"Just How Pitiful Are You?" (1 Corinthians 15:12-23)

Transcript:

As we consider the theme Just How Pitiful Are youe? It's in connection with First Corinthians, chapter 15, 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, verses 12 through 23, you will find that on page 1142 in your pew Bibles.

Remembering the question, how does Christ's resurrection benefit you? We read from 1 Corinthians chapter 15, beginning at verse 12. Now, if Christ is proclaimed, raised from the dead, how can you say there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection from the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

We are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about God, that He raised Christ, whom 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 been raised, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins.

Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, then we of all peoples are most to be pitied. But if Christ in fact has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death by a man has also come the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive, but each in his own order.

Christ is the first fruits. Then at his coming, those who belong to Christ, the Word of God. Thanks be to God.

Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Bertrand Russell received the Nobel Prize for literature when he was 78 years old. And he was really more than just a writer. He was a philosopher, he was a mathematician, he was a historian, and he was a social critic. On his 89th birthday, a reporter asked him, do you believe in any life after death?

And his answer was this. I do not believe in dogma. I do not believe in the future life. I do not believe in God. All those things were invented to soothe the fears of people who do not like the thought of extinction.

So here's a man who was considered to be one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century, but he didn't think he needed someone to walk out of a grave and overcome the power of death. For him, he didn't believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He thought it was a myth. There are other people who claim that they do believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They go to church on Easter Sunday.

But as one journalist put it, the churches are Full. The organs roar, the choirs shriek, and afterwards the streets are filled with people who come there to be in some kind of fashion parade. And then he asks the reporter asks, what does any of that have to do with Jesus?

And really, when you think about it, those who make their annual trip to church, those who visit the Easter bunny and find the painted eggs afterwards and all the rest, are they really any better than those who deny Jesus? What does any of that really have to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ? And what about the person who comes to church every Sunday, sings all the songs, listens to the sermons, goes downstairs for coffee afterwards and then on Monday goes back to work, the same unchanged lifestyle, just keeping up with the Joneses, climbing the corporate ladder, being part of the dog eat dog world, whining and dining as if there's no tomorrow, living a life totally unaffected by the resurrected Lord that he or she claims to serve. How many Christians in their own hearts, in their own lives, really understand the significance of the supreme fact that they confess every time we say the Apostles Creed that on the third day he rose again from the dead? Historic Christianity has always taught that this simple statement, on the third day he rose again from the dead, has a three meaning.

First of all, as the Catechism teaches, by his resurrection he has overcome death so that he might make us share in his righteousness which he obtained for us by his death. Congregation the resurrection of Jesus Christ, made, made after he died on the cross of Calvary, is infinitely valuable for you and for me. The resurrection of Jesus Christ proves the power that Christ has over death, the power that Christ has over sin. If Jesus had not conquered death, then he could not be our Savior. In his resurrection.

We are shown that that the sacrifice that Jesus made was accepted by the Father. Remember, Jesus went to the cross to pay for our sins. He took upon himself the curse that was upon us when he walked out of the grave. He was telling all the world, my father has accepted my death as payment for your sin. Jesus, through his resurrection, says, I have paid the price in full.

I have removed the debt. The curse has been taken away from you. If Jesus had not risen on that third day, there would be absolutely no point of us singing any of the hymns that we sing about the cross. No point in us singing, jesus, keep me near the cross. Why?

Why would we want to be kept near the cross? Why would it become a precious fountain for us? Why near the cross, a trembling soul? Why would we tremble if there were no resurrection? Why?

What would any hymn concerning Jesus prove? What would be the point in them? Paul would have been a fool to exclaim, as he does in Galatians, chapter six, God forbid that I should boast in anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If there were no resurrection, what would the point be? Imagine being a Pharisee's Pharisee, a Hebrew's Hebrew from the tribe of Benjamin, according to the law, righteous on and on and on. There's these impressive credentials. And then giving them all up for nothing. He would then indeed be, of all people, the most pitied.

Now, if Christ had not risen from the dead, then Good Friday would not be so good. Then Jesus wouldn't be able to save us from our sins. Then our situation would even be worse than that which the way Bertrand Russell describes it, because then death would not be the extinction of our lives like he thought, but it would be the beginning of our eternal punishment for our sin. It would mean living forever without the mercy of God and spending eternity under his wrath. Thanks be to God that the resurrection from the dead is a historical fact.

Jesus Christ rose from the dead. This is not some objective fact, but it is the one true truth all Christians must believe. And when we share by our faith, once our faith is truly in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that He was crucified, dead and buried. As we saw the significance of last week, and then we come this week to say he rose again from the dead. Hallelujah.

Once we believe those things, once we acknowledge these things, things were done for us, for me, for you. We then have the power of his resurrection in our lives and that that gives us entirely new lives. The catechism tells us by his power, we too are already raised to a new life. We are not a people to be pitied. Congregation, this isn't merely some kind of superficial improvement that comes our way.

This is a complete rebirth. The resurrection of Jesus Christ isn't something that continues in our hearts and minds as we remember that Jesus of Nazareth was a good teacher and that we should follow, follow his example and so on. Yes, yes, yes. He was a wonderful, brilliant teacher. The Sermon on the Mount certainly is to be remembered and adhered to and listened to for inspiration, for teaching and so on.

But Jesus did so much more than that. Jesus changed the world forever.

More importantly, he should change you forever. Not by his teaching, but by his death and by his literal bodily resurrection. His redeeming power should produce a radical renewal within your heart. That's what Jesus was talking about very early in his ministry, when he was going around preaching that the kingdom of God was at hand when he was questioned by a man, by Nicodemus. He said to Nicodemus, you must be born again.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ changes your life. If you believe he truly rose from the dead, you are not amongst those who are to be pitied. So stop living that way. Stop living that way. Oh, my.

So many Christians today seem to walk around like they're carrying the whole world on their shoulders. Oh, we come across like this heavy load, this heavy burden that we have upon us. Oh, the problems, the problems I've got. Oh, my, the problems we have. And, oh, the sin, the sin.

Oh, my sin, this burden.

Why are you carrying that? Why? Yes, in this world you will have trouble. Jesus tells us that. But he says right after that, but I have overcome the world.

So why are you carrying your sin with you?

Last week, Sunday night, you sang. We sang. My sin. Oh, the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross.

And what's the next line? Bear it no more. Amen. I bear it no more.

Amen. Thank the Lord. We don't bear it anymore. It's been nailed to the cross. Don't you believe Jesus when he says, come to me, you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Don't you believe that your sin is the exact burden that you have to give over to Him? He died for you. He paid the price for you. He removed the curse from you. Why do you still want to live under it then?

Why do you still live like you're. Like you're under the curse? He rose from the dead. Living proof that the work that he came to accomplish is done. It's been accomplished.

Living proof that that work was accepted by God the Father. You don't have to doubt that. You have to live. That every Christian should be living proof that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and that his saving work was sufficient for all our sins, and that his saving power lives and rules within us. We no longer live for ourselves, congregation.

We live for him. We live to give praise to God and to bring glory to God. And then the third part of the catechism points out that if we truly believe that Christ is risen, that Christ is risen indeed, we have a sure place of our own blessed resurrection.

This isn't some vague hope that we just hear once in a while, if we go through the Heidelberg Catechism or we recite the Apostles Creed. No, in our passage we're told in verse 20, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, the first fruits.

That assumes second fruits. When I grew up on the farm, we would sometimes get three cuttings out of a field. Always, most often two cuttings. Once in a while, we'd get three cuttings out of a field, and we would refer to them as the first cutting, the second cutting, and the third cutting. And we like to keep them in that order.

When we harvested corn, we never referred to that as the first harvest, the first cutting, or the first anything, because there's only one. There never was going to be. You chop corn, it don't grow back. So it wasn't the first of anything. It was the only one of anything.

So when Paul in First Corinthians here refers to Christ as the first fruits, it's because there's going to be a second fruit. Christ. Resurrection from the dead isn't just the only one. It's not just one person's victory over death. It's our victory, congregation.

Our victory over death, when we believe in him. And throughout the ages, there have been millions of people who have placed their trust in Jesus Christ for eternal salvation. And they will not be disappointed. One day their bodies are going to be raised up to everlasting life. That's true for Arne, who we laid to rest just a couple of weeks ago, all the way back to Abel.

Centuries and centuries of people who will be raised up in the last day. Oh, glorious day that will be.

May sound incredible to you, and that's because it is incredible.

But so was the resurrection of the first fruit, Jesus Christ. But my, what incredible comfort that brings congregation. We live in a world that is filled with death and decay. We see hatred, we see greed, we see evil all around us. There are over 50 and some say there are over a hundred active armed conflicts taking place in the world right now.

War. It's only April. So here. February, four months. And here in the United States, there have been 116 shootings where four or more victims were involved.

116 were only in April.

Hatred, greed, evil. One sign after another reminds us of sin and the wages thereof. Death.

We've come to expect it. We're not surprised anymore when we read about a shooting. How horrible that is. In America, the average life expectancy of males is 76 years, and for females it's 81 years.

Either way, if you meet that point or you go before you go after, the same truth applies. A tombstone is our destiny. If the Lord tarries. Sounds morbid, doesn't it? It's because it is.

But it's the truth. And it's the truth that all of us are going to have to face unless the Lord comes back soon. Death is a grim and merciless tyrant. But there is one who walked through the pages of history, who conquered death. Standing in the middle of a death dying world, Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. What an absolutely amazing promise that is. He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.

And I know we hear that again and again, don't we? That it's all given to us by God's grace. Several churches I've served, I've. I've been accused of making salvation too easy. But congregation, it's God's grace.

It's God's grace and I, we know that we, we are very quick to say it's by grace alone, and yet we're equally quick to kind of slip into a works righteous. Yeah, but you still got to do this and this and. Yeah, there's that too. We should do that as well. And I don't mean we're like the Pharisees.

We don't add all kinds of rules and all kinds of regulations. But we do have some, don't we?

We love to impose our rules on others. Well, if you still have your Bibles open. Turn. Oh, about 10 pages beyond 1st Corinthians 15 to 2nd Corinthians, chapter 12.

It's on page 1233 in the pew Bible. I'll wait.

Or if you have sermon notes, it's already in front of you.

Verse 9, 2nd Corinthians 12. He said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. My grace is sufficient.

Isn't that amazing? Isn't that wonderful? Anybody got a dictionary with them? Oh, you've got one on your phone. Don't worry, you don't have to look it up.

That's in the sermon notes as well. But I've looked it up already. Sufficient adjective being as much as is needed.

You don't need any more than God's grace. You can't add anything to it. God's grace is sufficient for you. I don't make salvation easy. God makes salvation easy.

And he did it at the cost of his Son.

And you know what? That alone should be enough to make you want to serve him.

God sends his son into this world. He faces death for you so that you can be forgiven, so that you can have a relationship with God. Do you really now still want to take his name in vain. He has done all of this for you. Oh, I think I'll make another idol over here and worship that.

Really? Why would you even think that way? God has prepared a place for you that is so incredible, that is so marvelous that Paul writes. Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, hasn't entered into the mind of man what God has prepared for those who love him. There is no language in this world that can describe heaven.

And then we want to spend our time on this little part of this little planet and use it to build bigger barns and bigger houses and drive bigger vehicles.

Guaranteed to those who believe that that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ gives to them eternal life. Have eternal life.

Hundreds and hundreds of years, thousands of years, millions of years. And then we've only just begun. Oh, but way too often we'd rather spend our meager 80 to 85 years if God gives us that. Chasing after the world world. Getting cross eyed drunk and desecrating this temple of the Holy Spirit.

Seriously, that's what you want out of life?

If it is, then you certainly are to be most pitied. Eternal security is guaranteed to you through the death of Jesus Christ. Given to you by grace alone. Through Christ alone. That's not a license for spiritual apathy.

It is not a license to sin. All the more Paul asks, shall we sin all the more that grace may abound? And then, dumbfounded, he answers, by no means. How would you even think that way? No.

Given to us is not a license to sin. Given to us as a license to love God. We have a license to to be able to serve him and glorify Him. Paul writes in Ephesians, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God has prepared beforehand for us to do. Congregation.

God's got work for us to do. God calls us to build his church. God calls us to witness to the lost. God calls us to talk about his salvation plan. To encourage each other to pray for one another.

Go through the Bulletin this week and see all the different things. There's the good news or the good neighbor prayed. There's love for Lansing. There's daily vacation Bible school. There are other areas in the bulletin.

All available ways for you to do the works that God has prepared for you to do. Praise God. Rejoice in the privilege of being able to advance his kingdom.

Congregation God the Son, Jesus the righteous one overcame death and shares with us his righteousness. He has given us new life where we can glorify him, where we can glorify God and enjoy him forever. We're his children. He's given to us eternal life.

In the officer reading, the women come to the tomb and the angel asks them, why do you seek God? Or why do you seek the living among the dead? He's not here. He's risen.

Let me ask you, why do you still want to live a life of. Of one who is to be pitied? He's risen. He's risen. Believe in Him.

Give your life to him so that you can live in his joy as you glorify him, that you might live with him forever. To God be the glory. Amen. Our Father in heaven, we come to you. And yes, we so often fall into our little worldly way of thinking.

We so often yield to that which the devil puts in front of us, and we pray. Forgive us, Lord. We are so grateful. We are so grateful that Jesus Christ was crucified, dead and buried for us and that he rose from the dead. For it is through his resurrection that we enjoy the righteousness that he obtained for us by his death.

It is through his resurrection that we have been given the power to be raised to a new life by the work of the Spirit in us. It is by his resurrection that we have a sure pledge that one day we too, along with all those who have called upon your name, will rise up and be with you forever. Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly that we may be with all the saints glorifying you for all eternity. It's in the name of the risen Lord Jesus Christ, that we pray. Amen.