O Death, Where Is Your Sting?Studies in 1 Corinthians Series [40]

1 Corinthians 15:50-58

May 10, 2015Pastor Paul K. Kim

RECAP: WHY DOES THE RESURRECTION MATTER?

• The resurrection is CENTRAL to the gospel.

• The resurrection is INDISPENSIBLE to our salvation.

• The resurrection is RADICAL in its effects on us and beyond.

• The resurrection is IMPACTFUL on our daily lives practically.

• The resurrection will give us an IMMORTAL supernatural body that fits our eternal kingdom of God.

WHAT RESULTS DOES THE VICTORY OF THE RESURRECTION BRING US?

1) A MYSTERY: We shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does

the perishable inherit the imperishable.

WHAT RESULTS DOES THE VICTORY OF THE RESURRECTION BRING US?

1) A MYSTERY: We shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling

of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and 

the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 

53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. (vs. 51-58)

Mystery in the New Testament refers not to a mysterious phenomenon but to a truth that wasn’t revealed until now.

The great mystery that God has revealed to Paul is this: we shall be all CHANGED instantly at Christ’s coming!

This is not mere coming back from death but being a part of new creation that will be completed with a new heaven/earth.

16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an

archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And

the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive,

who are left, will be caught up together with them in the

clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with

the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these

words.1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

 

16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an

archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And

the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive,

who are left, will be caught up together with them in the

clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with

the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these

words.1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

 

WHAT RESULTS DOES THE VICTORY OF THE RESURRECTION BRING US?

2) A VICTORY: Death is swallowed up in victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal

puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the

power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (vs. 54-57)

This great mystery—that we shall be changed—brings us, in turn, to the overwhelming victory over the last enemy, death.

Death gained its sting due to sin; sin got its power from the exposing nature of the Law; all of these are now gone forever.

Why? It is because Christ’s death was the death of death [John Owen]—this is the ultimate victory for all of us in Christ!!!

“Some day you will read in the papers that D. L. Moody, of East Northfield, is dead.

Don't you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have

gone up higher, that is all, out of this old clay tenement

into a house that is immortal—a body that deathcannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body

fashioned like unto His glorious body.” D. L. Moody (1837-1899)

 

WHAT RESULTS DOES THE VICTORY OF THE RESURRECTION BRING US?

3) A CHARGE: Therefore, we are to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding

in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (v. 58)

Paul concludes this great chapter on the resurrection with a crucial charge to all Christ-followers—including us.

The charge is threefold: (1) be steadfast; (2) be immovable; and (3) give yourself fully to the work of the Lord.

This work may refer to both (1) the work entrusted to us by the Lord and (2) the work that the Lord is doing in/thru us.

The charge is this: this resurrection truth and victory must bear fruits in us as the firm foundation for faith and life.

Give Yourself Fully to the Work of the Lord"Always abounding in the work of the Lord": constantly occupied in doing those good works which honor God. More specifically: "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). "Giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue, and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love; for if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . for if ye do these things ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 1:5-11). That is "the work of the Lord," that the task assigned us. Then let not the difficulty of such duties nor the imperfections of your performances dishearten you; suffer not the hatred of your enemies nor the severity of their opposition to deter you. "Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" (Gal. 6:9).

― A. W. Pink

THREE PRACTICAL QUESTIONS FOR OUR EVERYDAY LIFE

1. What truth about the victory of the resurrection in Christ is most encouraging to you? Why?

2. In what ways are you also thankful for the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ that took the sting and power of death forever?

3. What would it mean for you to be steadfast. Immovable and always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord as a result of this victory?