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Why?

Why Should I Hope for More?

 — Dale Beaver

Message Notes

Why Should I Hope for More? | 1 Corinthians 15:35-58

1 Corinthians 15:35-41

35But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40There 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. 41There 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.

 

John 12:23-26

23Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. 24I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. 25Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. 26Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.

 

Our resurrection bodies will be physical AND imperishable

 

1 Corinthians 15:42-44

42So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

 

How much more should we hope for?

From perishable to imperishable (v.42)

From dishonor to glory (v.43a)

From weakness to power (v.43b)

From natural to super-natural (v.44)

 

 “With what kind of body? As with Christ, the same yet not the same; this body, but adapted to the new conditions of heavenly existence; sown one way, it is raised another, but the same body is sown and raised.”   –Gordon Fee (First Corinthians)

 

Adam is the prototype for what we are.  Jesus is the prototype for what we shall be.

 

1 Corinthians 15:45-49

45Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48As 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. 49Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

 

Philippians 3:20-21

20But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.

 

 “Just as believers have shared the earthly body of the first man, so also will they bear the heavenly body of the second man.” –Gordon Fee

 

1 Corinthians 15:50-56

50I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52in 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. 53For 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?” 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

13And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. 14For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. 15We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. 16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. 17Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18So encourage each other with these words.

 

2 Corinthians 5:8

Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

 

1 Corinthians 15:57-58

57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfastimmovablealways abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

 

1 Corinthians 15:54

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?”

 

 

Why Should I Expect Anything

 — Dale Beaver

Message Notes

11 Corinthians 15:12-19 
2But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? 13For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.

 

If there is no resurrection:
Jesus has not been raised (15:13, 16)
Our preaching is futile (15:14)
Our faith is empty/useless (15:14, 17)
We are still in our sins (15:17)
Deceased believers have perished (15:18)
We are most to be pitied (15:19)

 

Expect to be raised as Christ was raised.

 

1 Corinthians 15:20-23
20But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. 21So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. 22Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. 23But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.

 

Leviticus 23:9-14
9Then the Lord said to Moses, 10“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you enter the land I am giving you and you harvest its first crops, bring the priest a bundle of grain from the first cutting of your grain harvest. 11On the day after the Sabbath, the priest will lift it up before the Lord so it may be accepted on your behalf. 12On that same day you must sacrifice a one-year-old male lamb with no defects as a burnt offering to the Lord. 13With it you must present a grain offering consisting of four quarts of choice flour moistened with olive oil. It will be a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. You must also offer one quart of wine as a liquid offering. 14Do not eat any bread or roasted grain or fresh kernels on that day until you bring this offering to your God. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live.”

 

Expect a future that far exceeds our present.

 

1 Corinthians 15:24-28
24After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power. 25For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. 26And the last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27For the Scriptures say, “God has put all things under his authority.” (Of course, when it says “all things are under his authority,” that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.) 28Then, when all things are under his authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere.

 

Revelation 20:12-15
12I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. 13The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. 14Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. 15And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.

 

Expect God to be the Righteous Judge.

 

1 Corinthians 15:29-34
29If the dead will not be raised, what point is there in people being baptized for those who are dead? Why do it unless the dead will someday rise again? 30And why should we ourselves risk our lives hour by hour? 31For I swear, dear brothers and sisters, that I face death daily. This is as certain as my pride in what Christ Jesus our Lord has done in you. 32And what value was there in fighting wild beasts—those people of Ephesus—if there will be no resurrection from the dead? And if there is no resurrection, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!” 33Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.” 34Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don’t know God at all.

 

If Jesus was raised, then we should expect to be raised.

If there is no resurrection, we shouldn’t live as though there is.

 

Live consistently with the truth of your resurrection.

 

The Theology of Easter
The work of Christ on the cross satisfies the righteous requirements of a Holy God for everyone who has faith in Jesus. It is the resurrection of Christ on the third day that form the underpinnings of our hope for living in a fallen world with an eternal perspective.

Why Should I Believe Anything?

 — Dale Beaver

Message Notes

WHY should I believe anything? | 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

“He who dies with the most toys wins!”  1980’s American Epitaph

“Whatever. Nevermind.”  1990’s American Epitaph

“This is entirely your fault!”  Millennial American Epitaph

“#GoFundMyStudentLoans” Gen-Z Epitaph

“I was not; I was; I am not; I care not.” Epicurean Epitaph

Nicene Creed
We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-begotten, Begotten of the Father before all ages, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, Begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father, by whom all things were made:
Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and was made man;
And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried;
And the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures;
And ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father;
And He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, Whose kingdom shall have no end.

1 Corinthians 15:1-2
1Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. 2It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.

This message is life-saving for those who believe!

1 Timothy 1:15
This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all.

1 Peter 3:18
Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.

Romans 5:9
And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.

This message is life-giving because death is overthrown.

1 Corinthians 15:3-8
3I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. 5He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. 6After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. 8Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him.

Isaiah 53:4-6
4Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

Psalm 16:10
For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.

Post-Resurrection Appearances
Cephas (Peter)
The Twelve
More than 500 Disciples
James (the brother of Jesus)
All of the Apostles

The message is life-saving for those who believe.

The message is life-giving because death is overthrown.

The message is life-transforming because of God’s grace.

1 Corinthians 15:9-11
9For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church.10But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. 11So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach, for we all preach the same message you have already believed.