1 VIVE LA DIFFERENCE! HOPE 1 CORINTHIANS 15 May 3, 2015 A man and his ever-nagging wife went on vacation to Jerusalem. While they were there, the wife passed away. The undertaker told the husband, "You can have her body shipped home for $5,000, or you can bury her here, in the Holy Land, for $150." The man thought about it and told him I think I ll have her shipped home. The undertaker asked, "Why would you spend $5,000 to ship your wife s body home, when it would be wonderful to be buried here and you would spend only $150? The man replied, "Long ago a man died here, was buried here, and three days later he rose from the dead. I just can't take that chance." But most believers look at the resurrection as a source of hope in the face of death. Actually, though, many people, including people in the pew, don t take much time to think about the hope of resurrection after death. Because we don t take much time to think about death. How much time and treasure is spent trying to hold off any signs of aging? Hair color, anti-wrinkle cream, and if you re really desperate, exercise and diet! Because getting older means getting closer to death. How far do we go to hold back death? All the way to extreme medical measures with bodies on life support where there is truly no life left. Grasping at any and every last straw available in order to hold off death for just a little while? We are scared to death of death. We want to live forever. Woody Allen said, "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve immortality by not dying." He said it as a joke, but. The hard and harsh reality of death is something we try to avoid thinking about at all costs. But it is true; it is real; and one day it will come to every one of us. In fact, the entire physical universe is subject to the laws of thermodynamics, the third law being the law of entropy. That law, in laymen s terms, says that all things lose energy and tend toward breaking down. For the human being it means your body will age, break down, and eventually die. You can try to ignore that all you want. But there is no escape. It s true of everything in the physical universe. It played out this last week at our house, when our hot water heater went out,
2 my weed-eater broke in two in my hands, and the dishwasher died. No, not me. The mechanical dish washer. It s true of your car. No matter how good Consumer Reports says it s record of repair, your car will age, wear, and eventually break down. I know a woman whose career was going really well, and decided to give herself a gift. She bought a brand new two-door convertible with every option available. It was pretty expensive, but she felt like it was worth it, and took the plunge. In a year and a half she traded it in and got a nice SUV of a completely different make. I asked her about it and she said, I loved that car, it was fun to drive, but it was always breaking down. I spent too much time going to and from the repair shop. This SUV is nice and it has a great reputation for dependability. Before buying a car I always check the record of repair. Because no matter how good the warranty may be, I d really rather not have to use it. But you can buy a car with the absolute best record, but if you keep it long enough sooner or later it will break down. Everything breaks down. Every living thing dies. You. will die. Which leaves us with two options: Despair or hope. If death is the end, despair is a reasonable response. Oh, you might take the view that you ve got to go for the gusto right now. Carpe diem, seize the day. The author of the biblical book of Ecclesiastes expressed it well, A man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry in whatever time you have. (Ec.8:15) The apostle Paul picked up that phrase and said, If the dead do not rise, let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die. (1Cor.15:32) But that was not Paul s conclusion. Because Paul believed the dead shall rise, because of one who already had risen. Paul made a prolonged argument for the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. Apparently in the church in Corinth there was some misunderstanding about the resurrection. Some people were not clear that this was about the BODILY resurrection of Jesus and the future BODILY resurrection of his followers. Some people thought it meant a new quality of life in this life, and nothing more. And it does mean a new quality of life is available to us. But it also means more. It means there is life AFTER this life, too.
1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-8 The resurrection of Jesus really happened. Not a wishful thing, not some ghostly apparition. A bodily resurrection. Remember, the tomb was empty! And there were plenty of eyewitnesses who saw him, more than 500 people! They could vouch for the truth, the reality, of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Eyewitnesses who could say, No, Paul s making it up, or Yes, Paul is exactly right. We saw him alive and well with our own eyes. No eyewitness or anyone else ever stepped up to deny Paul s claims about the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Paul started from their belief that resurrection for us is just a new quality of life in this life. 1 CORINTHIANS 15:12-16 If there is no resurrection of my body, your body, and the bodies of all believers, then there s no resurrection of JESUS body! Because our resurrection is supposed to be just like his, right? So he s not really risen? The tomb was not empty? Then what were those stories all about? And all our preaching? Lies, fables, fiction, and fairy tales. And your faith? A delusion. But more than that 1 CORINTHIANS 15:17-19 If Christ was not raised, and we re not going to be raised, then what are we doing here? We might as well sleep in on Sunday mornings and spend the afternoon playing tiddlywinks. If there s no resurrection, there s no hope for the long view. It all stops at the edge of the grave. And if that s true, we are to be pitied more than all people. Because followers of Christ are in it to play the long game. We re willing to pay a price for our faith, because we know the pain of today will be trumped by the joy of tomorrow. He insisted that the bodily resurrection of Jesus was a historical fact, and the promise of our bodily resurrection was secured by that fact. 1 CORINTHIANS 15:20 Then Paul pointed to his own situation in life, how his ministry so often led him into hardships. And he was willing to undergo those hardships because he had the long game in view. But if there is no long game, if there is no resurrection 1 CORINTHIANS 15:30-32 Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. And that s the end, the period at the end of the sentence. 3
So go for the gusto. Carpe diem, seize the day. Peggy Lee sang a song that became a huge hit in 1969. It was called Is That All There Is? In it she goes through a variety of life s scenarios, searching for meaning. I remember when I was a very little girl, our house caught on fire. I'll never forget the look on my father's face as he gathered me up in his arms and raced through the burning building out to the pavement. I stood there shivering in my pajamas and watched the whole world go up in flames. And when it was all over I said to myself, "Is that all there is to a fire?" Is that all there is, is that all there is If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing Let's break out the booze and have a ball If that's all there is Then I fell in love, head over heels in love, with the most wonderful boy in the world. We would take long walks by the river or just sit for hours gazing into each other's eyes. We were so very much in love. Then one day he went away and I thought I'd die, but I didn't, and when I didn't I said to myself, is that all there is to love? I know what you must be saying to yourselves, if that's the way she feels about it why doesn't she just end it all? Oh, no, not me. I'm in no hurry for that final disappointment, for I know just as well as I'm standing here talking to you, when that final moment comes and I'm breathing my last breath, I'll be saying to myself Is that all there is, is that all there is If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing Let's break out the booze and have a ball If that's all there is. She could have been reading from Ecclesiastes. If that s all there is, if there s nothing after this life, then let s eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. No hope for a future life. Just grab whatever pleasure you can here and now. Paul insists, NO, NO, NO! That s NOT all there is. There is resurrection! The resurrection of Jesus, and the resurrection of those who follow him. 1 CORINTHIANS 15:51-58 The resurrection of Jesus has come, and your resurrection will come. There is hope for the long term future. And that means there is meaning and value in the way you live your life today. Your labor in the Lord is not in vain. It does not all end with dirt in your face. Your life, your work, is of eternal value. There is hope, even at the edge of the grave. The great evangelist of the 19 th century, Dwight L. Moody, was getting along in years. When asked about aging he said, "One day you will read in the newspaper that 4
D. L. Moody of East Northfield, Massachusetts is dead. Well, don't believe a word of it. I will have gone up higher, that's all. Out of this old clay tenement into a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And at that moment, I will be more alive than I have ever been." W.E. Sangster (1900-1960), a well-known pastor in England in the first half of the 20 th century, contracted a progressive, incurable muscle disease. He lost the ability to move his legs, and eventually his voice faded away. Because Sangster wanted to continue serving God even though he could no longer preach, he became a prolific writer and organized prayer groups throughout England. On Easter morning, shortly before his death, Sangster wrote a note to his daughter in an unsteady hand. It is terrible to wake up on Easter morning and have no voice to shout, He is risen! But it would be still more terrible to have a voice and not want to shout. Even then, with a debilitating disease that would eventually take his life, the hope of resurrection provided him with meaning, hope, and joy. On Tuesday I visited a couple who were our best friends and next door neighbors when I pastored the church in Lytle. They re just a handful of years older than us. They were the ones who adopted us, in the midst of a very tight knit community. Their daughter was the first baby-sitter for our girls. A year and a half ago, she was rear-ended by a man driving a big pickup and pulling a trailer. The car was totaled, and she nearly was, too. The doctors said she probably not live, then she d never be able to get out of bed, then she d never leave her wheelchair. She met me at the door leaning on a cane, smiling. They d been thrilled with her recovery. Then he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The doctors tell him the best case scenario, if it is the lesser of two types of pancreatic cancer, if the cancer is in an operable location, and if he survives a risky 8 hour surgery, is a 30% chance of 5 year survival. A long-time believer, he said to me, You know, the God who brought me into this world will be there to receive me. I ve said everything I need to say and done everything I need to do. I have no regrets about the life I ve lived, and I have no fear of what is ahead for me. He knows of Easter. He has hope. YOU will face tough days, days of suffering, pain, agony, confusion, doubt, and misery. It may come through the death of a loved one. 5
It may be a financial crisis, your marriage on the brink, your job in question, emotional turmoil, or spiritual doubts and struggles. One day it will be your own death. You will face those days. No matter what difficulty comes to you, the answer is ultimately Easter. Because with Easter, there is always, always, always a reason to hope. 6