How the Resurrection Helps Us Kill Sin

Text: 1 Corinthians 15:50–58 ESV

This is another sermon in this post-Easter season in which we're talking about the significance of the resurrection. 

I love that we are taking time to continue to chew on the beauties of Easter. I don't want the joy of Easter Sunday to just die down, but rather to be fuel as we continue our fight of faith all year long. Here's where we're turning today. Let me connect it to Jesus’s resurrection by pointing us to 1 Corinthians 15:20. 

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead [that’s what we celebrated on Easter], the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:20 ESV)

The Bible talks about how Christ rose from the dead, and then it goes on to say he's the first of many because all believers will also rise from the dead, just like Christ rose from the dead. Today, we are going to talk about that gift — the promise of our bodily resurrection from the dead and our promised heavenly home.

Now, how often do we think about that, that we are going to bodily rise from the dead? The New Testament talks about this idea quite often. I know I forget about this often. As Christians have, rightly, comforted ourselves when loved ones die who are believers in Christ by saying they're with the Lord. That's absolutely true. Here is 2 Corinthians 5:8:

“Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:8 ESV)

The Bible does say, when you die, you will be with the Lord. We're right to celebrate that when someone dies. But I think we might have taken that too far sometimes. I think we have forgotten that's not the end game. The goal of the Bible, where it's all heading, is not that we would just be with the Lord in spirit or our soul. It is that we would be with him in resurrected bodies. Here is how one pastor put it: 

“In other words, we tend to assume that the condition that the departed saints are in NOW without their bodies is the way it will always be. And we have encouraged ourselves so much with how good it is for them now that we tend to forget how it is an imperfect state and not the way it will always be, nor the way Paul wanted it to be for himself. Yes to die is gain, and yes, to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord, but NO this is not our ultimate hope. This is not the final state of our joy. This is not our final or main comfort when we have lost loved ones who believe.”

I think we often think about heaven, at least I do often think about it, it's very distant, very ethereal. I forget that's not our final hope. As Christians, that's not what we proclaim. What we actually proclaim is that Jesus is coming back. And when he does, our bodies will rise from the dead, and we will join Jesus bodily in the new heavens and new earth. 

Heaven will be a place where we taste things, touch things, scuba dive, hike, and feel it all. We will see Jesus in his resurrected body. Like Thomas, you might be able to go and touch Jesus and eat food with him.

We're not ghosts or spirits or souls. We actually have bodies. We will be living in a new heavens and new earth that has dirt and mountains. It's real material things. The endgame is not that God just wipes everything away. And we're just kind of up in this cloud space. 

In fact, this idea of the bodily resurrection is part of the Apostle’s Creed — one of the central statements of faith that Christians affirm. Here's what it says, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the communion of the saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”

I want to press in and ask, “Why is that resurrection of the body important?” What would we lose if we just changed the apostles' creed to say I believe in the Holy Spirit, forgiveness of sins, and in the life everlasting (take out the resurrection of the body). Would we be mad about that change? If so, why? 

Here’s where we're going this morning: We're going to see that your promised bodily resurrection shows that your body matters to God, and it changes how you live in your body today. 

Now, here's how we're going to get there. We're going to first see Paul affirm that indeed, we will rise from the dead. We are not going to stay in the state that departed believers are in right now. They're going to get new, changed bodies. We're going to get new, changed bodies. We're going to see that in verses 50 through 57. And then we're going to take a deep dive in verse 58 and get at how this reality changes two things. 

1. It shows that your body matters to God. 

2. It changes how we live today, very specifically what we do in our bodies today matters.

Let's get the context of where we're at. We're in First Corinthians 15. Paul is addressing people who are denying the resurrection of the dead. He begins by saying, “You can't do that and be a Christian. Because if you deny the resurrection of the dead, you deny that Christ rose from the dead. If that's true, we've got no faith.”

Instead he said, “Christ did rise from the dead. Not only did Christ rise from the dead, but you as believers, you will rise from the dead. This is our ultimate hope.” Now let’s hear Paul talk about that in his own words. We’ll begin in verse 50: 

“I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” (1 Corinthians 15:50 ESV)

Paul's building a case to say the kingdom of God cannot receive flesh and blood. It cannot receive imperishable people.

Imagine you're going up to get on the subway to take you to this kingdom and you present your ticket. Well, your ticket needs to say I'm imperishable, and then you pass through. If it says you’re flesh and blood, if it says you're perishable or have a mortal body, you don't get on. 

Well, that's a problem for us because if you haven't started feeling that your body is perishing, if you haven't started feeling achy because it is not immortal, you will soon. You see the problem? What are we going to do? We want to be in the kingdom of God, what do we do?

Here's what Paul says is going to happen, verse 51:

“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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.” (1 Corinthians 15:51–52 ESV)

He's saying for those who trust in Christ what's needed — an imperishable body — is secured for you. That's going to happen. He's saying, “Look at your body right now. It's perishing. You're going to have something similar in the new heavens and new earth but with some huge differences. And the huge difference that he's talking about right here is that it won't perish anymore. It will not be mortal. It will be changed that way. But notice there's a similarity to it. It will be your body.” And then there's a change. That change is what we need to be in this kingdom of God. Listen to how he carries on with this analogy in verse 53: 

“For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:53 ESV)

Now he describes it more in verse 54–55 and adds some of the results of this resurrection: 

“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. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”” (1 Corinthians 15:54–55 ESV)

To be clear, Jesus on the cross defeated death. But what Paul's describing is that death will finally be totally undone on this final day. What he's picturing is that, on that day, all of these believers who are in the grave, who have trusted in Jesus, their bodies will rise and their perishable, mortal bodies will change to be imperishable and immortal. 

In that way, death has lost its victory. Death thought it had killed these believers with sin, which is death. Look at, look at verses 56:

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” (1 Corinthians 15:56 ESV)

Well, when Jesus comes again, death loses its victory. Why? Because everyone who trusts in him rises bodily from the dead. Death has lost its sting. But look at verse 57: 

“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57 ESV)

This victory over death includes us rising from the dead, our bodies being changed because of what Christ did. This morning, if you don't trust in Christ, if you have not come and said, “I am a sinner, who deserves this death, but I'm coming to Jesus”, then your sins are not taken away and death still has its sting.

But for believers, death no longer has the final word, and you will rise from the dead. That is the final hope that Christians have. We don't end the story by saying, “Hey, the believers who are currently in heaven are living in ultimate paradise and happiness. And if it just went on for eternity like that forever, it would be totally fine.”

No, we don't say that. We say we're waiting for this final day when we will all have resurrected bodies and live in a new heavens and new earth. First Thessalonians, saying something very similar in 1 Thessalonians 4:16–18: 

“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. 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. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–18 ESV)

What we're hoping for, we're actually longing for, is a bodily resurrection. Now, the question is, why does that matter? Why would Paul not be fine with how things are today? Or if someone was to say to you, “Hey, you know what? I believe that we're going to be in heaven with Jesus. Just as right now my mom and dad are. But why do I need to believe in the bodily resurrection? Why does that matter?” What would you say to them? Does it matter? Why does it matter? In verse 58, I think you'll begin to see why it matters. You're promised bodily resurrection shows that your body matters to God, and it changes how you live in your body today. Per our outline:

1. We just covered the context - verses 50–57

2. Now we see conclusions - 58:

   1. It shows that your body matters to God.

   2. It changes how we live today

“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.” (1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV)

Let me now see if I can show how I got those conclusions from this verse. When we look at verse 58 it begins with the word **therefore**:

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, [then he moves to three commands] be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV)

That therefore connects these commands back to where we just came from — not only in verses 50–57, but really even the whole chapter. Here's what I mean. Paul has just said, “Your body will rise from the grave therefore, live this way — steadfast immovable, abounding in the work of the Lord. You will rise from the dead therefore live this way.” 

What is the logic? I understand what it means to remember that you will be in heaven one day so therefore live a certain way today. That is certainly in view, in fact we will touch on that in a bit. But we need to also deal with the fact that Paul is focusing specifically on the fact that you will have resurrected bodies in heaven one day. He sees a connection between that body and how we live today. 

I think he is trying to say clearly our bodies matter to God. Said another way, our bodies exist to glorify God. The principle example of that, the resurrection from the dead. If our bodies didn’t exist to glorify God, then he wouldn’t need to bother with resurrecting them. And if our bodies exist to glorify God in the future, they exist to glorify him also in the present.

In other words, how God treats them in the future shows how much they are worth and how we should treat them today. If they matter to God to bring into eternity, it certainly matters what we do with them today—so that means in your bodies be steadfast, immovable, abounding in the work of the Lord. 

Let me give you another sentence to just show the logic there. Let’s say someone comes up to you and they hand you a diamond. Then they say, “This will be worth a million dollars in one week. Therefore, be careful with it, and don’t lose it.” Do you see the logic there? This diamond is going to be worth something in the future, therefore this is how you should act today. The future reality informs what you do today. 

Let's go back to our sentence, “You will rise from the dead” - your body will rise from the dead, therefore, that tells you something about today about what you're supposed to do today. 

If you are having trouble seeing the logic here, let me show you that Paul argued just like this early in chapter 6. Again, what was happening in Paul's day is that people were denying the resurrection of the dead and saying, therefore, that body doesn't really matter. We can go do whatever we want with it. That is not true. Far from it, in fact, for Christians. God cares about your body. This same body will be in heaven. And he wants you to live right now to glorify him, and he will make it so that your body will glorify him in all eternity. 

But people in Paul’s day were denying that the body mattered to God. And so what they were saying is, “Oh, hey, you know what, we can go sleep with prostitutes. Why? Because it doesn't matter what we do with our body, our bodies, just are this kind of external thing. We can do whatever we want with it because in the end it is just thrown away anyway. So do whatever you want.” 

Paul is saying, “That is not how it works in the kingdom of God. It matters what you do with your body.” Here's what he says. This first Corinthians 6:13 beginning in the second half:

“The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.” (1 Corinthians 6:13–14 ESV)

Do you see the same logic there that was in 1 Corinthians 15:58 — your body is not meant for sin, but for God. If you want even more evidence that this is true, he's raised Jesus from the dead, and he will raise you from the dead. That's how important your body is. Your body is meant to glorify God even right now and it will do that perfectly in the new heavens and new earth. 

Paul keeps going, listen to his argument:

“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!” (1 Corinthians 6:15 ESV)

In other words, it really matters what you do in your body. Listen to how he ends this second part. I think you will see it all come together: 

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20 ESV)

There you go. Your physical body matters so much to God, that he sent his Son to take on a physical body in order to pay the price, not just for your soul, not just for your thoughts, but also for your body. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and it's been bought with a price. Jesus paid a price for this body so that it can be changed to be imperishable. 

The conclusion is that means you're not your own. Your bodies are not just throwaway things. You have now become a member with Christ. Therefore, glorify God with your body today. Your body is going to be perfect, perfectly restored, and it's going to glorify God perfectly in eternity. Practice that today, now. 

Here's what I mean. God is saying, “Your body matters to me. It was created for a reason. What you do in it matters to me today.” And the way he proves that worth is by saying that your body will come with you into this future kingdom. It will be changed to be immortal, but it will still be your body. Go back to 1 Corinthians 15:58: 

“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.” (1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV)

What he's saying is that he is not just gonna throw all this away, and just start over. He is saying, “I have created you for my glory, specifically your body. You, your body were created in my image for my glory.” 

That same God-glorifying body is going to carry on into eternity. That's how much it matters to God. Therefore, what you do in your body today matters. Whether you glorify God or not matters. It matters in eternity, you will be glorifying God with your body in eternity. And therefore you should be glorifying God with your body today. 

This may seem slightly confusing, but we use this kind of logic all the time. When we understand what something is worth in the future, it absolutely governs what we do with it in the moment. 

If I go down to the Dollar Tree and I buy something, I don't care at all what, for example, Landin or Eli, my kids, do with it. But if I go down and buy a $2 million piece of artwork from the Boise Art Museum, it absolutely matters to me what happens to that because its value is its future. Values determine what I do and how I treat it today.

God values your body enough to send his son to pay the price that it could carry on into eternity. Therefore, glorify God now with this valuable body. 

To me, this is so helpful. The passage in 1 Corinthians 6 has the obvious application of fleeing sexual immorality. You want reasons why you should not be pursuing prostitutes or porn, it's because your body was not created for that. Your body was created to glorify God. 

But it extends to any sin you could name, any sin you do in your body, because the same logic applies. You’re not supposed to just get drunk with alcohol so that your body is at the sway of something else besides the Holy Spirit. You are not to be using your body today on earth to gossip. You're not to be using your tongue to be slandering. Luke's message last week basically expounded on this reality that your tongue was created to glorify God, and we should not be those who would that same tongue to then go to defile was created in God's image. 

We celebrate on Easter Jesus’s resurrection. And today, I hope you are seeing that one of the things we remember from that then is that because of his resurrection we are also going to rise from the dead. 

When we remember that we rise from the dead, it shows that our bodies matter to God, and what we do with them today matters to God. We live to glorify God in our body today, even as we anticipate the day when we'll do that fully.

Now go back to verse 58, and we will look at that final, important phrase, ”your labor is not in vain”:

“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.” (1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV)

We just saw how the promised bodily resurrection fuels our obedience. Now, we see that the home that these resurrected bodies will inherit also fuels our obedience. These same calls to be steadfast, to be immovable, and to be abounding in the work of the Lord are supported by this truth that our labor is not in vain. 

Let me explain what I mean. It's not just that our bodies are going to be resurrected, and we're everything's going to be the same. No, we're going to be in something called the kingdom of God. That’s where we started in verse 50.

This logic is something you might be more familiar with. It's the reality that we have a heavenly home. To be clear, it's gonna be a new (or renewed) heavens and new earth. It's gonna have, like I said, dirt and mountains and oceans. It's not as if God's just gonna wipe this away and just be totally done with it. 

But the important thing for today is that this new home, all the labor we've done on earth, seen or unseen, will have its right reward. Paul is trying to say live in light of that future reality. 

He knows we are going to be laboring here on earth. We're going to be tempted to not stand steadfast to not be immovable. And what he's saying is, “Would you set your sights on the day in which all of your labor will be worth it.” Stay strong, stay steady. 

Why? Not because you're getting your award today. But because you'll get it tomorrow. If you live in light of that future reality, it will give you fuel for today. In fact, this future reality will change how you live today. 

Here's the picture. I've used this before, but it helps me. It helps me see how this works for me. Picture this little orphan girl. One day the king and queen come by, and they say we've adopted you. But we've got to leave. We're going to come back in two weeks, but it's as good as done. We will be back to pick you up in two weeks. You then get to come home. 

Now, what happens in those two weeks for that little girl at the orphanage? Here's what happens. Everything has changed. Everything changes in light of a future reality, in light of a future home. Now, when she sits down to eat, what does she do? She begins to eat, thinking I'm going to be eating at the Kings table. She begins to eat like that is already happening today. 

She begins to walk around as a princess because she is, even if everyone around her doesn't see it. She knows who she is, so she carries herself accordingly. And when bad things are happening at the orphanage in those two weeks. Oh, she's fine. She can endure. Why? Because rest is coming. 

Future realities inform how we live today. I think what Paul's saying is you need fuel for these things. Remember your resurrection. And you will need more fuel. Remember your promised inheritance. Remember who you will be in this new home and what it will be like in this new home. 

Here's an example, Luke 14:13–14 applying the same logic:

“But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” (Luke 14:13–14 ESV)

So you've done something, and you don't get your reward here. But still do it because you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. There’s the logic: do these things because the true, real good payment is coming soon. Or look at Romans 8:18 

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18 ESV)

I know right now, for so many, it feels like a season of weariness. COVID is dragging on, racial tensions are flaring. Your work is hard, relationships are hard. I just know that it can feel like you’re languishing, weary. 

What Paul is drawing us to is that the promised resurrection and promised home have to say to us is to abound in good works in light of those future realities. Don't give up. Not because it's going to get an easy tomorrow. I don't know if it's going to get easier tomorrow. But I do know it will one day. 

So Paul says, keep going. Keep pressing in. The temptation is real. When you are weary, the temptation to go do with the body what the body was never intended to do, thinking that will satisfy. Because I really want payment right now. And one of the antidotes is to remember your future promised resurrection and promised home. 

But Paul is saying, “Don't, don't give up.” Because you've been bought with a price. What you do matters to God. You're promised bodily resurrection. It shows that what you do in your body today matters to God. And it changes how you live today in the body. And this future home that you have, where this body will be, this future home promises that you will be repaid for your labors.

Finally, here's Galatians 6:9:

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9 ESV)