Living in Light of Our Resurrection

David Helton

Deep Creek Baptist Church

The Resurrection Life • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

1 Corinthians 15:29–34

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Introduction

(Page 1142) 1 Corinthians 15:29-34 “29 Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? 30 Why are we in danger every hour? 31 I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! 32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” 34 Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.”

In regard to this passage, Pastor Alistair Begg has said these words “There is a direct relationship between what I believe about the future and how I behave in.the present.”

What is your purpose in life?

Aimless means to be without purpose without Direction they say, if you aim for nothing, you're bound to hit it every time.

And the reality is that many people live their lives aimlessly.

Or Worse, many people live their lives and that meaningless thing, things that don't matter.

Think about the meaningless things people strive for. Many aim their life towards money and wealth.

They aim, their lives towards Fame and popularity,

others aim their life toward pleasure and self-gratification.

All the while, not realizing that all of these will have no value.

One day at death,

all wealth can do is provide a very expensive casket at death.

All popularity can do is fill a very large Chapel at death.

All pleasure can do is provide a memorable eulogy.

What is your purpose, what is it that fuels your activity.

What are you living for.

Are you Living for your own ressurection.

1 Corinthians 15:20 “20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

After he gives three promises of the Resurrection he then goes back to the the argument that if there is no resurrection..

1 Corinthians 15:29 “29 Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?”

In this passage Paul asks, essentially three questions

if there is no Resurrection, Why do we care about conversion?

If there is no Resurrection, why would we suffer persecution?

And if there is no Resurrection, why not just see gratification

He gives three questions and three imperatives

Lets first look at ...

1 Corinthians 15:29 “29 Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?”

Pastor Derek Carlson said that, she says, if it wasn't for expository preaching, this first would never get touched.

If we did not go

chapter by chapter,

paragraph by paragraph,

verse by verse, we would not talk about this either.

you know, there's over two hundred different interpretations of this particular passage you look in different commentaries.

You can find up to 200 different ways people have tried to interpret

this text many have twisted contort and everything else and you know who done it,

the worst is the Mormons.

Because the Mormons are taking this passage to mean that we can be baptized on behalf of somebody who has died,

as if to somehow benefit them in their death Mormons, do something called proxy baptism.

Proxy baptism. Is this that say you're my loved one and you didn't get to become a Mormon and you died. Well, I can go to the temple. I can be baptized and my baptism, can take the place of your not having been baptized.

And then on the other side, you'll have the opportunity to receive my baptism in your place and you received my blessing for you and you're benefiting from my baptism.

And that's how they take Paul's word here when he said, baptized on behalf of the dead, that's how the Mormons understand it.

I do not believe that's what Paul is talking about here.

In fact, I'll give you two reasons why? .

Number one,

it is nowhere. Mentioned anywhere else in the Bible or any extra biblical literature.

There is nothing in the first century about anybody ever being baptized for anyone else for any purpose.

So just not historical to to look at it that way.

Number two is distorts the gospel.

One baptism doesn't save men and two, even if it did save,

I can't get saved for you.

So proxy baptism is a distortion of this this text is not what I was talking about.

So what is happening, what does this mean to the corinthians and to us?

Our Testimony Matters.

In the early years of the church many Christians were dying for their relationship to God,

and their faith their dedication, and their death

caused others to cone to faith and commit their live to Christ.

Their eyes were open to their sin and they were saved, and then were baptised.

So Paul is saying if there is no resurrection then those who were saved and baptized because of the testimony of someone who did doesn’t matter.

Let's say I'm an unbeliever and I see Mike and he's a believer you are being tied to a post, I see you set on fire and you're singing to the Lord.

And when you die, I go and I say, I want to be what he was.

I want to have what he had and I want to be saved and baptized because of Mike.

That is baptism because of the dead or in fact,

the word here, Hooper in the Greek name for because or on behalf of it means because of this person

See if I didn't believe in the resurrection, his death wouldn’t affect me.

If I didn't believe he was going to be raised, why would I be baptized?

Here is another example:

The Sebaste 40

In the year 320. AD There were a group of soldiers in Sebaste, which is in what's modern-day turkey.

Group of 40 Roman soldiers that were called the Sebaste martyrs.

All 40 of them were Christians.

And it became that the ruler of that area did not want Christians in his army

because he did not want to have any soldiers, who had a divided allegiance.

You're either going to worship at the feet of me, or you are not going to be his Soldier.

And so it was said, convert or die.

And these forty Soldiers, the Sebaste 40 is what they called the martyrs.

We're forced to strip out of their clothing set aside their weapons

and they were marched out on to the center of a frozen lake

to freeze to death in the cold

So there they stood huddled in a group waiting to be overtaken by hypothermia waiting to be overtaken in death.

Legend says they sang.

While they were dying.

On the banks for the other soldiers, trying to get them to recant and come back.

Some of them had even lit. Fires to say, come back and warm yourselves.

One of the men, one of the 40 couldn't take it any longer. And he broke ranks from the 40. and he ran across the cold ice and he made his way to the To the shore and he was brought in and he was warmed, but he eventually died form shock.

While warming himself. One of the other soldiers,

moved not by the man who gave himself up.

But the men who were dying,

dropped his shield dropped his sword ,

dropped his clothing, and walked out onto the ice

further instilling the hope of the Resurrection by showing I am willing to die with these men

and he brought their ranks back to forty.

When the next morning as the soldiers, on the bank's awoke,

they found forty dead soldiers.

39 who began the day as a Christian and one who became a Christian because of dying, man.

https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/301-600/40-martyrs-of-sevaste-11629648.html

In the early church, so Christians were for dying for their faith

People would witness it and

they would get saved as a result.

And they would be baptized because of the Dead.

Tertullian said this. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

So whenPaul says, why would you be baptized on behalf of the Dead? Does that make more sense?

Now, why would somebody's death move you to baptism? If you don't believe they're going to be resurrection?

Why would you be converted if there's no hope in your conversion?

That's the first question.

Why does your conversion or testimony matter

If there's no hope and your conversion?

That's number one.

Our testimony matters.

Next… Why would you suffer persecution if there was no resurrection.

Our Suffering Matters

The apostle now moves on to use himself and his life to make the point

that everything he does is born of the assumption of a resurrection.

If there is no resurrection,

it makes his whole life’s work meaningless.

1 Corinthians 15:30 “30 Why are we in danger every hour?

Paul is asking this question, why in the world would we endure suffering

If we don't have anything to look forward to?

Why would we endure persecution? If we're not looking forward to the king?

That's a very simple question, because I die every hour.

Why are we in danger every hour?

Why would you put yourself through that? If you're not looking forward to the kingdom?

Why would you put yourself in the situation in the first place. ?

2 Corinthians 11:23–28 (ESV) (Page 1152)

23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.

24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.

25 Three times I was beaten with rods.

Once I was stoned.

Three times I was shipwrecked;

a night and a day I was adrift at sea;

26 on frequent journeys,

in danger from rivers,

danger from robbers,

danger from my own people,

danger from Gentiles,

danger in the city,

danger in the wilderness,

danger at sea,

danger from false brothers;

27 in toil and hardship,

through many a sleepless night,

in hunger and thirst,

often without food,

in cold and exposure.

28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

that's called eulogy, my whole life. I've been suffering and

when I wasn't suffering physical,

I was suffering. Emotional on behalf of the churches.

Why would I do that?

if I didn't have a goal in mind, why would I do that?

If there was not the hope of the upward cost,

At the hope of the Resurrection was not true. Why would I do that?

Spurgeon says : Those who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls.

Your suffering does matter

Through these hard time Jesus is refining you for His service.

Through these hard times Jesus is using you to share the Gospel.

There is a purpose in your suffering

Maybe You are suffering because you are being disciplined and this is a push for you to repent.

or God is using you through your suffering for the sake of the Gospel.

Lastly....

Our Conduct matters

If what we believe matters.

If we believe that the resurrection did happen,

If we believe that our salvation and testimony will count for something,

if we believe that our suffering is not random, but affects our life for the better.

Our belief affects how we live. Our doctrine affects our duty. Our belief affect our actions.

Because the ressurection matters Paul gives us three applications for how to live in light of the resurrection.

Do not Chase After a Comfortable Life

Being Comfortable is not a sin, but the pursuit of comfort above all else is.

Verse 30-31, “Why we are in danger every hour”

32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus?

meaning that faith in Jesus will cost us all something on a day to day basis.

The example Paul gives is when he faced wild beasts at Ephesus.

It is unlikely that these were literal wild beasts because as a Roman citizen he’d be sparred the arena and it is unlikely he would have survived.

Since he is writing the letter from Ephesus, the opposition is fresh on his mind. Other texts bear witness to the difficulties Paul faced in this city (cf. Acts 19:23–41; Rom 16:3–4).

if you go back to the record of the book of Acts, which “remembers Paul’s time in Ephesus as characterized by exorcisms, magical rivalries, and violent controversies regarding idolatry.”

Paul uses the metaphor to denote extreme danger that brings the possibility of death, which is pointless if there is no resurrection of the dead.

Paul speaks to how we face opposition to our faith and that it is worth it because of the resurrection.

You will get push back to your faith in Christ,

but God is authoring new life in you and change that is worth the pushback we face.

Do not be deceived by the World.

Do not buy into the message of this world that this life is all that there is (verse 32).

33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.

The context implies that the bad company was teaching the heretical theology that there is no resurrection of the dead,

and that bad theology had corrupted good morals.

People who think wrongly invariably behave wrongly.

Wrong behavior comes from wrong thinking,

from wrong beliefs and wrong standards.

It is impossible to associate regularly with wicked people without being contaminated both by their ideas and by their habits.

So we see that when we buy into the philosophy of the world it affects our conduct as a Christian.

Just as hoping in the resurrection is an incentive to obedience and holiness,

so disbelief of it is an incentive to disobedience and immorality.

As Paul has just pointed out, if there is no resurrection, we might as well eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. If death is the end, what great difference does it make what we do?

So we need to understand the biggest thing that affects our holiness and obedience is the people we associate with.

Surround yourself with people who push you to walk in Christ and to live in a way that pursues the new life that the resurrection brings; “

bad company ruined good morals” meaning that the people around us shape what we pursue.

Keep Fighting Sin

1 Corinthians 15:34 “34 Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.”

Paul tell us to “wake up” and connects that to no longer sinning.

Your knowledge of God is a huge asset in fighting sin and walking in new life.

The resurrection means that you can walk in victory and newness of life.

The Death and Ressurection cancelled out the Penalty of our sin. We have been saved from God’s wrath.

We also have been

Set your alarm, wake up, when you see sin in your life take it seriously;

God has given you the resources through the church community, his word and the Holy Spirit to fight it and walk in new life.

Sin’s Penalty, Power, and Presence.

Justification: Freedom from Sin’s Penalty

When we came to saving faith in Christ,

confessing our great need of him and asking for forgiveness from the punishment we deserved,

we were met with God’s unequivocal “yes.”

Since Christ bore the penalty for our sins,

we received freedom from that penalty for all sins past, present, and future.

We were justified before God our judge because our penalty had been paid.

Those who have been justified never need re-justifying.

We can look back to the time of our justification (perhaps written in the front of our Bible?) and know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1–2).

Romans 8:1-2 “1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”

Our justification is behind us. It is a past occurrence. We were saved from sin’s penalty.

Sanctification: Freedom from Sin’s Power

Now that the grace of God has been set upon us as a permanent seal (2 Cor. 1:20–22), we are being made new. We are being set free from the power of sin by the power of the Spirit.

God’s grace is restoring to us a will that wants what he wants. Before we were justified, our broken wills were utterly subject to the power of sin. We chose sin at every turn.

Now, the power of sin is broken. We have been given the deposit of the Holy Spirit.

Though we once chose only to sin, now we have the power (and the growing desire) to choose righteousness.

We who were once slaves to sin’s power are now free to serve God.

We don’t always use our freedom.

We still sin, but over time we learn increasingly to choose holiness.

Our entire lives from that handwritten date in our Bibles onward are devoted to “working out our salvation” Phil. 2:12–13

Philippians 2:12-13 “12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

as we learn to choose righteousness instead of sin, to walk in obedience to God’s commands.

Our sanctification is ongoing. It is a slow-moving growth in holiness. We are being saved from sin’s power.

Glorification: Freedom from Sin’s Presence

We will fight to grow in holiness our entire earthly lives.

Though now we are surrounded on all sides by sinfulness,

though now sin continues to cling to our hearts,

on a day not too distant we will go to a place where sin is no more.

In our glorification we will at last be granted freedom from the very presence of sin.

Our glorification is coming. It is the day we trade the persistent presence of sin for the perfect presence of the Lord. We will be saved from sin’s presence.

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