The Glory of the Resurrection
The Present Effects of a Future Resurrection
1 Corinthians 15:29-34
Just to review, so far we’ve seen the connection between the resurrection and the gospel, and what it would be like if there were no resurrection.
Then in verse 20, he turns a corner and as we saw this morning he discusses the design of the resurrection with it all hinging on the resurrection of Jesus, the firstfruits, and the rest follow. And then he took us all the way into eternity when all the redeemed are resurrected, gathered into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, His bride is complete, then He in an act of reciprocal love to the Father who gave this bride to Him, returns the bride and Himself to the Father so that God is all in all.
Tonight we come to verses 29 to 34. Let’s read them, then we’ll take a look at what they’re saying to us.
Text
When responding to the resurrection, I think there is a temptation to say, “That’s all well and good for when I die, but what about right now?”
Well starting in verse 29, Paul begins to lay out some very practical implications that are ours because of the resurrection. And personally, I like that kind of preaching. I love to study and learn and dig and get at the fullness of the truth. But preaching that doesn’t make an application to everyday life leaves me wanting something more.
It’s well and good to know the resurrection is a reality, but tell me how that helps me right now.
And that’s what Paul wants to give to these Corinthians who doubted the resurrection. These are some very practical, experiential, hands on implications that hit them right where they were.
The first one let’s call
1. Future Reunions
Verse 29
Now that is a strange verse and it doesn’t seem to fit at all with what he’s been discussing.
And if you’ve ever read through this chapter before you’ve probably wondered and maybe even done some studying or asked someone about that verse.
And I’m here to tell you, I have absolutely no idea what it means. There are somewhere between forty and four hundred possible interpretations of that. I don’t know what it means or why Paul introduces the thought.
However, I do know what it does not mean. I know it’s not what Catholicism teaches regarding purgatory and helping someone who is already dead to better their position.
I know it’s not talking about Mormon theology that teaches that the spirits of those who have died cannot enter heaven until a Mormon is baptized for them by proxy.
So what do we do with this verse? I think we can safely say Paul is identifying something we don’t know anything about but the Corinthians to whom he was writing did know about or else he would have explained it.
For some reason in some form in their society, people actually believed that when you died, that wasn’t the end and you continued to live and somehow you could be rescued by a baptism.
That is not a Christian baptism; it wasn’t happening in the church. It wasn’t being advocated by Paul. He is simply recognizing that people understand that death is not the end of a person’s life and that is why they do things like they do and are still doing today.
Ii think it underlines the fact that there is in the heart of man the sense of eternity. As one writer said, “It’s like a little blind boy with a kite, he can’t see the kite, but he can feel the pull of the string in his hand.” The human heart feels the pull of eternity, of life in the future.
And because of that, people are desperate to find some kind of ceremony to try to help their loved ones who are dead. It is simply a reminder that there’s a longing in the human heart for reunion with our loved ones.
Paul is telling us that God has planted in the heart an expectation of reunion. And outside of the resurrection there is no hope of that reunion ever occurring.
It was the Thessalonians who were tragically heartbroken over the death of some believers and they were wondering what happened to them. And Jesus described the fact that there would be a day when Jesus came to Rapture His saints, and the dead in Christ would rise first, and we who are alive and remain would be caught up together to meet them in the air. And then he said, “Comfort one another with these words.” There’s comfort in the hope of reunion.
There is an expectation that life goes on beyond the grave. And that’s very important to people. If the dead are not raised at all, then why are they baptized for them? Why do they care about assuring that there’s a possible reunion in the next life?
Many a husband has come to Christ because in his heart he wanted a reunion with a wife that he loved. He may have rejected Christ while she was alive, but death changed the perspective.
There are wayward, rebellious children who have come to faith in Christ motivated in part by the fact that they wanted to see loving parents again.
And if the dead don’t rise, Paul says, then what’s the point of this kind of anticipation? What’s the point of this kind of hope? If all there is is this life and there is no next life and there is no resurrection and we aren’t going to be the people we are then, then why is this such a huge issue in the human heart?
So there is this first aspect of a future reunion. That is a practical effect of the resurrection.
The second one is
2. Present Sacrifice
Verses 30-32
If there is not some benefit to come like a resurrection and eternal life, then why suffer for the cause now? Paul says, “Why am I going through what I’m going through if there is no resurrection?
The soldier, a warrior, a fighter, an athlete suffers for the hope of victory. Paul and the other apostles are in peril every moment. They’re in peril all the time. They never knew where the next attack would come from. Paul says, “I die daily.” He’s not talking about some kind of mystical spiritual experience. He’s saying I live my death every day.
Most of us, because we live in this very comfortable world, just try to figure out what can we do each day to elevate our happiness.
What can I do this day to make life easier? What can I do today to fulfill my desires?
But Paul was preoccupied everyday with avoiding death. Why do this if there’s no resurrection? He was in danger from the moment of his conversion. They wanted to kill him as soon as he became a believer. They wanted to kill him in Damascus and his friends had to let him out over the wall in a basket. And from then on it was a matter of escaping death.
Chapter 9 of Acts tells us that the Jews from the very outset were plotting his death. He was sent back to Tarsus by the Jerusalem disciples because the Greeks wanted to kill him.
If you want to see how it was for him, turn over to 2 Corinthians, just a few pages to the right, in chapter 4 and you get a little bit of a catalog here.
Chapter 4:8-14
He lived the way he lived because he knew there was a resurrection and a reunion. And he actually says to the believers, “You are our joy and crown of rejoicing.” When I see you in heaven, that will be my crown of rejoicing.
verse 15-5:1
Look at chapter 6, verse 4, 8-9
This is that kind of total sacrifice that a man or a woman can make when they understand that there is a future and a resurrection. That’s what Paul is saying here. Why would we do this? Why would we die daily? Why would we be in danger every hour if there was no future?
And then he gives one particular incident in verse 32.
What does he mean that I fought with beasts at Ephesus?
Well, it could refer to Acts 19. Where he was challenged by a man involved in idol-worship named Demetrius. The altercation resulted in a mob trying to kill him and his friends. So maybe it’s that he describes as fighting wild beasts at Ephesus.
Maybe it was literal. There is some tradition that Paul was actually put in an arena and made to fight with wild beasts.
The verb form “to fight” here is a verb used to refer to gladiators who fought with wild animals like lions in the arena. But others would say Paul probably didn’t have that kind of experience because his Roman citizenship would preclude that. Whatever it is, we don’t really know what it is.
Paul is simply saying, “Why would I put my life on the line with metaphoric wild beasts or actual wild beasts for the sake of the gospel if there’s no resurrection? Why would I do this?”
Why face death every single day if there’s no resurrection and no reward, there’s no eternal life, there’s no reunion with Christ and there’s no reunion with the people that I’m doing this for in the hope that we will be together in the presence of Christ as the people we are. That’s ridiculous.
On the other hand, if the dead rise not, let’s just have a party and die. Just go through the cycles of life, eat, drink, get all you can, and die. If there’s no resurrection, we’re just animals. Sensual enjoyment is all there is and it’s over when you die.
But because of the resurrection, the Christian life has a very different perspective. Everything we do has eternal implications. It affects what we say, how we live, how we spend our money, how we talk, where we go, how we respond to others. Everything in life is affected by our hope of the resurrection.
So a future resurrection affects our future reunions, our present sacrifice and finally
3. Holy Living
Verses 33-34
I think the assumption here is that they’ve been deceived into thinking there’s no resurrection.
And in regard to that, he makes this statement about “Bad company corrupts good morals.” What is the point of that? How does that fit in here?
The word translated “company” can certainly mean company or interaction, but it can also be translated and I think the better meaning here is “communication”.
Bad communication, bad teaching, bad instruction will corrupt your behavior. It’s a very similar thought to Proverbs 29:18, which is also quite often misapplied. It say, “Where there is no vision, the people perish”. Most of the time it’s used to support the thought of being forward thinking and dreaming great dreams and having faith in God.
That’s not what the verse I about at all. The word vision is used in regard to a communication from God. And where there is no communication from God, people live and act and do anything they want to doo and the wages of sin is still death.
Here, he is saying, If you are the victim of bad communication, bad teaching, in this case, in regard to the resurrection, your theology will be all messed up as a result of that.
You’ve been hanging around people denying the resurrection and now your thinking is wrong-headed. If you listen to them and deny the resurrection, you have just pulled out the great motive for holy living.
Wrong doctrine produces wrong living.
Right doctrine is a motivation to stay on the right track. Think about it like this, if we really believed the return of Christ was imminent, don’t you think it would change how we lived? What would happen in the world if all of a sudden we knew that the end of the world was coming in a year?
If you don’t believe in the resurrection, you’d party and party hearty. But if you believe in Jesus and the resurrection, everything in your walk with Him would intensify. That’s what he’s talking about in verse 34
Some don’t know God, but you should know better.
You can’t claim ignorance. You have the knowledge. You can’t keep exposing yourself to bad theology because it will corrupt you. Stop sinning.
What this tells us is they were doing it. It had already happened. They who denied the resurrection were feeling free to sin and Paul says, “Stop, get away from the company of those people, corrupting your morals by teaching bad theology because that kind of behavior is to your shame.
So the prospect of a future resurrection has some amazing effects on us right now. Future reunion, present sacrifice and suffering for the cause of the gospel, and holy living.
Let’s pray.
