What Happens to a Church When Christ is Not Center How Shall We Live? 1 Corinthians 15

What Happens to a Church When Christ is Not Center

How Shall We Live?

1 Corinthians 15

How should we live?

For we, too, shall go the way of all flesh

1 Corinthians 15 addresses this question

Some believe we should eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we will die

Many believers in the church were living this way

Paul challenges us to

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.

Paul says “Therefore” because the Gospel is true

Jesus Christ died, was buried and resurrected from the dead

There is a resurrection, so stand, work for the Lord

Because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain

Keep the end in mind

How Shall We Live?

1 Corinthians 15

When I was young, I felt indestructible.

60, 70, 80… All those years seemed

to be an eternity away from me.

Now I am in my mid 60’s and my youth

seems to be an eternity behind me.

Our view of life changes as we get older.

The reality of the end

becomes something we plan for.

The older I get the more friends and family

I get to witness the end of their life.

  

It is funny how we want to know how old

they were so we can subtract our age to

find out how many more years we might have.

It is said the best way to reach

a goal is to keep the end in sight.

Most of us don’t want to think of the end

of our life because there is a sting to death.

We fight to live a full, abundant life every day,

 but in the end, death will have the victory.

Paul uses this end of life, death, to get our

attention of how important the Gospel is.

The Gospel we should hold firmly

to and not believe in vain.

Verses 3-8 are maybe the most

powerful defense of the Gospel.

Paul stacks up the strong evidence

that the Gospel of Jesus’ death, burial

and resurrection are true and creditable.

Paul points out that the Gospel is a

waste of time if there is no resurrection.

We might as well live life each day

 for the moment, casting off any thought

that there will be a day of reckoning.

Paul lays out the detail of
what happens when we die.

That it is not the end but

the beginning of a new life.

Paul says we can, and many do,

believe the Gospel, but it will be in vain.

 By this gospel you are saved,

if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.

Otherwise, you have believed in vain. V. 2

That is a frightening thing.

Paul shares how his life has

been affected by the Gospel.

But by the grace of God I am what I am,

and his grace to me was not without effect.

 No, I worked harder than all of them —

yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

The grace of God, the favor God showed to Paul,

 caused him to lay down his life for Christ and the Gospel.

The Gospel made radical changes in Paul’s life.

Paul says… "Bad company corrupts good character."

This was to shame the Corinthians who

were not selective about their friends.

You will not be able to reach the goal of

the Gospel, the Resurrection of the Dead,

living a life with those who eat, drink

and be merry for tomorrow they will die.

Your friendships matter.

You and I need to be around friends

who live with the end in mind.

Not the fear of death,

but the hope of resurrection. 

Paul ends by saying…

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.

Stand firm

Let nothing move you

Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord

These are not feel better words

you might hear in the funeral home.

Words that make us think

everyone is going to heaven.

Don’t water down the Gospel with the world.

Stand firm…

 Both feet planted in the work of the Lord

because you understand the Gospel was given,

the death of Christ took place, to give you hope.

Don’t abuse the grace of God,

His favor to give you hope,

of the Resurrection of the Dead.

Because of the Resurrection of the Dead…

“You know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

We are here to work, not eat, drink

and be merry for tomorrow we die.

Scripture Reading

1 Corinthians 15 NIV

15:1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them — yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.  

20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For he "has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28 When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

29 Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? 30 And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31 I die every day — I mean that, brothers — just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,

"Let us eat and drink,

for tomorrow we die."  

33 Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." 34 Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God — I say this to your shame.

35 But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

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."  

55 "Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?"  

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.