THE RISEN CHRIST IS OUR LIVING HOPE
February 12, 2006 - Epiphany 6 - 1 Corinthians 15:12-22
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Dear Fellow-Redeemed & Saints in the Lord:
The resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of believers are the foundation and the very cornerstones of our Christian faith. Christianity is the only religion that teaches a resurrection, a resurrection where the believer is united with his Lord and God and Savior for eternity. Scripture is quite clear that the promises that God makes are true. Because of those promises and the fact that we know that there is more to this life than just earthly living, we, as our bulletin cover says, rejoice and we are glad. We are glad because of the resurrection of Christ. We are given a life on this earth that is meaningful; and we will be given a life where we will be exalted forever because the resurrection of Jesus is our living hope.
In Philippians Paul describes the choice for the believer. Paul says it can be a hard choice – a meaningful earthly life or an exalted eternal life. "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain...I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far" (Philippians 1:21,23). So this morning in our text the Apostle Paul in these words to the Corinthians would have us consider our earthly life that it has meaning. God through Paul would have us also consider and reflect on the fact that no matter how much we value this earthly life, our future eternal life is better by far. So we consider the fact that: THE RISEN CHRIST IS OUR LIVING HOPE. This fact provides:
I. A meaningful life now, and
II. An exalted life forever.
I. A MEANINGFUL LIFE NOW
Probably in this first verse of this text those words sound strange to us that people would be questioning the resurrection. Verse 12: "But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?" The main message of Paul was to preach that Christ indeed was put to death and he had also been brought back to life. The grave did not, could not, hold Jesus. There were many in Corinth who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. There were two reasons for that: (1) this message of the resurrection was a brand new message. This was the first generation to hear that the Savior Christ had come by being born on earth, lived and was put to death. This very same Jesus was also brought back to life. This new fact was something that people still had to grasp and know and believe in their hearts and minds. (2) The philosophy of the age was that there was no resurrection--people died and that was it. It may sound strange to us, but back then the resurrection was unheard of, impossible.
Paul continues: "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised." He sets up an argument--"If you don’t believe in the resurrection, then you can’t believe in Christ being raised either. Paul says: "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." That statement probably made these believers think. The Corinthian believers realized the whole purpose of Paul’s life was to preach Christ’s resurrection. Paul had given up his earthly life, so to speak, and spent the rest of his adult life going on missionary journeys to spread that same message. Christ has been raised. They knew then Paul’s preaching was not useless. They had to make that connection that if Christ is raised, so are people; and especially the believers.
In case they still did not want to believe Paul adds in verse 15: "More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead." Paul says, "If Christ is not raised, then we are making up lies or stories." Paul writes: "But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised." The result of no resurrection: "For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." Paul concludes that everything – his preaching and their faith – is useless by believing in no resurrection. Finally, there is not even salvation.
Why didn’t they believe in the resurrection? (1) It was new to them; (2) it was the philosophy of the age. The philosophy of the age from Plato and other philosophers was that everything earthly was evil. So if a person has an earthly body, it is evil and can’t expect to be connected to the spiritual. Death comes and that is the end. You may remember when Jesus came and taught in the temples, who were there? There were two types of leaders in the church. There were Pharisees on one hand and the Sadducees on the other. What about the Sadducees? They were leaders in the church. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. Believing in a resurrection was quite a problem of society of that day. Paul makes the fact if they are not going to believe in the resurrection of the body, they can’t believe in the resurrection of Christ. If they do not believe in that, their life is meaningless. Their faith is futile, and the preaching they heard was useless.
A meaningless life! None of us want to hear about a meaningless life. Yet we know sometimes we may even ask ourselves what is the meaning of life. When we come up against problems or things don’t go our way, we wonder about the meaning of life. This feeling happens when we fall into the snares of this world and think that we are going to be happy with more money or possessions. We would be happier with bit more money, wealth, possessions. But more does not make us happy because more is never enough. Ecclesiastes re-echoes that theme over and over again. The writer says: "Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 2:11). If you read Ecclesiastes, the writer often repeats: everything is meaningless--the chasing after the wind. We know how meaningless that is.
If we only concentrate on the here and now in our earthly life, it becomes meaningless. The things that we toil and work and strive for and think what we need or what the world says we need are meaningless. What are we to do? We as believers know that there is meaning in this life. The real meaning of this life does not consist in the things that we can see, feel and touch. In our Wednesday evening Bible study we have been looking at 2 Corinthians. God’s word says: "Fix your eyes on the things you can not see." What a profound statement and mystery. The Lord says to keep looking at what you cannot see. God is talking about the things that are meaningful in our life: faith and salvation and eternity that give meaning to this meaningless earthly life that we lead. Jesus says in Matthew: "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:20,21). We know that when we put our treasures on the things of this world, we see the meaninglessness of an earthly existence. But when we fix our eyes on that which we cannot see and put our treasures in heaven where they do not and cannot be destroyed, then our earthly life also has meaning. Paul says that the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead gives meaning to our life.
God gives this meaningful life for the believers everywhere in this world. If Christ was raised from the dead, we are also raised from the dead when that time comes. This meaningful life and meaning for our earthly life begins with God’s gift of faith. In Romans we are told: "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Romans 6:4). God says we too live a new life on this earth. It is a new life by faith, a new life that is not meaningless but full of meaning. Hopefully, we have come to learn the true meaning of life over the years. Hopefully, we have not cheated ourselves out of a meaningful life in this world. But at times we do cheat ourselves. Whenever we are looking for the meaning of life in this world. Whenever we wonder to ourselves why. But we haven’t opened up God’s Word for a few days and haven’t listened intently on a Sunday as we should or don’t go to the Bible studies that are offered, we are cheating ourselves. We have lost the meaningfulness of what God wants each of us to have in this life. Then we become infected with the meaningless despair of the world around us.
That is why Paul continues that the resurrection of Christ is our living hope. The risen Christ is our living hope so that we can have a meaningful life here and now and also an exalted life forever, a life in heaven with God Himself. Paul realized that.
II. AN EXALTED LIFE FOREVER
In a sense you get the feeling that Paul tried to make up for his past life when he arrested people to be put to death. As the Lord called Paul out of darkness, he gave that all up so that his life would have meaning. Paul went to the ends of the earth preaching the God’s gospel. Paul went to the ends of the earth preaching that Christ had been raised. It was a promise to Adam and Eve that a Savior would come, and now that Savior had come. Paul stated, if he didn’t know anything else, all the rest of his life was worthless to him, except that he knew Christ crucified and raised again back to life. We have heard that message for a long time and the world has heard that message for a long time, for thousands of years. At times that resurrection message may be forgotten. But it is our living hope.
Listen to Paul’s conclusion of his argument--if people cannot be raised, Christ cannot be raised. Then he said: "But if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, worthless. You are still in your sins." Paul then writes: "Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost." He says those who have already died are lost. They can’t be raised, at least according to the popular opinion of the day. Paul presents the conclusion to that argument: "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men." That had happened among the Corinthians. Christ had come into their life, and they only put their hope for Christ in this life. They only lived for Christ’s blessings in this earthly life. Paul says there is more than that. If you only want this life to be great, you are to be pitied more than all men. The an eternal life that is coming is far greater than anything earthly.
We listen to the glorious conclusion of our text: "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." What a beautiful comparison Paul uses for these believers. These believers were looking at death as just that--death and they were done. They were lost. Paul now says, "No, the death of a believer is like falling asleep." People go to sleep and expect to wake up rested and to face a new day. The believer who falls asleep in the Lord does wake up and wakes up resting from all the toils and tribulations of this life. Paul states Christ has been raised and prepares the way for the believers. That was Jesus purpose.
The next verse: "For since death came to a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man." Paul refers back to the beginning of time when Adam by his sin and disobedience to God brought death into the world. "The wages of sin is death." Adam’s sinful living brought death, and now Jesus comes and by his sinless living, it is Jesus’ death that brings life. Paul says there is no refuting that message. Christ came and died so that the world would live. Verse 22: "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive." The risen Christ is the living hope for these believers.
The risen Christ is the living hope for you and me today. Not only do we have a meaningful life here and now, we will also have an exalted life in the hereafter! All of this happens because of the compassion, the love, the care, and the concern of our blessed Savior Jesus Christ. We are familiar with the account of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. They were friends of Jesus. Lazarus died, and Mary and Martha wanted Jesus to bring him back to life. And Jesus did just that. Jesus came to the home of Mary and Martha a few days after Lazarus’ death. Jesus took his time so that God would be glorified. We find in this account that Jesus wept. We also discover Jesus teaching about the resurrection by the question he asked about the resurrection. When Jesus spoke to Martha, "Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’" (John 11:25,26). This is before Jesus was put to death. They answered, "Yes." Today, we also answer "Yes" to that same question. Yes, we believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. We believe this vital scriptural truth not by our own will, but by God’s grace. By God’s grace that the Holy Spirit has worked faith in our hearts.
All around us in our society and in our nation and sometimes in other parts of the world, there is a lot of tolerance for all kinds of religion. Sometimes the different religions are put up a little bit higher than Christianity. Sometimes Christianity seems to take a backseat. But Christianity is still the only religion that teaches a resurrection of its Creator, of its Lord and God, and a resurrection of its followers to share in bliss and glory; all, without any strings attached. 1 John says: "The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us" (1 John 1:2). As we confess in our Apostles’ Creed, "I believe that Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered, died and rose again." We too will rise with Christ. The Life has appeared. This eternal life, which is promised to each and every one of us, is revealed in this life which is ravaged with terror, as told on the news, on the right and the left, inside our borders and outside our borders.
We are given the responsibility, the privilege and the joy of being shining lights displaying our meaningful life, a meaningful life that looks ahead to an eternal life that is yet to be revealed in each one of us. The Lord does not want us to fall into the traps of this life and think we have it so bad in this life that we can’t enjoy it. We need not think that we have it so bad that we forget our focus on those things that are yet unseen, the things that God are yet to be revealed when Jesus returns on the Last Day. We, as believers especially in this day and age, show to this world that our life has meaning. Our life is meaningful, not in the abundance of our possessions but because of the abundance of God’s grace in our life and the abundance of the truth that Christ was raised back to life. In Galatians Paul says: "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life" (Galatians 6:7,8). By grace God has given each one of us the ability and opportunity to sow to our spiritual nature. Satan always wants us to sow seeds to please our sinful nature. We have all kinds of time for the things of this world, but we have little time for the things of the church or God. We find all sorts of reasons to do things in this world, but we don’t have much time to do the things of God.
Thankfully, when we look at the resurrection of Christ, we realize what Jesus gave up for us so that we might enjoy this life. By God’s grace we come to realize in the midst of terrors and the times of trouble and tribulation, sickness and heartache and sorrow and disease we have the risen Christ who is our living hope so that we have a meaningful life here on earth, a living hope so that we have something to look forward to an exalted life forever. When Paul began his letter to Titus, he wrote that he was an Apostle and a servant of: "The knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness--a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time" (Titus 1:1b, 2). Paul wrote that in boldness and confidence, and that is our model today as believers. As believers we are the saints, the servants of Christ. We are followers of Christ, and we are proclaimers of the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness—our faith and knowledge resting in the hope of eternal life. God made that promise to save us even before we knew it. He has delivered on that promise, because the risen Christ is our living hope, a living hope to live a meaningful life now and our living hope to enjoy an exalted life someday, in heaven, forever. Amen. Timm O. Meyer
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EPIPHANY 6 Readings: 2 KINGS 5:1-14; 1 CORINTHIANS 9:24-27; MARK 1:40-45
