we've all been 00:11:57.479 --> 00:12:02.959 resurrected into our glorious Christ-like bodies and be with Jesus. 00:12:02.959 --> 00:12:10.599 Verse 54, and following, when the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts 00:12:10.599 --> 00:12:15.599 on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed 00:12:15.599 --> 00:12:16.599 up in victory. 00:12:16.600 --> 00:12:19.759 O death, where is your victory? 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:25.759 O death, where is your sting? 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:35.080 Every part of this life is proclaiming either death wins or life wins. 00:12:35.080 --> 00:12:38.720 How then will we live? 00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:45.080 Will we accept our labor of love and service in the Lord? 00:12:45.080 --> 00:12:51.200 Will we accept good times and hard times from the hand of our King? 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:56.360 Will we do war with our sin? 00:12:56.360 --> 00:13:04.560 Or will we do whatever we want, seeking all the earthly comforts we can? 00:13:04.560 --> 00:13:10.160 Will we proclaim with our lives the victory of death ultimately or the victory of Jesus, 00:13:10.160 --> 00:13:12.360 the Lord of life? 00:13:12.360 --> 00:13:16.519 That's the choice in front of us. 00:13:16.519 --> 00:13:21.399 In verse 2, Paul reminds us, he says, I would remind you of the gospel you believed unless 00:13:21.399 --> 00:13:24.000 you believed in vain. 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:27.919 I wonder if we have a category for believing in vain. 00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:32.560 That's what our theme this year of hearing and doing is kind of all about. 00:13:32.560 --> 00:13:40.240 If we live like death wins by fleeing from difficult things and running to comforts outside 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:47.039 of the Lord by making out like truces with our sin, if we live like that, then we can 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:51.600 agree with the gospel all we like, but it's completely in vain. 00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:56.879 If we believe the gospel, we've got to live like it. 00:13:56.879 --> 00:14:01.480 That totally changes the way that we see suffering now. 00:14:01.480 --> 00:14:04.960 Difficulty. 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:10.600 Joni Erickson Tata, if I'm saying her name right, she was only 17 when she had a diving 00:14:10.600 --> 00:14:12.879 accident and broke her neck. 00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:16.480 And she became paralyzed from the shoulders down. 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:19.639 No use at all of her hands or her feet. 00:14:19.639 --> 00:14:25.400 And on a radio program that she hosted one day, she said this, let me read it to you. 00:14:25.400 --> 00:14:30.800 I always say that in a way, I hope I can take my wheelchair to heaven with me. 00:14:30.800 --> 00:14:34.759 I know that's not theologically correct, but if I were able, I would have my wheelchair 00:14:34.759 --> 00:14:39.960 up in heaven right next to me when God gives me my brand new glorified body. 00:14:39.960 --> 00:14:45.559 And I will then turn to Jesus and say, Lord, do you see that wheelchair right there? 00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:49.799 Well, you were right when you said that in this world, we would have trouble because 00:14:49.799 --> 00:14:52.759 that wheelchair was a lot of trouble. 00:14:52.759 --> 00:14:58.439 But Jesus, the weaker I was in that thing, the harder I leaned on you. 00:14:58.439 --> 00:15:03.039 And the harder I leaned on you, the stronger I discovered you to be. 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:10.159 So thank you for what you did in my life through that wheelchair. 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:16.839 And now you can send that wheelchair to hell if you want. 00:15:16.839 --> 00:15:29.279 Joni knew, Joni knew how the Lord uses difficulty in our lives, how he doesn't work in spite 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:37.279 of our mortal human weaknesses, but through them. 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:46.759 Do you see how the resurrection of Jesus can make us into steady, immovable Christians 00:15:46.759 --> 00:15:50.039 full of purpose? 00:15:50.039 --> 00:15:55.039 If you lean on Jesus in your weakness, you'll find not only is he strong, but that he will 00:15:55.039 --> 00:16:02.319 raise you up one day into such a life that your life now will, it will be the difference 00:16:02.319 --> 00:16:05.839 between like a sunflower and a seed in the palm of your hand. 00:16:05.839 --> 00:16:11.159 Which one seems more alive? 00:16:11.159 --> 00:16:15.799 Let me just end by saying something which is really easy to forget. 00:16:15.799 --> 00:16:20.240 I think it's particularly a problem of my generation. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:22.879 Heaven, this is so important. 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:27.799 Heaven is not going to be a bunch of disembodied spirits floating around playing harps in the 00:16:27.799 --> 00:16:29.639 clouds. 00:16:29.639 --> 00:16:31.639 That is not our eternal future. 00:16:31.639 --> 00:16:32.639 That's boring. 00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:36.200 That is not what we're in for with Christ. 00:16:36.200 --> 00:16:41.399 In the new creation, the new heavens and new earth, you will have such a body because 00:16:41.399 --> 00:16:45.759 you will have need of a body. 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:53.799 Jesus is preparing a glorious body for you because he's preparing a glorious place for 00:16:53.799 --> 00:16:55.399 you. 00:16:55.399 --> 00:17:02.960 And if that's our future, we can take whatever he gives us in this life. 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:06.440 So let's live like that's true. 00:17:06.440 --> 00:17:07.920 Let's kill the sins. 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:10.119 The fruit of sin is death. 00:17:10.119 --> 00:17:12.480 Let's be done with that. 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:18.039 Let's lean on Jesus and our weakness and in our suffering and find that he is strong and 00:17:18.039 --> 00:17:29.200 let's know for certainty that our labor in the Lord is not in vain. 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:34.759 Let's pray. 00:17:34.759 --> 00:17:38.519 God of all comforts. 00:17:38.519 --> 00:17:41.559 Lord of life. 00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:48.559 We come to you this evening in awe of your power that you would raise your son up through 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:55.159 death that death could not hold Jesus down. 00:17:55.159 --> 00:18:04.720 And we come tonight in awe of your kindness that you would so unite us to your son that 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:10.559 we share in his life. 00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:20.799 We praise you for the immovable hope that we have in Jesus. 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:34.679 The hope that changes the tincture of our grief from despair to something beautiful. 00:18:34.680 --> 00:18:45.920 And so we do grieve and we miss Elizabeth already, but not as those without hope. 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:52.600 We lift up the whole Graham family now, Billy, and everybody, Lord, and they were so well 00:18:52.600 --> 00:19:01.960 loved on multiple continents for all those who are just broken up over the loss of their 00:19:01.960 --> 00:19:07.680 dear friend, mother, wife. 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:18.519 Lord would you be so near to them and make Jesus so glorious in this moment? 00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:29.240 We ask it for the glory of Christ, for the joy of seeing you face to face one day. 00:19:29.240 --> 00:19:32.319 Amen.