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(upbeat music) - Welcome to day three of our look at First Corinthians chapter
15. We're going to look at verses 20 to 34 today. We're walking through these four
arguments that Paul gives for the truth of the resurrection.

Remember, the reason he's giving these arguments is he's fighting. He's fighting
to keep their faith real. There are those in Corinth who are arguing in such a
way that they would have a faith in nothing, a faith that is in name only.

And he's saying, no, you have a faith in something. And what we have a faith in
is Jesus, the real Jesus, the real Jesus who really died and who was really
resurrected. You see, faith is not just a new philosophy of life.

It's a new life. It's a real thing because of a real resurrection. So Paul's
going through these four arguments.

Yesterday, we looked at the what if argument. What if there were no
resurrection? Today, we look at what Paul would call here the argument of the
first fruits of the harvest.

This argument of the first fruits of the harvest has to do with what would
happen in their day. But you and I can understand it today by the way a harvest
would also work. Listen to what Paul has to say in verses 20 to 28.

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who
have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the
dead also comes through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be
made alive.

But each in his own turn, Christ the first fruits, then when he comes, those who
belong to him. 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 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. Now there's a lot of
theological talk in these verses. In fact something maybe even for you to go
back in and study.

This is about the way that Jesus, who is part of the Godhead, who is equal
obviously with God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has submitted himself to God
in some things willingly so that the truth of salvation can be made real in our
lives. But Paul is clear here, that doesn't mean that somehow Jesus is beneath
God in some way. No, he chose to do this.

As Paul walks through these truths with people, the truth that he's really
focusing on is the truth of the first fruits of the resurrection. He says Jesus
is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. That phrase fallen asleep
in the New Testament means those who have died.

It's a nice way of saying, we say somebody has passed away sometimes today, they
would say somebody has fallen asleep and then the way you said it, you know, oh
they've died. The first fruits means that there's going to be a resurrection, a
harvest that comes out of those who have died. Now what does he mean here?

Well at the harvest, the first fruits of an offering were brought to the Lord.
So a sheaf of barley, for instance, was brought, the first harvest was brought
and offered to the Lord in gratitude and praise for the harvest. And not until
the first fruits had been offered could the barley be bought or sold.

Could it be brought to market? Could the benefit be seen from that barley? That
first sheaf was a sign of the harvest to come and of all that was going to
happen.

And in one sense, William Barkley says it this way, the harvest of life could
not come until Jesus had been raised from the dead. He was first and then we
follow. The resurrection of Jesus holds the promise of the resurrection for us.

Paul is saying the fact that Jesus was resurrected, that is not just a promise
made in his life, for his life, everything that he said about life and the
resurrection, I'm the resurrection and the life, is that he wants to bring that
resurrection into our lives. His resurrection is the first fruits, the offering
of gratitude that you and I are going to have a resurrection as well. And then
there's a third argument that he has.

We have some theological talk in these verses and he gets into it also in the
third argument in what I would call the baptism for the dead argument. In verse
29 he says, 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?

Now this argument that Paul makes for the resurrection to the Corinthians, it
was clearing things up for them but it causes great confusion for us. Why?
Because we don't know what Paul meant when he said baptized for the dead.

One commentator suggests there are over 30 different ideas of what he might have
meant here. We don't know which of the 30 is what he really meant. They did
because they were somehow involved in this.

But we don't. Now I don't know what he meant but I think you probably have to go
with the obvious. He says, baptized for the dead, somehow this church had
developed some kind of practice of having people baptized for those probably who
had professed faith in Christ and who had died before their baptism.

Of all the 30 different ideas, that's the one that to me makes the most sense of
what they were doing. Remember, sometimes they waited a year or two years before
they were baptized after they became Christians. So possibly that's what they
were doing.

Or maybe Paul is talking symbolically here. Maybe the ideas of baptism and the
dead have nothing to do with an actual practice that was happening. Whatever the
truth of the matter is, we don't know what was happening.

Now here's an important truth of Bible study. Anytime you read a verse like this
where we're not sure what's happening, there are those who will try to attach
false doctrine to these kinds of verses. They'll say, well I know.

In fact, here's my whole theology based on what I know. Now they weren't in
Corinth any more than you were. They don't know any better than you do what
actually was happening.

But very confidently they'll say, well this is what that phrase means. It's very
easy to attach a false doctrine to a difficult to understand verse. When we get
to heaven, if we need to have this explained to us, God's going to explain it to
us.

But for now, to take a doctrine like this, a verse like this and build a
doctrine on it, as some have done for instance, that says, oh you have to be
baptized for a relative who's died who wasn't a Christian and somehow that's
going to get them into heaven, that goes totally against everything else the
scripture teaches about baptism. Baptism is to be for the believer, not for
someone else. And you can't by proxy somehow get somebody into heaven.

You can only accept Christ on your own choice. So you can't take a verse like
this that's difficult to understand and build a whole doctrine around it and try
to attach it to it. But that's what some people try to do.

Now the question is, why did Paul say this? Why did he confuse us? Well the
truth is, he didn't write to confuse us.

Paul mentioned it because it strengthened his argument. There was some kind of
practice that they were doing that involved baptism and looking forward to
resurrection and Paul is saying, why would you even do that? If you think when
somebody has died, they've disappeared somehow, there's no more life in them.

Why would you even think of the dead after they've died? Why would you have any
hope for the dead? Why would you have a picture even of somebody who's dead?

They're gone. Even their memory should be anathema to you, he's saying almost in
that case. But the truth is, people were hanging on to hope even for those who
had died because they knew, they knew there's more to life than this life.

That's the argument that Paul is making here. Now with that in mind, let's go to
a simpler argument, the fourth one, what I would call the why do we put
ourselves in danger argument, the danger every hour argument. Paul says in
verses 30 to 32, 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. Paul in
one sense goes back to where he started here, begins to talk about himself
personally. And he says in the clearest words, if this life is all that we have,
why would we risk our lives for others?

Why give one thing for somebody else if this life is all we have? If there is no
resurrection, if this world is all there is, then our theology, Paul is saying
here, inevitably becomes verse 32, let's eat and drink for tomorrow we die. We
grope selfishly for life rather than giving sacrificially of our lives because
we only got one life to live, and it's my life, so I'm going to get as much as I
can out of it, and it doesn't make any difference in the next life, so let me
just get what I want now.

That's where it heads if there's no resurrection, Paul says. Paul says I want
you to understand what eternal life really is. The faith that you have in Jesus
is the faith that he's going to give you eternal life, and that's more than just an
empty dream.

That is a real promise backed by real power, and because of that you can have
real faith in a real Lord. And this eternal life that he's going to give to you,
it's more than just an extended period of time, boring kind of life, it's
eternal life. It's a new quality of life.

It's not eat and drink for tomorrow we die, but it's let's give ourselves in
faith, appreciating God's grace, for we have an eternity to look forward to with
him that's above and beyond what we could ever imagine. That's what we look
forward to in the resurrection. And so of course I can give myself now, because
I know what I'm giving myself toward.

Out of all of this, Paul's talking about the fact that the resurrection keeps
our faith real. It keeps us grounded in the truth that Jesus rose from the dead
and so we can have real life. Paul ends these arguments by warning us about
those who would hurt our faith.

In verses 33 and 34 he says, "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. " Paul is saying here, watch out for who you spend
most of your time with. He's saying here, when he says stop sinning, bad company
corrupts good character, he's saying realize that crazy ideas like saying
there's no resurrection.

When clearly, when you read the gospels, there's clearly a resurrection. So why
do people get caught up in these philosophical arguments that say there is none?
Paul is saying that those arguments most often come out of people's desire to
excuse their sin.

If I want to excuse my sin, what I'm doing with this body, with this human
flesh, and all I have to do is say, oh, there's no resurrection. This body's
going to be done away with after I die. And even if you think your soul goes on,
this body's not there, or if you think there's nothing after this life, it's a
great excuse for let's eat and drink for tomorrow we die.

So watch out for those who build empty philosophies around selfish, sinful
lifestyles. Realize that the empty philosophy is showing you something and bad
company corrupts good character. Watch out, Paul is saying.

For those who argue against the obvious truths of faith and love and God's
goodness in your life, because the reason they're arguing is not nearly so
selfless as they make it seem. In fact, most of the time, it's built on a
selfish desire to sin. I see that in my own life.

You see that in your life. So realize it's in other people's lives too. And
don't be misled, he says.

Our Father, we thank you for the truth of the resurrection. And Lord, we know as
human beings, we can be misled. We can get caught up in thinking wrong things,
thinking wrong ways, because we want to do what we want to do.

But Lord, that's not what you made us for. And in the end, even though we think
it's what's going to make us happy, it is not. So help us to realize when we're
tempted towards these wrong philosophies that destroy our faith, that the
temptation most often comes out of our own selfishness.

And instead of allowing ourselves to be drawn in, we come to you. And we say,
would you refresh our faith? We bring our doubts even to you.

And we say, would you help us to doubt our doubts and believe the truth of who
you are? We ask this in the name of Jesus, amen. Tomorrow, we're going to look
together at the new kind of life that God gives us through the resurrection.