The scripture reading comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 15. The text is a bridge, so it be
all along on the screen or any other bulletin. Starting in verse 1, we read,
Now I will remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in
which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you prophesy the word I preached
to you, and then you begin to gain. For I deliver to you at the first importance what I also
received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was
buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that
he appeared to see first, then to the twelve, then he appeared to more than five hundred
brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have gone with me.
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there
is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even
Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain,
and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified
about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise, if it is true that the dead are
not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ
has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins. Then those also
who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only,
we are all of all people most to be pitied. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead,
the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also
the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and
every 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.
Why are we in danger every hour? I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus,
our Lord. I die every day. What do I gain of, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus?
If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Do not be deceived.
Bad company ruins good morals. Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning.
For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. But someone will ask,
how are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come? So is it with the resurrection of the dead.
What is sown is perishable. What is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory.
It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body.
Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality,
then shall come to pass the saying that is written,
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. This is the word of God.
Great. Thanks, Annabelle. That was a long reading, but thank you. Good morning, everybody.
And it is so good to be back with the Watermark family, to see your faces. Some of you,
we haven't seen your faces in months, and so a warm welcome to you. If you are new or watching
online, my name is Kevin, one of the elder pastors here. It is so great to be with the church family
once again. We've missed you so much, and this just feels like, I think we said it last time,
like a good family reunion meal together, right? And so a warm welcome. I would love you to join me
as we pray together. And I'm going to read a prayer that was written by a man called Scott Smith.
It's not too long. Will you join me as we pray and just revel in Christ this morning? Let's pray
together. Lord Jesus, the question you put to the Pharisees before your arrest, who do you say I am,
remains the most important question for us to answer, even here today in 21st century Hong Kong.
Lord Jesus, the more we study the scriptures, the more we realize there is always more to you.
You, Lord Jesus, are the creator, the sustainer, the restorer of all things, the alpha and the omega,
the beginning and the end, and everything in between. Angels worship you. Tiny birds depend upon you.
Jesus, you are the second Adam, not just our second chance. You are the son of David, but you're also
the son of God. You lived a life of perfect obedience for us. You, Jesus, exhausted all judgment
against us on the cross. By you, we are completely forgiven. Jesus, in you, we are perfectly righteous.
Jesus, you are our reigning king, our returning bridegroom, our sovereign over days, over all
dominions, even sovereign over flowers of the field. Bruised reeds love your appearing. Children
dance at you. Demons tremble before you. Jesus, you are gentle and lowly. You are high and exalted.
Wonder of wonders, because you are this and so much more. We are in your heart. We are on your mind
all the time. This doesn't make us special. It makes us yours. Jesus, you know us perfectly,
and for some reason you delight in us fully. Jesus, there's not a moment you're not loving us,
praying for us, advocating for us. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Continue to free us from under-thinking
about you, under-believing in who you are. So very amen, we pray, in your glorious and graceful name.
Amen. Amen. Well, this morning, as we have heard and sung about, is Resurrection Sunday. And along
with billions of Christians around the world, we celebrate the fact, this astounding and unexpected
event in the history of the world. That 2,000 years ago, on Passover weekend, in the city of Jerusalem,
Jesus of Nazareth was condemned to die as a criminal. And a Pontius Pilate, he was nailed to a
Roman cross. He was marched up to Calvary, hoisted up on the cross. And there, he was left to hang and
to die for the sins of the world. That the sins of all those who come to him in faith and repentance,
who trust in him, will be put on his shoulders. There, Jesus took the wrath of God so that those
who come to him in faith no longer bear that wrath, but are under his gracious forgiveness.
And so we celebrate that. But this morning, we celebrate that on the third day, Jesus rose from
the dead. That the disciples found his tomb. The stone that was rolled to seal the tomb was rolled away.
That the tomb was empty. The grave clothes had been folded up. And then the coming hours and days,
Jesus revealed himself in a physical, bodily, resurrected, nail-scarred body to his disciples.
Jesus rose not just as a spirit. Jesus rose not just as a ghost. Jesus rose in a physical,
nail-scarred body. And his disciples and many others were going to testify how they had encountered him.
I know for some of us that are maybe still trying to make sense of this, it seems crazy that Jesus,
who was dead, could rise again. Central to the Christian message, central to the whole Christian
understanding of what life in God's kingdom is, is this idea that Jesus, who was laid in the tomb,
rose again. And as we said, not just in a spiritual sense, not just that Jesus rises from our
hearts when we believe in him. Jesus' death and resurrection is not just a myth to lay credence
to this newfound religion. Jesus, the historical event, really happened that he died and he rose
again. But what does that mean for us today? What does that mean for us in 21st century Hong Kong,
that this crazy event that happened 2,000 years ago? Well, on one hand, it means that the claims that
Jesus made about himself are verified. Jesus really is who he said he was, the divine son of God who
came to take upon himself the sins of the world. But as we're going to look at today in the passage
that Annabelle read to us, it means so much more than something that happened 2,000 years ago and
something that's going to happen one day in the future. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead
changes the entire way that those that are in Christ view life and understand what life in our world
looks like and means. And so let's look at 1 Corinthians 15 as we work through this passage today.
And so if you've got your bulletin, open it up with me. We're going to work through it a little bit
and this passage. Now, we need to understand the context of what's going on here.
Paul writes this letter to the Corinthians. And obviously, the city of Corinth is a city in
ancient Greece. And if you'll know anything about Greek philosophy, the Greeks believed
that the material physical body is kind of something of less value than the spiritual and
immaterial world. For the ancient Greeks, the spiritual world, the immaterial world was good and
righteous and look forward to that. The physical world was of lesser value, even something that is
wrong, something that is evil. Now, interestingly enough, the Corinthians believed that Jesus really
did die and rise again. They had looked at the evidence, they had heard the testimony, they had done
the research, and they fully believed that Jesus died and rose from the grave. But what they weren't so
sure about is that when human beings die, there is a physical after, there is a physical world to come,
which we will inhibit. For the Corinthians, when we die, our bodies just, all the physical world gets
done away with. And we somehow transcend into an immaterial, soulish, disembodied state, and we do
something up in the heavens. Who knows what, but some immaterial world up there that our spirits go to.
And Paul writes them to say that this misunderstanding of the world to come actually is going to impact
the way that we live our lives here and now. And so for them, Jesus' resurrection from the dead was some
unique event that happened to Jesus alone because on the basis of his being the Son of God. But for
everyone else, the best that we can hope for when we die is some immaterial, soul, kind of disembodied
state where we go in the clouds and maybe play harps and sing kumbaya, my Lord, for all eternity.
And Paul's going to show them that that's not the case. And what we believe about what Jesus did on
the cross and what his resurrection means actually changes everything about our lives.
And so the first thing, or let me say this, I think in our day and age, many Christians believe
something similar. We know that Jesus died. We know that Jesus rose again. And we hope that that,
what that means is that somehow after our life, it'll mean that there's hope for us. But what that means,
we don't really know. Maybe it just means that our souls get to be in heaven. And we, as we said,
we sit on clouds and we sing songs, but it all sounds a little ethereal, a little domesticated,
a little boring, if we are allowed to say. What Paul writes to show us here is that Jesus'
resurrection from the dead in a physical bodily sense means that for those of us that are in Christ,
our resurrection from the dead in a physical bodily sense, in a physical glorious world,
a majestic world is absolutely certain. Look at what he says here in verse 12. He says,
now if Christ is proclaimed as being raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there's no
resurrection from the dead for us? So the Corinthians are saying, it's fine that Jesus rose from the dead,
but us, this is all there is in life. Let's just make merry and make the most of this world.
Let's just live it up, make the most money, satisfy our lives here, because after this world,
who knows what there is to come? Maybe our souls will go into some next world existence,
but this world is where it all really comes. And Paul is saying, if Jesus really rose from the dead,
how can you say that all we have to hope and live for is the things of this world?
Don't you know there's a whole nother world that's coming? He says, verse 13,
for if there's no bodily physical resurrection of the dead for us, then not even Christ has been raised.
And then our faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ
have perished. They've died. They're non-existent. For if, as Christians, we hope in this life only,
we of all people are most to be pitied. Friends, you see that? If our hope is found in the things of
this world only, well, we of all people are most to be pitied. There's no difference.
What's the point of being a Christian? Then Christianity is all a self-improvement project.
But, he says, in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead and is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep,
those who have died. Now, the word first fruits is taken from an agricultural, a farming analogy,
and it means the down payment, the guarantee of what's to come. Let's say you reap a harvest,
and the first fruits indicates what the rest is to come, what it looks like. You go to the market and
you want to buy some fruit, and the seller says, yeah, have a taste. He gives you a first fruit,
a taste of what the rest of the batch will be like. It's an indication of what is to come.
If you're to make a payment, you pay a deposit, the first payment, guaranteeing the rest to follow.
Jesus' physical bodily resurrection from the dead is not just a metaphysical analogy.
It's actually a guarantee of what is to come in the world to come, what will happen to us,
that our bodies will rise in a physical resurrection glorious sense.
For those who are with Christ, our resurrection is guaranteed by the living God.
The resurrection, for those of us that are in Christ, is absolutely guaranteed.
It's certain. It's to come.
Friends, this world, in this world you will have trouble.
But this world is not where your hope lies.
There is a world to come which is absolutely certain.
But look at what Paul says.
Secondly, he says, not only does Jesus' physical bodily resurrection make our own resurrection absolutely certain,
it makes it wonderful.
Look at how Paul describes it in verse 35.
He says, someone will say, how are the dead raised?
With what kind of body do they have?
Okay, so Paul is telling us here, when you die, you and I will be raised from the dead,
not in this world, in the age to come, with a physical, glorious, wonderful, resurrected body.
In a physical, wonderful, glorious world.
But what kind of bodies will we have?
My grandmother just passed away last week.
She was 98 years old.
What kind of body?
She became a follower of Jesus in her mid-70s.
And what kind of body will she be raised with in Christ?
Well, look at what Paul says here.
Paul answers with the analogy of a seed.
He says, when you plant a seed, the seed is just a bare kernel of what you hope will grow.
You plant an acorn, you hope to get an oak tree.
You plant an avocado stone or pip, you hope to get an avocado tree.
You plant a tiny chili seed, and you hope to get a chili bush.
Paul says, in the same way, our bodies are like in kernel form.
And when they die, what is raised is not just a slightly improved version,
but a whole new, glorious version.
Look at what he says here in verse 42.
Friends, how many of us are getting aged?
How many of us here struggle with sickness and disease?
Some of us, some of us with diabetes.
Some of us are gluten intolerant.
Some of us daily face the battle of pain and aches and agony.
Friends, our body is going to be sown in weakness and fragility.
Perishable.
It's going to be raised a whole new, glorious body.
Pain-free.
Ache-free.
Disease-free.
No more agony.
No more pain.
No more needing to watch what you eat.
No more reaction and pain in our bodies to come.
In fact, look at what he says in verse 49.
He says, just as we have borne the image of the man of dust in this world,
so we shall bear the image of the man of heaven.
Paul is saying that in the world to come,
our physical bodies will resemble Jesus' resurrection body.
Isn't that incredible?
He says the same thing in Philippians chapter 3.
He says, when Jesus comes,
he will transform our lowly, sin-ravaged, pain-infected bodies
with his glorious body.
Our physical bodies in the new heavens and the new earth
will, in the glorious age to come,
will resemble in some way the glorious, majestic body of Jesus.
Isn't that incredible?
Isn't that good news?
Friends, heaven is not just going to be us sitting on the clouds,
playing harps, wondering what to do with our time.
Heaven is going to be a glorious and a renewed creation
where we will join with Christ in enjoying God,
enjoying creation, enjoying one another
in an infinitely beautiful and glorious new world.
C.S. Lewis, in the last of his Narnia books,
the last battle,
he has this scene where he describes what glory is going to be like.
And in this scene, the four children,
Lucy, Edmund, Susan, and Peter,
grab some fruit in this picture of eternity.
And they eat this fruit.
And C.S. Lewis says,
what was the fruit like?
Well, how can you describe a taste?
All I can say is that the very sweetest strawberry you've ever eaten,
the very sweetest melon,
the most delicious pear you've ever eaten,
will feel wooden, flowery, hard, and disgusting
compared to that which is to come.
He says,
Think of the most beautiful day that you've ever experienced.
And compared to the glory of eternity,
the bluest sky will seem overcast and dull,
depressing and anxiety-producing.
The very greenest vistas you've ever seen
will seem dry and dead, archaic,
compared to the glory that's to come.
He's trying to find this language to say,
the very best thing that you've experienced in this world
will seem depressing and old and archaic and dying
compared to the world that's to come.
Friends, Jesus' resurrection from the dead
is a first-fruit prototype
of the world that we've got to look forward to
for those of us that are in Christ.
That's good news.
But there's something actually more important
than all of that about the resurrection.
There's something more significant
about what Jesus' resurrection means.
And that is,
not only has Jesus' resurrection secured for us
a glorious world,
which is certain and wonderful,
even more startling,
is that in many ways,
Jesus' resurrection secures for us
the world that's to come
is in some ways already here today.
Okay, now you're going to need to follow me here
because this is going to be a little theological.
Okay, are you ready?
Thank you, Iris.
Okay, great.
In the New Testament,
Jesus' resurrection was not just an isolated event
that was unique to Jesus as the Son of God,
but rather Jesus' resurrection from the dead
was the beginning or something,
an event that set in motion
a whole new entire world to come.
Okay?
Let me say it this way.
Jesus' resurrection from the dead,
Jesus' death and resurrection,
was not just a historical event
that happened 2,000 years ago.
It was the inauguration
of an entire new universe
or cosmos or world
that began then.
So, let me quote N.T. Wright,
who's one of the greatest philosophers
and theologians on this point.
Listen to how N.T. Wright says it.
He says,
In the New Testament,
the point of the resurrection
is not simply that the Creator God
has done something remarkable
for one solitary individual,
but that in and through the resurrection,
the present evil age
has been invaded by the age to come.
A time of return,
restoration and renewal.
An event has occurred
and as a result,
the world is a different place.
Human beings have a new possibility
to become a completely different kind of people.
Okay?
Do you see what he's saying?
Because of the resurrection,
the present evil age in which we live
has been invaded by the world to come.
And in some ways,
that world is beginning to bear fruit in our lives.
N.T. Wright is saying this.
Not only does the resurrection of Jesus
guarantee that one day when we die,
we will have a magnificent resurrection bodies
that will participate in this new glorious creation,
in the new heaven and new earth,
but in fact,
that glorious new world
has in some way,
in seed form,
partially but significantly,
begun in our world today
for those that are in Christ.
Jesus' death and resurrection
began or set in motion
something that will culminate with his return
when he defeats all his enemies,
when he crushes evil,
when he hands back the kingdom of God
to his father,
and when he reigns for all glory
with those that are in Christ.
Jesus' resurrection
was a deliberate invasion,
a repudiation,
a reversal
of the present
sin-ravaged,
pain-saturated,
death-stained,
God-denying world
by the kingdom of God
to come.
And friends,
for those of us that are in Christ,
we get to participate
in that world
here and now.
It's kind of like,
let me see if this analogy makes sense,
it's kind of like
when a couple are married
and they're trying to have kids
and the wife falls pregnant.
In some ways,
your life doesn't change too much.
You're still the same person.
You still go to work.
You still go to the shops.
You don't get transformed
from this world to another kingdom.
You still live in this world.
But in another sense,
the age to come
invades your life
and turns your whole world upside down.
You start off maybe feeling
a little bit nauseous, right?
You start to see
everything in the world differently.
Suddenly you start to see
public transport
and you think,
I wonder how a pram
will fit on that bus
or that MTR system.
Suddenly you start looking
at the packaging
and the labels
on all sorts of foods
that you eat.
In some ways,
your whole world is different
because the age to come,
the world that is going
to be yours
in nine months' time
has invaded your world
in anticipation
of what's to come.
And yet,
in many ways,
you're still the same person.
The resurrection of Jesus
is the inauguration,
has set in motion
a series of events
in which the entire world
changes for those
that are in Christ.
Listen to how
Tim Keller puts it.
He says this,
The resurrection was indeed
a miraculous display
of God's power.
But we should not see it
as a suspension
of the natural order
of the world.
Rather,
it is the beginning
of the restoration
of the natural order
of the world.
The world as God
intended it to be.
Okay?
Do you get that?
We shouldn't see
the miracle
of the resurrection
as a suspension
of the natural order
like God just said,
Okay,
I'm just going to pause
how things are going to be.
I'm going to do a miracle
and then things are going
to go back
to the natural order.
Actually,
the resurrection
was a restoration
of how the world
as God intended it to be
actually is.
The resurrection
means not merely
that Christians
have a hope
for the future,
but that we have a hope
that comes from the future
that begins now.
The Bible's startling message
is that when Jesus
rose from the dead,
he brought the future,
majestic, glorious,
life-giving kingdom of God
into our present world
here and now.
I hope that's not
too philosophical.
Jesus' resurrection
doesn't just change things
for when you die.
It changes the entire way
you see the world now.
The resurrection of Jesus
means that Christians,
as one author put it,
living in heaven
even as we live on earth,
living in the future
even as we live
in the present.
And when you think about it,
what that means
is the entire Christian life
is a participation
in the world to come.
That's why,
what it means
is Christians say,
I'm a sojourner
on this world,
I'm a citizen
of the world to come.
It's saying,
I'm not my own,
but I belong,
body and soul,
to Christ.
It's saying,
it's no longer I
who live,
but it's Christ
who lives in me.
The resurrection
means that Christians
say,
I'm willing to count
all the treasures
of this world
as rubbish
in order that I may
know Christ
and the power
of his resurrection,
even as I participate
in the sufferings
of this world.
Romans chapter 6
puts it like this,
when Jesus died,
we died with him.
And when Jesus raised,
he was raised from the dead
by the glory
of the Father
so that we might walk
in newness of life
in this world today.
Friends,
do you know what that means?
It means for those of us
that are in Christ
by faith,
everything changes.
Because the resurrection
of Jesus from the dead
doesn't just mean good news
for the future one days,
it means the good news
of the future
has invaded our world now.
It means that in
through the resurrection,
in the present evil age,
God has invaded our world
with the age to come.
And as a result,
the world is a different place.
And those that are in Christ
have the new possibility
of being utterly
different kinds of people.
Jesus' resurrection
changes everything.
Everything.
And when we look
at the New Testament,
one of the things
that's amazing
is that you see
in everything
that the apostles
write about,
they appeal
to the hope
of the resurrection,
the will to come,
to deal with
every issue in life.
The resurrection
changes the way
that we see money.
It changes the way
that we see
our desires.
It changes the way
that we handle success.
It changes the way
we handle disappointment.
It changes the way
we handle failure.
It changes the way
we handle hurt
and betrayal.
It changes the way
that we view
our bodies
and sexuality.
The resurrection
of Jesus
changes absolutely
everything.
Friends,
if you do not
understand
what Jesus did
when he died
and rose again
from the grave,
if you do not
understand
what Jesus
is doing
in this world
by way
of his resurrection,
you'll forever
be anxious,
frustrated,
super busy,
overworked,
frantically
running around
and yet paradoxically
you'll be
unfulfilled,
desperately trying
to secure for yourself
some kind of
heaven on earth
on your own terms.
Friends,
why is it that
our city,
and maybe you're
one of them,
is so frantically
running around,
extra busy,
never able to rest,
never able to slow down?
It's because
we are frantically
trying to secure
for ourselves
the heaven on earth.
But the good news
of the gospel
is that Jesus died
not just to take
our sins upon himself
to do that,
but Jesus rose again
so that we don't need
to anxiously
secure for ourselves
heaven on earth.
Jesus came to invest
and invade
our sin-laden,
death-stained,
pain-saturated world
with his kingdom,
with his heaven on earth.
And so,
as we come to land,
let's think about
a couple of things
practically.
Think about what this means
for the way we think
about money.
We are all economic beings
and we live in
an economic world.
And Jesus says that
money is neither
a good thing
nor a bad thing.
Money has no
moral values,
morally neutral.
But remember
Jesus' very famous words
in Matthew chapter 6,
what Jesus said,
is,
he says,
do not lay up
for yourselves
treasures on earth
where moth and rust
destroy and where
thieves break in and steal,
but lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven
where neither moth
nor rust destroy,
thieves do not break in
and steal.
And then he says,
for where your heart is,
there your treasure
will be as well.
Now when Jesus is talking
about heaven and earth,
he's not talking about
a geographical place.
Store up for yourselves
treasures up there
in the sky,
not here on earth.
Jesus is not talking
about a temporal place
like store up,
do not spend your money
now,
but invest it for the future.
He's not talking
about a time frame.
What he's saying
is that how,
he's saying you can
see and use money
in a this present world
sense,
or you can see it
in the kingdom of God
sense.
And how you see it
is going to determine
not just what you do
with money,
but with what it does
to you.
How you see money
is going to determine
whether you're a slave
to it,
or whether you're
a master of it.
Whether it controls you,
or whether you're
free from it.
Jesus says that
how we see
this world
and our participation
in this world
will transform
the way we handle
something very tangible
like our wealth.
Or think of
sexuality.
In our day,
we live in a day and age
in which our culture
tells us that
sexuality and sex
is both everything
and nothing
all at the same time.
It's everything
because if you are
not having lots of it,
you are nothing.
But it's also nothing
because it doesn't
really mean anything.
You can have it
with as many people
as you want,
as often as you want.
Our culture tells us
that our sexuality
is just a matter
of personal preference.
It's my body,
I get to do
what I want with it.
And in fact,
we see this
in the book of Corinthians.
Look at what Paul says
here in chapter 15.
He says in verse 32,
if the dead are not raised,
if God's kingdom
doesn't invade our world,
well then let's just eat
and drink
for tomorrow we die.
Let's do whatever we want.
You only live once, right?
YOLO, live it up.
Do whatever you want
because you only have
one life.
In fact,
the Corinthians
had a saying.
They said,
as the stomach
is for food
and food is for the stomach,
so the body
is for sex
and sex is for the body.
In other words,
this is my body.
Let me fulfill
my appetites.
Do what I want with it.
But look at how Paul
writes to the Corinthians.
He says this
in chapter 7.
He says,
don't you know
that your body
is a temple
of the Holy Spirit
whom you have from God?
You are not your own.
You were bought
with a price.
You belong to God.
Glorify God
with your bodies.
The Corinthians
were saying,
listen,
our body is just,
it's a material thing.
One day we're going
to die.
We're going
to be laid
in the grave.
Who cares?
Our spirits
will go and be
with God in heaven,
but what we do
with our bodies
is for me
just to maximize
my own enjoyment.
Let me just live it now
and maximize my pleasure.
And Paul says,
don't you see
that your body
is part of the kingdom
of God to come?
How you steward
your body
actually makes a difference.
You are participating
with your body
in the kingdom of God
in this life.
Use your body
as an agent,
as a tool,
as a vessel
for the kingdom
of God to come.
Sam Albury,
who is a pastor
in the UK,
a man who lives
with the daily reality
of being sexually
attracted to other men,
he says all his life,
as long as he knows,
he's had homosexual desires,
and yet he's come
to see that his body
belongs not to himself,
but to Christ
as part of the kingdom
of God in this world.
And so he's chosen
to steward his body
for the glory of God
and to retain,
to restrain
his sexual desires.
And so listen
to what Sam Albury writes.
He says,
as a follower of Jesus,
we will all incur
some cost.
Whatever our cost
of discipleship may be,
however much
we may have to lose out
in the course
of following Jesus,
Jesus shows us
that even in this life,
in this world,
it will be worth it.
Sam Albury's not saying,
I'll suffer now,
but don't worry,
one day when I get
to heaven,
it'll all be worth it.
As a follower of Jesus,
the kingdom of God
has invaded my world now.
And actually,
the price I pay now
will be all worth it
in this world
because what I do
with my body
is a participation
in the glorious kingdom
of God
in this life.
Lastly,
let's think about this.
We could think about
suffering.
What about suffering?
Look at what Paul says
in our passage
in verse 30.
He says,
if the resurrection
is not true,
if all our hope
is in what we have
in this world,
why do we suffer?
Why do we allow ourselves
to be put in danger?
Why do we allow ourselves
to be tortured,
abused,
taken advantage of?
Why not just avoid
suffering at all costs?
And the answer,
well,
Paul writes to Corinthians
in another chapter,
in 2 Corinthians chapter 4,
and this is what he says.
He says,
as followers of Jesus,
we are afflicted
in every way,
but we are not crushed.
We are perplexed,
but we are not driven
to despair.
We are persecuted,
but we are not forsaken.
We are struck down
in this life,
but we are not destroyed,
knowing that he
who raised the Lord Jesus
will also raise us
from the dead
and bring us
into his presence.
You see what he's saying there?
In the midst of our suffering,
in the midst of persecution,
in the midst of opposition,
we live knowing
that our life
is in Christ's hands,
the risen,
resurrected Jesus.
He says,
for this light
and momentary affliction
is preparing for us
an eternal weight of glory
beyond all comparison
as we look
not to the things
of this world
that are seen,
but to the things
that are unseen.
Friends,
throughout the whole
New Testament,
the Christians
are those who view
hardship,
who view suffering,
difficulty,
even debt,
in a completely
upside-down
counter-intuitive paradigm
because of what?
Because of the hope
of the resurrection,
because Jesus died
and rose again,
because Jesus' kingdom
has invaded this world.
And so look at what Paul says
at the final verse
of our chapter
in verse 15.
He says,
Therefore,
my beloved brothers,
be steadfast,
be immovable,
always abounding
in the work of the Lord,
knowing that in Christ Jesus
your suffering,
your work,
your labor,
is not in vain.
Friends,
what is your greatest longing
of your heart this morning?
What is your greatest fear
this morning?
The resurrection
of the Son of God,
Jesus Christ,
means that God
is able to invade
both your deepest longings
and your deepest fears
with His glorious
resurrection,
life-giving power,
even today.
Jesus is not just saying,
Hold on,
because one day
it'll be good.
Jesus is not just saying,
Best of luck,
but one day when you die,
it'll all be worth it.
Jesus is able to say,
Your deepest longings,
your deepest fears,
your deepest pain,
even in this life,
is invaded and infused,
able to me,
if you'll look to me in faith,
with my resurrection power
and life.
Colossians,
Paul writes,
and he says,
Christ in us,
the hope of glory.
Not just one day
when we die,
Christ in us now,
the hope of glory.
Friends,
Christians are those
who live in heaven
while still on earth,
living in the future
while being in the present.
I want to close with the story.
In the mid-17th century,
1665,
a long time ago,
in the UK,
there was a great plague
called the Bubonic Plague,
I think it was,
the Great Plague.
And it first struck London
and thousands of people
were dying.
Whoever contracted this plague
essentially would die.
It was like COVID on steroids.
Hundreds,
thousands of people
in the city of London
were dying.
And they didn't know
how to cure it.
They didn't know what to do.
Anyone that got infected died.
And what happened was
that in 1665,
a small town,
a very small village
actually called Eam,
up in the north of the UK,
in Derbyshire,
a cloth manufacturer,
a tradesman,
bought some cloth
from London
and it got sent up
to this village.
It was wet
and so the tradesman
took this piece of cloth
when it arrived
in his store
and he shook it out
and he hung it up
to dry in front
of the fireplace
to dry out this cloth.
And the fleas
that were embedded
in this cloth
were carrying the plague.
And so this tradesman
contracted the plague himself
and then two or three weeks later
he had died.
But in those three weeks
he had spread the plague
to others.
And so in a couple of weeks
and months
people in this village
started to die.
August 1665.
September,
October,
November,
hundreds of people
start dying.
And by the mid-1666,
a year later,
I think over a hundred people
had already died
in this village.
And people were starting
to flee the village
because they didn't want
to contract the plague.
And so they started to flee.
One lady had,
in a matter of eight days,
buried her husband
and her six children.
Buried them
all in a matter of eight days.
One man realized
there's something
we need to do.
And so the vicar
of the town,
his name was
William Mompison,
realized that
we are probably
going to die
but if we all flee
to the other villages
we're going to spread
the plague to them
and they're going to die as well.
And so he came up
with this idea.
He said,
we as a village
need to self-isolate.
We need to lock down
the village
and make sure
nobody comes in
and nobody goes out.
And we will die
but it will save
the other villages
from the plague.
But the problem was
he was a new vicar
and so nobody
really trusted him.
He didn't have
any credibility.
The previous vicar
had been fired
by the bishops
in London.
But the previous vicar
still stayed
on the outskirts
of the village.
And so the new vicar
went to the old vicar,
his name was Edward Stanley,
and said,
I have a plan.
The only way
that we can save
the other surrounding villages
is if we isolate
and lock down the village.
But the people
won't trust me
but they will trust you.
Will you help me
convince the village?
And so these two pastors
went back to the village,
the man agreed,
and they spoke to the village
and they said,
we will die
so that others
can find life.
And they convinced
the village
to lock themselves down.
Nobody could come in,
nobody could go out
so that the surrounding towns
would live.
William Opherson,
his wife died,
and he writes a letter
to her parents.
And in this letter,
he writes of how
the fact that
in the early days,
she was encouraged
to flee the town.
But she decided to stay
and to spend her life
and to die
in order to save
not just the people
in the village
but the villages around her.
And he writes
to her parents
and he says
that she had this hope,
this incredible hope
that came from her faith
in who Christ was.
Hope not just
in the world to come
but a hope that allowed her
to suffer in this world
and that allowed her
to die well.
Friends,
do you see how
the resurrection
of the dead,
Jesus from the dead,
doesn't just mean
that one day
all will be made well.
That's true
but it actually empowers
and it changes
the way we see everything.
The resurrection
of Jesus from the dead
means that our life
in this world
is invaded
with the kingdom of God.
It means it changes
the way that you handle
criticism.
It changes the way
that you handle
disappointments.
It changes the way
you handle money
and power
and sexuality
and desires
and forgiveness
and bitterness
and hurt.
It changes the way
you handle success
and it changes
the way you handle failure.
Jesus' resurrection
from the dead
changes absolutely
everything.
And friends,
when the glory
of the resurrection
of Jesus
and all that it holds
for us in this life,
when it impacts
not just our heads
but our hearts,
it'll change our life
and it'll set you free
from the fear
of missing out.
It'll set you free
from needing to build
your kingdom
in this world.
Friends,
when it gets inside of us,
it'll empower us
to live the most radical life
you could possibly imagine
because you'll no longer
be banking your life
and your hope
in the things of this world
but on Him
who has invaded this world
with the world to come.
Let's pray together
before we take communion.
Oh Lord Jesus Christ,
our great and glorious King,
You, O God,
who are Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end
and everything in between.
You, O God,
who are sovereign
over days and dominions,
over death and darkness,
but even over tiny flowers
of the field.
You, Lord Jesus,
who are making all things new.
Father, I pray
that You will infuse
and invade our hearts
with the hope
of the resurrection,
that You'll invade our hearts
with the will to come.
God, I pray for those of us
that are in You,
that are in Christ,
that by faith
that we, God,
will live,
not just with the hope
that we can hold on
to the will to come,
but that Your kingdom come
will invade our lives,
that we will live
in heaven
as it is on earth,
that God,
even in our city,
may it be in Hong Kong
as it is in heaven,
because You, God,
have placed us here,
because You, God,
are invading our hearts
with Your kingdom,
power, and life.
Jesus,
won't You come
and fill us
afresh with Your Spirit?
Won't You come
and change our lives?
Won't You make us
courageous and bold
and allow us
to live radical lives
of sacrifice,
because we know
our lives are not
only found
in the kingdom
of this world,
but are found in You.
Jesus,
come and have Your way,
we pray.
Come and open
the eyes of our hearts
in Your wonderful
and Your glorious name.
Amen.