Our Promise

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Easter Sunday, the 17th of April, 2022, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Today's service also included an infant baptism and our observance of Holy Communion with our Lord.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Today is one of the two most joyful and glorious days on our Christian calendar, and not only because we baptized little Jordy.  One of those two days is when God’s Christ was sent to earth, when our Lord Jesus was born.  And the second is when He was raised from the dead.

I put those two on an equal basis because they are both critically important to all mankind, whether everyone believes it or not.  Had the Christ not been sent to us, we would have no hope whatsoever and would all die in our sin.  Had God not bodily raised Jesus from the grave, then we couldn’t really believe much of anything He said, including the promise of our own resurrection.  But because Christ came and was given eternal life, and because we believe what we have not seen, our promise, our only hope, is secure.

Not everyone believes in the resurrection of the body, though, or in life eternal (either in heaven or especially in the lake of fire).  The Sadducees in particular denied that the soul is immortal and that the body could be resurrected after death.  The seed of doubt was even planted and began to take root in the early church, among those who had not witnessed Jesus alive in the flesh after His crucifixion but before His ascension.  Some in the church in Corinth had concerns, questions, doubts, about this whole resurrection thing.  The Apostle Paul was quick to address those concerns.

Please listen and follow along as Paul expounds upon the basis of our belief, from chapter 15 of his letter to the Corinthians, verses 35 through 58, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

35 Someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?” 36 Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. 37 And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain — perhaps wheat or some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.

39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.

40 There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a hidden truth: 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 incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

55 “O Death, where is your sting?

Hades, where is your victory?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

--1 Corinthians 15:35-58 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for raising Jesus from the dead, and in this giving us the promise of our own resurrection.  Jesus conquered death so that we may conquer it too, to be raised to a new body and life eternal.  Thank You Father for keeping Your promise to resurrect Your Son so that we can rest assured in Your promise to us.  Forgive us, please, when we fail or hesitate to share this wonderful news with those who most need to hear it, who refuse to believe what they hear.  Please help us be more mindful of our commission to spread the Gospel.  And help us remember how You kept every promise You ever made, how You did everything You ever said You’d do.  Help us rest on Your promises.  And Father, please protect us from Satan and from those who carry out his evil works.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this day.  This we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Booker T. Washington described meeting an ex-slave from Virginia in his book Up From Slavery: 

I found that this man had made a contract with his master, two or three years previous to the Emancipation Proclamation, to the effect that the slave was to be permitted to buy himself, by paying so much per year for his body; and while he was paying for himself, he was to be permitted to labor where and for whom he pleased.

Finding that he could secure better wages in Ohio, he went there.  When freedom came, he was still in debt to his master some three hundred dollars.  Notwithstanding that the Emancipation Proclamation freed him from any obligation to his master, this black man walked the greater portion of the distance back to where his old master lived in Virginia, and placed the last dollar, with interest, in his hands.

In talking to me about this, the man told me that he knew that he did not have to pay his debt, but that he had given his word to his master, and his word he had never broken.  He felt that he could not enjoy his freedom until he had fulfilled his promise.

We owe a debt to Jesus that we could never repay.  So we place ourselves in servitude to Him, in slavery to Him, and call Him our Master.  We pledge to follow Him and do as He commands.  Even though He has freed us from the tyranny of death and sin, we have promised to serve Him through our love to others, sharing the Good News of salvation with those of this world who do not know or do not believe.

How well do we fulfill our promise?

What will we look like when we are resurrected?  Which me will be brought back: the old me, the young and strong me, the me like when I died, the me as I see myself in my head?  I’ve been asked this question before, and my response is, “the you as Jesus sees you”.  I believe Paul gives a far better answer.  The me that returns to life will be the incarnation of the spiritual me.  It will be a different me, but still me.

I know…  that sounds confusing.  Let’s use Paul’s example.  When I plant a tomato seed, another tomato seed doesn’t come up out of the ground.  No, a plant that will bear tomatoes comes forth.  The same for a kernel of corn: it doesn’t result in another kernel, but in a stalk from which grow ears of corn.

What we are now is a physical form that will produce a spiritual form when brought back to live again.  The new form will be much greater but still similar to the old form.  For one thing, the new form will no longer be corruptible, it won’t wear out and die, it won’t rot.

And of course Paul uses the example of Jesus, who lived among us as a flesh and blood man but was resurrected to the spiritual Man that returned to heaven and His Father God.  This physical body is corruptible, sinful, weak, dishonorable in the eyes of our Lord.  Before we can enter God’s kingdom, the corruptible must be made incorruptible, the mortal made immortal, the physical made spiritual.  This is our promise, made to us by God, reinforced through the example made of His own Son Jesus.

Paul isn’t our only source of information in our Bible regarding the resurrection.  The Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection of the body, tried to trip up Jesus with a contrived question about what would happen to a woman who had married seven brothers.  Jesus’ response surprised them.

Listen to what the Apostle Matthew recorded of this conversation, in the 22nd chapter of his Gospel account, verses 23 through 33…

23 The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked Him, 24 saying: “Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. 25 Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. 26 Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. 27 Last of all the woman died also. 28 Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her.”

29 Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. 31 But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” 33 And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

--Matthew 22:23-33 (NKJV)

Jesus doesn’t go into near as much detail as Paul does, but He does confirm that our resurrected self will be different, more like the angels in God’s heaven, themselves spiritual beings.  And then He lets the Sadducees know that they are wrong in their thinking, since they believe the dead simply stay dead.  Our God is not the God of the dead, but of the living!  We will be brought back to life, incorruptible life, because God is the God of the living!

Family, this is our promise, that God will resurrect us from the dead and give us new bodies that will never age and never die.  He showed us this through the resurrection of His own Son, and He gives us a preview of what this will be like in our daily lives.

A seed, when it dies and is planted, will bring forth a marvelous new and better form of itself.  The earth, though it seems to die in winter, opens up to new and renewed life each spring.  A little baby will share the attributes and make-up of both its parents, yet will be a different creation, with its own personality, its own future, its own capabilities and talents.

Now we need to be a little careful here, because it’s not only believers that will be resurrected at the last.  Remember that in the Revelation of Christ, our Bible tells us that at the end of the age, all graves will be opened and the earth and the seas will give up their dead, and all will be judged.  The sheep will be separated from the goats, the believers from the non-believers, with the believers living eternity in paradise while the non-believers burn forever in the lake of fire.

Believers can echo Paul when in verse 57 he proclaims, “thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”.  We just need to follow his final instruction in verse 58, when he tells us to, “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord”.

Our promise is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Blessed be that holy name, the name of Jesus.

In just a few moments we will come to the table of our Lord to share His last meal with Him.  The Apostle Paul warns that we must be right with God before doing so.  Otherwise, we share the guilt of His execution, of His death, with those who committed the act.

Now is the time to get right with God.  If you are feeling convicted by the Holy Spirit, if you are weighed down by the guilt of your disobedience, if you are holding a grudge against a fellow believer, if there is anything in your life that God would see as sinful, lay it all at the foot of our Lord’s cross, repent, and seek forgiveness.  Get right with God.

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, You promised that through our belief in Your Son Jesus we would have everlasting life.  Since our mortal body cannot live forever, You will give us a new body, one that will not die.  You showed this through the resurrection of Jesus, and we know You always do as You promise.  Thank You, Father, for being our living God, the God of the living.  Father, sometimes we just can’t see far enough to understand the workings of Your plan.  Sometimes we cannot fully grasp the ultimate power You wield, that You truly can do anything You will.  Forgive us, Father, when we harbor little doubts.  Forgive us when we hesitate to defend You and Your promises to those who refuse to believe, who scoff at You and Your plan of salvation.  Please help us be strong and fearless, yet humble servants in all we do.  And Father, please help us remain strong, faithful, and true through all that we face in this age.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, some sweet day You will return and we will all be changed in the twinkling of an eye, those still alive at the time and those sleeping in their grave.  We will be given new bodies that will not die.  And by accepting You as our Master, we will spend eternity in those new bodies in paradise with You and our Father God.  This is our promise and in this we place all our hope.  Thank You, Lord, for washing us clean with Your blood.  Thank You for accepting us as Your own.  Please, Lord, forgive us when we don’t follow Your commands as You would have us do.  Remind us that if not for You we could never again be reunited with our Father God.  Show us how we can be more steadfast, immovable, and abounding in Your work.  And Jesus, please strengthen us through these very difficult times.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on what this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.