Because of the Resurrection - 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

It's going to vary slightly from one English translation of the Bible to another English translation, but there are approximately somewhere between 750,000 to 800,000 words in the average English translation of the Bible. I didn't count those. I Googled it and check ChatGPT, and they're in the same ballpark, that around 758,00,000 words. Some words are very common words. that you would use every day. Some words are very unique, that you'd find them only in the Bible or only in religious writing, some words are very simple, easy to pronounce, some are very hard to pronounce, and we can't quite get those right. Some occur over and over and over again, and some recur in just isolated places, thinking about all the words in the Bible. What would you say would be the most important words. We were to make a list of the top 20 most important words in all the Bible. What would make that list? I want to submit to you today that perhaps the most important, or one of the most important words of the Bible, is a very common word. It's a very simple word. It's a very short word in English. And it's found in the words of the angel to the women at the tomb, on the morning that we celebrate today is Easter, Sunday. Matthew chapter 28, a group of women, go to the tomb of Jesus early in the morning to visit the tomb, and there they're met by an angel. And the angel says these words to the women. Do not be afraid. For I know that you're looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, just as he said. Come see the place where he was lying, where he was lying. Isn't that a powerful word? You never thought such a simple, common, short word in English could be such a powerful word. Come see the place where he was. I want to tell you why I think that word is so important. Because without that word, the rest of them don't matter. Without that word, the rest of no matter. Everything that Jesus said, everything the Bible says about Jesus, everything that was foretold about him in the Old Testament, recorded about him in the New Testament, none of it matters if the tomb is not empty. Everything rises and falls. Everything is built on a place where he was. 2007 the Discovery Channel aired a documentary called The Lost Tomb of Jesus. And they had an archaeologist on there who had claimed to find the oshuary that held the bones of Jesus. It wasn't Oshuary. It's a box made of stone where they'd put the bones of a body after it decomposed. You lay the body out on a plank and wrapped in linen. It would decompose. You would come back later, gather up what was left and put it in this box and stick it in the wall of the tomb and clear up the spot for the next body. And they had found some inscriptions on this ossuary that they thought could indicate that this is the box that held the bones of Jesus. And they brought in all these scholars, archaeologists, religious scholars. And I never forget, there was a scholar from De Paul University in their religious studies department. And they asked him, what would happen to your faith if this indeed was the box that held the bones of Jesus. And he said, it really wouldn't do anything to my faith at all. I would continue to believe what I believe, even if you found the bones of Jesus. I want to say I completely disagree with that scholar. And I think you would too. If you find the bones of Jesus game over for what we're doing here. of this matters. We are wasting our morning in here worshiping Jesus if you found a box that held his bones of his decomposed body. I would say it would wreck my faith. none of this would matter anymore. And the apostle Paul would also say that. In fact, that's what he's saying in this passage before us, 1st Corinthians. We've been working our way through the book of 1st Corinthians for several months. Today, actually is the last sermon from 1st Corinthians. We're starting something brand new next week. And we skipped ahead to chapter 16 a few weeks ago because we wanted to end on chapter 15 because this chapter is the most extensive treatment of the resurrection in all of the Bible. And it's a great chapter to kind of camp in at Easter time. And so we, this is the 3rd Sunday of our hope of the resurrection series in 1st Corinthians chapter 15. And one of the things that the author, the Apostle Paul says early in the chapter is, if Jesus is not resurrected, then nothing he said matters. Everything is built on this. We started out 2 weeks ago. If Jesus is not raised, there's no basis for our faith. There's no evidence for what he claimed, there is no proof that our sins are forgiven, there's no hope at all. Everything rests on the resurrection, the angel said to those ladies, he has risen just as he said. He said, you want the proof that want to sign? I'm going to come back from the dead. We can't remember that it ballad did everything. There's no resurrection. There's no validation, there's no proof, there's no hope. And last week we talked about how the resurrection of Jesus not only validated what Jesus said and gives us hope that our sins are forgiven, but it gives us hope of our future resurrection. There's coming a day where all the followers of youth are going to be resurrected. You go back and read this chapter to see more about that. We'll talk a little bit about that this morning to move on. So here's what we have of the resurrection. The 1st part of the chapter says it validates all the past claims of Jesus. Everything you said is true because of the resurrection. Last week, we said there is a future hope because of the resurrection. Jesus was the 1st fruits because he was resurrected. There's a promise for his followers that they'll be resurrected. A future help. I'm talk today about, what do we do today? What's the hope we have today? in the present because of the resurrection? Because the tomb was empty? Because the tomb was empty? Three things we can be sure of today. Three things we can rest assured of because of the resurrection. 1st is this. Because the resurrection, death has lost its sting, because the resurrection, death has lost its sting. I look around the room and I see the faces of people who have felt the sting of death, some even recently. I bet all of you have felt it. at some point. You felt it when you've mourned at a funeral. You felt it when you wept at a graveside. You felt it when you received that dreaded phone call that no one ever wants to receive. Some in our church have felt it when they've seen men in uniform, walking up the sidewalk to deliver the news that a loved one was killed in action. Some felt it in ICU units, when they shut off life-sustaining measures, some have felt it at hospice bedsides. When you watched a loved one take their last breath, some have felt it in ERs, when your worst fear was confirmed. You felt it in doctor's offices when that diagnosis changed everything for you or your family. And you continue to feel it. On holidays and anniversaries, and cemetery visits and just random memories that hit you out of nowhere. We feel the sting of death. Today in our text, Rust and Reddit, the band sing about it, the sting of death is gone because of Jesus. Verse 50. I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit imperishable. Now, in the verses leading up to this 1st Corinthians chapter 15. He had said, there's coming a day where our perishable body is going to become imperishable. And the brokenness of this world is going to be put behind us. And this verse spells out why that's necessary. He says, because we're going to be given new bodies one day because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Our human nature as it is, it's weak and imperfect condition is not suited for what God has for us in the future. He says the perishable cannot inherit imperishable. These dying bodies can't inherit what's going to last forever. And so bodily transformation is necessary because our frail bodies, mortal bodies are not fit for God's eternal kingdom. This present body we live in is perishable. And it's not suited for a heavenly future that is imperishable. So one day we're going to be resurrected. We're going to be resurrected physically, but in different bodies, imperishable bodies, so that we can experience all that God has for us. This week we've watched on the news as Artemis too. orbiting the moon. Is it on its way back yet, Jason, you follow that. No, it's on the other side of the moon right now. And, okay. And I remember visiting the space center in Houston a few years ago. And there was a whole thing on how we're going back to the moon. And I thought, man, were we ever, I thought we were supposed to be there by now. So I, because we're not landing on the moon yet. again, allegedly, whatever. Oh, you're kidding. kidding, I'm kidding. But we're gonna land on the moon. So I looked this up. The latest plan is Artemis 4. and we're gonna put people on the moon. I said, why are we waiting so long? The plan was to get there by 2024? Why are we delayed now? It's a lot of reasons we're delayed. One is, they're developing, still developing the technology for the next generation moon suits that the astronauts are going to wear when they walk on the moon. They're still working out some technology there. Why? They say you can't go there yet. We don't have the kind of suit ready for you to land on the moon. And I thought of this text when I was following that news this week. We're headed to a place. Christian, we're headed to a place one day that your body is not equipped for. Your body is not suited for. And so the scripture says, the flesh and blood can't inherit what's coming for us. And so there has to be a change. First 51, he begins to spell it what that's going to look like. Behold, I tell you, a mystery. Now, a mystery in the Bible is used to refer to something that was once hidden, but has now been revealed. I'm going to tell you something that we once didn't know, but God is now making known to us is what he's saying. We shall not all sleep. But we shall all be changed. Not all of us are gonna die. before that day, but everyone's going to be changed. Verse 52, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the last trumpet, the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body. must put on imperishable, the imperishable. And this mortal body must put on immortality. In an instant, as fast as an eye can twitch, everything is going to change. That moment, the dead are going to be raised, and the living are going to be transformed. This is going to solve the problem of verse 50. That flesh and blood can inherit it. It's going to be a moment when the dead who have perished are going to be raised back imperishable, and those who still live in mortal bodies are going to be given immortal ones. Now, there's a lot of mystery to this still. It's a lot that we fully don't understand, we don't sin fully from scripture, but we piece it together. This is what the Bible says. A couple of things I want you to catch today. One is that when a believer dies, the Bible teaches that that believer goes into the presence of God. couple of verses, 2nd Corinthians 58 says that to be away from the body is to be at home with the Lord. We leave our bodies, we're with the Lord. Philippians 123, the author writes of a desire to depart from this world and be with Christ. And so the Bible does teach. When a believer dies, they go into the presence of God to live with God and what he has prepared for him. But there's coming a future day, where the believer's going to be given resurrected bodies, and those still alive are going to be transformed. We see that here in 1st Corinthians 15. We see it also in another passage in 1st Thessalonians. Let's look at it. It's kind of a companion passage to this one. But we do not want you to be uninformed brothers about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For we declare to you, by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive and are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord will descend from heaven with a cry of a command, and the voice of the archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet, here's what's going to happen, the dead in Christ will rise first, then those who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the air, so we will always be with the Lord, whether you're alive when it happens or dead when it happens, no one's going to miss out. No one's going to miss out. And he says, for that reason, verse 54, back to 1st Corinthians 15. When the perishable puts on imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the same that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? A loved one, paraphrase, version of the Bible says it this way. Oh, death, who is afraid of you now? Who's afraid of you now? You know what he's doing? The author is quoting from Old Testament prophets, and he's using those prophecies to trash talk death. We're going to trash talk death one day. We're going to taunt death one day. Who is afraid of you now. The sting will be gone. One of my favorite times of the week at Northland is Tuesday morning. I try to be around on Tuesday morning, so that's when there's a group of retired guys who come up at 9 o'clock, and they all drink coffee together. They call themselves the geezers. That's their word, not mine. Willie's one of those. Gary's one of those, several of the... part of the group, part of the group. Maybe not a, he could just be visiting the geezers, but he's in the room when they say that about themselves. You're one of the guys who come and drink coffee. And they talk about, they solve the world's problems. I mean, there's not a problem that these guys don't have a solution for whether it's political or economical, that they come up with all the solutions, and it's sometimes spiritual. They always end in prayer. Jesus comes up about every Tuesday, but the chiefs come up a lot. They solve world problems, global problems, they solve local politics problems, they solve all the problems with our sports teams are solved by these men every Tuesday morning. And this time of year, they will make their predictions for the royals and their early predictions for the chiefs. And I have good news. They have reported once again that we will win both the World Series and the Super Bowl. They have they have called it. And so Tuesday, talking about the chiefs and what needs to happen in their hopes for this season. And not everyone's a Chiefs fan, Gary Kraft, is in the circle, not he's a fan of another team in our same division that's in Colorado. And, uh, He sat very quietly. He got to the end of the time, and someone turned to Gary. He was kind of over where I was sitting and said, Gary, you've been pretty quiet. And he said I'm just waiting to gloat. I'm going to let you talk about your chiefs all day, all month, all season. And he says, I know in the end, my Broncos are going to come in and dash all of your hopes and dreams. That's his hope. He wants to sit quietly until the day he can gloat. Listen, believers, we can sit quietly in the face of death, knowing one day will gloat. One day with Hosea and Isaiah and Paul, we will say death, who is afraid of you now, your sting is God. You still feel the sting of death? We still feel it in our lives. But it's been removed. It kind of buzzes around, but it's sting, it's gone. Whenever I read this verse, I think of a story, I heard one time of a family on a road trip that when they stopped for gas, got back in the car, a bee had flown into the car. Have you ever been locked in a car with a bee and children? It's a chaotic scene. And the kids were crying. The wife was freaking out. Dad just calmly reaches up in the air and grabs the bee out of the air in his hand. And everybody calms down. Dad has caught the bee. And then, for some reason, he just opens his hand and lets it go. And everyone's screaming again that the bee is loose until the dad says, hey, hey, shh, look. And he turned back to the back seat and he showed his kids in his hand was the stinger of the bee. He took the sting. And that's what death does. It buzzes. It buzzes around. And it still annoys us. And it still grieves us. But its sting is gone because of what Jesus did on the cross. The sting of death has been taken by Jesus. Every Easter morning, for some reason, I wake up with 2 songs stuck in my head. One of them, an old hymn, the other a hymn from the 1980s from a composer called Petra. Anybody, he goes, anybody, a Christian in the 80s who listened to Christian music? That song Grave Robber. Some of you know the song. I'm going to get stuck in your head, Will, you're going to be singing it today, going home. You're going to be seeing grave robber. Grave robbers, an old 80s Christian song. The grave will come up empty-handed that day. Jesus will come and steal us away. Where is the sting? Tell me, where is the bite? When the grave robber comes? Like a thief in the night? Where is the victory? Where is the prize when the grave robber comes? And death finally dies. Those who mourn today can be comforted. And those who fear today can have courage. There's coming a day when death will no longer have power over us because the sting has been taken by Jesus on the cross. Death has lost sting. Also, because the resurrection, sin has lost its power. Sin has lost its power. Verse 56, 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, death and sin and the law have been dealt with through Jesus, and we now have the victory. What does all that mean? Death, excuse me, sin is what gives death its power. Sin entered into the world and death into the world. Sin separates us from God. It's sin, and knowing we have sinned, that brings a sting to death, that we might have to stand before God knowing we have sinned, and that's because the law exposes sin. The law brings awareness to it. So what does all this mean? The law tells us we're sinners and sin has this in a place where we don't want to face God when we die. And Jesus was, what is all, how does this work? The law reveals the rebellious hearts that we have. Do you do this as the only me? I can walk through a museum and not want to touch anything until you put a sign on it telling me not to touch it. Does anybody do that? Why do I do that? It says, don't, don't touch. I had no desire to touch that till someone told me I couldn't. Why? Because I have a rebellious heart. And when you tell me I can't do something, for some reason, I all of a sudden want to do it. That's what he says. That's what the law did. The law said, you are sinners. We didn't, we now see what God, God's plan for us. We know we don't live up to it. We now know that we're sinners, and now we know we're going to die sinners. And so there's a sting that comes with that. I watched an old Western a few weeks ago, a couple weeks ago, and there was a guy in jail. He's going to be hung the next day and hang the next day and the pastor comes to visit him in the jail. And he said, son, have you made peace with God? What's he say? You going to die tomorrow? Are you right with God? That's the question. Have you made peace with God? That's why death has a sting. Because we don't want to die and face God knowing that we are sinners. There's a sting to death. But Jesus dealt with the law. He dealt with sin and he dealt with death. Thanks be to God. verse 57 says there is victory over all three. The sting of death, the sting of the law, the sting of sin is gone. We have true peace today, knowing that our sins have been dealt with by Jesus. And if we put our faith in him, we've turned from our rebellious heart, our rebellion that's in our hearts, to Jesus, he takes the sting not only out of death, but out of sin. And in a single stroke on the cross, the power of all three, law, sin and death are destroyed by Jesus. The resurrection becomes the evidence, that the sacrifice was sufficient. And now because the tomb was empty, we know our sins can be forgiven, we know that we can be saved despite our failures. We know we can face death with peace, and we can face tomorrow with peace, that our sins have been dealt with. You can be forgiven, you can be set free, you can live a new life today because of what Jesus did on the cross because the tomb was empty. Third, because of the resurrection. Life has meaning, new meaning and purpose. Look at verse 58. The 1st word of verse 58, therefore, okay, what's he doing here? He has built this case about the resurrection to lead him to this encouragement, this challenge. Therefore, 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. After a beautiful and extensive discourse on the resurrection, it ends with this one verse call to action. 57 verses. 57 verses on why the resurrection is important to bring us to verse 58. Therefore, this is how you're to live in light of the fact that Jesus Christ has been resurrected. And by the way, let me just say, every time the Bible talks about the future, the end times, if you want to call it that. We get fascinated by that. 1 Corinthians 15. We want to know what that's going to be like, and we jumped over to 1st Thessalonians 4. And now we have some questions about that. And then we know that some stuff was predicted in Daniel, and there's some stuff in Matthew, and there's some stuff in Revelation, and other places, we want to put all that together, and we want to know the timeline, down to the detail, what's this all going to look like? Here's what I would just challenge you on. The Bible never addresses the end times to satisfy our curiosity about the future. The Bible never, ever, any place, did it address the end times to satisfy our curiosity about the future, but always to motivate us to faithfulness in the present. Anytime God talks about what's going to happen in the future. It wasn't just to, so you could, we could write books about it or to teach seminary courses about it. It was so that we could be encouraged today. And so he says, guys, Jesus is resurrected. Everything he said is true. We're going to be resurrected in the future because he was the 1st fruits. So now what do we do today? This is what he's driving everything to, verse 28, today, or verse 58, rather, be steadfast. Be steadfast, stand firm. Hold fast to the resurrection. Don't deviate from what you know to be true. The gospel you have believed is based on a solid foundation. You can trust it, you can stand firm on it. This is what's so important about that word was. If there's a body in the tomb, none of it matters, if there's not a body in the tomb, guess what? All of it matters. There's no neutral position here. If he didn't come back from the dead, we're wasting our time, let's turn this thing into a casino or storage units, whatever we're doing in the Northland here. If he did come back from the dead, then all that we're doing here matters. And we can stand firma, it's what he's saying here, be steadfast, stand firm. This is true. Be immovable, he says. Let nothing move you. Be unswervingly committed, totally dedicated to the work of the gospel. Let nothing move you away from this. And then he says, abound in the work of the Lord or excel in the work of the Lord. Devote yourself to the Lord. Always give yourself fully to this work, do not grow weary, do not give up. Your labor for the Lord is not in vain. The hope of the resurrection makes everything we do for the Lord worth it. No work done in his name is wasted in light of the fact that the tomb was empty. You see, this isn't just a future hope. It's something that impacts our lives today. Stand firm on this hope today. Don't be moved by any trouble or persecution or difficulty today because the tomb is empty. And give your life fully to serving him. It's not useless effort. It's not a waste of effort. No task is futile. Our service to Jesus are invested in a winning cause is what he's saying here. Serve the Lord with confidence. knowing that your work is not in vain. Sometimes it feels like it. Sometimes we wonder what we're doing. Is it making a difference? Does it matter? And he comes along and says, there'll be a day that it mattered. It's not in vain. I was in Ecuador, for a month learning Spanish, and I visited some of the old cathedrals and things. Ector was a fascinating city. It was settled by the Spanish. And the Spanish settled there in the early 16th centuries. Some of the buildings are 500 years old, beautiful, elaborate cathedrals, 500 years old, you can visit. And one of the things I learned in a couple of these, when I was touring them, is some of these cathedrals took decades to build. In fact, some took 150 years to build. Can you imagine that? A building project sounds like some of the road construction currently. in our city? 150 years to build. Now, imagine you're a, you're a craftsman, and you get hired to build a new cathedral. And you go every day to work for 40 years of your life. and you die and the thing's hardly done. And your son, he came in alongside you. And so when you died, he kept going to work. same cathedral dad worked on for 30, 40, 50 years, and he died, and it's still not done. And then the grandson, he got involved and he gets 30, 40 years. Three generations have now gone to work every day on a cathedral and have died without ever seeing it completed. Now, today you can go to it. Today, you can walk these beautiful cathedrals that the people give their life to, never seen it done. I thought of what it means to serve Jesus every day when I heard that story. Every day we serve him, and we wonder if it matters. We wonder if it's making a difference. We wonder if there's is this in vain or not. And the apostle Paul comes along and says there's a day where everything's going to reach its full conclusion, completion, death is going to die, we will be resurrected, God's going to bring everything to its God ordained in, your labor today is worth it. Your labor today is not useless. Be faithful to the Lord. What does the resurrection mean for you? What does the empty tomb mean for you? What does it mean for you that the body was there, and it's no longer there? I hope that that gives you some sense of grace for your past failures, that Jesus died for your sins and rose from the dead, the evidence that his sacrifice accomplished what it was to accomplish. I hope that it gives you a hope for the future, and I hope that it gives you a sense of purpose today, that we're serving today, arisen savior. It could give you a was in your life. A was. That's a place where the body was. And because that maybe you can say today, my life was meaningless. My life was broken. I was a doubter. I was consumed with unforgiveness I was buried in shame and guilt. I was addicted, I was selfish. My marriage was broken. I was bitter, I was greedy, I was prideful. I was a terrible friend. I was a bad example. I was afraid of death. I was without peace. What is your was? All that can be in the past, because the tomb was empty. Do you have that hope today? The hope that your sins are forgiven, the hope that your life has purpose and the hope, one day, of eternal life and the kingdom Jesus has prepared for us. The 2nd song I wake up with every Easter is the old hymn because he lives. Anybody wake up with that on their mind today? And then one day, I'll cross the river. I'll fight life's final war with paint. And then his death gives way to victory. I'll see the lights of glory, and I'll know he reigns. Because he lives. I can face tomorrow. Because he lives. Oh, here is God. Because I know. Would you pray with me? Do you know that hope? Do you know that Jesus died for you? He rose from the daddy lives today to be your savior? To forgive you, to give you a hope, to give your life meaning and purpose today? You can turn to Jesus as we pray right now. Could be a prayer that says, God, I know that I have broken your law. I know I've rebelled against you, but I believe Jesus died for me, and I believe the empty tomb is the proof of that. And you could pray a prayer like this. God, I want to turn from my life. What has been part of my past and I want a new future in you, Jesus. Jesus, I turn from my sin to trust you. From my rebellion. I put my faith in you. Jesus, I want to follow you. As my Lord. Simple prayer, Jesus, I turn from my past to you, the one who died for me who rose again. Jesus, I pray for the people that might be here today who are far from you. I have been up until this moment. Walking in the rebellion of their sin without true meaning and purpose and without the hope of having the sting of death removed. And I pray today, they heard the words of this text that as they heard them, as they read them, as they saw them, that their eyes were open, their hearts would be opened. And I pray they would see the beautiful hope that we have in the resurrection, the empty tomb. Pray today that many in this room would turn to you, Jesus. Well, they'd start down a path of looking closer at who you are. that today would be a turning point in their life, where they put their faith in you or begin a journey toward you that they would see. Death can lose its sting, sin can lose its power, their life can have new meaning because of the empty tomb. Jesus, we pray you draw them to you. We thank you for your death for us. We thank you that the body was there. And thank you the hope we had today because of it in Jesus' name. Amen.