Saved from Death: A Sermon about Eternal Life / Heaven

Saved from Death

1 Corinthians 15: 50 – 58.

Introduction

Next Sunday will be the first Sunday of an emphasis on Evangelism and Outreach for our church.  Starting next week, we will coordinate all of our church ministries and activities around the concept of One Focus.  As a church, we will focus our efforts on turning our church “inside out.”  As individuals, we will invite you to focus on one person—hopefully someone you already know—who is either not a Christian or not affiliated with any church in our community.  We will ask you to pray for that one person, love that one person, serve that one person, and to invite that one person to specific events at our church to introduce them to the Gospel of Jesus and / or the ministries of First Baptist Church.

This is one of my dreams for our church.  I dream of becoming an outwardly focused church.  In my understanding of church, this is what a healthy church does.  The Bible encourages us to think of the church like a human body with many different members / parts functioning together in unity.  If we think through that biblical image of the church as a body, we can also compare healthy churches to healthy bodies.  For example, when a person has a life-threatening illness they focus all of their attention inwardly on getting well.  However, a healthy person is not supposed to think of self over others.  We feed ourselves and take care of our basic needs, but we also serve the needs of other people.  Only thinking about yourself is selfish, sinful and unchristian.  In the same way, healthy churches do not neglect their own bodies / members…  But, healthy churches also recognize the importance of loving others, serving others and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

What is the most important thing our church has to offer the people of Angelina County?  It doesn’t have anything to do with church or church programs.  It doesn’t have anything to do with our church buildings or even our worship service / preaching.  The most important thing we have to offer is the Gospel—that God loved the world so much that God provided the only way we can be saved…through the life, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Starting next Sunday, I hope our church ministries, worship services and church communication will be so saturated with One Focus that it will be impossible for you to miss it.  One Focus and evangelism and outreach will be a part of everything we do.  But, before we launch One Focus, we need to examine our own spiritual condition.  Before we can tell other people how they can be saved, we need to make sure we have been saved.

“Saved” is a distinctively Christian word.  It has been a part of our Christian vocabulary for so long, I am afraid we sometimes take it for granted.  It may be surprising for people who have always been a part of Baptist churches that some people do not know what we mean when we say we have been “saved.”  They don’t understand, because “saved” is Christian shorthand for what Jesus has accomplished for us and offered us through faith.  “Saved” is shorthand, because it is one of those words that requires an object.  In order to be “saved,” we have to be saved from something.

In fact, I believe Jesus has offered to save us from three things:  Sin, Judgment and Death.

Two weeks ago, I preached about how Jesus offers us salvation from sin.  Sin is not a popular topic, but sin is real and affects every human who has ever lived.  Sin is anything we do which is contrary to the commandments God has given to his people.  In the Old Testament, God revealed his covenant to his people.  God initiated a relationship with the nation of Israel by rescuing them from slavery in Egypt and forming them as a nation at Mount Sinai.  When God formed his people, he entered into a covenant with them.  God would be their only God, and they would demonstrate their faithfulness to God by keeping his commandments.  The problem of sin is the fact that we cannot live up to God’s standards.  We try to do what is right but fall short (or miss the target).  We focus on ourselves and stray away from God’s path.  We even actively rebel against God’s commandments through willful disobedience.  Through the crucifixion of Jesus, God has offered us forgiveness for all of our sins.  It is the only way to enter into a right relationship with God.

The reason we need forgiveness for our sins is that sin separates us from God.  God is perfect and holy in every way.  Therefore, our sins cannot be in the presence of God.  If God allowed sinners like us to be in relationship with God, we would have to question the holiness of God.  Either our sins are really not that bad after all, or God is not truly holy and perfect.  But, God is holy, and our sins are worse than we think.  Therefore, the natural consequence of sin is eternal separation from the holy God.  Our sins deserve to experience the full weight of God’s judgment.  Because we are sinners, we deserve to spend eternity separated from God in Hell.  But, Jesus died on the cross to save us from Hell.

Jesus died on the cross to save us from sin.  Jesus died on the cross to save us from Hell.  But, the cross was not the end of Jesus’ story.  The cross is not the end of the Gospel.  After the crucifixion, Jesus was dead for only three days.  On the first Easter Sunday, Jesus rose again…victorious over death.  This is God’s promise to us that Jesus also offers us salvation from death.

1 Corinthians 15: 50 – 58.

50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” [fn7]

55 “Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?” [fn8]

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

The book of 1 Corinthians was written as a letter from the Apostle Paul to the churches of Corinth.  Paul does several things in his letter to the Corinthians.  In parts of the letter, Paul answers specific questions the Corinthians had written to him in another letter.  (The Corinthian letter to Paul has not survived, but Paul makes reference to their letter in his correspondence.)  In other places, Paul addresses some questionable—even immoral—behavior taking place among the Christians in Corinth.  In other places, Paul waxes theological about the message of the cross and the importance of the resurrection.

I believe that Paul is using several different approaches in this letter to make one over-arching point.  Paul is teaching the Corinthians (and us) that bad theology always leads to bad behavior.  If we compromise our theological positions, we run the risk of compromising our ethical standing.  We can make this point about many different theological issues.  But, 1 Corinthians 15 demonstrates how the resurrection of Jesus has practical application to our daily lives.

Resurrection of Jesus

1 Corinthians 15 is a long chapter.  We really need to read the whole chapter to understand Paul’s philosophical argument.  Fortunately, he helps us by summarizing it in the last nine verses.

He began his argument by describing the importance of believing in the resurrection of Jesus as historical fact.  This was the essence of Paul’s preaching.  Jesus was more than a good man.  He was more than an inspired prophet.  He was more than a miracle worker.  Jesus was the Son of God, who was sent by God to fulfill God’s promises to Israel in the Old Testament.  Jesus fulfilled these promises by keeping all of the Old Testament Law and reinterpreting that Law in his life and teaching.  Then, Jesus fulfilled God’s promises by giving his own life as a voluntary sacrifice for our sins on the cross.  And, finally, Jesus fulfilled God’s promises by rising from the grave on the third day.

A lot of modern people like to talk about Jesus as a good man and a good teacher.  He lived an exemplary life and taught an earthy wisdom.  But, they do not want to talk about the cross and the resurrection.  Paul tells us this is an inadequate understanding of Jesus for a couple of reasons. 

It is inadequate to deny the cross and the resurrection, because our faith and our sufferings for faith would be for nothing.  If the resurrection of Jesus never happened, then Paul suffered for no good reason.  Paul sacrificed his life, his health and probably his close relationships to preach the message of God’s grace.  The Corinthians had lived a different kind of life from the way most people lived in the First Century Roman Empire.  You and I profess values that are criticized and condemned by Twenty-First Century American culture today.  And, all of this means nothing if Jesus did not rise from the grave.  In fact, Paul says, we are to be pitied more than anyone else, if the resurrection did not happen.

The resurrection of Jesus was so important to Paul that he offered eyewitness testimony to say that it was a historical fact.  After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to the twelve disciples; he appeared to his own brother, James; and he appeared to a crowd of five hundred witnesses.  Paul wrote these words just twenty years after the resurrection, so many of these witnesses were still alive and available for cross examination.

When Paul speaks about the resurrection, he is referring to the literal and bodily resurrection of Jesus.  Resurrection is not the same thing as saying Jesus died and went to Heaven.  Resurrection does not refer to a symbolic resurrection of faith among the followers of Jesus.  And, resurrection does not mean spiritual enlightenment which became possible after Jesus died on the cross.

The tomb was empty.  The body of Jesus was no longer there, because Jesus was still using his body.  He appeared in his body when he commissioned his disciples to go and tell all nations that Jesus is alive.  He was dead, but now he lives.

Resurrection of the Dead

A second reason why it is inadequate to deny the cross and the resurrection is because of what it says about us.  On one hand, the resurrection proves that Jesus truly is who he claimed to be—the unique Son of God.  On the other hand, the resurrection is the foundation of our hope in eternal life.  If Jesus did not rise again, then God will not keep his promise to give us eternal life.

Paul comes from a thoroughly Jewish background.  As a Jew, he believed in a future resurrection of all the righteous dead.  Of course, he had reinterpreted his Jewish beliefs in light of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.  Jesus died for all who believe and rose again for all who believe.  Therefore, the resurrection offers the promise of eternal life to all who believe.  This resurrection will be just like the resurrection of Jesus.

When we talk about the resurrection of the righteous, we need to be careful to speak of it in biblical terms.  The most popular view of dying and going to Heaven is more related to the philosophical writings of Plato than to the New Testament.  In Plato’s view, the body is sort of like a prison for the soul.  The soul longs to be free from the body, and death is like a welcome friend which releases the soul from the body.  More than likely, this is the exact philosophical belief Paul is writing against in 1 Corinthians 15.  The biblical understanding of eternal life is different from Plato’s view in at least a couple of ways.

 First, Paul tells us that death is our enemy and not our friend.  And this fits very well with our experience of death.  We grieve the death of our loved ones.  And, we take daily measures to avoid our own death.  We diet and exercise, we avoid risky behaviors, and we even wear our seatbelts in an effort to avoid death.  The only way to find victory over death is through faith in the resurrection of Jesus.  Jesus’ resurrection is the first fruit of the harvest.  God raised Jesus as a promise that he will raise us up for eternal life.

Second, Paul tells us that eternal life will be a bodily as well as spiritual experience.  We will not have an entirely spiritual existence in Heaven.  Our life in Heaven will be both similar and dissimilar to our lives on earth—we will have a mind, a body and a spirit.  But we will be transformed.

Paul compares the difference between earthly life and Heavenly life in terms of a seed and a flower.  The seed does not look anything like the flower it will one day become.  But, when that seed is sown in the ground, it is transformed into something new…something different…something that it was originally intended to become.  Our earthly lives are like that seed.  Our earthly lives are not what we were created for.  God’s intention is to transform us for eternal and Heavenly life.  Even though we don’t know exactly what that will look like, we do know that it will be spiritual, mental and physical.

Eternal Life Begins Now

The body is important to Christian theology.  God created our bodies and calls us to “present our bodies as living sacrifices to God (Romans 12: 1 – 2).”  God sent his Son, Jesus, in the body.  Jesus gave his body as a sacrifice on the cross.  When Jesus rose again, he rose in his body.  When Jesus ascended into Heaven, he went in his body—not leaving his body on earth.  One day Jesus will return to earth in his body, and on that day, Jesus will raise our bodies (transformed) for eternal life in Heaven.

If the body is an important part of our theology, then we need to realize that how we use our bodies truly matters.  Our bodies were not created for sinful purposes.  Instead, our bodies are to be used for the glory of God.  We worship God with our bodies (not just with our minds and spirit).  We serve God with our bodies (not just our minds and spirit).  We love and serve others with our bodies (not just our minds and spirit).

Perhaps this was what led to the church problems in Corinth.  Perhaps they held a low regard for their human bodies and elevated their minds and spirits.  As a result, they allowed sexual immorality to creep into the church.  They relaxed their restrictions regarding meat sacrificed to idols.  They even tolerated sinful practices in their worship services and the serving of the Lord’s Supper.  Their bad theology led to bad behavior.  By focusing less on their bodies, they were able to rationalize using their bodies in sinful ways.

Instead, we need to note a common refrain in Paul’s teaching throughout the New Testament.  Paul teaches us that salvation has BOTH a present tense and a future tense.  Salvation is something we experience now and not yet.  Salvation begins right here in our earthly lives, but it will be fully realized in our future, Heavenly lives.  In other words, eternal life begins right here and now.

Conclusion

This is why I believe Paul concludes his teaching on the resurrection by giving us assurance that our “labor in the Lord will not be in vain (1 Corinthians 15: 58).”

Since we will have a bodily existence in Heaven, and since we now have a bodily existence on earth, we should begin using our bodies on earth as they will be used in Heaven.  The simplest description of this kind of life is to say it is “labor in the Lord.”  It is doing the Lord’s work.  But what is the Lord’s work?

The Lord’s work is knowing and loving.  This is the work we will do in Heaven.  And, this is the work we should begin doing now.

Knowing and Loving God…

Knowing and Loving ourselves…

Knowing and Loving others…

One day, this work will be perfect—in Heaven.  But it is a work to begin right here and now.

This is what eternal life looks like—spiritual, mental and physical…But there is only one way to receive eternal life.  You must be saved from death through faith in Jesus, the first one to rise victorious over death.