15:1 Now I would remind you, brothers,1 of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
The Resurrection of the Dead
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 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. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope2 in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God3 has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
29 Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? 30 Why are we in danger every hour? 31 I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! 32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”434 Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
The Resurrection Body
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”;5 the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall6 also bear the image of the man of heaven.
Mystery and Victory
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 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.
Footnotes
[1]15:1Or brothers and sisters; also verses 6, 31, 50, 58 [2]15:19Or we have hoped [3]15:27Greek he [4]15:33Probably from Menander’s comedy Thais [5]15:45Greek a living soul [6]15:49Some manuscripts let us
15:1 Now I would remind you, brothers,1 of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
The Resurrection of the Dead
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 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. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope2 in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God3 has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
29 Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? 30 Why are we in danger every hour? 31 I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! 32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”434 Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
The Resurrection Body
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”;5 the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall6 also bear the image of the man of heaven.
Mystery and Victory
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 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.
Footnotes
[1]15:1Or brothers and sisters; also verses 6, 31, 50, 58 [2]15:19Or we have hoped [3]15:27Greek he [4]15:33Probably from Menander’s comedy Thais [5]15:45Greek a living soul [6]15:49Some manuscripts let us
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:
If y'all would, open your Bibles to 1st Corinthians 15. Sorry, I probably keep coughing. My brother and my mom just got back from Beijing, and they brought some Beijing voodoo virus to me, so who knows what it is. We've been going through 1st Corinthians this summer. This is the last message I'm going to do on 1st Corinthians.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's the pinnacle of the book. Really, it's the center of our faith. And I'm going I'm gonna go ahead and tell you right now that, there's an expression, never stir up more state snakes than you can shoot. I don't know where that came from, but it's a great vivid image for what I'm going to do tonight. There are gonna be a few snakes out there, a few questions that you guys have that I'm not gonna be able to shoot down in the limited time that we have.
Jeffrey Heine:
That's why we have things like theological coffee houses that you guys are welcome to swing by my house and talk about this later. But if you would read with me in 1st Corinthians 15, and I'm gonna read select verses through this chapter. Now I would remind you brothers of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the 3rd day in accordance with the scriptures, that he appeared to Cephas, then to the 12, then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. And then he appeared to James, then to the apostles.
Jeffrey Heine:
Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am also the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but grace the grace of God that is in me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preached, and so you believed.
Jeffrey Heine:
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of 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 testify of 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 had been raised.
Jeffrey Heine:
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we're of all people most to be pitied. Verse 54. 53, for this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
Jeffrey Heine:
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? The sting of sin is death, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us victory through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:
Therefore, my brother beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Pray with me. Lord, we thank you for your word. I ask that you would give great clarity to this extremely important topic, The center of our faith. I pray that the reality of the resurrection would strike a chord in our hearts and in our minds tonight, through your Spirit.
Jeffrey Heine:
I ask that my words fall to the ground and blow away, but Lord, let your words remain, and may they change us. And I pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. In the 1920s, CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien were professors at Oxford University. They quickly became friends because of their love for literature, it was this common passion and so they were, they spent a lot of time together.
Jeffrey Heine:
Even though Tolkien at the time was a believer and C. S. Lewis was a staunch atheist, and they were still really good friends. And they would always take walks and on one of their walks, they had a conversation about fairy tales, legends. And, Tolkien was talking about how much he loved fairy tales, and he loved legends, and that they they really moved him.
Jeffrey Heine:
And he had probably studied legends and those stories more than anyone alive. Most of these stories have the same theme. There's usually a clear good and a clear evil that are fighting one another. And usually the whole land is under the spell of some type of evil and it has to be broken. And then there's gonna come a hero or a king, maybe a king's been gone and then the king returns, and he's gonna break the curse, drive the evil from the land, and usually add a great sacrifice to himself.
Jeffrey Heine:
And a lot of these legends go that way, have at least part of that in them, things like Robin Hood or King Arthur, different stories about an absent king coming. Now interesting enough, critics over the years, especially during the fifties sixties, thought that those kind of tales, stories, wouldn't last because they're built on absolute morals, clear good, clear evil. I said, but there are no absolute morals. Nothing is as clear as it seems. Morality is kind of a gray, and so those tales will go away, but they haven't.
Jeffrey Heine:
They're always around, and you look at the the most popular books that are around, the most popular movies that are around, and they're always ones that follow a lot of the same plot lines of old folktales, old fantasy, clear evil, clear good verse evil. You you have in my day things like Star Wars, clearly. You know, you you have the good force, the, the bad force, dark force. You have Harry Potter today. There's this evil curse going across the land and yet there's this chosen one who's somehow gonna come and fight at great sacrifice to himself.
Jeffrey Heine:
These are the stories we love to hear. Now critics, they love the stories that are really ambiguous and you walk away scratching your head like you don't know what was right, what was wrong, you're just really confused. Critics love those, but people, they love these stories because it resonates with us. And this is what Lou or, Tolkien was telling Lewis, these stories really resonate with me. And and Lewis said, you're right, those kind of stories resonate with me too.
Jeffrey Heine:
I love them. I I I don't know why. And Tolkien said, I have this theory. It's they're all based on an underlying reality. That's why our hearts resonate.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's they're based on some kernel of truth. The stories aren't true, but they're based on this underlying truth. And Lewis said, interesting. I don't buy it, but interesting. And Tolkien said, have you ever thought of the Christian message that way?
Jeffrey Heine:
Have you? The whole earth is under a curse. Sin brought it. We're all waiting for our coming King to come and to break the curse, and and He came and He broke it. He took on the the leaders of the day, the powers of the day.
Jeffrey Heine:
He took them on, and he won. And he broke the curse, a great sacrifice to himself. And he's telling this to Lewis and Lewis goes, You're right. You're right. I can see now that that the the Christian story is one that is kind of based on some kind of underlying reality.
Jeffrey Heine:
And Tolkien said, no, it's there, you were wrong. The Christian story, the story of Jesus is the underlying reality. It is the story that all of our hearts know to be true. It's the story that we yearn for and we long for and we recognize when we hear it. Yes.
Jeffrey Heine:
That's true. All the other stories are based on that. And that's what we're looking at here in 1st Corinthians 15 is this story. It's about the return of our king and what that provides. What that does for us.
Jeffrey Heine:
What his sacrificial death and his resurrection brings, and how it breaks the curse. Because we're in a world that's in bondage, that is under a curse, and we know when we look around that things are not as they should be. The resurrection of Jesus is the centerpiece of our faith. Everything we believe, all of our hope is wrapped up in this one historical event. This is why Paul spends so much time.
Jeffrey Heine:
This is the longest chapter Paul ever writes. You know, he didn't really write in chapters, that was later. But, when people wanted to chapter a thought, they included all 58 verses because they they decide, we can't break this up. This is all one thought and it's all about the resurrection. Now the centrality of the resurrection has been lost in our day.
Jeffrey Heine:
It is not that Christians don't believe in the resurrection, we do believe in the resurrection. We just don't know what we believe about the resurrection. How does it affect our lives? We have some vague notion of, you know, there's hope and there's heaven, and, somehow conquered death. But it's all very vague, and we kinda put it into the background.
Jeffrey Heine:
And you can even see this by the way we celebrate Christmas versus the way we celebrate Easter. I mean, Christmas gets the entire month of December. All the songs, every service specially designed towards Christmas. You know, every pit body takes off for Christmas holidays. We all go to see family.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's it's huge. Easter? Well we have Easter Sunday that we celebrate this. And it's not that we don't believe Easter, it's just that we don't really know what the resurrection means in our lives. And so we focus on Christmas, you know, but really if you were to break down to Bible the Bible into what actually tells of the birth of Jesus, you're gonna get about 5 chapters.
Jeffrey Heine:
Five chapters. The gospel of Mark doesn't even include the birth of Jesus, but when it comes to the resurrection of Jesus, if you throw that out, you're gonna throw out the majority of Paul. You're gonna throw out huge sections of the gospels, because they see this as central. And so we have to restore the resurrection to the center of our faith, not just some kind of attached belief that's somewhat vague. Well, the first thing that Paul does is he reminds them of the gospel by which they are saved.
Jeffrey Heine:
And when mentioning the resurrection of Jesus, he gets very specific. He says, listen, Peter saw Jesus raised. The 12 disciples saw Jesus raised. 500 men saw Jesus saved or, resurrected. Now most of you, or or most of these people are still alive.
Jeffrey Heine:
And when he says that, he's basically saying, go ahead, ask them. This is only 20 years after it happened. These people are still alive. Go ask them. Because the historicity of this is crucial.
Jeffrey Heine:
You must understand Jesus physically rose from the dead, not spiritually rose from the dead, not metaphorically rose from the dead, but it is a physical fact and he hammers this home because he says, this is how we are saved. This is how we are saved. Now realize, anytime a Christian mentions the word saved, everybody has a different image up there. Usually, it's the wrong image. It's a word we need to define.
Jeffrey Heine:
In a few weeks, we're gonna we're gonna define that word through looking at some Old Testament passages. But I think most people believe that being saved means we go to heaven when we die. That's what being saved is. Heaven, check. Go in there.
Jeffrey Heine:
I'm saved. That's the goal of our salvation. We're saved from this world. We could cast off our body and our souls are gonna go up, be with Jesus in heaven forever. That's saved.
Jeffrey Heine:
Most people that I've talked to about this are pretty surprised when I say, you know what, the Bible actually says very little about going to heaven when you die. Very little about it. That's not salvation. Biblically, that's not salvation. Heaven is not the goal of our salvation.
Jeffrey Heine:
Maria Shriver, famous theologian, and actually she's not, she's married to Arnold Schwarzenegger. She wrote a book called What's Heaven. I got to cough here. I'm gonna read you an excerpt from her book called, What's Heaven? Heaven is somewhere you believe in.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's a beautiful place where you can sit on soft clouds and talk to people who are there. At night, you can sit next to the stars, which are the brightest of anywhere in the universe. If you are good throughout your life, then you go to heaven. When your life is finished here on earth, God sends angels down to take you up to heaven to be with him. And although my grandma died, she is alive in me.
Jeffrey Heine:
Most importantly, she taught me to believe in myself. She's in a safe place with the stars, with God and the angels, and she is watching over us from up there. You could go on. This is exactly what millions of Christians, especially Western Christians, believe about heaven. At least in practical terms, that's how it works its way out in their life.
Jeffrey Heine:
That's what they believe. I would even say that's what 1,000,000 even hope for is this vague notion of of Heaven. Some disembodied spirit resting on clouds, playing music, talking to loved ones who have gone on before us. Most of us that's our view. But that is not, it is clearly not what the Bible has to say about heaven, and it is also not our goal as Christians to end up there.
Jeffrey Heine:
Heaven is not our hope. Salvation does not mean going to heaven when you die. Now when you were talking to one of your friends or I've had this conversation with somebody who said, you know, all the faiths are pretty much the same. They all just teach you different ways to be saved. And at that point, I stopped the person and said, no.
Jeffrey Heine:
There is no salvation out there like the biblical salvation. There is nothing that comes even close. They're not all the same. You see, our view of what's gonna happen in the future is totally different. We believe that we will be given resurrected bodies.
Jeffrey Heine:
Not that the earth will be destroyed and will go to heaven as some spirit. No, we believe that we'll be given new bodies and there will be a new earth. It'll be very physical. You're not gonna find a salvation like that. Heaven is not our home, but the redemption of this world, this world is our home.
Jeffrey Heine:
And now I have to be absolutely clear on this because I know we've been bombarded by sermons, by books, by songs that depict heaven as our home, our final resting place. We have current songs. Katharine Scott, she's from Northern Ireland. She writes great songs. Hungry, At the Foot of the Cross, great songs.
Jeffrey Heine:
But she also has one on that album, it's called Heaven Is Our Home. That's the whole point of it. Delirious has on one of their albums, the song called Heaven Is Our Home. Start listening to Christian radio if you can tolerate it for more than 10 minutes, and you are going to hear that theme, heaven is our home. And it's not just contemporary writers.
Jeffrey Heine:
One of my favorite hymns of all time is mistaken, How Great Thou Art. When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and joy will fill my heart, oh wait, shout of acclamation and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart? It says, our joy is gonna be when we're taken out of this place. And if Paul had been writing this, he would have said, when Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and redeem this world, what joy will fill my heart? When I get a new body, what joy will fill my heart?
Jeffrey Heine:
Often when we come to Scripture, we even read into scripture these false notions of what heaven is like. We get to passages like Philippians 3 that say our citizenship is in heaven. Certainly sounds like, you know, kind of heaven is our home. But then it says, we're waiting for the Lord to come out of heaven to us. And we need to pray what Jesus prayed, Lord your kingdom come.
Jeffrey Heine:
Thy kingdom come. Bring heaven to this earth. Not may we just go away. To believe that heaven is ultimately your home, where your soul or your spirit goes to live on forever is to acknowledge that creation was a mistake, and that your bodies were a mistake, and so they just must be discarded so that God can start something new. It's to believe that when God created the world and He said, it is good, well, it really wasn't good.
Jeffrey Heine:
And when He created man and He said, it is very good, well, it really wasn't, because it can be discarded, and that's not the case. The Corinthians really struggled with this view of the body so much that, well, Paul's talking about it here, but in chapter 6 at one point, he he had to remind him, he says, just so you know, the Lord is for the body. The Lord is for your body. That was a reason to be sexually pure. I don't really think we believe this, but the world's not going to be discarded, it's going to be renewed.
Jeffrey Heine:
Habakkuk 2 says that, The glory of the Lord will cover the earth like water covers the sea. I love that image. The glory of the Lord will cover the earth like water covers the sea, and you see the earth is beautiful, The earth is good. Like a chalice is a great way to think of it. Think of the earth like a chalice, which, yeah, there's some things in the earth that are beautiful.
Jeffrey Heine:
You know, the gold, maybe some jewels, but a chalice is mostly beautiful because what it was designed to to to hold. And the earth is that way. It was designed to be filled completely with the glory of the Lord. And so as beautiful as some things are, it has not reached its potential till the glory of the Lord floods this place at Jesus' return. It's a shadow is a way to think of it.
Jeffrey Heine:
You know, when a person's really, really sick and maybe they've lost a weight, you say they're a shadow of the man they were. And you can still see part of who they could be there, you don't throw them aside, they're a shadow. One day this earth is a shadow, but one day it will realize its potential when the Lord returns. Look at Romans 8. Romans 8 verse 18, I have to go here.
Jeffrey Heine:
Gosh, this is you could see this as some of the pinnacle of Paul's thought, Certainly of Romans, in which he has been building up for 7 chapters now until he gets to Romans 8. And he sees this as the goal of salvation. Right here, verse 18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy or worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
Jeffrey Heine:
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly but because of him who subjected it, and hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves who had the first fruits of the spirit groan inwardly as we eagerly await or eager wait eagerly for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. All of creation is longing to be freed, not destroyed.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's waiting for the sons of God to be revealed, not to leave and go to heaven. And Paul says that all of the pain that we feel in this life is not proof that the world is bad and needs to be discarded and you've gotta leave it, but it's actually proof of a childbirth. It's the pains, meaning new life is coming. And the early Christian hope certainly was centered on the resurrection and the redemption of creation and not on heaven. Let's take a closer look exactly how this idea of resurrection of Jesus is so tied to our resurrection, and our redemption.
Jeffrey Heine:
Now, the vast majority of 1st century Jews believed in the resurrection. The vast majority did. They just believed everyone would be raised on the day of judgment, on the day of the Lord. When he when the day of the Lord came, all would be raised. And you can hear this in Martha's words when Lazarus had died, he said, Jesus, I know that he will be raised on the resurrection of the last day.
Jeffrey Heine:
We believe in this resurrection. They believed in a day that God would come. But knowing that will help you understand why nobody was at the tomb of Jesus on the 3rd day. No one. And I don't know if you've ever thought about that, but it is really hard to imagine Jesus spending all this time with all these disciples over and over again.
Jeffrey Heine:
Hey, just a few days, I'm gonna be killed. They're gonna deliver me, I'm gonna be killed, but don't worry, the 3rd day, I'm gonna rise again from the dead. He says it over and over and over. So Jesus is killed on the 3rd day. Who comes to the tomb?
Jeffrey Heine:
I mean out of curiosity, I would have just come. I mean he's been saying this for 3 years now. Out of curiosity, just let's just see what happens, but nobody comes. And it's not that the disciples didn't believe in the resurrection, they just didn't believe that the resurrection happened to 1 person first. That Jesus, 1 person, the day of judgment will come on 1 person, not on everybody.
Jeffrey Heine:
And one person would be raised from the dead. Never crossed their mind, although they believed in the resurrection. And look at verse 20 here. We're still in Romans. Sorry.
Jeffrey Heine:
We're not. 1st Corinthians 15 verse 20, But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. Christ is the one who goes before us. He's the first fruit. His resurrected body, we're gonna have one just like it.
Jeffrey Heine:
He goes before us. Whereas Paul says, when we see him, we shall be just like him. Look in Colossians 1, if you want to turn there. Sorry, I'm turning so many different places. Colossians 1 15, familiar passage.
Jeffrey Heine:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church.
Jeffrey Heine:
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. And I have heard so many messages on that that just talk they say the firstborn is just talking about Christ as supreme. That's not at all what it's talking about. Says he's a firstborn. You look at the resurrection.
Jeffrey Heine:
Christ was raised first. And when we look at that, our heart should swell it with hope and say, we will be raised like that. We will be given a body like that. Jesus goes before us. He is the first born.
Jeffrey Heine:
So how does this make a difference for us? Let me give you two reasons. Over the next few years, I'm gonna give you 20, but we're just gonna look at 2. Man, I love studying this stuff. This just lights a fire in me.
Jeffrey Heine:
Look at verse 58, chapter 15 in 1st Corinthians, the last verse. We'll just look at the two reasons given here. 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. So we're to be steadfast, we're to be immovable, there is to be nothing in this life that should shake us if we believe in the resurrection. Nothing.
Jeffrey Heine:
Death cares about death. We're gonna be given a new body. We're gonna be raised from the dead. We do not fear it. We'll be better than before.
Jeffrey Heine:
A seed buried imperishable or perishable raised up imperishable. A plague hit the Roman Empire, the 2nd 3rd centuries, right after Christianity, just kind of getting its start. A third of the population died from this plague. Everyone left the cities. They're all fleeing the cities.
Jeffrey Heine:
People are dying. That is everyone except for the Christians. The Christians stayed. And you read from this not in not in the Bible, but in secular works, historical books, the Christians stayed. And they knew the likelihood of of them getting this disease and dying would be great if they stayed, but they knew they should stay, and they should show kindness, and they should show grace and compassion to those who have these disease this plague.
Jeffrey Heine:
And it spoke volumes to the Roman world. And the reason they did that is because the resurrection was central to their faith. I die, who cares? I will be raised. I will be raised again.
Jeffrey Heine:
Come on death, I will stay and show these people what the kingdom of God is about. The second reason comes from the end of verse 58, the end of it, when it says, abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Now believing that being saved, if you believe that means your bodies go to heaven when you die I mean, you will go to heaven, but it's not your final resting place. But if you believe that is your final resting place, see this in You see this in Romans 8:19. You don't have to turn to the altar, just read this.
Jeffrey Heine:
It says it says, for the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. It's an unusual verse. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. I don't know if you've ever thought of why in the world does creation wait to see who is a son of god? It's under a curse, and it's waiting to see who is the Son of God, who is a Christian.
Jeffrey Heine:
I hope we understand this. This is so crucial to who we are at Redeemer Community Church. And it's because the redemption of the world is tied into our redemption. The redemption of the world is tied into our redemption. Remember that when God created Adam and Eve, and He, He says, I give you dominion over all the earth.
Jeffrey Heine:
You're to rule the earth. Tend the garden, make the most of it, rule over the animals. You have dominion. And then we went and screwed it all up. The world became under a curse.
Jeffrey Heine:
But now through our redemption, we can rightfully rule the earth again. We can rightfully bring out the most of this world. That's why the book of Hebrews says we're gonna be co heirs with Christ. We are gonna be rulers with Christ. Rulers do things.
Jeffrey Heine:
Rulers work. We're gonna have bodies. We will do things. The Bible says that there's gonna be singing, there's gonna be dancing, there's going to be eating, there's going to be real work in the kingdom of God. And we will be doing it, and we'll relish in doing it.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's what we were created for, to bring out the most on the earth so that the glory of God might cover the earth like waters cover the sea. And so all creation is longing for our redemption, to see who we are. Because as sons of God, the redemption of this world begins to break through with us. And you saw this in 1 Corinthians 3 earlier, when Paul says you're all building on foundations. If you build on the foundation of the gospel, when Christ returns it's gonna work.
Jeffrey Heine:
But if you don't build on the gospel, it's all gonna be burned up, It's all gonna be perishable. But what Paul says is you could do work that remains. You can do redeemed work that remains. We can work now in this life for this city, and the work will remain. When we give a a homeless person a meal, if your mentality is I'm gonna give them a meal, you know it kinda shows them what Jesus was like, and I'm going to, hopefully that will prepare them so I can then share the gospel with them, as if the gospel is some kind of detached message from actually giving the person a meal.
Jeffrey Heine:
Now what what happens when you give a homeless person a meal, you are demonstrating to them, you are showing them the kingdom of God. Your kindness remains. It will never die. Your compassion remains. Your love remains.
Jeffrey Heine:
And you're part of the redemption. And we are allowing the kingdom of God to break through into that person's life. Don't be of so heavenly minded you're of no earthly good. That's what happens when you think heaven is your goal. The redemption of this world is why we were saved.
Jeffrey Heine:
I pray that our prayer as a church is, Father, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Pray with me. Lord, there's so much there. So much there, so so much more than I have to unpack over the years to really work in the centrality of your resurrection in our lives, and what that means for us, what that means for this world.
Jeffrey Heine:
It is not some detached event with some vagueness about conquering death or forgiveness. No. You are the first fruits, the first born. You have gone before us, and indeed all of creation will follow behind you. We rejoice in that, and we long for the time when the world is covered with your glory, just like the waters cover the sea.
Jeffrey Heine:
We pray this in the strong name of Jesus, our present and our future King. Amen.