I Die Daily - Christopher G. Brenyo

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

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Chapter 15. I'll begin reading in verse 12. This is

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God's holy and infallible Word. Now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

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But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty, and your faith is also empty.

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Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead do not rise.

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For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins.

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And also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

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But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

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For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead.

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For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

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But each one in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who were

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Christ's at his coming. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the

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Father, when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet.

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The last enemy that will be destroyed is death, for he has put all things under his feet.

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But when he says all things are put under him, it is evident that he who puts all things under him is accepted.

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Now when all things are made subject to him, then the Son himself will also be subject to him who put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

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Otherwise what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all?

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Why then are they baptized for the dead? And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour?

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I affirm by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

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And if in the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me?

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If the dead do not rise, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

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Do not be deceived, evil company corrupts good habits. Awake to righteousness and do not sin, for some do not have the knowledge of God.

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I speak this to your shame. But someone will say, how are the dead raised up?

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And with what body do they come? Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies.

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Lord, we are grateful for the reality of resurrection both for our

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Lord Jesus Christ and for the saints who have gone before us and for ourselves.

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I pray that you would impress this important doctrine deeper into our hearts and that will become a topic of our discussion, conversation, when we proclaim your gospel, that we would preach the reality of the resurrection of Christ.

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And we ask these things in Jesus name, amen. Two weeks ago

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I preached a message that ended at verse 27 and I promised a probably a little bit more information, another sermon on that section and I need to preach a section, a sermon on the section that begins at verse 28.

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This is a good lesson again. I don't like to preach sections of scripture that I'm not confident in what

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I believe in. And in this case it's what verse 29 means. So I'm going to take another week or two to figure out because I have good sources and good friends, even

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Phil Kaiser helped me a little bit on this, and I have a difference of opinion with a couple of those folks about what that verse means in verse 29.

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So I'm going to incur a stricter judgment about what I teach. So I want to be very sure about what

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I believe about that text. So I appreciate your patience with me. So I opted to skip over that with a plan to come back and review that section in between.

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And I picked a little section that can stand alone in context and be a suitable sermon for us today.

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So I appreciate your patience with me on that. We will revisit those missing verses in the coming weeks.

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The title of the message today is, I die daily. It's that little phrase that's found at the end of verse 31.

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And that will be the subject matter of the message. The reality of physical death is ever -present.

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It touches everyone. People of all ages die and are deeply affected by the loss of loved ones.

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At some point early in our lives we move from growing to maturity to a long and slow decline of health and faculties that leads ultimately to our demise.

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The marketplace is littered with promises of a new fountain of youth to combat the inevitable.

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People spend a large part of their lives trying to avoid death. Some people are even superstitious about talking about death in fear that the mention of it may hasten its arrival.

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This makes Paul's declaration, I die daily, a bit shocking even to our senses.

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But it really punctuates his argument here in 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrection is so real and union with Christ is so essential that Paul would actively endanger his life and the preaching of Christ crucified, buried, risen, and sitting now at the right hand of God.

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The question that we hope to answer today is this, what is

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Paul's argument for the reality of the resurrection based on our little short text today?

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And the answer is very simply, he's willing to imperil his life and suffer unfathomable horrors because of the reality of the resurrection.

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He and all who had or would suffer for Christ were fools if the resurrection were not true.

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So I have a brief outline for you. First, faith in Christ was very costly for Paul.

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Faith in Christ was costly for Paul. Second, Paul lived like one with resurrection hope.

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Paul lived as one who had resurrection hope. And number three,

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Paul's argument from the negative. In verse 32, why would he endure all of this?

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Paul's argument from the negative. And then

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I have a section of application that follows. So what's

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Paul's argument? The resurrection is so real, so significant, so important, that his life is in danger every day.

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I should point out that there is a common mistake I believe that we do when we read this text.

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We revert back to the language of Christ talking about dying to self in the

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Gospels. We try to connect those two themes with our daily. Here, that's not what

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Paul is talking about. And it's not at odds with those statements by Christ that are so important in the

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Gospel. But he's talking about, very pointedly, about the resurrection.

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And he's talking about his peril. And the reason that he is willing to endanger his own life is because of the reality of the resurrection.

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There is an ethical and moral imperative that happens in a couple of verses. We're called in verse 33 to stay away, essentially, from bad company.

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In verse 34 it says, awake to righteousness and do not sin. So there is an ethical implication here.

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But this isn't the dying to self passage. And it's not really to be associated with that directly, if that makes sense.

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This is about Paul talking about the resurrection, not about his personal journey in sanctification.

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Now let's get into it here a little bit. What kind of things did

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Paul suffer? It says in verse 30, why do we stand in jeopardy every hour?

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Well, I'd like you to turn over to 2 Corinthians 11. Everyone do that, please. 2 Corinthians 11.

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I'd like us to read the list that Paul gives to the same congregation later about what he suffered for Christ in his

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Gospel. This is what faith in Christ has cost

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Paul. 2 Corinthians 11, beginning at verse 22.

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Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am

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I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ?

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I speak as a full, I am more. In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.

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From the Jews five times I received 40 stripes minus one.

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Now I want to tell the children about this. This is very gruesome, but this is a torture method, a punishment method of the

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Jews. And they had something known as a cat with nine tails. Have you ever heard about this?

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It was a long stick with nine leather straps on it.

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And it was filled and embedded with glass and metal and all kinds of things.

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And they would strip a man's shirt off and they would hit him on the back with the cat of nine tails.

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And when they pulled the whip back, it would rip his skin off. So Paul says here that he received from the

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Jews five different occasions 39 lashes with the cat of nine tails.

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That is, his back was terribly scarred. It was definitely making him susceptible to infection and all kinds of things.

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So that's just the beating. Let's continue. Three times I was beaten with rods.

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Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day

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I have been in the deep. The water is very cold in the Mediterranean and it makes you wonder how did he survive without having hypothermia.

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It journeys often in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the

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Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren.

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Now it should be noted that when Paul, a citizen of Rome, but a

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Jew of the Jews, would go into any place, he was offending everyone there.

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Not just the Jews. He was offending the Gentiles and their rulers. The preaching of Christ was an offense to everyone, everywhere

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Paul went. In weariness, in toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

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Besides the other things, what comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches.

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Who is weak? And I am not weak. Who is made to stumble?

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And I do not burn with indignation. If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity.

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The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

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In Damascus, the governor under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the

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Damascenes with a garrison desiring to arrest me. But I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands.

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So we have a brief description about what Paul suffered for Christ.

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Now it should be pointed out to you children that the Lord delivered

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Paul many times. But one day the Lord didn't deliver him anymore and Paul died as a martyr for the

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Lord Jesus Christ. So the gospel is very costly to Paul.

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He's a romantic figure to us. We think about how important he is. We compare him to John Calvin and all these different guys.

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Paul is on an entirely different level than John Calvin or your favorite theologian.

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Paul lived a life moment by moment, day by day, in jeopardy of death because of Christ, his church, his gospel.

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So for Paul to say in our text, and if you're not there, turn back now to 1 Corinthians, Paul says in our text,

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I die daily. This is a statement of the present reality of Paul's suffering and dying for Christ.

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And here's the argument. This is about the resurrection. Paul saying, why would

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I go through all of this if the resurrection were not true? Why would

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I subject myself to all of this if this isn't true?

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I should say this is one of greatest apologetics for the gospel is what the early saints, the apostles, the early church suffered for Christ.

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People don't do these kinds of things for us. So whenever we have people question the supernatural character of Christ's resurrection, we need to return fire with them and say the resurrection has yielded incalculable fruit in the life of people.

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You say scientifically, it's not possible. I'm here today to tell you it is a reality.

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Christ is risen. And Paul says, because of this doctrine, this mantra of preaching all through the book of Acts is preaching a resurrection justification by faith alone.

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He says, because of this doctrine, I'm on the edge of death. Paul was in constant danger of dying for Christ, for his church, for his gospel.

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Did you catch that in that section in second Corinthians? I'm going through all that. I'm getting beaten.

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I'm getting stoned. I'm getting tortured. My concern is how are the churches? Ranted on this for a number of years, we have no concept of the doctrine of the church.

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The church is so important to Christ and to his servants. It should be important to us, our local assembly, but also the welfare of Christ's church throughout the world.

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That should be important to us. We should be praying for the health and strength of the churches.

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So the faith in Christ was costly for Paul. The Paul also lived with resurrection hope.

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He's willing to endure and suffer all these things because he knows the future.

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He knows that death will be his grand entrance into the presence and glory and eternity with Christ.

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You don't have to turn there. I'm going to read a section from first Peter, and this is a great text about resurrection hope.

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First Peter one verses one through nine, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the pilgrims of the dispersion and conscious

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Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia elect according to the foreknowledge of God, the father and sanctification of the spirit for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.

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Grace to you and peace be multiplied. Let's be the God and father of our

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Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy, listen carefully.

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I want you to hear the message of hope attached to the resurrection. Hope Paul live like one with resurrection hope.

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We have another man who's living and teaching the same thing. Blessed be the

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God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

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Our hope is united to its link to it cannot be divorced from the resurrection of Christ.

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Our hope resides there because Christ is risen. Christ is the

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Messiah because Christ is risen. His doctrine of salvation is true and effectual for believers because of the resurrection.

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We have this hope. Verse four, and we have an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

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One of the things I have to point out here in verse five is we're not maintaining covenant with God.

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We're not keeping ourselves in the state of salvation. God has done in Christ.

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We have obligations. There are covenant stipulations that are laid upon us.

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We do have to be obedient, but if you ever think for one minute, you're keeping yourself in the kingdom.

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If you are doing something to secure your place in God's kingdom, you're horribly mistaken.

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He's done it. He's secured you there. He's the one who's placed you there.

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He's the one that upholds you there. He's the one who promises you a hope and a future.

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It's because of what he has done. You haven't done it. You've not contributed anything to this.

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Of course, there's dangers in the church today, the federal vision and all these things that talk about us maintaining covenant with God.

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It doesn't happen. God keeps us in covenant with himself. We respond to him in love and thanksgiving and obedience out of that generous act that he directs toward us.

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Totally monergistic that we would be in the covenant. Something that he does.

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Verse six, In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials.

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That the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, you love.

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Though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

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You're struck there. I have no idea what Jesus looks like. He doesn't look like any painting.

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He doesn't look like the stained glass abomination. We don't know what he looks like, but all of my hope and all of my trust and everything about my eternity, myself, my family, my children, my church, all of it rests in a man whom

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I've never seen. I see him with eyes of faith. All of my hope is in him.

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Verse 10 of this salvation, the prophets have inquired and searched carefully who prophesied of the grace that would come to you.

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Searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

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Live like one who believed this featuring doctrine of resurrection hope.

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You see there's also something else here, a consistency in the message. We know that Paul and Peter at odds occasionally in their lives of ministry, but they're speaking with one voice about what's happening with the resurrection and the hope attached to it and inheritance attached to it.

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One message from the whole of the apostolic band, all of them saying the same things about Christ and his resurrection.

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As we turn back, I have a reference from John that I'm going to read to you and you can go back to 1

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Corinthians 15. John 11 says something very important in this regard.

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This is the Lazarus incident and the resurrection that Jesus performs to raise

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Lazarus from the dead. Listen to this interaction between Martha, Mary and Jesus.

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Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother.

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This is post death of Lazarus. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary was sitting in the house.

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Now Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

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But even now I know whatever you ask of God, God will give you. And Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again.

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Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

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And Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.

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He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.

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Do you believe this? She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the

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Christ, the son of God, who is to come into the world.

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When she had said these things, she went away her way and secretly called Mary, her sister, saying, the teacher has come and is calling for you.

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As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to them. Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met him.

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Then the Jews who were with her in the house and comforting her when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying she's going to the tomb to eat there.

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Then when Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down on his feet, saying to him,

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Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Therefore, when

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Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled.

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He said, where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see.

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Jesus wept. Then the Jews said to him, see how he loved him. And someone said, could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying?

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Then Jesus, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid against it.

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Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him,

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Lord, by this time there is a stench for he has been dead four days. And Jesus said to her, did

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I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God? They took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.

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And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me and I know that you always hear me.

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But because of the people who are standing by, I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.

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And when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he who died came bound hand and foot with great clothes and his face was wrapped with a cloth.

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Jesus said to them, loose him and let him go. Jesus in the flesh could raise

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Lazarus from the dead. How much more can the risen

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Christ who himself tasted death and rose again? How much more can he raise us from the dead?

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These are essential elements. I think the story of Lazarus is very profound. It's astounding, really.

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But I think Christ does it to assure us of the future and particularly those people they needed to embrace and be on board with this doctrine of resurrection, live like one with resurrection hope.

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This hope is secured by nothing less than Jesus' own resurrection from the dead.

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There's something else. Jesus promises an inheritance. Peter alluded to this and I'm going to read a little section from Ephesians 1.

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Again, I just want you to listen, you don't have to turn there. This is from Ephesians 1. So there's a hope that he gives to us.

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There's also a promise of inheritance. And it seems that these two things coupled together are very important to the apostles.

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And they're very important that the church transmit and pass down through the generations.

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Ephesians 1. In him also we have obtained an inheritance.

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I should point out, I don't know, children, you don't know this. The inheritance only comes when somebody dies.

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A true inheritance requires the death of the testator, right? We have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory.

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In him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed you were sealed with the

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Holy Spirit and promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory.

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Think about this for a second. You and I have possession of a great inheritance.

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But do you know that you and I are trust fund babies? We have the

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Holy Spirit. We have a little percentage taste of what that inheritance means.

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But that will be paid full to us, in full to us when we die and we cross out of this time of this body of sin.

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That's when we get the full weight of the inheritance. But we have the trust fund now and we can spend it freely because the

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Holy Spirit is here with us. The guarantee, the security, the comforter, he's here with us.

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This seems to go very much what we're talking about in teaching hour, doesn't it? So we have a privileged status now.

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It's not only that we will have the inheritance, we have a portion, the physical, tangible portion that we can have in the spirit.

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Now we have it and possess it with us as the people of God. But the fullness of that happens post death in the resurrection.

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Paul continues, therefore, I also after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the

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God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling.

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What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints?

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I want to stop here because once you see the connection,

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Paul's very concerned about the false teaching about there being no resurrection in Corinth, because if there's no resurrection, there's no salvation, there's no hope and there's no inheritance.

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And all of those things, the people of God possess because of the reality of the resurrection of Christ.

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See, this argument follows. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places?

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The gospel is at stake in Corinth because false teachers don't believe in the resurrection.

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And Paul says, I believe in the resurrection.

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I'm willing to die for Christ in his gospel because of the hope, because of the inheritance, because of who

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Christ is. He worked this in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion in every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the age which is to come.

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And he put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

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This is nothing impresses us anymore. We saw

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Star Wars, but nothing excited us. This stuff is better than anything the world produces.

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The things I'm talking about, the scriptures, the truth that's being set forth.

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Faith in Christ has been costly for Paul. And Paul lives as one with resurrection hope because the spirit has given him some insight into the realities of the future, what's going to come to pass and the assurance of those because of what

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Christ has done. But our text, there's another negative example. Verse 32, it says, if I, in the manner of men have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me?

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If the dead do not rise, let us eat. Let us drink for tomorrow.

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We die. Again, I have a section you have to when you're reading the

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Bible, ask what happened in Ephesus? What's he saying here? You would turn back and find in Acts chapter 19, this very short account.

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This is Paul ministry at verse 17.

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This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus and fear fell on them all.

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And the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many who had believed came confessing and telling their needs.

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And also many who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all.

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And they counted the value of them in a total of 50 ,000 pieces of silver. So the word of the

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Lord grew mightily and prevailed. When these things were accomplished, accomplished,

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Paul purposed in the spirit when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem saying, after I've been there,

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I must also see Rome. He sent into Macedonia, two of those who ministered to him,

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Timothy and Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a time. But about that time, there arose a great commotion about the way for a certain man named

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Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Diana, brought no small profit to the craftsman.

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What happens in Ephesus? There's a big shrine to Diana and there's a silversmith.

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And the deal is that you offer silver idols to Diana. So guess what?

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He gets paid and all of his guild get paid by making these blasphemous idols to Diana.

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Paul comes in here preaching the gospel of Christ. And guess what these people do? They stop buying silver idols to offer to Diana.

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Verse 25, he called them together with the workers of similar occupation and said, man, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade.

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Moreover, you see in here that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people saying that they are not gods which are made with hands.

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So not only is this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess

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Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed, whom all

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Asia and the world worship. I heard this, they were full of wrath and cried out saying, great is

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Diana of the Ephesians. So the whole city was filled with confusion and rushed into the theater with one accord, having seized

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Gaius and Aristarchus and Macedonian's false travel companions.

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Skip down to verse 35.

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It says, men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know the city of the Ephesians, the temple guardian of the great goddess

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Diana and of the image which fell down from Zeus? Therefore, since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly.

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For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess.

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Therefore, if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a case against anyone, the courts are open and there are propouncils.

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Let them bring charges against one another. But do you know what happens?

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Paul apparently suffered some real harm at Ephesus.

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This is further evidence. He said, why would I go and stir up all that trouble at Ephesus if there'd be no resurrection from the dead?

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I've fought with beasts at Ephesus. What advantage is it to me?

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Everything in my life says from the world's eyes, this pursuit of Christ and his gospel, the propagation of this message is of no earthly value.

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And in fact, it's going to cost me my life. Why would I do this? Demetrius incited a ravenous crowd against him there.

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And I think these events must have been common knowledge to the

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Corinthians. Well, I want to wrap it up now and move into a couple of points of application.

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The first is believe again in the resurrection of Christ.

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Renew your zeal about the resurrection and its central importance to the Christian.

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Believe again in the resurrection of Christ. Why do all of these great, smart, talented men suffer so much for Christ?

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Because of the reality of the resurrection, because of the hope of glory, because of the promised inheritance.

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We need to boldly and courageously preach Christ crucified and risen. We need to labor for the church and widely broadcast the good news of the gospel.

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Here's where it gets a little sensitive for you and for me. Are you living a kind of life for Christ that would cause people to want to kill you?

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The answer almost unanimously here is no. And it tells me the reason the answer is no is at least in part because we don't esteem the inheritance, we don't have the great hope, and the resurrection doesn't have a place of prime importance in our lives.

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We are really living for the moment and for now. We're not living for eternity.

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We're not living for the hope. We're trying to get it all now. That's how we're living. We want our pleasure, we want our comfort, and we want it now.

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So the question is, are you boldly living for Christ? Is it costly to your life in this world?

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It was very costly to Paul and to his companions. It should be very costly for you and for me.

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Number two, are you filled with hope about the future?

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I'm not talking about your life plans working out. Are you filled with hope about the future?

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Christ is risen. You too will be raised from the dead.

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That should give you a lot of hope for the future. Number three, will you defend the gospel truth about the resurrection against false teachers who deny it?

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And that seems to be what Paul is doing in our section in 1 Corinthians. So we will be emulating

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Paul because he's defending the doctrine of the resurrection against false teachers.

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So we should go and do likewise. Finally, if this isn't tough for you, you're not breathing and living.

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This question I'm going to ask you, this is a very tough question for me. I don't hate writing it down.

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I don't want to write it down. Will you prefer sacrificial service to Christ over a life of comfort and ease?

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And in our flesh the answer is no. We would all take a life of comfort and ease, a life with no drama.

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But it seems that Paul is throwing himself into the fire of this and he's on the edge of death every day, every moment.

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That's why he says in the exclamatory, I die daily. You and I need to live radically for Christ.

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It seems that few prize it in this way. I'm calling and asking you to be one of the people who does want to live a sacrificial service kind of life to Christ, preferring that over a life of comfort and ease.

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Do you want to be truly extraordinary in this life? If you live this way, people, church historians would write books about you if you lived this way.

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They would be classes taught about you in your life if you live this way.

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So we had a question, what is Paul's argument for the resurrection in this little text today?

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Well the answer is this, he's willing to imperil his own life at great expense to suffer unfathomable horrors and endure all of this because of the reality of the resurrection of Christ.

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He and all who had or would suffer for Christ were fools if the resurrection were not true.

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And I'm here today to tell you that those people are the wisest people who ever walked on the earth.

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The world says they're fools, but they're the wisest because they esteem Christ and him crucified, dead, buried, risen, and ascended

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That's the kind of people we need to be. These things are absurd, reckless, if the resurrection were not true.

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But Christians throughout history have been required to risk all the blessings and comforts of this life, and they did it for the glorious hope of a life to come.

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Why would it be any different for us? Why would it be any different for us?

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Christ is risen. Therefore we should say with Paul, I die daily.

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Please pray with me. Lord Jesus, we see ourselves exposed.

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Lord, we in some ways use your faith, this religion, to provide comfort and ease for ourselves.

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We use it to appeal to our flesh, and we have to confess and ask for forgiveness. But Lord, we also have cause for rejoicing.

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In spite of our wretchedness, in spite of our bad motives, in spite of our perversions of this precious and holy faith, you have purposed that we be the people of God and the object of your affection.

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And in the gospel we see that you have redeemed a people, and we are those people,

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Lord, and in this we rejoice. And we know today, even with a little more clarity and a little more assurance, that you are risen and we are raised with you.

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That nothing matters more than being in Christ. And Lord, you have made us in you.

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You have called us your bride, taken us to be your bride, and you have made us your body.

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And I pray, as we approach the communion table, that we will be reminded of our union with Christ and with each other as the people of God.

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Oh, Lord, that you would be one with us and that we would be one with you, having to share in all of your sufferings and in your resurrection and your glorious hope and in your inheritance and dwell with you forever and ever as your people.

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Oh, Lord, I pray that your spirit would impress this upon us, that we would be nourished by it.