1 Corinthians 15:12-34

How are your eyes? Do you see well? How good is your vision? Do you see things for how they are? It’s not easy, you know, to see. It’s much easier to be blind. It takes concentration, it takes constant reminding, to see what is real and right in front of us. It takes 1 Corinthians 15, and the rest of scripture, to remind us that the lives of believers are resurrected and eternal and powerful and safe.

If we can’t see this, if we can’t remember, then all this Christian stuff is going to seem impossible. God requires us to do certain things, and to not do certain things, and if we can’t see the resurrected Jesus and the resurrected us, then doing and not doing these things will seem too difficult, too much of a sacrifice, so far beyond us we just can’t. The sacrifice of a Christian goes very deep. We are supposed to give up a lot. In fact, we’re supposed to give up our entire lives. We’re supposed to talk to people about Jesus, even when we’re afraid to do it. We’re supposed to give over our hopes and dreams to Jesus, even when they mean so much. We’re supposed to trust, even when it seems risky to trust.

Being a Christian means that we constantly are letting go of the stuff we love so much, and turning our lives over for the use of the Lord. Now, some of found a way to enjoy some of the benefits of being a Christian, without all the sacrifice. They’ve found the best of both worlds. But a non-sacrificing Christian is a contradiction of terms. A Christian loses. A Christian suffers. A Christian dies.

Can we do this? Can we lose our lives? Will we allow ourselves to be sacrificed? Many will say "No". They just can’t. What God does and what God requires of us is too much, and they want nothing to do with God.

They can’t, they won’t because they can’t see the resurrected life. They can’t grasp what it means to have been raised from the dead, along with Jesus. Verse 12:

Now, I’m pretty sure that almost every one of us, if not all of us, would agree that Jesus came back to life on the third day, that His eyes opened and He walked, physically, out of that grave. I don’t think I have to try to convince you of that.

But here’s the problem. We’re not that amazed by this. Jesus arose. We’ve heard it too often. It happened too long ago. It’s not real and here and now. We can’t see it happening. We can’t touch or see His risen body. We can’t hear His risen voice. The real resurrection can’t seem to connect with our real gas bills or IRA’s or doctor’s visits. They seem so different, so far apart.

So, if Jesus’ resurrection is not real, if it’s not at the front of our minds, if we can’t see it, if our eyes don’t work, then we’re finished. We might as well just pack it up and go home. There’s no hope, there’s no purpose, there’s no way we’ll live as Christians every day, if we can’t see the resurrection every day. Verse 14:

You sit here and listen to 100 sermons a year, telling you all kinds of things about life and God and relationships and hope and heaven and being holy. But if the living Jesus is far away and unreal, if the resurrected life is only coming after we go to heaven, then all this preaching is going to seem very heavy and very confusing and more than a little out of touch. If our lives are not resurrected lives right now, then thinking and acting and talking holy, like we’re supposed to, is going to seem very daunting, almost impossible.

Our faith and our holiness, our purity is in direct proportion to our view and understanding of the resurrection. If Jesus is alive and present and real, and His resurrected life is our resurrected life, right here, then we are going to be hopeful and joyful, even in the middle of the biggest messes. We’re going to be pure, even when the strongest temptations hit.

But if Jesus’ resurrection is just words, if it’s just a concept, if it applies to only Sundays, and even then only from 9:30 to 10:30, then we’re not going to make it. Verse 17:

If Jesus is just a wise teacher who tells us wonderful things, then we are in a heap of trouble. If Jesus is just our Master who directs us where to go, then we’re not going to make it. If Jesus is just a figure dressed in robes who walks in sandals through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, then, verse 18:

Jesus can’t just be the One who tells us what to do. He IS the One who tells us what to do. But there has to be more. Verse 19:

There is more. Verse 20:

Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus’ dead body isn’t dead anymore. His brain waves are functioning, His lungs are working, His eyes are moving, His mouth is speaking. He’s not dead. He used to be. Now, He’s not.

And His body is a resurrected body. His eyes are resurrected eyes. His mouth is a resurrected mouth. His brain is a resurrected brain. The Jesus that preached the Sermon on the Mount, that slept in the back of the boat, that was beaten and punched and pierced, that Jesus looks very different right now. He’s the same Jesus, the same body, but He’s barely recognizable from what He used to look like. His body is filled with power, with glory, with strength. He is the resurrected Jesus.

Now, depending on how much we can grasp of this resurrected Jesus will determine how much hope and strength and glory and power we experience now. Jesus arose, but He was just the first. He led the way. And everybody who knows and believes that Jesus died for them, everybody who knows and believes that Jesus rose for them, join in this resurrection.

Every believer is at some point in the resurrection. Jesus is the only one who has completely risen again, spirit and body. Those who have died, loving Jesus, know more about the resurrected life than we do, who haven’t yet died.

But we, too, live the resurrected life. Through the surgeries and the worries and the losses and the fights against temptation, we can live with the same power that brought Jesus out of that grave. His power is our power. His victory is our victory. Our leader, the first human, Adam, gave us death. He brought sin into our families and our churches and our bodies and our minds. But our new leader, the true human, Jesus, gives us life. He brings health and wholeness to our families and our churches and our bodies and our minds. Verse 22:

Can you see your life being made alive? Is your hope growing, or is it fading? Can you see the resurrected life of Jesus becoming the resurrected life of you? Every moment, His power and His victory is accessible to you, to give you the power to do what we’re supposed to do, and to resist doing what we’re not supposed to do. Every moment, His hand is resting on us to guide us in the right direction. Every moment, His shield is protecting. Can you see it? Can you see Him? Verse 25:

Jesus reigns, and the worries that keep you up at night can’t last. You will find peace and sleep. Jesus reigns and the dark thoughts that start your day cannot win. You will calm down and see that this is the day the Lord has made, and you’ll rejoice in it. Jesus reigns, and tensions between Christians, if they’re family members or church members or friends, the tensions can’t last. Jesus rule will remove the strain and replace it with forgiveness and kind words.

Even disease, even old age cannot win, for Jesus must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. Verse 26:

Look at your life. Sin has been removed. At one time, maybe, we lost our temper at any little thing. But Jesus destroyed that sin, and now we’re patient. At one time, we really didn’t care about who God is and what He wants. We did our time at church, but that was because we were supposed to. But Jesus destroyed that sin, and now we can’t get enough of Him. We want to know Jesus. We used to be afraid each morning, not knowing what was going to happen, carrying a huge, heavy burden every day. And Jesus destroyed that fear, and now we wake up, and we’re still not sure, but we’re confident it’s going to be okay.

Slowly but surely, Jesus reign has eradicated each of our enemies. Every year, His love, His person is getting clearer, more real. Until we come to that last enemy, our death. Up until that last moment, that last breath, Jesus has been working on us, and now He has one last enemy to defeat, and as we breath our last breath, at least for the moment, on earth, Jesus wins. Death is defeated, because we didn’t really die. Jesus wins, and so do we. And Jesus looks around, and we look around, and there’s no more enemies to defeat.

Every time a believer dies, Jesus wins, and so does that believer. Every day, every hour, a believer goes to be with Jesus. And every day, every hour, Jesus puts death to death with the death of a believer. And every day this happens is one day closer to the day when there is no more death. There are no more enemies, for anyone. Verse 28:

All God, in every thought, in every word, in every movement. That’s where Jesus is taking us. That’s His reign. That’s the resurrected life, if we can just see it.

And if we can just see this, already now, then we’ll live it. Paul brings us into our every day, into how we worship and how we obey and how we suffer. In verse 29, we get this strange verse about people being baptized for those who had died. It was something the Corinthian church had been doing, and while Paul doesn’t necessarily think it’s a good idea, he doesn’t get into it right here. Instead, he’s pointing to our worship. Why are we here singing songs and praying and hearing God speak, if Jesus is not alive and well and reigning and conquering? If every Sunday isn’t Easter Sunday, then what is our worship about? If every Sunday isn’t Easter Sunday, then our worship is just a lot of air, and it’s going to get very tiring, very old, very boring very quickly.

And what about the rest of life? Life is tough, as a Christian. Why do we do it? Verse 30:

Why are we resisting temptation? Why are we talking about Jesus, only to be rejected and mocked? Why are we trying to help other people, only to get taken advantage of, unless Jesus, and we are raised to eternal life. Verse 32:

But Jesus DID come back, and the dead ARE raised, and so are we. Can you see it? Can you know Jesus reigning until every one of your enemies, fear, depression, sorrow, guilt, indifference, criticism, is conquered? Can you hear His voice encouraging you?

Maybe that’s one of the enemies that He’s defeating. Maybe you can’t see Him, maybe you can’t know Him. So, He’s working on that, too. Maybe, He’s leading you to just take some time to be quiet. A dead and dying world can blind us to the living Jesus. So He’s leading you to shut off the music and tune out the world and to listen. And then He’s leading you to the things He’s said, in His word. You’ll read, maybe Isaiah 48:17, where God is telling you:

Or maybe He’ll lead you to Proverbs 3:5

And in the quiet, you’ll read it again, and then again, and then again. And there will come a time when those aren’t words that you’re reading, those are words that you’re hearing, you’re hearing Jesus speaking them to you.

And you’re seeing Him. You’re seeing Him risen. Maybe, you see it, but you’re wondering if you’re the only one. Maybe, it seems like you won’t fit in if you’re looking and thinking like you’ve been raised to life. There’s a room full of people, right here, who know Jesus, who live the resurrected life. Do you need to be assured of this?

Everyone who knows Jesus arose for them, say Amen.

Everyone who has seen the affect of the resurrection in their life, say Amen.

Everyone who has hope because Jesus reigns, say Amen.

Everyone who will live forever, because Jesus rose, say Amen.

And you’re starting to see yourself, risen, filled with victory and strength, obeying and worshipping and pressing on until that day when God is all in all.