1 Corinthians 15:12-28 Our Hope: The Death of Death

You are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. Our desire is to help you draw near to God by growing in faith, community, and service.

This message is by Pastor of Teaching and Vision, Don Filsack. Thanks for listening. Welcome to Recast Church.

Glad that you guys have all gathered together on this Resurrection Sunday. Thank you very much to the band for leading us.

Every morning we really ought to worship the Risen King. I don't know if you think about that, but I mean, obviously, especially here on Easter Sunday.

But every morning we should wake up reflecting on the cross. But certainly this morning is a culturally appointed day, something that our nation actually recognizes.

And if you think about it, today is one of the only national holidays that really focuses on what is purely miraculous, and that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Obviously, our culture wraps it up with all different kinds of things like bunnies and eggs and all kinds of things like that, but when it really comes down to it, we understand what the heart of this really is about, and it's about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And so I'm glad that you've gathered together this morning to hear from the Word of the Lord and ultimately to kind of think some thoughts about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

A couple of things to kind of get out of the way before we get started here this morning is the connection card that you received when you walked in.

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They're sitting right on the other end of the desk there from the black box. Just our way of saying thanks for joining us this morning.

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If you would choose to give this morning, there's a place to recycle them right next to it. If you're not going to use it. But also remember that any envelopes or any checks that have expansion fund written on them will go towards the hope that we have of a building.

We do currently have the property, 11 .6 acres, paid in cash. And so as of this past Wednesday, we closed on the final section of that.

So praise God for that. And it's all his doing. I'm in awe of the way that God has blessed us and the way that that's come through just regular giving over the past couple of years to be able to pay in cash for that property.

And obviously, our goal is eventually down the road to build on that property a facility that will meet our needs for meeting in there.

If you got something to write this down, I can give you the address of it. But we're not all going to go out there and make a mass exodus to the location.

Because one of the things is parking. We don't have a parking lot there yet. And so if we were to all go, like, say, next

Tuesday night and all go at the same time, I'm just fearful that we would end up clogging the main entrance to the horse farm there and we wouldn't have good relationship with that next door neighbor.

And so we want to make sure that we leave that open. But you can go out there anytime. We own it. And so you're allowed to go out and walk on it.

It's 22969 East McGillan. Just up the, if you're going up the hill past the

Java joint, go up the hill heading east out of town. You cross the railroad tracks at the top of the hill.

On the right -hand side, immediately after the railroad tracks is our property. And there's a white house that sits there out by the road.

You can go back on the dirt road that's actually on the property as well. And everything to the right of that dirt road is ours.

So check that out if you get a chance. And I encourage you to just go out and pray and praise God and thank Him for His provision for us.

And it's a pretty cool thing. This morning we're going to walk through an explanation by the

Apostle Paul regarding the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Kind of makes sense. Did you have any hint that we're probably going to talk about resurrection this morning?

Being Easter Sunday. But the problem is for us, I think, is many of us, raise your hand if you were, you'd say you were at least raised around church or you at least have some notion, maybe from childhood you were, so resurrection is something that you're probably already somewhat familiar with.

Easter, I'm going to say you've been to a few Easter services, been to a handful. So you kind of have the same notions in your mind of what resurrection is and what are we going to talk about this morning and all of that.

And it would be very easy for us in the text to follow Paul's logic, to grasp the academic information that we're given without any movement in our hearts and souls.

Have you experienced that where you've come in contact with some story from scripture or something from the Bible that's like routine and it's wrote and you've been there and you've done that and you've read it so many times and you're just like,

I'm just going to skip over that and move on to the next thing because I already, I got that pretty well. Have you been there?

If you're honest, you're reading through the Bible in a year maybe and you read through David and Goliath and you're like, I remember that story, skip.

Or something like that. I want to make sure, my prayer, and this is something that's very much out of my control and so I do pray for this, that God would press in on our hearts' awe and wonder about the implications of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

That is, what does it have to do with us? Have you ever thought about that? Okay, a guy 2 ,000 years ago rose up from the dead, like some of you in the room are like,

I don't even know if that's true, that seems kind of incredible. Resurrection of the dead, incredible? Is that amazing?

Does that require some faith? Yeah. So a guy 2 ,000 years ago rises from the dead, so what? What's that got to do with me?

And that's pretty cool, right? But then what? And that's what we're going to look at this morning is the then what?

What about, what's that have to do with us where we live today? And I really have one simple conclusion

I'm going to be driving towards this morning and that is the idea of worship. The resurrection ought to lead us to worship.

The resurrection is nothing less than the vindication and the victory of Jesus Christ over death. How many of you would say that death is something that's kind of a little bit scary, being honest?

It's kind of like a big enemy of our lives. It's something that's constantly, whether we are thinking about it or not, it's something that's pressing down on us because how many of you live your life like you've only got a limited amount of time anyways?

Like you recognize that, like there's things that I can't do, things that I can't accomplish and I'm constantly making choices based on, I know this is not,

I'm not going to keep doing this. This is going to come to an end at some point. And so we're looking at Jesus Christ's victory over our greatest enemy.

And that resurrection centuries ago we're going to see in our text is the first fruits, the word that Paul uses and I'll explain what that means later, but it is the first fruits, the start of an amazing harvest that is coming.

The resurrection ultimately of all of those who belong to Jesus Christ at the end of time.

And so I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15 verses 12 through 28. If you take that Bible out of the seat back in front of you, you can turn to page 823.

It's an easy way to find 1 Corinthians 15, it's on page 823 there. If you don't own a Bible, please take that one with you.

We do want everybody to have a copy of the word of God. And I preach out of the English standard version, not because it's the required one from God or something, it's just my preference.

But if you don't own an English standard version of the Bible, you can take that one as well and check it out. But 1 Corinthians 15, 12 through 28,

I encourage you to have your Bibles open during the service here. Follow along as we read the very words of God to us this morning.

1 Corinthians 12, 15, I'm sorry, 12 through 28. 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.

For 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 who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

If in Christ we have hope, in this life only we are 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 it is 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.

For God has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that He has accepted who put all things in subjection under Him.

When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him who put all things in subjection under Him that God may be all in all.

Let's pray. Fathers, we have an opportunity to look at just a taste of hope here.

We have an opportunity to see the connection between the resurrection of Jesus Christ centuries ago, a historical event, and what does that mean for us?

And that means hope for us that one day we too could partake in resurrection as a part of the harvest of what you are doing here in the world.

Father, I pray that you would make this clear through what Paul has to say and give us hope, give us a sense of rejoicing.

Father, we are a people, many gathered in this room today are people who belong to you through Jesus Christ, who have given their lives over to you and have recognized your sacrifice for them.

And so Father, I pray that you would move in our hearts to bring us to a place of rejoicing. Father, that you would work in us a sense of awe and wonder as we think about Jesus Christ from Friday, died on the cross for our sins, the sinless sacrifice, gruesomely slain there on that hill outside of Jerusalem for us, buried in the grave, and then three days later raised up to new life and power and victory over death.

I pray that you would help us to exalt and rejoice in you through Jesus Christ our Savior. And it's in his name that I pray.

Amen. Thanks a lot to the band for leading us. I'm very grateful for the work and time that they put in every week and just want to encourage you to make sure you still have your

Bibles open to page 823 there to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, 12 through 28.

We're going to walk through that, so it's good for you to have that available in front of you. And then also remember, I know we just took a break, so you're able to get up and get some more coffee.

But if you need to do that at any time during the service, feel free. You're not going to distract me unless you come up and give me a hug in the middle of my message or something like that.

But other than that, there's more coffee and juice and stuff like that, men's bathroom back there, women's bathroom back here. And then there's also a cry room in there.

I don't ever mention that, but there is a room in there for, if I make you cry, no. That's not what it's for.

It's if you've got a young child who is acting up. It's probably going to bother you more than it will me anyways, but that's available for you back there for the ladies in the ladies room.

So there you go. As we dive in here, you know, we're going to start right in verse 12 and Paul clues us into what he's addressing right away.

Now, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection from the dead? We're going to get right into seeing what the problem was.

Paul's writing a letter to this church in Corinth that he founded. He was their church planter and had gotten them off the ground and then has left and he's writing a letter back to them.

All kinds of issues and problems. If you were to read 1 Corinthians, you'd see it was a pretty messed up city, a pretty messed up area.

And even the church had a lot of the characteristics of the city in it. But we're jumping into the middle of the thought of the argument of an entire book here and so many of you know

I like to go chapter by chapter, verse by verse and we're doing that through Genesis right now. We're just taking some time off.

So I think it's beneficial for us to understand what are we missing here. 1 Corinthians has been written to basically help to correct some of the behaviors and some of the problems and get this church rooted in Christ.

All kinds of divisions and problems going on in this church and we're going to find that they didn't just have wrong behavior in some ways, but they also had wrong thinking about a couple of things including resurrection from the dead and so that's why he's addressing it here.

The reason I'm starting in the middle of the chapter and not starting with verse 1, I'm going to summarize verse 1 through 11 and what it's message is.

So many resurrection messages, Easter Sunday messages, focus on those first 11 verses because in the first 11 verses,

Paul is giving evidence for the resurrection. He's saying here's some historical evidence for it and so that becomes a very popular thing for us to talk about on Easter, but what

I'd like us to do is move past the evidence for the resurrection and talk about its significance. So to answer the question, so what?

So he rose from the dead and you see throughout verse 11, he appeared to James and all the apostles in verse 7.

He appeared to over 500 at one time. He appeared to Cephas back in verse 5 and Paul is basically saying the resurrection is central to the core meaning of the gospel, that Jesus didn't just die on the cross and that was it.

Died and buried. But died, buried and rose again three days later and that's the good news. That whole thing is the good news.

Not just his death on the cross, not his burial, but his death, burial and resurrection is the whole package.

That is the good news of Jesus Christ. And Paul also goes on to say at the end, in verse 8, last of all, as one untimely born, he appeared to me also.

Personally, Paul testified and said, I saw Jesus Christ risen from the dead. I saw that with my own eyes.

Now we know the situation in this scenario where he saw Paul, I mean where Paul saw Jesus was on the road to Damascus and a bright light and all of that, but he actually saw the risen

Lord and he was confident. We're going to see how rock solid his confidence was to actually declare that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was fact.

He's going to use the word fact by the time we get down to verse 20. But it really isn't until verse 12 that we find that the people of the city find out that they didn't, in Corinth, believe in resurrection.

Now how many of you would acknowledge that resurrection, when we talk about something that's dead, coming to life, does that go against the common everyday life things that you experience?

I mean being honest, does it? Or you guys see resurrection happen all the time? So maybe right from the get -go we acknowledge that there's something of faith in this already, right?

We're seeing that there's a level of faith that's required to believe the words of Scripture are true, that resurrection can occur.

What we see in Corinth, they were like, probably similar to our culture in general, they were just saying, you know, resurrection, resurrections don't happen, that doesn't happen.

And in one sense the Corinthians were trying to have their cake and eat it too. Many of them had embraced the gospel, but they were almost kind of saying, well the resurrection of Jesus was something different, resurrection doesn't in general happen.

Paul here is going to make an argument in verse 12 saying, if people aren't raised then how can you say that Jesus was?

So you've said that you agree to the gospel and that Jesus died and rose again three days later, you said, you told me you agree to that, and now you're saying resurrection doesn't happen, generally speaking, that's nonsense, you can't have that both ways.

And one thing I want to point out is that it doesn't take, skepticism is not just a modern invention of an industrial scientific nation, would you guys agree that that kind of defines

America, industrial, scientific, modern culture? But I want to point out that even in the

Apostle Paul's time there were questions, I mean Christianity has been facing questions for 2 ,000 years now, it's been, you know, give or take a dozen or so, but we've been facing questions all down through and that's part of why

Paul is writing this, is to address that question, what about resurrection, what's going on here, why is that significant?

And even in the days of the Apostle Paul they were questioning whether or not resurrection was real.

It's unclear what the Corinthians actually believed, it's possible that they believed that the soul goes on after death and that we will go on to be with God but without any physical reality and I dare say that that's what many people in the church have some fuzzy, hazy notions of today, that we don't have a really rock solid understanding of physical resurrection, that is that our bodies and our souls will be reunited to live on a new earth that God creates for us forever and ever and ever, right?

So what tends to be the thought in common to Christians is that one day, you know, we'll die and then our souls will go to heaven to be with God there forever and eternity and that's the end of it.

We don't have a really well formed concept of resurrection that our bodies at the return of Jesus Christ will actually be reunited with our souls and we will go on forever.

It's the way that we were created, the way that Adam and Eve were created, body and soul to worship God for eternity and fortunately, the awesome thing will be that that will be without sin going forward, an awesome thing.

But so, the Greeks had a really common understanding of this, they commonly believed dualism or Gnosticism, two words that just ultimately mean that the spiritual things are good and physical stuff is evil, not just that it's like okay, it can be used for good or it can be used for evil, but literally that what a human is, is a human is a soul that is imprisoned in a body and that the goal, this is

Gnostic teaching, and that the goal is that the soul could escape the body and eventually get back to God and then we'll be okay.

And does that sound like some theology that you've heard through the church, does that sound like some things that you've heard taught or it's quite common in churches and in books that you can pick up at family

Christian stores for that to be the notion, as if this table is an evil table and we need to escape the evil table or like there's material evil, are you getting what

I'm saying in this? And that's a false dichotomy, that God created us both body and soul and His desire is that we would one day worship

Him in body and in soul on the new earth forever and ever and that's our destiny. So that's what's at stake here in Paul's argument, is he's making a strong case for physical resurrection, that one day body and soul will be reunited.

So verse 12 through 13 set up the problem, he says, you Corinthians, if you're right, there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even

Jesus Christ has been raised. And if Jesus Christ has not been raised, then there's going to be some significant issues because Paul has tied so closely the resurrection of Jesus to the good news that he's saying, you can't have this both ways and in verse 14 he says, there are dire consequences to suggesting that Jesus has not been raised.

He goes so far as to say that if Christ was not raised, then his preaching is in vain and their faith is also in vain.

In vain means empty, worthless, pointless. You're not going to very often hear a preacher who stands up and says, my preaching is vain or is empty or pointless.

Preachers don't tend to do that, they obviously, my goal in preaching is to preach that which is true, right? I mean that's, when you're teaching, hopefully that's your goal when you're talking with somebody is to speak that which is true.

And yet he's saying, if it's not true that the dead are raised and that Jesus Christ rose up from the grave, then this is all pointless is what he's saying.

It's empty, useless. My question to all of us here at Recast is how central is the resurrection to your faith?

Do you understand it is central or is it kind of like a tack on at the end of the story that kind of ends well, so it just kind of makes it kind of flowery and nice?

Or is the resurrection central? Is it core? Is it an essential part of the gospel? Or have we understood it that the cross is it and the resurrection, take it or leave it, it's okay, it's good for one day of the year and then we'll get back to the cross eventually here.

Paul tells us that the message of hope he proclaimed rises and falls on the resurrection. Do you realize that if Christ did not raise that this is all a charade?

Who are you worshiping? Who are you praying to? Who are we singing songs to if he's dead and in the grave? You getting what

I'm saying? I mean, is it kind of pointless if he's not there in heaven at the right hand of the Father as the text tells us?

If that's false, then what else is false? And on we go. You see, the cross is the sacrifice, but the resurrection is the victory.

The crucifixion is the atonement, but the empty tomb is the vindication.

The suffering of Jesus is the love of God towards us, but the resurrection is the power of God toward us to win.

The resurrection is the victory of God that demonstrates his power to win over our enemies, the greatest enemy being death.

Not Satan, death, according to the text. Without the resurrection, the

Bible doesn't have a happy ending. The story actually is pretty flat and lame. The story is kind of dumb in a sense if it ends without resurrection.

What it is, is here's a story in a nutshell. The story of Jesus without the resurrection.

Gee, God came in flesh and we killed him. The end.

Okay, is that just like, wow, that is cool, that's a great story, good news, awesome.

Do you see where the resurrection kind of matters? Does it matter? Is it pretty significant that God came in flesh and that he was the sacrifice for us and the way we know that he was the sacrifice for us is that God raised him from the dead to vindicate him, to justify him, to ultimately say, this is my guy and I accepted him and see,

I'll prove it by bringing him back and demonstrating victory over death. Pretty significant, the resurrection.

You see, it doesn't have a happy ending without the resurrection, but that's not the only point. The reality is,

Friday leaves us heavy. Any of you feel a little bit heavy on Good Friday, just generally thinking about the cross?

Does that cross your mind on Good Friday this past week? Any of you watch The Passion of the Christ? Raise your hand if you've seen that movie at some point.

A handful of us came here on Friday evening and watched it together here on these screens and it's not really a popcorn and pop kind of movie.

Have you noticed that? I mean, it's not entertainment. The best way I can say it is that when you watch that movie, you endure that movie, right?

For those of you who have watched it, you know what I'm talking about. And yet, Friday is a reality.

Friday leaves us heavy. Friday is bloody. Friday shows humanity flying our colors.

Because what does humanity look like when it's acting like humanity acts after the fall? It looks like us slaying the

Son of God. That's what humanity looks like. If we're honest, that's what our hearts look like, is rejecting

God and putting Him down and saying, you know what, we don't really need you in our lives, we will do it our way, we'll go our way, thank you very much, but I've got this.

And so, there at the cross was the ultimate picture of our rebellion on Friday.

But Sunday morning brings to us the power of God to restore the victory of God over death and sin and the mess and the crud that we have done.

I truly believe that few Christians can adequately convey the importance of the resurrection. And so, for that reason,

I'm going to show you a video clip of a man who's got it. Now, I wonder how many of you, like really in your testimony, if you were to talk about what

Jesus Christ has done for you, does the resurrection factor into that? So many testimonies

I've heard and so many times I've shared what God has done for me with very little to no reference of the resurrection at all.

Are you getting what I'm saying in that? It's like, Jesus died on the cross for my sins and that's it.

And then, oh wait, oh by the way, He rose from the dead three days later. Like tack that on at the end just to kind of flavor it a little bit or season it.

It's kind of cool. How central is it? I'm going to show you a video clip of a guy. His name is

Phil Robertson. Any of you know who Phil Robertson is when I say that? How about if I say Duck Dynasty? Does that kind of bring it into focus a little bit?

Raise your hand if you've ever seen Duck Dynasty. Okay, a handful of fans. Some of you maybe have seen this testimony before.

I'm going to show it. I think it's powerful, even the second or third time. But I want to show you, and what I want you to listen to in this testimony is for Phil.

Phil's a sharp guy, okay? He can get past the big beard and the accent and stuff.

And I think a lot of that show is just a show. This guy's going to use some terms in here that are, he knows what he's talking about.

But here's the thing I want you to watch for. I want you to look for his understanding of how the resurrection impacts his life.

He's going to tell you a testimony of not just about the cross, but he's going to testify about the resurrection's impact.

So I'm going to sit down. This is going to take about four minutes, but watch this dude's testimony. It's awesome. I'm currently 66 years old.

That's how long I've been on planet Earth. When I was 28,

I was sort of into sex, drugs, and rock and roll, as they say.

So at 28, some guy with a Bible came in a beer joint that I was running, and he wanted to talk it over.

So I basically ran him out of the place. My sister is the one that brought him, and while he was in the back trying to get a

Bible study going with the old guy here, yours truly, my sister was up on the front, and she's handing out

Bible tracts. So that created a little bit of a ruckus in the beer joint.

So I had to go out there and tell everybody, look, the girl wants to hand out Bible tracts. Take them, throw them in the trash can, do whatever you want, but don't be messing with my sister here.

I'll break your legs. So I ran the guy off, but later on,

I looked him back up when my life was pretty well going south in a hurry.

So at 28, I finally sit down and listen for the first time in my life to the story about Jesus of Galilee, the one we're all counting time by.

It is currently 2013 years since Jesus got here, 2013

A .D., anno domini. So we're all counting time by Jesus.

I just decided to follow him 38 years ago when

I heard that he, in fact, was God in flesh.

Not only was he God in flesh, it took the blood of God to remove my sex, drugs, and rock and roll lifestyle, sin.

That's the price. While I'm sitting there listening to that, I thought, man, that was a mighty kind thing to do for a scumbag like me.

Not only that, it really would do no good to have my sins removed, which are many.

It wouldn't do me any good, though, if something could not be done about the six -foot hole

I'm going into, and you too, by the way. So we're all sinners.

Jesus dies on a cross to remove all of them so you can go, I'm guilty no longer.

The price has been paid. God coming down in flesh did that. It's actually too wild a story to dream up by human beings, especially sinful ones.

Three days later, he guarantees me not only did he have the power to remove my sin, but he had the power to energize dead, cold flesh so it can stand back up on the earth again.

Because of what Jesus has done, his death on a cross and his resurrection, he's guaranteed that you will live.

So, as Jesus would put it, whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

If you're not a believer and you don't believe God exists at all, about the only hope you have is he not be there, that's your hope.

Maybe he's not there. What we're saying is, we trust that he is.

A good understanding of resurrection, where he talks about the six -foot hole and how ultimately the cross takes away our sin and he talks about that moment where the burden is lifted off but for what end?

To what destiny? Without resurrection, it might be for the next 30 years or 40 years or 60 years or however old you are and then you go to the grave and there's nothing to deal with that six -foot hole that you go in and great, it's been a good life.

But he's identifying the value and the importance of the resurrection, do you hear it in what he said? Do you hear the understanding of how the resurrection also is a central part of the gospel that shows that God has not just dealt with your sin but he's also dealt with your problem of death, with your enemy that was ruling over humanity that will one day be broken and Paul's going to go on and explain that in more clear terms.

The resurrection shows that God can animate cold, lifeless flesh and the resurrection of Jesus specifically shows that God intends to do just that with those who are in Christ.

And in verse 15, it says we are even found to be misrepresenting God, he's still going from the perspective of what if there is no resurrection, taking what the

Corinthians believe and carrying it to its logical conclusion and Paul ratchets up his testimony and not saying that if Jesus did not indeed raise from the dead then he has been lying, then

Paul has been misrepresenting God by saying that he raised Jesus from the dead. Paul who traveled the world telling everyone he saw

Jesus raised and spread the testimony of the apostles that they saw Jesus raised, Paul who told the world that the tomb was empty says,

I fully know that if this is a lie, it's a lie about a holy and righteous God. Now for a religious man like Paul, he knows how dangerous this is if he's falsely testifying about a holy and righteous

God. In verse 16, he repeats his basic premise that if the Corinthians are right in their view that people don't raise, then

Jesus must not have either and again he's just saying you can't have your cake and eat it too, you can't say that there's no general resurrection, that people don't raise from the dead and still believe that Jesus did.

Further implication of life without resurrection is that their faith would be futile. We see that here in verse 17, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sin.

Futile is a little bit different than the word vain that we saw earlier. He said one of the byproducts of it, there's no resurrection, your faith is vain, it's empty, it's worthless and his preaching was vain.

But here, the word futile means powerless. Your faith has no power to accomplish anything without the resurrection.

It's not really, there's no power or usefulness to it. In other words, you have a worthless, powerless faith that has not been able to do anything with your problem of sin, ultimately, if you do not believe in the resurrection.

If Jesus just died, end of story, then on what basis do you even believe that the Father accepted the sacrifice of the

Son? And further, those loved ones who we know have gone on before us, he says, have perished if they did not indeed, if there is no resurrection.

How many of you have had someone that you love that's gone on before you, that you're looking forward to a reunion with? Many of us are in that situation and if you're not, we all will be at some point, that's for sure.

Without resurrection victory, without the vindication and power of God and the resurrection, those who have gone on before were lost in their sins,

Paul says. What Paul is painting here is ultimately a life without hope. He's saying if you don't believe in resurrection, you have no cause for hope.

Some total of his argument is that for those who are alive now, our hope is based upon the resurrection and for those who have already died, our only hope for them is based on the resurrection.

And then he adds a phrase that many of you are familiar with in verse 19, he says, if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are most to be pitied. Do you guys understand what he's getting at when he says that?

It's like what Phil Robertson said in his testimony, the cross is a great thing but it's very limited if God didn't do anything about the six foot hole that we're heading for and of all the suffering and hardship and struggle in life and the effort put towards walking with God, what a waste if there is no hope past this life.

What we're doing here is a charade if there is no resurrection. As a matter of fact,

I would go so far as to take it a step further and say in all honesty, we could have been afforded a couple of extra hours of sleep this morning rather than coming together here if there is no resurrection.

Are you getting what I'm saying? And that's how central it is to Paul, he's saying, we're pitiful, we're actually dumb if there is no resurrection.

What's happening in the church all throughout America and all throughout the world is dumb if there is no resurrection.

That's how central it was to Paul. Are you getting what he's saying here? It's pitiful if there's no resurrection.

By implication, Paul points out what many atheists really are not even willing to say. They're not willing, some atheists are, but most atheists are not willing to say you should live only for yourself if there is no

God, if there is no resurrection, if there's none of these things and yet they're being a little bit dishonest in the sense of what is cause, what is purpose, what is reason if there is no

God. But the logical life of one who doesn't believe in resurrection of the dead is to live this up because this is all that there is.

You see what I'm saying? You see how that would be a logical conclusion, do everything I feel like doing.

Now that doesn't mean doing everything that is utterly detestable, but not living for yourself would be pitiful if this is the only thing that there is.

You guys agree with me on that? If this life is all that there is, then would it make sense to live for yourself? Absolutely.

But in verse 20, Paul turns a corner. He's been arguing from their perspective, saying if what you believe is true and there is no resurrection, then here's the end result of that, but now he's going to turn a corner and say definitively what he believes and he says, but in fact,

Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Paul, who knew that if he was testifying falsely, was testifying falsely about God, and he's the very one who says, in fact, and he uses the word fact there.

He was so rock solid sure in the resurrection of Jesus Christ that he had encountered him personally, had seen the resurrected

Christ and said, I am so sure that I'm going to bank my entire life on this fact.

And he harkens back to that encounter that he had with Jesus. And in one short statement,

Paul gives us a breathtaking hope and ties the resurrection that happened 2 ,000 years ago, the resurrection of Jesus to you and me, to any who are in Christ.

He says, in verse 20, but in fact,

Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

How many of you have used the word first fruits this past week? Pretty common phrase that you use all the time, you're talking about first fruits all the time.

It probably rolls off the tongue. Probably not so much. It's something that needs to be explained just briefly, but it's an

Old Testament concept that you go out to your field at harvest time in the fall, check the grain, make sure that it's ripe, and then begin to take the sickle and harvest.

The first 10 % of your harvest is the first fruits, that which came first, your very first harvest that was taken straight to the temple and offered to God.

The picture of it was a sign and a promise of more to come. So you're giving the first to God, recognizing that more is yet to come.

In this sense, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a sign of more to come. His resurrection was not an isolated occurrence, but rather the seeds of a huge harvest that is coming.

And the harvest is coming from among those who have fallen asleep, an idiom for those who are dead.

And those who have fallen asleep will one day arise from death, and the resurrection of Jesus is the model for that resurrection.

So to understand what Jesus' resurrection was like is to know and understand what our resurrection will one day be like.

And so knowing that, here's some things that were true of Jesus in His resurrection. The grave was empty.

His physical body no longer there laid out on that cold slab. His body reanimated and alive.

He wore clothes. He talked with people. They were able to touch the scars on His body. He ate fish.

All that to just say He had a real physical resurrection body, and that is our hope, that our bodies that are placed into the grave will one day come back out of the grave.

Some of you have images of the zombie hand reaching up out of the grave or something. It'll be cooler than that, and our bodies will be better than that.

Not the decrepit, you know, kind of slow, Sondra kind of thing.

But God's going to fix it. Okay, He's going to take care of it, and without pain, without any of those problems.

Paul now appeals to some familiar territory for us because we've been talking through the book of Genesis, and so he goes back to the origin of the problem with humanity in the garden.

He's going to take us back to where death enters the scene so that he can ultimately show us a history of how

God is progressing through the fall of Adam down all the way through the final restoration in Jesus Christ.

And so through the one man, Adam, came death, and so all who are in Adam die.

And how do you get the designation? How does a person get to be called in Adam? What does that mean to be in Adam?

Anybody have an idea? What did you do to get placed in Adam? Like if you think of that positionally, it was that you were born, okay?

So by being born, you are now a child or a son or a daughter of Adam, and you are, he's your representative, and you are in his family, so to speak.

And so as a result, his sin is reckoned to us. We all die as a result of falling with him.

But then it goes on and says in verse 20, But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, 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.

How does a person get placed in Christ? If it's by birth that you're placed in Adam, how is a person placed in Christ?

What did he say to, anybody remember what he said to Nicodemus? What did Jesus say to Nicodemus in John 3? You must be born again.

You must be reborn. So a person is placed under the curse of sin and death by being born, a person is removed from the curse of sin and death and brought into the family of resurrection by faith in the

Son of God and therefore by being born again, reborn in Jesus.

Ultimately talking about a new birth in 21 -22. So in this text, Paul is connecting the resurrection of Jesus Christ to this amazing cosmic story of God down through the ages.

We were created good in the image of God but we fell through sin. Death was the consequence of our sin but now through the death and resurrection of Jesus our sin and death are being done away with by him.

Now some may be tempted to read universalism in verse 22, so just read 22 at face value for just a second.

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. Does that sound like every single human on the face of the planet is going to be made alive?

Does it sound like that in some sense, being honest? Does it? So go on to verse 23 because Paul in context,

I think that there's something to that in Christ thing that we're put in Christ to be made alive but it's very explicit in verse 23.

But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, the first to be resurrected, then at his coming those who, what?

Belong to Christ. At his coming those who belong to Christ.

It's very clear that this resurrection to a positive end is for those who are in Christ and belong to him.

And I love the imagery of belonging to Christ. I am his and I trust him with my life and if you're here this morning and you're kind of saying,

I don't really know if I'm in Christ. I really don't know if I belong to him. Contemplate and consider where is your trust?

Where does your trust lie for hope? Hope for this life and hope for a life to come?

What happens after death? I'm sure you've contemplated that and considered it but I can't think of a better place to invest your trust than the one who possesses the power of resurrection.

He's the one who has the power to animate cold, dead flesh and make it come alive again.

Paul goes on with his short history saying, in Adam we inherit death, in Christ we inherit life at his second coming and then the end will come.

And in the end Jesus will defeat all the enemies of God and in an ultimate and amazing ceremony that I plan to be present for and I hope all of you will be there for it as well, the son of God will deliver a glorious, sinless, properly ordered, very good kingdom to his father.

Right now he's been given rule and reign and he's working and in this sense he truly is the restorer.

Jesus is the restorer. He's making all things new and right now his role at this time is one of slowly putting all of his enemies under his feet.

Slowly but surely that's happening. There's some quotations from the Psalms in verse 25 through, 25 and 26, for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet, an image of one of the

Psalms, for he has put all things in subjection under his feet, again from the Psalms and yet I think that this is a story that goes back, this imagery of being under his feet, of him putting all of his enemies under his feet is something that goes back even further to again something that we can relate to from the book of Genesis.

Because what was the promise that God gave to the woman? They've just sinned, they ate the fruit that they weren't supposed to eat and he turns to the woman and what does he say?

He says, one of your offspring will be born who will do what? Crush the head of the serpent.

And then, but his heel will be struck. What does it require, what is the location of Satan in regard to the body of Christ if he is crushing his head under his foot?

Do you see how all things placed under the feet of Jesus has some significant implications to the way that it all began in the first place, the very first promise that he would be the one who would crush the head of the serpent, boom, right here, all enemies placed under his feet including the last and ultimate enemy who is death, even death ultimately placed under his feet.

What we have here in our text is really nothing less than ultimately the death of death itself. And when this happens, the promise will finally be fulfilled that all things will be subjected to the son of God, he will finally be completely in his kingdom and yet in verse 23

Paul wants to make sure that we properly understand that the father will not be subjected to the son of God, that in their relationship it's not like, when it says all things are placed under the feet of the son, it doesn't include the father, okay, and there's some things that are important about that.

Right now the son has the kingdom and he will eventually give it to the father, the son has very broad powers and authority, and yet in the functional roles of the trinity, being all equal but in functional roles, the father is the planner, the son is the savior, the spirit is the empowerer, and the end result of our passage is that when all of these things come to pass,

God will finally be all in all. Does that phrase all in all mean something to you, is that a pretty significant phrase or is that something that needs to be explained a little bit?

What does it mean for God to be all in all? I think it can be confusing but here's the gist of it, here's the notions of it in Greek and it was an idiom or a phrase that's hard to translate but has overtones of uncontested rule over all things.

He will be the supreme ruler and recognized as the supreme ruler.

How many of you know there's a difference between those two? Is God the supreme ruler right now? Right now where we live, 2013, is

God the supreme ruler over all things? Please, it's not a trick question, the answer is yes, okay, but is he recognized as such?

No, not everywhere. Certainly I hope so in our fellowship, I hope in our church he is, and he is throughout the world in the church, right, the church, those who belong to Christ recognize him as the supreme ruler, but do you see the difference between being the ruler and being recognized as the ruler?

Is it good for those two to come together? Because in the end that's what's going to happen, is that the one who is the ruler is going to be fully and completely recognized as such by his people.

That'll be a glorious thing when finally all of the enemies of God are defeated including death and he becomes all in all.

So we walk through this text and hopefully leave with a better understanding of the resurrection and its implications for us, that that resurrection 2 ,000 years ago is the first fruit of a resurrection, is the basis of our hope for resurrection moving forward in the future.

And I spend a lot of time reading, I dissect things and I think that there's the possibility again for this to end up becoming an academic exercise of understanding resurrection a little bit better because we've studied

Paul. But I read a brilliant scholar named Gordon Fee this week and I'm going to confess,

I love reading. God has designed me for research,

I love that, and so I don't know if you guys have noticed that but I can tend to kind of move in an academic way in my preaching.

I love input, as a matter of fact, how many of you know Strength Finders, have you ever used that resource or do you know what

I'm talking about when I say Strength Finders? A handful of you. I come out as really high input,

I love that, I could take a three credit course every semester for the rest of my life and just be pleased as punch,

I love, and it could be a different subject every semester and I'd be fine with that, so many different varied interests,

I think sometimes it drives my wife crazy. I love studying a variety of different things and yet I read these guys and how many of you know that sometimes scholars don't tend to be the most emotional people, are you getting what

I'm saying? Is that reality? I don't want to malign anybody in the room, some of you in the room might be scholars, but they don't tend to necessarily speak out from their heart first and foremost.

The old joke is that seminary can take care of your passion for Christ, you just go to seminary and that'll take care of it, that'll wash it all away.

So that's the old joke is that the more you study, the more you're just going to get academic about it.

So here's this guy, crusty old guy, am I allowed to use the word crusty? Theologian, Gordon Fee said the following regarding this text,

I love this because this is a scholar, this is a guy who knows, he can just read Greek and Hebrew straight up, he knows all of this stuff, studied, written tons of books and he says this,

Paul makes plain in this passage, I'm quoting him, Paul makes plain in this passage, Christ's resurrection is set in motion, a chain of inexorable events, he has to use big words because he's writing scholarly so inexorable means like unstoppable, a chain of things that are just naturally going to take place, a chain of inexorable events that absolutely determines our present and our future.

Christ is the first fruits of those who are his, who will be raised at his coming. You hear how he says that?

Christ will be raised at his coming and that ought both to reform the way we currently live and to reshape our worship into seasons of unbridled rejoicing, unbridled rejoicing.

When is the last time you had unbridled rejoicing in your heart? When is the last time that you lifted your hands and shouted hallelujah to God?

Unbridled rejoicing because our destiny is wrapped up in that resurrection. Jesus died, paid the price for us and then rose again that we, that that six foot hole that Phil Robertson is talking about, is taking care of for us.

He's going to bring it all back in the end. Those who belong to him, rejoice, unbridled rejoicing,

I mean we might get up here a little bit, praising God, this is the comfort zone, getting up a little higher, getting up, unbridled rejoicing, not concerned about what others think about us, when's the last time, maybe in the quiet of a time with God, you actually knelt on your knees before him, not that you get more favor for doing that or something, but just out of awe of who he is.

Or when's the last time you just laid flat on your face before your God, rejoicing for what he has done for you?

When's the last time you were just moved beyond, you know, beyond concern for your reputation or your thoughts?

When's the last time you had unbridled rejoicing? David dancing before the ark got mocked by one of his wives, any of you familiar with that story in the

Old Testament? One of his wives actually made fun of him for dancing before the ark and he said, I'll become even more undignified than that in the worship of my

God. And if I were to dance, that's pretty undignified. I can't think of many things that would be more undignified than you guys enduring me dancing, okay?

So I tend to dance a little bit more private, you know, before the Lord, but that happens at times.

Now you got that in your mind and then you're not going to get past that. That's really bad. But are you getting what

I'm saying about unbridled rejoicing here? Do you see how this scholar gets it? He understands the connection between resurrection, the historical event of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and what will be a genuine event where you and I will rise from the grave.

There are those, by the way, in heaven right now, so you go, what happens to me when I die then? How does this take care of this six foot grave?

Well, the souls of those who have gone on that belong to Christ have gone to his presence. And in the book of Revelation, we actually see an event where those who are there at the throne of God, they are there presently right now, they actually say, how long, oh

Lord? They are longing for the resurrection. They're longing for the time when everything's going to be set right.

How long, God, until you are all in all, until everybody recognizes how awesome you are? How long?

So there's a sense in which they are in the presence of God, they love him, there's delight there, but there's something more.

They're looking forward to something more. They're looking forward to the time when they are reunited body and soul to worship their

God forever and ever and ever on the new earth. Pretty exciting future for us, rejoice.

Our hope is that death doesn't get the final word for those who belong to Jesus. Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and our hope rests in that glorious truth.

If he has not indeed been raised, we are pitiful and our faith is in vain, but Jesus has in fact been raised from the dead and he is the first fruits of all of those who have fallen asleep.

And so, thinking about this as we wrap up and head into communion, how can we be dour?

How can we be whiny? How can we be, if I can coin a word, complain -y, is that a word?

A complaining type people? You know what I'm talking about? You guys struggle with that? Like you go out of here, you're like, whoo, okay, all right, resurrection, awesome, good, we're going to sing some songs, we're going to praise

Jesus, and then we're going to go out and Monday it's like, somebody cuts you off in traffic and it's like, it's over until the next

Sunday. Do you know what I'm talking about? We complain about petty things. Anybody with me on that? Are you going to leave me hanging? Okay, three of us, five of us, a handful of us actually complain about whining, little petty things, but the rest,

I think we all know what that is. I think it's forgetfulness and I think we need to pray against forgetfulness because what we do is we walk out of here and we forget the glory of God, right?

And so pray that God brings himself to our mind regularly and routinely that the cross and the resurrection are before us constantly throughout our week, that both the cross, our sin, our crud, our mess, we're not, the cross reminds us we're not all that in a bag of chips, okay?

It reminds us that we actually stink a lot and there's a lot of crud attached to us, right? Isn't that what the cross does ultimately?

It's like, whoo, Friday, heavy, I'm not that great after all, but the cross says he loves me and he's victorious over that mess.

When I say the cross, the resurrection, the empty tomb is that he's victorious over that mess. So Friday, Sunday, think about Friday and Sunday as the dichotomy in our lives.

Friday, the place where we recognize who we are. Sunday, the resurrection, the empty tomb where we recognize who he is.

And as we come to communion, encourage us to confess our, confess and repent of our petty complaining, rejoice in the sacrifice of Jesus.

If you belong to him, then take the bread and remember the body of Jesus broken for you and take the juice and remember his blood that was shed for you.

But don't only linger on the cross, but let your mind also turn to the empty tomb, to the risen savior.

His victory and vindication has brought us new life and not only life for this existence, but more importantly for the life to come.

If you belong to Jesus Christ, rejoice. This life is not all you have, death is not the end, and our hope is rooted in the historical event of the resurrection of Jesus Christ our

Lord. But I recognize that there may be some here this morning that as you contemplate and consider your life and get a chance to think about it, it's been like hitting your head against a brick wall time and time again.

Like you think you've got the solution, you think you've got the answer and so you move forward a little ways and then boom, you're up against it again and it kicks you back and you're like constantly at war, kind of trying to figure out how do

I live this life and how do I get right and how do I get square with God and how can I have peace in my heart.

Some of you might be here and you're just struggling for that and you actually want peace and you don't know how to get it. You keep trying different things to satisfy you and you keep coming up empty.

I would love to talk with you about what belonging to Jesus Christ looks like. The reality is he doesn't promise to solve all of our problems, but he does promise to walk through all of our problems with us.

He will never leave you, he will never forsake you, and he promises something so much better than health, wealth, and prosperity in this life, we just got done talking about how temporary this life is.

How many of you know that you can have health, you can have wealth and prosperity and it's still going to all go away.

I'm probably, I exercise, I like to work out, so I'm just planning on dying healthy, okay.

Any of you planning on dying healthy like you're just like I work out and I know that I'm still going to die, okay. Do you know what

I'm saying? I mean, you might die with a lot of money, you're still going to die, that's reality and so where is your hope?

Is your hope in things of this life? He's not just promising to us health, wealth, and prosperity, he promises to give new life to you if you would humble yourself and let him be your king and ask him to be your savior.

Let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for hope, thank you for the resurrection and that historical event has implications for our lives, for the way we live, for the rejoicing that we would walk from this place,

Father, with a swing in our step and delight in our eyes and joy on our faces because we recognize that we have hope for an eternity with you that you're preparing a place for us and that you will one day let these bodies live again without sin and without pain and without suffering.

It's a mystery to me, I don't understand all the ins and outs of it, but I believe it by faith because I see it in your word and you have been faithful in so many things.

Father, I pray that you would help us to rejoice as we come to communion, as we take the breath and remember the sacrifice for our sins that Jesus took on himself,

Father, the blood that was shed that should have been our own blood spilled and yet it was his and he stood in the gap and stood in the place for us.

Father, that he didn't remain dead, but that he showed himself victorious on the third day by rising again.

I thank you for this resurrection day to reflect on these things, I pray that you would be with us as we contemplate these things in the name of Jesus.