- If you have your bibles with you
tonight, please open them to First Corinthians, chapter 15. I say your
bibles, if you have your bibles, if you have your phone, if you have your iPad,
whatever else you use to carry around your copy of God's word. First Corinthians,
chapter 15. My assignment tonight is to address verses 35 through 58. First
Corinthians, chapter 15, verses 35 through 58. Before I do that, please allow me an
opportunity to express my gratitude to my fellow council members, the Gospel
Coalition, to my dear friends, brothers and mentors who have given me this
assignment. I'm humbled by this privilege, and I'm grateful for it. I'm grateful for
the way the Word of God has been preached over these last couple of days. And, every
time I came in here, to hear the Word of God preached, I found myself both grateful
for the opportunity to hear it, and also, just praying that they leave me something.
And they left me, they left me a little bit. I'm grateful to you for your
kindness, and the way that you always receive those of us who serve on this
council and pray for us. Please continue to do that, and unfortunately, this will
be my farewell because you have to be a North American to be a part of the
council. And you have to be a North American resident, and I'll be slightly
outside of that as of August. I'm living in South Central Africa. So rules are
rules, and I have been kicked out. But Don Carson did it, so it felt great
when it happened. First Corinthians, chapter 15. Let's begin
at verse 35, and I'll just read the text. This is one of those passages that just
needs to be read in it's entirety. And it's one of those passages, really, that
there's a temptation when you read this text to just, when you finish, close your
bible, and be done. But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind
of body do they come?" You foolish person. What you sow, does not come to life unless
it dies. And what you sow, is not the body that is to be but a bare kernel, perhaps
of wheat, or of some other grain. But God gives it a body, as he has chosen. And so
each kind of seed it's own body. Or to each kind of seed it's own body. For not
all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals,
another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly
bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the
earthly of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another
glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars. For star differs from stars in
glory. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable. What
is raised, imperishable. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory.
It is sown in wickedness. It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It is
raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual
body. Thus, it is written, the first man, Adam became a living being. The last Adam
became a life-giving spirit. But, it is not the spiritual that is first, but the
natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth. A man of dust. The
second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the
dust. And as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we
have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of
heaven. I tell you this, brothers. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of
God. Nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a
mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in a
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpeter will sound, and the dead
will be raised imperishable. And we shall be changed. For this perishable body must
put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on
immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written. Death is swallowed
up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God,
who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved
brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Knowing
that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. There is so much here, so let's delve into
it. As I read this text, one of the things that stood out to me was the fact that,
Paul is actually being pastoral here. He's doing Apologetics, absolutely, in this
chapter. But at this point, there is pastoral ministry happening. There is a
sense in which he is dealing with the doctrine of the resurrection from a
practical, pastoral perspective. Paul has provided a convincing apologetic for the
doctrine of the resurrection. He offered three lines of argumentation, in order to
prove his point. First, there was the argument from authority, what the
scriptures say in verses one through four. Second, there was the argument from
evidence. The account of eyewitnesses, including himself, five through 11.
Finally, he offers an argument from logic. If there is no such thing as the
resurrection, then there are seven things that must follow as inexorably as night
follows day. And after he has done this, he goes back to the fact that he's already
proven that Christ has been raised. So that his argument is confirmed.
However, having won the day and proved his point, Paul is not content to merely stand
triumphantly over the bodies of his defeated foes. This, for him, was about
more than winning an argument. He moves beyond apologetics and returns to
poiminics. He goes from proving his point to pressing his point. From orthodoxy to
orthopraxy. He goes from the fact that the resurrection is true, to the reason why it
matters. And it matters. As the quintessential pastor apologist,
Paul takes the opportunity to shepherd the sheep toward their ultimate hope. And he
does so by employing his oft used practice of dealing with a question as though being
asked, as he writes. He does this in a number of places. He does this in a large
section, or in several large sections of the book of Romans. And here, he begins
with, "But someone will ask." There is this practical point here, where he has
proved that the resurrection is true. And now, he's proving that the resurrection is
essential. And he doesn't just do it in an ethereal way. But he does it in a way
where he deals with a question that he has either been asked before, or he knows he's
going to be asked, based on his understanding of the human condition, and
the way people relate to this kind of information. But, is this question valid?
And what does this question reveal when he says, "But
someone will ask, 'how are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they
come?'." We know what happens to things when they die. We know what happens to
people when they die. We understand death. We don't know what
the resurrection looks like, because we've never seen a resurrection ourselves. All
we have is the record and testimony of the witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, all those years ago. That's what prompts Calvin to write, "There is nothing
that is more at variance with human reason then this article of faith. For who but
God alone could persuade us that bodies, which are now liable to corruption, will,
after having rotted away, or after they have been consumed by a fire, or torn in
pieces by wild beasts, will not merely be restored entire, but in a greatly better
condition. Do not all our apprehensions of things straightway reject this as a thing
fabulous? Nay, most absurd." I resonate with that. The first time I saw a dead body, I was 17
years old, and an unbeliever. I had never heard the gospel. I still wouldn't hear
the gospel for another year or so after that. I was raised by a single teenaged
Buddhist mother in drug infested, gang infested south central Los Angeles,
California. And when I got old enough to find a little trouble, or for a little
trouble to find me, my mother shipped me out. And we moved from south central LA,
all the way across the country. Three days on a Greyhound bus, to Buford, South
Carolina, where we then lived with her oldest brother, who was a retired drill
instructor in the Marine Corp. - Ooh Rah. - And I got out of trouble.
Quick, fast and in a hurry. However, several years later, having moved to the
great state of Texas, I got a phone call. And my cousin, Jamal, was dead. All of a
sudden, I was reminded of the things that my mother had rescued me from by taking me
away. I was reminded, as I contemplated my cousin who was six months younger than I.
Who had become a drug dealer, and who, depending on which stories are accurate,
somehow found himself in a bad situation, and at 16 years old was shot in the back
of the head. And he lay dead. We traveled back to Los Angeles, and I stood there
over his body, and I had no hope. I stood there over his body, and all I
could think was that, this is over. This is it, and not only is this over, and
not only is this it, but what do I have to look forward to, other than this?
What more is there than this? And so, I resonate with this idea, that this is not something that
is easy for us to grasp. And yet, Paul rebukes Corinthian unbelief. Yes, it's
something difficult to grasp. However, this is something that God has said in his
Word. It's one thing for an unbeliever to not have categories to deal with death.
It's another thing, for individuals who are associated with the Church of the
Living God, who have heard about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus
Christ to say, "I'm not sure that can happen." And so he says, "You foolish people."
Paul does not say, "Hey, I understand how difficult this is for you to grasp. I get
that." He says, "You foolish person." This is not a mere insult. The language
here is designed to press home a point. Paul was not just insulting the
Corinthians who disagreed with this because he felt like calling them a name.
The point that he was making was, you have the evidence of the Word of God. You have
the evidence of apostolic teaching. But you also have the evidence of general
revelation. I just can't comprehend how something could die, and be buried, and
then come back again. You foolish person. What did you eat today? It probably died,
and was buried in one form, and then came back in another form. God has shown you,
not only through his Word, but through the things that you see, even in nature. And
yet, you've determined not to believe. Which means that you have to accept an
alternative answer. And what is your alternative answer? Well,
your alternative answer could be some sort of Platonic Dualism.
Ghostism, Cerinthian Gnosticism. Some idea that basically matter is bad, and because
matter is bad, this whole resurrection thing with Jesus, wasn't really a
resurrection at all. Either, either, either, He wasn't really human, because
God would not inhabit sinful human flesh. And He only appeared to be human, didn't
leave footprints, for example. Or He was human, but His deity merely came upon him
at His baptism, and then left him there at the cross. But, the idea that He was fully
human, is completely unacceptable to this kind of dualistic thinking. And so, if
you're not going to believe the resurrection, you're probably going to
believe something like this. And Paul refutes that. If you're not going to
believe the resurrection, what do you have? Reincarnation? That somehow, this is
just your earth suit, and you'll leave this earth suit, and you'll go to another
earth suit. And it may be an animal, and it may be a bird. It may be a pig. It may
be a... We have to treat animals well. Why? Because that may be a dearly departed
relative. That won't do. Perhaps some kind of nihilism. The whole
Lion King Circle of Life type thing. That it really doesn't matter at all. We die,
then we go back to the dust, and we're just consumed into this endless cycle or
circle that happens. There's a group called the Urban Death Project, and
recently, they floated the idea of using dead human beings as fertilizer. We use
other dead things. Why not use people? You see, the first thing that resurrection
life does for us, is that it addresses our anthropology, our understanding of the
very nature of man. This doctrine affirms the dignity of humanity. The fact that
Christ took on flesh, and that he was, then, dead and buried, and was raised
again. He did not merely discard his flesh, and go back to his heavenly home.
He took this flesh with him, in its resurrected form. And that says something
about the inherent dignity of humanity, in its entirety. The fact that human beings,
as whole beings, have dignity inherent to them. It says something about the way we
think of ourselves, and about the way that we think of other people. It says
something about the sanctity of human life at every point. God could have had His Son
come in another way, but He did not. God could have skipped over those
insignificant aspects of human existence, but He did not. God did not have His Son
skip over those aspects of human existence, because they are significant.
And, so Christ comes into the womb of a woman, and experiences the entirety of
human development. Thereby sanctifying and saying to us, "From the moment of
conception, that is human life. That is worth being honored."
The resurrection teaches us this. Because He takes that flesh back up. There's this
statement. Look at what He says. He goes back to creation and, interestingly
enough, what He does, beginning in verse 39, is He takes days 4, 5 and 6 of
creation, and He does them in reverse. Watch Him in verse 9. For not all flesh is
the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for
birds, another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But
the glory of the heavenly is one kind, and the glory of the earthly is another. There
is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon. And one glory of the stars, for
stars differ from stars in glory. So, the idea here is that there is a glory of the
human body that is not the same as the glory of other things. Not the same as the
glory of other bodies. That's why even a nihilist will not pass by a dead human
being, and act as though there is nothing wrong. I don't care what you say you
believe. If you see another fallen human being, you don't simply step over, and
walk by. There is something in us that understands this inherent dignity of
humanity. This is why you can pass by a car accident, and if it looks as though
someone has died, you can be laughing and jovial and playing, but the moment you
realize that a human being, even though, you did not know him or her, or whether it
was a him or her, someone is dead, and you're not the same. Because there is a different glory
associated with us, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ affirms this.
It transforms our anthropology. Not only does it transform our anthropology, but it
also transforms our Soteriology. That there is a bridge statement here,
beginning in verse 42. So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is
perishable. What is raised imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, raised in glory.
It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It is
raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual
body. So, this glory, there is also...there is one sense in which the
glory of the human body is different than the glory of other flesh. But, there is
also the sense in which the glory of the resurrected body is different than the
glory of our bodies, as they are now. And this leads into the second movement,
where this changes our Soteriology. And look at what he does in this section. In
this section, we are introduced to the idea of the first Adam and the last Adam.
Thus it is written, the first Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a
life giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural,
and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of the dust. The
second man is from heaven. As was the man of the dust, so also are those who are of
the dust. And as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as
we have born the image of the man of the dust, we shall also bear the image of the
man of heaven. He's been resurrected, and we're going to be resurrected. Why?
Because we are united with Him. There is the idea here and the hinting of federal
headship. The concept was introduced earlier, this morning, but let me delve
into it a little bit more. Because Paul is dealing with the idea here that the
resurrection is real for us. Because our union with Christ is real for us.
We have actual union with Jesus Christ. In fact, death for us, is the direct result
of our union under the federal headship of Adam. So that in Adam, all of us die. Our
resurrection, then is connected to the change of our federal headship. But why
are we all guilty in Adam? The same reason that we are all forgiven in Christ. Earlier on, verses 21 and 22 he says, "For
as by a man came death. By a man has come also, resurrection of the dead. For as in
Adam all died, so also in Christ, all shall be made alive." Folks, this is why
the virgin birth matters. Jesus is not under the federal headship of Adam. Excuse
me, and if somebody could give me a towel or something, because they're wearing me
out with these lights. Got me preaching out of my
clothes, y'all. So this is why the virgin birth matters.
So those who say, "You know the virgin birth? We can take it. We can leave it. It
doesn't matter. All we need is Christ as our example." No. If Christ is merely our
example, and there was no virgin birth, then He stands condemned, because Adam is
his federal head. As are all of those who come by natural generation. However,
because... Thank you. Because of the virgin birth, He is not under that federal
headship. This is why His impeccability matters. This is why it matters that Jesus
did not sin. A recent worldview survey found that some 45% of professing
Christian teenagers believe that Jesus sinned during his earthly ministry.
I know two things. Number one, they don't understand the gospel, and number two,
they're not being catechized. The most basic catechisms deal with this. What kind
of life did Christ live on earth? A life of perfect obedience to the Law of God. Little bitty kids are asked
these questions. But you see, we've come to believe that
theology doesn't matter. Paul doesn't believe that. He believes that the
doctrine of the resurrection matters on a very practical level. Because, if you
don't get this doctrine of the resurrection right, then you don't
understand that you are under Christ's federal headship. And you don't understand
the significance of His active and His passive obedience. That in His active
obedience, he kept the entirety of the law and was actually righteous. Thereby, He's
able to impute actual righteousness to you. And, in His passive obedience, He
accepts in Himself the death that you owed to God, but could not pay. Therefore, we
can impute to Him our sinfulness. And because of this double imputation, we
stand before God, under the federal headship of Jesus Christ. Not only
forgiven, but righteous. And we can actually anticipate the resurrection
of our bodies. That doctrine matters. If Christ is not
actually righteous, then He's no better than Buddha. He's not better than Ghandhi.
He's no better than Confucious. He's just an example, and you can take Him or leave
Him. But, if He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died a vicarious,
substitutionary death, rose in a victorious, confirming resurrection, has
ascended to the right hand of God. Is there making intercession for us, and is,
one day, going to return to judge the living and the dead. And to gather His
people unto Himself. And to take them where He is. Then, this doctrine matters. Let me hasten here.
And look at the third movement. Because in the third movement,
we see this picture of how resurrection life changes our Missiology, our
anthropology, our Soteriology, and then, our Missiology. In this last section, he
starts by using a familiar passage, and was already dealt with earlier. This is a
parallel passage to a passage that we dealt with earlier. But, let's move down
here several verses, and look at what we find here, beginning in verse 54. When the
perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality. Then shall
come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death,
where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? So, the only way out... Again,
the last time I checked, the death rate was one per person.
I didn't look today, but I'm pretty sure it hasn't changed. We all go that way. It
is appointed unto man to die once, and then the judgement. And so, every man,
everywhere is asking the same question, or will eventually ask the same question. How
do I avoid being defeated by that last enemy? Because you can't whip him. You
can't buy him off. You can't appease him. You can't outrun him. You can't exercise
enough. You can't eat well enough. There is nothing you can do to avoid being
overtaken by this enemy. But what the resurrection says, is that
you can overcome this enemy. Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is
your victory? O death where is your sting? You see, when you stand over a believer,
it's not the same as standing over an unbeliever. Because, when you stand over a
believer, you know that. Because of his union with Christ, his federal head, that
he will raise, just like Christ raised, from the dead. There is a resurrection
coming. And so this sting and this victory is gone. But look, there's more. The sting
of death is sin. The power of sin is the law. Well, sin and the law have been dealt
with by the active obedience of Christ. That's why the sting has been taken away.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain. The question is,
what is this labor? Now, how do we read this? Is this labor referring to anything
that we do? Or is it referring to something more specific? And, usually we
read this, and we read it as though it's anything that we do. I believe there is
something more specific being referred to here. Go back to verses 31 to 34. And
here, in his argument from logic, he presents something very similar. He says,
"I protest brothers." By my... Actually go... Sorry about that. Fourteen to 19.
Fourteen to 19. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain. Your
faith is vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified
about God. That He raised Christ, who He did not raise, if it is true that the dead
are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your
sins. Then, those also, who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in
Christ we have hope, in this life only, we are of all people, most to be pitied. So,
he talks about your labor not being in vain. He's referring to this idea before.
But, to what does he refer? He refers to our gospel ministry. To our proclamation
of the gospel, but also, to our holiness and our life of faith. Later on, in the paragraph just before
this paragraph, the first paragraph in verse 35. Thirty-one to 34.
I protest brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ
Jesus our Lord. I die every day. What do I gain, if, humanly speaking, I fought with
beasts at Ephesis? If the dead are not raised, let us each eat and drink, for
tomorrow we die. Do not be deceived. Bad company ruins good morals. Wake up from
your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no
knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. Again, what are we talking about? The
proclamation of the gospel and our life of faith and righteousness. This is the labor
that's not in vain. The labor that's not in vain is gospel labor. This labor of
righteousness because of the gospel, and it's impact on us. And this labor in the
gospel as we proclaim it, so that Christ might have the fullness of the reward for
which He died. That's the labor that's not in vain. Is it because we're guaranteed
success? No. It's because we're guaranteed that we're going to transform our culture.
If we do this, your labor won't be in vain. You'll transform your culture,
you'll transform your community. No, you may not. Yet, you can labor in the gospel,
persevere in righteousness, pursue holiness to the glory of God. Not achieve
any of the outward things, that you so desperately achieve, and still say that
your labor has not been in vain. Why? Four things. Because our labor means
that the true effectual gospel goes forth, and that's never in vain. The proclamation
of the truth of the gospel is never in vain. The proclamation of the truth of the
gospel will always accomplish that which God intended for it to accomplish. And
that is never in vain, and so we pound away, and we pound away, and we pound
away. Brothers, do not give up on preaching the gospel. It has happened from time to time and from
place to place, where preaching gospel just didn't seem to get it done. And so,
we put our faith, and our hope, and our trust in various programs and means of
manipulation. Building a better mousetrap. Trying to find out what we needed to do in
order to bring them in, because therein lies our success. No. Our success is in
our faithfulness in the proclamation of the gospel. Do we want people to be saved?
Absolutely, we do. We want people to be saved by the thousands, by the millions.
But, not so that we can say, "We were good at what we did, " but so that we can say,
"I rejoice. I rejoice in Christ having the fullness of the reward for which He died.
" Secondly, our labor conforms us to the image of Christ in true righteousness when
it is gospel labor. There are two chapters that are put back
to back. They're in the Book of Romans, in Romans, Chapter five.
Paul talks about this idea of federal headship with the first Adam and the last
Adam again. But then, he comes to chapter six. And in chapter six, he asks another
very important question. Turn with me to the left, if you will, and look at Romans,
the end of Romans, chapter five, and the beginning of Romans, chapter six. That
last paragraph in Romans, chapter five beginning at 18. Therefore, as one
trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to
justification and life for all men. For as by one man's disobedience, the many were
made sinners, so by one man's obedience, the many were made righteous. Now, the law
came into increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounds all the more.
So that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness,
leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Chapter six. What shall
we say then? Are we to continue in sin, that grace may abound? By no means. How
can we who died to sin, still live in it? Do you not know that all who have been
baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized unto His death? We were buried, therefore,
with Him in baptism unto death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the
dead, there's the resurrection by the glory of the Father. We too, might walk in
newness of life. So the resurrection is not just so that we
can get up on that great getting up morning. The resurrection is also a
picture of us walking in the newness of life that we have right now. Why? Because
that resurrection life is mine right now. Martha learned this. Oh Jesus, Oh, if you
had just been here. Jesus, I know if you'd have been here, my brother wouldn't have
died. If you had come before my brother died, you could've done something. Because
I've seen you do things, and I know you can do things. Then you could've done one
of the things that you do. Now, he's dead. He's been dead for days. It's too late. Jesus does not say to her, "I've got some
one day stuff for him." Oh, because one day... He doesn't even say, "I'm getting
ready to call on my Father because my Father, He can fix it." What does He say?
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, death's not enough
to hold him." And if Christ is the resurrection and the life, then
resurrection life is not just something that I'll look forward to, and it is that.
Amen. It is something that we look forward to. But there is also a sense in which
that resurrection life is this current reality, this already, not yet reality in
which we walk. And why? For holiness. For
righteousness. For hope. Thirdly, our labor prepares us for
His coming. Prepares us for His coming. We
heard earlier today, when our brother spoke about the first time that he
preached at a funeral. I remember the first time that I preached at a funeral. I
remember the first time as a pastor, that I preached at a funeral, and all of a
sudden, it just dawned on me. The pastor is not just an administrator. The pastor
is not just a hand-holder. The pastor is not just a preacher. The pastor is not
just a counselor. The pastor is not just all of these things that we do. But I
stood there, and for the first time, I had shepherded someone to the grave. And I
realized, that's what we do. That's what we do. We're so used to people just
getting up and leaving. They don't like the color of the carpet. They don't like
the music. They don't like how you preach. They don't like this. They don't like
that. And so, people just go, and they go, and they go. But sometimes, people don't
go voluntarily. Sometimes, God takes them. And in those moments, we realize that
everything that we did in their life, before that point, all of a sudden, right
now, has renewed meaning. Why was it important that I preached to
that person? Because this day was coming. Why was it important that I counseled that
person? Because this day was coming. Why was it important that I evangelized that
person? Because this day was coming. Why was it important that I held that persons
hand? Because this day was coming. Why is it important that I do all the things that
I did with that person with all of the rest of these people? Why? Because this
day is coming for all of us. We are preparing people to meet God.
Entertainment doesn't do that. Coddling doesn't do that. The gospel does that. And
when we grasp that, it changes the magnitude and the gravitas of the ministry
that we have. Finally, our labor gives us hope.
Our labor gives us hope. You know there's a huge difference
between standing over a 90-year-old man and preaching a
funeral, before a bunch of people who are nodding and smiling. Because that
90-year-old man has lived this long and full life, and knew the Lord and
loved the Lord. And standing in front of a
casket this big. How do you stand in front of a
casket this big and preach, looking into the eyes of parents, who only had moments
with the child. You better have the hope of the
resurrection. How do you stand up and preach to a husband and five young
children, when a 42-year-old mother, who went into the hospital because she was
feeling bad, a few days later was dead from an infection? How do you do that? You better not try to reason your way out
of that one. It is the hope of the gospel and the hope of the resurrection, and the
reality that this is not our home, and that we are being prepared for something
more. And that because of the resurrection of Christ, that changes our anthropology,
we think about these people differently and their wholeness differently. Because
it changes our Soteriology. We think about what Christ has done for them and for us
differently. And because it changes our Missiology, we think differently about the
way we utilize that moment, and what we say, and why we say it. And now we know
our labor is not in vain. This is why the doctrine of the resurrection is so
important. This is why it wasn't enough for Paul to just win the argument. This is
why it wasn't enough to have people just confess, "Okay, I believe that it's a
possibility." No. That's not enough. You can't do that. This is your life. This is
who you are. This changes the way you understand yourself as a human being, and
every other human being. It changes what you mean by justification, and adoption,
and sanctification, and glorification. And it changes what you mean by, why we do
what we do in gospel ministry, and in righteous living.
Everything is changed when we understand the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And this is why we stand over
those elements, time and time again, and remind our people,
time and time again. Whenever we eat this bread, and drink this cup, we proclaim the
Lord's death, until he comes. We ought always to be
resurrection centered. Why? Because there is no
gospel without the resurrection. Therefore, if we're not resurrection
centered, we're not gospel centered. Let's pray. Oh God, how we thank you. Oh how
we rejoice in this great truth. How we rejoice in this great hope, as we get
older and our hair gets grayer, and as our bodies break down and move more slowly.
And as diseases and infirmities come, we are reminded again and again and again
that we won't be here forever. And yet, as that reminder comes, there is
another great reminder, that you hold out before us regularly. This reminder that
Christ has defeated that final foe. This reminder that death doesn't have the last
word. This reminder that because of His active and passive obedience, because of
his incarnation and wrapping himself in flesh. Because of him taking our sin upon
himself, and dying, and paying the price that we owed. And because His resurrection
has announced to all, that you have accepted that payment. We have hope in the
face of our impending death. We have hope as death is all around us. We have hope in
the midst of situations and circumstances that seem hopelessness. We have hope,
because Christ was dead, but He is dead no more. He is risen. We rejoice in this
truth. In Christ's name and for His sake. Amen.
