What Will Our Resurrection Bodies Be Like? | 1 Corinthians 15 Explained

1 Corinthians 15:35-49

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

What Will Our Resurrection Bodies Be Like? 1 Corinthians 15 Explained

Jesus, Grace, mercy and peace to you from God, our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus, Christ, Amen, we are working through our series on First Corinthians, chapter 15, talking about the implications of the resurrection for Christians, looking at Jesus's death and bodily resurrection so that we can see what it means for our own bodies in eternal life.

The first Sunday, we looked at the eyewitnesses and saw that we believe in the resurrection of Jesus, not despite the evidence, but because there were people there who saw him die and rise, and they gave us their eyewitness testimony.

The next session was about the resurrection and how Heaven is not the goal of the Christian life, but Jesus's return when he will call us from our graves and give us new life, body and soul after that, we reflected on on that and how it shows us that death is the enemy, then that life means having a body. And we talked about what that means, especially at funerals, and how our language needs to reflect that last time, we talked about how our bodies matter now as we look forward to the coming joy of the resurrection, and we ended with a question, What will these bodies be like on The day that Jesus returns?

It is really nice that St Paul asked that very same question he writes,

But someone will ask, how are the dead raised with? What kind of body do they come You foolish person? What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed, its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars. For star differs from Star in glory. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable. What is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written the first man, Adam became a living, living being. The last Adam became a life giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust. The second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven, just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Clears it up, doesn't it? That's a lot of words to tell. Us what's happening. But what St Paul is doing is he starts, first of all, challenging their assumptions. That first paragraph that talks about the birds and the wheat and the stars and all of that he's trying to say very simply, the resurrected body will be different from your body.

Now, he needs to give them that, because they are imagining a resurrected body that looks like their current body. And you can understand if you were just to raise the body you have, that wouldn't be all that awesome, unless you're about 22 In fact, the Greeks Tell a story about a man named tithanus.

Tithanus, in this version of the story, fell in love with a goddess Eos, and they were so in love that she wanted her mortal husband to live forever. So she went to Zeus, and she asked Zeus to give him eternal life. And Zeus smiled and granted him the wish. He smiled because she did not ask for eternal youth, just eternal life, which meant that he continued living and aging naturally, and after several 100 years, that was not all very good for him in us. You can imagine then why the Corinthians might think it's ridiculous that we would have our bodies back when we are raised from the dead, decaying, broken, hurting bodies. Why would we not be elevated into a new spiritual plane like the Greeks thought they imagine a zombie apocalypse on the day Jesus returns, groaning, mumbling, looking for brains.

Paul's answer is simple. The resurrected body is different from the present body in many and various ways, and he uses all of this language about sowing and growing, heavenly bodies and earthly bodies to introduce it. And he gets down to it when he says, What is sown is perishable. What is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. What happens is our bodies become different. The body that goes into the grave will be raised not as it was placed in the grave, but in glory and power. Paul tells us that Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection, which means that he is the pattern for our own resurrections. And when Paul describes the perishable and imperishable dishonor and glory and all the rest. What we can do is look to Jesus to see what that body will be like. And so when Jesus was raised from the dead, we know that that body is physical. He did all sorts of things, including eat with his disciples, showing that he was not a spirit, but a body.

We also know that that body will have some sort of content continuity with our current bodies and. Because they recognized him. Now, some of them didn't at first, but you want to know why they thought he was dead. Sometimes, when I'm in the grocery store and not wearing my clerical people have no idea who I am, right? It happens all the time. Then they go, Pastor? it takes a sec.

Can you imagine thinking Jesus was dead and then seeing him? It would take more than a second to go? Wait a second, Jesus? And I think that's what's going on. But there is also discontinuity with the old body. When Jesus rose from the dead, He rose never to die again. That's a big deal right now, death has no dominion over him. The body that was subject to pain and hurt and disease is subject to it, no longer the suffering servant, the one who came to bear the weight of sin in his body bears that weight no longer, because he has destroyed the power of sin forever.

And that means that while we will still be us, we will still have our bodies. They will be glorified in the pattern of His glorious body, and so there will be no sickness or disease or hurt or pain ever again. We will live forever in perfection. We will be raised from the dead to eternal life, empowered by the Spirit to live forever with Christ, following his pattern in God. Now, sometimes, when people think about the perfect resurrection That we will see and the perfect world that God will create on the day that Jesus returns, we might ask something. Well, there's a question, won't that be boring?

Have you ever asked that one, what will we do in the resurrection when there is no battle to fight, no growth, no challenges to conquer, when we are just perfect. That is a question that a television show that I loved asked. It's called The Good Place.

Anyone seen the good place? In the good place they go to the equivalent of heaven. And when they get there, the people who are there are so bored with perfection that it has rotted their brains. They can get anything they want at any moment, at any time. And they're so bored by instant gratification that they can't do anything. They are like the living dead zombies. And it would make sense then, if that's what eternal life was like, if we were raised from the dead, as we currently are, right? Because we like challenge. We like growth. We actually need things to do to stimulate ourselves, but that's because built into our bodies is sin. We need challenge because we're sinners.

When we are raised from the dead, it will not be like the Good Place sinners in perfect bodies getting whatever we want. We too, our whole being will be cleansed, not just our physical nature, but also. Our mind and behavior, we will not need challenge, because we will be perfect, always and perfectly, trusting in our Savior, always ready to receive the perfection that Christ gives us, never worrying about the future, ever again, if you can imagine it, never wondering what we might need, or questioning the good and gracious will of our God. We will simply do what we were made to do, love and serve one another in perfection for all eternity.

It is so crazy, I have a hard time even imagining what it would be like, which is why I think the Gospels and St Paul and Revelation don't even try to describe it, because it is so different from what we have now that it would boggle our mind to think about it. We will be raised from the dead into a life that is so perfect and so different we can't even imagine it being as great as it possibly is. What amazing gift that Jesus will give us when He returns on that last day to raise us from the dead, we will be sown with our bodies that are perishable and raised imperishable dishonor and raised in glory We are in weakness now we will be raised in power, a natural body now a spiritual body, following the pattern of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Live in perfection forever in Jesus' name. Amen, please stand and.

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Why the Resurrection Matters for Your Body | 1 Corinthians 15 Explained

1 Corinthians 15:20-29

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every 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 “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

Why the Resurrection Matters for Your Body | 1 Corinthians 15 Explained

So today, we are in the middle of a sermon series. We are talking about First Corinthians, chapter 15, working through the implications of Christ's resurrection for the Christian church and what it means that we have bodies and souls. Why is it so important that Christians are actually humans, not just spirits?

Over the course of this sermon series, we talked about:

• The eyewitnesses of the resurrection — the men and women who saw Jesus die on the cross and then rise from the dead.

• How we believe in the resurrection not because we believe in this fanciful story, but because of the testimony of these eyewitnesses.

• How heaven is not the goal of the Christian life, because Jesus did not die on a cross to have his soul go up to be with the Father, but to rise from the dead, body and soul. And so we, too, follow that pattern.

• Last Sunday, we talked about the phrase, "the last enemy to be destroyed is death," and how sometimes around the end of life, Christians misuse our language to talk as if death is a friend and not an enemy — and that the real eternal life that we're looking for is the resurrection, and that death, the enemy, will be destroyed on the last day.

Today's Focus: 1 Corinthians 15:29–34

So here is what St. Paul says, starting at verse 29:

"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 die every day — I mean that, brothers — just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.' Do not be misled: 'Bad company corrupts good character.' 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."

There are some confusing sentences in this passage, and you shouldn't feel bad about being confused, because everybody is confused by these — even the really smart people. I watched a video in preparation for this about those opening sentences that talked about being baptized for the dead, and they all said, "We have no idea what this means." These are the guys who are teaching at seminaries, who know Greek better than I know English. They have no idea.

There are lots of theories and lots of ways of trying to explain it, and, you know, people write books about this — but in the end, we don't really know what St. Paul was talking about when he said "baptized for the dead," or "on behalf of the dead," or "concerning the dead." However you translate it, this is something we just don't understand. So... we’re going to skip it.

What We Do Know

Let’s talk about what happens next instead.

What St. Paul says is he is protesting their idea of salvation with the idea that he suffers in his body for Christ. He says:

• If the dead are not raised, why in the world do I suffer for Christ?

• If Christianity is about now or is just a spiritual religion, I don’t need to discipline myself.

• I don’t need to stand up for Christ and take the wounds of Christ on myself if the dead are not raised.

• In fact, he says, “If the dead are not raised, what are we doing at all? Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

Why not just have as much fun as you can, have this spiritual life inside your heart in Christ, and then die and go to heaven, and everything’s fine?

What St. Paul is doing is pointing out a problem in the Corinthians — the implications of what it means if Christ is only about now or only about this spiritual life. He says nothing that we’re doing now makes any sense if that’s the case.

The Implications of a Bodily Resurrection

St. Paul fought the wild beasts. He was beaten many times. He was stoned all over the place, imprisoned, whipped. He went through a lot, didn’t he?

In fact, those are only the things we talk about — the things that are written down in Scripture. I am sure that he went through a whole lot more. And then eventually, he died a martyr’s death.

The same is true for all of the apostles — except for John. And John — they only attempted to kill him.

Many Christians face a life of difficulty and hardship — a life where they are under threat of physical violence, imprisonment, or even death.

We in America are pretty fortunate that:

• We don’t have a government that wants to hunt us down and imprison us.

• We don’t have powerful religious groups that will sometimes start a riot and chase us out of our villages — which still happens all over the world.

But the Christian life is still difficult.

• We still face hardships.

• We still face hurt.

• We still discipline our bodies in response to Christ.

As Jesus tells us: “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.”

If Christianity is about today and today only, and our bodies are just for this earth, why would we discipline our bodies?

It would just be a spiritual, mental religion. All we would have to do is have the right internal disciplines — a little bit like the Jedi and their force-ghost eternal life. All you have to do is think the right things, and then you get to die and go off to heaven.

But that’s not what we’re here for.

Our Bodies Matter

Our bodies will be raised from the dead, which means:

• What we do in the body now is important.

• What we do with our bodies today matters.

Because Jesus came to die not just for our souls but for our bodies.

He came not to be a spiritual guru to give you the right mental exercises and an internal spiritual path, but to lead us through death into eternal life. Jesus gives us the resurrection.

And if we don’t have a resurrection, if there is no bodily rising from the dead, we might as well go out and do what St. Paul says:

“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

That’s what our world tells us to do, right?

• Have fun while you can.

• Enjoy life.

• Do whatever you like.

And you all know — that’s not what Christianity is all about.

We know this not just because Holy Scripture tells us. You’re not doing it just because it’s written in a command somewhere, but because this makes sense.

Against the Spiritualization of Christianity

One of the other implications of this is that we have to fight against the spiritualization of Christianity.

This has happened all over our culture. People act as if Christianity is just a mental attitude.

And you know this because:

• You’ve talked with lots of people who think they are Christians because they know the name of Jesus.

• They don’t do anything or live in a particular way.

• There is no church attendance or anything like that.

• No evidence of the Holy Spirit in them.

They simply say, “I have the name of Jesus in my heart, therefore I must be a Christian.”

But we know:

• You’re not saved by your knowledge.

• You’re not saved by an internal mental discipline.

• You’re not saved by a spiritualization of the faith.

We are saved by grace through faith on account of Christ. And that grace is delivered through means — through the Word and Sacraments.

Real Life, Real Grace

The spiritualization of the Christian faith happens the way the Corinthians were doing things.

If you read the book of Corinthians, they thought because they had this faith, they could do whatever they wanted with their bodies — including some pretty crazy... some pretty crazy stuff. You should read it. It’s not the kind of thing I can say over the microphone to a bunch of pious Christians — especially not put out on the internet on YouTube. They might get me banned.

It was pretty nuts. And this is why St. Paul says to them:

“Bad company corrupts good morals.”
“Some of you don’t know God, and I say this to your shame.”

Paul’s being pretty hardcore.
Our bodies matter, and what we do with them matters.

Serving the Eternal Body

So the real question then is: Why?

• Why do we discipline ourselves?

• Why do we gather here?

• Why do we take our time?

It’s not just this mental thing.

We do it because we want to rise from the dead on the last day — because Jesus calls us to follow Him. And so you gather here to receive His grace. You gather here:

• To hear the Word,

• To receive the Sacraments,

• To have the grace of God given bodily to us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Because we know Christ is coming, and what we do in our bodies matters.

And the means of grace come to us in our bodies:

• In Baptism,

• In Holy Communion,

• Sometimes with the hand of the pastor put on your head in my office when I say, “I forgive your sins in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

Our bodies matter, and so we hold on to that hope, and we discipline ourselves, and we do these things because we know eternal life is worth it. Christ is coming.

The Beautiful Implication

The last thing about our bodies mattering and the life of the world to come is actually super cool.

Well, all of this is kind of cool. I love it. But I think this is really cool — because this is something I don’t think Christians talk about very much:

When you help someone in their body, you are doing an eternal good.

When you feed someone — hospitality people — when you feed someone, even if it’s a delicious donut, you are supporting a body that will live forever.

Isn’t that cool?

This body that you are supporting, that you are serving, will live forever.

Moms, dads — you fed a lot of baby food to your kids, right? It was kind of sloppy, because babies — when they chew, it comes out their lips and just... all over their face.

And I bet when you were doing that moment, you didn’t think to yourself, “I am serving eternity.”

You thought, “This is gross,” right?

But that’s what happens. You are contributing to an eternal being when you serve someone’s body.

Eternal Impact

The things that you do look forward into eternal life, because:

• Our bodies matter.

• They are not shells to be discarded.

• They are not things that will be left behind on Earth.

• They will be raised on the last day into eternal life.

And so the physical, and the emotional, and the things that we are called to do in our everyday vocations — they are not less than the spiritual, but are part of the whole thing.

You are serving a body that will last into eternal life.

And we can’t set aside the Gospel of Jesus Christ, of course — because if we want that body to live forever with us in eternal joy, they need to hear the Gospel.

But every time you go out and serve someone — whether it’s in your jobs, in your homes, whatever you're doing when you give someone food or help or whatever it is, you are serving something that lasts forever, and there is cosmic and spiritual service involved in that. And I think that's cool, don't you, because our bodies matter both now and into eternal life. And St Paul is helping the Corinthians to remember this, to remember that what we do with ourselves, our bodies, our lives, it matters in our discipline, in the Christian faith, because Christ is coming. He is coming not to take our souls and put us up in heaven, but to raise the bodies that we live in now into everlasting life, and what a joy that is. Now, of course, what this is going to do is it's going to raise a question, what kind of body will that be? What sort of body does it have in relation to my body. Now it can't be just like this. Come back next week, and you will find out exactly what St Paul says about that body, because it's pretty cool. Because what he says is, but someone may ask, how are the dead raised with? What kind of body will they come find out more next Sunday in Jesus' name. Amen..

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Death Is Not Salvation — Christ the First-fruits | 1 Corinthians 15 Explained

1 Corinthians 15:20-29

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every 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 “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

Christ Has Been Raised: The Resurrection and the End of Death

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

We are in the middle of our Easter sermon series. We've been working through the resurrection chapter of Paul’s letters—First Corinthians, chapter 15. This is the chapter where Paul talks about the implications of the resurrection for Christians who, at that time, didn’t believe that people rose from the dead. These Corinthians.

So far in our series, we’ve talked—
The first time, we talked about the witnesses of the resurrection.
That we Christians, we don’t believe despite evidence—we believe because there were people who saw Jesus die, saw Him buried, and then saw Him alive.
And we believe because those people carried that testimony, wrote it down, and even died for it.

Last time, we talked about the resurrection—about how living as disembodied spirits floating around in heaven is not the goal of the Christian life, but the resurrection.
That Jesus, who died and rose, will raise us from our graves as well.

Christ the Firstfruits: A Reading from 1 Corinthians 15

And so today we’re continuing on in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, starting at verse 20:

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ.
Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every 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 God has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when it says ‘all things are put in subjection,’ it is plain that He is excepted who put all things in subjection under Him.
When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him who put all things in subjection under Him, that God may be all in all.”

Who Is Subject to Whom? Clarifying Paul’s Complex Language

Now, I think the first thing we have to do before we dive into the meat of this sermon is explain that last couple of sentences, because that’s a little confusing, isn’t it?

St. Paul uses the word "Him" to refer to a lot of different people, and there’s a lot of subjection going on.

So what we’re going to do is make it a little more plain English.
What it says is that when Christ returns, He will rule over all things—except for the Father. That’s it.
But St. Paul has to go, “When the Bible says all things will be put in subjection under Christ, it means—except the Father.”
That’s what he was trying to say there.

And of course, we know that because Christ is subject to the Father, because He’s also not just God but a human being.
And so just as we are subject, so is He.

But that’s not really the main point of what Paul is trying to talk about here. What he’s trying to talk about is something about death and resurrection.

Death Is the Enemy—Not a Friend

He says that Christ will rule—where He is now, at the right hand of the Father—until all the enemies are destroyed.
“Every rule and authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.”
And then it says: “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

So I think that’s really important in talking about the resurrection—is reminding ourselves that death is the enemy.

Now, when we say that, we all think: “Well, of course, Pastor. That’s why we celebrate Easter.”

We got together on Easter Day, we read the story of Jesus coming out of the tomb, and you told us: “The power of death is destroyed forever.” Duh.

Bucha.

We all know that, and we say it, but sometimes when we get to funerals, we forget the language that death is the enemy.

And so what we need to do is remind ourselves—some very simple definitions.

What Does It Mean to Be Alive or Dead?

What does it mean to be alive?
And what does it mean to be dead?

Now again, you’re probably looking at me going, “Pastor, we know what it means to be alive. We also know what it means to be dead. Why are we going through this again?”

It’s about how we talk when we’re dealing with the end of life.

So let’s say—what does it mean to be alive?

If you look at the story of Adam when he was created, God formed his body out of the ground, and He gave him the breath of life.
And so you are alive when you are living and breathing. You have a body and soul. Pretty straightforward.

You are dead when that is not the case.
Our soul goes to be with Christ our Savior while we wait for the resurrection.

And what that means is that we have to remember:
When we say the phrase “eternal life,” it has to be life—not death.

If Jesus destroyed the power of death, we are only alive if our bodies and souls are together—living and breathing.

Jesus Rose—Body and Soul

Jesus did not say, “I’ve died on the cross, my body is placed in the tomb, and now my soul rests with my Father forever in heaven.”

His soul left His body—and it came back.

He rose from the dead.
And now He is alive—body and soul—forever.

And that’s what it means that Jesus destroyed the power of death.
He did not die and go to heaven to remain there—He rose, so that we could live too.

Funeral Language: “Homegoing” and Other Mistakes

And what that means is—death is still our enemy. Death is still the enemy.

And we can understand how we sometimes misuse this if we look at the way we talk at funerals.

I’m going to use the example of my paternal grandfather.
See, my grandfather died at a ripe old age, after many, many years of illness.

He had a heart attack the very first time right when I was being born.
That was a long time ago.
And ever since then, he struggled with heart things.
And then eventually, he died of COPD—which is a really long thing—like slowly your lungs fill, there’s fluid, and it takes a while.
He had years of decline because of that.
His body slowing down.
He couldn’t eat salt—which might’ve been the worst part, right?

So finally, when the funeral came, we took comfort that the suffering was over.
And that happens for a lot of us, right?
We say, “He is with Christ. His spirit is with our Savior in paradise, waiting for the last day.”
But it didn’t mean we didn’t miss him.

We still wanted him to be alive—because life is better than death in all circumstances.
It was still sad when he died—because life is better.

We still grieved in hope, knowing that our Savior died for him, and that he will rise with us on the last day.
We still grieved with a sure and certain promise that because he was baptized, he will be with our Savior until we see him again—and Christ calls him out of the grave.

But the trouble that sometimes we have is—at funerals, we act as if death is life.

We talk about them “going to be with Christ” and living eternal life then—
or even worse, every once in a while, I will see a funeral called a “homegoing.”

Have you heard that before?

Some of your faces are all wrinkled. I’m glad to see that.

But some of you are nodding—yes.

They’ll say that when the person dies, they’re actually “going home.”
Which is the opposite of the Christian message.

Death is the enemy—not our salvation.

Jesus Christ did not die and leave His body in the tomb.
He rose from the dead.

And so sometimes when we do things like that, we try to stop giving permission to be sad at the funeral.

We tell people, “You should be happy—they’re in salvation now,”
which just… isn’t real.

No matter what happens, when someone dies, it’s always sad.
And it’s okay to mourn and weep when that happens.

What we are is—we are comforted by the joy of Christ’s resurrection, knowing that He will return.

Christ, the Firstfruits—And My Blackberry Bush

And that’s what this “firstfruits” metaphor is all about.

Paul says:

“But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits, then at His coming, those who belong to Christ.”

Of course we’re talking about fruit—which means I’m going to tell you about my garden. You’re all used to that, right?

I have been growing blackberries for the very first time, and they have sprouted in a crazy way that I never expected.

I have this wall of blackberries at my house, and I bet there are a thousand flowers and blackberries growing on my three vines.

I’ve been tending them and watching them.

And this week—actually yesterday—there was one ripe blackberry.

I’ve been watching it for days.
It started turning pink… and then darker, and darker, and darker.
And I picked it yesterday. And I gave it to my wife.

And it was sour—but amazing.

That was the firstfruits.
Nothing else is ripe right now.

We’ve got green berries of various sizes—some are teeny tiny, some are the right size.
Then we’ve got flowers, and things that will soon be flowers.

And what’s going on here is—it helps us see exactly what Christ is for us.
He’s that first blackberry, and we’re waiting for all the rest.

I’m really excited, because this is just a foretaste of the feast to come in my house—because I’m going to get a lot.

But it’s even better that Jesus is a foretaste of the feast to come in the resurrection.

That all who have died in Christ—this is not where they stay.
We will follow the pattern of Him that is to come.

Death is not salvation. Life is.
And when Christ returns, He will restore all the dead to everlasting life.

Grieving with Hope—and the Promise of Baptism

And it should change how we talk around that time—especially at funerals.

Because we are allowed to be sad.
We’re allowed to mourn—which, in fact, is good.

But at the same time, we have the comfort of the firstfruits—Christ, that very first blackberry.

He is the one who will show us what all the others will be like.
He is the one who shows us what that last day will be—when all of us are called from the dead and live in new life.

And that promise is delivered to you in baptism.

Because Romans chapter 6 tells us that in baptism, you died with Christ, and you rose with Him,
so that you will have new life. Life.

Christ is that very first who comes to give us life.
And we know that on the last day, He will destroy that enemy.

And He will reign forever with us.
In His name. Amen.

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Heaven Isn’t the End: The True Christian Hope of Resurrection | 1 Corinthians 15:12–19 Sermon

1 Corinthians 15:12-19

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Heaven Isn’t the End: The True Christian Hope of Resurrection | 1 Corinthians 15:12–19 Sermon

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

For today's sermon, I’m preaching on 1 Corinthians 15:12–19. We are still in the Easter season, and this is a passage about the resurrection.

"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 to be pitied more than all men."

When a loved one dies, most of us have heard—and perhaps even said—words like “She’s in heaven,” or “At least Grandpa is with the Lord.” These words are true and comforting, but they are not the whole story. Heaven is not the finish line. It is a waiting room before the opening of God’s new creation.

The Apostle Paul gently fills in that missing chapter—the rest of the story—for the church in Corinth and for us. Many of us have been in church all our lives and have not heard much talk about the resurrection. We’ve probably heard many stories and sermons about going to heaven, but we were not told a complete story.

Paul had an argument with the Corinthians who did not believe in the resurrection. Verse 12 of 1 Corinthians 15 says:

“Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?”

Paul starts with common ground: the unanimous testimony that Jesus really did walk out of the tomb. Yet in Corinth, many still thought bodily resurrection was repugnant or unnecessary. To them, salvation meant deliverance of the soul from the prison of the body.

Paul’s question, therefore, cuts two ways. It is rhetorical: “You already confess Christ’s resurrection. Why deny your own?” Any defense of the Gospel, your doubts about your future, expose doubts about His past. In one sentence, Paul confronts an entire worldview that belittles the body as insignificant. He invites the church to carry the hope of Easter forward from the empty tomb all the way to every believer’s grave on earth—confident that every one of them will stand empty.

Verses 13 and 14 say:

“But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.”

Paul’s argument is not abstract reasoning—it is a prioritization of theological and pastoral issues. The word vain means empty, hollow, without content. Preaching becomes motivational speaking. Faith becomes wishful thinking. The cross becomes a noble tragedy.

Paul is pressing the Corinthians to see that Easter is not one doctrine among many—it is the keel that keeps the ship of the Gospel from capsizing. Verses 15 and 16 say, partly toward the end:

“If the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.”

Jewish law required two or three witnesses for a matter to be established. The Twelve and a wider circle of witnesses—many of whom the Corinthians could still interview—had staked their lives on what they saw. If resurrection is impossible, those witnesses become perjurers, and God Himself is painted as a deceiver. Christ’s resurrection and ours stand or fall together. Union with Christ is not a metaphor—it is a concrete sharing of our destinies.

Verse 17 says:

“And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”

A dead Messiah cannot pardon. The resurrection is God’s receipt—stamped “Paid in Full” across the ledger of sin. Without it, the guilt and power of sin remain unbroken, and the Spirit’s sanctifying work has no legal footing.

Paul is suddenly answering a lurking question: “Isn’t the cross enough?” The answer is no. Without Easter, the cross is a payment check that bounced.

Verse 18:

“Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.”

Paul turns this theology to pastoral reality. People we love have died. The gentle phrase “fallen asleep” echoes Jesus’ own words about Jairus’ daughter and Lazarus, hinting at a temporary condition that will end in awakening. But if resurrection is fiction, the sleeping are permanent. Grief would be final, and Christian funerals would offer nothing better than stoic resignation. Paul lets that bleak possibility hover so that the coming declaration of victory will break like dawn after a long night.

Verse 19:

“If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”

The Gospel is not a self-help program for coping with Monday mornings. Paul has endured beatings, shipwrecks, hunger, and imprisonment—precisely because he is convinced that death is a doorway, not a dead end. If that doorway is bricked shut, his sacrifices—and ours—are pathetic. Christianity then becomes nothing more than a bait-and-switch: “Give up everything now for benefits that will never come.”

Only a bodily, cosmic resurrection—of people and creation—justifies such costly discipleship.

We’ve talked through every verse. Paul has not yet introduced the next section; he wants the weight of the problem to sink in before he gives the solution.

Resurrection completes salvation. Good Friday answers the question: Can sin be paid for? Easter morning answers: Has the payment been accepted? When the Father raised Jesus, He publicly vindicated the cross, declaring once and for all: the debt is settled.

Justification is therefore more than a legal fiction—it is a living union with the risen Christ. Because He walked bodily out of the tomb, your own flesh is destined for the same outcome. Salvation is not complete until bodies, as well as souls, are made new—and Easter is God’s pledge that He will finish what He started.

Grief is refined. Tears at a funeral are still appropriate. Jesus Himself wept at Lazarus’ tomb. Yet believers do not sorrow as though they have no hope.

Every Christian internment, in Paul’s agricultural metaphor, is a sowing in hope. What is lowered in weakness will be raised in glory. What is buried perishable will emerge imperishable.

Easter, therefore, converts cemeteries into fields awaiting harvest. Grief remains real, but it is shot through with anticipation.

Our daily life is energized. If death—the ultimate enemy—has lost its dominion, then every lesser fear has been relativized. The resurrection empowers holy risk. You can give away time, treasures, even reputation, knowing nothing offered to Christ is really lost. Courage in injustice, perseverance in suffering, and extravagant love all flow from a settled confidence that our labor in the Lord participates in a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

The body is honored because God intends to rescue creation—not replace it. The material world, including your body, carries enduring significance. Caring for physical health, practicing sexual integrity, ministering to tangible needs, and stewarding the environment are not mere add-ons to spiritual life—they anticipate the resurrection order in which heaven and earth meet.

The body is not a disposable shell but a temple slated for glorification when Jesus Christ returns.

We often hear well-meaning phrases when someone dies—things like, “They’re in a better place,” “Mom’s watching over us,” or “He’s become an angel.” These words are offered out of love and a desire to comfort—and we understand the heart behind them. People reach for whatever words they can to help comfort others.

While these phrases are common, they unintentionally point us away from the glorious hope we have as Christians.

Let’s look at the idea that someone becomes an angel. Angels are a distinct order of creation. Our destiny is not to become something else entirely but to be fully restored—body and soul—as God created us to be. Christ rose as a human being glorified. That’s our hope.

Also, think about the phrase, “They’re watching over us.” Scripture says our hope is not in the dead being our guardians, but that we are held in God’s care. Our comfort comes from the truth that Christ intercedes for us, and the Holy Spirit dwells within us now.

When people say, “They’re in a better place,” there’s some truth in that. Paul did say that to be with Christ is far better. But our Christian hope is not simply that our soul floats off to heaven. That’s only the first part of the story. Our ultimate hope is resurrection—bodily resurrection, life made new.

Jesus walked out of the tomb and will raise us on the last day. Our bodies will be restored—not as ghosts or angels—but as redeemed human beings, glorified in Christ.

We confess this in the Apostles’ Creed when we say: “I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.”

It is a promise sealed in Jesus’ empty tomb. We can face death with confidence, knowing that the One who died and rose again has gone ahead of us—and will return to raise us with Him.

Let us then gently correct our language—not to scold or belittle someone—but to proclaim something better, even better than heaven. The true Christian hope is not that our loved ones become angels, but that they are resting in Christ, and they will rise again.

As Job said:

“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.”

Fellow Christians, the Gospel does not end in the cemetery. Christ rose—and therefore, we will rise.

Heaven is wonderful, but it is only the waiting room of the Father’s house. The great room is still ahead—when Christ returns, the trumpet sounds, and every grave is empty by His command.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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See You Sunday: Finding Peace in the Resurrection Promise | Easter Sermon

Luke 24:1-12

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

Easter Sermon: See You Sunday

Alleluia, Christ is risen!

Today, we are joyfully celebrating the story of the resurrection. This story begins with a number of women going to the tomb. They go to the tomb taking the traditional spices, the aloes and lotions and all of the things that you would put on a body being prepared for burial.

There would have been a lot of confusion after Jesus had been taken down from the cross. You can imagine, everything happened pretty quickly. They arrest him on Thursday. He's executed on Friday, in the grave by Friday night before the Sabbath comes. Nobody really has time to get together and have a meeting. There were no Roberts Rules of Order for the burial committee, so Joseph of Arimathea goes and takes the body down. Nicodemus is there to help prepare it.

But the women, maybe they forgot, and they bring spices to the tomb early in the morning that day. When they get there, the stone is rolled away, and the angels are there, and they say:

"Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise."

And they remembered his words.

That's what I'd like to focus on today, that little phrase, "and they remembered his words." Why is that phrase so important?

Luke shows Jesus as the perfect Prophet coming to Jerusalem to suffer and die for his people. There's a test in the Old Testament, found in Deuteronomy. When Moses says there will be a prophet who comes after me, he asks the question: how will we know whether a prophet is from God or speaking on their own? The test is very simple. If the Prophet says something will happen, and it doesn't, they're a false prophet. Easy enough, right? If the Prophet says something will happen and it does, they could be a true prophet.

Now, there are lots of prophecies that you can make that everybody knows will come true. Otherwise, anyone would be the greatest prophet of all, right? "The sun will come out tomorrow." We can make predictions like that. It's pretty easy for the weatherman to be a prophet in California: "Sunny tomorrow." But that's not the kind of prediction that Jesus made.

Jesus made a prediction three times, and the angels remind the women of that. They say, "Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise?"

Jesus predicts this three times in the Gospel of Luke:

1. Twice in Luke 9, he says, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised."

2. Later, he says, "But while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to His disciples, 'Let these words sink into your ears. The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.'"

3. Or in Luke 18: "See, we are going up to Jerusalem and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished, for he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise."

That's a pretty good prediction, isn't it? Because that's exactly what happened to Jesus. He was betrayed to the Gentiles, mocked, beaten, spit upon, flogged and nailed to a cross, and they took him down and placed him in a tomb. And then Jesus did what he said he would do. He came back, he rose from the dead, and the angels were there to share this wonderful news with the women. Notice they reminded them of what Jesus said. They reminded them that they can trust Jesus' promises. When he says something will happen, it will happen.

And the funny thing is, nobody believed him. Now, you can't really blame the disciples and all the other people there. Jesus often said a whole bunch of confusing things. They might have thought this was another one of his parables. Or they could have thought maybe Jesus was just kind of going insane. Because who is going to make that their plan? Go to the cross, die and then rise from the dead? "What Jesus? You're nuts."

And even after everything happened that he had predicted—that he was beaten and flogged and mocked and spit on and nailed to a cross and died—they still didn't say, "Wait a second, you remember all that stuff he said while we were walking to Jerusalem? It all happened. Maybe we should expect him to come back." No, the disciples were hiding, all alone for fear of the Jews. They thought they would be next on the crucifixion list.

Even the women, the women who followed Jesus everywhere and were at the foot of the cross, who didn't abandon him—they didn't expect him to be alive either, because they were bringing spices to anoint his body. You don't bring those spices if you expect no body to be there.

I'd like you to take a moment and imagine what it might have been like for the women and the disciples if they had listened, if they had believed what Jesus had said. Sure, it would have been pretty terrible watching someone they love get flogged and whipped and beaten and all of the stuff that Jesus predicted. They could be at the foot of the cross, and they would have been crying, but then they might have looked up and said, "See you Sunday." Right?

They could have believed, listened to what Jesus said and said he's going to come back, because he told them exactly what he would do. And this is the same guy who healed the sick and raised the dead and walked on water and did all sorts of cool stuff. Why couldn't they believe? They just didn't trust. It could have been so much better for them, but they didn't believe his words.

It actually reminds me of something that happens when you've got a real young kid, and you pick them up and throw them in the air. We've got some young children at 2911 and they're at the right age now that I get to do that, which is really fun for me. When the ceilings are low, they get a little nervous, but when the ceilings are high, they're really up there.

Now I'm getting to the stage in life where if something like that happens to me—I go up on a roller coaster—I'm really, really nervous, even though I know there is no way it's going to be a problem. The little kids, it never even crosses their mind that I wouldn't catch them. I mean, I could throw them up in the air and just be like... but they know I won't. All they do is laugh and smile and giggle. There's so much joy because they trust. It never crosses their mind not to make that trust.

That's what they could have had—the disciples, the women who followed Jesus, everyone who believed in him could have had that kind of peace. They could have just said, "See you Sunday, Jesus."

That's what Jesus can offer us too, the kind of peace that simply says, "We believe your promises." We believe that Jesus is the first fruits of the dead, that his resurrection is not a one-off kind of thing, but he leads the way through death to eternal life, that just as He is risen from the dead, all who believe in Him will follow that same path. That's the promise of the resurrection, that's the joy that we can have.

And it's really cool to be able to think: I don't have to worry, because I know Christ is with me. He has given me these promises. I know that at the end of whatever is ahead of me, even if it leads me to a cross, there is resurrection on the other side. And the same Jesus, who said, "I will be betrayed into the hands of men, crucified, and after three days rise," promises you that he will raise you from the dead.

But our hearts are just like the disciples. We always hear those words, and we forget about them, like me riding the roller coaster, too nervous to have fun just thinking, "Oh no, we're really high up." We start to think that we have to solve our problems. We have to take care of ourselves, or we trust other things, and we ignore the promises of God, and that robs us of the peace we could have simply trusting that our savior is with us.

But Jesus knows that. What did he do for the women who didn't believe his words? He sent angels to them, and they said, "He's not here. He's risen. Remember what he said?" And then he appears to them again, and he appears to the disciples in a room and eats fish to prove that he's alive. He appears to two disciples walking along the road to Emmaus, and explains everything about him in the Scriptures. He spends 40 days with his disciples, teaching them everything they need to know to be the messengers of the gospel after he ascends into heaven, because he knows that we are sinful, that we don't have the trust we need. So He reassures them and appears to them so they cannot deny that he is risen.

We too get some assurances. Those first are the ones that we read about when we gather here to study God's word. It's the testimony of the apostles. They saw Jesus alive. They spoke to him, they touched him, they ate with him. They know he was alive. And that testimony comes down to us as well.

And he appears here every single week, when we all gather together. The body of Christ is here to be with you, to repeat those promises, to tell you: come and have the peace that Christ offers you. He's here. The greatest way he does that is when he shows up with his body and his blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.

The resurrection of Jesus gives us this amazing promise that we too will rise from the dead.

Now, before we close, I want to let you know we're going to be talking about this resurrection promise all through the Easter season. Starting next week, we're going to do a sermon series on First Corinthians chapter 15, which is all about the resurrection and everything that it means for us. It's one of the longest chapters in the letters, and there's so much in there. Come back and hear more. Hear more about the power of the resurrection for you and all the amazing things it does. As Paul lays out this perfect and amazing promise that Christ wants to give to you, because Jesus is risen.

Alleluia, Christ is risen! Amen.

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Waiting on God's Salvation: From a Heart of Stone to a Heart of Flesh | Easter Vigil Sermon

Ezekiel 36:24-28

I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

This is my favorite worship service of the entire year. I love it because it's got all the bells and whistles—except for actual bells or whistles. There's singing, chanting, and the smell of heaven all around us. It's a wonderful service.

As I was listening and reading through today's readings, I noticed a theme running through all of them: waiting on God's salvation. In each story and reading, we hear about a God who does the work for us:

• God creates the heavens and the earth without any help from human beings, and simply hands them over to us.

• Moses and the people of Israel—who had no weapons or training, who were ex-slaves on the run—faced the world's best military. They complained, "Moses, we could have died back there without going on a big walk." But Moses replied, "You don't have to do anything. God Himself will fight for you."

We have many stories where God is the one who does the work. Think about Ezekiel: a valley filled with dry bones. Bones can't do anything; they're just stuck there. What does God do? He breathes His Spirit into them, and they come alive, just as He promises we too will.

And it ends with perhaps the greatest "God will save" moment of the Old Testament: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. They heated that furnace so hot that the men throwing them in died, yet the three who went in didn't even smell like smoke. They declared, "Our God can deliver us, O King. Even if He doesn't, we still won't serve your false god."

That's what this night is all about: trusting and waiting on God to do the saving.

Tonight, I'm going to talk about Ezekiel chapter 36, where the prophet gives a promise. He promises to take our heart of stone and give us a transplant for a heart of flesh. This promise includes:

• Sprinkling clean water to cleanse us

• Removing our idols

• Giving us a new spirit

• Enabling us to walk in His just decrees

Much of the Old Testament tells of people turning away from the salvation God offered. We have story after story of God rescuing His people, but we often skip over the parts where they said, "No thanks. I would rather try something else. I would rather chase after powerless gods. I would rather depend on my own strength, wisdom, or knowledge."

So God sent prophets to say, "I'm the one who saves, not these false gods—they can't do anything." Yet the people rejected the prophets. Finally, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ. And the people with hearts of stone killed even Him.

Perhaps the greatest story of trust—of simply waiting on God to save—is Jesus on the cross saying, "It is finished." The Son of God simply said, "I trust my Father to raise me from the dead." He had so much trust that He allowed Himself to die and be placed in a tomb for a whole day. Jesus, who created the heavens and earth, lay dead in the tomb, simply trusting that His Father would raise Him.

On Sunday morning, as the women who didn't remember Jesus's words went to the tomb, they found the stone rolled away and nobody inside. Jesus had risen. Jesus has that heart of flesh that trusts in God's promises.

Even as believers who trust in a Savior who lived and died for us, sometimes we also go our own way. We turn to things we think will make us feel better or provide for us. We may not build altars with animal sacrifices anymore, but we offer sacrifices to our work, planning, and efforts, thinking, "I'm a little more trustworthy than God. I can take care of myself."

But none of those idols—those things we worship—can support our hopes and dreams or protect us when we need someone. All the stories we've read tonight simply say: only God can save.

This trust is what God gives you through His Son, Jesus Christ. Baptism is how that heart of flesh is given to you. When we die with Christ and rise with Him, His heart is delivered to us through this mystical union. We receive His trust, His peace, His hope—which is great, because if I relied on my own faith in God, I certainly wouldn't have enough. It's reassuring that Jesus can do the trusting for me.

This message helps us remember: no matter how anxious we are or what we worry about, Christ is with us, giving us a heart that trusts the promises of God. Through Him, we can cling to hope, no matter how anxious we feel, as we remember: God is the only one who saves.

In His name, amen.

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The King Who Serves: Understanding Jesus' Sacrifice on Good Friday

John 20:12-22

From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.

So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Tonight is one of the most solemn nights of the Christian year as we remember the crucifixion of our King, Jesus. We read from John about His trial and crucifixion. Throughout the passage, we see repeated references to Jesus as "King of the Jews" or simply as "king." Whether it’s an accusation or a mockery, it’s not a mistake that John emphasizes this. Jesus is the King—not just of the Jews, but of all who follow Him. He is a king who dies for His people.

If there's one image that sums up Good Friday, it's Jesus on the cross—arms spread, head bowed, with a crown of thorns. What kind of king is that? It’s certainly different from any king before or after Him—whether it’s David, who ruled with a sword and shield, or today’s kings, with their wealth and power. Jesus is a king unlike any other.

In John’s Gospel, Pilate asks Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus responds, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight. But My kingdom is not from this world.” Jesus' reign is different. He’s not a king who conquers, but a king who serves. That’s the essence of why He came. He didn’t come to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.

Jesus rules His kingdom with love—not power. He had the ability to call down angels or to use His divine strength to escape, but that’s not why He came. He didn’t come to conquer; He came to serve. And He offers Himself as a sacrifice for you and for me. What king would do that?

Even today, Jesus rules His church with love, not force. He doesn’t send us out with weapons to conquer the world. He sends us with His Word and His sacrifice. This doesn’t make sense in a world that values strength and victory. But that’s the way of Christ. The first Christians didn’t fight back when persecuted. Instead, they followed their king through suffering and death, witnessing to the Gospel. And it worked. The Roman Empire was ultimately transformed, and even the emperor was baptized before his death.

Jesus rules through His Word and Sacraments. He brings salvation and sends His Spirit to empower us. This is a kingdom not of this world. And while the cross is a terrible and horrific image, there is beauty in it. The beauty lies not in the gore, but in the selfless sacrifice it represents. Jesus gave His life not for Himself, but for the good of others.

In a world that constantly seeks self-fulfillment, Jesus shows us a different way. So much of life revolves around "me"—finding happiness, seeking fulfillment in relationships, career, or even church. But when we live only for ourselves, everything becomes a tool for our own gain. This leads to emptiness, anxiety, and a lack of purpose.

The beauty of Christ’s life and death is that He lived not for Himself but for us. His sacrifice on the cross brings us life, and His death is the gateway to eternal life with Him. This is the beauty of a life of service: living for others, not for yourself. Jesus came to die on the cross so that we might live forever. In a world filled with self-interest, living for others is truly beautiful. Amen.

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