WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:02.000 That today is Easter Sunday. 00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:06.480 If you would turn your Bibles to uh 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 00:00:06.559 --> 00:00:07.919 Don't worry about it being on the screen. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:10.320 I'm going to read it so that we can hear the word of God. 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:13.119 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:17.120 I'm going to read verses 1 through 19. 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:18.960 1 through 19. 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:22.399 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:26.719 Verses 1 through 19. 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:38.640 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preach to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:47.600 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preach to you. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:51.359 Otherwise you have believed in vain. 00:00:52.399 --> 00:01:10.640 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the twelve. 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:21.200 After that he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the time, at the same time, most of whom were still living, though some have fallen asleep. 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:31.040 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also as to one abnormally born. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:38.799 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. 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:45.439 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. 00:01:45.840 --> 00:02:01.280 No, I worked harder than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me, whether then it is I or they, whether then it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed. 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:09.280 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? 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:14.319 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:20.800 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless, and so is your faith. 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:33.840 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. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:39.919 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:44.560 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:47.280 You are still in your sins. 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:52.159 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 00:02:52.560 --> 00:03:01.199 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. 00:03:01.599 --> 00:03:16.000 Lord, we thank you and love you for this day, for your word, and we ask, God, that you speak resurrection into us today and remind us of who you are and who we are called to reflect in this world. 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:18.639 In Jesus' name, Amen. 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:25.439 There's a lot of raising and resurrections and all kinds of stuff in those 19 verses, isn't there? 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:29.919 If I had a question for you today, it would be what are we standing on? 00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:34.639 For a few weeks, we have now been asking the question, what are we building with? 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:43.599 Ten years into the game as a church, we're going back and looking and inspecting our foundation. 00:03:43.919 --> 00:03:47.120 Paul has talked to us about the foundation, the fire. 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:49.039 The fire is about the test. 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:50.240 It's not about hell. 00:03:50.479 --> 00:03:55.599 Fire is about the test and what will endure after the fire. 00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:00.240 Fire refines things and makes things better, makes things pure. 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:02.319 And so I want to be very clear. 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:05.520 We will not be talking about hell and doom and gloom today. 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:05.919 Amen. 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:10.960 We're talking about what it means to be purified through the fire. 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:19.519 Paul's talked about the foundation, he's talked about the fire, he's talked about the field, the temple, holiness, conflict, justice, and the body. 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:25.920 But today on this resurrection Sunday, Paul takes us underneath all of it and asks a deep question. 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:27.680 What are you standing on? 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:30.240 Ask your neighbor right now what you're standing on. 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:33.839 Ask your other neighbor what you're standing on. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:44.639 Because if you are going to build anything that endures the fire, you must stand on something that death itself cannot destroy. 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:50.000 Is the thing you're standing on, can it be destroyed by death? 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:55.920 And if so, we might need to look elsewhere. 00:04:56.399 --> 00:05:02.959 Paul says here in 1 Corinthians, now I make known to you, brothers and sisters, the gospel in which also you stand. 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:08.800 So before we talk about what we are building, we have to ask, what are we standing in? 00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:18.639 Which brings me to the point one that our gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ, is not advice. 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:21.680 It is news you can use. 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:30.879 The gospel is not advice, it is news you can use or not. 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:40.480 I make known to you the gospel which I preach to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which you are also saved. 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:52.079 And he tells us what the gospel is that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. 00:05:52.160 --> 00:05:56.399 I think it's important that we understand what the gospel is when Paul preaches. 00:05:56.720 --> 00:05:57.519 This is important. 00:05:57.839 --> 00:05:59.360 I'm gonna tell you why in a moment. 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:03.920 This is the gospel that Paul is talking about and laying out here in 1 Corinthians. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:08.560 What is it that Christ died for our sins, that he was buried. 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:12.800 And just so you know, he wasn't buried alive, he was good and dead. 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:20.000 He was raised on the third day, and he appeared to many witnesses. 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:21.519 This is important, y'all. 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:26.720 Jesus died for our sins, was buried, was raised, and was seen. 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:33.040 See, Paul doesn't talk about the empty tomb because he understands what resurrection means. 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:39.279 He understands that resurrection needed to be testified by two or three witnesses. 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:40.480 Paul understands. 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:48.800 So if you haven't heard Jesus historically, there is a man named Jesus who died historically, it's proven. 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:50.480 You can look up other writers. 00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:53.360 There's a man by the name of Josephus. 00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:54.480 He writes about it. 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:57.439 He's not a Christian, but he understands this. 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:04.240 Just in case you want to know, there are over 500 people who saw Jesus. 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:13.360 They witnessed his resurrection, they witnessed to the fact that this man was on a cross on Friday and Sunday and thereafter. 00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:16.480 All of a sudden, he appears to different people. 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:20.240 We ourselves can testify to this. 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:35.360 Paul doesn't talk about the empty tomb because it's very, very clear that not only were they witnesses then, but that this church and Corinth are to be evidence of the witness now. 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:50.560 Real community covenant church, sisters and brothers, I want you to know that God has every intention on us being witnesses of his resurrection. 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:58.160 Every single intention of us being witnesses of his resurrection. 00:07:58.319 --> 00:07:59.920 This ain't just a good thought. 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:02.639 This is a real thing that really happened. 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:07.439 It's news you can use or not, but it's not good advice. 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:12.000 He does not say that the gospel is good morals. 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:13.120 Uh-uh. 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:19.920 He doesn't say that the gospel is better habits or spiritual formation. 00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:22.000 He doesn't say it's discipleship. 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:29.439 He doesn't say it's a religious lifestyle, it's news about something God has done in Jesus Christ. 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:33.440 Christ died, Christ was buried, Christ was raised. 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:37.759 That means our faith does not begin with what should I do. 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:41.360 It begins with what has God already done. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:44.399 We are not working to get anywhere, y'all. 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:48.799 We are working from the finished work of Jesus Christ on Calvary. 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:53.200 We are not working to appeal to God to earn God's love. 00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:54.240 No, no, no, no, no, no. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:57.440 It already happened 2,000 years ago. 00:08:57.679 --> 00:09:06.879 Our problem is we gotta get over some of the things in our past that hinder us from being able to see God's love for us very clearly. 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:15.039 We need to get over some of the things that hold us back and pull us back, whether it be guilt or fear or things not done. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:16.720 That is not the gospel. 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:23.360 The gospel is that God already did it in Jesus Christ, so you don't have to. 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:25.200 This is the good news. 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:30.559 We are not working for the gospel, we are working from the gospel, church. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:40.720 And that matters here because tired people do not want more advice before they have good news. 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:47.679 Broken people don't need another lecture before they hear that God has acted. 00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:50.480 The gospel is not that we reached up to God. 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:52.240 No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:56.559 The gospel is that God came for us. 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:05.440 Every other religion is about people seeking God. 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:08.559 The Christian faith. 00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:21.679 God becomes human and obeyed at a point in time in history to come and pursue and to seek and to save that which was lost. 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:23.200 That is the gospel. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:26.480 We're not reaching for anything. 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:34.240 Jesus has already reached and already paid something that you and I could never do. 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:36.720 That's the gospel church. 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:43.679 The resurrection here, my second point here is the resurrection is the ground that we stand on. 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:55.200 Any gospel that does not talk about the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not the gospel, it is not the good news of Jesus. 00:10:55.600 --> 00:10:58.480 Just dying is not the good news. 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:00.799 That forgives us of our sins. 00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:11.440 But when Jesus is raised to a new life, it shows that Jesus, that God in Jesus conquers the ultimate enemy, which is death. 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:16.799 Death in hell, death in Hades no longer have a hold on our lives. 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:21.519 Sin no longer has a hold on our lives. 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:25.120 Revelation. 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:34.240 Jesus says, I have death in Hades in the palm of my hand. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:38.799 Church, this is good news. 00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:49.840 Paul says that this gospel is what they received, it's also what they stand in, and it's what they're being saved by. 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:51.440 This is what we continue. 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:56.480 This means that the resurrection is not just something that Christians believe once and move on from there. 00:11:56.559 --> 00:11:57.360 No, no, no. 00:11:57.519 --> 00:12:02.879 It's the right answer on a it's not just having the right answer, having the right answer on a theology test. 00:12:02.960 --> 00:12:03.679 No, no, no. 00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:06.639 It's the ground underneath our feet. 00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:11.120 Paul is saying you came into faith through this gospel. 00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:14.159 You remain in the faith through this gospel. 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:18.399 You are held in the faith through this gospel. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:22.559 Church, some of us treat the resurrection like it's just a holiday truth. 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:29.200 And Paul says it to our shame. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:38.480 Not to call us out, but to call us in to our identity. 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:43.679 As my sister, Debbie Cherry IB, when we were talking about shame a few weeks ago. 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:52.159 She says there's a good part of shame that we need to think about, and the term calling in is something that she brought up in our conversation. 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:53.919 I mentioned it last week, but I didn't give her the credit. 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:56.320 Two weeks ago, I didn't give her the credit. 00:12:56.559 --> 00:12:57.840 And I love it. 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:04.799 That the healthy shame of Christians is that we're calling people into something more. 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:11.840 We're calling people into who they already in in Christ Jesus, even if they can't see it yet. 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:13.200 We're calling people in. 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:17.279 The problem with addiction isn't that you're just out getting high. 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:22.000 The problem is, brother, sister, that your destiny is resurrection. 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:23.519 Live into your identity. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:30.000 The problem with your struggles in life, the problems with the ways you beat yourself up, it's not that you're just beating yourself up. 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:32.480 The problem is, it's not your destiny. 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:34.799 Your destiny is resurrection. 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:40.080 The problem that we experience in our lives is not all of the things that we sometimes talk about. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:44.559 It's the fact that our destiny is resurrection, church. 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:46.799 It's a new life. 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:49.360 It's not this old dead life. 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:51.919 This is why we can forgive. 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:56.639 This is why we don't get stuck in situations or we don't have to. 00:13:56.720 --> 00:13:57.519 We get stuck. 00:13:57.679 --> 00:14:04.399 But the key is understanding that we don't have to because our destiny is resurrection. 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:17.679 This is the foundation of existence. 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:24.000 If Christ is not raised, there is no church, what are we here for? 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:29.279 If Christ is not raised, there is no salvation, what will be saved from? 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:31.519 And what are we saved for? 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:36.799 There is no enduring foundation, there is no reason to keep building. 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:42.320 But if Christ is raised, church, it disrupts everything. 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:49.519 It changes everything about how we see ourselves and now how we're going to live. 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:56.000 We no longer have to live according to the hurts and the habits and the hangups of our past. 00:14:56.080 --> 00:15:06.159 Now, as a matter of fact, God takes a hold of them, does something about, and calls us to live into a new destiny that doesn't deny what we've been through. 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:22.240 But it's able to say, although, in spite of what I have been through, the Bible says that while we were still sinners, and why people were still sinning against us, that Christ died for us and Christ died for them. 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:30.240 Christ died for me, Christ died for my enemies, Christ died for all of humanity while humanity was still sinful. 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:35.919 That has implications, church. 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:42.960 This means something because this means that the resurrection is not simply just a metaphor. 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:53.519 Paul goes on to say that Christ appeared to Cephas to the 12, to more than 500, to James, to the apostles, and finally to Paul himself. 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:56.159 Why does Paul list these witnesses? 00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:00.799 Because the resurrection is not just an idea out there somewhere. 00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:03.919 It's not just a symbol of hope. 00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:06.879 It's not just a spiritual feeling. 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:10.799 It's so much more. 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:14.639 It's an event that happened in real time and real place. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:17.919 He's not merely admired. 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:23.120 He was not merely spiritually present in his baptism with Jesus. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:32.320 Or in his resurrection, but Jesus was like physically, bodily, for real, raised from the dead. 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:36.559 His body was raised from the dead. 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:38.000 This is something new. 00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:39.440 Go ahead and clap. 00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:40.159 Yes. 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:43.039 We should always clap about the resurrection. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:51.039 But in Paul's world, resurrection wasn't about a ghost here, and it wasn't about a soul floating from the body. 00:16:51.200 --> 00:16:55.600 Oftentimes what we see in culture is people wanting to escape their bodies. 00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:04.960 No, if you look at the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that same body was raised from the dead. 00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:17.680 As a matter of fact, that glorified humanity in Jesus Christ is the same humanity that you and I will take on in the second resurrection. 00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:31.839 That body that you're in right now, that body that you're sitting in, Casey, that body that you're sitting in, Judah, that body, Tracy, that body that you are sitting in right now, resurrection is not about going and getting something else. 00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:35.519 It's not about going and getting another body to take on this body. 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:37.839 That stuff is broken and dysfunctional. 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:42.480 And Paul is having to get this right because this stuff slept, it crept into the church. 00:17:42.640 --> 00:17:51.039 Again, the culture of Corinth, this Roman and Greek thinking, this stuff crept into the church where people were like, Well, I can do whatever I want to do with my body. 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:53.839 It doesn't matter because my body doesn't matter, anyways. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:55.279 It's just about my soul. 00:17:55.359 --> 00:17:55.920 Here we go. 00:17:56.079 --> 00:17:58.559 Here are some of the views that Paul is having to address. 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:04.000 The Epicureans, these were some of the people in society that were pretty smart. 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:08.160 They thought that there was no afterlife, and death is the end. 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:15.759 The common Greek thought, also in some of the same ways, is like, okay, you have an immortal soul. 00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:20.400 You know, in the afterlife, you just got a soul. 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:22.559 But your body doesn't matter. 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:25.359 So your soul escapes the body. 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:30.480 Some of the addictions that we get into is simply because we're trying to cope with the pain. 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:32.799 We really want to escape the body, but we can't. 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:38.160 So we we do things to remain in the body and try to cope with it. 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:47.599 We smoke a little something, we shoot a little something, uh, we look at things, we look at websites, we we find our identity and uh vicarious relationships with men and women. 00:18:47.680 --> 00:18:49.039 Uh y'all know what I'm talking about. 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:52.000 We do this stuff because we're trying to cope in our bodies. 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:55.759 We really want to escape out of our bodies because it's painful, right? 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:57.359 This is what Jesus came to do. 00:18:57.440 --> 00:18:59.519 He came to liberate us from that pain, right? 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:04.079 He wants us to learn how to live in our bodies in a new way. 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:08.079 The Sadducees, they had no resurrection. 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:11.440 They focused on this life, you know, this life right now. 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:18.960 Do all you can in this life, be a good person, get that bag, go get that money, generational wealth, do all it. 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:21.759 And I'm not saying these things are all bad, but that was the focus. 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:23.440 Do all this right now, right now. 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:25.359 Just focus right, right now. 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:30.400 Well, later, impacts now. 00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:34.400 And now impacts later. 00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:45.119 The Judeans, Judeo-Christian values, our faith comes out of historical Judaism. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:51.039 There's a real resurrection of our bodies. 00:19:51.759 --> 00:20:00.319 At the second coming of Jesus, all the dust and the dirt and the bones will be raised from the dead. 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:05.920 Resurrection like Jesus, he's raised from the dead. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:13.519 Now, again, in Greco-Roman culture, this was crazy because they were smart, intelligent academics, and they liked reason. 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:15.440 So this is like crazy, right? 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:18.079 This is for them, this is foolish. 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:20.880 And that's the whole point. 00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:23.200 That this is foolish. 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:27.839 That this is foolish, and that guess what? 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:31.279 Heaven is not a place we're going out there one day. 00:20:31.839 --> 00:20:34.400 Revelation 21 and 22. 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:37.200 I saw the new city come down. 00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:45.039 So, as much as we better learn how to love the bodies that we're in right now, we also better learn how to love this earth that we live in. 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:52.960 We better learn how to love it because Jesus is actually coming back to restore this place right here. 00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:55.039 And I'm so glad He is. 00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:55.839 You get you with it? 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:56.799 You got it? 00:20:59.039 --> 00:21:00.880 This is not something here just to be admired. 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:04.319 These are the things that are floating around in the church as it is starting to believe them. 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:06.880 So then that causes people to say, you know what? 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:12.880 I can participate in injustice because God's gonna destroy the body and the earth, anyways. 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:15.680 Uh-oh. 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:18.160 You know what? 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:20.480 I can be racist and sexist and classist. 00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:21.839 It doesn't really matter. 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:24.559 God's going to destroy it all, anyways. 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:25.839 Uh-uh. 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:28.480 No, he's gonna restore it all. 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:35.359 And the fact that you believe it is you begin to live into it as if it's already true because it already is in Jesus. 00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:44.960 Our witness here on the earth is actually to live into what we say we believe about Jesus, not just thoughts and ideas, but in our bodies. 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:47.599 My brother back there, he likes to work out. 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:54.640 You ain't talking about working out, you're doing it, and I'm proud of you. 00:21:55.119 --> 00:21:56.480 You inspired me. 00:21:57.200 --> 00:21:59.759 But he obviously believes something about working out. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.119 Out that it's probably beneficial for him. 00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:03.920 And guess what? 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:15.440 This is actually good theology that because God does care about the bodies as a temple, we treat them as such because Jesus is returning to restore these bodies. 00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:18.000 So God cares about my blood pressure. 00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:21.759 God cares about what I do with my sexuality. 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:26.000 God cares about who I support and who I don't support. 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:29.759 God cares about who I love, how I treat people. 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:35.279 God cares about, God cares about our church being the kind of church that God has called us to be. 00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:37.519 God has called us to live into this. 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:38.559 Why? 00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:40.960 Because it matters. 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:48.160 A lot of the conversations that we're having politically in the world ain't dealing with resurrection theology. 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:52.079 It's a disembodied faith which separates the soul from the body. 00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:54.960 I can't talk on both sides for extreme people. 00:22:55.119 --> 00:22:56.559 We're missing this. 00:22:57.200 --> 00:23:07.200 A lot of the conversation has to do with this: the resurrection of the body, and the body matters, what we do in our bodies, through our bodies, and to other bodies. 00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:08.640 It matters to God. 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:10.799 Amen, church. 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:16.720 So with that, God acted decisively over death. 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:18.880 This is why Paul mentions the witnesses. 00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:23.839 He is saying, this is not a private inspiration here, this is public testimony. 00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:27.200 Our faith is not private, it's not individualized. 00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:34.480 Yes, we all need to believe, but it's not personal to it where I don't have any accountability or responsibility to a larger body. 00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:35.519 You can't do that in your marriage. 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:37.759 Why do you think you can do that in the church? 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:48.000 We have responsibility to each other if we're the body of Christ. 00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:51.359 If one body's suffering, we're suffering together. 00:23:51.759 --> 00:24:01.599 Across all ethnic barriers, all class barriers, and all sex or gender barriers, and even more political barriers. 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:14.240 That if they are in Christ, I have a responsibility based on the resurrection of Jesus to love my neighbor and to love my enemy, even as I love myself. 00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:18.000 Because we love Jesus. 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:20.640 This is the gospel, church. 00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:23.039 This is the good news. 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:26.880 It did not begin with people saying we had a moving spiritual experience. 00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:30.559 It began with people saying we saw him. 00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:37.759 And because they saw him, they could not go back to living as though death still had the final word. 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:41.680 If Christ is not raised, church, everything collapses. 00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:45.200 He turns to the logic of the resurrection in verses 12 through 19. 00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:47.359 Some in currents were saying there is no resurrection. 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:50.559 Paul says, if that's true, then Christ has not been raised. 00:24:50.720 --> 00:24:53.519 And if Christ hasn't been raised, our preaching is empty. 00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:54.880 Your faith is empty. 00:24:55.599 --> 00:24:57.039 We are false witnesses. 00:24:57.359 --> 00:24:58.799 We are still in our sins. 00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:05.119 Those who have died in Christ have perished, and we are to be pitied more than everybody else in the world. 00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:06.480 That's what he's saying. 00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:10.799 You take the resurrection away, and the whole thing caves in on itself. 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:17.519 No resurrection means sin still rules and death still wins, and injustice still has the final word. 00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:19.599 The grave is still undefeated. 00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:24.880 The church is just a religious coping mechanism and nothing more. 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:28.559 And Paul will not let us soften to that. 00:25:28.799 --> 00:25:33.359 To our shame, he calls the Corinthian church into something different. 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:39.279 He does not say, well, if it's not literally true, then it must have to have symbolic value. 00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:41.599 Nah, he ain't saying that. 00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:54.240 But thanks be to God, Paul is not moving us toward despair, but to hope. 00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:14.000 Many people then and now are comfortable with the idea that the soul lives on. 00:26:15.599 --> 00:26:20.640 But Paul is saying something deeper and more disruptive. 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:25.839 The resurrection means that God has not abandoned the body. 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:29.839 Not just the soul, but the body. 00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:36.799 That means the gospel is not about escaping embodiment, which is about living in our physical bodies. 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:39.839 The gospel is about learning how to live in it. 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.640 It's being redeemed, it's been redeemed, and it's being redeemed in Jesus Christ. 00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:48.000 God made human beings as embodied souls. 00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:50.160 Look at Jesus' resurrection body. 00:26:50.319 --> 00:26:51.119 They could touch him. 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:56.319 As a matter of fact, the scars were in his hand when Thomas needed to see it. 00:26:58.640 --> 00:27:01.839 He formed Adam from the dust and breathed into him the breath of life. 00:27:01.920 --> 00:27:03.680 We are not souls trapped in bodies. 00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:07.599 We are human persons, body and soul together, made by God. 00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:13.119 So when Christ is raised, God is declaring that his purpose for humanity has not been discarded. 00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:15.920 He is not throwing creation away, he's restoring it. 00:27:16.160 --> 00:27:52.880 Church, this is the good news for people who live in real bodies, bodies that hurt, bodies that age, bodies that carry scars and trauma, bodies that have been violated, bodies that have been addicted, bodies that have been exploited, bodies that have been policed, bodies that have been exhausted by survival. 00:27:54.160 --> 00:28:01.599 The resurrection says that God has not forgotten about your body. 00:28:10.640 --> 00:28:18.400 So your body is not disposable, and your suffering is not meaningless. 00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:21.680 God is not finished with you. 00:28:21.920 --> 00:28:26.000 Holiness is embodied in who we are. 00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:38.400 It's how we handle conflict, it's how we use our mouths, how we steward our desires, how we care for the weak, how we eat, rest, work, embrace, serve, forgive. 00:28:38.559 --> 00:28:48.720 The resurrection means holiness is not some abstract idea out there, but it's actually meant to be lived in our bodies. 00:28:49.680 --> 00:29:07.839 Our marriages matter, our parenthood matters, our friendships matter, what we do, how we pay our bills, all of these things, it matters when people are being mistreated and called dehumanizing names. 00:29:09.440 --> 00:29:10.720 That matters. 00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:20.319 And it matters so much that at the last trumpet when Jesus returns.