RESURRECTION PEOPLE | 1 Corinthians 15:50–58 | Pastor Ryan Gerlach | 5.24.26

Hope shapes how we live now. 

Transcript

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Hello, this is Pastor Ryan Girl and Pastor John Anderson. Welcome to the Resurrection Church Pass. Each week we bring you Sunday's message from Resurrection Church right here in Racing, Wisconsin. So whether you're listening on a woman or driving to work, or just holding some laundry, or avoiding holding laundry, we hope this encourages your faith, challenges your perspective, and reminds you that resurrection isn't just something that happens. It's something God is still doing. Enjoy this week's message.

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Well, good morning. My name is Ryan. I am one of the pastors here. I am blessed to be giving you the good word today. We have been going through a sermon series called Who We Are. We have been looking at our DNA as a church, who we are as the body of Christ. We kicked off with we knowing that we are the children of God. We are people that are made new. We are forgiven people. We are the body of Christ. We don't go to church. We are the church. We are sent people. And last week, Pastor John lifted up this beautiful uh translation of a poema, poem that we are a God's poem. How beautiful is that! So we are people of the spirit. And this week we're going to be looking at what it looks like to be resurrection people, our namesake resurrection. What does that mean for us? We know Christ was resurrected. Hallelujah. Amen. But what does it look like for us to be a people filled with this hopeful resurrection spirit? So with that, dear church, let us pray. God, you are so incredibly good. Help us be in a space where it is impossible to lose hope, knowing that you are a father that brings us to a place of resurrection, not only someday, but daily. How amazing are you, dear God. We pray this in your holy name. Amen. There was a man, he was a rich man, and he had a granddaughter. And one day the granddaughter came to visit him and climbed up in his lap and looked into his eyes and said, Grandpa, can you please make the sound that a frog makes? And Grandpa looked at his granddaughter and would do anything for her. And he said, Ribbit, ribbit, and his best frog impersonation. And she leapt off of his lap and started jubilantly proclaiming, I'm getting a pony, I'm getting a pony. And he looked at her just confused. Because then she looked at him and said, Well, what mommy said that when grandpa croaks, I'll get a pony. We're all sitting in different places with that one. But it's kind of how Christians look at death. It has a sting, yes, but also it doesn't. As Christians, we look at death in different ways. We we kind of fear it as human beings, but then as hopeful Christians, we look at death without its sting, especially in Paul's articulation in 1 Corinthians 15 that we that Carol read so beautifully today. There's a lot of big words in there that I'm still working out how to pronounce. So great job, Carol. But we're looking at kind of something you don't really want to bring up at the Thanksgiving dinner table, talking about death or or politics or or religion, even. We're gonna look deep into what death looks like as us on this side of eternity. We're gonna map out, we're gonna look at Paul's proclamation through Christ's vision and Christ's resurrection of what death is and what death is not. First of all, the first context we're looking at here is Paul was talking to the church of Corinth. And Pastor John has has articulated this a lot. Corinth was a messy church. It was a church that kind of held on to their Hellenistic beliefs. They they were kind of immoral. They they they tried to pick and choose where they were coming from. They were distracted, divided, they were struggling, they were influenced by the culture around them, which was uh didn't look anything look like Christ's church, uh as Christ's calling for the church. In fact, they asked they asked Paul some good questions. They were they were looking for leadership, and Paul, who planted the church, continuously loved on them, but he was pretty harsh in his pastoral words to them. Now they asked a very good question, and perhaps you have asked the same question because this is a question I ask. In fact, we had a conversation with with uh a couple, uh I won't name names, but they were talking about a church that refused to do a funeral for someone who was cremated. And if we're people that that are believe in the resurrection, that's a great question. If we're gonna if we're resurrected people, if we get cremated, what does that look like? So they asked a question in a couple verses before the one Carol wrote today read today, they they asked, but someone will ask, how are how are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come? That's a reasonable question. As resurrected people, we want to know how does God do it? What will we look like resurrected? Well, will I be my 70-year-old self or will be will I be my 20-year-old self? Will I have my first wife or second wife? How will that work? How will the resurrection work? And then Paul answered very pastorally, very patiently, very practically. He said, Fool. Come on, Paul. But he unpacks, you're not asking the right question for the right reason. Resurrection for us means that there is a metamorphosis, there's something absolutely transformative. It'll be totally different than we hoped or imagined or expected. And he says these words, and perhaps you've you are struggling with what these means. He said, We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. We will all be transformed. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. Which, by the way, would be a great thing to put in the nursery. We may not all sleep, but we will all be changed, right? Come on. That's kind of funny. Anyone? Nope. All right, we won't do that. Nope. All right. Anyone with the with painting skills can do that. But that's a good question. What will our resurrection look like? I think the hallmark version of what it looks like to go to heaven. We we sit on a cloud and play the harp all day with Jesus around us, right? That's that's good, that's holy. That's a very Greek way of looking at it. But what we know for a fact is that when we die, we are in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, our Savior, and it's holy, it's amazing, it's incredible. But there will be a resurrection. When Jesus comes again, there'll be a new heaven, a new earth, and all will be made new, even our bodies. We'll be resurrected. And Jesus was the great template, the great uh first thing to come, the first vision of what resurrection looks like. Remember, he was resurrected, he ate with people, he showed the scars, he he had a resurrected body, he left footprints. It didn't mean he was a ghost, it didn't mean he was a spirit, it didn't mean he was a hologram, he was resurrected. And because of this, dear church, because we know how the story ends, because of this resurrection promise we have through Christ, we no longer can think that death is going to be the last thing. We can no longer think that death will be the worst thing. Death hasn't been swallowed up in victory. Where, oh death, is your victory, where, oh death, is your sting. I remember um my son was scared of something. He was scared of playing soccer. There's a couple things he was just fearful of that that I said, you know, if you face your fears, you keep on facing them, eventually you'll realize it's not a big deal. Uh he had a recorder recital, which is the best thing to listen to. Uh, and I went to it and he was he didn't want to go. Can we skip? We don't even have to like tell, can we just go somewhere else? I I I won't tell anyone if you won't. I'm like, no, buddy, we gotta go. You gotta face your fears. And he said, Well, I I don't think I'll be able to do it. What if I pass out? What if I play the wrong note? What if I all these things going through his head? And I'm like, buddy, it's a recorder recital. It it's not, you're gonna be fine, I promise. And I said, Afterwards, I guarantee you, you're gonna you're gonna face this. And afterwards, I'm gonna ask you this question. Was it as bad as you thought? And he's and he's gonna know it's gonna be worse. But he did it and he did it great, and he he was so proud afterwards. And I said, Hey, buddy, was it as bad as you thought? And he said, No. Was it worth being like mean to everyone and and running away from everything? He said, No, it wasn't. And it was a holy learning lesson for him. And for us, we can't do that with death. It's a it's a one-time thing. And so that sometimes, especially as we feel it looming, it's it's something that it holds over our shoulders and we're thinking, I can't face it, and we don't want to talk about it, we don't want to talk to our loved ones about it, we don't want to think about it. But as human beings, with people with heartbeats, it's one thing that is promised to us. And I often wonder how people that that think that this is it, that's done. It's it's done after that, and I I it's just blank space, it's oblivion. How do they do life? I don't understand. Because I live day to day knowing in the promise of resurrection, the promise of this good news of a hope of a resurrected savior, that the last thing that happened to me will not be the worst thing to happen to me in this side of eternity. Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where O death is your victory, where is your sting? The resurrection means that the worst thing is never the last thing. And this is I've only I don't think I've ever quoted this person in my life. This is a quote from John Calvin, but I love this quote. Whatever may be the kind, and he's talking about however we may die, right? Whatever may be the kind of death we die, we shall not perish, though our bodies be destroyed, though scattered abroad, and he's going through extremes, though swallowed by the sea, though torn to pieces by wild beasts, though reduced to ashes, they are still under the guardianship of Christ. So how can we question, how can we even question these what does resurrection look like? Does God really have me? How can we even question what comes next when we know that Christ has it? And I do know of people that try to mark the stars, the numbers in the scripture to talk about when this final day is going to happen, when Christ is coming back, and all will be resurrected and all things will be made new. When will this new heaven and this new earth come? And they say, well, if you look at Revelation and count the numbers between verses and its chapters, we know for a fact that it's going to happen in 1953, 1973, 19, whatever it is. Everyone that's ever promised this is the final days has been wrong. And Jesus says, trust not, you will know you will not know, but it will come in an instant and know that I've got this. All this is through Christ's guardianship. If Christ has you, how can we even question it? But here's the good news. We were never meant to stay broken. When we were created, our we we know that our bodies fall because of what our selfish choices in the garden came through, but grief hurts, death is an enemy, but yet suffering does not get the final word. But it does mean, it does mean resurrection means that what we do now actually matters. Martin Luther said, Even if I know tomorrow is my last day, the world's final day, I will still plant a tree. There is still beauty, there is still hope in creation and in creating, and we are called to be co-creators here with Christ. Even if it is our final day, we are still called to breathe life into the world and goodness. And Paul goes on to say, Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, be immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. You know, I've heard from day one that you can't take it with you, you know, but you can't take the you-haul truck of stuff and bury it with you and take it with you with whatever comes next. And that is true, material things, but there are seeds that are planted that will continue into the new creation. And I love this quote from N.T. Wright. He says, What you do in the present, by painting, by preaching, by singing, by sowing, by praying, by teaching, by building hospitals, all these things, all these things, these good things you do that are kingdom building will last into God's future. That's kind of holy. Because there has been these existential crises that I've had to any of this matter. Any of this stuff we do, people are going to die, and then will this really matter? That's when I'm, you know, Eeyore Ryan. But God calls us into something holy that this too will continue into the new heaven, the new, the new earth, as they collide together into one new creation. And that's the point of resurrection bodies. Like us right now, I I lost my hair. I'm I I have I'm I'm, you know, every day I'm getting a little bit closer to the final moment of my breath here on earth. And our our bodies are finite. And when when heaven and earth become new and one together, our bodies will be resurrected as they were meant to be, imperishable and perfect. How holy is that? I had a pastor that talked about a funeral he did with a woman he met with, um, she knew she was going to go. She insisted on being buried with a fork in her hand. And he he he asked, he kept asking her, like, why? And she he knew she was a baker. She knew that she was part of like a baker's club and all these things they'd bake for each other. But she said, when I was eating dinner at my friend's house, whenever we would do this, they would always say, Oh, save your fork, because the dirt desserts are coming out, so just save it. And so she said, I want my fork in hand. Because I know the best is yet to come. And dear church, when we look at death, we should know that this isn't it, this isn't goodbye. This is hey, I'll see you later in a new form. The best is yet to come. Ever since Stephen the Martyr, and everyone that proclaimed the good news of a resurrected savior gave their lives proclaiming the good news. And Paul and Silas in the prisons, knowing that this could be their last days, they sang the gospel song at the top of their lungs. The guards were blown away and transformed, and their whole lives changed because of this. And all of this, knowing that this could be their last day on earth through earthquakes, through famine, through floods, through prosecution, through getting crucified. Some got crucified upside down, they still proclaim the good news, knowing that death has lost its sting, that we can proclaim victory as witnesses of the resurrection, each and every one of us proclaiming the good news of our resurrected Savior as resurrected people. So when someone asks you, what's your greatest fear? I hope it isn't death. Because as Pastor John and I know, and all of you know, that have shown up to these funerals that we've had multiples per week, we can still I and I love it because there is laughter and there's tears, and there's a holy mixture of emotions, but never is this goodbye, I will never see you again. It's always a thank God for the resurrection. And I will see you later. Let's pray. Good gracious God, my goodness, you are good. Let us never forget that. You have not called us here as a a temporary uh a temporary just be good on one hour a week. Uh, Christians, you are called us to proclaim the good news in actions and in deed, knowing that yes, we are ashes and to dust we shall return, but also that this will be resurrected and made new. Help us be resurrected people and proclaim the good news in all we do. We pray this in your holy name, as all God's people say. Amen.