Christ, The Firstfruits

This sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To access other sermons or to learn more about us, please visit our website at graceedmonton .ca.

It's kind of a nice thing. We have a smaller group today, because that way I don't have to use the mic.

I hate that thing.

Okay.

All right.

The Gospel as the Good News of Christ’s Death and Resurrection

So as we get to it, good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon, Brothers and Sisters. Welcome back to Grace Fellowship Church. So if you guys remember, last week we took a little bit of a break in 1 Corinthians.

We had a message from Luke, our brother from Bethel, and he preached in the book of James. And it was a welcome break to be able to hear just something a little bit different. But this week, we're back in 1 Corinthians, and we're looking at verses 20 -34 like our brother P .J. just read.

So if you remember where we were at in 1 Corinthians, we are studying in the Gospel. We are in the twilight of Paul's letter. This is the final chapters as he's winding down. But as his last order of teaching, he's going through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So this is all of chapter 15. So today, it should make sense that we're going to continue to study that Gospel. We're going to continue to study what it looks like for that Gospel and what the Gospel truly is.

But as we study that, so before we get into it, I want to maybe walk through somewhat of a hypothetical situation that you might hear often in church, Lord willing, but it's something that maybe, like I said, we don't think about.

And anyway, so the situation is this. The church is finished. As I might conclude today, as people get in conversations and you start to see people getting in groups and saying hello to one another, at some point, you might overhear someone saying something like, oh, I met with a coworker, I met with a friend, and I was able to give the Gospel.

So we think about that, and we think, amen, that's a good thing. That Gospel message has been preached, but like I said, without being nosy or trying to overhear or trying to be rude and trying to insert myself in a conversation I might not be invited to, some of us might ask the question, what does it mean to give the Gospel?

What does it mean that you were able to give the Gospel? There's a couple questions that do come up logically from that. Like I said, if you were going to give a definition, if you were going to give a two, three-minute definition of what the Gospel is, I pray and hope that it would sound something like this, that you would be able to say that we talk about the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ, through perfect obedience, descended from His throne on heaven, putting on human flesh, lived a perfect life under the law of God.

Again, these are really big things to say, to some point, but lived a perfect life, and He died as an atoning sacrifice for sin, that anyone who would call upon His name in faith would find life, that in Jesus Christ you would find life and not death.

So amen and amen. That is, in two, three minutes, that is something that you could say to someone, if you were out and about or had run across a co-worker in despair or something, that might be something that you could say realistically in about two, three minutes.

That might be a word of encouragement to them that they are looking for. I mean, the word evangelion, the Greek word that we derive evangelists from, and evangelical, I mean, it does mean the good news.

It's literally the good news. And it became later on to be known as the glad tidings of salvation, as history progressed and the word evangelion took more of a life of its own in the Christian church.

Okay, but really though, that's about a two, three minute conversation, and it's heavy loaded, that's heavy laden with meaning. Like, that's not something that, I mean, realistically you could say that in two, three minutes.

But the question I would have next is, what if you had more time? You know, what if you had more time for someone? And that same conversation comes up, I gave the gospel to such and such person. What would that look like?

What if you had an hour with that person? You don't have a couple minutes. What if you had a week? Or even a year? How might your gospel presentation change? Or how might that look? What aspects would you focus on?

Because that's, because it's a good question. It's one that we ought to consider. Like, we often don't think about it, but if we consider the gospel message, it's a simple message. It is a simple message, but it's at the same time infinitely profound.

It's an infinitely profound message that ultimately as Christians, we don't really get past. We don't walk away from the gospel having taken on greater doctrine. We always find ourselves back in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We ought to. We need to. There is a logical order of how it is that you would explain it. And you're thinking about, you know, if I were to give the gospel, or if I were to receive the gospel, how would that look like to me?

You know, there's an order. There's an order to things. God is a God of order. He's not a God of chaos. You know, A has to come before B. You know, then comes C. And if we are going to deliver that gospel, so now if we look inward for a moment, if we say, how does this affect me, or how do I present the gospel?

How do I know it to be true? We need to know how to receive the gospel. We need to know what the gospel is before we can then give it to someone else. We need to know the logical order ourselves. This is something that is crucial to our lives, and this is what Paul is going to focus on today.

So, as we're looking at that order, you know, we're looking at an outcome of having an ordered theology. I'm going to, maybe, I don't want this, but you could maybe run a ticker about how many times I'm going to say that.

An ordered theology. This is going to be a theme that is going to run throughout all the text today. And, I don't know, if anyone comes up to me after, let me know. But, don't be surprised to hear this, because there's going to be, there's order here.

This is a God of order. There's logical steps that take place. And we're looking at that order. Because if we don't, if we don't understand that order ourselves, if we don't understand the logical outcome of what the gospel looks like, then we are like this Corinthian church.

Like these Corinthians, if our understanding of the gospel is not ordered, and it's chaotic in any way, we will have an unfruitful spiritual life. It will be unfruitful. And this is a direct result. This is a logical result of having an unordered gospel understanding.

So, like these Corinthians, if we do not have an ordered theology on the gospel of Jesus Christ, we will have an unfruitful life. Because that's just a logical outcome. So, this is what the text aims to correct today.

We're just going to continue to dive into it. But before we do that, let's seek the Father for wisdom. Dear Father, Lord, we need you. Lord, teach us to know your gospel, Lord. Teach us to be a people who understand the logical order of your glorious gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Lord, we have so much to look forward to, Father, truly. So much of what the Corinthians, Father, struggled with. So much of what issues came to bear in this early church, in church history. Father, so many of these struggles, these sins, all of it, Father.

How much did it stem from a misunderstanding of the gospel, a misunderstanding of your theology of the word that has come from you? Lord, how blessed are we that we have your Bible now that we can study it, that we can correct our view of theology of what you've said to us.

But how much does that define us, Father? I pray that, Lord, that today, Lord, that we would walk away with an order sense of theology, Lord, an order sense of doctrine, Father, that you, Lord, are a Lord of order, not a Lord of chaos.

Lord, you are sovereign and you do as you please. And, Father, in your pleasing, Father, you've revealed a logical understanding for us to follow. So, Lord, I ask, make us more like this. Make us like trees planted by the stream.

Streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaves do not wither, Father. I pray that this would be us. Father, I pray, Lord, that this would be true of us, Lord, that we would be like these small saplings that grow into mighty trees, Father, that are planted by the streams of your water.

So, Lord, I ask this, and we pray this all in Jesus Christ's precious name.

Amen.

Christ as the Firstfruits and the Hope of Resurrection

Okay, so, you have in your bulletins notes, and if you're keeping notes, we're starting in our first point, which is the hope of life. So, we're looking at the text today. We're just going to jump right into it.

And this is a hopeful text. It's a very hopeful text. It's about the gospel. And although there's things to learn, and there might be, there'll be a lot that's left unsaid, I will encourage you that this is a hopeful message.

So, as we get into it, let's just read verses, for our first point, verses 20 to 23. It says, But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man also the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. So, we'll pause there for a minute. But before we move on too far, I just want us to stop and read verse 20 again, and just understand how amazing this is, this reality.

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. Just linger on that for just a moment. Just understand how glorious that is, that Jesus Christ has been raised, that he's alive now.

We looked at last week, I think a couple weeks ago, when Shane preached last, he preached about the reality of what our faith would look like if Jesus Christ had not been raised. Just remember verse 19, it says, If Christ is not raised, that means that he is only our hope for our present life right now, at this current moment.

That he cannot guarantee salvation into eternity. And we, of all people, should be most pitied. And that's something that should stick with us. That if Jesus Christ is not raised, we are people that are to be most pitied.

We are the ones who are absolutely wasting our time. So, when he says in verse 20, but Jesus Christ has been raised, this is a hopeful verse. This is hopeful for us. In other words, it would be disastrous for our faith if our sin had not been dealt with.

It would be disastrous if Christ is not, he was not who he said he was, and that we were still living in sin, and that eternal salvation to us had not been guaranteed. It's disastrous. It actually leads to a sense of nihilism, but I'll get to that.

So, as we look to verses 21 to 22, I want us to understand that, as he says, For by as a man came death, by a man also has come the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, also in Christ shall all be made alive.

So, in these two verses, Paul brings up the theological doctrine of original sin. The original sin of Adam. So, for those, again, brushing up on our theology here, the doctrine of original sin finds its root in Genesis 3.

This is the fall, very early on in the book of Genesis, or in the Bible period, the third chapter of the book, when he says, For as by a man came death, this is referring to Adam. This is the sin of Adam.

If you remember the story of Adam and Eve in the garden, Adam disobeyed the commandment of God not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. So, that was a direct disobeying from, essentially, God's right-hand man.

He had put Adam to work the garden, and Adam, in his disobedience, wanted to be like God. He wanted the knowledge of knowing good and evil, and he consumed of the fruit. This is what we call original sin.

This is where the first sin of man, in Adam, this is what separated man from God's holiness. So, the sin of Adam separated humanity from the holiness of God. And because of God's perfection, he's perfect, he's good, any sin before his perfect sight is a blight.

Because of this holiness, this perfection of God, Adam and his descendants were cut off from communion with God. In much the same way, for Adam's own safety, because God's all-consuming holiness would threaten to undo Adam.

So, this sin that Adam had committed in the garden, logically, if we're going to follow this logical tree or this vine that Paul has laid out in his text, it makes its way, eventually, to us. So, Adam and his descendants could no longer commune with God as they did before.

So, logically, a sin entered the world. Eventually, we inherited this sin. So, that is the doctrine of original sin, that we inherit this sin. That we do not come into this world as holy beings, but in need of saving grace.

Which is important. Which is pivotal to our faith. Because if we look at even other texts in the Bible where it says, David says in Psalm 51, verse 5, he says, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother did conceive me.

Think about that reality, that even the youngest of us, even infants and newborns, this is sad to think because, again, you guys know that I have a niece, and there's people that I know that are pregnant, and as wonderful as it is, so think about this, how wonderful it is to welcome life, to welcome newborns, and the beauty that these children and the life they bring into the home, think about how wonderful that is.

In the background, we do it with an understanding that eventually this poor child will have to die. That's a reality. That's the reality of original sin. So that's a sad thing to hear. I mean, like I said, I love my niece, but in the back of my mind, the reality is this child, and any other that would come before her and after her, is still dealing with the same issue of original sin.

And that's a reality that's just not true, just not here, but all over the world, especially right now. Especially right now. If one thing is true, for sure, is that everyone has this theological truth and knows this.

So when we talk that people don't really know theology, they know this. This is one thing that everyone knows, is that we all must die at some point. That death comes for us all. This is one theological truth that connects all people.

This is something that everyone does understand. This is true of everyone. But this is why Christ rising from the dead is so good. So if we look at the bad news, again, that's the bad news of original sin.

We look at bad news, we look at the good news. How good is it that Christ has risen? If Christ isn't who He says He is and didn't cleanse us of sin, then we're still children of Adam. And eternal death is still in our future.

But praise God that Jesus Christ is life and that He has risen. I want us to look at verse 22 for a second. And I want us to just look at a little word here, the word in. There's two letters, in. For as in Adam all die, but in Christ there is life.

So in Christ. Think about how profound that is. So either you are in Adam or you are in Christ. So to finish our first point, again, if we're looking just at our first point, if we're going to finish here, if Christ is raised and we are in Christ, again, we're going to follow this logical, one step at a time, then we too shall be raised.

However, well, we have to look at this again in ordered theology. Like I said, I'm going to say this 100 times. But in logical sequence, like it says in verse 23, but each in its own order, these things have to come in a specific order.

So if Christ is raised, we shall be raised. But we have to look at how that order is going to play out. But before we move on to that order, we're going to look at application. So if we're going to apply the reality that Jesus Christ is risen, this is where we can apply this hope right now, is keep your eyes on heaven where Christ is.

So if that's our takeaway for our first point is keep your eyes on heaven where Christ is. I read Hebrews 8, but I'm going to just focus on Hebrews 8 for just a moment. It says, We have such a great high priest, one who was seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven.

Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father right now as we speak, with completed work. He's completed what it is he came to do. And the fact that he sits, that he's raised, perfect Jesus Christ, sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven, this verse could not come at a better time.

Never in my life, and maybe, like I said, I haven't been on this world very long. I mean, not yet anyways. But I haven't been here very long. But never in my life have I ever found myself turning to the news and finding it so difficult to read the headlines.

It is absolutely incredibly difficult to do. But at the same time, how much, how difficult it is to pry myself away from the headlines that seem to be coming moment to moment. Just in these last couple of years, the news of pandemics, unrest, riots, war, poverty, famine, you name it.

And the videos and all the information that has come from this, all of this points to the very fact that the world offers us no rest. If this is our reality and this is what we look forward to, then we can look forward to not resting very much, if this is where we find our hope.

We shouldn't be surprised that these things are taking place. Again, we're not people who are coming to this situation looking surprised at all these things that are going on in the world right now. Jesus Christ did warn us after all in His Gospels.

But as we talk more about that in the next point, you know, right now, like I said, if I want to comfort you guys, and I really want to comfort you in the foundation of Jesus Christ, that if we can take comfort that when we fall asleep, so when we die, when we fall asleep, it's not an issue of if, it's when.

If we are in Christ, we will rise with Him. Turn with me, I'll read actually out of 1 Thessalonians 4, 16 to 18, just for your reference. Like I said, as you turn there, just understanding how difficult it's been to see the passing of a family member and how this will impact our reality, just how sweet these words have been.

As I've meditated on these and I've read these through, just how sweet. I wish I could read the whole thing and really delve into this text. But just for the sake of time, we're going to go through 16 and 18.

It says,.

Amen.

How encouraging that is for us to really, really nestle our hope in that. So as we look at this first point and as we're moving logically through the text, our days will still be filled with unrest, truly.

I mean, it's not going to be easy. These are dark days that we're going to enter. But let's encourage one another to find that rest. For those of us who know that our security is bought in the Lord Jesus Christ, find rest in that.

Encourage one another with these words. So look to heaven where the Lord is. So that's how we can apply the first point. So I'm going to try to get the kids. There's not many kids here today, so I'm picking on you two.

But it's okay. I had you guys in mind when I was thinking about this. I know you guys are fantasy freaks and geeks like me. I love fantasy. So I'm going to ask you guys a couple questions. Others can chime in if you'd like.

I won't pick on the kids only. Can you guys name some of your favorite authors? I know you guys have been reading some good stuff.

Okay, okay.

Okay.

More fantasy stuff. That's more current. I haven't read that stuff in a long time, it seems. Yeah, that's good. I was looking for that answer.

Tolkien.

I'm a big, like I said, I'm a big fantasy nerd. So I love Tolkien. You know, C .S. Lewis. Anyone who knows me knows that I love C .S. Lewis and I love his writings. John Bunyan is another one. Even though these are theological, there you go.

Very, very rich authors that have written really rich works. And if I'm going to just lean on some of these stylings from some of these fantasy writers, there's moments in these books where it looks like it's almost all over.

Any good narrative sets up a really good climax, a really good struggle that the characters in it have to go through. In these fantasy books in particular, what happens? What are some saving graces? I don't know if you guys remember.

I don't know how far you guys are, but pretty far? Okay, so what happens in these moments? So when it seems like all hope is lost, what happens in the nick of time?

Oh, that's right.

Yeah, that does happen. That's right. And so the light comes in. There's a moment of saving grace. Something happens where it would seem by providence that these heroes are saved. In one instance that I'm thinking about, the king returned.

So if we're looking at this theme that we're looking at, this logical order, we're looking at a return of the king, if you might. This is something that we might draw on today. So if we're looking at our text and we're looking at a kingly return, a king has to do something.

So if a king is going to return, he has to reign. So that's where we're going to pick up on our text again. So we're going to look at our second point, the king must reign. So if we're looking at the top of our message, we noted that the gospel is ordered.

Like I've said this a hundred times and I will say it more in the course of this message. If you look at verse 23, this is kind of something of a hinge verse. This is a verse that we can look at the rest of the passage and we can track with Paul that things have to come in their logical order, in the logical argument.

So this is where we get to our second point. So in verse 24, you see that little word, then. So based on all these things, then the end comes. When he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and every power.

So we're looking at that little word. After all these things are taking place, then as Christ has been raised, then comes judgment. So let's look at verses 24 to 26. So I'll pick up on 25. It says, So if we're going to pause there for just a second, remember that Jesus Christ, if you're looking to explain the gospel to someone, sometimes it's not enough for us to just say that Jesus Christ came to deliver sinners.

Jesus Christ also came to fulfill the righteousness of the Father and that includes judgment for sin. So the first time Jesus Christ came, he came as a humble man. But the next time he comes, he comes in white and righteousness divine with a sword from his mouth.

That's what it says in Revelation. So when we're looking at that, that's also one reason that Jesus Christ came. That's another aspect of the gospel. And if we're going to, again, throw words out so people can have an idea about what I'm talking about, this is the study of eschatology.

I know many of us are familiar with this and some of us find our hobby horse in eschatology. But eschatology is a broad topic. And those of you who are familiar with eschatology know that it is a really broad subject.

There's a lot of different interpretations and there's a lot of different things about it. So like I said, the definition of the term is the study of the end times. So that's what eschatology means. The word in Greek, eschatos, does literally mean the last things.

So eschatos and ology, the study of the last things. So like I said, I'm not going to have the time to really break down every single position. That's not my place today. And honestly, like I said, I feel under equipped to give a fair shake of every single position that is out there.

There's a couple.

And they're very compelling, every single one of them. But I'm going to give it as much priority as Paul gives it in the text today. So if we're looking at verses 24 to 26 where we get just a window's glimpse into eschatology, Paul's main point is that Jesus Christ, our King, will put all things in order.

So all the things are going to logically fall into order. He will destroy every rule, power, and authority. Later on in his writings in Ephesians, chapter 6, 12, Paul said, he wrote later that, So in essence, Jesus Christ will deal with all the structures of evil.

He's going to do away with evil. He's going to do away with sin. And logically, as a result of that, he's going to deal with death. That is the last enemy and he's going to deal with it. There's going to be a time when death will not affect us.

So regardless of your position in eschatology, like I said, I'm not going to get into it because I just don't have the time. But this is true regardless of the position. Regardless of the position, he must reign until he's put all enemies under his feet.

That is something that is agreed upon, regardless of the different view that you might have. So if we're looking at, again, we're progressing through this logically. We're looking at our last few verses.

I want to spend some time here, verses 27 and 28, because these are admittedly a little bit tricky. A little bit of a tongue twister. And the truth is, it's not as complicated what Paul is saying here.

But you have to understand that this is some tricky wording. So I just want to unpack it and really make it clear to you guys. So these are a little bit tricky. And as a result of some of the wording, you can see actually it leads to some of the idea that Paul had to correct some of these ideas.

So what he's correcting is maybe somewhat complicated wording for us as English readers and not reading in the Greek. The misunderstanding that Paul is correcting is that Jesus will put all things in subjection, including the Father.

People had this interpretation. The Corinthians had this idea that the Father would also fall in subjection to Jesus Christ. So reversing the order of the Trinity, they had a misunderstanding that the Trinity was not as ordered as it looks.

When he says, for God has to put all things in subjection under his feet. But this is Psalm 8 .6. But then he says, but when it says all things are put into his subjection, it is plain that he is accepted who put all things in subjection to him.

So the Father is not in subjection to the Son. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him. So when things are under the rightful authority of the Father, then the Son will bring all things to him as well.

So the Son himself will also be subjected to him, will put all things in subjection under him, and that God may be in all in all. So the idea is this. Don't get the order of authority mixed up. And we can see that.

And actually, this lands into our point here, actually. Because this is what happens when you have misordered theology. You have Paul citing Psalm 8 .6, which is a misinterpretation that the Corinthians were applying here.

I'm just going to read it quickly. It says, Psalm 8 .6. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet. But nowhere is God included in that. And this actually leads into our second point of application here.

We need to ask clarifying questions. Because admittedly, this is somewhat of a tricky passage. These last two verses are not the most clear. But if you were to run with this, and if you were just to run with this and say, oh, this is what I know it to be, without actually having understood it completely, you'd get some funny ideas.

And you'd be able to twist this doctrine into something that it does not intend to say. So actually, because it's written the way that it is, it actually does lead to this application, is that we need to find ways to ask clarifying questions.

Proverbs 27 .17 says, as iron sharpens iron, one brother sharpens another. I'll be the first to admit. So before you guys hear, I'll be the first to admit I don't know everything. I mean, obviously. And actually, it's often the case that I don't know something very well off the bat.

Like, I have to study really hard. And I devote myself to things that I don't understand. And it is admittedly frustrating. Because it's difficult to understand. And I need to study it before I actually need to know it.

It takes a lot of effort. And part of that is that I have to be able to ask the right questions. This is where pride also sits in. We need to be aware of that. While the text doesn't say this, and I'm not going to read into the text what is not there, we can presume that there was issues of possibly pride or misunderstanding, at the very least, that led into this church not even having the right order of the Father and the Son and all authority being given to the Son.

It would have created a mess. And one way that we deal with that in humility is to ask the right questions. It's just to ask clarifying questions. There's no stupid question. There is no such thing as a dumb question.

And if I'm going to just use myself as an example, humbly, how much I've been blessed, actually, by brothers and sisters that have come alongside me and actually clarified some of these questions that I had.

And actually, not just that, but they were patient with me. Because that's really difficult to be. It's difficult, especially when you don't get it. And oftentimes, if we're honest, that frustration gives way to us not being easy to be helped.

But I do want to encourage you, ask those questions. And to those receiving questions, to those receiving and forbearing with those who have questions, who misunderstand, who find it difficult, it's good for us to appeal to the minds of those around us.

I've talked about just the logical order of how it is that we address the gospel, logically. We appeal to the mind. But how much important is it also that we consider the heart of the person that we're speaking to?

These are human beings. These are image bearers of God. So if we're going to not only deal with the mind as people ask questions, as we receive questions, we also need to be patient and forbearing with people.

Because a disordered theology is chaotic and leads to spiritual chaos. And we cannot, if we love one another, we cannot allow that to be true of us. We have to be patient with one another. So, again, just an application.

Ask clarifying questions. There's no such thing as a dumb question. I promise you that. And I'll be the first to ask questions if I don't, I mean, Lord willing, I will be, if I don't understand something, because I often don't.

So, okay, so if we're looking at our last point, before we get into that, I want to paint this illustration again about the king. If we're talking about a king reigning, a king coming back, as Paul has made clear in this text, if we're thinking about the servants, if we're thinking about people that he will find his pleasure in when he returns, I want us to think about what that looks like.

Often Jesus Christ preached out of parables that talked about the king, the king returning or sending envoys or sending servants before him to send the message, and oftentimes those servants would be killed or martyred or beaten.

But the truth is the king is returning. And if we're going to think for a moment, we have a high king that we follow. If he has said in his word that he's going to return, if he has been true thus far, and he will return, the question you might want to ask yourself is what kind of servant will he find pleasure in when he returns?

So ask that of yourself. Is that something that, am I a good servant? Is that going to be true of me when he returns? Like he says in the book of Matthew, my good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over little, I will set you over much.

Is that going to be true of us when Jesus Christ returns and he says, enter into the joy of your master? So I want us to think of these hypotheticals. We think about a glorious king return. I love Lord of the Rings.

And there's something about the king returning. I mean, that's a really great story. But also, I mean, how often is it in any kind of work of fiction or anything that truly that we're waiting for the Savior?