Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20070930.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
1 Corinthians: Discipling Believers With Very Sinful Backgrounds
VIII. Overcoming Secularism's Denial Of The Bodily Resurrection
F. Trusting God's Word For Motivation To Service And Blessing
(1 Corinthians 15:35-58)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Though we assert the belief that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead, and that by faith in Him we receive God's gift of eternal life, some in today's world strongly deny this faith, and doubt the Bible is God's Word. Even very devout folk within Christendom can foster doubts about the faith as they lead unfulfilled lives:

(1) Representative of many influential folk who oppose the Christian faith, in this year's Hollywood Emmy awards, as comedian Kathy Griffin received her reward for her role in "My Life on the D-List", she said: "'A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus . . . This award is my god now.'" (Philip Long, Clay Center, Kansas, letter to the editor in USA TODAY, 9/24/07, p. 14A).

(2) Even folk esteemed to be highly devout in Christendom can experience unfulfilled lives that influence onlookers to doubt the Christian faith: Arthur C. Brooks' article, "The Ennui of Saint Teresa" in the September 24, 2007 issue of The Wall Street Journal reported: "For more than half a century, Mother Teresa of Calcutta was revered for her service to the poorest of the poor, and inspired people by the joy she apparently derived from pure faith and charity. But earlier this year, it was revealed that her faith and happiness may not have been all they seemed. In a newly published set of letters written over the course of her adult life, she expresses terrible sorrow about her life, describing it in terms of 'dryness,' 'darkness,' and 'sadness.'"

As a result of reading these letters by Mother Teresa, many who admired her life now have reason to doubt the validity of the Christian faith! If she who had been so fervently devoted to helping the neediest of the needy in a life of devout faith and charity in the name of Christ knew only "dryness, darkness and sadness" in her life according to her own testimony, how can her many admirers trust the Christian faith?

(3) In recent weeks, I have heard of three cases where young people from Christian homes are either doubting or outright denying the Christian faith! The effect of the world's resistance to the faith or the lack of fulfillment in believers they observe is making an impact!

Thus, we may ask, "With the open denial of the Christian faith we see today, and with DOUBTS that can arise about its validity even from WITHIN Christendom, how am I to respond?!"

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "As some STRONGLY DENY the Christian faith and even some devout folk IN Christendom live UNFULFILLED lives, it is easy for onlookers to doubt the faith! How are we to handle this?!"
  1. 1 Corinthians 15:35-58 is Paul's continued response to the denial of the resurrection that undermined the Christian faith, cf. 15:12-19.
  2. In writing 1 Corinthians 15:35-58, Paul anticipated questions from those who opposed the resurrection by which they would imply it was an incomprehensible and hence an unbelievable and unreal event, cf. Bible Knowledge Commentary, New Testament, p. 545.
  3. In reply to such STRONG, PERSISTENT DOUBT about the reality of the believer's resurrection, Paul explained the resurrection was a FACT to be believed by one's CHOICE, 1 Corinthians 15:35-53:
    1. To those who continued to deny the resurrection since it seemed to be beyond understanding, Paul simply dismissed their denial as a foolish lack of faith in the power of Almighty God, 1 Cor. 15:35-38; Ibid.
    2. Then, in 1 Corinthians 15:36-53, he described the resurrection in ways that implied his readers were to CHOOSE to BELIEVE it as TRUE:
      1. Paul revealed that "Belief in the resurrection was like belief in seedtime and harvest. Neither could be completely understood, but both were real," Ibid.; 1 Corinthians 15:36b-38.
      2. He then enlarged upon this fact in 1 Corinthians 15:39-49:
        1. Paul explained that as there is a wide variety of bodies in God's creative order (1 Cor. 15:39-41), so the believer's mortal body is different from his resurrection one: the mortal is corruptible, dishonorable, weak and natural where the glorified body is incorruptible, honorable, powerful and spiritual, 15:42-45, 46.
        2. The first body, like the first Adam, is of the earth where the resurrection body, being formed after Christ, the Second Adam from heaven, is a heavenly body, 1 Corinthians 15:45-49.
      3. Paul then revealed how Christian believers still left alive will have their temporal bodies translated into glorious, spiritual ones at the [Pretribulation] rapture of the Church, 1 Corinthians 15:50-53:
        1. In an instant of time, at the [Pretribulation] last trumpet call of God that signals the appearance of God [1 Corinthians 15:52a,b with Exodus 19:16, Ibid., not the seventh trumpet of Revelation 11:15-19 that occurs during the Great Tribulation Period], the dead in Christ will be the first to be raised in incorruptible bodies, 1 Corinthians 15:52c with 1 Thessalonians 3:13-16.
        2. Then, living believers will see their mortal bodies replaced with glorified ones, 1 Corinthians 15:52d-53; 1 Thessalonians 3:17.
  4. Having revealed that the believer's resurrection is a FACT to be BELIEVED by a CHOICE, Paul explained the THEOLOGICAL importance of this resurrection event in 1 Corinthians 15:54-57:
    1. When all Christians are raised or changed, it will fulfill Isaiah 25:8 as "death is swallowed up in victory" and Hosea 13:14: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" (1 Cor. 15:54-55 that alludes to the LXX translation, U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1963 ed., p. 617)
    2. As the sting of death is sin, and its strength is the Law that condemns man before God for his sin, God's victory in Christ over our sin will include the annihilation of our inner sin nature and remove the cause for us not to have eternally incorruptible bodies, 1 Cor. 15:56-57!
    3. So, as noted in a previous message in this series, death is an impostor to God's creation [and evolution by natural selection that requires death to be a part of the original creation is also a false idea], but by salvation in Christ applied to the body at the rapture, we will conquer death and its cause of sin, and be raised physically in glory!
  5. Then, since Paul had implied we must CHOOSE to BELIEVE the resurrection as revealed in SCRIPTURE, we are to ABOUND in the work of God, for we know such a WORK is NOT in VAIN in GOD since the Christian FAITH it supports is then TRUE, 15:58!
  6. Then, John 14:21-23 adds that Christ will REWARD us for such faith by DISPLAYING Himself in rich BLESSING in our LIVES!
Application: (1) In the face of DENIALS or DOUBTS about the Christian faith, we must CHOOSE to BELIEVE that God exists and believe Christ's Gospel for eternal life, John 3:16! (2) Then, may we ABOUND in God's ASSIGNMENTS for us! (3) God will REWARD such CHOICES of faith by BLESSING us in our LIVES in accord with John 14:21-23 and Hebrews 11:6!

Lesson: In the face of DENIALS or DOUBTS re: the VALIDITY of the Christian faith, GOD wants us to CHOOSE to BELIEVE His Word's CLAIMS, and so ABOUND in our assigned WORK from the LORD! GOD will then REWARD us by DISPLAYING Himself in rich BLESSING in our DAILY LIVES, cf. John 14:21-23 with Hebrews 11:6!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

This past week, God applied this message in our life as a body:

After last Sunday morning's service, I was inundated by responses from people in this congregation who felt the message had really hit home in their lives!

However, as you will recall, I had reported in that sermon that I was not trying to speak to any issue in your lives! Rather, I was busy trying to give what to me was a difficult message to share since it dealt with the negative theme of holding ourselves back from unedifying relationships! Yet, I gave it in faith that God would bless, for that was what the 1 Corinthians 15:29-34 passage actually taught! In reward, God blessed us by revealing His activity of blessing us in our midst!

From my perspective, in keeping with the passage covered today, such involvement of the Lord in our experience motivates me to keep giving His Word to you as 1 Corinthians 15:58 charges us to do!

Then, the Lord used Arthur C. Brooks' article that I cited in our sermon introduction, and that appeared in print the day after last Sunday's morning sermon, to reaffirm the same idea! Brooks is a professor at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Public Affairs and a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and he revealed in his The Wall Street Journal article, "The Ennui of Saint Teresa," that even Mother Teresa had suprisingly admitted her adult life was marked by "dryness, darkness and sadness." The article then observed: "regular churchgoers who feel 'very close to God' are 27% more likely to be very happy than churchgoers who do not feel very close to God. This may have been the trouble for Mother Teresa."

That was her trouble! For God to enter our lives in blessing as He did last Sunday, we must choose to trust His Word and obey it as written, something even Mother Teresa could never experience due to her misuse of Scripture rising out of her errant heritage! As I "went out on a limb" to share by faith what I did with you last week on a subject I was nervous to give you due to the negative nature of its theme, but as I still shared it in faith that God would bless as that was what His Word ACTUALLY taught, God THEN ACTUALLY blessed us!

So, may we CHOOSE to BELIEVE ALL the BIBLE ACTUALLY SAYS, and then ACT on it to ABOUND in the WORK God assigns us! THEN God will ACTUALLY BLESS us!