Oh death, Where is your sting?
1 Corinthians 15
Easter Sunday, 4/12/2020, Remsen Bible Fellowship, Online Sermon
Why does the resurrection of Jesus matter? Why, year after year, decade after decade, century after century, for two millennia have people celebrated Jesus’ rising from the dead?
We face no fiercer or more menacing foe than death. It looms over us all, waiting to swallow us. Proverbs 27:20 tells us that Sheol and Abaddon [the grave and death] are never satisfied. Death is coming for me, and it’s coming for you. We can try to ignore this, we can distract ourselves from this truth, but Ecclesiastes 7 tells us that death is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to heart. We can’t live with wisdom while this truth: we are mortal. And this very mortality stands as a judgement upon us. We were created by God to live as his representatives here on earth-death was not meant for us. And yet here we are. What can be done?
Into this bleak reality burst the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 15: Death is swallowed up in victory! O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?
What could be more glorious than this? The victory of death swallowed up by a greater victory. The pain of final loss removed by some greater truth. How can this be?
Paul’s words here are an immense comfort and joy to me, but to cling to them I need to know if they are true. And not just if they’re true, but why they are true. Thankfully, these words are the final piece of an argument in this portion of Scripture. So what we are going to do this morning is try and briefly trace Paul’s logic through 1 Corinthians 15. In doing so, we’ll see 4 truths about the Resurrection of Jesus that give us hope today.
Truth #1: Jesus’ Resurrection is the Central Fact of Human History, v1-11
Where does Paul begin? 1st importance. (v3)
v1-2, He emphasizes the importance of this gospel, this good news, in how he refers to it: he [an apostle] has preached this gospel to them, they have received this gospel with joy, they stand in the power of this good news, and it is saving them-if they hold fast.
V3-4, Jesus did many amazing things, healing, miracles, casting out demons, giving authoritative and life-changing teaching: yet what does Paul consider essential to communicate? Death, burial, resurrection: in accordance with the Scriptures.
Perhaps the most prominent of those Scriptures is what we read in Isaiah 53, where it is prophesied that for our iniquities he would be crushed, our transgressions led to his piercing. And the wrath of God crushed him. For you. And for me. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. This is good news, because it means we can stand before God now as those who have been covered by the blood of the slain Lamb of God! And more than that, because he has been raised, we too have the promise of life.
Why would Paul linger in v5-8 on appearances of Jesus? None of this matters if it isn’t True.
V2, believed in vain. Paul has suggested that maybe if they are quick to let go of the truth of Jesus rising from the dead it is because they have believed in vain, or believed on scanty evidence. He belabors the point that the historical evidence is overwhelming, they are not making some sort of “blind leap of faith.”
Truth #2: Jesus’ Resurrection Re-Centers Our Hope, v12-28
What would happen if Jesus weren’t alive? What if this is all a lie? That’s what the Corinthians were being told. Some had come among them saying resurrections don’t happen, therefore Jesus couldn’t have been raised from the dead. (v12-13)
If they are right, if the many who use the same logic pattern today are right, then: preaching hope and having faith are in vain (v14), those who preach a resurrected Jesus lie about God (v15), we are all still in our sins (v17), and most devastating, those Christians who have died have perished forever (v18).
Why are all these things true? Because a Jesus who was left in the grave by God is a Jesus whose sacrifice for sins was not accepted by the Father. Romans 1:4 tells us that God declared Jesus to be his Son not only through words, but through the Resurrection itself. If Jesus’ body lies buried in Palestine today, he is not the Son of God, he is not the Savior, and we have no hope. We are a pitiable lot (v19).
But! Christ has been raised! (v20) Through his resurrection life, all who trust in him are given resurrection life as well. (v21)
What does this do? Because the resurrection of Jesus is true, it re-centers our hope. V19 said that if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But if he has been raised, there is hope beyond the grave. There is hope for eternity with God, there is hope, which in Paul’s usage means an expectation-filled certainty, for the kingdom of God in which death is conquered, Christ is reigning, and God is seen to be our all in all.
The hope that Christ gives in this life is important, and we’ll touch on it later. But it is only possible because this life is not all their is. Speaking of Abraham in Hebrews 11:10, the writer says, he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
Truth #3: Jesus’ Resurrection Guarantees us New Bodies, v35-49
Though this section is long, I just want us to zero in on three facts about the new bodies Paul promises:
They are real bodies. It could be easy to read something like v44 conclude that we will have bodies that aren’t bodies. What, after all, is a spiritual body? But the point of Paul’s analogy with the grain and wheat is that God has given us in creation a picture of the type of resurrection that we will have. Those who trust in Christ will one day be raised, and those bodies will be real bodies. But they will be fundamentally different. Think of the contrast between a caterpillar and a butterfly. A creepy, crawly, fuzzy thing wraps itself up like a burrito and a couple of days later emerges as one of the most beautiful creatures you’ve ever seen. So these weak bodies will one day lie down in the dust, only to be raised into a state that is more real than its present one, though we cannot see it now. Paul says in his second letter to the Corinthian church that the things we see are transient, it is those unseen things which are eternal. Again, unseen doesn’t mean airy or ghostlike or unreal: it means that in our current state of sinful mortality we don’t have the capacity to see realities of this weight. But one day we will.
It’s important that we start as dust. We are children of Adam, and thus we have Adam’s earthly, dusty, and now, because of sin, broken and decaying body. Jesus, though he was without sin, took on a human body just like ours. The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. In the resurrection of this man who was like us in our weakness, we are now promised a life like his because of his work for us. So while we groan in our earthly bodies, and wait longingly for those new ones promised by God, we can also take hope in the nobility of these earthen vessels. Christ himself took on human flesh, and bore our sorrows in this frail body. First frailty. Then glory.
We are promised the glory, too. Note verse 49, Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. God will give us new bodies, but he will do so for a purpose: that we might become like his Son: 1 John 3:2 says, Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. In this life God is progressively growing all those who trust in him, and conforming or molding their character, their spirit if you will, to be more in line with Jesus. That’s a key component of what it means to be a Christian, is a growing likeness to Christ. But one day the slow progress will be replaced: we will be fundamentally transformed into his image.
Truth #4: Jesus’ Resurrection Conquers Death, v50-57
Verse 50 reminds us of some terrifying truth: flesh and blood don’t inherit the kingdom of God. Our sinful selves are unfit to stand before a righteous and holy God. On our own, if Christ were to return, we would suffer the wrath of his fury against sin. The streets would be flowing with our blood, as it says in Revelation. But Christians don’t look to Christ’s return with fear, we look forward in joyful and expectant hope. What’s the difference? Because we know that his death has become our death, and thus his life is now our life. Death has been swallowed up by our Risen Savior! Where is it’s sting? Gone. It’s victory? Vanquished.
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. Jesus has obeyed the law perfectly, hung on the cross bearing the weight of our law-breaking, and when he cries “It is finished” announces that the penalty for sin has been paid. The law is fulfilled, the power of sin is broken, and for those who trust in Christ we can look death square in the eye and say, where is your victory?
One thing you will notice is that in each case of someone being raised in Scripture, there is a prophet or apostle who is ministering the power of God to work that miracle. In Jesus’ case, he rises on his own authority. Jesus says in John 10:18, I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. By this same power he offers life to all who believe.
Conclusion: v58
This is worth celebrating, isn’t it? Paul goes on to say, 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.
Jesus is alive, and he has given life to all who trust in him. That means we can have a steadfast and immovable joy in this world, we can take comfort in every circumstance knowing that God is at work, we can labor with all our might to serve him diligently, and we know that all of these things are not folly. They make perfect sense because Jesus is alive, he is working, and one day he will call his children to a perfect home,to an eternal weight of glory, beyond all comparison. We can’t earn a hope and a joy like this, but we can gladly receive it from his nail scarred hands.
1 Corinthians 15
Easter Sunday, 4/12/2020, Remsen Bible Fellowship, Online Sermon
Why does the resurrection of Jesus matter? Why, year after year, decade after decade, century after century, for two millennia have people celebrated Jesus’ rising from the dead?
We face no fiercer or more menacing foe than death. It looms over us all, waiting to swallow us. Proverbs 27:20 tells us that Sheol and Abaddon [the grave and death] are never satisfied. Death is coming for me, and it’s coming for you. We can try to ignore this, we can distract ourselves from this truth, but Ecclesiastes 7 tells us that death is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to heart. We can’t live with wisdom while this truth: we are mortal. And this very mortality stands as a judgement upon us. We were created by God to live as his representatives here on earth-death was not meant for us. And yet here we are. What can be done?
Into this bleak reality burst the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 15: Death is swallowed up in victory! O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?
What could be more glorious than this? The victory of death swallowed up by a greater victory. The pain of final loss removed by some greater truth. How can this be?
Paul’s words here are an immense comfort and joy to me, but to cling to them I need to know if they are true. And not just if they’re true, but why they are true. Thankfully, these words are the final piece of an argument in this portion of Scripture. So what we are going to do this morning is try and briefly trace Paul’s logic through 1 Corinthians 15. In doing so, we’ll see 4 truths about the Resurrection of Jesus that give us hope today.
Truth #1: Jesus’ Resurrection is the Central Fact of Human History, v1-11
Where does Paul begin? 1st importance. (v3)
v1-2, He emphasizes the importance of this gospel, this good news, in how he refers to it: he [an apostle] has preached this gospel to them, they have received this gospel with joy, they stand in the power of this good news, and it is saving them-if they hold fast.
V3-4, Jesus did many amazing things, healing, miracles, casting out demons, giving authoritative and life-changing teaching: yet what does Paul consider essential to communicate? Death, burial, resurrection: in accordance with the Scriptures.
Perhaps the most prominent of those Scriptures is what we read in Isaiah 53, where it is prophesied that for our iniquities he would be crushed, our transgressions led to his piercing. And the wrath of God crushed him. For you. And for me. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. This is good news, because it means we can stand before God now as those who have been covered by the blood of the slain Lamb of God! And more than that, because he has been raised, we too have the promise of life.
Why would Paul linger in v5-8 on appearances of Jesus? None of this matters if it isn’t True.
V2, believed in vain. Paul has suggested that maybe if they are quick to let go of the truth of Jesus rising from the dead it is because they have believed in vain, or believed on scanty evidence. He belabors the point that the historical evidence is overwhelming, they are not making some sort of “blind leap of faith.”
Truth #2: Jesus’ Resurrection Re-Centers Our Hope, v12-28
What would happen if Jesus weren’t alive? What if this is all a lie? That’s what the Corinthians were being told. Some had come among them saying resurrections don’t happen, therefore Jesus couldn’t have been raised from the dead. (v12-13)
If they are right, if the many who use the same logic pattern today are right, then: preaching hope and having faith are in vain (v14), those who preach a resurrected Jesus lie about God (v15), we are all still in our sins (v17), and most devastating, those Christians who have died have perished forever (v18).
Why are all these things true? Because a Jesus who was left in the grave by God is a Jesus whose sacrifice for sins was not accepted by the Father. Romans 1:4 tells us that God declared Jesus to be his Son not only through words, but through the Resurrection itself. If Jesus’ body lies buried in Palestine today, he is not the Son of God, he is not the Savior, and we have no hope. We are a pitiable lot (v19).
But! Christ has been raised! (v20) Through his resurrection life, all who trust in him are given resurrection life as well. (v21)
What does this do? Because the resurrection of Jesus is true, it re-centers our hope. V19 said that if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But if he has been raised, there is hope beyond the grave. There is hope for eternity with God, there is hope, which in Paul’s usage means an expectation-filled certainty, for the kingdom of God in which death is conquered, Christ is reigning, and God is seen to be our all in all.
The hope that Christ gives in this life is important, and we’ll touch on it later. But it is only possible because this life is not all their is. Speaking of Abraham in Hebrews 11:10, the writer says, he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
Truth #3: Jesus’ Resurrection Guarantees us New Bodies, v35-49
Though this section is long, I just want us to zero in on three facts about the new bodies Paul promises:
They are real bodies. It could be easy to read something like v44 conclude that we will have bodies that aren’t bodies. What, after all, is a spiritual body? But the point of Paul’s analogy with the grain and wheat is that God has given us in creation a picture of the type of resurrection that we will have. Those who trust in Christ will one day be raised, and those bodies will be real bodies. But they will be fundamentally different. Think of the contrast between a caterpillar and a butterfly. A creepy, crawly, fuzzy thing wraps itself up like a burrito and a couple of days later emerges as one of the most beautiful creatures you’ve ever seen. So these weak bodies will one day lie down in the dust, only to be raised into a state that is more real than its present one, though we cannot see it now. Paul says in his second letter to the Corinthian church that the things we see are transient, it is those unseen things which are eternal. Again, unseen doesn’t mean airy or ghostlike or unreal: it means that in our current state of sinful mortality we don’t have the capacity to see realities of this weight. But one day we will.
It’s important that we start as dust. We are children of Adam, and thus we have Adam’s earthly, dusty, and now, because of sin, broken and decaying body. Jesus, though he was without sin, took on a human body just like ours. The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. In the resurrection of this man who was like us in our weakness, we are now promised a life like his because of his work for us. So while we groan in our earthly bodies, and wait longingly for those new ones promised by God, we can also take hope in the nobility of these earthen vessels. Christ himself took on human flesh, and bore our sorrows in this frail body. First frailty. Then glory.
We are promised the glory, too. Note verse 49, Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. God will give us new bodies, but he will do so for a purpose: that we might become like his Son: 1 John 3:2 says, Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. In this life God is progressively growing all those who trust in him, and conforming or molding their character, their spirit if you will, to be more in line with Jesus. That’s a key component of what it means to be a Christian, is a growing likeness to Christ. But one day the slow progress will be replaced: we will be fundamentally transformed into his image.
Truth #4: Jesus’ Resurrection Conquers Death, v50-57
Verse 50 reminds us of some terrifying truth: flesh and blood don’t inherit the kingdom of God. Our sinful selves are unfit to stand before a righteous and holy God. On our own, if Christ were to return, we would suffer the wrath of his fury against sin. The streets would be flowing with our blood, as it says in Revelation. But Christians don’t look to Christ’s return with fear, we look forward in joyful and expectant hope. What’s the difference? Because we know that his death has become our death, and thus his life is now our life. Death has been swallowed up by our Risen Savior! Where is it’s sting? Gone. It’s victory? Vanquished.
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. Jesus has obeyed the law perfectly, hung on the cross bearing the weight of our law-breaking, and when he cries “It is finished” announces that the penalty for sin has been paid. The law is fulfilled, the power of sin is broken, and for those who trust in Christ we can look death square in the eye and say, where is your victory?
One thing you will notice is that in each case of someone being raised in Scripture, there is a prophet or apostle who is ministering the power of God to work that miracle. In Jesus’ case, he rises on his own authority. Jesus says in John 10:18, I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. By this same power he offers life to all who believe.
Conclusion: v58
This is worth celebrating, isn’t it? Paul goes on to say, 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.
Jesus is alive, and he has given life to all who trust in him. That means we can have a steadfast and immovable joy in this world, we can take comfort in every circumstance knowing that God is at work, we can labor with all our might to serve him diligently, and we know that all of these things are not folly. They make perfect sense because Jesus is alive, he is working, and one day he will call his children to a perfect home,to an eternal weight of glory, beyond all comparison. We can’t earn a hope and a joy like this, but we can gladly receive it from his nail scarred hands.