Led Astray

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”[a] 34 Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.                                                                 I Corinthians 15:33-34

 

The power of peer pressure cannot be underestimated. There is a deep need inside us to belong. Many times we go along with others, not because of any personal investment in the right or wrong of what we are doing, but because of our need to be accepted by those we are with.

 

When our conscience tries to tell us one thing and we ignore it then we are listening to a voice that, for the moment, is louder. Over time we find the voice of our conscience gets softer and we may even find ourselves enjoying behavior that at one time was distasteful to us. This is a degradation of our moral character.

 

Paul tells us to wake up and stop going along in the sinful patterns our companions have drug us into. We need to ask ourselves, “Where is the voice of God in this?” If we cannot tell or cannot say with confidence that He is right beside us, then we need to stop what we are doing.

 

Society views us as innocent or guilty by association of those around us. We may need to find new friends; people of integrity. We become like those we spend time with. We should find someone we admire and hang out with them. People will assume the behaviors of our companions are ours as well.

 

My husband is a very friendly, likeable person. Many people think I am friendly and likeable, too, since I am married to him. The truth is that I had precious few friends before I met him. I am an odd duck with unusual interests and I find it hard to relate to people on my own. He is an invaluable help to me in social situations.

 

We should not be content with mediocre companions to go through life with. We need to make time to find the best; people who will improve us as a person and a follower of Christ. The opposite of what Paul says in this passage is also true. Good company builds good character.

Danger and Death

Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”                                          I Corinthians 15:29-32

 

Christianity is a risky business. When you stand with Christ, His enemies are your enemies. You are in danger. You are a target. Our enemies will come at us in any way they can. They will attack our livelihood, our reputation, our well-being. For some of us, they will take our lives. From the very beginning, disciples of Jesus have been killed for their faith and it will not stop happening until Jesus comes again.

 

However, there is no need to fear the attacks of the enemy. The simplest solution to the fear of martyrdom is to give our lives willingly. In another of Paul’s letters he speaks of being crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20); in another he writes of giving his life as a burnt sacrifice (Rom. 12:1). The enemy cannot take what we have already given freely.

 

If our life is not our own then it matters little when it ends. We know that our life will not end until the time appointed by God (Heb. 9:27). What good does it do to fret over when that will be or how it will come about? Scripture tells us not to fear the one who can destroy our natural bodies, but rather to fear God who can destroy our body and soul in Hell (Matt. 10:28).

 

The secret to an anxiety-free life is to live every day as if it is our last. Jesus said not to worry about tomorrow, but focus on the trouble that each day brings (Matt. 6:34).

 

Neither should we worry for our loved ones who have died. Our concern or actions on their behalf do not affect the inevitability of their own resurrection. When Christ defeats the final enemy of death, He does it for them as well.

 

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

I Corinthians 15:55

The Last War

Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all. I Corinthians 15:24-28

 

There is a conflict raging, a war being fought every minute of every day. Our glorious King Jesus is attacking His enemies on every front in order to root out all who do not recognize His right to have power, dominion and authority over all things. This right to reign was given to Him by His Father, the Creator of all things. When the war is over and He has conquered the final enemy, death, Jesus will give His kingdom back to His Father in homage to Him. “For from him and through him and for him are all things” (Rom. 11:36).

 

When we face the enemies of Christ in our lives, whether it be sickness, loss, want or abuse, it helps to know that we have Jesus fighting on our side. Not only will he stretch out His hand to restore, but He also uses even the bad things so they work for good in our lives (Rom. 8:28).

 

In my own experience, one of the greatest benefits of life’s pitfalls is to remind me of my need for a Savior. When I am sick, it reminds me that I need a Great Physician to heal me. When I am betrayed or manipulated, it reminds me of my need for a Protector. It is a healthy realization that I am not invincible; I am not God.

 

Yet Jesus beckons me to join in His fight and bring restoration to this world in any way I can. Should I win a crown for anything I accomplish, I’ll lay it at my Lord’s feet, even as He will lay His crown down at His Father’s feet. And the righteousness and holy one shall reign supreme forevermore.

Each His Own Turn

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.                                                   I Corinthians 15:20-23

 

Human history is not an entity unto itself. It is a compilation of human lives; each person’s individual life plays into the whole.

 

Adam, the first man, was the first to be given life. In that life, he made choices about how he would live. His choice to sin caused the consequences of his choice, death, to be passed to his descendants throughout the generations since. Each one that inherits Adam’s life also inherits his choice to sin and reaps the consequence of death. So it has been throughout all time.

 

But the endless cycle of life and death has been broken. Jesus, a descendant of Adam, did not give in to the choice of sin and lived the perfect life. Then, in an act of the ultimate personal sacrifice, Jesus accepted sin’s consequence, death, though He deserved it not. Yet death could not hold Him since He had not sinned. The miracle of life overcame death and He arose from the grave whole and regenerated.

 

Now we find ourselves faced with a new choice – whose cycle are we on? Do we stay stuck in the same cycle of life, sin and death as all the generations before us? Or do we choose to get on the cycle of the Savior – life, sin, rebirth, death, resurrection, eternal life.

 

Jesus has gathered the first crop of the renewed tree of life. He reaches its fruit out to us and invites us to partake. Sin, as we all are too fully aware, is an easy choice. New life through our spiritual rebirth should be an easier one yet.

 

If we make the choice to belong to Christ, we will each get our turn to follow Him in our own resurrection. The journey of eternal life that Jesus began living when He rose from the dead on Easter morning He will share with all of us who have been made alive through Him.

Why the Dead Must Rise

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? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 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. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

I Corinthians 15:12-19

 

Death is the enemy’s last stab in the back for humanity. It is the ultimate consequence of the curse that has been in effect on this earth and its inhabitants since the Garden of Eden. Satan loves death because it also kills all the potential for love, knowledge, forgiveness and compassion that person shows to others.

 

The dead must rise again. Life must go on. God’s plans for us cannot be completed in one lifetime. He has many things in mind for us to accomplish for the rest of eternity. His will is “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

 

The only way the curse of sin and death could be lifted was for God to do it by His own hand. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God incarnate, we can all share in the victory that His resurrection brings. Victory in our preaching. Victory in our faith. Victory in our witness and our testimony. Victory over our sins. Victory for our loved ones who have died. Complete and total victory when Jesus returns and restores all things whole.

 

Do not pity us, world, for what you call our illusions. For our life may be short and our death may be tragic, but it is not the end of our story. We know the day is coming when our Lord will gather His sheep, living and dead, and will establish His righteous kingdom that will last forever.

Great Through Grace

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. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. 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, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

I Corinthians 15:9-11

 

It is widely believed that no one person has more greatly influenced Christian history than the Apostle Paul, save for Christ himself. Yet the course of history is littered with great men and women who have accomplished great things.

 

From Thomas, who is beloved as the apostle who brought Christianity to India, to St. Patrick, who single-handedly converted Ireland to Christianity. From St. Augustine and St. Francis, fathers of monasticism, to Catherine Booth (Mother of The Salvation Army) and Sister Theresa, angels of mercy to the poor. Great heroes of faith all.

 

Yet each one was but a sinner saved by grace just like us. Each one had a turning point where they left the ways of the world and set their feet upon a path of righteousness. Each one, no doubt, struggled with feelings of unworthiness similar to what Paul expresses in this passage.

 

Jesus said the one who has been forgiven much loves much (Luke 7:47). Paul said it was God’s rich grace shown him despite his persecution of the church which stirred him to work all the harder for the Lord after his conversion.

 

Some of us may not be able to identify with Paul in that we do not have a sordid past which haunts us. Yet we can all identify with him in realizing the relief and freedom that comes when we are forgiven of our ever-persistent sins.

 

The Apostle John said that he which claims to sin not is a lier and has made the Lord a lier (I John 1:8-10). All have sinned, but all can be forgiven by God’s grace (Rom. 3:23-26). Then, renewed in spirit with pure hearts, we can tackle any task, small or great, through the grace that works in us.

Eye-Witnesses

And that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.                                             I Corinthians 15:5-8

 

The resurrection of Jesus Christ was an event which was verified by the eye-witness testimony of over 500 people. Just as a multitude of the heavenly host proclaimed His birth (Luke 2:13), a throng of humanity celebrated His victory over death.

 

Whenever I read passages about those who knew Jesus when he lived as a man, I am awed at the privilege these individuals experienced. Even to be in the company of these witnesses as the Corinthian believers were would have been amazing.

 

For those of us living now who have embraced Christ, our time of seeing Jesus face-to-face is yet to come. What a glorious day that will be! To see His smile, feel His enthusiastic hug, and hear His voice of greeting will be more than worth the wait. We know that day is coming because we know He lives. We know He lives because of the eye-witnesses who saw Him after His resurrection.

 

In the Old Testament law, a case in court was decided on the testimony of two or three witnesses (Deut. 19:15). In the case of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God provided over 250 times the minimum number of eye-witnesses. Nothing was left to chance or the devil’s scheme to wipe this event from memory.

 

Jesus was far from an obscure religious teacher living in a backwater village. He was followed by throngs (Matt. 4:25), fed multitudes (Matt. 14:15-21), and healed whole crowds of the sick and hurting (Matt. 15:30).

 

Our God is not stingy. His hands are open for whosoever will to receive love, joy, and hope from His hand. Our greatest hope is to meet the living Christ and witness Him with our own eyes that we might join the “great cloud of witnesses” who have already seen him (Heb. 12:1).