Bible Talks - Sunday Night Church
Resurrection Hope
Sunday, 20 February 2005
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There is a lot of death around at the moment isn't there?
Just when everyone was trying to digest their Christmas dinner, the tsunami hist South-East Asia and kills around 250,000 people.
My parents are in their 70’s and they say that they are probably going to a funeral every 3-4 weeks at their stage in life.
Week before last I was a part of a funeral for a man who was a warden at the church at Tregear in Mt Druitt. Geoff was fighting fit and ‘only’ 62, and dropped dead two Saturdays ago after mowing the grass.
Of course, there are some people for whom it seems death can't come soon enough. Two years ago the euthanasia campaigner Doctor Philip Neitschke, introduced his latest portable, low-tech death device. Called the Aussie Exit Bag. It's a plastic bag with an adjustable neck-band; he says the bags are clearly labelled with warnings that they could cause death if you put them over your head(!) I just want to know if it comes in different colours.
But more to the point, it's just one more step in a long debate about community attitudes to life and death.
Which is the issue this very long chapter is devoted to. Here in 1 Corinthians. A famous passage; in many ways beautiful. That spells out the Christian certainty of life beyond death. A certainty that puts this life in a whole different perspective.
Their Problem
Can I say at the outset though, I think the problems and issues Paul's addressing here in 1 Corinthians 15 are very different to ours. In surprising ways.
The questions he's setting out to answer, the objections he's addressing, they're coming from somewhere different to where we are. Sometimes there'll be overlap, and the conclusions will be helpful. But there's a form of thinking going on in Corinth that in some ways is quite different to ours.
Let me put things into a little bit of perspective by reminding you we're looking at the very first generation of Christians in Corinth. And I wonder if you can think yourself back into how confusing they might be finding their new Christianity. They've heard the gospel, and they're convinced by it. But the question is what follows?
They've heard Jesus rose from the dead, and offers eternal life. But how's that relevant to them?
Well, it's the answers that some of them are coming up with that show where the problem lies.
Let me explain: It seems there were some who were saying, “if you become a Christian, if you're spiritual enough, then you're not going to die.”
When you put together the pieces of what Paul's saying to them, it seems like there are some in the church in Corinth, who are saying, we've passed into a new existence already. Our resurrection has already happened. So we speak the tongues of angels; they say, we're already spiritual beings.
There are laws against salesmen who do that - offering too much, too soon. And I've got to say there are still Christians today who come close to making the same mistake.
Of saying if you're a Christian then in this body and in this life there won't be problems, or disease, or decay. So long as you have enough faith.
It's a great sales pitch, but one that in time is always going to disappointment.
And yet for these Corinthian Christians, with their background in Greek philosophy, the ideas that Paul puts forward sound almost offensive, almost like a horror movie. That dead people… dead bodies… are actually going to be raised to new life. The Corinthians are happy with the new life bit. But they want it now. And they don't want to pass through death to get it.
Similar problem over in Ephesus; Paul says to Timothy over there, he says, stamp out the false teaching of Hymenaeus and Philetus who are saying the resurrection has happened already. That somehow the point of conversion is the point of permanent transformation, with nothing more to come, and there is no resurrection of the dead. And if you look at v12, it's the hinge point of the chapter, the big question. “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?”
Paul's going to point out that their whole position is inconsistent. That they've got it wrong just about every way you can think of. And to get it right, they need to look again to the example of Jesus.
<<<< Possible break >>>>
Paul's Answers
Now what I want to do as we look at the passage, is first of all look at how the things Paul says about the resurrection of Jesus corrects the Corinthians' wrong thinking. And then after that, how it corrects ours. Because our issues are different.
You said you believed this… v1-11
First of all, then, a reminder. A reminder of the things the Corinthian Christians are saying they affirm. Notice v1-11, it's a great summary of the gospel message. The fundamentals of the Christian faith. Here's what Christians believe.
Which is worth pondering on if you're still in the process of working that out. But the point of it is, Paul tells us twice that the Corinthians do believe the basics. The place they go wrong is in what comes next.
”Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,” v1, He says let's go back to square 1. And remember the message that you say you believed: the gospel. The message that you're saved by, if you hold on to it firmly.
And v11 he says it again. Doesn't matter who preaches it, this is what you believed.
What is that message?
That Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures. V3. Literally dead.
But more than that. That Christ was buried. V4. - which is what you do with dead bodies.
That he was raised on the third day. Not just as an illusion, or a ‘spirit’. But physically alive! And he appeared to Peter; and then to the twelve; v6, after that, to more than 500 of the brothers at the same time. Most of whom are still living, though some have ‘fallen asleep’ – Paul’s cute little way of saying they had died.
Evidence number 1. If believing the gospel gives eternal life starting now… if Christians with enough faith aren't going to die… explain why some of the eyewitnesses had died. They saw firsthand. They believed. And some are dead.
V7 Then he appeared to James, and finally, says Paul, to all the apostles. And to me - last on the line.
And even if you don't think much of me, even if you haven't taken any notice of a single thing I've said since, he says this is what all the apostles preach, and this is what you already believed.
So how can you say…?
So how is it, then in v12, how is it if you've already believed Christ was raised from the dead, if you've agreed with that, how is it some of you can say there's no resurrection of the dead?
Because you can't have the one without the other; you can't say the dead don't rise… if Jesus was dead, was buried, and then was raised.
And if Christ hasn't been raised, he says, our preaching is useless, and so is your faith. Which would mean Paul has lied about God: claiming that God raised Christ from the dead, if in fact the dead aren't raised.
And this makes your faith futile… v17. No point believing he died for your sins if you don't think you'll be raised from death. And for your Christian friends who are dead already… well, if you're right, says Paul, they're gone. If you're right that there's no resurrection of the dead, v18, then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
So when it all boils down to it, says Paul, if our hope in Christ is only for this life, if this is as good as it gets, if there's no resurrection to look forward to… then Christianity is pathetic. No matter how spiritual the Corinthians think they are, no matter how much they think they've arrived; no matter how healthy and wealthy and wise… if there's no resurrection at the end of the road, then Christians are people you should feel sorry for. If we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are to be pitied more than all men.
Move down to v29. ‘Cos there's more. And this is bizarre. Somehow the Corinthians have picked up the idea of being baptised on behalf of dead people. Old Uncle Bruce… long dead. He wasn't a Christian. So let's get someone to get baptised on his behalf. As the Mormons do these days.
Not a smart idea. Because you're saved by trusting Jesus; not by baptism. And especially not someone else's.
But that's not Paul's point. He says, you Corinthians are totally inconsistent. You want to have your cake and eat it. Because on the one hand you want to say there's no resurrection. And on the other hand you want to get baptised for Uncle Bruce. If the dead aren't raised at all, he says, then why are people getting baptised for them?
And as for us, v31… us apostles… why would we put ourselves in constant danger? I mean, read Paul's story back in Acts sometime, he's right. He's whipped, he's arrested, he's shipwrecked, he's on trial; he says in v32, “If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained?”
Paul stakes his life on the fact that there's more to come. He stakes his life on resurrection. His whole life now, his values, the things he counts important… they're all built on the fact that Jesus died and rose in the past, and so he himself will die and be raised in the future.
Which this first generation of Corinthian Christians just don't get at all. If they're thinking that if you have enough faith you're safe from dying, they've got it badly wrong. If they think the ones of them who have fallen asleep already have somehow failed the test, they've missed the point.
The Example of Jesus
So just as he does in almost anything else, Paul says, look at the example of Jesus - and be patient.
Back to v20 and a few verses we jumped over.
Here's the picture. How can some of you say there's no resurrection of the dead when you look at what happened to Jesus? He's like the first piece of fruit on the tree in spring. He's the first-fruits of the crop. Like the first grain sample from the crop: a sign of things to come.
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead… “the firstfruits, v20ff, 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.” In the same way Adam brought death into the world, Christ brings resurrection.
But notice in v23, you've got to get your timing right.
Paul says first things first. V23 “But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.” So the end's got to come, when he hands over the kingdom to the Father. After he has finally destroyed every enemy. The last of which… is death.
See, ask the question as a Christian, “Has death been defeated?", and the answer's got to be yes and no hasn't it?
Yes Christ has. No, we haven't.
And we need to be real about that.
Paul says, the thing we're holding out for, the time we're longing for… is the time when that last enemy is destroyed. And death is no more.
It’s the time the book of Revelation talks about in chap 21 – when God will wipe every tear from their eyes. And there'll be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. For the old order of things will have passed away.
What do we have now? We have the firstfruits. The promise of the harvest to come. But everything in its turn.
Which is a healthy perspective that as Christians we need to grow into. There will be questions, at a time like the death of my friend Geoff, where we almost make the Corinthian mistake of maybe thinking this life is the time when the good things should come. Of thinking this life should be a death free zone… if you've got enough faith. When the opposite is true.
I heard of a woman once who said she'd always park her car in no standing zones because she was a Christian. And she'd walk around the car and put a ‘prayer bubble’ around it. So the parking police wouldn't notice it. And she wouldn't get a ticket. And there are Christians who look at life that way. As if, if you've got enough faith, nothing goes wrong. As if Christians somehow shouldn't die saving people or die in smashed cars or perish like anyone else when a tsunami hits where you live.
Paul says, get the timing right. Christ the first fruits. Us later.
But if you say there's no resurrection like they're saying, then – there's nothing to look forward to at all. And they may as well make the most of what they've got.
Put your feet up and take it easy. Live it up. Eat. Drink. Get as much as you can out of this life. Because this is all there is. If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink… for tomorrow we die!
Which of course is exactly the way most Australians are living. And it’s how a lot of the Corinthian Christians are living as well. And their wrong thinking is leading to wrong living.
as you can read in vs 33-34
Flesh and blood won't stand the distance
Which brings Paul to another objection being thrown at him by the Corinthians.
Get this right. Resurrection doesn't mean you end up a floating disembodied eternal spirit. Resurrection means a physical body. Paul's saying it over and over again. Jesus was raised with a body. So we'll be raised with a body. A body that's somehow the same, but somehow fundamentally different. Probably like the raised Jesus had… who walked and talked and was seen; who ate. Who said to Thomas put your finger in the nail holes... And yet somehow is as different to what we are now as the stalk of wheat is to the seed.
But the simple fact he wants the Corinthians to see is: this body dies because it's perishable. And our resurrection body is something far superior. And if the spiritual ones in Corinth think they've got the goods already, they've got it badly wrong.
They want to argue. V35. They say, how are the dead raised? I mean, sounds far fetched. With what kind of body will they come? Come on Paul, get real!.
To which Paul says, why far fetched?
There are all sorts of bodies – v39-41. What makes you think God can't do resurrection bodies?
And that's how it's going to be, v42. We have a natural, perishable body now, but will be raised with a spiritual body. Which, he says, is absolutely necessary. Because no matter what the Corinthians are thinking, flesh and blood - the bodies we've got now – they're not fit for eternity.
Like you wouldn't try driving Dan’s Corolla across the Nullarbor Plain! V50. He says, “I declare to you brothers, that flesh and blood can't inherit the Kingdom of God. Nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”
So, we mightn't all die… if Jesus comes back while you're living. But even if you're alive… you'll need to be changed; because the perishable, he says in verse 53, must be clothed with the imperishable… and the mortal, with immortality. And when that's done, he says, when that's happened, then and only then will the saying be true… that “death has been swallowed up in victory.”
In the meantime, death's still here. Even though the sting's been taken.
In the meantime, death's still here. Even though Christ has died for our sins.
In the meantime, death's still here. Even though we have the certain hope of resurrection afterwards.
Our problem
Now I've been suggesting that 1 Corinthians 15 is really talking very much to the issues of that first generation of Christians, who are in some ways expecting too much too soon. And so Paul's resurrection lesson is addressed to that.
Our issues are different. For one thing, with the Corinthians he can start from the assumption that they agree with him that Jesus rose physically, from the dead.
Which for our world today is something most people don't even want to consider. The popular point of view if you follow Dr Neitschke is that when you're dead, you're dead - assuming that that is better than living anyway.
That doesn’t place much value on life. And puts no hope in any sort of life after death.
The other thinking is a sort of sentimental, wishful thinking that says no matter what you've believed, your spirit will be in a happy place, and the resurrection of Jesus has got no part to play at all. In any of it!
Which for the last hundred years or so has been pretty much the way its been with Christians as well. So when our last head bloke of the Anglican church in Australia was elected – it didn’t really bother most of the voting bishops that he didn’t believe in the physical resurrection of Christ!
Plenty of others don't. And still want to call themselves Christian.
Plenty of others don't. And still want to have some sort of pie in the sky hope of something nice for people after death.
There's a good lesson here for people like that. And that is, if you're going to discount the real resurrection of Jesus, don't bother calling yourself Christian. Because the three key statements at the start of the chapter define what a Christian stands on. That Christ died for our sins. Was physically buried. And physically rose again.
And we need to see again what Paul says. That if that's not so… our faith is futile. And you might as well stay home and watch TV on a Sunday night rather than spend your time encouraging other Christians and hearing from the Bible. If this life is all there is, get on with it, and arrange the best possible party you can!
But if you are convinced that one man defeated death… that one man lay dead three days and then came back… then that's got to change everything.
Not in the over-enthusiastic way that says everything in this life's all going to be okay. That says, Christians won't get sick or suffer or die. But with the realistic hope… the certainty that resurrection for Jesus, means one day, resurrection for his people as well.
If you don't believe that, you need to realise this life is the best it's ever going to get.
But if you do believe that, take heart… that this life is the worst that things are ever going to get. And it's better from here on in.
Which makes Christians a people of hope and purpose. Who stand firm in that hope… as Paul says in v58. Unshakeable. Always giving ourselves fully to the work of the Lord… because we know of all things, our labour in the Lord is not in vain.
