Preached · March 31, 2013
Series · Easter 2013
Text · 1 Corinthians 15 1; 1 Corinthians 15.20
This Is for Everyone
Now, I recognize that there are a lot of different kinds of people in this room. There are those of you who have never missed a Sunday since the day you were born. That's not me, but I'd shake your hand. There are those of you who just recently started coming to church at all, who have decided to turn your life around, give your life to Jesus, and you're making great strides — it's cool for you to be here too. And there are those of you who maybe somebody bribed with lunch and said you've got to come to Good News. I just want to let you know: I recognize that. I get that. Sometimes it feels like there are much better ways to spend a Sunday morning — and we're actually going to talk about that this morning. So I just want to say hi to you two. This is for everyone. What we're about to talk about is for everyone. So, hi.
If you have your Bibles, or iPads, or Kindles, or laptops, I invite you to turn to the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. It's in the New Testament, toward the back of your Bible. We're going to look at a single verse. It's also going to be on the screen, so if you're feeling a little lackadaisical, that's okay — you can watch it on the screen as well.
The title of my sermon is "Green Beans and Firstfruits," which is a terrible title, I recognize, because green beans and fruits just don't go together. But I thought it was memorable, so here we go. Our passage for today is 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 20:
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep —
that is to say, those who have died.
But...
The first thing we want to explore is this great conjunction: B-U-T, "but." Have you ever had a good idea, but didn't think through the repercussions of said idea?
My family would go down to Florida every year; my grandparents had a condo. I was homeschooled, so my brother and I would do school from about eight o'clock and be done at noon — big pro for homeschooling. My brother was the surfer type: he had his boogie board and his wakeboard, and he'd rent a surfboard, and that's what he was all about. I was more of the nerd, so I had my Walkman and my books and my journals. But we were both very excited at noon to go to the beach as soon as we were done with our homeschooling so-called curriculum.
So I was always in a big hurry. And I thought that suntan lotion, sunblock, was more of — the mere presence of it does the trick. Right? It's just: if it's there somewhere on your body, the sun knows, "Don't touch this guy." So this was my great idea — and that was my body's reaction to it. I'm fifteen or sixteen at this point. So, hint and tip that I realized: when you put on sunblock, put it everywhere that you want to be sunblocked. Maybe you knew this already. I thought it was a good idea at the time, but I didn't think through the repercussions.
When we look at 1 Corinthians 15:20, Paul is writing a letter to a church — which is a lot of what the New Testament is: somebody writing a letter to a church. And this church has some misconceptions, some ideas that are kind of wonky. Paul, the guy writing this letter, is trying to explain: this is what your bad idea is, and let me tell you all the bad things that are going to happen because of it.
The first word in this verse is "but," which should cue us in as readers: but what? What is Paul countering? What the Corinthians have decided to think is that this whole idea of resurrection — this whole idea of a dead person coming back to life — should be rejected. The Corinthian church, the people who live in the city of Corinth, made the decision that this concept of somebody who has passed away, somebody who has expired, somebody who is late — they're not going to come back. And Paul says, "But — let me tell you what's wacky about this idea."
In the verses before verse 20, Paul starts explaining: if there's no such thing as the resurrection of the dead, then there's no such thing as Jesus being resurrected. And if there's no such thing as Jesus being resurrected, then your whole faith is pointless. If dead people can't come back to life — if it's just metaphysically impossible, as the Corinthians are saying — then this whole idea of Jesus coming back from the dead also didn't happen. And if that's the case, then there's no such thing as this Christian faith that you supposedly believe in. So why does Paul make such a big deal out of this? That's what we want to explore.
Christ...
"Christ" is the next word in our passage. Christ is a word that means "the anointed one," or, to put it into some popular parlance, "the chosen one." Anybody a big fan of kung fu movies? There's a chosen one in every single one. How many chosen ones do you need? The idea of the Christ — which is the same word as Messiah — is the idea of somebody who was anointed, somebody chosen for a purpose. And ideally, he would be the only one, unlike the kung fu movies. He's it.
The Story So Far
This is what Israel, the nation, a couple thousand years ago, was expecting. They were expecting the Christ. Here's the story so far. Israel has this long and sordid history of being attacked, plundered, and exiled. Where they stand two thousand years ago, when Jesus was alive, is as an occupied nation — occupied by Rome, the big, bad Roman Empire. And what Israel expected, what they had prophecies about, what they had whole books dedicated to, was this idea of the Messiah, the Christ, the chosen one. Basically, this figure would establish a golden age. He would come, get rid of the occupiers — whoever they were at the time — kick them out, set himself up as the new king, and start a golden age for Israel.
So about 30 AD, a man named Jesus comes along and starts proclaiming, "The kingdom of God is at hand." He basically starts saying, "You know all those things you thought were going to happen with the chosen one? Here I am." But then Jesus starts challenging the religious authorities of the day. Israel had a great love of their temple, and Jesus starts saying, "That temple is going to be destroyed." In the last week of his life, Jesus actually goes into the temple and starts knocking things over, almost as if to suggest, "And I'm the one who's going to start destroying the temple." So he challenges the religious authorities of the day, says their great religious symbol — the temple — is going to be destroyed, and starts suggesting he's going to be the one who does it.
And so Israel, who is expecting this chosen one to set up their golden age, to be their new king, to set everything right, to kick the Romans out and get temple worship of Yahweh, of God, back up and going again — they find him going against the stream, against their expectations. The authorities, both Jewish and Roman, want Jesus dead. Because there's one group of people who think, "There's no way this guy could be the chosen one; he's against everything we stand for." And there's another group who think, "He's absolutely the chosen one; we should start a war." And so the authorities agree: Jesus should be killed. And Jesus is killed.
Now, if you are a follower of this Jesus, you're pretty confused at this point. Because you thought he was the chosen one. You thought he was going to kick the Romans out of your country and establish a new and golden age. And then, when the very Romans that Jesus — your chosen one — was meant to get rid of kill Jesus, you're pretty disappointed. Right? Making sense?
Vindication: The Green Beans
Do you ever remember, as a kid, your mom or dad was cooking, and they'd say, "Hey, Billy; hey, Sally; hey, Anthony — I need some green beans. Go downstairs, go to the pantry, and grab a can of green beans." So you'd go hunt — we had this big Y2K stockpile in our basement. There are people in this room who don't know what that is. I'm only twenty-six years old, but all of a sudden I feel like — wow. I'll stop making fun of my age.
So you go downstairs to your Y2K stockpile, and you look, and you look, and you look, and you can't find any green beans. They're just not there. You're shifting things around, moving boxes, moving fifty-gallon jugs of brownie mix, and there's nothing. So you go back upstairs and say, "Hey, Mom; hey, Dad, we're out of green beans." And Mom rolls her eyes, takes you by the ear, takes you back downstairs, opens the door, and right there — as if it had been there the whole time — is the can of green beans.
But every once in a while, the same scenario would play out. Mom and Dad are cooking, saying, "Hey, Anthony, go get the green beans." You go downstairs to the Y2K stockpile, open up the cabinet, and you look, and you look, and you look, and there are no green beans. You go back upstairs and say, "Hey, Dad; hey, Mom — there are no green beans." They roll their eyes, take you by the ear, take you back downstairs, open up the cabinet — and there are no green beans. Isn't that the greatest feeling in the world? That is an example of vindication.
My wife Emily and I have this thing — well, it's my thing. She never does it, because she's much too humble and wise for that. But whenever I am right about something and she didn't think I was right, I would sing, "Vindicated!" It's a great feeling, isn't it?
Now imagine that Jesus — your supposed chosen one, who is meant to get rid of the Romans, meant to establish a new kingdom, meant to establish the golden age — is crucified, killed, and buried by the very people you thought he was meant to get rid of. And then, three days later, you go, and you look, and there really weren't any green beans. The grave was actually empty. Jesus was resurrected. Isn't that vindication of the highest degree? Amen. I think we can cheer for that.
Has Indeed Been Raised from the Dead
Now, why is resurrection so important? "Has indeed been raised from the dead" — this is what Paul is talking about. This is the crux of what he is trying to convince the Corinthians to understand.
Here's what Paul argues — and you can find this mostly in the chapter we're looking at, 1 Corinthians 15, but also in Romans and in Galatians; he just goes on and on. Without resurrection, there is no afterlife. Without resurrection, Christianity is useless. Without resurrection, God is a liar. Without resurrection, we might as well be hedonists — people who are just out there looking for their own pleasure. But with resurrection, Jesus is proved to be God. With resurrection, we are forgiven of our sins and made into a righteous people. With resurrection, all of God's enemies are defeated. And with resurrection, death itself is destroyed.
Instead of Jesus merely defeating Israel's oppressors, defeating Rome, Jesus defeated all oppressors ever. According to Paul, instead of Jesus just setting up a kingdom for Israel, Jesus became king of the world. Instead of the old covenant, written on stone, being reestablished, Jesus sets up a new covenant written on hearts. Instead of Jesus merely being a gateway to get to God, Jesus sends God — the Holy Spirit — to live within us.
Now, here's the difference — what everyone gets confused and maybe angry and hurt about. We expect God to do everything two ways: one, to do everything by himself; and two, to do it instantaneously. Because when we look at this list — "defeated all oppressors" — I still know quite a few. "Became king of the world" — have you turned on the news? "A new covenant written on our hearts" — I don't know about you, but I still have this propensity for doing some pretty terrible things. "Sent God the Spirit to live within us" — I don't know; sometimes I feel pretty darn empty. And so we have this issue of, "Okay, Jesus supposedly did so much better than Israel's original expectations, but I don't see it." Which leads us to the next word in our passage.
Firstfruits
"Firstfruits." Do you remember the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami? It's kind of amazing that we don't think about it more often. At least 230,000 people dead. But it's really interesting if you go back and look at the timeline. The earthquake was at about 12:58 a.m. — this ginormous 9.1-to-9.3 earthquake. And so there's this earthquake, and then the Pacific meteorological, and everybody kind of flips out, as they should. They start telling everybody as fast as they can. And it's a full hour and thirty-five minutes later that the tsunami — the wave created by this earthquake — a whole ninety-five minutes later, hits Sri Lanka, which was just devastated. Earthquake, 12:58. Tsunami hits Sri Lanka, 2:23. An hour and thirty-five minutes of "what's going to happen."
There is something like this going on with Jesus, but fortunately in a much better and non-destructive way than a tsunami. Jesus was resurrected. The earth literally shook. The stone was rolled away. And then what? What I'd like to suggest is that we are living in those hour and thirty-five minutes of what's going to happen next.
Now, "firstfruits" means two things. One: Jesus is the first to receive the resurrection. He's the first of his kind. If you know your Bible, you know there are other examples of people being brought back from the dead. But the difference between them and Jesus is that the rest of them died again, and Jesus just kept on going — Energizer Bunny, right? He just kept going. There's no end to Jesus's life. So he is the first to receive this kind of resurrection.
"Firstfruits," secondly, means he's not the last. Jesus received resurrection: a new body, an imperishable body. He cannot die. There's no pain, there's no suffering, and he has perfect communion with God. This is all in 1 Corinthians 15 — Paul explaining what resurrection is about. And what "firstfruits" means is that all of that can be ours as well. Paul writes in verses 22 and 23:
When Jesus returns, all those who belong to Jesus will be made alive forever.
Now, there are a lot of us — and I am included in this group — to whom Christianity was presented basically as: "Be a good person while you're alive, and then when you die, you get to go to heaven." And that's where it stops. That's why we have these ideas in our minds of ethereal clouds and harp-playing angels and everyone getting wings. And that's just pop-culture nonsense. It's far better than that. Christ's resurrection means that after we die, we will all experience a brand-new life — here, on this planet, with physical bodies, Paul says, that are just like Jesus's, who ate and drank and walked around and went fishing (that's for you, Rich) and went on hikes and told stories. So it's not just "be good, die, go to heaven, float around in clouds." It's "know Jesus, know him now on this planet, on this earth." And then, in the new life, in the resurrection that we all have the chance to receive, you get to come back — with bodies that can fish and hike and eat.
Now, some of you are thinking, "Well, I don't want to come back; this planet's pretty messed up." But good news: the whole earth is also recreated. The entire universe will be renewed. Listen to Colossians chapter one:
Jesus is the firstborn from the dead. He is reconciling all things to himself, whether on earth or in the heavens, making peace through his blood, which is shed on the cross.
Or Revelation chapter 21:
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away.
Or 2 Corinthians chapter five:
If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; the old is gone, the new is here. And this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation — that God is reconciling the world to himself in Christ.
God gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
The earthquake of Christ's death and resurrection means that we get to live life to its fullest. It means we will receive the same kind of resurrection that Jesus received. It means the defeat of death and all of God's enemies, of all oppression, of all pain. The war is won and the victory is his. But we — we are in the hour and thirty-five minutes. We are in the in-between time, the time when God is asking us, his church, to put his victory into action. God is asking us, his people: "You know that whole resurrection thing, that whole defeating-death, defeating-oppression thing? Church, go and live out what that's like." We get to be his tsunami — not of death and destruction, but of hope and reconciliation — to show the world what it means that death has already been defeated, what the world looks like without oppression.
And this is what is packed into the word "firstfruits." Jesus's resurrection is the big bang, the catalyst, the earthquake that is starting the tsunami that will one day flood the world with peace and new life and restoration and the reconciliation of all things, forever and amen. And this is why chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians ends the way it does:
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, 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.
And so Paul says: there is such a thing as resurrection. And it means that Jesus is resurrected. And that means he is the firstfruits — the first of his kind, but not the last. He is calling each and every one of us to be part of his earthquake, to be part of that tsunami of hope that will make the world new, to have new lives that start now.
Questions for Reflection
So let me ask you some questions. What we're going to do is — I'll go ahead and ask the ushers to come forward, or at least get ready — we're going to take up our offering. During this time, let me remind you: it's not about the money. Yeah, we've got to pay bills. But what I'd like this time of offering to be is also a time of meditation, for us to think about these four questions I'm about to ask, and to really allow yourself to be opened up to what God has to say to you. So allow yourself to hear his voice.
Question number one: What belief do you have that hasn't permeated the rest of your life? If you're living your life like you don't believe in God, like he has no interest in your life and you certainly have no interest in him, then why on earth are you wasting your time in a church? Because there are certainly much better ways to spend a Sunday morning. If there's no God — or at least not one who's interested in you, or does miracles — then there are far better ways to spend your time. But if you're here, and some part of you does believe there's a God, some part of you really thinks that Jesus is actually alive, that he actually does care for you, then why on earth haven't you given your life up to him and surrendered to his calling? Why hold on to one belief — that God loves you, gave his Son to die for you, and defeated death itself for your sake — and not let that belief change every single other belief and habit and lifestyle that you have?
Question number two: What would you ask the chosen one to do in your life? Get rid of the oppressors, the pain, the slavery, the addictions, the heartache, the death? What do you want that Messiah to do? Tell him. Be specific. What exactly would you want that Messiah to change about your life? And now, knowing what you know about Jesus — the resurrected one, the one who defeated death — do you believe he could do those things? Why don't you ask him and see what happens?
Number three: Have you allowed resurrection to shape your life, your beliefs, your idea of what Christianity is? Knowing that Jesus is the vindicated one — the one everyone thought was just another loser, but who ended up being the biggest winner ever — how does that change your view of him, of what he is capable of doing?
And finally: What is the role of the church in the world, and what is your role in the church? In light of the idea of firstfruits — knowing that Jesus's resurrection is the firstfruits of the restoration and reconciliation of all things, and knowing that he has given us the ministry of reconciliation — how does that change your view of what the church should be up to in the world? Should it be more creative? Less condemning? More life-giving? And, more specifically, how does that affect what you think your role in the church should be?
Prayer
Let's pray.
Holy Spirit of God, we ask that you would speak to your people. Because we've just heard some really good news. We've heard the gospel. How will we respond? Holy Spirit, we need your help. We can't do this on our own. We can't pick ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We need your help and your guidance. So, Father, I pray for myself, that you would show me what you need me to do, how you want me to respond to the truth of resurrection. I pray for my brothers and sisters and my friends before me: God, open up their hearts to hear what you have to say, and give them the power and the ability to respond to it. Thank you that your Son, O God, is risen indeed. And thank you for the gift that you offer, of life, and life to its fullest. We pray all these things in your name. Amen.
This is a transcript of the sermon as preached, lightly edited for readability.
