Sunday Morning Service

ICorinthians 15:20-58 

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“Nothing More Sure!” • 1.27.13 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service

Intro.

- Paul has been forced by the Corinthians to lay out a detailed chapter on the centrality of the Resurrection to the gospel and to the Christian life.

- As is usual for the Apostle, he lays down an air tight case from verse 1 to verse 58. With the skillful force of a prosecuting attorney, he lands blow after blow to the Corinthian case.

- Last week, we saw the first of his arguments. The Historical Argument reminds the Corinthians of the gospel that had been preached and the scriptures related to the resurrection.

- Today, Paul will continue his onslaught with 4 more arguments.

I. The Theological Argument (v.20-28)

II. The Practical Argument (v.29-34)

III. The Supernatural Argument (v.35-49)

IV. The Closing Argument (v.50-58)

Text

I. The Theological Argument (v.20-28)

• I Corinthians 15:20-22 : "But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive." : What a beautiful statement: Christ is risen from the dead! This is a statement of fact.

- He is risen and he has become the firstfruits. The feast of the firstfruits happened on the first day after the Passover's Sabbath.

- The participants brought a single sheaf of harvested grain as a representation of the whole.

- It was a symbolic gesture of thanks to God for providing the whole of the harvest. To the Jewish person listening, Christ's resurrection signaled the fulfillment of that feast.

- Jesus then represents all believers in His resurrection, a guarantee of the rest of the Harvest.

- The Gentiles however, also had a use for the word "firstfruits." When they used this word, it referred to an entrance fee that had been paid!

- That is exactly what our Lord's resurrection means: Representation! He rose to make resurrection a possibility for His people and He rose to pay our way forward!

- Jesus rose as our representative. Paul employs a topic that we looked at in Romans 5.  

- By man, referring to Adam, death came into the world. Our federal representative disobeyed God and plunged all of humanity into a tragic sinful condition.

- God made it so that we would have the choice of another champion, Jesus, whose work brings about the possibility of eternal life!

- In Adam, or through his line, all die. That is the sentence for sin. Death is the natural cause of sin. Jesus reverses that so that for those in Him, the natural state is life leading to life.

• I Corinthians 15:23-26 : "But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death." : Each one in his own order. This refers to arrangement of rank and file. The first is Christ. Then, those who are Christ's at His coming.

- When Jesus returns to this earth, those who have died will be reunited with their bodies.

- When a person in Christ dies, we understand that they go to be with Christ presently, for to be absent from the body is to be present with Him, according to II Corinthians 5:6 & 8.

- Those who have died are living in an intermediate state of some sort. There is little biblical data to employ in forming a belief on this point. Do they or don't they have bodies? We don't know.

- When we live here on earth during the millenium, what we do know, is that we will be equipped with our new bodies.

  - Our bodies at that time will be much like the body that Jesus had after His resurrection: Capable of eating, moving through physical barriers and able to travel at the speed of will.

- Then comes the end. The end of the Millenial reign. The end of life on Earth. That is where things are heading. Jesus will hand over the Kingdom to God the Father.

- This will be God's Kingdom and every person on the face of this planet will one day live in light of it, either enjoying it's benefits eternally or regretting the decision to resist it!

- Jesus will deliver this Kingdom and it will exist eternally without rival. Every rule or originating principle will fall. Every authority or jurisdiction will crumble. Every power or influence will be gone!

- There will be nothing that competes with the Kingdom of God. Everything that fights against God will be vanquished. Currently, the Lord's reign is subjugating the reign of death.

- Today, death occurs for all. One day, there will be no more death. It will no longer exist.

• I Corinthians 15:27,28 : "For 'He has put all things under His feet.' But when He says 'all things are put under Him,' it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all." : In God's Kingdom, the greatest name, the greatest person is Jesus! God has made Jesus Lord and Christ, the Savior of His Kingdom.

- He has given it all to Him, the Son of His love! He has put all things under His feet. Paul quotes from Psalm 8:6. He will have dominion over all.

- The fact that God is putting it under Jesus means that God Himself is excepted.

- In fact, in heaven, when all is said and done, God the Father will rule and reign and Jesus will be subject to Him. There will be order in heaven as there has always been.

- But now, God will be all in all! The NLT's translation of verse 28 makes it very clear for us:

• I Corinthians 15:28 (NLT) : "Then, when all things are under his authority, the Son will put himself under God's authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere."

- Sin, death, unrighteousness in any of it's forms and ungodliness will be a thing of a far distant past, forever a faint memory in experience.

- Someday, in the Kingdom, we will think of these days in the same way that we view some distant historical event now.

- Resurrection means that what we strive for today and live for in the moment, are really only experiences that one day will be barely remembered!

- That should sober you and I right up! What are you complaining about today? What are you suffering through right now? What injustice are you worried about?

- Do you know that God is going to rule in a place where none of that will matter?

- The only thing that will matter then is the character that you allowed Him to develop through those circumstances now, making you fit for eternity!

II. The Practical Argument (v.29-34)

• I Corinthians 15:29-32 : "Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead?" : Paul has been talking about the reality of God's Kingdom. All human beings know that there is an afterlife. Even the pagans knew this, which is why they practiced baptism by proxy.

- They believed that their work of baptism was efficient for those who had died that did not have the chance to be baptized. Today, the Mormons do the same thing.

- This is quite a rebuke to the Corinthians, as Paul is saying that even the pagans believe in resurrection! Human beings know that this is the truth because God has put eternity in our hearts!

- Their practice, indeed the practice of every religion, is to prepare for the afterlife.

• I Corinthians 15:30-32 : "And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour? I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If, in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!'" : On the other hand, how does living a life of constant tension make any sense?

- That was the life of the Apostles! Every hour they stood in jeopardy. Peril was around every corner. They risked their very lives for the gospel!

- For Paul's sake, he protests, he objects to their assertion that there is no resurrection, their boasting, because he died daily! This was killing him!

- The "beasts of Ephesus" refers metaphorically to the riot of Acts 19. Paul would wrestle with these men, imploring them to be saved. Without the resurrection, what would be the point?

- The standing philosophy of his day, as well as ours is, "Eat and drink for tomorrow we die!" Nothing will come of our lives and nothing will be after we're gone, so do what you like!

- That is the consummate expression of the naturalist today. What does our life matter? But those who believe in the resurrection know differently. Our lives count!

- They count now as we live them and they count then as we receive rewards that are due!

• I Corinthians 15:33,34 : "Do not be deceived: 'Evil company corrupts good habits.' Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame." : The Corinthians had let the "no resurrection" crowd have a loud voice in their midst.

- They had allowed themselves to be deceived by their celebration of the seeming wisdom of their naturalist case. But instead of benefitting, instead of being refined, they were being corrupted!

- Paul may be quoting a well known phrase of his time or grabbing the wisdom from a few Proverbs that say virtually the same thing, for example, Proverbs 9:6 & 13:20.

- They were being lulled to sleep and they needed to wake up and stop their slide into sin! Some who were pressing them not to believe in the resurrection did not even know God!

- This was their shame and a shame to all who follow in that example. Who are we listening to today that would lead us astray from our faith? Is it the very enemy himself?

- Perhaps he is speaking through an earthly medium like talk pschology or media gurus. Don't be a shameful Christian! Listen to the Lord! Keep to His Word!

III. The Supernatural Argument (v.35-49)

• I Corinthians 15:35-38 : " But someone will say, 'How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?' Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain—perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body." : Some questions really are dumb! Paul anticipates their arguments, perhaps mockingly imitating their voices. How and what kind?

- In nature, there are pictures of resurection everywhere! In agriculture, what does wheat look like when it first goes into the ground? It's a simple seed of grain!

- What comes out of the ground has come to life, a life that was contained in the seed.

- In the same way, only when our bodies die can our true life begin! God gives a body that is fit for that experience.

• I Corinthians 15:39-41 : "All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory." : All of God's creatures are fit for the experience that He created them for. Fish have scales, birds have feathers, animals have fur and humans have skin.

- There are bodies or objects in the heavens in the universe that have a certain glory and there are objects on this planet that hold a certain appeal. Their both fit for their doman.

- The same is true for each of the planets and stars. God is the creator of all and the one who has designed them all to shine in their environment.

• I Corinthians 15:42-45 : "So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is 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. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being.' The last Adam became a life-giving spirit." : Those same glorious realities of observable creation are awaiting us at the resurrection. Our resurrection body is nothing like our earthly body.

- Our earthly bodies corrupt or decay. They are easily broken and naturally weak. It's physical in a way that is anchored to this earth. Our heavenly body is much different.

- It's incorruptible, glorious, powerful and spiritual. This last part does not refer to our bodies being spiritual as opposed to natural. It's that our new bodies will be oriented toward spiritual things!

- He quotes from Genesis 2:7 on the occasion of man's entrance onto the earth. Every man then became a living being, naturally inclined as Adam was.

- For those in Christ, the last Adam, He gives a life giving Spirit.

• I Corinthians 15:46-49 : "However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.  As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly.  And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man." : The spiritual, just like the grain, must go from natural to spiritual! We must go through a physical pilgimage before we receive our new bodies.

- Adam and the rest of us are made of dust, but when we come to Christ, we are transformed and made of stuff from heaven.

- Humans bear the image of God through Adam, but those who are being saved bear the image of Christ!

IV. The Closing Argument (v.50-58)

• I Corinthians 15:50-54 : "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory.'" : Your bodies as they exist, are not fit for God's Kingdom.

- But there is a hidden item that is now revealed. There is a group of people who will not die, but will be changed in the quickest moment of time on earth.

- The word "twinkling" refers to the involuntary actions our eyes take when something invades their horizon. That response is faster than your blink response.

- At some point in the future, a trumpet will be blown from heaven and all Christians will be raptured. In that moment, we will be changed into something quite different than we were!

- What had been wrapped in mortality will put on immortality and Isaiah 52:8 will be fulfilled!

• I Corinthians 15:55-58 : "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?' The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." : Death has been rendered without a sting and the grave, or "hades" has no victory.

- Sin brings about death, but the law has been fulfilled and the righteous demands of God have been met in Christ Jesus, who lives forever more!

- Because of that, how shall we live? Be steadfast, meaning to remain in position. Stand immovable refers to the attitude that is resolved not to be moved!

- Storms will come and I refuse to move. Trials will be in my experience, but I won't be moved!

- While I stand in this faith, I do not simply stand in resolute power, but while I am here, I'll be abounding in the work of the Lord. I'll exceed the number of measure in good works!

- My mentality is that I know that whatever it is that I do for Him won't be empty. It will be remembered and rewarded because there is a risen Lord who is keeping score!

Conclusion
- If the resurrection is impossible, then how will God reverse the curse and fill His Kingdom?

- If the resurrection is impossible, then why do pagans and Apostles live as they do?

- If the resurrection is impossible, how do you explain the pictures in nature that point to a supernatural activity of transformation?

- The conclusion is that there is a resurrection and we are all heading toward a moment in time when Christ takes our bodies and does an extreme heavenly makeover that will never end!

- Therefore, be resolute in your faith, tireless in your work and restless for your reward!